THE THIN PLACE by Lucas Hnath

THE THIN PLACE

by LUCAS HNATH

by PHILIP LEHL & KIM

MISSION

To produce extraordinary professional theatrical experiences and to set a high standard for excellence in acting, direction, and design. We believe that only by paying artists a fair wage can we grow and sustain the community of professional theatrical artists in Houston.

STAFF

Philip Lehl, Artistic Director, Co-Founder

Kim Tobin-Lehl, Resident Artist, Co-Founder

Catherine Dunaway, Development Manager

Gabriel Velazquez, Marketing Manager

Rubena Gracia, Box Office Associate

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Gary Chiles, President

Patricia Larson, Secretary

Harriet Schubb, Treasurer

Kenneth Bohan, Howard M. Bookstaff, Sharyn Feller Harris, Michelle Mower, Dan O’Brien, Carol Sugimoto

ADVISORY BOARD

Jennifer Decker, Emma Jacobs, Ruth McCleskey, Michael Mullins, Gabriella Nissen, John and Kelly Raley, Jason Roberts, Chip Schneider, Dr. Robert Shimko, Nancy Wozny

SPECIAL THANKS

Special thanks to the following people and organizations for their direct involvement with our administration or artistic efforts during this production: Ted Doolittle, Michael McGinity, John Tyska, John Meek, and Hannah Warren

4th Wall Theatre Company is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization founded in 2011 by Kim Tobin-Lehl and Philip Lehl.

Donations are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law.

THE THIN PLACE

By LUCAS HNATH

PHILIP LEHL

KIM

DESIGNERS & PRODUCTION

of Actors’

Meek

Union of Professional Stage Actors and Stage Managers.

Thin Place”

by

behalf of Samuel French,

with Concord Theatricals

the New York Premiere of THE THIN PLACE in 2019.

Horizons, Inc., New York City,

by and premiered in the 2019 Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville. THE THIN PLACE was workshopped as part of the Jerry A. Tishman Playwrights Creativity Fund, a program of New Dramatists. Developed at the Colorado New Play Festival, Steamboat Springs, June 2019.

organization is funded in part

the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, the State of Texas through the Texas Commission on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

NOTE

DIRECTOR’S

One of the great joys of 4th Wall, for me, has been my ongoing collaboration with my wife, Kim Tobin-Lehl. The Thin Place marks another in a long list of plays that we have worked on together. This one, however, wasn’t originally planned as a collaboration. My role in the play, as you’ll soon see, is a supporting role, so I thought when I started the rehearsal process that it would be easy to both direct and act in the play. I soon found that I had miscalculated: the scenes in which I appear needed an outside eye, and needed it badly! I’m blessed in so many ways, but the fact that my wife, partner, and co-founder was available to come in and lend her talents to this work, feels particularly fortunate right now. We picked this play partly because it delves into the scary parts of our humanity and society, and partly because we thought that it would make a perfect, chilling October outing. But I found that the spookiness of the play comes not from the things we’re used to in movies (spinning heads, jump cuts, slashers in masks), but out of the relationships between the four people you’ll meet tonight. And Kim is simply a master of helping actors define relationships.

Don’t fret! We have some surprises for you tonight, and hopefully, when you walk out, you might have a question or two about where we’ve taken you, and what it is you actually just experienced. Put more succinctly: is this a haunted place you’re sitting in right now? What about the city we’re living in: is it haunted? Our country? Our world? What about your house: the place where you try to go to sleep tonight after watching The Thin Place?

Sweet dreams,

Philip Lehl and Kim Tobin-Lehl Directors and

Wall Theatre Co-Founders

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT

LUCAS HNATH’S most recent play, Dana H., was at the Vineyard Theatre in New York. Lucas received a 2017 Tony Award nomination for Best Play with A Doll’s House, Part 2. Hnath’s other plays include Hillary and Clinton, The Thin Place, Red Speedo, The Christians, A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney, Isaac’s Eye, and Death Tax. He has been produced on Broadway at the John Golden Theatre and Off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop, Playwrights Horizons, Soho Rep, and Ensemble Studio Theatre. His plays have also premiered at the Humana Festival of New Plays, Victory Gardens, and South Coast Repertory. He is a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect, a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, and an alumnus of New Dramatists. Awards: Whiting Award, Guggenheim Fellowship, Kesselring Prize, Outer Critics Circle Award for Best New Play, Obie Award for Playwriting, Steinberg Playwright Award, and the Windham-Campbell Literary Prize.

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THE VIDEOTAPING OR MAKING OF ELECTRONIC OR OTHER AUDIO AND/OR VISUAL RECORDINGS OF THIS PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTING RECORDINGS OR STREAMS IN ANY MEDIUM, INCLUDING THE INTERNET, IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED, A VIOLATION OF THE AUTHOR’S RIGHTS, AND ACTIONABLE UNDER UNITED STATES COPYRIGHT LAW. FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT: https://concordtheatricals.com/resources/protecting-artists

CAROLYN JOHNSON (Linda) Prague Shakespeare Company: Much Ado About Nothing; Othello; Romeo and Juliet. Stages: Sunrise Coven; MacGyver: The Musical (World Premiere); Miracle on 34th Street; A Midnight Clear (World Premiere); Luna Gale (Houston Press Best Actress Award); End of The Rainbow (Houston Press Best Actress Nominee); The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical (World Premiere); Panto(s) Rapunzel, Mother Goose, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella; A Picasso. MATCH: The Effect. Catastrophic Theatre: Trevor. HGO, Lincoln Center, Opera Philadelphia: A Coffin in Egypt (World Premiere). Main Street Theater: Close Up Space; My Wonderful Day; This; Driftwood; Translations; Mr. Pim Passes By; On the Razzle. Houston Shakespeare Festival: Hamlet; Comedy of Errors. Theatre Under The Stars: James and The Giant Peach; Little Shop of Horrors. Theater LaB: Johnny Guitar, The Musical; What About Luv?; Mrs. Farnsworth, Top Gun! The Musical (US Premiere). Bayou City Concert Musicals: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes; Pal Joey. Generations Theatre: Ruthless! The Musical. Unity Theatre: Always…Patsy Cline; Souvenir; Talley’s Folly; Harvey; Enchanted April, etc. Carolyn has been the Dialect Coach for more than 75 productions and works with the web resource, AccentHelp.com. She also works as a Director and as an Acting Coach and regularly teaches, directs, and performs with Prague Shakespeare Company’s Summer Shakespeare Intensive program in Prague. Carolyn received her BFA in Acting from The University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

FAITH FOSSETT (Hilda) Houston credits include The Glass Menagerie (4th Wall Theatre Company), Peer Gynt, Fair Maid of the West (Classical Theatre Company), The Visit (Landing Theatre). Other credits include Nebraska Shakespeare Festival, Quintessence Theatre Group (PA), and Virginia Stage Company. She self-produced and music directed the world premiere of her original electro-pop musical PULSATE: A Vampire Musical in 2019 at Houston’s Prohibition Theatre. Film Scoring: Feartown USA; THE SLASHENING. Other projects include her one woman show, My Sacred Prairie Cherry. She received her B.F.A. from Nebraska Wesleyan University. www.faithfossett.com

PHILIP LEHL (Co-Director and Jerry) is a co-founder of 4th Wall Theatre and the company’s Artistic Director. Recently at 4th Wall, he played Lieutenant Caro in Between Riverside and Crazy, Torvald in A Doll’s House, Part 2, Bob Jones in The Realistic Joneses, and directed The Glass Menagerie. He has acted on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in a National Tour, and in many regional theaters. Since arriving in Texas in 2001, Philip has appeared at every Equity theater in Houston, including 4th Wall, the Alley, Stages, Main Street Theater, A.D. Players, Houston Shakespeare Festival, and TUTS. He has also appeared

WHO

as a guest artist at Classical Theatre Company (where he is a company member), Generations, Horse Head, and BCCM. Philip holds degrees from The Juilliard School and Drake University and also studied at NTI and Moscow Arts Theatre School. His directing credits include plays at 4th Wall, Classical Theatre Company, A.D. Players, Stages, BCCM, Generations, and Brave Dog Theatre. He is a founder and board member of the Houston Theatre Alliance and is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association

COURTNEY LOMELO (Sylvia) is overjoyed to be returning to the stage with 4th Wall Theatre Company. Her prior roles include: 4th Wall Theatre Company: Pride and Prejudice (Mrs. Bennett), Rapture, Blister, Burn (Catherine), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Titania, Hippolyta), A Winter’s Tale (Paulina), The Catastrophic Theatre: Curse of the Starving Class (Ella Tate), Snow White (Jane), Gravity Players: The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Fabiana Aziza Cunningham), The Motherfucker with The Hat (Victoria), Stages: The Book of Maggie (Joan), Mildred’s Umbrella Theatre Company: The Maids (Claire), The Drowning Girls (Alice ), Pollywog (Polly), Rome (Captain), Carnival Around The Central Figure (Marianne), Classical Theatre Company: Henry V (Dauphin, Gower, Bedford), The Birds (Chorus, Fortune Teller, Isis), Unhinged Theatre Company: Vampire Lesbians of Sodom (Virgin/Madelaine Asarte), Midtown Arts Collective: Misalliance (Lina Szczepanowska). Courtney is a founding Artist of Gravity Players.

KIM TOBIN-LEHL (Co-Director) is a co-founder of 4th Wall Theatre and the company’s first Resident Artist. She has played numerous roles over the years at 4th Wall including her most recent appearances as Nora in A Doll’s House, Part 2 and Detective O’Connor in Between Riverside and Crazy. She is an award-winning director with recent credits at 4th Wall and in NYC and LA. Her work has been seen in Houston at Stages, A.D. Players, Mildred’s Umbrella, and Texas Repertory. Kim has an extensive list of Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway credits and Los Angeles stage/film/TV credits. She also wrote and starred in The Barrow Group’s production of her original One Woman Show, Inside Out. While living in New York, Kim was an officer with the New Mercury Theatre Company, where (among other roles) she produced and starred in the 1995 revival of A Lie of the Mind. Kim later became the Artistic Director of the Blue Sphere Alliance East Theatre Company. Kim graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Houston with a BA in Theatre. Her conservatory training includes Stella Adler, Circle In The Square, The Barrow Group, and years of training with Gene Frankel and Sandy Marshall, among others. Kim is also a highly sought-after acting and directing teacher. The Kim Tobin Acting Studio focuses on the Sanford Meisner approach to acting and offers an array of courses (from beginner to advanced levels). Kim is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA. www.kim-tobin.com

KALIN MENZEL (Stage Manager) Credits at 4th Wall Theatre Company: Between Riverside and Crazy; Gloria; The Lifespan of a Fact; A Doll’s House, Part 2; The Realistic Joneses; The Glass Menagerie; Collected Stories; The Pussy Grabber Plays; Rapture, Blister, Burn; Pride and Prejudice; Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train (Stage Manager); Shakespeare in Vegas; Reckless (Stage Crew); Other credits include: Rogue Productions: I Love You Because (ASM). Kalin is a proud member of the Actor’s Equity Association.

@kalinmenzel

STEFÄN AZIZI (Set Designer) is a freelance scene designer, Project Manager for Caspian Enterprises, and Executive Director of Rec Room Arts. Houston design credits include: Hurricane Diane, Dance Nation, Pass Over, The Children, Woyzeck, The Royale, On the Exhale, Hansel and Gretel, Exit Strategy, Sender (Rec Room Arts), Putnam County Spelling Bee, Sensitive Guys (Stages). He graduated with departmental honors in Scene Design and Technical Direction from the Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University. Recently finished The Sanctuary Lofts, a conversion of a Gothic Revival Church (built by the Tellepsen family) into a forty-five unit residential loft. @TheSanctuary_Lofts / @Stefan_Azizi

CHRISTINA GIANNELLI (Lighting Designer) is so very happy to be back at 4th Wall where she has previously designed lights for Between Riverside and Crazy, A Doll’s House, Part 2 (Houston Press Award), The Glass Menagerie, Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train, Pride and Prejudice, Lobby Hero, and BEDLAM’s Saint Joan (Houston Press Award). She has been the Resident Lighting Designer for Houston Grand Opera, Cleveland-San Jose Ballet, Texas Ballet Theater, Houston Ballet, and the Metropolitan Opera. Favorite recent projects in Houston include Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and No One Owns Me for A.D. Players; Dido and Aeneus for Ars Lyrica; Peer Gynt for Classical Theatre Company; MacGyver the Musical (Houston Press Award), Sensitive Guys, Replica (Houston Press Award), Veronica’s Room, and End of the Rainbow for Stages; Loving Clara for Mercury; on love and As the Shadows Fall for CORE; Pippin for TUTS; and Sideshow for Queensbury. For many years she produced Weekend of Texas Contemporary Dance and other dance events at Miller Outdoor Theatre. Ms. Giannelli has served on the Boards of Zocalo Artists Yard, Infernal Bridegroom Productions, and the DiverseWorks Artists Board. She is the founder of Dance Source Houston, a service organization that supports and promotes dance in Houston.

ROBERT LESLIE MEEK (Sound Designer and Composer) is very excited to be at 4th Wall for the whole season. Previous credits include sound design for  Collected Stories, Pride and Prejudice, The Glass Menagerie, Between Riverside and Crazy, and The Lifespan of a Fact here at 4th Wall Theatre Company and for Woyzeck, Hurricane Diane, and Put Your House In Order  at Rec Room Arts. He has also directed and done sound design for: The Tempest, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, The Haunting of Hill

House, Veronica’s Room, Titus Andronicus, Christmas Carol, Macbeth, and Much Ado About Nothing (CCCT). Robert is also a music producer with more than 200,000 streams on Spotify and releases original music as “J U N O.” You can listen and learn more at www.junomusichtx.com.

SAMANTHA HYMAN (Costume and Props Designer) is a self-taught clothing and costume designer. She is a recent transplant to Houston from Philadelphia where she worked for the last decade as an independent designer, circus performer, and stilt walker. She has designed for theater and circus and owns her own clothing company, MASscarves. She received her Bachelors in Fine Art at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island. This is her first production at 4th Wall, and she is looking forward to many more!

SANTIAGO SEPEDA (Scenic Production) is a second year MFA Design and technical direction graduate student at the University of Houston. He completed his BFA at the University of Houston. He currently owns and operates the production company Sepeda Design & Production which has given him the opportunity and privilege of working with non-profit theatre companies all over the Houston area. Santiago would like to thank his beautiful children Mia, Tato, Lulu, and Eva, as well as his partner, Mary.

open studios the 2nd saturday each month 2-5PM spring street studios • the silos at sawyer yards • winter street studios summer street studios • silver street studios • sabine street studios

GIFT LIVE THEATRE with a 4TH WALL GIFT CARD

Shopping for the friend that has it all? Give the gift of live theatre! Gift cards never expire and can be used to purchase tickets to any 4th Wall production.

The Value of Art Cost

Remarkably, artists often can and do produce high quality art for little or no pay. Because they are not compensated in a way that sustains life in our society, they are true amateurs in the original sense of the wordthey do it for the love of their art form.

At 4th Wall, we are not interested in amateur art. We are interested in producing consistently high quality professional art by supporting a community of professional artists, people who are highly trained in their discipline and who practice their artform as their primary source of financial compensation.

To this end, we have made it our mission to prioritize increasing artist pay every year until we reach a true living wage for artists. This season, we are paying Equity actors $355 per 26 hour work week, which is 8% more than the union-mandated minimum wage for theatres of our size and 88% more than the Texas-mandated minimum wage.

You can partner with us in revolutionizing the pay standard for professional artists by making a tax-deductible donation to sponsor an artist contract. Contact Catherine Dunaway at (832)668-5903 or catherine@4thwalltheatreco.com to learn more.

$355/ week

$225/ week

$250/ week

$320/ week$310/ week$300/ week

$250 and above

R. Scott Allen

Susan & Gerald Anhalt

Claire Auchter

Doug Benditz

Shondra Marie & Todd Boring Harry Bowles

Fredricka Brecht

Brian Broome

Warren Burkholder & Sheryl Starry

Elizabeth & David Connelly

Bryan & Deborah Domning

Sally & Philip Edmundson

Cheryl & Peter Fasullo

Maureen Flynn

Stephen Forrette

Jeannette Garrett

Ruth & Donald Gorman Cindy Hutchinson Green

Antha Adkins

Thea Albert

John Alford

International

Connections of Houston

Kate & Scott Lambert

Nora Laos

Bryn K. Larsen

Gary & Renae Leach

Frances Limoncelli

Renato & Linda Mello

Carolyn & Bart Nay

Howard Patton & Sue Owens

Rebecca Richards-Kortum

Robert C. Richter, Jr

Marti & Billy Rosenberg

Jane & Dick Schmitt Mark Seavers

Sandra S. Stettler

Adam & Tiffany Till

Kevin & Amy Tones

Blake Weisser

Shari & Gary Winston

$100 and above

Dr. Landrus Burress

Jane Campbell

Holly Clark

Jill Baird in memory of Jim Tobin

Roger Barascout

Lary Barton in honor of Ken Bohan & Dean O’Kelley

Douglas Bosse Eric Bradley & Wanderson Rezende

Wesley Copeland

Margaret Culbertson in memory of Sims McCutchan

Patricia Denman & John Hanna

Mary Lou & Harold Dietler

Loretta Kania & Mark Doerr

Nick & Daniela Farco

$100 and above, continued

Mark Folkes & Christopher Johnston

Karen Foster Michael Frewer

Cynthia Greenwood & Robert Molder

David Greiss & David Romero

Marc Grossberg

Deborah Hall

Margaret Hansen

Sandra Holloway

Herman Hsuan in honor of Carol Sugimoto & Alejandro Garza

Marianna & Michael Jayson

Diane Kaplan

Diana & Damian Katz

Mr. & Mrs. Kent Keith

William Paul Kellogg & Robin Curtis Randy Kilpatrick

Richard Kummins

Wendy & Stuart Laughton

Ibituroko-Emi Lawson

Deanna Lehl Eve Leonard

The Lin Family

Courtney Lomelo

David Mailman

Linda S. Marlin

Lona Leigh McManus

Gretchen M. Michelfeld

Belinda Mundey

Anne Loo & Brad Nyberg

Scott Orr

Cecelia & Charles Ottenweller

Stuart Purdy

Don Quaintance

Deborah & Luis Quintero

Elsie & Venu Rao

Dianne Reece

Kent & Terry Richter

Irene Sasaki

Amanda Schlafer

Bennie Slavik

Cooper Smith

Jake Speck

Carla & Robert Stevens, Jr. Dawn Stoecker-Simon & Edward Simon Walter Ulrich

Allan Van Fleet & Ruth Goldberg

Eleanor & Richard Viebig

Dr. & Mrs. James K. Weatherly

Bradley & Lynn Winkler

Heather Wolfe

Gay Yellen & Don Reiser

Anonymous (4)

This list reflects donations given from July 1, 2021 - October 5, 2022. Please call Catherine Dunaway at (832)668-5903 to report any errors. 4th Wall Theatre Company is a a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. All donations are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law.

ON A STAGE NEAR YOU

Check out other shows happening around town!

PLUMSHUGA Stages*

October 7 - November 13 www.stageshouston.com

EDWARD ALBEE’S SEASCAPE

The Alley Theatre*

October 14 - November 13 www.alleytheatre.org

PUT YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER

Rec Room Arts

October 20 - November 12 www.recroomarts.org

COYOTE ON A FENCE

Dirt Dogs Theatre Co.

October 21 - November 5 www.dirtdogstheatre.org

THE SECRET OF MY SUCCESS Theatre Under The Stars*

October 25 - November 6 www.tuts.com

THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO

Classical Theatre Company

November 16 - November 26 www.classicaltheatre.org

A MOTOWN CHRISTMAS

Ensemble Theatre

November 17 - December 24 www.ensemblehouston.com

THEY DO NOT MOVE

The Catastrophic Theatre

November 18 - December 10 www.catastrophictheatre.com

THE WICKHAMS

Main Street Theater*

November 19 - December 18 www.mainstreettheater.com

A TEXAS CAROL

A.D. Players*

November 30 - December 23 www.adplayers.org

We regret we cannot include everyone in the Houston theatre community on this page. Please make sure to check local listings for additional theatre companies in Houston.

*These theatres have committed to the fair treatment of the actors and stage managers employed in their productions through agreements with the Actors’ Equity Association (AEA). The AEA fosters the art of live theatre as an essential component of society and advances the careers of its members by negotiating wages, improving working conditions, and providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. Learn more at www.actorsequity.org .

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

4th Wall Theatre Company acknowledges that we gather on the traditional lands of the Karankawa, Atakapa, and Akokisas peoples. We honor, with gratitude, the land itself and the people who have stewarded it throughout the generations. This calls us to continually learn how to be better stewards of the land we inhabit.

We encourage all who visit our theatre to learn more about the native history of the land and the ongoing legacy of the people who first inhabited it. There are links to additional resources on our website.

We would like to offer special thanks to the American Indian Center of Houston for helping us draft this statement.

Martyna

Jackie Sibblies