KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
September 4 - October 5
Co-Sponsors
Margret & Nevins McBride
Dr. Howard & Barbara Milstein
ILNER GAY W I R E BY SH KSON C A J Y B D TE DIREC
BEFORE YOU GO
KNOW
We look forward to seeing you at La Jolla Playhouse at your upcoming performance of Kingdom City. 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: Talkback Tuesdays: Participate in a lively discussion with actors and Playhouse staff members after the performance. - Tuesday, September 16 following the 7:30 pm performance - Tuesday, September 23 following the 7:30 pm performance Discovery Sunday: Explore the themes of the production with special guest speakers. - Sunday, September 28 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 1 at 6:45 pm - Saturday, October 4 at 1:15 pm Foodie Friday: Buy a ticket to Kingdom City and enjoy San Diego’s finest food trucks, plus a complimentary microbrew tasting from Stone Brewing Company. - Friday, October 3 starting at 6:00 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 ACCESS Performance: During this performance, La Jolla Playhouse provides American Sign Language interpretation and audio description. - Saturday, September 20 at 2:00 pm Open Captioned Performance: - Sunday, September 21 at 2:00 pm ASL Interpreted Performance: - Friday, September 26 at 8:00 pm Dining La Jolla Playhouse is pleased to announce that James’ Place will be the Theatre District’s new on-site restaurant, beginning service soon!
Developed by renowned Sushi Master James Holder, the menu will include 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 will also be served at the newly-redesigned sushi/cocktail bar, featuring craft beer and California wines. Please contact La Jolla Playhouse Patron Services at (858) 550-1010 for more information.
Until James’ Place opens, we also recommend the following nearby restaurants:
Dolce Pane e Vino 16081 San Dieguito Road Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067 dolcepaneevino.com
Pamplemousse Grille 514 Via de la Valle, Suite 100 Solana Beach, CA 92075 pgrille.com
Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar 8970 University Center Lane San Diego, CA 92122 flemingssteakhouse.com
Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery 8980 Villa La Jolla Drive La Jolla, CA 92037 rockbottom.com
Giuseppe Restaurants & Fine Catering 700 Prospect Street San Diego, CA 92037 giuseppecatering.com
Roppongi Restaurant & Sushi Bar 875 Prospect Street La Jolla, CA 92037 roppongiusa.com
A MESSAGE FROM THE
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Dear Friends, One afternoon last June, I sat down in a simple, unassuming room in New York to listen to a play. In addition to the actors, director and playwright, there were roughly two dozen other people – friends and colleagues, all taking time from their day to leave their world and enter another, even if only for a couple hours.
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.
Over the course of those two hours, we were introduced to an uprooted, unmoored married couple, living in a town very unlike the one they from which they had come. We were re-introduced to a modern classic, The Crucible, and we witnessed a fierce cultural clash that Arthur Miller’s play provoked in a small, religious Missouri town. We saw that married couple, and the townspeople with whom they came into contact, forced to grapple with their pre-conceived notions. Later that day, over dinner, I offered Sheri Wilner a production of her play, Kingdom City. Politically speaking, artists tend to be a left-leaning lot. While some plays congratulate those in the audience who share their liberal views, I’ve always been interested in plays that also give full and honest expression to conservative ideas, that ask us to consider alternative viewpoints and the people who hold them in a different light. Sheri’s play does just that, and with humor and intelligence. A theatre, like a place of worship, is where people gather together for a shared, communal experience. Over the course of a performance, as with a sermon, we are asked to reflect on our lives and our beliefs; we may be challenged to examine the lens through which we see the world. Both spaces have the power to transform the everyday into something more powerful. Appropriately, Robert Brill’s scenic design has reconfigured the Potiker Theatre into something approaching a congregational feel. We not only witness the play, we see other people sitting across the divide of the stage. We experience an event as a community, no matter which community we belong to. It’s a pleasure to welcome Sheri and Kingdom City’s director, Jackson Gay, to the Playhouse for the first time. And whether you’re also visiting the Playhouse for the first time or you’ve been attending for years, I’m grateful that you’re part of our community tonight.
CHRISTOPHER ASHLEY ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE presents Michael S. Rosenberg Managing Director
Christopher Ashley Artistic Director
BY
Sheri Wilner directed BY
Jackson Gay Featuring
Kate Blumberg*, Cristina Gerla, Ian Littleworth*, Austyn Myers*, Toby Onwumere‡, Katie Sapper, Todd Weeks* Scenic Design Costume Design Lighting Design Sound Design Dramaturg Voice/Dialect Coach Fight Director CASTING Local Casting Director Stage Manager Assistant Stage Manager Associate Producer Project Manager Associate Project Manager
Robert Brill David Israel Reynoso Paul Whitaker Nicholas Drashner Gabriel Greene Debra Hale George Ye Telsey + Company, Karyn Casl, csa Teresa Sapien Craig Campbell* Laura Zingle* Jessica Bird Michael Francis Tarin Hurstell
Selections from The Crucible by Arthur Miller are included in the script for Kingdom City with express permission of The Arthur Miller 2004 Literary and Dramatic Property Trust. “Sanctuary” by Randy Scruggs and John Thompson used by permission of Peermusic III, Ltd. Kingdom City was developed and first presented through the Launch Pad program at the University of California, Santa Barbara – Department of Theater and Dance, Risa Brainin, Director.
THE CAST (in alphabetical order)
Kate Blumberg................................................................................................................................Miriam Cristina Gerla.....................................................................................................................................Katie Ian Littleworth....................................................................................................................................Luke Austyn Myers.................................................................................................................................... Matt Katie Sapper................................................................................................................................... Crystal Todd Weeks .....................................................................................................................................Daniel Understudy: Toby Onwumere ‡ Costume Project Manager.............................................. Jan Mah Assistant Director................................................ Sarah Wansley Assistant Scenic Designers.......Andrea Healey, Steven Kemp
Production Assistant...................................................Ryan Heath Dramaturgy Assistant......................................Mackenzie Ward Stage Management Intern............................... Amanda Marlett
Kingdom City is performed with a 15-minute intermission.
Acknowledgements Special thanks to: Julia Bolus, Michele Crowley, Kenny Finkle, David Friedlander, Seth Glewen, Patrick Herold, Michael Keck, Patricia Klausner, Pam MacKinnon, Rebecca Miller, Beth Whitaker, Arthur and Bernice Wilner Also: David Aaron Baker, Eya Benko, Reyna de Courcy, Dashiell Eaves, Jessica Hecht, Merlin Huff, Justin Kruger, Jason Narvy, Chase O’Donnell, Xochitl Romero, Cory Michael Smith, Alexandra Socha, Samantha Soule, Anne Torsiglieri, Trevor Wade Ken Tidwell, Tidwell Masonry • Sharp Business Systems
* 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.
‡ UC San Diego M.F.A Candidate in residence at La Jolla 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. CAMERAS AND RECORDING DEVICES are strictly prohibited in the theatre. Please check these items with the House Manager and turn off your camera phone. PLEASE SILENCE all electronic devices including cellular phones, watches and pagers before the performance. 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. BABES IN ARMS – Out of respect for fellow audience members and the performers, babes in arms are not permitted in the theatre during performances. 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.
Theater concessions in the lobbies and courtyards will be provided by La Jolla Playhouse’s new partner James’ Place. The James’ Place restaurant will open soon and will be located adjacent to Weiss Forum Theatre behind the glass wall. Bars and concessions open one hour prior to curtain and during intermissions. To avoid the rush, intermission beverages can be ordered before the show. For information and updates, please visit: LaJollaPlayhouse.org/dining ACCESSIBILITY 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
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. 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). LATECOMERS or PATRONS WHO LEAVE THEIR SEAT DURING THE PERFORMANCE will be admitted to the standing room section of the theatre at the discretion of the House Manager. They may take their assigned seats at intermission. La Jolla Playhouse accepts no responsibility for inconvenience to latecomers.
THE COMPANY Kate Blumberg, Miriam La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Off-Broadway: member of The Atlantic Theater Company: Bluebird, Farragut North, Birth and After Birth, Celebration & The Room, A Second Hand Memory and Writer’s Block by Woody Allen, The Hiding Place, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, The Hothouse, Wolf Lullaby, Once in a Lifetime, Dangerous Corner, Blithe Spirit and The Women. When the Rain Stops Falling (Mitzi Newhouse Theater, LCT); The Syringa Tree (directed by Larry Moss at Playhouse 91); Other People (Playwrights Horizons); Two Gentlemen of Verona, Family Life, Mad Forest, Reckless (Annex Theater Company); Marie and Bruce (Incoact). Film: Phil Spector, The Deal, Choke, The Cry, Seaside Trilogy, Serendipity, Picture This and Heartbreak Hospital. Television: Law & Order: SVU (NBC); CSI (CBS); Louie (FX); Law and Order: Criminal Intent (NBC); Medium (NBC); Grey’s Anatomy (ABC); Ugly Betty (CBS); Whoopi (NBC); One Life to Live (ABC); Loving (ABC). Ms. Blumberg recorded books for the Andrew Heiskell Library for the Blind. Undergraduate degree at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. Cristina Gerla, Katie La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Regional: The Future Perfect (Pasadena Playhouse); The Grapes of Wrath (A Noise Within); Ionescopade (Odyssey Theatre); Legally Blonde, Little Women, Romeo and Juliet and A Christmas Carol (PCPA Theaterfest). Other Theatre: Rent, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Paradise Lost (UCLA); Pericles (RADA). Love and gratitude to her family and to Mary Jo DuPrey, for their unwavering support. Ms. Gerla holds a B.A. from The Ray Bolger Musical Theater Program at UCLA. Ian Littleworth, Luke La Jolla Playhouse: A Lonely Boy’s Guide to Survival (and Werewolves) and the DNA Series reading of Tranquil. Regional: The Fox (Annenberg Theatre). Los Angeles: Macbeth, The Grapes of Wrath (Antaeus Theatre Company); The Lady’s Not for Burning (Fountain Theatre); The Fall to Earth (Odyssey Theatre); Titanic (Musical Theatre Guild); Modrock (El Portal Theatre); Glory Days (Lillian Theatre). Education: B.A. in Theatre from the University of Southern California and training at the British American Drama Academy. He is a proud member of Los Angeles’ Antaeus Theatre Company. Austyn Myers, Matt It is an honor and a blessing to make my La Jolla Playhouse debut! Broadway: Les Miserables (revival). National Tour: Les Miserables. Regional: Brighton Beach Memoirs, Lost in Yonkers, The First Wives Club (The Old Globe); Lost in Yonkers (McCoy Rigby Entertainment); The Secret Garden (Lamb’s Players); Spring Awakening, 13 (Fine Arts Network); Master Harold...and the boys (Living Light Theatre); A Christmas Carol (North Coast Rep); King John (Intrepid Shakespeare); Roar of the Greasepaint (Starlight); Big River, Seussical, Ragtime, Spelling Bee, Les Miserables (CYC Associate Artist Lyceum); Pirates, Titanic, 13, Lil Abner (ART); Seussical (JCC); Celebrity Sonnets (Shakespeare Society). TV/Film: Meet Dave, Team Spitz and Moon Rocks and Lighter Fluid. Animated Series: Bommi and Friends. Thank you Lord for your blessings, guidance and grace on the journey; all the amazing, supportive family, friends and mentors on my path; and the opportunities placed within my reach.
Toby Onwumere, Understudy La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Mr. Onwumere is entering his final year at UC San Diego’s Graduate Acting Program. Regional Theatre: Raisin in the Sun, Guadalupe, The Tempest (Chautauqua Theatre Festival); Henry V, The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare Santa Cruz); Fool for Love (Ubuntu Theatre Project); Two Gentlemen of Verona (Backroom Shakespeare Project); King Lear, Midsummer Night’s Dream (Great River Shakespeare Festival). UC San Diego: A Doll House, In the Red and Brown Water, Little Children Dream of God, Drums in the Night and Tonight We Improvise. B.F.A.: University of Evansville. Katie Sapper, Crystal La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Regional: Ivy in bare: a Pop Opera (Diversionary). A San Diego native, Ms. Sapper just graduated with her B.A. in Musical Theatre from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. Favorite roles there include Pegeen Mike in Playboy of the Western World, Azra in Necessary Targets, Logainne Swartzy in 25th Annual...Spelling Bee, Percy Taboltt in The Spitfire Grill and Hope Cladwell in Urinetown. She would like to thank Jackson, Sheri and the rest of the La Jolla cast and crew for such a wonderful and thrilling opportunity! Love to family, friends, and my Buddy. Todd Weeks, Daniel La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Broadway: The Full Monty (original cast), The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Summer and Smoke and Our Town. National Tours: Angels in America and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Off-Broadway: Member of Atlantic Theater Company, including premieres of The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, The Jammer, Bluebird, The Voysey Inheritance, Scarcity, Romance, Sea of Tranquility, The Cider House Rules and Distant Fires, among others. Regional: Of Mice and Men (Dallas Theater Center); Copenhagen (Playmakers Rep); appearances at The Old Globe, Humana Festival, Williamstown, Hartford Stage, Alliance, George Street and Mark Taper Forum. TV: Modern Family, Detroit 187, Men of a Certain Age, The Defenders, Rubicon, Numb3rs, Medium, The Unit, Law & Order and One Life to Live. Film: Brightest Star, Phil Spector, The Maiden Heist, The Deal, Mind the Gap and Amos & Andrew. Sheri Wilner, Playwright Plays include Father Joy, Hunger, Bake Off, Labor Day, Relative Strangers, Little Death of a Salesman and Joan of Arkansas, and have been performed at major regional theatres, including the Guthrie Theater, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Summer Play Festival, Naked Angels, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Contemporary American Theater Festival, New Georges and the O’Neill Playwrights Conference, as well as by the Old Vic/New Voices program in London. Playwriting awards include a Howard Foundation Fellowship, Bush Artist Fellowship and two Playwrights’ Center Jerome Fellowships. In addition, she is a two-time winner of the Heideman Award/National Ten-Minute Play Contest, granted by the Actors Theatre of Louisville. Her work has been published in over a dozen anthologies, and Playscripts.com has published twelve of her one-acts, which have received over two hundred productions all over the United States, as well as in Australia, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Japan, United Kingdom and India. Also an established playwriting teacher, Ms. Wilner most recently taught at Vanderbilt University where she was the Fred Coe Visiting Playwright-in-Residence, and Florida State University where she led the M.F.A. Playwriting Program. She attended Cornell University and received her M.F.A. in Playwriting from Columbia University. She currently lives in New York City.
THE COMPANY Jackson Gay, Director La Jolla Playhouse: 2006 Performance Outreach Program (POP) Tour production of West of the 5. Ms. Gay’s credits include These Paper Bullets! adapted by Rolin Jones from Much Ado About Nothing with songs by Billie Joe Armstrong (2014 Connecticut Critics Circle Awards, Best Production and Best Director) at Yale Rep; Lucy Thurber’s Where We’re Born (2014 Obie Award winning The Hilltown Plays) and 3C by David Adjmi at Rattlestick; Jon Robin Baitz’s Other Desert Cities, August: Osage County, Red and Ken Lin’s Intelligence-Slave at the Alley Theatre; Arlington by Victor Lodato with music by Polly Pen at the Magic Theatre; As You Like It at Chautauqua Theater Company; Allison Moore’s Collapse at Women’s Project; Rolin Jones’ The Jammer at the Atlantic, where she also directed Jones’ The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow and Lucy Thurber’s Scarcity; A Little Journey at the Mint (2012 Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Revival of a Play); ...Jenny Chow at Yale Rep (Best Production, Connecticut Critics Award). Forthcoming publication in The Routledge Companion to Dramaturgy edited by Magda Romanska. Ms. Gay teaches at Columbia University and Primary Stages ESPA. She earned the University of the Arts Silver Star Distinguished Alumni Award and holds a B.F.A. in Acting from University of the Arts and an M.F.A. in Directing from the Yale School of Drama. Robert Brill, Scenic Designer/La Jolla Playhouse Artist-in-Residence Mr. Brill’s designs for the Playhouse include Chasing the Song, Sideways, His Girl Friday, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Wiz, Creditors and many others. For Broadway: Cabaret, Jesus Christ Superstar, Assassins (Tony nom), Guys and Dolls (Tony nom), Design for Living, Buried Child and others. His credits include Christopher Plummer’s A Word or Two (Ahmanson/Stratford); Sinatra (Radio City); Faust (Met Opera/ENO); Moby-Dick (Dallas Opera, San Diego, San Francisco, DC, Australia and Canada); Doubt (Minnesota Opera); Wozzeck (SD Opera); White Noise (Chicago); Robin and the Seven Hoods (Old Globe); On the Record (Disney); American in Paris (Boston Ballet); A Clockwork Orange (Steppenwolf); The Laramie Project (BAM and others). Upcoming: world premieres of Cold Mountain (Santa Fe Opera) and The Manchurian Candidate (Minnesota Opera). A graduate of UC San Diego and a founding member of Sledgehammer Theatre, he is a recipient of the Merritt Award for Excellence in Design and Collaboration and a 2011 La Jolla Playhouse Honors Award. David Israel Reynoso, Costume Design is the Obie Award-winning costume designer for the Off-Broadway hit Sleep No More (Punchdrunk/Emursive). Most recently, he designed Liz Lerman’s critically acclaimed Healing Wars at Arena Stage. He is recognized locally for his costume designs for Time and the Conways, Water by the Spoonful, Double Indemnity and Be a Good Little Widow, all at The Old Globe. Other regional scenic and costume design credits include returning collaborations at the 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. Mr. Reynoso’s other work includes designs for Amanda Palmer’s Down Under tour and Juan Son’s Mermaid Sashimi tour, as well as a variety of international music videos. Paul Whitaker, Lighting Designer La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. New York credits include The Public Theater, MCC, Playwrights Horizons, Second Stage, Atlantic Theater, The Play Company, Ma-Yi, The LAByrinth Theatre, INTAR and others. Regional credits include The Guthrie, South Coast Repertory, Long Wharf Theater, The Alley, The Huntington Theatre Company, The Children’s Theatre Company, Centerstage, A.C.T., Hartford Stage, Yale Repertory Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, George Street Playhouse and others. He has a B.A. from Macalester College and an M.F.A. from Yale School of Drama. Mr. Whitaker has taught at Cal Poly Pomona and Amherst College, and is currently a Lighting Designer/Theatre Consultant for Schuler Shook.
Nicholas Drashner, Sound Designer is thrilled to be working with La Jolla Playhouse again. Playhouse credits include: Suzette Who Set to Sea and A Lonely Boy’s Guide to Survival (and Werewolves). Other regional credits include Beijing Spring (East West Players); Lifeblood Harmony and Chagall (Malashock Dance); The Trip’s Macbeth (The Trip); The Amish Project (Mo’olelo); A Man with a Load of Mischief (North Coast Repertory Theatre); Topdog/Underdog (Ion Theatre); A Man, His Wife and His Hat (Moxie Theatre). Education: M.F.A. in Sound Design for Theatre and Dance from UC San Diego. www.drashner.com Gabriel Greene, Dramaturg joined La Jolla Playhouse’s artistic staff in 2007, and currently serves as their Director of New Play Development. He has dramaturged over fifteen new plays and musicals for the Playhouse, including Herbert Siguenza’s El Henry, Ayad Akhtar’s The Who & The What, Des McAnuff and The Flaming Lips’ Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Kirsten Greenidge’s Milk Like Sugar (Off Broadway transfer; Obie Award) and Joe DiPietro and David Bryan’s Memphis (Broadway transfer; four Tony Awards). In addition to curating and producing the Playhouse’s annual DNA New Work Series, he dramaturged the DNA workshop productions of Michael Benjamin Washington’s Blueprints to Freedom and Aditi Brennan Kapil’s Brahman/i. Other dramaturgy: UCSD’s Wagner New Play Festival (seven years), Steppenwolf, Playwrights Horizons, New York Theatre Workshop, South Coast Rep’s Pacific Playwrights Festival and TimeLine Theatre, among others. He is a graduate of University of Michigan and Trinity College, Dublin. Debra Hale, Voice/Dialect Coach Previous credits at La Jolla Playhouse: Limelight: The Story of Charlie Chaplin, The Deception, Zhivago, Paris Commune and The Collected Works of Billy the Kid. Ms. Hale is a Linklater Designated Voice teacher, has coached in several regional theatres across the country, and taught in London, Scotland, Thailand, Greece and Hungary. She is an Associate Professor at Florida State University. Telsey + Company, Casting La Jolla Playhouse: His Girl Friday, Hands on a Hardbody, Blood and Gifts, Glengarry Glen Ross, A Dram of Drummhicit, Milk Like Sugar, Little Miss Sunshine, Limelight, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bonnie & Clyde, 33 Variations and Memphis, among others. Broadway/Tours: Motown; Kinky Boots; Jekyll & Hyde; Annie; Newsies; Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark; Rock of Ages; Wicked; Priscilla, Queen of the Desert; Sister Act; Memphis and Million Dollar Quartet. Off-Broadway: The Last Five Years (2nd Stage), Atlantic, MCC, Signature. Regional: Paper Mill. Film: The Odd Life of Timothy Green, Friends with Kids, Joyful Noise, Margin Call, Sex and the City 1 & 2, I Love You Phillip Morris, Rachel Getting Married, Dan in Real Life and Across the Universe. TV: Smash and The Big C. www.telseyandco.com Craig Campbell, Stage Manager La Jolla Playhouse: The Tallest Tree in the Forest and The Who & The What (workshop). National Tours: All Shook Up, Dirty Blonde, Some Like it Hot and Forever Plaid. Off-Broadway: Fame; Othello (with Billy Crudup and Frances McDormand); The Vagina Monologues; De La Guarda and I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. Television: four seasons with Clean House (Emmy Award), Over Your Head, The Amandas, ACMA Awards, Daytime Emmys, SAG Awards. Love to MKD for putting up with this crazy life of mine. Laura Zingle, Assistant Stage Manager La Jolla Playhouse: El Henry, Kamchàtka (WoW Festival), His Girl Friday and Hands on a Hardbody. Regional: workshop of different words for the same thing (Center Theatre Group); Detroit (San Diego REP). Other credits: AFI Film Fest 2013, Spoleto Festival USA, Opera NEO, Palomar College Dance, Production Manager & Stage Manager of San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus. She holds an M.F.A. in Stage Management from UC San Diego.
LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE LEADERSHIP Christopher Ashley, Artistic Director has served as La Jolla Playhouse’s Artistic Director since October, 2007. During his tenure, he has helmed the Playhouse’s productions of Chasing the Song, His Girl Friday, Glengarry Glen Ross, A Dram of Drummhicit, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Restoration and the acclaimed musicals Xanadu and Memphis, which won four 2010 Tony Awards including Best Musical. He also spearheaded the Playhouse’s Without Walls (WoW) series, the DNA New Work Series and the Resident Theatre program. Prior to joining the Playhouse, he 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 Sweeney Todd and Merrily We Roll Along. Other New York credits include: Blown Sideways Through Life, Jeffrey (Lucille Lortel and Obie Awards), The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, Valhalla, Regrets Only, Wonder of the World, Communicating Doors, Bunny Bunny, The Night Hank Williams Died, Fires in the Mirror (Lucille Lortel Award), among others. Mr. Ashley also directed the feature film Jeffrey and the American Playhouse production of Blown Sideways Through Life for PBS. 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 a member of the Executive Committee and of the League of Resident Theaters (LORT). 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, DC. 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 Managing Director of La Jolla Playhouse since April, 2009. During his five years at the Playhouse, he has worked in partnership with Artistic Director Christopher Ashley to produce 16 world premieres, 10 Playhouse commissions and the hit musicals Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Hands on a Hardbody and Little Miss Sunshine. He was also instrumental in bringing the Page To Stage workshop of John Leguizamo’s Diary of a Madman to the Playhouse, which transferred to Broadway. 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 and Amy Sedaris. He has been a part of the producing teams for the Broadway productions of Grey Gardens and American Buffalo and the national tour of Little House on the Prairie. He serves on the boards of La Jolla Country Day School and the Theatre Communications Group. 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.
La Jolla Playhouse Board of Trustees Lynelle Lynch Chair Margret McBride First Vice-Chair Kay Gurtin, Gurtin Fixed Income Second Vice-Chair Michael Yeatts, U.S. Bank Treasurer Tim Scott Secretary TRUSTEES Weston Anson Michael Bartell Dave Bialis, Cox Communications Paula Marie Black Ralph Bryan* Robert Caplan, Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek Lisa S. Casey P9 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINe
Edward A. Dennis, Ph.D. David Dolgen* Brian Dovey, Domain Associates Tina Dyer Daniel Einhorn Mick Farrell Suzanne Figi LaVonnya Fisher Gregory Frost William Georgis Noel Gillespie, Procopio Wendy Gillespie Hanna Gleiberman Jeffrey Goldman John Ippolito, Northern Trust Debby Jacobs Joan Jacobs Sheri Jamieson Pradeep K. Khosla, Ph.D. Kay Matherly, Wells Fargo Mark J. Muñoz, Dowling & Yahnke, LLC Lucille Neeley
Elise Kim Prosser, Ph.D. Jeffrey Ressler* Don Rosenberg Gad Shaanan David Smotrich Amy Spielman Steven M. Strauss* Arthur Wagner, Ph.D. Mary Walshok, Ph.D. Hanaa Zahran, Bank of America Barbara ZoBell HONORARY TRUSTEES Richard Atkinson, Ph.D. Ivan Gayler John Goodman Ewart W. Goodwin, Jr.* Joel Holliday* Julie Potiker Geri Ann Warnke* Gary Wollberg* Robert Wright, Esq.
EMERITUS TRUSTEES Rita Bronowski (1917-2010) David Copley (1952-2012) Ted Cranston (1940-2012) Milton Fredman (1920-2005) Marian Jones Longstreth (1906-1997) Hughes Potiker (1925-2005) Sheila Potiker (1930-2011) Ellen Revelle (1910-2009) Roger Revelle (1909-1991) Willard P. VanderLaan, M.D.* (1917-2012) Mandell Weiss (1891-1993) 1947 FOUNDERS Mel Ferrer Dorothy McGuire Gregory Peck
*Past Chair of the Board