Saratoga Shakespeare open season with 'Cyrano'

Director drawn to play's mix of romance, action

Saratoga Shakespeare Company's new production is a recent English translation by Michael Hollinger and stars Wesley Broulik in the lead role.

According to Finlay, what makes the two fight scenes in "Cyrano" so juicy is that the first pits the hero against 100 men (he beats them all), while in the second, he fights as he's also composing poetry.

In Finlay's career of more than 30 years, he's directed countless actors in numerous plays and films that include fight scenes.

Besides his work as a stage director, he has taught drama at Union College for the past 23 years.

Whether Finlay is directing an entire production, as he is with "Cyrano," or he's brought in just to handle the fighting, he wants the action to fit seamlessly into the larger show and to also advance the plot.

[...] the long list of administrative chores involved in running a theater company, even one that just functions during the summer, haven't escaped Finlay's memory.