Miss You Like Hell: Know Before You Go

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO

Production Sponsors

OCTOBER 25 – DECEMBER 4

Krystina Alabado and Daphne Rubin-Vega; photo by Jim Carmody

Lynelle and William Lynch

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KNOW BEFORE YOU GO

We look forward to seeing you at La Jolla Playhouse at your upcoming performance of Miss You Like Hell. 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.

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.

For more information about performances with open captioning, ASL interpretation and audio description, please see page 16.

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

Unaccompanied minors ages 12 and under are not permitted in the theatre.

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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 Tue-Fri 4:00 pm to close, and Sat & Sun 3:00 pm to close.

For reservations, please call (858) 638-7778.

For menu and hours, please visit jamesplacesd.com.

We also recommend the following nearby restaurants:

Adobe El Restaurante and Mustangs & Burros at Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa 9700 N. Torrey Pines Road La Jolla, CA 92037 estancialajolla.com

Cusp Restaurant and Hiatus Poolside Lounge at Hotel La Jolla 7955 La Jolla Shores Drive La Jolla, CA 92037 cusprestaurant.com

Café la Rue and The Med at La Valencia Hotel 1132 Prospect Street La Jolla, CA 92037 lavalencia.com

Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar 8970 University Center Lane San Diego, CA 92122 flemingssteakhouse.com

Dolce Pane e Vino 16081 San Dieguito Road Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067 dolcepaneevino.com

Giuseppe Restaurants & Fine Catering 700 Prospect Street San Diego, CA 92037 giuseppecatering.com

Pamplemousse Grille 514 Via de la Valle, Suite 100 Solana Beach, CA 92075 pgrille.com Piatti 2182 Avenida De La Playa La Jolla, Ca 92037 Phone: 858-454-1589 piatti.com/lajolla Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery Playhouse Patrons Get 20% Off 8980 Villa La Jolla Drive La Jolla, CA 92037 rockbottom.com

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A MESSAGE FROM THE

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR When the Playhouse commissioned a new musical from Quiara Alegría Hudes and Erin McKeown four years ago, little did I know just how perfect the timing would be for its world premiere.

MISSION STATEMENT:

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Set against the backdrop of Obama’s presidency – a maddeningly contradictory time that has brought both unexpected affirmations of © Howard Lipin/U-T San Diego/ZUMA Wire equality and devastating setbacks – Miss You Like Hell follows a Latina mother and her daughter as they reconnect during a cross-country road trip. Through the lens of Beatriz’s attempts to become a naturalized citizen, it explores the very meaning of family, of identity, of being “American.” It is a show that sits on the raw, exposed nerve of the immigration question, but one that does so in a warm, honest, humane and open-hearted way, avoiding the divisive abstractions of politics in favor of actual, living people.

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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.

The show’s creative team – Quiara, Erin and director Lear deBessonet – are perfectly suited to tell this story. Lear is deservedly well-known for her leadership of the Public Works program in New York City, wherein she builds shows that incorporate theatre civilians from all areas, backgrounds and walks of life in order to create stories by, of, and for the community. Quiara herself is a collision of multiple identities, and her work never fails to keenly, compassionately and authentically explore those intersections. Erin’s music intentionally disdains formal and stylistic boundaries – her songs are as compelling, diverse and eclectic as America itself.

Though Miss You Like Hell will premiere just as the 2016 presidential election – with its incendiary rhetoric surrounding borders and walls – is wrapping up, history has shown us that vitriol surrounding “the Other” remains a constant.

It is a musical for this moment precisely because it asks us to consider “the Other” inside ourselves. To be American is to be so many different – perhaps contradictory – things, all at once. Miss You Like Hell doesn’t just illuminate this, it celebrates it.

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

CHRISTOPHER ASHLEY 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.

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LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE PRESENTS Michael S. Rosenberg Managing Director

Christopher Ashley Artistic Director

BOOK AND LYRICS BY

QUIARA ALEGRÍA HUDES MUSIC AND LYRICS BY

ERIN McKEOWN DIRECTED BY

LEAR deBESSONET CHOREOGRAPHED BY

DANNY MEFFORD FEATURING

KRYSTINA ALABADO, CLIFF BEMIS, VICTOR CHAN, VANESSA A. JONES, DAVID PATRICK KELLY, JULIO MONGE, CASHAÉ MONYA, KÜRT NORBY, OLIVIA OGUMA, DAPHNE RUBIN-VEGA MUSIC DIRECTOR ORCHESTRATIONS, ARRANGEMENTS AND INCIDENTAL MUSIC SCENIC DESIGNER COSTUME DESIGNER LIGHTING DESIGNER SOUND DESIGNER DRAMATURG CASTING STAGE MANAGER ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER PROJECT PRODUCTION MANAGER

JULIE McBRIDE ERIN McKEOWN AND CHARLIE ROSEN DONYALE WERLE EMILIO SOSA TYLER MICOLEAU DAN MOSES SCHREIER GABRIEL GREENE KAITLIN SHAW, C.S.A./TARA RUBIN CASTING EVANGELINE ROSE WHITLOCK LUKE ANDERSON ALFREDO MACIAS BENJAMIN SEIBERT

Miss You Like Hell was commissioned by La Jolla Playhouse and developed during the 2016 DNA New Work Series.

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THE CAST (in alphabetical order)

Olivia............................................................................................................... Krystina Alabado Mo...............................................................................................................................Cliff Bemis Castaway.................................................................................................................. Victor Chan Lawyer/Waitress............................................................................................ Vanessa A. Jones Higgins......................................................................................................... David Patrick Kelly Manuel.....................................................................................................................Julio Monge Pearl.................................................................................................................... Cashaé Monya Officer/Legal Clerk/A Guy at a Motel Desk ���������������������������������������������������������������Kürt Norby Mindy..................................................................................................................... Olivia Oguma Beatriz........................................................................................................ Daphne Rubin-Vega

Setting: Now Miss You Like Hell will be performed with a 15-minute intermission.

ADDITIONAL ` STAFF Associate Director................................................ Melissa Crespo Associate Choreographer.....................................Lindsay Janisse Associate Music Director...................................Cody Owen Stine Associate Scenic Designer..................................Craig Napoliello Associate Costume Designer.............................. Heather Stanley Associate Sound Designer.....................................Joshua D. Reid Assistant Costume Designer................................William Melette 2nd Assistant Costume Designer......... Desiree Hatfield-Buckley

Wig Consultant..........................................................Jeri Nicholas Assistant Lighting Designer............................Kimberlee Winters Scenic Design Assistant...................................... Bradley Wehrle Scenic Design Assistant...........................................Charlie Jicha ‡ Lighting Design Assistant........................ Alexandra Miller-Long ‡ Production Assistant................................................. Alyssa Swan Stage Management Intern............................... Matthew Bantock Dramaturgy Assistants......Chengyun Huang, Samantha Matta

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Masque Sound • 4Wall Entertainment Lighting • Production Transport • Saúl Hernández-Vargas

The Actors and Stage Managers employed in this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

This theatre operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres and United Scenic Artists, Local USA-829 of the IATSE.

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

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. Candidates in residence at La Jolla Playhouse.

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MUSICAL NUMBERS

ACT 1

Lioness Prelude Sundays Mothers Received Eat You Up Yellowstone (No Filter) In a Fix Over My Shoulder Bibliography Baggage

ACT 2

Vecinos Received Reprise Tamales Now I’m Here The Dirtiest Deed Yellowstone (IRL) Dance with Me Lioness Sundays Reprise The Courtroom Castaway

ORCHESTRA Music Director/Conductor/Keyboard..............................................................................................................................Julie McBride Associate Music Director/Keyboard/Electric, Acoutsic Guitars............................................................................... Cody Owen Stine Acoustic Guitar/Viola................................................................................................................................................. Domenico Hueso Concertmaster............................................................................................................................................................Healy Henderson Cello..............................................................................................................................................................................Elizabeth Brown Electric Bass/Synth Bass/Ukulele Bass..................................................................................................................................Vivi Rama Drumset/Percussion......................................................................................................................................................Grant Braddock Orchestra Contractor...........................................................................................................................................................Lorin Getline Rehearsal Drums...........................................................................................................................................................Grant Braddock Keyboard Programmer...................................................................................................................................................... Charlie Rosen All musicians are represented by the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada.

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THE COMPANY KRYSTINA ALABADO, Olivia La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. She most recently originated the role of Vanden in the new Broadway musical American Psycho. Broadway: Green Day’s American Idiot.

First national tours: Evita (Mistress), American Idiot and Spring Awakening. Off-Broadway/Regional: David Bowie’s Lazarus (NYTW), Camp Wanatachi (La MaMa), Pregnancy Pact (Weston Playhouse). TV: Tyrant (FX). So much love and gratitude to my Papi, Mom, the twins, Terry, Erin and Bob. @krystinaalabado.

CLIFF BEMIS, Mo La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. He originated the role of Ezekiel Foster in Irving Berlin’s White Christmas on Broadway, as well as the first national tour. Off-Broadway credits include New Girl in Town (Irish Rep); Philip Goes Forth, The Fatal Weakness (Mint Theatre); The Drowsy Chaperone (first national tour). Regional: Pool Boy (Barrington Stage); Twist (Pasadena Playhouse) and Wonderful Town for Reprise!; seven years as a guest artist at The Cleveland Play House. Films include Billy, Nancy Drew, World Trade Center, Pink Cadillac and Au Pair II. Dozens of commercials and over 75 TV guest appearances, including White Collar, Law & Order: SVU, One Life to Live, Coach and Cheers, to name a few. He has also established the Cliff Bemis Music Theatre Scholarship at his alma mater, Baldwin-Wallace University, in Ohio. Proud member of Actors’ Equity since 1968. Visit www.cliffbemis.com.

VICTOR CHAN, Castaway La Jolla Playhouse: DNA Series concert reading of Miss You Like Hell. Regional credits: Piragua Guy in In the Heights, The Who’s Tommy (San Diego REPertory Theatre); Freddy Trumper in Chess (East West Players); Crush in Finding Nemo the Musical (original cast, Disney Creative Entertainment); Engineer in Miss Saigon (Starlight Theatre); Riff Raff in Rocky Horror Show (American Stage Theatre Co.); Moby Dick (San Diego Opera). Film: The Birth of an Alien, Heart of Mind, Dog Bowl, The Test, Platypus: The Musical, The Syndicate, Association. TV: Bent (NBC), NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS). Love to his wife Michelle and sons Gabe, Eli and Dorian. Proud member of AEA. VANESSA A. JONES, Lawyer/Waitress is thrilled and honored to be making her La Jolla Playhouse debut with Miss You Like Hell. Broadway: original cast of Disney’s The Lion King; Caroline, or Change; Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story. Off-Broadway: Julie Taymor’s Juan Darien at Lincoln Center, The Public Theater’s The Brother/Sister Plays. Regional: Satchel Paige & The Kansas City Swing (St. Louis Rep and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); The Color Purple (Milwaukee Rep). TV/Film: What Would You Do?, Royal Pains, House of Cards, Unforgettable, Smash. She has sung background for Liza Minnelli, Luther Vandross, Heather Hedley and other artists. Forever grateful!

DAVID PATRICK KELLY, Higgins La Jolla Playhouse: Visions of Simone Machard, Romeo and Juliet. Broadway: Once (Da, original cast; Tony Award: Best Musical), Twelfth Night (Feste), Therése Raquín (Michaud), Government Inspector (Osip), Uncle Vanya (Waffles), Working (Charlie Blossom).

Off-Broadway: The Cure (David; Obie Award: Best Play), Pearls for Pigs (Maestro; Obie Award: Best Play), The Mind King (a Mind King Angel). Regional: Woyzeck (Woyzeck), Tartuffe (Tartuffe), Othello (Iago), Enrico IV (Enrico). Film: John Wick, Flags of Our Fathers, Chi-Raq, The Warriors, Wild at Heart (Palme d’Or, Cannes Film Festival). TV: Twin Peaks. Awards: Obie Award for Sustained Excellence, Connecticut Critics Award for Tartuffe.

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JULIO MONGE, Manuel La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Broadway: Jerome Robbins´ Broadway, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Victor/ Victoria, Man of La Mancha, Paul Simon’s The Capeman, Lincoln Center’s Twelfth Night, Fosse, On Your Feet.

Off-Broadway credits include: Antony and Cleopatra, Dancing on Her Knees (Public Theater); Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, Henry VIII (Delacorte Theater); Sin (Second Stage). Regional credits: Phaedra Backwards (McCarter Theatre); LaChiusa’s Los Otros (Mark Taper Forum); The Long Christmas Ride Home (Trinity Rep).

International: Victoria Thieree Chaplin’s L’Oratorio D’Aurelia. Education: Brooklyn College (B.S., Cum Laude); University of Puerto Rico; American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

CASHAÉ MONYA, Pearl is so proud to be back at La Jolla Playhouse after appearing in the pre-Broadway production of Memphis in 2008, as well as the WoW Festival productions of Counterweight and The Car Plays. Local credits include: Ruthless!, Our Lady of Kibeho, Trouble in Mind, Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Counterweight: The Elevator Love Play and The Bluest Eye (Moxie Theatre); Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill and Chicago: Speakeasy Cabaret (ion Theatre); Little Shop of Horrors and Our Town (Cygnet Theatre); You Can’t Take It with You and The Glory Man (Lamb’s Players Theatre); The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (North Coast Rep). Upcoming: Well (Diversionary Theatre). “All my love to the favorites, Grandmie & Matthew!”

KÜRT NORBY, Officer/Legal Clerk/A Guy at a Motel Desk World premieres: Limelight: The Story of Charlie Chaplin, Zhivago (La Jolla Playhouse); Allegiance (The Old Globe); Everbody’s Talkin’: The Music of Harry Nilsson starring alongside Alice Ripley and Gregory Jbara (San Diego REP). Regional: Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (The Old Globe); Assassins, Man of La Mancha, Sweeney Todd (Cygnet Theatre); Mixtape, Leaving Iowa (Lamb’s Players Theatre); Cats (SDMT). www.kurtnorby.com OLIVIA OGUMA, Mindy La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Broadway and National Tour: Mamma Mia!, Les Misérables, Disney’s High School Musical (1st National Tour). Off-Broadway: Luce (LCT3); Emotional Creature (Signature Theater); La Dispute (NAATCO); BFE (Playwrights Horizons). Regional: The Vagina Monologues (Bucks County Playhouse); Snow Falling on Cedars (Portland Center Stage); The 25th Annual…Spelling Bee (Paper Mill Playhouse); BFE (Long Wharf; Critics Circle Award for Best Debut). TV/ Film: Odd Mom Out, Younger, The Good Wife, The Big C, Law & Order, The New Electric Company, This Is Where I Leave You, Hallmark Hall of Fame’s The Flamingo Rising and Strangers with Candy.

DAPHNE RUBIN-VEGA, Beatriz appeared in La Jolla Playhouse’s production of Faust, directed by former Artistic Director Michael Greif. Her Broadway credits include: A Streetcar Named Desire (Stella), Les Misérables (Fantine), Anna in the Tropics (Tony Award nomination – Best Featured Actress/Play), The Rocky Horror Show (Magenta) and RENT (Mimi, original cast; Tony Award nomination – Best Actress/Musical). Selected Off-Broadway credits: Quiara Alegría Hudes’ Daphne’s Dive (Signature Theater), Empanada Loca, Jack Goes Boating (film and theater), F-cking A, Two Sisters and a Piano (Public Theater) and Bernarda Alba (Lincoln Center). Film and TV appearances include: Smash, Jack Goes Boating, Sex and the City, Law & Order: CI, Flawless, Virgin and Wild Things (Blockbuster Award, 1998).

More at daphnerubinvega.com.

THE COMPANY QUIARA ALEGRÍA HUDES, Book and Lyrics is a playwright, strong wife and mother of two, Distinguished Professor at Wesleyan University, barrio feminist and native of West Philly, U.S.A. Her plays and musicals have been performed around the world. They are Water by the Spoonful, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama; In the Heights, winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical and a Pulitzer finalist; Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue, another Pulitzer finalist; Daphne’s Dive; The Good Peaches; The Happiest Song Plays Last; and Miss You Like Hell.

ERIN McKEOWN, Music and Lyrics is a musician, writer, and producer known internationally for her prolific disregard of stylistic boundaries. Her brash and clever electric guitar playing is something to see. Her singing voice is truly unique – clear, cool, and collected. A familiar presence on NPR and the BBC, McKeown’s songs have also appeared in numerous television shows and commercials.

While a student at Brown University, she spent three years as an artist in residence at Providence, RI’s revolutionary community arts organization, AS220. She spent the next decade playing nearly 200 shows a year while releasing 7 studio albums and refining a distinct and challenging mix of American musical styles. An active voice on social justice issues and culture, McKeown was a 2011-12 fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society. She is the recipient of a 2016 writing residency at The Studios At Key West. Her latest album, 2016’s ACCORDING TO US, uses the intimate expressions of gospel, jazz and hip-hop to trace a journey toward personal liberation. www.erinmckeown.com @erinmckeown.

LEAR deBESSONET, Director is the Resident Director at The Public Theater and the Director of Public Works, for which she has directed pageant-style musical adaptations of The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale and The Odyssey at the Delacorte, each featuring over two hundred New Yorkers from all five boroughs with appearances from diverse groups including gospel choirs, marching bands, park rangers and taxi drivers. She received Obie and Lilly Awards and a Drama Desk nomination for her direction of Good Person of Szechwan (Foundry Theatre at LaMaMa; The Public Theater). Her previous large-scale community projects include The Odyssey at The Old Globe (2011) and her site-specific Don Quixote (2009), a collaboration with homeless shelter Broad Street Ministry and the punk-gypsy ensemble The Psalters. She has directed shows for Encores! Off-Center, LCT3, the Intiman, the Guthrie, Joe’s Pub, Women’s Project, Performance Space 122, 13p and Clubbed Thumb. Recipient of the Doris Duke Impact Award, TCG’s Peter Zeisler Award, LMCC’s Presidential Award for Artistic Excellence and the Meadows Prize, she has also acted as a visiting professor at NYU-Tisch School of the Arts.

DANNY MEFFORD, Choreographer Broadway credits include Fun Home, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Astaire and Lortel Award nominations) and The Bridges of Madison County. Other New York credits: Love’s Labour’s Lost (Drama Desk nomination), Fun Home (Lortel nomination), Good Person of Szechwan, Much Ado About Nothing, Pump Boys and Dinettes for City Center Encores!, Melancholy Play and Dance Dance Revolution. Directing credits include: Becoming Liv Ullman at NY Fringe, Wasted at Ars Nova and The Maids.

Education: University of Evansville and Brown University.

JULIE MCBRIDE, Music Director La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Broadway in Chicago: The SpongeBob Musical (music director). Broadway: Amazing Grace (associate conductor), Finding Neverland (assistant conductor). Off-Broadway/Regional: Next to Normal (Second Stage), These Paper Bullets! (Yale Rep, Geffen Playhouse, Atlantic Theatre Company), Daddy Long Legs (Northlight, La Mirada, Laguna Playhouse, ATC, St. Louis Rep, Skylight, PCPA, Royal Manitoba), LMNOP (Goodspeed), CHIX 6 (Queens Theatre in the Park).

Ms. McBride has served on the faculties of the Juilliard School (Drama Division) and Syracuse University (Tepper Semester).

THE COMPANY CHARLIE ROSEN, Orchestrations/Arrangements/Incidental Music is a composer, performer, arranger, orchestrator, music director and producer. La Jolla Playhouse debut! Recent credits – Broadway: American Psycho (Assoc. MD/Keys), The Visit (Guitar/Zither), Honeymoon in Vegas (Orchestrations), Cyrano de Bergerac (Composer), One Man, Two Guvnors (Music Director, Bass), 13 The Musical (Guitars/Bass/ Keys), Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Assoc. MD/Bass). Off-Broadway/ Regional/Other: Love’s Labour’s Lost (The Public Theater); The Black Suits (Center Theatre Group); Unauthorized...Samantha Brown (Goodspeed); Bonfire Night (NYSF); Charlie Rosen’s Broadway Big Band, Chita: A Legendary Celebration (August Wilson Theatre). TV/Film: Maya and Marty (MD/Orchestrations) – NBC. ASCAP, Local 802, Equity, Berklee, www.charlierosen.com @CRosenMusic.

DONYALE WERLE, Scenic Design La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Broadway: Peter and the Starcatcher (2012 Tony Award), Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (2011 Tony nomination), Allegiance and In Transit. Off-Broadway: The Robber Bridegroom (Roundabout); Daphne’s Dive (Signature); The Legend of Georgia McBride (MCC); Runaways; God Bless You, Mr. Goldwater; The New Brain; Little Shop of Horrors; The Wild Party; Tick, Tick, Boom!; Faust; Pump Boys & the Dinettes (Encores Off-Center); Brooklynite, Too Much Sun (Vineyard), The Explorer’s Club (MTC); Broke-ology (Lincoln Center). Regional: Geffen, Hartford, Paper Mill, Denver Center, The Old Globe. Awards include a Tony, Obie, Lucille Lortel, Hewes Design Award. Affiliations: Broadway Green Alliance, Broadway & Off-Broadway Committees for USA Local 829.

EMILIO SOSA, Costume Design La Jolla Playhouse: American Night, The Seven, Adoration of the Old Woman. Radio City New York Spectacular – 2015, 2016. Broadway: On Your Feet: The Emilio and Gloria Estefan Story, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, Motown: The Musical (West End, National Tour); Porgy and Bess (Tony nomination, NAACP Theatre Award), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Topdog/Underdog (London). Off Broadway: By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (Lucille Lortel Award, NAACP Theater Award), Sex with Strangers, Crowns, Sunset Baby, Detroit ‘67, The Misanthrope.

Regional:Twist (LA Ovation Award), Immediate Family, Marley: The Musical, American Night, Ruined, Cutting Up, Señor Discretion Himself, (Helen Hayes nomination), Witness Uganda, Fences, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Turandot: The Rumble for the Ring, Pippin, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Sense & Sensibility: The Musical. Project Runway Finalist; Board of Trustees, American Theater Wing.

January 31 - March 12

TYLER MICOLEAU, Lighting Design La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Collaborations with director Lear deBessonet: The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale (Public Works); Good Person of Szechwan (Foundry, Public). Recent Off-Broadway: The Effect (Barrow Street); First Daughters Suite (Public); Antlia Pneumatica (Playwrights Horizons; Drama Desk Award nomination); The Invisible Hand (NY Theatre Workshop); The City of Conversation (Lincoln Center Theatre). Other notable OffBroadway: Fortress of Solitude (Public); Familiar (Playwrights Horizons); Blasted (Soho Rep; Hewes Award); Bug (Barrow Street; Lucille Lortel and Obie Awards). Regional: Arena, Huntington, Alley, Goodman, ART, Old Globe, Dallas Theater Center, Long Wharf, among others. 2010 Obie for Sustained Excellence. www.tylermicoleau.com

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THECOMPANY COMPANY THE DAN MOSES SCHREIER, Sound Design Broadway: American Psycho, The Visit, Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Sondheim on Sondheim, A Little Night Music, Gypsy (Patti LuPone), Radio Golf, John Doyle’s production of Sweeney Todd, Gem of the Ocean, Pacific Overtures, Assassins, Into the Woods, Topdog/ Underdog, Dirty Blonde, Noise/Funk. He has composed scores for the Broadway productions of Merchant of Venice (Al Pacino), Julius Caesar (Denzel Washington), The Tempest (Patrick Stewart) and Dan Hurlin’s Disfarmer @ St. Ann’s Warehouse. Awards: 4 Tony Award nominations, 3 Drama Desk Awards. Dan is currently composing a musical with Brian Selznick (The Invention of Hugo Cabret) based on Brian’s book, The Houdini Box. GABRIEL GREENE, Dramaturg joined La Jolla Playhouse’s artistic staff in 2007 and currently serves as their Director of New Play Development. In addition to curating and producing the annual DNA New Work Series, he has dramaturged over twenty new plays and musicals for the Playhouse, including JUNK, The Last Tiger in Haiti, Blueprints to Freedom, Up Here, The Darrell Hammond Project, Kingdom City, El Henry, The Who & The What, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Milk Like Sugar (also Off-Broadway; Obie Award) and Memphis (also Broadway and London; four Tony Awards). Goosebumps Alive, his immersive adaptation of R.L. Stine’s best-selling novels (co-written and directed by Tom Salamon) recently premiered at The Vaults (London). With Alex Levy, he co-created Safe at Home, which was developed as part of the 2016 DNA Series and will receive its world premiere at Mixed Blood Theatre in 2017. B.A.: University of Michigan. M.Phil: Trinity College, Dublin. B.F.F.: Mia Fiorella.

LUKE ANDERSON, Assistant Stage Manager La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Broadway: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Romeo and Juliet. Off-Broadway: The Public: Twelfth Night (Public Works at The Delacorte), Southern Comfort, Under the Radar Festival (2013-2016), Comedy of Errors (Mobile Unit), Buzzer, Pirates of Penzance (Gala performance), Much Ado About Nothing (The Delacorte), The Apple Family Plays (That Hopey Changey Thing, Sweet and Sad, Sorry, Regular Singing). St. Ann’s Warehouse: A Streetcar Named Desire (The Young Vic), Bianco (NoFit State). Other NY/Regional: A.R.T., LaMama, Signature Theater Company.

ALFREDO MACIAS, Assistant Stage Manager La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Off-Broadway: The Odyssey, Twelfth Night (The Public Theater); 50 Shades! The Musical Parody (Elektra Theatre); Ivy and Bean, the Musical (Atlantic Theatre and National Tour); Mad Libs Live! (New World Stages). Other NY credits: Nice Fish (A.R.T. at St. Ann’s Warehouse); Island, Pericles, Othello (New York Shakespeare Exchange).

Film: The Sonnet Project (associate producer), Recursion: a short film (coproducer/unit production manager).

TARA RUBIN CASTING, Casting La Jolla Playhouse: The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Sideways, Most Wanted, The Wiz, The Farnsworth Invention, Palm Beach, Zhivago, Jersey Boys. Selected Broadway: Miss Saigon (upcoming), Falsettos (upcoming), A Bronx Tale (upcoming), Dear Evan Hansen (upcoming), Cats, Disaster!, School of Rock, Dr. Zhivago, It Shoulda Been You, Gigi, Bullets Over Broadway, Aladdin, Les Misérables, Mothers and Sons, Big Fish, The Heiress, How to Succeed..., A Little Night Music, Billy Elliot, Shrek, Guys and Dolls, Young Frankenstein, The Little Mermaid, Mary Poppins, Spamalot, …

Spelling Bee, The Producers, Mamma Mia!, Jersey Boys, The Phantom of the Opera. Off-Broadway: Here Lies Love; Old Jews Telling Jokes; Love, Loss, and What I Wore. Regional: Yale Repertory Theatre, Paper Mill Playhouse, Bucks County Playhouse, Westport Country Playhouse, The Old Globe.

EVANGELINE ROSE WHITLOCK, Stage Manager is thrilled to be back with the company where she earned her AEA card! La Jolla Playhouse credits include: Limelight: The Story of Charlie Chaplin, A Dram of Drummhicit and Hoover Comes Alive!.

Off-Broadway: Twelfth Night, The Odyssey, The Winter’s Tale, The Tempest (Public Works at The Public Theater); Grounded, Father Comes Home from the Wars Parts 1, 2 & 3, Antony and Cleopatra (The Public Theater); Nice Fish (Co-Production A.R.T/St. Ann’s Warehouse); Lost Girls (MCC). Tours: Flashdance. Regional: Father Comes Home… (A.R.T. and Center Theatre Group); The Scottsboro Boys (CTG/Old Globe/A.C.T.); Allegiance, A Room with a View, Odyssey (Old Globe). M.F.A., UC San Diego. Adjunct Faculty: Adelphi University.

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

Developed by Sushi Master James Holder, the menu features his signature sushi, delectable dishes created with Prime and Angus cuts of beef, locally and sustainably harvested seafood and other seasonal dishes. Lighter fare is served at the newly-redesigned sushi/cocktail bar, which also offers craft beer and California wines.

Please call (858) 638-7778 for reservations.

Visit JamesPlaceSD.com for more information.

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PLAYHOUSE LEADERSHIP CHRISTOPHER ASHLEY, Playhouse Artistic Director has served as La Jolla Playhouse’s Artistic Director since October, 2007. During his tenure, he has helmed the Playhouse’s acclaimed productions of Hollywood, Come From Away, The Darrell Hammond Project, 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 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 and Fires in the Mirror (Lucille Lortel Award), among others. Mr. Ashley also directed the feature films Jeffrey and Lucky Stiff, as well as 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 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, Kirsten Greenidge, Quiara Alegría Hudes, John Leguizamo, Herbert Siguenza, Basil Twist, 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 Rep, Tectonic Theatre Project, the I.D.E.A. District and the cities of Escondido and Chula Vista. 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 and the National Dance Institute. Mr. Rosenberg serves on the Boards of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, NBC 7 San Diego Community Advisory Board and the Theatre Communications Group, where he is on the Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Committee and chairs the Global Theatre Initiative Community. Follow him on Twitter: @MrMikeRosenberg 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.

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.

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 Parking Enforcement.

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 or turn off all electronic devices, including cell phones and watches, before the performance.

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

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

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

Unaccompanied minors ages 12 and under are not permitted in the theatre.

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.

BARS AND CONCESSIONS are provided by James’ Place, open Tuesday – Friday 4:00 pm to close, Saturday – Sunday: 3:00 pm to close. For reservations, please call (858) 638-7778. To avoid the rush, intermission beverages can be ordered before the show.

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.

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Owning the Road Miss You Like Hell authors Quiara Alegría Hudes and Erin McKeown take a break from rehearsals to talk with Director of New Play Development Gabriel Greene.

GG: Quiara, Miss You Like Hell shares the central premise of an earlier play of yours, 26 Miles — that of a mother/daughter cross-country road trip. What made you want to go back to that story?

QAH: The thing that drew me to 26 Miles was wanting to write a complicated mother/daughter story where the mother is not a cypher; she’s not a demon, and she’s not an angel. Tennessee Williams is one of my idols, but seeing his plays, you’re watching someone self-destruct in such uncomfortable ways. I wanted to create a different matriarch than that, one who is complicated and deeply flawed, but also kick-ass and exciting. I liked that about the play I had written, but I felt that I never quite nailed the broader context of the story. When Erin came on board and we started working on Miss You Like Hell, suddenly the world in which this mother/daughter situation came to life became much more gratifying.

GG: How did your creative partnership start?

EM: Quiara wrote me an email through my website, which basically read, “I heard one of your records and it sounds like what this musical could sound like. Do you want to talk about it?” She came to see a show of mine at Joe’s Pub [in New York], then we had lunch the next day – I remember it as a general, “who are you creatively” conversation. Then she gave me 26 Miles to read. Even before I wrote back to her to say “yes,” I’d already circled things in the script that felt like songs to me.

GG: What is it about road trips that makes them such fertile dramatic ground for you?

QAH: Even in 2016, for all of the headway that feminism has given to someone like myself, there’s still a sense of domesticity attached to womanhood, and especially for me as a wife and a mother. Women can’t own the road on their own terms. The road is one of the most fundamental American symbols: it’s the promise of expansion, of finding meaning; the promise of unattachment and discovery. I’m attracted to what happens when a woman leaves the domesticity that she’s supposed to stay with and goes unfettered towards expansion.

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GG: Erin, as a touring musician, I imagine you’ve put hundreds of thousands of miles on your van. Did that aspect of road trips resonate with you in the same way?

EM: If there’s any noble purpose for me on the road, it’s in being a transmitter or traveler; an old-fashioned minstrel, bringing the news or the vibe from one town to the next. But that’s what’s so great about this piece; whether or not I’ve framed my history that way for myself, I am a part of what Quiara is talking about: I have been a woman on the road for a long time, which is radically different from narratives we hear all the time.

GG: There’s a contrast in the show between the realism of Olivia and Beatriz’s circumstances and their complicated relationship, and a sort of magic that comes into play when they meet people on the road. How did you land on that impulse?

QAH: The mother is a deeply spiritual person. We see her spirit world come alive at times. The daughter is an atheist, but has a rich imaginary life and we see that come to life, too. And then there are times where magic happens that is neither of those things, it’s just because life can be strange and surreal.

EM: I also think that the physical building blocks of the road-trip world – the road, the car, the sky – lend themselves to imagination in a particular way. I can walk into a rest stop and it doesn’t feel real to me, you know? Nobody knows me, nobody’s even looking at me; I can feel invisible in those places. It’s such fertile ground for my imagination. It’s the same thing along the road: I’m staring at the same thing for hours and so it makes complete sense to me that when I see a mountain in the distance, I can think, “That’s not a mountain…that’s a giant buffalo coming my way.” It’s not a recognizable space that I’m comfortable in, or that has a purpose I already know.

QAH: Time works differently, right? If the next thing you have to do in eight hours is make a pit stop, time expands. You have time for thoughts to cycle in and out. If you’re pulling the yarn of a thought, you have ample time to pull, and maybe the sweater is unraveled, and maybe the yarn leads to a new sweater, in your wandering imagination.

GG: Miss You Like Hell explores identity in a way that’s particularly inclusive and universal. More and more, we’re becoming aware that we are comprised of a multiplicity of identities, as opposed to a more stringent, binary way of thinking.

QAH: Feelings. Drippy feelings. And then, Big Pun, a ferocious rap artist. That’s what was in rotation that day.

QAH: That’s the fun social engineering that comes with being a playwright: who are you going to put on stage and why? What reality are you going to express? One of the things that I love about creating a company like this is, it’s not clear what kind of play this is. It’s not a Latino play, it’s not a white play; it’s not a gay play, it’s not a straight play. I don’t think there’s one category or slot this piece fits in. I enjoy the purposeful mischief of that kind of social experiment.

EM: I feel like we’ve kept clarifying the relationship between Beatriz and Olivia. I will say, the one thing that has remained consistent is the desire to keep their relationship complicated – there is some sense that things have changed, but it remains complicated in a way that feels very real.

EM: I like that idea of mischief, too. The world of this show feels like a reflection of what my inner world is like: turning things on their heads. It doesn’t feel abnormal to me.

GG: Speaking of turning things on their heads, Erin, so much of your music resists a specific label or genre. It’s eclectic and inclusive in its own way, which feels like a fantastic match for a musical that deals with an expansive view of American-ness.

EM: I’ve always been that way. From the very first time I made something, I never felt compelled to make something exactly the same. I’ve always just opened the door and done whatever catches my ear. Besides, people don’t just listen to one kind of music. It’s always been frustrating for me that the music business markets to listeners in one way. Like, if you like Rhianna they keep marketing Drake to you. Everyone I know likes a ton of different kinds of music.

QAH: I just interviewed someone for a play I’m working on and I asked, “What sort of music do you listen to?” He said, “Well, my two favorites are Big Pun and Ed Sheeran.” There you have it.

GG: Wow, I’m completely out of the loop. Who…?

EM: Ed Sheeran. He’s an English singer/songwriter.

GG: How has Miss You Like Hell evolved over the last couple of years?

QAH: To me, this show is a record of the Obama presidency – Obama’s not a character, he literally doesn’t make an appearance – but it’s a record of his accomplishments, missteps, and unfinished work. At the beginning of our writing process, gay marriage was being introduced on a state-by-state basis. Then, a few drafts in, it became federal – it’s in fifty states! What do we do now? This matters to our story. How do we tell that story? Immigration is a huge part of this story. Over the last few years, we kept having phone calls where we said, “the story’s not going to be relevant anymore. There’s going to be a change and families will stop being divided.” Ultimately that proved naïve.

GG: But the piece tackles these thorny, highly-politicized ideas in a very human way.

EM: Well, people who are dealing with this in their life – it’s their life, it’s the backdrop for their life. I would also say, my experience so far is, if the art’s not good, the message is lost anyway, so we naturally focused on making the story the best-told story it can be.

GG: How do you hope Miss You Like Hell will affect your audiences?

EM: I mean, I know what I would want to feel when I leave any piece of theatre, but I would not want to put that on anyone else, in terms of how they should feel. I like feeling like I saw a world that I don’t usually get to see, something that makes me want to – I don’t know – walk differently, talk differently, just be different in the world. But that’s just me.

QAH: He sings that song…

QAH & EM: (singing) “Darling, I’ll be loving you ‘til we’re seventy…”

QAH: Edward Albee died during our first week of rehearsals. He advocated for, and created, a theater that is willingly provocative and uncomfortable. To that I would add that if the audience hasn’t laughed and felt delight, we didn’t achieve all the colors we had hoped for.

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THE ROAD MORE TRAVELED

The “road trip” has been part of our human narrative for millennia. Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey – the story of Odysseus’ war-weary trek from the fallen city of Troy back home to Ithaca – dates back to approximately the eighth century BCE. Relatively more recently, the pilgrims in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (1478) and the eponymous hero of Cervantes’ Don Quixote (1615) hit the road on quests either spiritual or idealistic, though their journeys may not always have lived up to their intentions.

The road – a space of travel and transition – symbolizes an essential part of what Joseph Campbell called “the hero’s journey.” When a hero experiences the “call to adventure,” he is compelled to leave the safety of home and cross a threshold into the unknown, where obstacles and ordeals await. The road is a space where the hero discovers the world and his place in it, with all the promise and problems that can entail.

The roads themselves, and how we travel on them, have changed with our times. In the earlier days of American history, the idea of manifest destiny propelled people ever-further west, on foot or via horses and wagons. Mark Twain’s young hero, Huck Finn, sought his and Jim’s freedom by rafting the Mississippi River.

The modern American road trip is inextricably tied to our country’s expansive highways – a network of roads that stretches over 164,000 miles. Yet at the turn of the twentieth century, Americans’ thirst for automobile travel was far more advanced than the construction of usable roads. In 1903, the first successful cross-country drive – instigated by a $50 bet – was completed in 63 ½ days by Horatio Nelson Jackson and Sewall Crocker (and, for a large part of the trip, a dog named Bud).

With the rapid growth of automobile ownership in the 1950s, driving became a popular way to travel to vacation destinations throughout the country. To accommodate the growing need for accessibility, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, which created the Interstate Highway System.

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Even as road trips became a ubiquitous part of American society and popular culture, some counter-culture authors drew stark contrasts to mainstream America in their own drug-fueled quests for discovery and meaning. Jack Kerouac, one of the best-known writers of the Beat Generation, penned On the Road (1957), a roman à clef inspired by his travels with fellow Beat writer Neal Cassady. It was, Kerouac later wrote, “a journey through post-[Walt] Whitman America to FIND that America.” Tom Wolfe hitched a ride with bestselling author Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters as they bussed across America, resulting in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968). Fellow gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971) – subtitled “A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream” – recounts a surreal visit to Sin City made in a Chevrolet convertible dubbed “The Great Red Shark.”

For all the stories told from the vantage of the road, certain things remain the same. Tellingly, one is that the road trip narrative almost exclusively centers on men. “[T]here is no female counterpart in our culture to Ishmael or Huck Finn,” wrote Vanessa Veselka in her essay, “Green Screen: The Lack of Female Road Narratives and Why It Matters.” Writer Glynnis MacNicol – a frequent road-tripper – agrees: while a man’s quest contains the “the promise of a new life, of freedom, of the ability to start over, […] The story of women on the road, when we do get it, is almost always one of fear or invisibility. Women traveling alone are habitually escaping from something or are stripped of any agency at all.”

In their world-premiere musical, Miss You Like Hell, Quiara Alegría Hudes and Erin McKeown attempt to remedy this female absence from the road. Beatriz and Olivia begin the story as an estranged mother and daughter; through their travels from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, however, they find – both in America and in themselves – an open-hearted spirit of promise and discovery. It’s an essential new entry in a long-standing genre.

THE MAKING OF

February 2012 La Jolla Playhouse’s Artistic Director, Christopher Ashley, commissions playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes to write a new piece. She is a rising star in the theatre world: a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist for her play Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue (2007) and the 2008 Tony Award-winning musical In the Heights, for which she wrote the book. She goes on to win the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play Water by the Spoonful.

September 2012 Quiara teams up with renowned singer/songwriter Erin McKeown (composer/co-lyricist) and Obie Award winner Lear deBessonet (director) to write a new musical for La Jolla Playhouse.

“Since commissioning Miss You Like Hell four years ago, I have watched Quiara, Erin and Lear throw their hearts and souls into the creation of this extraordinary piece.

This is exactly the right time for their powerful, moving new musical that embraces our ever-evolving identities as families and Americans.”

– Christopher Ashley

September 2013 Quiara and Erin submit the first draft of the first act to La Jolla Playhouse. It centers on the story of Beatriz, a Latina mother, and her daughter Olivia, as they road trip across the country, discovering America – and themselves.

Quiara Alegría Hudes Book and Lyrics

Erin McKeown

Music and Lyrics

La Jolla Playhouse holds two readings of the script in New York, where the creative team can hear their work performed by actors and musicians. Choreographer Danny Mefford joins the team.

Krystina Alabado and Daphne Rubin-Vega; photo by Jim Carmody

Casting is announced!

Tony Award nominee Daphne Rubin-Vega (who originated the role of Mimi in RENT) plays Beatriz, with Krystina Alabado (Broadway’s American Psycho) as her daughter, Olivia. They are joined by eight other nationally and locally acclaimed actors.

Director

February 2016

December 2014 & May 2015

August 2016

Lear deBessonet

Miss You Like Hell receives a three-week workshop as part of the Playhouse’s DNA New Work Series, culminating in three public concert readings.

October 25 – December 4, 2016 Miss You Like Hell makes its world premiere at the Mandell Weiss Theatre, as part of the 2016/2017 season at La Jolla Playhouse.

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