Healing Wars - Know Before You Go

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO

Conceived, directed andchoreographed by

Liz Lerman Lead Sponsor

September 8 – October 4

BEFORE YOU GO

KNOW

We look forward to seeing you at La Jolla Playhouse at your upcoming performance of Healing Wars. Below is some additional information about the production and the venue to enhance your theater-going experience.

Parking Parking is free for all subscribers. For all others parking is $2 (subject to change), Mon-Fri. Upon arrival to campus, please purchase your parking permit from one of the automated pay stations located next to the information kiosk. Simply park, note your space number, and pay $2 at the pay station. Pay stations accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express or cash ($1 and $5), and do not give change. You will not need to return to your car. Parking is free on the weekends.

Audience Engagement Events The Playhouse offers unique opportunities for audience members to delve deeper into the play with these special performance series options: Special Post-Show Event at the WoW Festival Healing Wars creator Liz Lerman and designer David Israel Reynoso join Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley for a post-show conversation in the Mandell Weiss Forum.

- Sunday, October 11 following the 2:00 pm performance Talkback Tuesdays: Participate in a lively discussion with actors and Playhouse staff members after the performance.

- Tuesday, October 6 following the 7:30 pm performance

- Tuesday, October 13 following the 7:30 pm performance Discovery Sunday: Special guest speakers engage audience members in a moderated discussion exploring the issues and themes in the play.

- Sunday, October 25 following the 2:00 pm performance Insider Events: Join Playhouse staff for a special pre-performance presentation that gives an insider’s view of the play.

- Wednesday, October 21 at 6:45 pm

- Saturday, October 24 at 1:15 pm Accessibility A golf cart is available to assist patrons with accessibility issues to and from the parking lot. Please notify Patron Services prior to your performance if you are in need of this service; additionally, you may pull into the five minute parking in front of the theatre, and a friendly La Jolla Playhouse greeter will assist you.

ACCESS PERFORMANCES Open Captioned Performance: This performance has open captioning for patrons who are deaf or hard of hearing.

- Sunday, October 11 at 2:00 pm ACCESS (ASL Interpreted & Audio Described) Performance: This performance has American Sign Language interpretation for patrons who are deaf or hard of hearing, and audio description for patrons who are blind or have low vision.

- Saturday, October 17 at 2:00 pm Dining

James’ Place is the Theatre District’s on-site restaurant.

Developed by renowned Sushi Master James Holder, the menu includes his signature sushi, as well as delectable dishes created with Prime and Angus cuts of beef, locally and sustainably harvested seafood, along with seasonal dishes. A lighter fare menu is also served at the newly-redesigned sushi/cocktail bar, featuring craft beer and California wines. James’ Place is open daily.

Tuesday – Friday: Happy Hour: 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm | Dinner: 5:00 pm – Close Saturday – Sunday: Happy Hour: 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm | Dinner: 5:00 pm – Close For reservations, please call (858) 638-7778.

We also recommend the following nearby restaurants: Café la Rue and The Med at La Valencia Hotel 1132 Prospect Street La Jolla, CA 92037 lavalencia.com Cusp Restaurant and Hiatus Poolside Lounge at Hotel La Jolla 7955 La Jolla Shores Drive La Jolla, CA 92037 cusprestaurant.com Dolce Pane e Vino 16081 San Dieguito Road Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067 dolcepaneevino.com

Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar 8970 University Center Lane San Diego, CA 92122 flemingssteakhouse.com Giuseppe Restaurants & Fine Catering 700 Prospect Street San Diego, CA 92037 giuseppecatering.com Mustangs & Burros at Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa 9700 N. Torrey Pines Road La Jolla, CA 92037 estancialajolla.com

Pamplemousse Grille 514 Via de la Valle, Suite 100 Solana Beach, CA 92075 pgrille.com Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery Playhouse Patrons Get 20% Off

8980 Villa La Jolla Drive La Jolla, CA 92037 rockbottom.com Roppongi Restaurant & Sushi Bar 875 Prospect Street La Jolla, CA 92037 roppongiusa.com

Children under the age of 6 are not permitted in the theatre during performances unless otherwise posted.

A MESSAGE FROM THE

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR I believe San Diego is an ideal city to host Liz Lerman’s evocative dance/theatre production of Healing Wars. This city has always been a military town, from its beginnings as a 16th century Spanish military outpost to serving as a home for today’s U.S. bases at Camp Pendleton, Miramar, Coronado and others.

MISSION STATEMENT: La Jolla Playhouse advances theatre as an art form and as a vital social, moral and political platform by providing unfettered creative opportunities for the leading artists of today and tomorrow. With our youthful spirit and eclectic, artist-driven approach, we will continue to cultivate a local and national following with an insatiable appetite for audacious and diverse work. In the future, San Diego’s La Jolla Playhouse will be considered singularly indispensable to the worldwide theatre landscape, as we become a permanent safe harbor for the unsafe and surprising. The day will come when it will be essential to enter the La Jolla Playhouse village in order to get a glimpse of what is about to happen in American theatre.

A major theme of Healing Wars is the intersection of the military and medicine. War has historically been fertile ground for medical and technological innovation. San Diego is also widely-recognized as an innovative medical research center, particularly in the development of prosthetics which is a part of the story in Healing Wars. © Howard Lipin/U-T San Diego/ZUMA Wire

Liz Lerman, recognized in 2002 as a MacArthur Fellow (known as the “Genius Grant”), has been an innovator her entire career. Her curiosity, passion for experimentation, artistic process, and engagement in community conversations around art making have defined her extraordinary work. She has created pieces in non-traditional places, such as senior centers and prisons, and incorporated text to accompany her choreography, which has become a hallmark of her dance/movement storytelling.

With Healing Wars, Lerman has refashioned the playing space at each venue that has presented the show. For the Playhouse, she has envisioned the backstage spaces of the Forum Theatre as a pathway that allows audiences, before they take their seats in the theatre, to experience up-close encounters with a series of tableaux that lead to the stage.

Once in their seats, they toggle back and forth between the Civil War and present-day battles, immersed in the emotive and sensory world of the psychological and physical experience of war, and witness how each era has dealt with its after-effects. Dance, movement, language, music, projections and performers take the audience on a journey that is at once harrowing, haunting and redemptive. Healing Wars speaks both to the power of the battlefield and to the efforts to heal its indelible mark.

I couldn’t be more pleased that Healing Wars is the first Without Walls (WoW) production to be included in our subscription season and is also the anchor production in WoW Festival 2015, which features more than 20 site-based and immersive presentations on the Playhouse campus from October 9-11, 2015.

I hope that you will enjoy Healing Wars as a testament to our collective recognition of war’s human cost and our homage to our veterans, both past and present.

La Jolla Playhouse has received La Jolla Playhouse has received the the highest rating from Charity highest rating from Charity Navigator, Navigator, the nation’s premier the nation’s premier charity evaluator. charity evaluator.

P4 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINe

CHRISTOPHER ASHLEY

LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE presents Michael S. Rosenberg Managing Director

Christopher Ashley Artistic Director

Concept and direction by

LIZ LERMAN

Choreography created by

LIZ LERMAN and KEITH THOMPSON in collaboration with the performers Original text sources curated by

LIZ LERMAN BILL PULLMAN

and Devised text developed in collaboration with the performers Featuring

JEFFRY DENMAN*, MIKO DOI-SMITH, MEGHAN FREDERICK, GEORGE HIRSCH, PAUL HURLEY, TED JOHNSON, TAMARA HURWITZ PULLMAN, KEITH A. THOMPSON Scenic and Costume Design Lighting Design Sound Design Media Design Creative Consultant Stage Managers Production Manager Technical Director Project Manager Producer La Jolla Playhouse Dramaturg La Jolla Playhouse Production Manager

DAVID ISRAEL REYNOSO JEN SCHRIEVER DARRON L WEST KATE FREER BILL PULLMAN MEG McDONALD*, OLIVIA O’BRIEN* MEG KELLY EVAN TRUe AMELIA COx NUNALLY KERSH Shirley Fishman Benjamin Seibert

Healing Wars was commissioned by The George Washington University.

The development of Healing Wars has been made possible by the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography at Florida State University.

Additional support for Healing Wars is provided by the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

THE PERFORMERS (in alphabetical order)

Jeffry Denman Miko Doi-Smith Meghan Frederick George Hirsch Paul Hurley Ted Johnson Tamara Hurwitz Pullman Keith A. Thompson

The performers shift between multiple roles in two different centuries.

Healing Wars is performed in one act without an intermission.

Additional Production STAFF Administrator.....................................................................Kini Collins Costume Construction.......................................... Carmel Dundon Multimedia Assistant............................................. Stevo Arnoczy Associate Sound Designer.......................................... Matt Hubbs Assistant Stage Manager...................................Amanda Paulick Assistant Lighting Designer....................................... John Wilder

Original Back Room Props/Dressing Design...............Katie Fleming Original Properties & Back Room Construction........ Jesse Farrenkopf, Gerald Smedley Company Vocal/Text Coaching.....................Kristi Dana (VASTA) Vocal Consultant.......................................................Ursula Meyer

Additional Production SUPPORT Major support provided by The David Bruce Smith Foundation and Jane Brown.

Production support provided by Peak Performances at Montclair State University (NJ).

* Members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage

Managers in the United States. The theatre operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres and Actors’ Equity Association.

This theatre operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, an independent national labor union.

This theatre operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres and United Scenic Artists, Local USA-829 of the IATSE. La Jolla Playhouse is a member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and a constituent of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national service organization for the nonprofit professional theatre.

THE COMPANY JEFFRY DENMAN, Performer La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Broadway: White Christmas, The Producers, Cats, Dream, How to Succeed.... Off Broadway: YANK, Passion, Children of a Lesser God, If Love Were All. TV/Film: Erotic Fire of the Unattainable, Law & Order, Nurse Jackie. Regional: Kid Victory (Signature Theatre); Civil War Christmas, Into the Woods (Center Stage); On Your Toes (Reprise); Dinner with Friends (Portland Stage). Co-creator of the iPad casting app CastPRO, and author of the book, A Year with The Producers.

MIKO DOI-SMITH, Performer La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Originally from Southern California, Ms. Doi-Smith began dancing while attending the University of Hawaii. She has performed and worked with various choreographers and companies including Ralph Lemon, Philadanco, Ballet X, Charles O. Anderson/Dance TheatreX and Kate Watson-Wallace/Anonymous Bodies. In addition to her life as a performer, she has been a registered nurse for twenty years and is the proud mother of an awesome 11-year-old.

Meghan Frederick, Performer La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Ms. Frederick is an independent artist working as a dance teacher, choreographer and performer in New York City. She was a member of Brian Brooks Moving Company from 2008-2014 and currently dances for Carlye Eckert and Kendra Portier/BANDPortier.

Ms. Frederick teaches dance as a part-time faculty member at Rutgers University and makes dances in Brooklyn.

GEORGE HIRSCH, Performer La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Mr. Hirsch graduated from the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College, receiving an Honors Degree in Dance. Since then he has had the privilege of dancing for Artichoke Dance Company, danceTactics, David Capps/Dances, Daniel Gwirtzman Dance, Eva Dean Dance, GoCo, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Liz Lerman and Regina Nejman and Company. He has taught workshops at Hunter College, Wesleyan and University of Nevada – Las Vegas. When he is not dancing, you can find George teaching yoga at various studios around NYC. PAUL HURLEY, Performer La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Mr. Hurley is a Washington, D.C. native and graduated from Duke Ellington School of the Arts in 2004. Following this, he joined the Navy as a Gunners Mate with ambitions of becoming an elite Navy SEAL. Mr. Hurley was injured overseas while attached to Mobile Security Squadron 3 Detachment, Bahrain, and was flown back to the U.S. where he recovered at Walter Reed and Bethesda Military Hospitals. After retiring from the Navy in 2009, he graduated from George Mason University with a degree in Geospatial Communication in 2011. Currently, Mr. Hurley works for MITRE, a federally-funded research and development center, and is working to launch a distribution brewery in Northern Virginia called CasaNoVa Brewing LLC.

TED JOHNSON, Performer La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Mr. Johnson has danced with Liz Lerman since 2001, performing in works including Small Dances About Big Ideas, Ferocious Beauty: Genome (as Gregor Mendel) and The Matter of Origins. He spent over two years in Punchdrunk's Off-Broadway sensation Sleep No More at the McKittrick Hotel. A fixture in the downtown dance scene in NYC for more than two decades, he performed in the companies of Bebe Miller and Ralph Lemon, as well as many independents including David Alan Harris, Sarah Pogostin, Laurie DeVito, Eun Me Ahn, Cheng Chieh-Yu, Colleen Thomas and Bill Young. His improvisational work has been featured in collaborative ventures onstage with Kirstie Simson, Gabriel Forestieri and Kayoko Nakajima.

TAMARA HURWITZ PULLMAN, Performer La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Ms. Pullman has been dancing with Liz Lerman since 2005. In the D.C. area, she performed in Liz's work The Matter of Origins and Peter DiMuro's Funny Uncles. She has also danced with companies including the Jose Limon Dance Company (New York), Ann Vachon Dance Conduit (Philadelphia), Pacific Dance Ensemble and Rosanna Gamson Worldwide (Los Angeles). As a dance educator, Tamara has taught dance in many different settings ranging from dance conservatories to rural storefronts and urban YMCAs. KEITH A. THOMPSON, Performer/Rehearsal Director La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Mr. Thompson danced internationally for Trisha Brown Dance Company from 19922001 and currently serves on faculty at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. He performs and rehearsal directs for Liz Lerman; has his own company, danceTactics performance group; and teaches globally including as master company teacher for Sasha Waltz & Dancers (Berlin) and TsEKh Summer Dance School in Moscow, Russia. Keith has been on faculty at American Dance Festival and at several national universities, and his choreography has been featured at Harvard University, Montpellier International Dance Festival, Dance Theater Workshop Guest Artist Series in New York, The Wilma Theater in Philadelphia, Dixon Place in NYC, Jersey Moves Festival at NJPAC in Newark and the 2011 Annual Aging in America Conference.

LIZ LERMAN, Director/Choreographer is a choreographer, performer, writer, educator and speaker, and the recipient of numerous honors, including a 2002 MacArthur "Genius Grant" Fellowship and a 2011 United States Artists Ford Fellowship in Dance. A key aspect of her artistry is opening her process to various publics from shipbuilders to physicists, construction workers to ballerinas, resulting in both research and outcomes that are participatory, relevant, urgent and usable by others. She founded Liz Lerman Dance Exchange in 1976 and led it until 2011. Her current work, Healing Wars, is touring across the US and received six Helen Hayes nominations for its premiere at Arena Stage in 2014. Liz conducts residencies on the Critical Response Process, creative research, the intersection of art and science, and the building of narrative within dance performance at such institutions as Harvard University, Yale School of Drama, Wesleyan University, Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the National Theatre Studio, among many others.

Her third book, Hiking the Horizontal: Field Notes from a Choreographer, was published in 2011 by Wesleyan University Press. www.lizlerman.com

THE COMPANY DAVID ISRAEL REYNOSO, Scenic and Costume Design is the Obie Award-winning costume designer for the Off-Broadway runaway hit Sleep No More (Punchdrunk/Emursive). Most recently, he designed the critically-acclaimed The Darrell Hammond Project, directed

by Christopher Ashley at La Jolla Playhouse, and Time and the Conways, directed by Rebecca Taichman for The Old Globe. His other regional scenic and costume design credits include returning collaborations at La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, American Repertory Theater, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Lyric Stage and Gloucester Stage, among many others. David is also the recipient of the Elliot Norton Award in Costume Design and a multiple nominee for the IRNE and BroadwayWorld awards. His other work includes Amanda Palmer’s Down Under tour and Juan Son’s Mermaid Sashimi tour, as well as a variety of music video production and costume designs.

Shirley Fishman, La Jolla Playhouse Dramaturg Now in her 14th season, she is the Playhouse’s Resident Dramaturg and has worked on such plays and musicals as The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Chasing the Song, Ether Dome, Side Show, Sideways, Glengarry Glen Ross, An Iliad, Hands on a Hardbody, American Night, the 2015 POP Tour The Astronaut Farmworker and other projects in development. During her five years at the Joseph Papp Public Theater she dramaturged such projects as Jessica Hagedorn’s Dogeaters, Two Sisters and a Piano by Nilo Cruz and Tina Landau’s Space, among others, and was co-curator of the New Work Now! annual new play festival. She serves as a Playwright’s Dramaturg for UC San Diego’s Wagner New Play Festival and has been a dramaturg at Sundance Theatre Lab, Magic Theatre, Native Voices at the Autry and Playwrights Project, among others. She is an M.F.A. graduate of Columbia University’s Theatre Theory/Criticism/Dramaturgy program.

JEN SCHRIEVER, Lighting Design Ms. Schriever's lighting designs have been seen on Broadway for such productions as John Leguizamo’s Ghetto Klown, also filmed for HBO. She has also worked extensively in opera including Die Fledermaus at the Metropolitan Opera; Faust and A Midsummer Night's Dream at Mariinsky Theatre; and The Pearl Fishers at the English National Opera. Off-Broadway credits include Mala Hierba and American Hero at Second Stage; A Second Chance at the Public; Triassic Parq at SoHo Playhouse; Bullet for Adolf at New World Stages; Stuffed and UnStrung at Union Square; An Evening Without Monty Python at L.A. & Town Hall. Regional work has included lighting productions at Woolly Mammoth, Signature Theatre, Paper Mill, Center Stage, Folger, Williamstown, Indiana Rep and Asolo Rep.

MEG McDONALD, Stage Manager Previous work with Liz Lerman: The Matter of Origins and Ferocious Beauty: Genome. Other stage management credits include Hammock, Drift and Blueprints of Relentless Nature with Dance Exchange, as well as work with Shakespeare Theatre Company and Round House Theatre.

Meg is also the Production Stage Manager for RoosevElvis with the TEAM (Vineyard Theatre/PS 122 COIL, also upcoming at the Royal Court and American Repertory Theater). Proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.

DARRON L WEST, Sound Design is a Tony and OBIE Award-winning sound designer whose work for theater and dance has been heard in over 500 productions nationally and internationally, on Broadway and off. His other accolades for sound design include the Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Award, the Lucille Lortel and the AUDELCO. He is a two-time Henry Hewes Design Award winner and a proud recipient of the 2012 Princess Grace Award Statue.

KATE FREER, Media Design is a multimedia designer working in live performance, film and installation. Her work has been seen in venues across the United States and internationally. Most recently she designed the acclaimed Stuck Elevator directed by Chay Yew for ACT San Francisco. Frequent collaborators include Timothy Bond, Stein | Holum Projects, Kamilah Forbes, Andrew Scoville and Tamilla Woodard. She is a founding member of Imaginary Media Artists.

BILL PULLMAN, Creative Consultant worked closely with the cast during the three years of making Healing Wars, and he originated and performed the role of the Doctor for the Arena Stage premiere run. He started acting professionally in the New York theater in 1983 and shortly after began his film career, which currently spans over 60 features including Independence Day, Lost Highway and Bottle Shock. Recently he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for his performance in Beth Henley’s play The Jacksonian (with Ed Harris and Amy Madigan, named in The New York Times “10 Best Plays of 2013”). Recent movies include The Equalizer (with Denzel Washington) and Cymbeline (with Ethan Hawke). He is married to Tamara Pullman and they have three children.

OLIVIA O’BRIEN, Stage Manager served as stage manager for the world premiere of Healing Wars at Arena Stage in 2014. Select New York credits include: Flamenco Vivo's Carmen el Baille, Jennifer Muller's The White Room, Monte Muller Move! (New York Live Arts), Parallel Exit's TimeStep (New Victory Theater), DSquared Dance (Lincoln Center Institute) and New York Musical Theater Festival.

Additional credits include Spoleto Festival USA (Paradise Interrupted), Barrington Stage Company, The Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theater and Asolo Repertory Theatre. Proud company member of Target Margin Theater Company and Parallel Exit. www.oliviaobrien.com MEG KELLY, Production Manager Ms. Kelly loves all aspects of theatre management. As a production manager, favorite projects include work with Liz Lerman, Dance Exchange and the Public Theater (Shakespeare in the Park, Mobile Unit, Under the Radar). She spent summer 2015 as the Company Manager for the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center (National Puppetry Conference, National Music Theater Conference, National Playwrights Conference, Cabaret & Performance Conference) and is the Associate Managing Director for Woodshed Collective. She holds an M.F.A. in Theater Management and Producing from Columbia University.

EVAN TRUE, Production Manager is a technical director and actor based out of New York City. He was TD and General Manager of the Living Theatre and former company member of International WOW with Josh Fox. Mr. True is into gadgets, puppets and storytelling. He now works on a wide variety of live events in different roles, from fashion and marketing to augmented reality theater.

PLAYHOUSE LEADERSHIP Christopher Ashley, Artistic Director has served as Artistic Director at La Jolla Playhouse since 2007. During his tenure, he helmed the world premieres of Come From Away, The Darrell Hammond Project, Claudia Shear’s Restoration and Arthur Kopit and Anton Dudley’s A Dram of Drummhicit, as well as John Guare’s adaptation of His Girl Friday, Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the musicals Xanadu and Memphis, which went on to Broadway, winning four 2010 Tony Awards including Best Musical. In addition, he spearheaded the Playhouse’s Without Walls site-specific theatre series, the Resident Theatre program and the DNA New Work Series. Prior to joining the Playhouse, Mr. Ashley directed the Broadway productions of Xanadu (Drama Desk nomination), All Shook Up and The Rocky Horror Show (Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations), as well as The Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration productions of Merrily We Roll Along and Sweeney Todd (Helen Hayes Award for Direction). Other New York credits include: Leap of Faith, Blown Sideways Through Life, Jeffrey (Lucille Lortel and OBIE Awards), The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, Valhalla, Regrets Only, Wonder of the World, Bunny Bunny, Communicating Doors, The Night Hank Williams Died and Fires in the Mirror (Lucille Lortel Award). He also directed the feature films Jeffrey, Blown Sideways Through Life for PBS, and Lucky Stiff, released July 2015. Mr. Ashley is the recipient of the Princess Grace Award, the Drama League Director Fellowship and an NEA/TCG Director Fellowship.

Debby Buchholz, General Manager has served as general manager of La Jolla Playhouse since 2002. She is the Secretary of the League of Resident Theaters (LORT) and a member of its Executive Committee.

In 2009, she received a San Diego Women Who Mean Business Award from The San Diego Business Journal.

Previously she served as Counsel to The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. She was a faculty member of the Smithsonian Institution’s program on Legal Problems of Museum Administration. Prior to The Kennedy Center, she served as a corporate attorney in New York City and Washington, D.C. She is a graduate of UC San Diego and Harvard Law School. Ms. Buchholz and her husband, noted author and White House economic policy advisor Todd Buchholz, live in Solana Beach and are the proud parents of Victoria, Katherine and Alexia.

Michael S. Rosenberg, Managing Director has served as the Managing Director of La Jolla Playhouse since April, 2009. Working in partnership with Artistic Director Christopher Ashley, he has developed and produced new work by Ayad Akhtar, Trey Anastasio, Amanda Green, John Leguizamo, Carey Perloff, Jay Scheib, Herbert Siguenza, Basil Twist, Michael Benjamin Washington, Sheri Wilner, Doug Wright and The Flaming Lips. Playhouse collaborations have included projects with UC San Diego, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, The New Children’s Museum, San Diego Museum of Man, San Diego Rep, Tectonic Theatre Project, the I.D.E.A. District and the cities of Escondido and Chula Vista. Additionally, he fostered the growth of the Playhouse’s award-winning Performance Outreach Program (POP) Tour, achieving the most performances at local schools in Playhouse history.

Previously, Mr. Rosenberg was Co-Founder and Executive Director of Drama Dept., a New York non-profit theatre company, where he produced new works by the likes of Douglas Carter Beane, Warren Leight, Isaac Mizrahi, Paul Rudnick and David & Amy Sedaris. His early work included stints at The Kennedy Center, Kaiser Permanente, National Dance Institute and an Atlantic City casino. As a Theatre Communications Group Board member, he is proud to be on the Global and Diversity & Inclusion Committees.

Des McAnuff, Director Emeritus served as La Jolla Playhouse’s Artistic Director from 1983 through 1994, and from 2001 through April, 2007. Under his leadership, the Playhouse garnered more than 300 awards, including the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Playhouse to Broadway credits: Jersey Boys (four Tony Awards); Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays (Tony Award); How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (five Tony nominations); director and co-author with Pete Townshend on The Who’s Tommy (Tony and Olivier Awards for Best Director) and Big River (seven Tony Awards), among others. Film credits: Quills, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, The Iron Giant (9 Animation Society awards) and Cousin Bette. Recipient of the Drama League’s 2006 Julia Hansen Award, Mr. McAnuff served as Artistic Director at Canada’s Stratford Festival from 2007 through 2012.

He recently directed the hit productions of Sideways, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and Jesus Christ Superstar at the Playhouse.

PATRON SERVICES PATRON SERVICES is located in the lobby area of each theatre. A representative is available to answer questions and hand out assisted listening devices, restaurant guides, performance schedules and subscription information.

THEATRE TOURS – Tour the stages and production shops of the Playhouse facilities and learn more about the history of La Jolla Playhouse and the role that it plays in the community.

Contact (858) 550-1070 x101.

BARS AND CONCESSIONS are provided by James’ Place and are open one hour prior to curtain and during intermissions. To avoid the rush, intermission beverages can be ordered before the show.

ACCESSIBILITY

CAMERAS AND RECORDING DEVICES are strictly prohibited in the theatre. Please check these items with the P9 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINe House Manager and turn off your camera phone.

PARKING is free for subscribers; $2 for the general public on weekdays (free on weekends). Upon arrival to campus, please enter your parking space number and pay the automated paystations located in the parking lot. Spaces that are not paid for are subject to ticketing by UC San Diego Campus Police.

BABES IN ARMS – Out of respect for fellow audience members and the performers, babes in arms are not permitted in the theatre during performances.

La Jolla Playhouse provides wheelchair-accessible seating and parking. Wheelchair seat locations are available for wheelchair users and a companion at all performances; be sure to advise the reservationist that you require a wheelchair location. Additionally, a golf cart is available to assist patrons with accessibility needs to and from the parking lot. Please notify Patron Services prior to your performance if you are in need of this service; additionally, you may pull into the five minute parking in front of the theatre, and a friendly La Jolla Playhouse greeter will assist you.The Playhouse also provides assisted listening devices for patrons who are hard of hearing.

Devices are available, free of charge, at the Patron Services Center prior to performances (subject to availability).

Listening Devices Provided in Part by

PLEASE SILENCE all electronic devices including cellular phones, watches and pagers before the performance.

Safety in the Theatre District – La Jolla Playhouse is constantly working with the UC San Diego Police Department and UC San Diego Transportation and Parking Services, which operates the parking lot and security system, to maintain and improve security conditions for patrons and staff members. Additionally, patrons and staff are welcome to use UC San Diego Community Service Officers (CSOs) for an escort to their cars by calling (858) 534-WALK (9255). Further questions regarding security may be addressed to UC San Diego Police at (858) 534-HELP (4357).

DOCTORS AND PARENTS expecting calls during the performance should leave their names and seat numbers with the House Manager before the show. Leave the following number with your service: (858) 550-1030.

LATECOMERS or PATRONS WHO LEAVE THEIR SEAT DURING THE PERFORMANCE Please arrive on time. Latecomers will be admitted at the discretion of the House Manager. La Jolla Playhouse accepts no liability for inconvenience to latecomers.

M R E L LIoZn The Marriage Choreographer, performer, writer, educator, speaker and MacArthur Fellow, Liz Lerman founded the multi-generational contemporary dance ensemble Liz Lerman Dance Exchange in 1976. She handed the company over to a new generation in 2011, but she continues to create new work as an independent artist, partnering with universities, theatres and scientists. Her dance-theatre works have been seen throughout the United States and abroad.

Ms. Lerman recently spoke with Playhouse Resident Dramaturg Shirley Fishman about her dance origins and the genesis of Healing Wars.

SF: Why was dance the creative discipline you chose to pursue?

LL: I was kind of a wild child, really physical and it seems like dancing was in my mind from the get-go. I had a very unusual mother.

She was kind of a modernist and she looked around to find really interesting teachers in Washington, D.C. My first teacher was one of Martha Graham’s early disciples. I was five years old going for a lesson every week. When we moved to Milwaukee, I had a teacher who thought that ballet and modern dance should speak to each other. Also, I grew up in a very political household. My dad was very involved in social action and there was a lot of pressure to be involved in thinking about the world.

SF: What led you to a new direction in your thinking about dance?

LL: The Civil Rights Movement coincided with the end of my ballet period. I moved into modern dance and contemporary forms in my 20s, and political theatre was stirring during the Vietnam era. I was pretty wrapped up in a lot of questions about why we were making art, what was it for, what was it accomplishing? I’d begun to think about another way to make art.

Photo by Lise Metzger

SF: Was this when you decided to create your own dance company?

LL: In New York I tried dancing for other people, teaching at other people’s schools, following what would’ve been a proper trajectory – none of it really felt right. It became clear to me that I needed to do it in my own manner and figure out what that was. That coincided with the death of my mother and experimenting with teaching senior citizens to dance in 1975.

N e MA g a u g an L and e c an D , of Theatre There’s an age-old convention that says that dancers should be in their 20s, or skinny or have their hair pulled back. I had become aware that teaching dance to older people and putting them on stage was as powerful as teaching dance to my graduate students. It didn’t make sense to me to think of them as “less than” because they were untrained. Actually, they were beautiful in their “untrained-ness.”

SF: When did you decide to incorporate text into your work?

LL: It actually happened by accident. I made a piece about my mother’s death and hired a composer friend to write the music.

While I was showing him the various sections of the dance, he said “Well, Liz, that’s all very nice, but I have no idea it’s about your mother; how’s an audience going to know?” I said, “Well, I guess I could tell them.” So I told a little story. I liked it and kept it in. What I discovered was that I actually performed better when I was talking, as opposed to just dancing. I felt I made a more personal connection to the art.

SF: You had a number of residencies at various organizations when you began the Healing Wars development process.

What were you investigating during the residencies?

LL: We were asking questions that became the framework for the show. We started rehearsing in November 2011 at Harvard where the only space we could use wasn't a theatre.

I decided to put scenes in different rooms and have the audience travel around. We learned that the audience loved traveling and being up close to the performers. This evolved into a journey for the audience with tableaux before they take their seats. Bill Pullman helped us with research and Bill, Tamara and I did a round of veteran interviews in Boston. At Virginia Tech, we were able to work with a neuroscientist, focusing on what is going on psychologically and in the brain. The questions asked by the counselor in the show came from that residency, verbatim.

SF: How do text and movement work together in Healing Wars?

SF: How did you arrive at the idea for Healing Wars?

LL: I had always been interested in the American Civil War, and the 150th anniversary was coming up. Initially, I was interested in what happened with women in the war, which led me first to the women who dressed as men and entered the service.

I soon found that the women most profoundly involved in the war were nurses. I went to the National Civil War History Museum in Frederick, Maryland, where there is an entire room devoted to amputation. In one of those instantaneous flashes, I made an immediate link to all wars – there had been so many amputees in our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That sent me off to learn about amputation and find out what it was like for them. Paul Hurley carries the story of amputation and what happens next, and that’s really important to me.

Photography was just coming into its own during this period.

In the museum there are photographs of soldiers who had been amputated. To a 21st century eye, it was quite striking to see their bodies, how they sat looking so proud. I couldn’t tell what they were feeling. That led me to PTSD and all the brain work that’s been done in recent history.

LL: Sometimes the movement is meant to support the story of the people. At times the text becomes most important.

At other times, the movement and text are in balance with each other, or dance and movement may become dominant.

When Healing Wars premiered at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. in 2014, an audience member said, “The movement was like the soul of each of the performers.” It was deeply felt, an expression of the character that was right for that particular moment in the piece.

SF: What do you think are the greatest challenges of Healing Wars?

LL: I’m happy now with the way the stories intertwine. I hope that audiences are able to see that the story can begin in the movement, continue in the text, and be completed in visuals.

If I can get people to go on that ride, and see what I see, then I think this will be the best version of the Healing Wars story that I’ve created.

CLARA BARTON:

ANGEL OF THE BATTLEFIELD And these were the women who went to the war: The women of question; what did they go for?

Because in their hearts God had planted the seed Of pity for woe, and help for its need; They saw, in high purpose, a duty to do, And the armor of right broke the barriers through.

Uninvited, unaided, unsanctioned oft times, With pass, or without it, they pressed on the lines; They pressed, they implored, till they ran the lines through, And this was the “running” the men saw them do. ...

They would stand with you now, as they stood with you then, The nurses, consolers, and saviors of men.

Clara Barton, c. the 1860’s. Matthew Brady Civil War Photographs. American National Red Cross Photographs Collection, Library of Congress.

Excerpted from The Women Who Went to the Field by Clara Barton

B

orn on December 25, 1821 in North Oxford, Massachusetts, Clarissa “Clara” Harlowe Barton began caring for the injured at age 11, when her brother was severely hurt in an accident.

Barton began teaching at age 15, and in 1851 she established the first free public school in New Jersey. With the success of the school, community leaders established another and hired a man at twice Barton’s pay. She quit and moved to Washington, D.C. where she became a recording clerk in the U.S. Patent Office, earning a salary equal to the men.

In the early days of the Civil War, sensing she could be useful, Barton left her job to tend to injured Union soldiers who were attacked in Baltimore, Maryland. She collected bandages, food, medicine and clothing and, with the help of friends, soon had a relief and supply network that lasted to the end of the war.

Tamara Pullman as Clara Barton in Arena Stage's production of Healing Wars; photo by T. Wood

After the war, when President Lincoln tasked Barton to search for missing prisoners of war, she established the Friends of the Missing Men of the U.S. Army. Within two years she had identified over 22,000 injured or dead soldiers and notified their families of their status and location. It is estimated that she responded to over 63,000 letters by the time the office closed in 1867.

In 1869, during a European trip, Barton traveled to Switzerland where she learned of the International Red Cross. When she returned to the U.S. in the 1870s, she fought to establish the American Red Cross and became its President in 1881.

Clara Barton passed away in her Maryland home in 1912 at the age of 90.

In 1862, she campaigned to travel to field hospitals at the frontlines, which were restricted to men only. Receiving permission to transport supply wagons, she was soon caring for the wounded on four major battlefields. At the Battle of Antietam, Barton tended to both Union and Confederate soldiers, helping doctors care for over 12,000 injured and dying soldiers while also cooking, cleaning bandages and bringing comfort to their suffering.

At Fredericksburg, the number of casualties was so overwhelming that doctors could no longer keep records.

Barton began recording the names of soldiers in her diary.

Clara Barton Letter: Red Cross File, 1863-1957; American National Red Cross, 1878-1957; Relief operations; Charleston, S.C., 1886-1888, undated

Wounded soldiers at a hospital in Fredericksburg, Virginia, between 1861 and 1865.

(Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs division)

O

n October 6, 2001, while serving with the U.S. Navy Anti-Piracy Mobile Security Squadron 3 Detachment in the Persian Gulf, I suffered a severe injury to my right leg. I was initially hospitalized in Bahrain, then flown to Iraq, Germany, then to the U.S. at Bethesda Naval Hospital and later Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Right before they flew me to Iraq, my mom – who’s an active duty Navy nurse – brushed my foot and asked if I felt anything. I didn’t.

The doctors said I should consider amputation. That just wasn’t an option for me. When I was in the hospital, the guy next to me had gotten blown up by an IED and he had to make the same decision. I figured if this guy did it.... I said “Fine.” The staff ran in, put me under and it was done.

After the surgery, I asked the doctor how long it would be before I’d be up and about, thinking it would be a few weeks. He laughed and said, “Try a few years.” I was at Walter Reed for two-and-a-half years. The first six months were the hardest. There were 22 surgeries, the majority of them in the first three months. After six months, I was more independent and went to the Malone House, a kind of hotel for wounded veterans on the hospital campus. I had to use a wheelchair because I had nerve damage – the first time I put weight on my prosthetic leg, it felt like it was on fire.

At first, I had a bad attitude; I was just waiting for a therapist to walk through the door and not cooperate with them. I didn’t like to be alone, so I spent a lot of time in the therapy room. You hear stories from the other soldiers – after a while I needed to get away. My occupational therapist was so nice.

She made it easy, so I just did everything she asked me to.

She would follow me to make sure I could get in and out of my wheelchair. If you could get from the Malone House to the hospital and back, they’d pass you. When I finally got out, the doctors wanted to do three more surgeries. Even though I could say I was done, it was tough realizing that I would always need adjustments to my leg.

Extreme sports became my outlet, especially skiing, which I learned from an adaptive program. I met all kinds of people.

One woman was a Special Forces Army videographer whose job was to film confrontations, including friends being killed. She wasn’t an amputee but had severe PTSD. Her family was military, but some were not supportive, telling her to “buck up.” People don’t know what you’ve been through, what you’ve seen. They think you should just be able to deal with it.

When I met Liz Lerman and the Healing Wars group, I watched them dancing, going through movement, and talking through stories. What intrigued me was the accuracy and authenticity of what they were doing – I felt a connection right away. Before joining the Navy, I attended Duke Ellington School of the Arts in D.C. for acoustic guitar and I missed that part of my life. But I wasn’t sure I was going to get involved. I was intimidated by the dancing part.

Ultimately that’s why I decided to do it – to confront it. Also, there was room for me and my own story in Healing Wars.

Paul Hurley lifting Keith A. Thompson in Arena Stage's production of Healing Wars; photo by T. Wood