MURDER BALLAD Program | Studio Theatre

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PRESENTS

MURDER BALLAD CONCEIVED BY AND WITH BOOK AND LYRICS BY JULIA JORDAN MUSIC AND LYRICS BY JULIANA NASH ORCHESTRATIONS AND VOCAL ARRANGEMENTS BY JUSTIN LEVINE DAVID MUSE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

DIRECTOR DAVID MUSE

MERIDITH BURKUS MANAGING DIRECTOR

PRODUCTION DESIGNER BRIAN MACDEVITT

SERGE SEIDEN PRODUCING DIRECTOR

SOUND DESIGNER RYAN RUMERY

MUSIC DIRECTOR DARREN R. COHEN COSTUME DESIGNER LAREE LENTZ SET DIRECTOR ANDREW COHEN LIGHTING DIRECTOR ANDREW CISSNA

Originally presented Off-Broadway by MTC Productions INC., Niclas Nagler, Richard Frankel, Tom Viertel, Steven Baruch, Marc Routh, Simone Genatt Haft, Susanne Adamski, Scott M. Delman.

MOVEMENT DIRECTOR NANCY BANNON

Originally presented by New York Stage and Film Company and The Powerhouse Theater at Vassar in July, 2012.

PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER ALLIE ROY*

Originally produced in New York City by the Manhattan Theatre Club, Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director, Barry Grove, Executive Producer on October 31, 2012.

Murder Ballad was workshopped as a part of Playtime, a program of New Dramatists.

Beginning April 15, 2015.

CASTING BY STEWART HOWARD & PAUL HARDT

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR ROB SHEARIN MURDER BALLAD IS GENEROUSLY UNDERWRITTEN BY SUSAN L. AND DIXON M. BUTLER

THANKS TO OUR MEDIA PARTNER FOR MURDER BALLAD.

CAST

SARA — CHRISTINE DWYER* NARRATOR — ANASTACIA MCCLESKEY* TOM — COLE BURDEN* MICHAEL — TOMMAR WILSON*

*Members Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States

“VERY FUNNY, VERY BRILLIANT, VERY CHILLING” —The New York Times

THE TONY AWARD-WINNING PLAY BY TOM STOPPARD DIRECTED BY AARON POSNER

CREATORS JULIA JORDAN (Concept, Book, and Lyrics) wrote the book for the musicals Sarah, Plain and Tall and The Mice, a one-act of Hal Prince’s 3hree. Her plays include Boy, Tatjana in Color, St. Scarlet, Smoking Lesson, Dark Yellow, Astrological Quit Claim Deeds, and Jones. Ms. Jordan is the recipient of the Kleban Award for Librettist, Francesca Primus Prize, Lucille Lortel Playwriting Fellowship, Manhattan Theatre Club Fellowship, Jonathan Larson Award, Heideman Award, LeComte Nouy Award (twice), AT&T OnStage Award, The American Spirit Award, and is a three-time finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Her work has been produced at Primary Stages, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Soho Rep, McCarter Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, Prince Music Theater, Ahmanson Theatre, Studio Dante, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, Contemporary American Theater Festival, Salt Lake Acting Company, and The American Theatre Company, among others. Her plays have been developed at Sundance, The O’Neill, Ojai Playwrights Conference, Playlabs at The Playwrights Center, and Cleveland Play House, among others. Ms. Jordan is one of the founders of The Lilly Awards and is on the Council of the Dramatists Guild.

JULIANA NASH (Music and Lyrics) was the rhythm guitarist and singer-songwriter for the band Talking to Animals, which was signed to Columbia and Velvel Records. Her work has been featured in films such as Rob Morrow’s Maze, Eric Schaeffer’s Fall, and Schaeffer’s television show Starved. She is currently working with Courtney Baron on a theater piece entitled Leave. She is the proud recipient of an MTC/ Sloan commission and the BMI’s Abe Olman Songwriter’s Award. Ms. Nash is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music and a member of the Dramatists Guild and BMI.

CAST CHRISTINE DWYER (Sara) was most recently seen as Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway. Her other credits include Maureen in the national tour of RENT, April in The New Hopeville Comics at the American Theatre for Actors, Aileen in Tinyard Hill at Goodspeed Opera House, Marianne in Whiskeyland (reading), and she has appeared in the new concert series Rock and Roll Debauchery. Her voice can also be heard on “Let Go” from the Lyons & Pakchar debut album #LOVE (Live), which is available on iTunes. Ms. Dwyer released two Christmas songs (written by Brianna Cash) on iTunes last year and plans to release two more singles later this year. She received her BFA from The Hartt School.

ANASTACIA MCCLESKEY (Narrator) appeared on Broadway in the original casts of Violet, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, and Tarzan, as well as The Book of Mormon and Hair. Her other credits include the first national tour of Hairspray, the Off Broadway and touring productions of Mighty Real: A Fabulous Sylvester Musical, and productions at Radio City Music Hall, The York Theater, Grand Ole Opry, and City Center. In addition to her theatre work, Ms. McCleskey is an abstract/mixed media artist COLE BURDEN (Tom) is making his Studio Theatre debut. Mr. Burden most recently played Archie in The Secret Garden at Capital Repertory Theatre. His New York credits include I Am Harvey Milk at Avery Fisher Hall, Applause at Encores!, and Bonnie and Clyde at the New York Musical Theatre Festival. Mr. Burden was in the national tour of Cameron Mackintosh’s New 25th Anniversary Production of Les Misérables. Regionally, he has appeared at The Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Houston Theatre Under the Stars, Mason Street Warehouse, Arvada Center, and the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. His film and television work includes Beautiful Creatures, As the World Turns, and One Life to Live. Mr. Burden attended Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music.

TOMMAR WILSON (Michael) is making his Studio Theatre debut.

Mr. Wilson’s New York credits include The Book of Mormon, In Transit at Primary Stages (Drama Desk Award), Hair, Lestat, Hairspray, Never Gonna Dance, The Music Man, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. DC credits include Broadway: Three Generations at The Kennedy Center and Ragtime at The National Theatre. He has also appeared at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Paper Mill Playhouse, Goodspeed at Chester, Trinity Repertory Company, The New York Shakespeare Festival, St. Louis MUNY, and The Alliance Theatre. His television and film appearances include Law and Order, Boardwalk Empire, Unforgettable, Forever, and Disney’s Frozen.

Mr. Wilson is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University.

ARTISTS DAVID MUSE (Director) is in his fifth season as Artistic Director of Studio Theatre. For Studio and 2ndStage, he has directed Belleville, Cock, Tribes, The Real Thing, An Iliad, Dirt, Bachelorette, The Habit of Art, Venus in Fur, Circle Mirror Transformation, reasons to be pretty, Blackbird, Frozen, and The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow. Previously, he was Associate Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company, where he directed seven productions, including Henry V, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, and Coriolanus.

Other directing projects include Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune at Arena Stage, The Bluest Eye at Theater Alliance, and Swansong for New York Summer Play Festival.

He has helped to develop new work at numerous theaters, including New York Theatre Workshop, Geva Theatre Center, Arena Stage, Ford’s Theatre, and The Kennedy Center.

Mr. Muse has taught acting and directing at Georgetown, Yale, and the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy of Classical Acting. A six-time Helen Hayes Award nominee for Outstanding Direction, he is a recipient of the DC Mayor’s Arts Award for Outstanding Emerging Artist and the National Theatre Conference Emerging Artist Award. Mr. Muse is a graduate of Yale University and the Yale School of Drama.

DARREN R. COHEN (Musical Director)’s Broadway and Off Broadway credits include A Chorus Line (Shubert Theatre), Chicago (Richard Rodgers Theatre), Fosse (Broadhurst Theatre), Make Me A Song: Songs of William Finn (New World Stages, original cast recording), Zombie Prom, (Variety Arts, original cast recording), Carnival (York Theatre), Anyone Can Whistle (47th Street Theatre), A…My Name Is Still Alice (Second Stage), The Fantasticks (Sullivan Street Playhouse), And the World Goes ‘Round (West Side Arts), Ann E. Wrecksick (Ars Nova), Nunsense (Fairbanks Theatre), Homefires (Actor’s Playhouse), The Other Lincoln (York Theatre), and Show Me Where the Good Times Are (Jewish Rep). Regional credits include productions at Barrington Stage Company (Associate Artist), Center Stage Baltimore, Sacramento Music Circus, Goodspeed Opera House, North Shore Music Theatre, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Cincinnati Playhouse, San Jose CLO, The MUNY, Kansas City Starlight, Asolo, George Street Playhouse. Mr. Cohen is also the author of The Complete Professional Audition (published by Back Stage Books) and is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music.

BRIAN MACDEVITT (Production Designer) designed Sucker Punch and The Real Thing for Studio Theatre. He has designed close to 70 shows on Broadway, including Larry David’s A Fish in the Dark, A Delicate Balance with Glenn Close, and This is Our Youth by Kenneth Lonergan. Other Broadway highlights include Death of a Salesman, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and directed by Mike Nichols; The Book of Mormon (Tony Award), The Coast of Utopia, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Fences, A Behanding in Spokane, Race, The Pillowman, Urinetown, and Into the Woods. He is the recipient of an Obie Award for Sustained Excellence, a Bessie Award, Lucille Lortel Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, the Hewes Award, and a Drama Desk Award. He designed lights for Three Sisters at the Abbey Theatre and for dance productions with The Joffrey Ballet, American Ballet Theater, Tere O’Connor Dance, Merce Cunningham, Lar Lubovitch, Nancy Bannon, and many others. His designs for the Metropolitan Opera include The Enchanted Island, Le Compte Ory, and Doctor Atomic.

ARTISTS Mr. MacDevitt recently directed Proof for Theater Three in NY and Spring Awakening at University of Maryland. He is on the faculty of University of Maryland and is a member of the Naked Angels Theater Company.

LAREE LENTZ (Costume Designer) designed An Iliad for Studio Theatre and Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven for Studio 2ndStage. She has also designed locally for productions including The Gift of Nothing, Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences; Tender Napalm, Signature Theatre; Romeo and Juliet, Folger Theatre; Stupid Fucking Bird, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company; Never the Sinner, 1st Stage Theatre; Optimism!

Or Voltaire’s Candide, Spooky Action Theater; Home of the Soldier, Synetic Theater. Other credits include designs for The National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts Beijing, UNC Charlotte, and Central Piedmont Community College. Her upcoming work can be seen at Ford’s Theatre and Children’s Theatre of Charlotte. She holds an MFA in costume design from University of Maryland, College Park.

RYAN RUMERY (Sound Designer) is a musician, composer, and designer. He previously designed Tribes, Frozen, and Belleville at Studio. Recent shows include Between Riverside and Crazy (Atlantic/Second Stage), Verité (LCT3), Placebo (Playwrights Horizons), By the Water (MTC), and Fool for Love (Williamstown). He performs with The Painted Bird (KioSK Festival, BAC, La MaMa, PS122, Legion Arts, Wexner). He was sound consultant for the Nonesuch at 50 Festival at BAM, for performances featuring Dawn Upshaw, Gilbert Kalish, and Alarm Will Sound. Mr. Rumery is currently producing an album for Jeremy Bass. Additional albums include Winter Bare, The Joy of Harm, Methods, 4000 Miles, Ivanov, and FlowerMan. Film credits include City of Gold (Sundance, Miami Film Festival, SXSW), Gatewood, FlowerMan, and And, Apart.

ANDREW COHEN (Set Director) is a set designer based in the DC area. Recent area credits include In the Red and Brown Water at Georgetown University and Two Comic Operas: Lucrezia/Bastianello at Urban Arias. At University of Maryland, Mr. Cohen designed the sets for Twilight: Los Angeles 1992 and The Waiting Room. Last spring, he was the associate scenic designer for The Tempest directed by Teller and Aaron Posner at the American Repertory Theater, which premiered in Las Vegas. Upcoming projects include Occupied Territories at Theater Alliance and The Human Capacity at University of Maryland.

Mr. Cohen recently graduated from University of Maryland with an MFA in scenic design.

ANDREW CISSNA (Lighting Director) joins Studio Theatre for the first time. In the DC area he has designed numerous shows at Round House Theatre, Signature Theatre, Theater J, Ford’s Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, The Kennedy Center Theatre for Young Audiences, HUB Theatre, Theater Alliance, Catalyst Theatre Company, Adventure Theatre MTC, and others. Regionally, he has designed shows for Milwaukee Repertory Theatre and Perseverance Theatre Company. Mr. Cissna received Helen Hayes nominations for 1984 at Catalyst Theatre Company in 2008 and Sex with Strangers at Signature Theatre in 2014. Mr. Cissna holds a BFA from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and an MFA from University of Maryland.

25 FEARLESS

ART JOHNNA ADAMS SHEILA CALLAGHAN STEVEN DIETZ BARBARA HAMMOND MICHAEL WELLER

contemporaryamericantheaterfestival AT SHEPHERD UNIVERSITY

THE 25TH SEASON: JULY 10 – AUGUST 2, 2015 CATF.ORG 800/999-2283

ARTISTS NANCY BANNON (Movement Director) is a performer, writer, and director. Recent original theatre work includes Cornfield, Puncture, The Pod Project (all immersive events, NYC) and, as movement director, Romeo and Juliet on Broadway. She is currently focused on filmmaking. Her 2014 screenplay, Reckless, was recognized by Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope Studios (quarterfinalist), and her 2013 script, Cornfield, was recognized by the Slamdance Film Festival (grand prize finalist) and the Sundance Screenwriters Lab (second round qualifier), among others. As an actor, she can be seen in DC in the upcoming Occupied Territories, a new performance work by Mollye Maxner at Theater Alliance. Ms. Bannon is the recipient of three Princess Grace Awards, a New York Dance and Performance (Bessie) Award, and is a graduate of The Juilliard School. Ms. Bannon has served on faculty at the Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory.

ALLIE ROY (Production Stage Manager) joins Studio for the first time. She recently moved to Washington DC from Los Angeles, where she spent ten years stage managing all over the city. She was the Resident Stage Manager for Cabrillo Music Theatre in Thousand Oaks, CA, where she stage managed over 20 productions including Legally Blonde: The Musical, The Producers, Grease, 1776, and The Sound of Music. Locally, Ms. Roy assistant stage managed Elmer Gantry and the world premiere of Diner at Signature Theatre. Ms. Roy is a graduate of UCLA’s School of Theatre, Film and Television and a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.

NATHAN NORCROSS (Assistant Director) is Studio Theatre’s Artistic Apprentice.

As a director, Mr. Norcross’ early professional career has spanned a variety of genres and forms—from large-scale musicals to intimate chamber pieces, from developing new plays with living playwrights to developing his own adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Mr. Norcross has worked alongside a number of directors he now counts as valuable mentors, including Mark Lamos, Nicky Martin, Gary Griffin, Bob Moss, and Eric Rosen. He assisted Phylicia Rashad in directing a production of A Raisin in the Sun at the Westport Country Playhouse. Mr. Norcross is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts where he earned a BFA in acting, as well as Florida State University where he recently completed an MFA in directing.

STUART HOWARD and PAUL HARDT (Casting) have previously cast Torching Song Trilogy, The Real Thing, and The Habit of Art for Studio Theatre. They are located in New York City and cast for Broadway, Off Broadway and national and international tours.

They also cast for several regional theatres including Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, CT; Philadelphia Theatre Company; Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, FL; and Delaware Theatre Company in Wilmington, DE.

MURDER BALLAD BAND BASS YUSEF CHISHOLM KEYBOARD DARREN R. COHEN DRUMS LOGAN SEITH GUITAR BEN YOUNG

MURDER BALLAD STAFF ASSISTANT DIRECTOR NATHAN NORCROSS ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER MADISON BAHR FIGHT CONSULTANT JOE ISENBERG LIGHT BOARD OPERATOR/ASSISTANT SCENIC ARTIST ERIN SIMPSON SOUND BOARD OPERATOR/LIVE MIX CHRISTAL JEREZ CARPENTERS LOUIS DAVIS AND CATHRYN SALISBURY For additional members of the production staff, please see the full staff listing.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Studio Theatre is grateful to Washington City Paper, our media partner for Murder Ballad.

Studio Theatre would like to thank Todd Cluba at Black Whiskey, Signature Theatre, Round House Theatre, Bob Silverthorne, and the University of Maryland.

Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) was founded in 1913 as the first of the American actor unions. Equity’s mission is to advance, promote and foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Today, Equity represents more than 40,000 actors, singers, dancers, and stage managers working in hundreds of theatres across the United States. Equity members are dedicated to working in the theatre as a profession, upholding the highest artistic standards.

Equity negotiates wages and working conditions and provides a wide range of benefits including health and pension plans for its members. Through its agreement with Equity, this theatre has committed to the fair treatment of the actors and stage managers employed in this production.

AEA is a member of the AFL-CIO and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions. For more information, visit www.actorsequity.org.

STUDIO STAFF ARTISTIC DIRECTOR DAVID MUSE

MANAGING DIRECTOR MERIDITH BURKUS

Literary Director: Adrien-Alice Hansel Associate Literary Director: Lauren Halvorsen

Development Manager of Major Gifts: Zack Lynch Development Officer: Stephanie Hagen Development Associate, Individuals and Events: Kelsey Beaumont Development Apprentice: Laura Cohen

Artistic Apprentice: Nathan Norcross Director of Design: Debra Booth Commissioned Writers: Vivienne Franzmann, Mary Elizabeth Hamilton, Ike Holter, Clare Lizzimore, Aaron Posner, Stew and Heidi Rodewald PRODUCING DIRECTOR SERGE SEIDEN Associate Production Manager: Lorna Mulvaney Production Associate: Jacob Janssen Company Manager/Production Apprentice: Victoria Vasquez Production Intern: Ellison Roberts Resident Stage Manager: Anthony O. Bullock Stage Management Apprentice: Jen Grunfeld Technical Director: Robert Shearin Assistant Technical Director/Master Carpenter: Jen Worster Scenic Artist: Erich Starke Carpenter: Mason Hurley Carpenter/Scene Shop Apprentice: Bianca Hamp Properties Director: Deborah Thomas Costume Shop Manager: Brandee Mathies Master Electrician/Sound Technician: Adrian Rooney Electrics Apprentice: Eric McMorris Sound/Projections Apprentice: Christal Jerez Director of Education: Roma Rogers Education Manager: Madeleine Burke Pitt Education/Conservatory Apprentice: Kaitlyn McElrath Instructors: Joy Zinoman (Director of Curriculum and Teacher Training), Meade Andrews, Carol Arthur, Nancy Bannon, Diana Bradley, Zach Campion, Kate Davis, Elena Day, Kate Debelack, Denise Diggs, Catherine Eliot, George Fulginiti-Shakar, Julie Garner, Charlotte Graham, Robb Hunter, Nancy Paris, Madeleine Burke Pitt, Roma Rogers, Serge Seiden, Colette Yglesias Silver, Matthew Vaky

Administration Administrative and Events Coordinator: Nikki Grizzle Executive Assistant: Mary Grace Short Administrative Assistant: Tobias FranzÊn Business Manager: Terence McCann Assistant Business Manager: Eric Colton Business Apprentice: Julia Corrigan Information Technology Director: Nick Torres Facilities Manager: Kieran Kelly DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS BETH HAUPTLE Publicist and Publications Manager: Liz O’Meara-Goldberg Marketing Manager: Scott Sanger Digital Marketing Manager: Rachael Wilkinson Communications Apprentice: Dorothy Trigg Graphic Design Apprentice: Cheyenne Michaels Graphic Designer: Shawn Helm Photographers: Teddy Wolff, Igor Dmitry Director of Ticket Sales and Audience Services: Benjamin DuGoff Box Office Manager: Stephen Notes Subscriptions Manager: Adria Gunter Associate Manager of Ticket Sales and Service: Amy Horan Audience Services Manager: Lynn Coughlin House Manager: Robert Montenegro Audience Services Associate Managers: Ric Birch, Rachel Garmon, Jen Gushue, Jon Harvey, Marley Kabin, Emily Kester, Jeff Kirkman III, Danielle Mohlman, Quill Nebeker Audience Services Associates: Andra Belknap, Elizabeth Greenstein, Corinne Hayes, Orion Jones, Klara Markus, Emma Safford

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