The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Page 1

APRIL 2018

2017-18 MAINSTAGE // I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS + HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE + THE MALTESE FALCON THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO + THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY 2017-18 TOURING STORIES // ADA’S VIOLIN: THE STORY OF THE RECYCLED ORCHESTRA OF PARAGUAY WHOOSH!: LONNIE JOHNSON’S SUPER-SOAKING STREAM OF INVENTIONS + INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN


April 2018 Volume 14, No. 6

Paul Heppner Publisher

SPRING 2018

Susan Peterson Design & Production Director Ana Alvira, Robin Kessler, Stevie VanBronkhorst Production Artists and Graphic Design Mike Hathaway Sales Director Brieanna Bright, Joey Chapman, Ann Manning Seattle Area Account Executives Amelia Heppner, Marilyn Kallins, Terri Reed San Francisco/Bay Area Account Executives Carol Yip Sales Coordinator

Contents Feature 3

Three female playwrights tackle sport on stage

Dialogue 9

Trina Gadsden sheds light on Youth in Focus

Intermission Brain Transmission 15

Test yourself with our trivia quiz!

Leah Baltus Editor-in-Chief Andy Fife Publisher Dan Paulus Art Director Gemma Wilson, Jonathan Zwickel Senior Editors Amanda Manitach Visual Arts Editor

Paul Heppner President Mike Hathaway Vice President Genay Genereux Accounting & Office Manager Shaun Swick Senior Designer & Digital Lead

35

Barry Johnson Digital Engagement Specialist Ciara Caya Customer Service Representative & Administrative Assistant Corporate Office 425 North 85th Street Seattle, WA 98103 p 206.443.0445 f 206.443.1246 adsales@encoremediagroup.com 800.308.2898 x105 www.encoremediagroup.com

frans.com

2   ENCORE STAGES

Encore Arts Programs is published monthly by Encore Media Group to serve musical and theatrical events in the Puget Sound and San Francisco Bay Areas. All rights reserved. ©2018 Encore Media Group. Reproduction without written permission is prohibited.

Encore Stages is an Encore Arts Program that features stories about our local arts community alongside information about performances. Encore Arts Programs are publications of Encore Media Group. We also publish City Arts, a monthly arts & culture magazine, and specialty publications, including the Offical Seattle Pride Guide and the SIFF Guide and Catalog. Learn more at encoremediagroup.com Encore Stages features the following organizations:


Throwing Like a Girl and Writing Like One Too

The cast of the upcoming production of The Wolves at ACT. Photo by Dawn Schaefer.

Danielle Mohlman examines the women laying claim to sports via the theatre, and their inspiration for doing so.

My dad was a star athlete in high school. Letterman jacket, full page in the yearbook, the whole nine yards. He was a water polo goalie and to this day the number he wore on his swim cap – 22 – is significant for both him and my mom. Every “22” they’ve ever seen in the wild has been photographed and framed. It’s the date of their wedding anniversary. And it was etched into the pin cushion my mom used in home economics, silver-headed pins forming the curves of each number.

My parents met in high school. She was a cheerleader, full of school spirit and there for every water polo game and swim meet. Pom poms in hand, she watched him pull through the water, breaking records in freestyle and backstroke. As a teenager, I lived for the hours between the end of school and the beginning of sunset. I’d flash my completed homework at my mom and then run down the street to my encoremediagroup.com/programs    3


Danielle Mohlman's father, Mitch Mohlman, on the far left. (He’s wearing number 22, but the angle doesn’t show it.)

neighbor Gilbert’s house. If we could assemble a team of neighborhood kids, we’d play touch football in the street, yelling “Car!” every time someone’s parent got home from work. We had more timeouts than any regulation game and, it seemed, just as many injuries. If we couldn’t get a team together, I’d strap on my roller blades and speed up and down the sidewalk, jumping off our homemade ramp. If he was patient and I was calm, Gilbert would continue his lifelong quest – teaching me how to ollie on his skateboard. I was never any good, but I was relentless. Still am. I’d fall and get back up again, bloody palms and all. Despite everything, I’m the furthest thing from an athlete. But sports are starting to creep their way into my plays – and I’m not the only one.

Spend enough time on the field and you’ll come away with blood. But the blood that opens Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves isn’t skinned knees or thousands of burst blood vessels congealing into a purple bruise. It’s menstrual blood – in all its coagulated glory. The Wolves’ thirst for blood isn’t quenched by the 4   ENCORE STAGES

jealousy-fueled competition these young soccer players seem to thrive on. Their drug instead, is frantic whispers about a sheltered teammate who chooses pads over tampons. And jokes about pregnancy that quickly become unchecked abortion rumors. These girls are sixteen and it shows. Interspersed in this dialogue about uterine lining and inefficient feminine products is a discussion about former Prime Minister of Cambodia, Nuon Chea, who at 90 years old is giving testimony about the Khmer Rouge genocide. The audience is momentarily faced with an odd juxtaposition: the murder of hundreds of thousands of Cambodian citizens and the torture of a particularly heavy period. Offstage, another soccer team warms up – a team just as driven, just as talented, just as vicious. Sarah DeLappe’s dialogue in The Wolves perfectly intones a teenage and athletic vocabulary. These girls turn around crude language as though they just learned how to form the syllables with their mouths. They litter their sentences with expletives, gossiping

about a “sweet old lady” with only one breast, claiming that the winter air is “colder than a witch’s” – well, you can finish the rest. As the Wolves warm up for their games, they namecheck each other by jersey number

“As the Wolves warm up for their games, they namecheck each other by jersey number and masculine epithets like “man” and “dude,” as though their feminine first names betray the very nature of their competitive spirit.”


My legacy. My partner. You have dreams. Goals you want to achieve during your lifetime and a legacy you want to leave behind. The Private Bank can help. Our highly specialized and experienced wealth strategists can help you navigate the complexities of estate planning and deliver the customized solutions you need to ensure your wealth is transferred according to your wishes. Take the first step in ensuring the preservation of your wealth for your lifetime and future generations. To learn more, please visit unionbank.com/theprivatebank or contact: Lisa Roberts Managing Director, Private Wealth Management lisa.roberts@unionbank.com 415-705-7159

Wills, trusts, foundations, and wealth planning strategies have legal, tax, accounting, and other implications. Clients should consult a legal or tax advisor.

Š2018 MUFG Union Bank, N.A. All rights reserved. Member FDIC. Union Bank is a registered trademark and brand name of MUFG Union Bank, N.A.


and masculine epithets like “man” and “dude,” as though their feminine first names betray the very nature of their competitive spirit. It’s reminiscent of every male dominated sport out there. They don’t want to be weak, so instead they’re “man” and “dude.” It’s easier that way. It’s armor. In my own play, Dust, I also dive into the ferocity of teenage girls. My athletes are a high school swim team, condemned to an unfinished life – the entire play lives in the memory of the young man who killed every one of them, but even in his distorted lens they’re magnificent. The swim team’s captain, Wendy, is the queer object of this vicious man’s attention. Everyone else was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even in death, they work together as a team, shifting the perspective memory by memory. When I told my parents about this play they were surprised I’d chosen an athletic path. Those football games on the street went on for years and at one point I actually took a chance on organized sports, playing two seasons of softball. But their perception of me has always been divorced from the athletics they know and love. They describe my upbringing as musical – a decade of clarinet and nearly the same amount of dance classes. Today, I lack

grace. It’s like my body has forgotten how to move. But as a teenager, I’d show up at my community center on Tuesday nights, poised to learn another thirty seconds of choreography. I wanted so badly to dance to Tchaikovsky. Instead, my teacher brought in the Runaway Bride soundtrack. To this day I can’t hear Shawn Colvin without thinking about those long mirrors, the ballet barre, and the smell of high school girls learning to dance. As I raised my hands high above my head, blood dried on my palms. My mind was on the asphalt road of our makeshift football field. All those years of dance make their way into Dust as well. In an effort to communicate with the audience that something is very wrong, the play never stops moving. Dance is an integral part of the play’s vocabulary, conveying everything from an overactive imagination to a mass murder. This play lives in a zone where words are not sufficient on their own. It’s the unsquareable moment of my bloody palms in a ballet class. It may look delicate at first glance, but upon closer inspection it’s everything but. While I was finding inspiration for Dust in my dad’s legendary tales about his high school swim records, Lauren Yee was looking to her own father’s obsession with basketball as she started

writing The Great Leap. In her author’s note, Yee writes that her father played basketball all day and all night growing up. As a 6’1” Chinatown kid from San Francisco’s projects, he dominated asphalt courts and recreation center floors. He was never going to go pro – he knew that even then. But he was good. He was really good. Lauren Yee’s father first visited China in the 1980s, playing a series of exhibition games against China’s best teams. Yee says that The Great Leap isn’t her father’s story – his American team was defeated too many times to count. But it’s a story like her father’s. In The Great Leap, Manford, a rec center-trained teenager from Chinatown, busts into a basketball practice uninvited, barreling at the team’s point guard, twisting his ankle in the process. With a newly injured player and a life changing exhibition game against Beijing University on the horizon, the University of San Francisco coach, Saul, is livid. In the moment before the play begins, Saul tells Manford that he has thirty seconds to explain why he was “sh---ing all over his practice” before he calls security. While other players might leave immediately, running through the door they came in, Manford takes full advantage of the thirty seconds.

Production photos from the Studio Theatre production of The Wolves. Photo by Teresa Wood. 6   ENCORE STAGES


“I will win you games. I will score you points. I will make you layups. I will shoot from half court, full court. I will shoot over whatever, whenever, whoever is getting in my way. I am quick. I am relentless. I am the most relentless person you have ever met, and if you’ve met someone more relentless than me, tell me. Tell me and I will meet them, and I will find a way to become even more relentless than them.”

“It’s an athletic embarrassment of riches, helmed by three female playwrights who aren’t afraid to walk away with a scraped knee and a couple of bruises.” Despite his short stature and brash introduction, Manford makes his way onto the University of San Francisco team. Because he’s right. He is relentless. But he’s also undeniably talented.

verdi

AIDA may 5–19

VERDI’S MONUMENTAL MASTERPIECE We live in a city that pulses with Seahawks spirit, even in the off season. But March through May, a new cavalry of athletes is taking over. Manford and the University of San Francisco are commanding the Leo K. Theatre at Seattle Rep. Wendy and the Mermaids are taking over Youth Theatre Northwest, aptly surrounded by water on Mercer Island. And the Wolves are running drills up and down the Allen Theatre at ACT. It’s an athletic embarrassment of riches, helmed by

In this profoundly personal love story, Verdi’s power to translate human emotions into magnificent music is on full display. The high-stakes love triangle unfolds on a grand scale amid glorious spectacle and rousing choruses—including the famous Triumphal March. Francesca Zambello’s all-new production includes evocative choreography by Jessica Lang, and largescale visuals by visionary artist RETNA, who cites the structures of Egyptian hieroglyphics as the basis for his striking designs.

SEATTLEOPERA.ORG/AIDA

New Production In Italian with English subtitles. Evenings 7:30 PM Sunday 2:00 PM Featuring the Seattle Opera Chorus and members of Seattle Symphony Orchestra.

MCCAW HALL 206.389.7676 PRODUCTION SPONSORS: LENORE M. HANAUER C.E. STUART CHARITABLE TRUST ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FROM: 4CULTURE Artwork © RETNA (Marquis Duriel Lewis), Photo © Philip Newton

encoremediagroup.com/programs    7


SPACE BARONS, BANKERS, AND A SEAHAWK

LEARN MORE AT TOWNHALLSEATTLE.ORG cinema

Lauren Yee’s father, Larry Yee, blocking a shot. Photo from excerpt of The Great Leap on New Play Exchange, courtesy of the playwright.

three female playwrights who aren’t afraid to walk away with a scraped knee and a couple of bruises. As every coach we’ve ever encountered has said, “Rub some dirt on it and walk it off.” < The Great Leap by Lauren Yee runs at Seattle Repertory Theatre from March 23 to April 22. The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe runs at ACT from April 20 to May 13. A workshop production of Dust by Danielle Mohlman runs at Youth Theatre Northwest from May 11 to 12.

RORY KINNEAR ("PENNY DREADFUL") AND ANNE-MARIE DUFF (SUFFRAGETTE) RETURN TO THE NATIONAL THEATRE TO PLAY MACBETH AND LADY MACBETH.

THU, MAY 10 ∙ SIFF CINEMA UPTOWN SUN, JUN 17 - TUE, JUN 19 ∙ SIFF FILM CENTER FOR TICKETS VISIT SIFF.NET 8   ENCORE STAGES

Danielle Mohlman is a nationally produced feminist playwright based in Seattle. Her play Nexus is among the 2015 Honorable Mentions on The Kilroys list. She is an alumnus of the inaugural class of Playwrights’ Arena at Arena Stage and a member of the 2018 Umbrella Project Writers Group.


Hello, friends! Welcome back to Book-It, or welcome for the first time. We take great pride in the fact that every production on our stage is a brand new play, originally developed by Book-It. But we’ve long recognized a rich tradition of artists around the country transforming great literature into vibrant theatre and wondered how we might one day partner with some of them. Almost by happenstance in 2016, I was connected with Elise Thoron, co-founder of Literature to Life in New York. What was supposed to be a casual introductory phone call turned into a two hour exchange on the thrill and challenges of creating live theatre from literature. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao has long been on our wish list of projects, but the right artists had never aligned to transform this into a signature Book-It production. However, when we learned that Elise had created a one-person adaptation that captured Junot Díaz’ heart, and saw excerpts of Elvis’ magnetic performance, we knew that we could be on to something special for our audience.

Welcome to a Literature to Life Experience! We are thrilled to be here in Seattle from New York City and welcomed with open arms by Book-It. For a long time we have felt alone, being one of the few theatre companies adapting classic American literature to live stage productions… that was until we met our sister family at Book-It and began collaboration with The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Dominican born, American-raised author Junot Díaz. At Literature to Life, we pride ourselves on bringing underrepresented voices with stories to tell to American audiences, hoping to inspire new thoughts, conversation, and new stories. Thank you for taking this 85 minute experience with Literature to Life and Book-It as we ignite your imagination and bring to life American voices worth hearing.

Joe Vigliotti Managing Director, Literature to Life

And thus here we are, realizing two long-held dreams of collaborating with a like-minded company and presenting a bright, bold tale that has captured our hearts and imaginations for years. Thank you for taking the journey with us. Thank you for being here.

Josh Aaseng Associate Artistic Director

encoremediagroup.com/programs   A-1


JANE JONES Founder & Founding Co-Artistic Director MYRA PLATT Founding Co-Artistic Director KAYTI BARNETT-O’BRIEN Managing Director

SEASON SUPPORT

MEDIA SPONSORS

Additional generous support is provided by numerous local businesses, family foundations, and hundreds of individuals. Many thanks to all our supporters

A-2     BOOK-IT REPERTORY THEATRE


By Junot Díaz A Literature to Life/Young Audiences of New York adaptation Adapted and Directed by Elise Thoron ** Performed by Elvis Nolasco

PRODUCTION AND ARTISTIC TEAM Jeremiah Givers* Katie Pennella Catherine Cornell Thorn Michaels Kyle Thompson Emily Sershon Tina Polzin

Stage Manager Assistant Stage Manager Scenic Designer Lighting Designer Sound Designer Properties Designer Dramaturg

PRODUCTION STAFF Dan Schuy Benjamin Radin Jocelyne Fowler Jessica Christensen Shelby Choo Charlie Minshall Emily Sershon Levi Plumb Jessica Jones Fergus Roe

Production Manager Technical Director Costume Shop Manager Scenic Charge Artist Master Carpenter Scenic Carpenter Properties Master Master Electrician Sound Engineer Technical Director Intern

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States ** The Director is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union

Artwork by Nope Ltd. encoremediagroup.com/programs     A-3


FROM

THE DIRECTOR

At Book-It, we’re familiar with the challenges of finding and adapting literature for the stage. What do you look for in a book that Literature to Life will take on? First, I am looking for a book with a strong protagonist whom students can identify with and whose journey is relevant and provocative to their lives like Esperanza in The House on Mango Street, Richard Wright in Black Boy, and Jonas in The Giver. A strong first-person storyteller is a big asset in a one-person verbatim adaptation, you want a narrator who has an urgent need to tell their story and from whom other characters can spring. With The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, it took me a while to discover the central narrator since the book is told in different voices, historical times, and places. But then I found in the middle of the book a section that begins boldly with “It started with me.” I knew I’d found our man, the narrator Yunior. The overarching structure of the book is Yunior telling Oscar’s life story in order to save his own—the book is his “zafa,” “his very own counter spell.” Second, I am listening for powerful language that rolls off the tongue when spoken. Some excellent books don’t jump off the page when spoken, so I always read a book aloud as a test. James Baldwin, Zora Neal Hurston, and Junot Díaz (to name a few Lit to Life authors) all write prose that ignites when spoken aloud. With an actor like Elvis you can hear the full poetry of what Junot has written on the page. Third are all the practical considerations like what is read widely in high schools, on

A-4     BOOK-IT REPERTORY THEATRE

summer reading lists, and Big Read books so our performances can go from stage into the classroom with residencies, or be used in professional development to give teachers new tools. When we go into communities across the country, it’s wonderful to be able to connect different groups and ages through a single book. Lit to Life titles like The Kite Runner, The Glass Castle, The Secret Life of

DIRECTOR

ELISE THORON

Bees are nationally recognized and provoke good discussion. Then there are books like Oscar Wao which is not widely taught in schools, but we believe should be read by students because the book has a real chance of deeply affecting them. I do some Literature to Life adaptations in hopes of giving students and teachers a bridge to reading the book. With Oscar Wao, our teaching artist will ask before the show who has read the book and very few hands, if any, go up, but after the performance when they ask who is going to read it, there is a forest of hands in the air.

Your adaptations are created for one performer. How much does that performer inform or participate in the adaptation process? Literature to Life Co-Founder Wynn Handman, who started the American Place Theatre in 1962, launched the Off-Broadway theatre movement, and is one of the great American acting teachers (at 95 he is still teaching), always says don’t begin working on a book unless you know an actor who can do it. This is very true. You can have an approach and an adaptation outlined, but until you find someone who really has the book inside them, don’t start. Elvis was the only person we found who felt like his life experience, talent, and passion could make this text shine. The first time around adapting a book is like writing a new play, you are trying out material and making hard choices as how best to distill and tell the story. We had a team of two script dramaturgs and Elvis working on the text figuring out what were the tastiest sentences to speak and how best to bring passages into the more active present tense. Elvis is Dominican, I am not, and so while I can provide overarching structure, shape, and outside eyes, he has really lived this novel from the inside, and knows its rhythms, music, and memories. So the collaboration is an intense one; Elvis has created over twenty characters and draws upon the well-spring of his life and experience every time he performs. While most Literature to Life actors stay with a book for many years, sometimes over a decade, we still have to train other actors when someone moves on, and a new actor even


with the same adaption brings a different feeling to the work. I have infinite respect for our actors who hold these books inside them and perform in huge fancy theaters or the community room of a shelter.

How is the story told in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao relevant today? What do you hope audiences come away with? For our student audiences, bullying is very relevant and also the pressure of how their various cultures expect them to act. The book at its core is a relationship between a Dominican macho and an overweight nerd. In Elvis’

home,” (meaning the USA). And Oscar asks an interesting question, “A person can’t have two?” How the book moves between two countries, exploring how their histories intertwine, seems very relevant to people’s lives right now. And, alas, we haven’t escaped FUKU AMERICANUS. In fact, it feels like it has a new Master in this country, so we have a lot to learn from the Trujillo dictatorship and American involvement.

What drew you to this story? Oh my, the book is so full of love, history, wisdom, language, reverence, and irreverence. When our then American Place Theatre

Elvis was the only person we found who felt like his life experience, talent, and passion could make this text shine. performance, they both inhabit the same body, which is amazing. After a show, a student said “being different is being marvelous” was their take away. In addition, it’s a book about immigration and the feeling of growing up in two cultures simultaneously. At one point in the Dominican Republic, Oscar is told to “go home.” He answers, “But this is my home.” and the person says, “No, your real

SPECIAL THANKS

executive director suggested I adapt it many years ago, I said “impossible.” But I agreed to dive deep and at least give it a try because I found the story so compelling and the writing to be such exciting new literature. I love work that uses multiple languages and inhabits multiple time frames. I would never be where I am now writing a libretto for Hatuey, a new Cuban nightclub opera in Yiddish,

without all that I learned from adapting Oscar Wao, and a sense that the impossible is possible sometimes.

What have been the challenges in directing this play? Gosh, it’s terrible cutting out whole story lines, characters, footnotes, and fabulous text. For this BookIt run, we are able to add back in some of our favorite passages that we had to cut for school schedules in which the performance is kept to an hour (well, Oscar Wao was never an hour…) But it has been thrilling to hear Elvis bring some beloved words and ideas back into the piece and not have to worry as much about time.

What in your background uniquely informs what will be seen on stage? A profound love of language and respect for the spoken word. Profound love of working with an actor to create characters with depth and truth. A desire to bring literature to young people and show (not tell) them that books are passionate ways to engage with themselves and the world. I was lucky to go to a school with a fabulous English program; reading and discussing books with my peers around a table with the guidance of a teacher shaped my identity. So I guess you could say that process is still at work on stage and the desire to share “the beauty” of this book with others.

Eileen Doyle, Executive Director of Young Audiences New York Jenn Moore, Deputy Director of Fund Development and Finance of Young Audiences New York Mike Gianakos, Deputy Director of Programs of Young Audiences New York Wynn Handman, co-founder of Literature to Life Third Place Books Lake Forest Park

encoremediagroup.com/programs   A-5


A-6     BOOK-IT REPERTORY THEATRE

Santo Domingo declares its independence and becomes the Dominican Republic (DR), first constitution adopted.

President Pedro Santana returns the DR to Spanish rule.

1844

1861-63

DR and US sign 50-year treaty; the US takes over the DR’s customs department in return for buying its debts.

Treaty of Ryswick gives western part of Hispaniola (Haiti) to France and eastern part (Dominican Republic) to Spain.

1697

1906

As a consequence of Spanish oppression, the population of native people shrunk from one million to 6,000.

1535

The second DR proclaimed following a popular revolt.

First major slave revolt in the Americas occurred in Santo Domingo.

1522

1865

First African slaves imported.

1501

TIMELINE OF EVENTS SURROUNDING DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Constitutional government assumes control; US forces withdraw. General Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina establishes dictatorship following the overthrow of President Vazquez, who is sent to exile. Trujillo army massacres 19,000-20,000 Haitians living in the DR. President Kennedy backs assassination of Trujillo. Juan Bosch, founder of the leftist Dominican Revolutionary Party, elected president in the first democratic elections for nearly four decades.

1930 1937 1961 1962

US forces occupy the DR following internal disorder.

Christopher Columbus reaches the island and names it La Española.

The Taíno Chiefdoms were characterized by large settlements, with houses organized around open plazas. Cotton clothing, woodworking, ball games, and an elaborate artistic tradition were essential part of their religious and social life.

Villages based on farming were widespread.

Earliest Migrations into the Caribbean from Central America, Florida, and the Bahamas.

1924

1916-24

1492

1200-1500

AD 600-1200

4000-2000 BC


Silvestre Antonio Guzman is elected president, releases 200 political prisoners, and eases media censorship.

Two hurricanes leave more than 200,000 people homeless and cause damage worth one billion dollars.

International Monetary Fund puts stern economic measures on DR, including price rises for basic food and gas, which leads to widespread riots.

1978

1979

1985

Described by Junot Díaz as “the Curse and Doom of the New World.” This curse didn’t exist before the arrival of Christopher Columbus. With colonization, the Europeans “unleashed fukú on the world…”, bad luck and tragedy, which spread throughout the Dominican Republic, Hispaniola, and beyond. Centuries later, Columbus’ name can bring about calamity on you and your family if spoken aloud or even heard. It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe in superstitions, because, according to the narrator Yunior, “fukú believes in you.”

Fukú Americanus

A curse or doom of some kind

Fuku

Some 30,000 US troops invade the DR following a pro-Bosch uprising.

three-man civilian junta.

Bosch deposed in military coup and replaced by a

1965

1963

GLOSSARY

encoremediagroup.com/programs   A-7

US jet bound for Santo Domingo crashes in New York, killing all 255 on-board. Three days of national mourning declared. Deadly clashes between police and protesters during demonstrations against high prices, power cuts. Severe floods in the south-west leave more than 2,000 dead or disappeared. Congress approves a proposed free trade agreement with the US and Central American nations. The DR enters the accord in March 2007. Current president, Danilo Medina, elected from the governing Dominican Liberation Party.

2001 2003 2004 2005 2012

“A good luck charm or a counterspell. You say a zafa to protect yourself from a curse.” In Oscar Wao, narrator Yunior (considered to be the alterego of author Junot Díaz) wonders if writing this story “ain’t a zafa of sorts. My very own counterspell.” Díaz, who struggled with learning English as a second language, credits books with saving his life.

Zafa

The protagonist Oscar de León is obsessed with the fukú that has plagued his family for generations. Oscar’s grandfather, who opposed dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina, came down with a fatal case of fukú in 1946. It is unclear if Trujillo was the Curse’s master or servant but it was believed anyone who plotted against Trujillo “would incur a fukú most powerful, down to the seventh generation and beyond.”

Hurricane George causes widespread devastation.

1998


understand where I was and how I got there and in order to understand I read—everything.”

AUTHOR

In a way writing was both his savior and his curse – “After all the first challenge of immigration is to master the new tongue. It turned out to be quite a challenge indeed. I learned English because I had to. Said another way, even after I learned English I never stopped obsessing on language. On whether I had learned English well enough and on the fact that my Spanish was fading. Writing was a way of working through my complicated, thorny relationship.”

JUNOT DIAZ The play you are about to see is a one-man verbatim stage adaptation of Junot Díaz’ book The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Díaz is the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, PEN/Malamud Award, Dayton Literary Peace Prize, Guggenheim Fellowship, and PEN/O. Henry Award. A graduate of Rutgers College, he is the fiction editor at Boston Review and Professor of Writing at MIT. His other books Drown and This is How You Lose Her have also received popular and critical acclaim. But Díaz’ path to success wasn’t a smooth one. Born in the Dominican Republic, he spent a fair amount of his early life fatherless since his father had moved to the States where they would one day join him. After seeing Spiderman on TV, he created an alternate reality in which he was with his father fighting crime in New York. Diaz’ fantasies came to an abrupt halt when his family moved to New Jersey with his father whom he discovered had a fondness for beatings at the “slightest infraction” and had a “side chick as though it were the most normal thing in the world”. Díaz believes books saved him— “I doubt I could have survived that process, that madness, without books, without reading. My public library saved my life. You can’t imagine the confusion of immigration. We all deal with it differently. I coped by trying to

A-8     BOOK-IT REPERTORY THEATRE

So why did he choose writing as a career? “You guys know about vampires? … You know, vampires have no reflections in a mirror? There’s this idea that monsters don’t have reflections in a mirror. And what I’ve always thought isn’t that monsters don’t have reflections in a mirror. It’s that if you want to make a human being into a monster, deny them, at the cultural level, any reflection of themselves. And growing up, I felt like a monster in some ways. I didn’t see myself reflected at all. I was like, “Yo, is something wrong with me? That the whole society seems to think that people like me don’t exist?” And part of what inspired me, was this deep desire that before I died, I would make a couple of mirrors. That I would make some mirrors so that kids like me might see themselves reflected back and might not feel so monstrous for it.” “Art has a way of confronting us, of reminding us, of engaging us, in what it means to be human, and what it means to be human is to be flawed, is to be contradictory, is to be often weak, and yet despite all of these what we would consider drawbacks, that we’re also quite beautiful.”

MEET THE

CAST

Elvis Nolasco Performer

Soon after receiving formal training, Elvis was cast in the hit comedy I Like It Like That with Lauren Valez and Rita Moreno. Elvis was then cast by Spike Lee for the film Clockers with Mekhi Phifer and Delroy Lindo. From this strong foundation, he began building a line of great performances in several independent hits, including his critically acclaimed role in the film In Search of a Dream, the number one grossing independent Latino film. Appearing as a guest star on many hit series over the years, Elvis also was seen recurring in the Spike Lee series “Miracle Boys.” Elvis shot a series regular in the HBO pilot “Da Brick”, directed by Spike Lee and executive produced and written by John Ridley. He has a memorable role in Spike Lee’s feature films The Sweet Blood of Jesus and Old Boy. Recently seen in the critically-acclaimed award-winning ABC anthology series “American Crime” from John Ridley, Elvis was lauded for his performances playing a different character in each season. First in Season 1 taking on the part of Carter Nix, a lost soul suffering from mental illness and drug addiction; in Season 2 he portrayed Chris Dixon, a passionate high school principal. Elvis recently shot a series regular role in the Kathryn Bigelow/Carolyn Strauss produced HBO pilot “Mogadishu, MN” and can be seen on Netflix playing a supporting part in the Forest Whitaker and Pharrell produced Roxanne Roxanne from director Michael Larnell which premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. Elvis can be seen playing the character of ‘Papo’ in the Spike Lee directed series “She’s Gotta Have It” (based on the film of the same name) for Netflix as well as the recurring character of ‘Chip Lauderdale’ in the TNT series “Claws” that stars Niecy Nash. Elvis continues to work on stage, where his performances have earned him rave reviews. Elvis originated the characters in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and in part contributed to development of the piece by serving dramaturge in the original production.


Q & A WITH ELVIS NOLASCO You have appeared in many films and TV shows including “American Crime”, “She’s Gotta Have It”, and Roxanne Roxanne. How does acting in front of a camera differ from performing on stage for you? It doesn’t differ much for me. I still take the same approach to the work, story, and character which is to 1) Do the research 2) Work on the unfulfilled need of the character and have fun...that goes for film, TV, or theatre. You play over 20 characters in this show – did you feel a personal connection with Oscar and/or any other character? Yes, being of Dominican descent, I definitely relate to Oscar and many of the characters in the piece. What are you looking forward to the most with this collaboration with Book-It? Bringing the audience an amazing piece of literature to LIFE; take them on a journey through storytelling. What are your plans while you are in Seattle? Any specific places you want to visit? No plans, just to be able to enjoy and live the moment will suffice. Coffee shops...lol

MEET THE

ARTISTIC STAFF

Elise Thoron Adapter/Director

As associate artistic director at American Place Theatre, Elise co-founded Literature to Life, a highly successful theater literacy program now in its third decade nationwide. In addition to Oscar Wao, she adapted and directed Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk, Hurston’s Folktales, Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, Lois Lowry’s The Giver, and developed County of Kings with Tony award-winning spoken-word poet, Lemon Andersen, which went on to the Public Theater and venues around the world. Elise has created many cross-cultural exchanges with Russian and American theater artists; she adapted and directed The Great Gatsby in Russian at a The Pushkin Theater in Moscow, where it played for over nine years. Her plays and translations have been produced in the United States, Europe, Japan, Cuba. Productions include Green Violin, music by Frank London, (Nine Contemporary Jewish Plays); Prozak and the Platypus, music by Jill Sobule (CD/graphic novella); Charlotte: Life? Or Theater? music by Gary Fagin based on paintings by Charlotte Salomon; Recycling: washi tales, an ongoing collaboration with distinguished Japanese paper artist Kyoko Ibe. Her most recent work Hatuey Memory of Fire, a Cuban nightclub opera in Yiddish, with composer Frank London, was produced by Opera de la Calle in Havana, and will have its North American premiere at Peak Performances in September 2018.

Catherine Cornell Scenic Designer

A selection of Catherine’s local designs include Buyer and Cellar (Seattle Repertory Theatre); Frost/Nixon (Strawberry Theatre Workshop), Bright Half Life (New Century Theatre Company); American Archipelago (Pony World Theatre); The Liar (Seattle Public Theater); Into the Woods (STAGEright); Nadeshiko (Sound Theatre Company); Red Light Winter and 25 Saints (Azeotrope); Master Harold… and the boys (West of Lenin); Crazy For You (Village Theatre KIDSTAGE); and Big Fish (Bainbridge Performing Arts). For Book-It she has designed A Tale for the Time Being, Slaughterhouse-Five, Truth Like the Sun, and several shows for their

Arts & Education Program. Beyond Seattle, she obtained her BFA in Design and Production from the University of Michigan and worked as a scenic artist for the Walt Disney film Oz: The Great and Powerful. www.catcornell.com

Jeremiah Givers* Stage Manager

Jeremiah Givers is pleased to be returning to Book-It. Previous shows with Book-It include Welcome to Braggsville, A Tale for the Time Being, and The Brothers K. He has also worked with Seattle Shakespeare Company (Julius Caesar), Freehold’s Engaged Theatre Project (Henry IV, King Lear), and with Thalia’s Umbrella (The Impossibility of Now, When Love Speaks). A proud graduate of Cornish College of the Arts in Performance Production, he also was a stage management intern at both the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey and Seattle Repertory Theatre.

Thorn Michaels Lighting Designer

Thorn Michaels is a Seattle-based lighting designer for theatre, dance, and opera. Her most recent lighting designs include Robin Hood and The Tender Land (Seattle Opera); Ironbound and Grounded (Seattle Public Theater); Brooklyn Bridge (Seattle Children’s Theatre); Strictly Seattle and Next Fest Northwest (Velocity Dance Center, where she is resident lighting designer); and The Two-Character Play with (Civic Rep, Gregory Award nominee for Outstanding Lighting Design). As the 2016/2017 Hemsley Intern, Thorn served as an assistant lighting designer and assistant lighting supervisor for New York City Ballet, Lincoln Center Festival, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and San Francisco Opera. She holds an MFA in Lighting Design from the University of Washington (2016). For more about her work, please visit www.thornmichaels.com.

Katie Penella

Assistant Stage Manager Katie has been an active stage manager in the Seattle area for several years working on projects like American Buffalo (Seattle Immersive Theatre) but most commonly with kid stage and youth theatre programs across the greater Seattle area. Having just

* Actors’ Equity Association (AEA), founded in 1913, represents more than 45-thousand actors and stage managers in the United States. Equity seeks to advance, promote and foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions, providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. AEA is a member of the AFLCIO, and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions. The Equity emblem is our mark of excellence. www.actorsequity.org

encoremediagroup.com/programs   A-9


finished working on The Maltese Falcon, this is her second production working with the Book-It team.

Tina Polzin Dramaturgy

Tina Polzin is excited to work with Book-It. She has also done dramaturgy for Taproot Theatre Company and has directed in California, New York City, Seattle, and France. She has worked with playwrights to bring new plays to fruition and been a producer of the Estrogenius Festival in New York City. In Seattle she has received grants from 4Culture, The Office of Arts and Culture with Put the Arts in the Parks, and Seattle Pacific University to direct and produce bilingual multidisciplinary interpretations of classics.

Emily Sershon Properties Designer

Emily Sershon is excited to be working with Book-It again, where she last designed Howl’s Moving Castle! Emily graduated with a BA in Drama from the University of Washington and her sets, props, carpentry, and special effects have been seen at Pony World Theatre, Annex Theatre, Centerstage Theatre, and Theatre22. She has been a company member and/or on staff with Annex Theatre since 2008, where she has served as technical director and marketing coordinator. Favorite past designs include The Happiest Song Plays Last (set), Team of Heroes: No More Heroes (set, special effects), Do It for Umma (set), and The Underneath (props).

Kyle Thompson Sound Designer

Kyle is very excited to be working with Book-It again, having previously designed for the 2016 production of Treasure Island. Since 2010, he has designed for over 45 productions in the Seattle area, including Love’s Labour’s Lost (Seattle Shakespeare Company/Wooden O); The Happiest Song Plays Last, Annapurna, Water By The Spoonful (Theatre22); Mothers and Sons, 4,000 Miles (ArtsWest); The Wedding Gift (Forward Flux Productions); Marisol (The Collision Project); Terre Haute (Bridges Stage Company/ACTLab); Oedipus el Rey (eSe Teatro/ACTLab); Undo, The Underneath, Kittens in a Cage (Annex Theatre). Kyle has a BA in Drama from the University of Washington, and he works as an audio engineer at Seattle Children’s Theatre.

Jane Jones

Myra Platt

Jane is the founder of Book-It and founding co-artistic director of Book-It Repertory Theatre, with Myra Platt. In her 30 years of staging literature, she has performed, adapted, and directed works by such literary giants as Charles Dickens, Eudora Welty, Edith Wharton, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Pam Houston, Raymond Carver, Frank O’Connor, Jim Lynch, Ernest Hemingway, Colette, Amy Bloom, John Irving, John Steinbeck, Daphne du Maurier, and Jane Austen. A veteran actress of 35 years, she has played leading roles in many of America’s most prominent regional theatres. Film and TV credits include “Twin Peaks,”The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Singles, and Homeward Bound. She co-directed with Tom Hulce at Seattle Repertory Theatre, Peter Parnell’s adaptation of John Irving’s The Cider House Rules, Parts I and II, which enjoyed successful runs here in Seattle, at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles (Ovation Award, best director) and in New York (Drama Desk Nomination, best director). Recently Jane directed Book-It’s Great Expectations at Portland Center Stage, where her credits also include Pride and Prejudice, Cyrano and Twelfth Night (2008 Drammy award for Best Direction and Production). For Book-It, she has directed The Maltese Falcon, A Moveable Feast, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, The Dog of the South, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Uncensored, Truth Like the Sun, The House of Mirth, The Highest Tide, Travels with Charley, Pride and Prejudice, Howard’s End, In a Shallow Grave, The Awakening, Owen Meany’s Christmas Pageant, A Tale of Two Cities, and The Cider House Rules, Parts I and II, winner of the 2010 and 2011 Gregory Awards for Outstanding Production. In 2008 she, Myra Platt, and Book-It were honored to be named by The Seattle Times among seven Unsung Heroes and Uncommon Genius for their 20-year contribution to life in the Puget Sound region. She is a recipient of the 2009 Women’s University Club of Seattle Brava Award, a 2010 Women of Influence award from Puget Sound Business Journal, and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation’s 20th Anniversary Founders Grant, and was a finalist for the American Union for Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation’s 2012 Zelda Fichandler Award.

As an original founding member of Book-It, Myra has helped produce over 125 worldpremiere mainstage productions and over 30 education touring productions. Most recently she directed and adapted the new musical Howl’s Moving Castle. Previously, she adapted and directed The Brothers K and directed The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (2014 Gregory Award for Outstanding Production, The Seattle Times Footlight Award). She was nominated for Outstanding Director 2012 (Financial Lives of the Poets) and 2014 (Kavalier & Clay). Directing credits include Little Bee, The Financial Lives of the Poets, The River Why, Persuasion, Night Flight: An Operetta, Red Ranger Came Calling, The House of the Spirits, Plainsong, Cry, the Beloved Country, Sweet Thursday, Giant, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Cowboys Are My Weakness, Roman Fever, and A Child’s Christmas in Wales. Adapting credits include Little Bee, The Financial Lives of the Poets, The River Why, Night Flight: An Operetta, Red Ranger Came Calling, The House of the Spirits, Giant, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Cowboys Are My Weakness, Roman Fever, A Child’s Christmas in Wales, The Art of Racing in the Rain, and co-adapted Owen Meany’s Christmas Pageant with Jane Jones. Composing credits include Prairie Nocturne, Night Flight: An Operetta (with Joshua Kohl), Red Ranger Came Calling: A Musical (with Edd Key), The Awakening, Ethan Frome, Owen Meany’s Christmas Pageant, A Child’s Christmas in Wales, and I Am of Ireland. Acting credits include Seattle Repertory Theatre, Intiman Theatre, New City Theatre, the Mark Taper Forum, Prairie Nocturne, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, The Awakening (West Los Angeles Garland Award), and Howards End. She originated the role of Candy Kendall in The Cider House Rules, Parts I and II directed by Jane Jones and Tom Hulce. Myra is the recipient, with Jane Jones, of a Paul G. Allen Family Foundation Anniversary grant, the 2008 Women of Influence from Puget Sound Business Journal, and was named by The Seattle Times a 2010 Unsung Hero and Uncommon Genius for their 20-year contribution to life in the Puget Sound region.

Founding Co-Artistic Director

Founder, Founding Co-Artistic Director

AFFILIATIONS

Actors Equity Association This theater operates under an agreement within AEA, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States. Actors Equity Association (AEA) founded in 1913, represents more than 49,000 actors and stage managers in the United States.

A-10     BOOK-IT REPERTORY THEATRE

Theatre Puget Sound

Theatre Communications Group


SIGN UP TODAY Book-It’s work happens all year long. Our artists are rehearsing and performing all year. The Arts & Education Program tours children’s books throughout the school year and even in the summer. Book-It’s scene shop staff is building sets around-the-clock. You can support Book-It’s work year-round with a monthly donation. It’s a meaningful way to keep our pages turning to each new chapter.

100

$

$

A MONTH $1,200 A YEAR

$

25

Support a full one-week residency in a local high school classroom. (Plus, as a major donor, you’ll be invited to exclusive First Rehearsal events!)

50

A MONTH $600 A YEAR

10

Bring the world of a novel to life! Buy all the paint needed to create one of our acclaimed sets. (And as a Pulitzer Prize Circle member, you’ll be invited to the annual Literature of Champions reception.)

$

A MONTH $300 A YEAR

Underwrite two post-performance workshops for elementary school students, giving them long-lasting literacy education.

A MONTH $120 A YEAR

Pays for our theatre space for a single performance of a mainstage show

BE A PAGE-TURNER TODAY AND SIGN UP NOW: WEB bit.ly/BeAPageTurner CALL 206.428.6202 EMAIL development@book-it.org encoremediagroup.com/programs   A-11


BOOK-IT

DONORS

This list reflects gifts received March 1, 2017 – February 28, 2018.

ADVOCATES CIRCLE - $100,000+ Sage Foundation

LITERARY LEGENDS CIRCLE - $50,000+ The Boeing Company Mary Pigott True-Brown Foundation Kris & Mike Villiott

LITERARY CHAMPIONS CIRCLE - $25,000+ ArtsFund The Sheri & Les Biller Family Foundation Shirley & Dave Urdal

LITERARY HEROES CIRCLE - $10,000+ 4Culture BMGI Sonya & Tom Campion Jane & Bob Cremin The Elizabeth George Foundation Stuart Frank & Marty Hoiness Gretl Galgon Ellen & John Hill Stellman Keehnel Margaret Kineke & Dennis West Lucky Seven Foundation Holly & Bill Marklyn The Morgan Fund National Endowment for the Arts Nesholm Family Foundation The Norcliffe Foundation Michell & Larry Pihl Seattle Office of Arts & Culture Anonymous

PARTNERS CIRCLE - $5,000+ John Aldaya & Tom DeFelice Diana Carey Amy & Matthew Cockburn Emily Davis Estate of Caroline Feiss Hazel Miller Foundation Ellen Maxson N. Elizabeth McCaw & Yahn W. Bernier Anne McDuffie & Tim Wood Mary Metastasio Nordstrom Kathy & Brad Renner Lynne & Nick Reynolds U.S. Bank Foundation

LEADERSHIP CIRCLE - $2,500+ Adobe Matching Gifts Program Monica Alquist ArtsWA Jim & Marilyn Barnett Patricia Britton Carolyn & George Cox A-12     BOOK-IT REPERTORY THEATRE

SPECIAL THANKS Perkins Coie LLP for sponsoring the May 3 performance of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Anne Fisher Ravens Margaret Griffiths Jay Hereford & Margaret Winsor Nancy Lomneth & Mark Boyd Lydig Construction Peter & Kelly Maunsell Shyla Miller Glenna Olson & Conrad Wouters Perkins Coie LLP Shirley Roberson Kate & Stephen Robinson Rachel Sage & Carlos White Steve Schwartzman & Daniel Karches Charyl Kay & Earl Sedlik SEI Giving Fund Martha Sidlo Nancy & Warren Smith Drella & Garth Stein Christine & Josh Stepherson Williams Miller Family Foundation Rachel Wilsey & Sam Bernstein Anonymous

NOBEL PRIZE CIRCLE - $1,000+ Cinnimin Avena Donna & Anthony Barnett Salli & Stephen Bauer Lenore & Dick Bensinger Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Janet Boguch & Kelby Fletcher Penny Bradley & Michael Yang Judy Brandon & H. Randall Webb Karen Brandvick-Baker & Ross Baker Mary Anne Braund & Steve Pellegrin Pablo Butler Joann Byrd Karen & Tom Challinor Clipper Seafoods, LTD. Donna Cochener Laura & Greg Colman Gordon B. Davidson D.A. Davidson & Co. Nora & Allan Davis Christina & Mark Dawson Mark Dexter & Deborah Cowley Earl B. Gilmore Foundation Elizabeth & Paul Fleming Merck Foundation Jayn & Hugh Foy Mary Frances & Harold Hill Tina Ganguly & Tim Whitwell Jean Gorecki & Dick Dobyns Craig & Darcy Greene

Laura & Erik Hanson Heather Howard & Roderick Cameron Melissa Huther Judith Jesiolowski & David Thompson Brent Johnson Karr Tuttle Campbell Debbie Killinger Dan Kuhn Block Leavitt Foundation Leslie Fund, Inc. Terry & Frank Michiels Martha Mukhalian Marcia Nagae Whitney & Jerry Neufeld-Kaiser Lisbet Nilson & Mark Ashida Christiane Pein & Steven Bull Michele & Kyle Peltonen Shawn & Mike Rediger Nancy Lee Smith Colleen & Brad Stangeland Gail Tanaka Cassandra Tate & Glenn Drosendahl Jennifer Teunon & Adam Smith Katherine & James Tune Ruth & Jerry Verhoff Elizabeth Warman Judith Whetzel Carol & Bryan Willison Christina Wright & Luther Black Anonymous

PULITZER PRIZE CIRCLE - $500+ Connie Anderson • Lindsay & Tony Blackner • Don & Karen Brown • Cory Carlson • Christina Chang & Paul Stucki • Elizabeth Choy & James Lobsenz • Carol & Bill Collins • Gaylee & Jim Duncan • Titia & Bill Ellis • Sara Elward • Constance Euerle • Polly & Eric Feigl • Suzanne Fry & Richard Moore • Shannon & Graham Gardner • R. Brooks Gekler • Jane & David Graham • Kathryn Greenberg • Mark Hamburg • Lenore Hanauer • Deb, Tod, Jasmine, & Eliana Harrick • Lisa & William Holderman • Mary & Eric Horvitz • Robert Hovden & Ron DeChene • Elizabeth Hubbard • Winifred Hussey • Russell Janney • Catherine Johnson

BECOME A PRODUCER You can bring a book to our stage! By becoming a Producer, you will earn special recognition and exclusive access to the production process of a mainstage show. Learn more by contacting us at development@book-it.org.


• Jane Jones & Kevin McKeon • Jamie & Jeremy Joseph • Jeffrey M. Kadet • Mariko Kita & Mark Wellington • Mary Klubben • Mr. & Mrs. Gareld John Kneepkens • Tami & Rob Kowal • Emily Krebill • Jessica Kurtz Pokorny & Eric Pokorny • Richard LeBlanc • Darcy & Lee MacLaren • Melissa & Don Manning • Medina Foundation • Beth Moursund • Jane Noland & Tom Zilly • Doris O’Connor • Cheryl & Tom Oliver • Deborah & Jeff Parsons • Olivia Pi-Sunyer & Andrew DeVore • Myra Platt & Dave Ellis • Eleanor & Charles Pollnow • Barb & Dan Radin • Ann Ramsay-Jenkins • Doris D. & Charles K. Ray • Roberta Reaber & Leo Butzel • Priscilla Rice • Paula Riggert • Jo Ann & Jim Roberts • Mig Schaaf & Stuart Dunwoody • Lauren & George Schuchart • Pamela & Nate Searle • Gail & John Sehlhorst • Michael & Jo Shapiro • Jenness & John Starks • Janice Strand • Deborah Swets • Sara Thompson & Richard Gelinas • Amanda Twiss • Karen & Ron Van Genderen • Audrey Watson • Gregory Wetzel • Leora & Robert Wheeler • Paula & Bill Whitham • Lordia & Jeremy Williams • Anonymous

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD CIRCLE - $250+ Sara Agassiz• Melissa Albert • Ali & Robert Alexander • Gail Anderson • Virginia Anderson • Amy Arvidson • Heather & Mark Barbieri • Gene Barton • Susan Bean • Nancy L. Bittner • Inez Noble Black • Bonnie & Webb Bowie • Erin Brindley • Kim Brotherton • Sally Brunette • Thomas Buford • Linda & Peter Capell • Mary Casey-Goldstein • Sylvia & Craig Chambers • Beth Cooper • Pamela Cowan & Steve Miller • Robin Dearling & Gary Ackerman • Sandra & Paul Dehmer • Dottie Delaney • Lynn Dissinger • Ron Dohr • Carol & Kelly Dole • Mary Dombrowski • Julie Edsforth & Jabe Blumenthal • Katharine Feehan • Liz Fitzhugh & Jim Feldman • Caroline Fox • Marlene Friend • Norman Garner • Siobhan Ginnane & Dan Whelan • Vicki & Gerrie Goddard • Carla Granat & Stephen Smith • Diane Grover • Lisa Hanna • Lloyd Herman & Richard Wilson • Barbara Hieronymus • Trish & Doug Honig • Cynthia Huffman & Ray Heacox • Angela & Thomas Johnson • Alice Braverman & Patrick Kafer • Steve Kennebeck • Mary Beth & Marty King • Monique Kleinhans & Bob Blazek • Kristen Laine & Jim Collins • Eleni Ledesma & Eric Rose • Meredith Lehr & William Severson • The Lennon-Keegan Family • Susan Lerner • Arni H. Litt • Sherry & Douglas Luetjen • Vivienne & Paul Manheim • Mary Anne Stusser Martin & Charles Martin • Janet McCammon • Ruth McCormick • Ann McCurdy & Frank Lawler • Susan & Bob Mecklenburg • Microsoft Matching Gifts Program • Jen Modjeska • Richard Monroe • Min Moon • Karen O’Connor • Lauren Offenbecher • Mona & Kurt Owen • Shelley & Tim Pearce • Corliss Perdaems & Carl Kassebaum • Sherry Perrault & Michael Harding • Yumi Petersen • Linda Quirk • Maren Richter • Karen Robins • Katherine Runyon • Jain Rutherford

GIFTS IN HONOR & MEMORY In honor of Samuel Bernstein Hollister Weber In honor of Erika Calhoun Andrea Calhoun In honor of Emily Davis Stephanie M. Hilbert In honor of Melinda Deane Andrea Ptak & Aaron Houseknecht In honor of Anne Fisher & Jaxon Ravens’ wedding Deborah Wolf In memory of Susan Hirasawa Anonymous In memory of Reuben “Boy” Lopez on Live for Good Day 2017 Colleen & Brad Strangeland Martha Mukhalian In memory of Joyce Radke Sara Agassiz In honor of Rem Ryals Karen Van Genderen In honor of Christine Stepherson Nancy Ward

• Linda Sahlin • Patti & Mark Seklemian • Shelton-de Clercq Family • Sharon & Tom Sherrard • Marilyn Sherron • Kathlyn & Ken Simkins • Candace Smith & Steven Bolliger • Penny & Dan Smith • Veronica Smith & Natalie Hamrick • Barbara Snyder • Julie Stohlman • Linda & Hugh Straley • Liann & Stephen Sundquist • Lisa & Manish Tripathi • Jorie Wackerman • Susan Ward • Melinda Williams • Shannon Williams • Michael Winters • Anonymous (7)

PEN/FAULKNER AWARD CIRCLE - $100+ Doug Adams & Scott Fitzgerald • Judith Alexander • Katherine Alexander • Daemond Arrindell • Deborah Ashin • Anne & Roger Baker • Putnam Barber & Valerie Lynch • Becky Barnett & Roger Tucker • Kayti Barnett-O’Brien • Claire Beighle • Chris Bennion • Julia Bent • Roger Berger & Eileen Simmons • Hugh & Rebecca Bergeson • Beth & Benjamin Berman • Karl Bischoff & Leslie Phinney • Philip Brazil • Nicole Brodeur • Becky Brooks & Jeff Youngstrom • Chris Brown • Patricia Brunetto • Bryan Burch • Stan & Alice Burgess • Kathleen Caldwell • Erika Calhoun • Zimmie Caner & Tom Edwards • Kate Carruthers • Eric Cederwall • Susan Chiavelli • Kristy Clay • Catherine Clemens • Richard O. Coar • Kymberli Colbourne • Jennifer Collins & Jaron Cook •

Mike & Janice Cummings O’Mahony • Kate Curtis • Don & Marilyn Davidson • Virginia Davis • Melinda Deane & Danny Wheetman • Wendy del Valle • Roberta DeVore • Nelson Dong & Diane Wong • Marcia Donovan • Beth L. Dubey • Nancy E. Ellingham • Lynne & Hollie Ellis • Marilyn Endriss • Tami Erhart • Bretnie & Eric Eschenbach • Laura Fine-Morrison • Linda Finn • Judi & Steve Finney • Patricia & Richard Fiske • Corinne Fligner & Mark Wener • K Denice Fischer-Fortier & James Fortier • Ron Friedman • Alan & Lisbeth Fritzberg • Jean & Mike Gannon • Cezanne Garcia • Graham Gardner • Shelley Gibson • Dick & Faye Gillett • Pat Graves & David Nash • Laurie Greig • Dan & Bri Griep • Clay Gustaves • Linda Haas • Amy Harris • Denise Hastings • Phyllis Hatfield • Kathryn Hazzard • Anne Heavey • Ellen & David Hecht • Linda Heinen • Cynthia Hennessy • Chris Higashi • Stephanie M. Hilbert • Jean Hilde & Hunter Fulghum • Wendy Hilliker & Eric Tishkoff • Mariko & John Hirasawa • John Hoey & Lisa Olason • Ann Hollar & Steve Orser • Hollister Weber • Dorothy Hopper • Harriet Huber • Jeanne Iannucci & Terry Holme • Alison Inkley • Lani Jacobsen • Kent Johnson & Cody Blomberg • Susan Jones • Kris Jorgensen & Margey Rubado • Gil Joynt • Neil Jungemann • Joan Kalhorn • David Kasik & Jan Levine • Pam Kendrick • Anne Kiemle & Kael Sherrard • Owen Kikuta • Arleen Klasky • Klein Family • Alana & Harry Knaster • Hank Knottnerus • Marianna & Agastya Kohli • Marsha Kremen & Jilly Eddy • Mary Jo Kringas • Alan Kristal & Jason Lamb • Kikue Kubota • Akshay Kulkarni • Larry Lewin • Linda Lewis • Bonnie Lewman • Christine Livingston • Martha Lloyd • Brock Loen • Bill Logan • Craig Lorch • Mary Frances Lyons • Thomas Markl • Elizabeth Mathewson • Elaine Mathies • Paul & Anna McKee • Kay Meyers • Tami & Joe Micheletti • Alex Modelski • Vivian Montoya & Jay Livey • Cornelia & Terry Moore • Mia Morris • Elizabeth Morrison & Geoff Crooks • Christopher Mumaw • Helen & Craig Mumaw • Jaime Neal • Grace Nordhoff & Jonathan Beard • Rosemarie Oliver • Phebe O’Neill • Brendan Orta • Marsha Ose & David Shellenbarger • Cheryl Papadakis • Sara Patton • Cecilia Paul & Harry Reinert • Julie Paul • Cathy & Jeff Peda • Maggie & Clint Pehrson • Harold Pelton • Louise Perlman • Christopher Peterson • Robert Pillitteri • Wilson Wyoming Platt • Susan Porterfield • Evelyn Priestley • Andrea Ptak & Aaron Houseknecht • Lisa Quinn • Laurie Radheshwar • Monica Ramsey • Kim Raymoure • Michelle Rebert & Tom Laughlin • Esther Reese • Jane & Jay Reich • Nancy Reichley • Mary Rhyner-Saulnier & George Saulnier • Leslie & Greg Rice • Karen & Eric Richter • Carla Rickerson • Rebecca Ripley • Beth Rollinger • Erica Rose • Jennifer Cells Russell • Lee Scheingold • Paul Schiavo • Julie & Jeff Schoenfeld • B. Charlotte Schreiber • Kinza & Philip Schuyler • Lavonne & Josh Searle • Brian & Brenda Shea • Stephen F. Silha • Marcia & Peter Sill • Caren Skube • Marilyn Sloan • Virginia Sly • Barbara Smith • Jennifer Smith encoremediagroup.com/programs   A-13


• Craig & Vicki Sosey • Carrie Sparlin • Diane Stark • Patty Starkovich & Greg Allen • Stickel Family • David & Elise Stokes • Ericka Stork • Alexandra Tavares • Jen Taylor • Sally H. & Robert Telzrow • Anne Terry • Matthew Tevenan • Carly Thaler • Richard Thorvilson • Carolyn True • Nancy Truitt Pierce • Carolyn & Rick Turnbaugh • Eugene Usui • Marcia Utela • Ruth Valine & Ed McNerney • Dana Van Nest & Paul Casey • John VanGilder • Curtis Vredenburg • Ava Wang • Nancy Ward • Scott Warrender & John Bianchi • Suzanne & Brent Weaver • Jennifer Weis • Jean & David White • Sara White & Robert Jordan • D.D. Wigley • Louise Wilkinson • Rob Williamson • Sarah Wilmot • Patricia Wilson • Jill O. Wolcott & Mitchell J. Olejko • Pamela Wolf • Diane Zahn & Mark McDermott • Anonymous (18)

PAGE-TURNERS Special thanks to the following donors participating in our monthly giving program: the Book-It Page-Turners. Monica Alquist Patricia Britton Becky Brooks & Jeff Youngstrom Laura & Greg Colman Melinda Deane & Danny Wheetman Marcia Donovan Viveca Dubenion Beth L. Dubey Anne Fisher Ravens Margaret Griffiths Kathryn Hazzard Lloyd Herman & Richard Wilson Kris Jorgensen & Margey Rubado Margaret Kineke & Dennis West Ellen Maxson Ruth McCormick Marion & George Mohler Deborah & Jeff Parsons Carla Patterson Shirley Roberson Karen Robins Margaret Saunders Jack & Vicki Goldstein Seznick Christine & Josh Stepherson Deborah Swets Kris & Mike Villiott Joella Werlin Book-It makes every attempt to be accurate with our acknowledgments. Please contact Development Associate Ian Stewart at ians@book-it.org or 206.428.6202 with any changes or corrections.

A-14     BOOK-IT REPERTORY THEATRE

UP NEXT AT BOOK-IT 2018-2019 SEASON ANNOUNCEMENT PARTY

Sunday, May 6, 3:00pm

Book-It Repertory Theatre—the company that brings books to life on stage—is launching its 29th season with an announcement party in Elliott Bay Book Company’s reading room on Sunday, May 6 at 3pm. For just $5, enjoy light refreshments and be the first to hear about all five shows of Book-It’s 2018-19 mainstage season. Subscriptions may be purchased at the event (save 10% off regular prices). Seating is limited. Elliott Bay Book Company is located at 1521 10th Ave, Seattle, WA 98122

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY June 6-July 1

When the handsome Dorian Gray sees a portrait a male admirer has made of him, he laments, “how sad it is! I will grow old and horrible and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young … if it were only the other way.”—and a Faustian bargain is struck. Oscar Wilde’s only novel scandalized Victorian England with its open examination of sex, drugs, and even murder, and its ultimate declaration that hiding from one’s true self is the real sin.

ADA’S VIOLIN: THE STORY OF THE RECYCLED ORHCESTRA OF PARAGUAY July & August

Book-It Arts & Ed Touring Stories: Susan Hood’s extraordinary true tale of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay, an orchestra made up of children playing instruments built from recycled trash. The show is performed in English and Spanish and runs 30-40 minutes. To book this show for your school or community center, call 206.428.6266

THANKS FOR INDULGING OUR GUILTY PLEASURES! Book-It would like to extend a special “Thank you!” to the businesses who helped make our 2018 Guilty Pleasures a smashing success: Babeland, Inc. Bull Run Distillery Chuck’s Hop Shop Fremont Brewing Company Georgetown Brewing Company The Growler Guys Metropolitan Market Pabst Brewing Company Trader Joe’s Queen Anne

Bring Book-It Arts & Education to Your School or Community Center 206.426.6266 book-it.org/education


Book-It Arts & Ed Programs are dedicated to inspiring people of all ages to read. We are proud to offer you an array of programs that provide forums for learning, growth, exploration, and participation in the intangible benefits of arts integration.

The Upside Down Boy / El niño de cabeza by Juan Felipe Herrera Illustrated by Elizabeth Gómez TOURING: Oct – Dec When Juan and his family move to a big city, his whole world feels upside down. He doesn’t speak English, he doesn’t understand the rules to recess, and whenever he tries to speak, his tongue feels like heavy rocks. But with the help of music, poetry, and an encouraging teacher, Juan finds his voice and footing in this upside down world that he soon considers his home.

2018+19 TOURING STORIES

New Shoes by Susan Lynn Meyer Illustrated by Eric Velasquez TOURING: Jan – March Ella Mae is in need of some new shoes, but when she and her mother arrive at Mr. Johnson’s shoe store, her happiness quickly turns to dejection. She is forced to wait and unable to even try a pair on because of her skin color. Determined to fight back, Ella Mae and her friend work to collect and restore old shoes. The girls have their very own shoe sale, giving the other African American members of their community a place where they can be treated fairly and “try on all the shoes they want.”

The Trickster Tales: Raven and Coyote TOURING: March – June In these two stories shared by many northwest coast and southwest nations, we follow the folktales of Coyote and Raven. In Raven, this great shape-shifter and trickster, wants to give people the gift of light. Transforming into a human and using his signature trickster moves, Raven quickly outsmarts the great Sky Chief into sharing his three boxes of light: the box of stars, the box with the moon, and the box with the sun! In coyote, all this touble maker wants to do is sing, dance and fly with crows. Yet he soon learns that the best place for his feet to be firmly planted is on the ground.

BOOK YOUR TOURING STORY TODAY 206.428.6266

EDUCATION@BOOK-IT.ORG

encoremediagroup.com/programs   A-15


Book-It Repertory Theatre is a nonprofit organization dedicated to transforming great literature into great theatre through simple and sensitive production and to inspiring its audiences to read.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

BOOK-IT STAFF Jane Jones Founder & Founding Co-Artistic Director

Myra Platt Founding Co-Artistic Director

Kayti Barnett-O’Brien Managing Director

OFFICERS Larry Pihl, President

Chief Financial Officer, Clipper Seafoods

Stephen Robinson, Vice President Writer

ARTISTIC Josh Aaseng Associate Artistic Director Shawna Grajek Casting Associate

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS

Benjamin Radin Technical Director

Glen Miller Director of Marketing & Communications

Jocelyne Fowler Costume Shop Manager

Val Brunetto Communications Manager

EDUCATION Annie DiMartino Director of Education

PATRON SERVICES

Dominic Lewis Tour Manager

Sasha Bailey Patron Services Manager

DEVELOPMENT

Aly Guzman-Dyrseth Box Office Sales & Data Specialist

Sally Brunette Director of Development Ian Stewart Development Associate

Shelby Choo Master Carpenter Emily Sershon Properties Master

Stuart Frank, Secretary

Casting Manager, Entertainment, Holland America Line

John Aldaya, Treasurer

Chief Financial Officer, Carrix

BOARD MEMBERS Monica Alquist

Director of Events and Special Projects, Puget Sound Business Journal

Mark Boyd

SERVICES

Community Volunteer

Wolken Communica Graphic Design

Community Volunteer

Alabastro Photography Chris Bennion Photography John Ulman Photography

PRODUCTION

Fat Yeti Photography

Dan Schuy Production Manager

Tom Wahl, IT Support

Linda Brown Laura Colman

Healthcare & Human Resources Executive, Retired

Anne Fisher Ravens

Senior Associate, Point B

Craig Greene

Vice President of Operations, Lydig Construction

Jane Jones Founding Co-Artistic Director, Book-It Repertory Theatre

Margaret Kineke

Shawna Grajek Assistant Production Manager

Senior Vice President, Financial Consultant, Davidson Companies

Mary Metastasio

Senior Portfolio Manager, Safeco, Retired

CONTACT US

Shyla Miller

Book-It is a vibrant literature-based theater company that transforms great works of classic and contemporary literature into fully staged works for audiences young and old — more than 125 world-premiere adaptations and counting. Book-It’s combined programs ignite the imaginations of more than 80,000 people yearly through the power of live theater. Among the company’s honors: 2010 Mayor’s Arts Award, Paul G. Allen Family Foundation Founder’s Award, 2012 Governor’s Arts Award, and three Gregory Awards for Outstanding Production. www.book-it.org

Community Investor, Global Corporate Citizenship NW Region, The Boeing Company

Christopher Mumaw (Associate) Independent scenic designer

Myra Platt Founding Co-Artistic Director, Book-It Repertory Theatre

Shirley Roberson Senior Associate, Hughes Media Law Group

CENTER THEATRE AT THE ARMORY

BOX OFFICE CONTACT

BOX OFFICE

206.216.0833 • boxoffice@book-it.org

Steven Schwartzman Attorney, U.S. Postal Service, Western Law Department

Earl Sedlik

Seattle Center

Educator and Supporter

305 Harrison Street, Seattle

Christine Stepherson Founder, Team Soapbox

ADMINISTRATION CONTACT

ADMINISTRATION OFFICES

206.216.0877 • info@book-it.org

158 Thomas Street, Seattle

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

Lordia Williams

Senior Manager, Amazon Human Resources

EMERITUS BOARD

INSTAGRAM

Ross Baker Joann Byrd Emily Davis Dan Kuhn Deborah Swets Ruth Valine Kris Villiott Liz Warman Audrey Watson

bookitrep

Sonya Campion Beth McCaw Ann Ramsay-Jenkins Tom Robbins Garth Stein

HONORARY BOARD /bookitrep A-16     BOOK-IT REPERTORY THEATRE

@book_it


Dialogue

Encore Stages in conversation

Photo by Youth in Focus student.

Youth in Focus is a 24-year-old youth development photography program whose mission is to empower young people to experience their world in new ways and to make positive changes in their lives through photography.

Encore Stages recently sat down with Trina Gadsden, Youth in Focus’s Executive Director, to discuss seeing the world in light and shadows, a boy named Tony, and how you can help.

What is Youth in Focus?

We put cameras in the hands of adolescents and place them in a challenging environment surrounded by high-quality, talented teachers and nurturing adult mentors, creating a strong community of support. Through photography our students find their voice, identity, creativity, and gain new confidence in their worth and abilities. We are the people who teach kids how to develop negatives into positives. Nobody has as much fun creating a safe community of trust and support for youth through photography, as we do. Our impact is empowering youth to find their voice and gain self-confidence as encoremediagroup.com/programs    9


Photo by Youth in Focus student Chris P.

they learn life skills and discover who they are, and what matters to them. Are you a photographer yourself? What got you into the art form?

Back in the day my father bought me a second-hand film camera before I headed off to college. Since that time, I see the world in light and shadows. Photography has always been a magical medium for me to explore human emotions and nature’s gifts. How did you get involved with Youth in Focus?

While in graduate school, I was fascinated with the nonprofit and partnered with them any opportunity I could, to see how the organization could play on a larger scale and serve more youth through the gift of photography. When the former Executive Director decided to leave, the Founder, Walter Bodle, left me a voicemail and said, “You need to apply.” 10   ENCORE STAGES

“Through photography our students find their voice, identity, creativity, and gain new confidence in their worth and abilities.”

At the time, I was running a nonprofit doing work in Uganda, but I knew I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to help empower youth in our community through a camera lens. Who are some of your favorite photographers? Why?

Our Youth in Focus students who create profound work and continue to vulnerably reveal their inner struggles through a camera lens. We often rush through our busy lives without truly noticing or appreciating all the unique things that surround us. Our students continue to remind me of the beauty in the small things. In the professional realm, Joyce Tenneson’s portraits have always been hauntingly beautiful and unworldly to me. And Alan Ross, who was Ansel Adams’ assistant for years, chases light and captures emotions in nature, like no other.


Trina Gadsden.

What are some specific events or activities throughout the year that the kids participate in?

We offer quarterly Core Classes for youth ages 13-19 in digital and black and white photography. Throughout the year we partner with schools, community centers, libraries and other organizations within the community through our Partner Programs, and we work with populations ranging from elementary school children to 92-yearolds through our Seniors in Focus program!

“Nobody has as much fun creating a safe community of trust and support for youth through photography, as we do.”

SEASONAL EXHIBITS FOR YOUR PALETTE Enjoy artistically inspired dishes crafted from local ingredients, and see the personal story of Dale Chihuly through his collections. LUNCH / WEEKEND BRUNCH

COLLECTIONSCAFE.COM L O C AT E D AT C H I H U LY G A R D E N A N D G L A S S 305 HARRISON ST / SEATTLE WA 206.753.4935

If you loved Priscilla Queen of the Desert at BPA, sail back for…

Book by Douglas Carter Beane Music and Lyrics by Jeff Lynne and John Farrar Based on the Universal Pictures film with Screenplay by Richard Danus & Marc Rubel Directed by Joanna Hardie Musical Direction by Elizabeth Faye “Choreography by Heather Dawson Originally produced on Broadway by Robert Ahrens,Don Vickery, Tara Smith, B. Swibel, Sara Murchison, Dale Smith & Cari Smulyan

May 4 thth–20 thth Tickets: 206.842.8569

bainbridgeperformingarts.org bainbridgeperformingarts.org Presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI), www.MTIShows.com

200 MADISON AVENUE NORTH

encoremediagroup.com/programs    11


Photo by Youth in Focus student. What are some of your favorite memories of Youth in Focus?

by Oscar Wilde

MAY 16 - JUN 23 taproottheatre.org 206.781.9707 204 N 85th St Seattle, WA

PROFESSIONAL THEATRE IN A NEIGHBORHOOD SETTING

12   ENCORE STAGES LadyW_CityArts_ad1-6.indd 1

2/20/18 4:09 PM

One of my favorite memories at Youth in Focus has nothing to do with photography and more about the connection with the youth. A few years ago, there was a student named Tony, who was personally struggling because he had been moved around so many times while in foster care. He would come early to class and would sit in my office and we would talk about his day, sometimes he would ask for advice on how to get along with his foster parents better as he didn’t want to get moved again, but most of the time I just listened and let him know I saw him and appreciated him. About a year into our program, after changing schools and his foster care home again, he ran in my office and said he was getting adopted by one of his teachers in his school! We were both so excited, we started crying and jumping around my office! His new

“Dad” showed up to his End of Quarter Show and Tony was grinning from ear to ear as he shared his final image and spoke to the crowd about his work and experience in our program.

“Our Youth in Focus students ...reveal their inner struggles through a camera lens.” What do you hope for the organization in both the near and distant future?

My goal has always been to be a sustainable organization that can serve more kids through quality programs. Long term, we have been working with Mahlum Architects to help design ‘Youth in Focus in a Box’ so we can


How to get involved!

Wholesale and Retail Sales ¿ Roasting fine coffees since 1993

Teach Youth in Focus needs professional teaching artists to teach B&W Darkroom and Digital Photography classes. Course are eight-weeks long and occur throughout the year. They also offer workshops and partner programs, depending on a teacher’s interest and skills. Mentor If you have experience with photography and working with at-risk youth, you could become a mentor with Youth in Focus to help make a difference in the lives

One of Seattle’s original roaster cafes, Lighthouse has spent more than twenty years creating a loyal following of coffee lovers. Lighthouse roasts consistently great coffee in small batches of the freshest premium beans, hand roasted in a vintage cast-iron roaster each day.

of over 300 kids a year. Mentors must be available for class twice a week, over an eight-week course. Volunteer Maybe you’d like to help, but photography isn’t a strong suit.

400 N 43rd St. ¿ Seattle, WA. 98103 ¿ 206-633-4775 LIGHTHOUSEROASTERS.COM

Youth in Focus has volunteer positions available to help with everything from events to recruitment to administrative tasks. Learn more and apply for any of these positions at youthinfocus.org

expand to other communities in the state and nationwide. How can one support Youth in Focus?

Individual donations go such a long way in our nonprofit and help cover scholarships, film and cameras, just to name a few things! Corporate sponsorship of our classes is extremely helpful, along with simply spreading the word and sharing the work we do with more people to gain support!< Jonathan Shipley is a freelance writer living in West Seattle. He's been published in the Los Angeles Times, Fine Books & Collections Magazine, and Seattle Magazine, among others. encoremediagroup.com/programs    13


For creating Hot Java Cool Jazz, where high school kids shine at the Paramount. For turning rock concerts into money for local nonprofits with Little Big Show. For supporting STG and thousands of young artists over the last 13 years.

We are from here for here.

starbucks.com/seattle © 2016 Starbucks Coffee Company. All rights reserved. SBX16-241124

14   ENCORE STAGES


Intermission Brain Transmission

Are you waiting for the curtain to rise? Or, perhaps, you’ve just returned to your seat before the second act and have a few minutes to spare? Treat your brain to this scintillating trivia quiz! Email us the answer to the last question and have a chance to win tickets to a show!

1) Seattle Rock Orchestra will grace the stage to perform the music of the Beatles, at the Moore Theatre, May 12–13. In which German city did the Beatles hone their craft in 1960-'62? a) b) c) d)

Frankfurt Dresden Hamburg Berlin

2) Diego El Cigala, the masterful Romani flamenco singer, will perform at Meany Center, April 7. His full name is Diego Ramón Jiménez Salazar – El Cigala is a nickname. What does it mean? a) b) c) d)

The Western Eel Norway Lobster Fiddler Crab European Crayfish

3) Meany Center welcomes Complexions Contemporary Ballet to Seattle on May 17–19. Founded in 1994 by dance legends Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson, from which city does this storied company hail? a) b) c) d)

Chicago New York Los Angeles Toronto

4) Mac Beth, a retelling of Shakespeare’s MacBeth through the eyes of several

women, will play May 18–June 17 at Seattle Repertory Theatre, where it was developed last year. The play is written and directed by Erica Schmidt. Which one-person play did she direct at Seattle Rep in 2011? a) I Am My Own Wife b) The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs c) The K of D, an urban legend d) Humor Abuse 5) Lady Windermere’s Fan is to play May 16–June 23 at Taproot Theatre Company. This is the fourth play written by Oscar Wilde. Which of the following was written immediately prior? a) b) c) d)

Salomé The Importance of Being Earnest An Ideal Husband A Woman of No Importance

6) Shakespeare in Love is being produced by Seattle Shakespeare Company, May 2 –June 3. This play is adapted from the Oscar-winning film by the same title. Who played Shakespeare’s love interest in the 1998 movie? a) b) c) d)

Claire Danes Kate Winslet Emma Thompson Gwyneth Paltrow

7) On April 20–May 13, ACT will produce The Wolves, a play about a girls’ soccer team. Title IX is a federal law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex in education. This is often cited as justification for the funding of women’s athletic programs in schools as well as men’s. In what year was this made law? a) b) c) d)

1972 1964 1990 1980

8) The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, a play based on Junot Díaz’s book by the same title, will play at Book-It Repertory Theatre, April 19–May 6. Junot Díaz is a MacArthur Fellowship recipient. Which of the following writers won this award the same year as him? a) b) c) d)

Dinaw Mengestu Ta-Nehisi Coates Jesmyn Ward Edwidge Danticat

Bonus Question What was the last arts performance you attended that you liked best and why? Email your response to production@encoremediagroup.com with "Trivia Quiz" in the subject line.

ANSWERS: 1) c.– Hamburg. 2) b. – Norway Lobster. This animal is also known in English as scampi or langoustine (not to be conflated with langostinos, which are not true lobsters). 3) b.– New York. 4) d.– Humor Abuse. The performer, Lorenzo Pisoni, wrote the play about his upbringing as a child clown in his family’s circus. A documentary of these experiences, Circus Kid, is now available. 5) a.– Salomé. Written in 1891, it was first published in 1893. 6) d.– Gwyneth Paltrow. Paltrow has mostly left acting and is now publisher and CEO of a lifestyle brand, goop. 7) a.– 1972. It was passed as part of the Education Amendments of 1972, which was later renamed the Patsy Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act after its late co-author and sponsor. 8) a.– Dinaw Mengestu, author of The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, went on to write the acclaimed How to Read the Air after becoming a MacArthur Fellow in 2012.

encoremediagroup.com/programs    15


SPARK YOUR SENSE OF WANDER. The most nonstops at nonstop low prices.

Compared to other airlines, based on full-year schedule.


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.