Up Here - Know Before You Go

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO

BEGINS JULY 28

BEFORE YOU GO

KNOW

We look forward to seeing you at La Jolla Playhouse at your upcoming performance of Up Here. 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: Foodie Friday: Buy a ticket to the performance and enjoy San Diego’s finest food trucks, plus a complimentary microbrew tasting from Stone Brewing Company.

- Friday, August 28 starting at 6:00 pm Talkback Tuesdays: Participate in a lively discussion with actors and Playhouse staff members after the performance.

- Tuesday, August 4 following the 7:30 pm performance

- Tuesday, August 11 following the 7:30 pm performance Discovery Sunday: “Sex in the Lab: The Neurobiology of Attraction and Love” with special guest Mike Datko (Cognitive Science, UCSD)

- Sunday, August 30 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, August 19 at 6:45 pm

- Saturday, August 29 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, August 16 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, August 22 at 2:00 pm ASL Interpreted Performance: This performance has American Sign Language interpretation for patrons who are deaf or hard of hearing.

- Friday, August 28 at 8:00 pm Dining

James’ Place is the Theatre District’s new 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. Happy Hour begins in the bar at 3:00 pm and dinner reservations begin at 5:00 pm. 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

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

As anyone who is familiar with new musicals can attest, the road from idea to production can be quite long. Today, you will witness the culmination of many years of dreaming and development on Up Here. We originally slated this musical as part of our season several years ago; only now, as the jam-packed schedules of Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez and © Howard Lipin/U-T San Diego/ZUMA Wire Alex Timbers have finally aligned, can this hugely imaginative show greet its first public audiences.

Musicals – particularly those written by the Lopezes – have the ability to transport us to startling and surprising places. And no place is quite as glorious and kaleidoscopic as our own minds. Up Here shows us how the complexity of our inner landscape can be a gigantic obstacle to simply living our lives. How well can we ever truly know another person? How well can we let another person know us? Can we ever simply be?

In this collision between romantic comedy and circus, Kristen and Bobby frame the fantastical against the backdrop of two everyday people: a computer repairman named Dan and an extroverted t-shirt designer named Lindsay. This contrast – the extraordinary hidden within the ordinary – grounds the musical in a lovely way.

Alex Timbers is an ideal match for the material; he is among the most theatrical and inventive directors around. If you saw the Playhouse’s Page To Stage productions of Peter and the Starcatchers and HOOVER COMES ALIVE! (both in 2009), you already know the playful boldness with which Alex approaches each show. In the years since his last trip to the Playhouse, his directorial prowess and imagination has only grown.

Thanks so much for joining us for Up Here, and for your ongoing support of new works in this most adventurous season.

American theatre.

CHRISTOPHER ASHLEY Cover photo: Betsy Wolfe and Matt Bittner. Photo by Matt Murphy.

P4 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINe

LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE presents Michael S. Rosenberg Managing Director

Christopher Ashley Artistic Director

Book, Music and Lyrics by

KRIsten Anderson-Lopez AND Robert Lopez DIRECTED BY

Alex Timbers Choreographed BY

Joshua Bergasse Featuring

Kikau Alvaro*, Matt Bittner*, Andrew Call*, N’Jameh Camara‡, Giovanni Cozic, Hanz Enyeart, Mary Glen Fredrick‡, Jacob Haren*, April Jo Henry, Jeff Hiller*, Gizel Jimenez*, Zonya Love*, Zakiyah Markland‡, Lorena Martinez‡, Sarah Meahl*, Tamara Rodriguez Mehl, Eric Petersen*, Devin Ratray*, Devere Rogers*, Charles South*, Graham Stevens*, Nick Verina*, Betsy Wolfe* Music Director/Incidental Music Orchestrations Vocal Arrangements Scenic Designer Costume Designer Lighting Designer Sound Designer Projection Designer Puppet Designer Hair and Wig Designer Fight Director Dramaturg Casting Local Casting Production Stage Manager Assistant Stage Managers Production Manager

Aron Accurso Dave Metzger Robert Lopez David Korins Ann Closs-Farley David J. Weiner Peter Hylenski Dan Scully Michelle Zamora Lisa Chan-Wylie George Yé Gabriel Greene Carrie Gardner, C.S.A. Teresa Sapien Matthew DiCarlo* Rachel Bauder*, Shawn Pennington* Audrey Hoo

Commissioned by Roundabout Theatre Company, New York, NY | Todd Haimes, Artistic Director; Harold Wolpert, Managing Director; Julia C. Levy, Executive Director By special arrangement with Scott Sanders Theatrical Productions

THE CAST (in order of appearance)

Dan........................................................................................................................... Matt Bittner Lindsay..................................................................................................................... Betsy Wolfe Dan's Consciousness/Ensemble....................... Kikau Alvaro, Andrew Call, N’Jameh Camara, Giovanni Cozic, Mary Glen Fredrick, Jacob Haren, Jeff Hiller, Gizel Jimenez, Zonya Love, Zakiya Markland, Lorena Martinez, Sarah Meahl, Eric Petersen, Devin Ratray, Tamara Rodriguez Mehl, Devere Rogers, Charles South, Graham Stevens, Nick Verina Tim/Ensemble........................................................................................................Eric Petersen Ed/Ensemble............................................................................................................. Nick Verina Tina/Ensemble...........................................................................................................Zonya Love Swings: Hanz Enyeart, April Jo Henry

Up Here is performed with a 15-minute intermission.

Additional Staff Associate Director...............................................Richard J. Hinds Associate Music Director............................. Anthony De Angelis Associate Scenic Designer.....................................Rod Lemmond Associate Lighting Designer....................................Jake DeGroot Moving Light Programmer..............................................Alex Fogel Associate Sound Designer.................................Simon Matthews Sound Engineer........................................................ Justin Stasiw Assistant Projection Designer/Programmer............. Shawn Duan Video Editor...........................................................Robert Figueira Assistant Choreographer....................... Bethany Christine Elkin Assistant Scenic Designer....................................... Jenna Carino

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.

Scenic Design Assistant..........................................Raphael Zhao Assistant Director.................................................... Will Detlefsen ‡ Assistant Costume Designer....................................Mary Rochon Costume Design Assistant.................................Danae McQueen ‡ Lighting Design Assistant................................ Anthony Jannuzzi ‡ Production Assistant............................................. Rachael Albert Stage Management Assistant......................... Morgan Zupanski ‡ Stage Management Interns........ Cheyenne Splinter-Newlander, Plato Seto Studio Teacher.......................................................Judy Ridgeway Vocal Coach................................................................. Adrian Alita

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. Candidates in residence at La Jolla Playhouse.

ORCHESTRA Music Director/Conductor/Keyboard 1.................. Aron Accurso Associate Music Director/Keyboard.............Anthony De Angelis Violin.........................................................................Tiffany Sieker Cello.............................................................................Erica Erenyi French Horn...................................................... Adam Krauthamer Flute/Clarinet/Oboe/English Horn Tenor Sax/Baritone Sax.................................................John Reilly Trumpet...................................................................Andrew Elstob Electric, Acoustic Steel Guitars/Banjo........................ Alec Berlin Acoustic, Electric Basses.................................... Michael Pearce Drumset/Percussion..........................................Damien Bassman

Orchestra Contractor..................................................Lorin Getline Rehearsal Piano................Anthony De Angelis, Brendan Whiting Rehearsal Drums.................. Damien Bassman, Joshua Samuels Keyboard Programmer...............................................Randy Cohen Copyist...................................................................... Annixter Rice Music Department Assistant.............................Brendan Whiting Music Department Intern...................................Michelle Fogarty

All musicians are represented by the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada.

Acknowledgements Special thanks to: Victor and Gail Alvarez • Warner/Chappell Music • Sally Horchow International Productions • Caiola Productions • Dominion Pictures ELS • Masque Sound • WorldStage • Robert Miller • Robert Prior • Lauren Oppelt • Hochi Asiatico Banjo provided by Deering Banjo

THE COMPANY Kikau Alvaro, Captain of the Guard/Ensemble La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Regional: Bernardo in West Side Story (San Diego Musical Theatre); Grantaire in Les Misérables (SDSU); Flower Drum Song, Beauty and the Beast, The Full Monty (AMTSJ). Director/Choreographer.

Education: M.F.A. candidate at San Diego State University.

For Derrick. @kikautown Matt Bittner, Dan La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. New York: Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare in the Park); Be a Good Little Widow (The Wild Project). Regional: As You Like It (Two River); All Is Calm (Hudson Valley Shakespeare); Sweeney Todd (Pennsylvania Shakes); productions with Allentown Shakes, Mile Square Theatre and Playhouse Theatre Tulsa. He is also a sound designer/composer, having arranged original pieces for theatres in New York and across the country, including arrangements for Tony Awardnominated director Moritz Von Stuelpnagel, the first regional production of Misterman (featuring Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis) and 14 collegiate productions while earning his M.F.A. in acting from Rutgers University. Mr. Bittner has designed sound for original works by Neil LaBute and Brooke Berman and for LaGuardia Performing Arts High School. He is developing/composing a new musical called Little Krushe, based on true events surrounding the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, where he has spent much of his time abroad. He can also be seen doing his infamous “Girl Voice” in a viral video by the same title and on episodes of Tosh.0. Thanks to God, my loving family, Grandmama & Grandad, Meghann, Meg & Katie, Courtneay and the Rutgers M.F.A. faculty. www.mattbittner.com

Andrew Call, Cool Guy/Ensemble La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Broadway: Rock of Ages, American Idiot, Glory Days, Cry-Baby and High Fidelity. OffBroadway: FOUND The Musical, Brooklynite and Altar Boyz.

Regional: The Rocky Horror Show (The Old Globe).

N’Jameh Camara, Galaxy/Ensemble La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. UC San Diego M.F.A. acting candidate ’16. Regional: The Wiz (Theater at the Center); The Last Story Teller (Light Opera Works); Between Legs and Open Ears (Black Ensemble Theater). UC San Diego credits include: Second Skin, Mr. Burns, The Burial at Thebes, A Doll’s House, The Grapes of Wrath and The Mango Farmer of Vermont. Last summer with The Ubuntu Theater Project, she wrote and performed a one-woman show, Marguerite to Maya Angelou, which showcased around the Bay Area from an art gallery, to the Eugene O’Neill Tao House, to the Alameda juvenile detention hall. TV: BOSS (STARZ). Thanks M.D.H.R.I. Giovanni Cozic, Child is thrilled to be making his La Jolla Playhouse debut at age nine. He’s been a student at San Diego Junior Theatre (SDJT) for over 6 years. SDJT credits include Snoopy: The Musical, The Addams Family, Fancy Nancy, Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark and It’s a Bird...It’s Superman. Hobbies include soccer, cooking and U.S. History. Special thanks to his parents, brother Pierre, Mr. Richard, The Q’s for their constant love and support, and his entire SDJT family for their unending encouragement. And mostly, to the cast and crew of Up Here for this life-changing experience.

THE COMPANY Hanz Enyeart, Swing La Jolla Playhouse: THE GRIFT at the Lafayette Hotel. Other regional credits include: Cabaret, Chicago (Welk Resort Theatre); West Side Story, Annie Get Your Gun (San Diego Musical Theatre); My Fair Lady, The Who’s Tommy (Moonlight Stage Productions); Legally Blonde (Performance Riverside); Edgar & Annabel, Far Away, Chicago (ion theatre); Altar Boyz (Diversionary Theatre). Theme parks: Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland. Education: Certificate of passable joke-making from The Second City, Hollywood.

Mary Glen Fredrick, Galaxy/Ensemble La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Regional: As You Like It, The Winter’s Tale (Heart of America Shakespeare Festival). UCSD: Widower, LEAR, Hamlet, The Burial at Thebes. Stanford: King Lear, The Tempest, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet. Education: M.F.A. Acting candidate at UC San Diego. BA from Stanford University.

Jacob Haren, Bnok/Ensemble La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Select credits Include: Frank Abagnale Jr. in the West Coast regional premiere of Catch Me If You Can, Laurie in Little Women (Moonlight Stage Productions); Rock of Ages (Las Vegas company); How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (The Old Globe); Mungojerrie in Cats (Musical Theatre West); Mark in A Chorus Line (3-D Theatricals); as well as various shows and special events at the Disneyland Resort. Mr. Haren holds a B.F.A. in Musical Theatre from UC Irvine. Special thanks to The Mine, the Up Here team and God. Follow on Instagram and Twitter @jacobdharen. www.jacobharen.com.

April Jo Henry, Swing La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Regional: Side Show, Seussical The Musical starring Cathy Rigby (3-D Theatricals); 42nd Street (Musical Theater West); My Fair Lady, Anything Goes (Moonlight Stage Productions); The Music Man, Guys and Dolls, Glory Man, BASH!, Mix It Up (Lamb’s Players Theater and LPT Educational Outreach); Grease, Anything Goes, Man of La Mancha, Stepping Out (Welk Resort Theater); White Christmas (San Diego Musical Theater); Young Frankenstein (Center Stage Theater).

Jeff Hiller, Critic/Frederick/Ensemble La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Broadway: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. Off-Broadway: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (The Public); Love’s Labour’s Lost (Shakespeare in the Park); Trinculo in The Tempest (Public Works); Lady Be Good (Encores); Silence! (original casts in NYC and LA); Baby Wants Candy (Improvised Musicals). Regional: Bright Star (The Old Globe), Emmett Otter (Goodspeed). Film: Ghost Town, Morning Glory, Adam and The Little Tin Man. TV: 30 Rock, The McCarthys, Impastor, Hotwives of Orlando, Ugly Betty, Law & Order: CI, Psych and Community. Regular performer at the UCB Theatre in LA and NYC. Gizel Jimenez, Cool Girl/Ensemble La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Broadway tour: Rosalia in West Side Story. Regional/NYC: Vanessa in In the Heights (Walnut Street Theater, Westchester Broadway Theater); Caroline in The Theory of Relativity (Goodspeed Musicals); The Shimmy Girl in Smokey Joe’s Café (Capital Repertory Theater); Mary in Rosario and the Gypsies (Theater for the New City). TV/Film: Guest star on Law & Order: SVU; The Tale of Timmy Two Chins. Other credits include: National Anthem (Barclays Center), Habanera (The Paramount Theater in Seattle), Dancer in Another Land music video, Nick Kroll Gets Tasered for Charity (Comedy Central). Education: B.F.A. from NWSA Miami, FL.

Zonya Love, Tina/She Monster/Ensemble La Jolla Playhouse: Side Show. Broadway: The Color Purple. National Tours: Avenue Q. Off-Broadway: Avenue Q. Regional credits include: The Wiz (Maltz Jupiter Theater); Show Boat, Kiss Me Kate (Sacramento Music Circus); Hairspray (Flat Rock Playhouse); Blues in the Night (Milwaukee Repertory Theater). Education: B.F.A. from North Carolina A&T State University, M.F.A. from UN Las Vegas. Romans 8!

Zakiya Iman Markland, Lindsay's Shrink/Erika/Ensemble La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. UC San Diego: The Grapes of Wrath, A Lie of the Mind, Battlecruiser Aristotle, Venus, Burial at Thebes, Second Skin. FIU: RENT, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Medea, Swimming in the Shallows, Top Girls, Body and Sold, The Arabian Nights. Education: M.F.A. Acting candidate at UC San Diego. B.F.A. from Florida International University.

Lorena Martinez, Kimberly/Ensemble La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. UC San Diego: Mr. Burns, a post-electric play; Golden Boy; A Lie of the Mind; 3 Women in 4 Chairs (WNPF). Other theater credits include: Olive Ostrovsky in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (also translated and produced), Martha in Spring Awakening, Florinda in Into the Woods (MX), Coral in Children of Salt (NYU Music Theater Grad), The Caucasian Chalk Circle (NYU). Film: Claudia in Hotel Pennsylvania (Storm Films Inc). B.F.A. from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

UC San Diego M.F.A. candidate.

Sarah Meahl, Lindsay Two/Jen/Ensemble La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. NYC: Workshops of Anastasia and One for My Baby. Regional: Paper Mill Playhouse, Theatre Under the Stars, Theatre of the Stars, Dallas Summer Musicals, The MUNY, Kansas City Starlight, D.C. Shakespeare Theatre Co., Walnut Street Theatre and Pittsburgh Musical Theatre. Television: Natalee in The Natalee Holloway Story (Tru TV), Disney commercials, Barney! Education: Point Park University 2012. Ms. Meahl judges dance competitions for multiple corporations, and teaches dance and gymnastics in NYC. www.sarahmeahl.com Tamara Rodriguez Mehl, Roller Coaster Girl/Ensemble La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Regional: Les Misérables regional tour (Theatre Royal); West Side Story (TVP); Tik Tok Man of Oz (Winkie Con); Annie Get Your Gun (SDMT); Wizard of Oz (Moonlight Productions); Chicago (Berklee). TV: Sweet Fifteen: Mom, I Want to Be an Artist (Telemundo) and Buscando a Timbiriche, La Nueva Banda (Univision), Nokia Theatre Live with Shakhar Binespajooh, alongside the L.A. Philharmonic; Lena Horne Tribute (Isabella Gardner Museum); Mexican Independence Bicentennial in San Antonio, TX; San Diego Latin Film Festival 2015 Featured Artist. Education: graduated cum laude with a dual major in Voice and Songwriting from Berklee College of Music. www.tamaraonline.net Eric Petersen, Tim/Dog/Ensemble La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Broadway: Shrek: The Musical, Peter and the Starcatcher. First National Tours: Shrek: The Musical (Shrek), 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Barfeé). TV: Kirstie, Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, CSI, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, GCB, The Brittany Murphy Story and the Disney Channel shows Jessie, Kirby Buckets and Pair of Kings. Graduate of Bradley University. Proud member of Actors’ Equity.

For my family Lisa, Sophia and Miles. www.EricPetersenOnline.com

THE COMPANY Devin Ratray, Mr. Can-Do/Calvert/Ensemble La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Off-Broadway: Marie and Bruce and An Early History of Fire. Film and TV credits include: Masterminds (fall 2015), The Lennon Report (winter 2015), Blue Ruin (2014), Nebraska (2013), R.I.P.D. (2013), Side Effects (2013), Construction (2016), award-winning musical docu-comedy Courting Condi, Surrogates, Dennis the Menace and Little Monsters. He guest-starred in the season finale of Louie (2015). Other credits: Agent Carter (2014-15), Elementary (2015), Supernatural (season 5) and every Law & Order series made. Usually as a pedophile. Other film credits include the role of the notorious older brother "Buzz" in Home Alone and Home Alone 2. Mr. Ratray has also been in the Cash Cab (season 1). And won. Devin loves his mama.

Devere Rogers, Humbug/Ensemble La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Workshops: Up Here, The Robber Bridegroom. National Tours: Five Guys Named Moe. Off-Broadway: For Flow, We in Silence..., Dance Dance Revolution. Select regional credits: The Wiz (True Colors); Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Merry-Go-Round Playhouse); Little Shop of Horrors (Peterborough); Five Guys Named Moe (Alliance Theatre); Sophisticated Ladies (Gateway Playhouse); Bonfire Nights (NY Stage & Film). TV: Sex Sent Me to the ER (TLC), For Flow (HBO). Commercial: NY Lottery, Budweiser. Film: Pour Amerie Encore. Education: B.F.A. from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

Charles South, Haka/Ensemble La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. International Tour: West Side Story. Regional: Fiddler on the Roof (Goodspeed Musicals); A Christmas Carol (Hartford Stage); Seussical (Connecticut Repertory Theatre); Swing! (The Wick Theatre); Les Misérables (Little Theatre...Square); Annual Dancer for Omaha Christmas Spectacular. Education: B.F.A. from the Hartt School Conservatory.

Graham Stevens, Dan’s Shrink/Dog/Ensemble La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Off-Broadway: Peter and the Starcatcher, In Transit, The Lightning Thief, Skippyjon Jones.

Regional: Carmen (New York City Opera); The Bald Soprano (Yale Cabaret); The Scarlet Letter (Edinburgh Festival Fringe); The Mikado (Lyric Opera San Diego). Mr. Stevens won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble for his performance in the Off-Broadway a cappella musical In Transit. He is a proud San Diego native and is very excited to be making his Playhouse debut. Education: B.A. in Theater Studies, Yale University.

Nick Verina, Ed/Dog/Ensemble La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Broadway: Young Ben in Follies.

National Tours: Sonny in Grease (1st national tour, 2010). OffBroadway/Regional: Edward Ferrars in Sense and Sensibility (The Denver Center); Follies (The Kennedy Center and The Ahmanson in L.A.); Abe in Altar Boyz (Chicago production); Perchik in Fiddler on the Roof (PCLO); Forbidden Broadway: SVU, That Time of the Year (York Theatre); Wallenberg (NYMF); co-author of Balls: The Musical (Theatre Row and NYMF). TV: Limitless (CBS, 2015).

Recordings: Follies (2011 revival), That Time of the Year (original cast recording). Education: B.F.A. from Wright State University, The Second City Chicago, UCB New York. Love to Erin and Mary Elizabeth. www.NickVerina.com

Betsy Wolfe, Lindsay La Jolla Playhouse: 2015 Gala. She was last seen on Broadway starring in Woody Allen’s musical adaptation of Bullets over Broadway as “Ellen,” under the direction of Susan Stroman.

Ms. Wolfe made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Douglas Carter Beane’s adaptation of Die Fledermaus and returns to the Met this winter to reprise her role. She starred in the Off-Broadway revival of The Last Five Years at Second Stage Theatre and the Broadway revival of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Prior to that she played Beth in Merrily We Roll Along at Encores and created the role of Mary Ann Singleton in ACT’s world premiere of Tales of the City, a musical based on the Armistead Maupin novels. Other Broadway credits include Everyday Rapture, 110 in the Shade and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. She has been a guest artist for over 35 Symphony, Pops and Philharmonic Orchestras across the U.S. and internationally, including the NY Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony. Her concert debut at Carnegie Hall was with the Cincinnati Pops under Maestro Erich Kunzel. Ms. Wolfe was a guest soloist for the New York City Ballet, where she performed at Lincoln Center and at The Coliseum in London. Recordings include Bullets over Broadway, The Last Five Years, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Stage Door Canteen, 35MM and Merrily We Roll Along. She holds a B.F.A. in musical theatre from Cincinnati Conservatory of Music (CCM). Ms. Wolfe can also be seen in the film adaptation of The Last Five Years. Ms. Wolfe will headline the National Symphony Orchestra with Maestro Steven Reineke at The Kennedy Center February 26 and 27, 2016, and with the NY Pops Orchestra on March 11, 2016 at Carnegie Hall.

Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, Book, Music, Lyrics are the Oscar and Grammy-winning married songwriting team behind the Disney animated film sensation, Frozen. Bobby co-conceived and co-wrote the smash-hit musicals Avenue Q and Book of Mormon, which both earned him Tony Awards. Kristen’s show, In Transit, opened OffBroadway in 2010 and earned recognition at the Drama Desk, Drama League and Lucille Lortel awards that year. Kristen and Bobby have written for television, film and stage, including the stage version of Finding Nemo, songs for The Wonder Pets (two Emmy Award wins) and the Winnie the Pooh animated film. Bobby is the youngest of twelve people to “EGOT” (that is, win Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Awards).

We’d like to thank our families and everyone who believed in this show enough to help us get it out of our heads and onto the stage.

Alex Timbers, Director La Jolla Playhouse: Peter and the Starcatchers (co-director with Roger Rees), HOOVER COMES ALIVE!. Also in San Diego: The Last Goodbye at the Old Globe Theater. Broadway: Peter and the Starcatcher (OBIE Award – Best Director; Tony nomination – Best Director), Rocky (Drama Desk and OCC Award nominations – Best Director), Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (also book writer; Tony nomination – Best Book; Drama Desk Award – Best Book; Lortel and OCC Awards – Best Musical) and The Pee-wee Herman Show. His Off-Broadway credits include Here Lies Love (Lortel Award – Best Director; Drama Desk and OCC nominations – Best Director; Evening Standard Award), A Very Merry Unauthorized Pageant (OBIE Award, Garland Award – Best Director), Love’s Labour’s Lost (Shakespeare in the Park). For Roger.

Joshua Bergasse, Choreographer La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Broadway: On the Town (Astaire Award; Tony, Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Award nominations), Gigi; Little Me, It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Superman! (City Center Encores!); Guys and Dolls, The Sound of Music (Carnegie Hall). Off-Broadway: Cagney, Bomb-itty of Errors, Captain Louie. National/International tours: Fame The Musical. Regional: Bull Durham (Alliance Theatre); Nerds (Philadelphia Theatre Company – Barrymore nomination); Secondhand Lions (5th Avenue Theatre); West Side Story (Stratford Festival); On the Town, Guys and Dolls, Carousel, West Side Story and The World Goes Round (Barrington Stage Company). TV: SMASH (Emmy Award), So You Think You Can Dance.

THE COMPANY Aron Accurso, Music Director/Incidental Music La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Broadway: Aladdin, Sister Act, Nice Work If You Can Get It, The Little Mermaid, Billy Elliot. National Tour: Seussical. Regional includes: Music Director/Incidental Music for Calvin Berger (George Street).

As a composer: The Dogs of Pripyat (Jerry Bock Award, NAMT, Goodspeed Festival, Weston New Musical Award); Strega Nona (National Tour); The Trail (commissioned/premiered by the Colorado Children’s Chorale); currently writing a new musical with Sesame Street’s Joey Mazzarino. BMI Workshop (Harrington Award); Dramatist Guild Fellow. TV: The View, Regis and Kelly, Wendy Williams. Education: B.A. from St. Olaf College. Special thanks to Bobby and Kristen, his family, and his fiancée, Rachel.

Dave Metzger, Orchestrations La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Broadway: The Lion King (Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations for Best Orchestrations), August Rush (in progress).

Orchestrator and/or arranger of over 60 films, including: Frozen (songs and score), How to Train Your Dragon (1 and 2), Tarzan (songs and score), Rio (1 and 2), Wreck-It Ralph, The Avengers, Training Day, August Rush, Planes, Shooter, Kung Fu Panda (1 and 2), Muppets Most Wanted, Ice Age (2 and 3), Captain America. Composers that Mr. Metzger has worked with include Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Mark Mancina, Hans Zimmer, Alan Silvestri and Christophe Beck. www.davemetzgermusic.com David Korins, Scenic Designer La Jolla Playhouse: Little Miss Sunshine. Broadway: Misery (Upcoming), Hamilton, Motown, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Annie, Bring It On!: The Musical, Magic/Bird, An Evening with Patti Lupone and Mandy Patinkin, Godspell, Chinglish, The Pee-wee Herman Show, Lombardi, Passing Strange and Bridge and Tunnel. Extensive Off-Broadway/regional theatre, opera, concert, hospitality, event and experience design. 2009 OBIE Award for Sustained Excellence in Design.

Dad: Stella & Vivian. @davidkorins Ann Closs-Farley, Costume Designer is a West Coast designer. Recent theater credits include: Pride and Prejudice: The Musical, Billy Elliot, Broadway’s AnnaPurna, Stinky Cheese Man, Broadus, Discord, Cunning Little Vixens and Carnage. Other theater credits: Rabbit Hole, Broadway Bound, Coney Island Christmas, Eric Idle’s What About Dick?, The Pee-wee Herman Show, Disney’s Toy Story The Musical, An Evening Without Monty Python and Around the World in 80 Days at the lovely Cleveland Play House. She is currently designing for the Shanghai Disneyland Park, Kaiser Permanente Theatricals and styling The World Poker Tour television show, but her favorite job hat she wears is stylist for the amazing Pee-wee Herman. Mrs. Closs-Farley is also a longtime member of the Actors’ Gang and Evidence Room theater companies. www.annclossfarley.com.

David Weiner, Lighting Designer La Jolla Playhouse: The Darrell Hammond Project, American Night and The Seven. Broadway: Romeo and Juliet, Dead Accounts, Grace, Godspell, The Normal Heart, reasons to be pretty, Butley, Dinner at Eight, Betrayal and The Real Thing. Off-Broadway: Atlantic, MTC, MCC, Second Stage, Playwrights Horizons, The Public, NY Theater Workshop, Theater for a New Audience, Vineyard. Regional: The Old Globe, Steppenwolf, Center Theatre Group, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Guthrie, Alley, McCarter, Huntington, ART. Awards: 2012 Lortel Award (Through a Glass Darkly), 2011 LA Ovation Award (Venice), 2011 Drama Desk Award nomination (Small Fire) and 2005 Lortel Award (Rodney’s Wife). Upcoming: Broadway premiere of Stephen King’s Misery. www.DavidWeinerDesign.com Peter Hylenski, Sound Designer La Jolla Playhouse: Cry-Baby. Grammy, Olivier and four-time Tony Award-nominated. Selected Broadway designs: Something Rotten, After Midnight, Motown, The Scottsboro Boys, Rock of Ages, Side Show, Rocky, Bullets over Broadway, Shrek the Musical, On a Clear Day, Lend Me a Tenor, Elf, Wonderland, Cry-Baby, The Times They Are A-Changin’,

The Wedding Singer, Sweet Charity, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, Little Women and Brooklyn. Other credits: Le Reve and ShowStoppers at Wynn Las Vegas, Ragtime (London), Rocky Das Musical (Hamburg), King Kong (Melbourne), How to Train Your Dragon, Walking with Dinosaurs.

Mr. Hylenski is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University.

Dan Scully, Projection Designer is a Brooklyn-based projection and lighting designer who, through a background in the performing arts and computer engineering, explores the intersection of visual art, technology and storytelling. Recent work includes: Rocky (Broadway); Jedermann (Salzburger Festpiele); Another Night (Alvin Ailey/ADT); Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (NY Pops); The Orchestra Moves! (Carnegie Hall); When the Wolves Came In/Watershed (Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion); Seven Last Words (Lincoln Center Chamber Orchestra Society); Lake Lucille Chekhov Project. Regional: A.R.T., Trinity Rep, Cleveland Play House, Asolo Rep. M.F.A. from NYU. Michelle Zamora, Puppet Designer is a puppet designer, builder, and puppeteer originally from Brownsville, Texas. She graduated from Cal State-L.A. with a degree in Theater and now has a full-service puppet shop in Los Angeles, Viva La Puppet, LLC. She received a 2014 Ovation Award for Roald Dahl’s The Magic Finger (MainStreet Theatre) and past credits include Peter and the Wolf (LA PHIL), Snoop Dogg’s “California Roll,” Caribou’s “Can’t Do Without You,” Garfunkel & Oates, Katy Perry’s “This Is How We Do,” Comedy Bang!Bang!, and The Pee-wee Herman Show (shadow puppets).

Currently she is collaborating with Nickelodeon on puppets debuting at Comic-Con 2015! All thanks to the VLP team and her parents, the biggest inspirations for these puppets.

Lisa Chan-Wylie, Hair and Wig Designer Ms. Chan-Wylie has been the hair and makeup supervisor at La Jolla Playhouse for the past five years and is thrilled to be designing the hair and wigs for Up Here. She has worked for 20 years backstage at the Playhouse, The Old Globe, the San Diego Opera and San Diego Repertory Theatre.

George Yé, Fight Director La Jolla Playhouse: Ether Dome, Kingdom City, Peter and the Starcatchers, Blood and Gifts, Hands on a Hard Body, A Dram of Drummhicit. Other favorites include: Twelfth Night, Time and the Conways, Double Indemnity, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 2013 Shakespeare Festival, Allegiance, August: Osage County, God of Carnage, The Whipping Man, Dancing in the Dark (The Old Globe); Oedipus El Rey, Claybourne Park (San Diego Rep); True West, Fool for Love, The Motherf**ker with the Hat, Shakespeare’s R&J, Communicating Doors, Bug (Cygnet Theatre).

Feature: The King’s Guard with Ron Pearlman. M.F.A., M.A., SAFD, AEA. Mr. Yé is head of performance training at Mesa College.

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 nearly twenty new plays and musicals for the Playhouse, including The Darrell Hammond Project, Sheri Wilner’s Kingdom City, 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 (eight 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.

THE COMPANY Carrie Gardner, C.S.A., Casting La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. She also serves as senior casting director for the Roundabout. Broadway: The Book of Mormon, The Real Thing, Violet, Rocky, Machinal, Edwin Drood, Picnic, Cyrano, The Importance of Being Earnest, Pee-wee Herman, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, American Idiot, Spring Awakening, Mrs. Warren’s Profession and Les Liaisons. Off-Broadway and Regional: Encores! Off-Center, Significant Other, Little Children Dream of God, Indian Ink, The Last Goodbye, Dinner with Friends, Too Much…, Tom Durnin, Sons of the Prophet, Look Back in Anger, Tigers Be Still, Ordinary Days, Language Archive, Language of Trees, The Marriage of Bette & Boo, The Understudy and Speech and Debate.

Matthew DiCarlo, Production Stage Manager La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Broadway: Honeymoon in Vegas and Rock of Ages. Off-Broadway: Piece of My Heart. Regional: over 12 productions at Paper Mill Playhouse, including the world premiere of Honeymoon in Vegas, The Sound of Music, Peter Pan, Smokey Joe’s Café, The Full Monty and Little Shop of Horrors. New York: Broadway Backwards 6, 7 & 8; The Embalmer (NYMF); AMC Upfronts 2013. Matt holds a B.F.A. from Rutgers University and is an Adjunct Professor of Stage Management at BMCC in TriBeCa. Rachel Bauder, Assistant Stage Manager La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Broadway: Honeymoon in Vegas, Newsies The Musical, Anything Goes, Bye Bye Birdie, Waiting for Godot, Sunday in the Park with George and 110 in the Shade. National Tours: West Side Story.

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, to be 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.

Off-Broadway: Piece of My Heart, Hand to God and Reasons to Be Happy.

Regional: Oliver!, Honeymoon in Vegas, The Sound of Music, Hairspray, Smokey Joe’s Café, The Full Monty and Oklahoma! (Paper Mill Playhouse).

Other NY: Broadway Backwards 8 (BC/EFA); Bells Are Ringing, Music in the Air, On the Town (Encores!). Education: B.A. from James Madison University.

Shawn Pennington, Assistant Stage Manager La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Broadway: Wicked, Next to Normal and Sondheim on Sondheim. National Tours: Peter and the Starcatcher, Rock of Ages, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Pajama Game, Gypsy, Will Rogers Follies, Fame and Smokey Joe’s Café. Regional and Developmental: Little Miss Sunshine (Sundance Theatre Lab), A Wyly Theatre Evening (Dallas PAC), Dust and Shadow (NYC workshop), In Transit (NYC workshop). Love to Mom, Dad, Mark & Beth. Proud AEA member.

Scott Sanders Theatrical Productions Scott Sanders Theatrical Productions (SSP) is the Tony and Emmy Awardwinning theatre, film and television company that launched, developed and produced such Broadway shows as After Midnight (7 Tony Award nominations, 2014); The Color Purple; Evita starring Ricky Martin; The Pee-wee Herman Show (Broadway and Los Angeles) and Elaine Stritch: At Liberty. This season, SSP will present Jennifer Hudson’s Broadway debut, in a new production of The Color Purple, directed by John Doyle. Other new projects in development include Coal Miner’s Daughter, Houdini, Tootsie and a slate of new musicals in partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment.

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.

Up Here authors Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez and director Alex Timbers took a break from rehearsal to speak with Director of New Play Development Gabriel Greene about breaking rules, seeing your relationship onstage and the miracle of consciousness.

Gabriel Greene: What was the initial creative spark for Up Here?

Robert Lopez: It started a long time ago, when I first joined the BMI [Broadcast Music, Inc.] Musical Theatre Workshop. Someone came in and gave a lecture about the basic rules to keep in mind when creating a musical. One was, choose a setting that’s long ago and far away, because everyone knows people don’t break into song in real life. The second one was, have a main character that’s larger than life, with an external goal and external obstacles and clear conflict. Also, limit yourself to as few indoor spaces as you can; no living room couches.

And I figured, that really limits the playing field for me, in terms of writing any musical I’d want to write.

I decided to figure out a way to design an original concept that would stay within all those rules, and yet violate them at the same time. The idea of Up Here is that someone’s consciousness is a crazy, surreal world. People do break out into song in their minds.

The inner life of a deep person is full of variety and fantasy and craziness, and that would be a perfect world for a musical.

Kristen Anderson-Lopez: To create dramatic tension [within that world], we had to figure out

how to create obstacles. I remember someone once telling me that the best way to bring out any of your issues is to get in a relationship. If you have anything you need to work on in your life, get in a relationship and it will surface pretty quickly. And I’ve always wanted to do a romantic comedy musical, since I am a consumer of romantic comedies.

RL: And we couldn’t get the rights to Bridget Jones’s Diary, so… [laughs] KAL: So, when Bobby had this idea, I said: hey, what if we did it as a boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boypossibly-gets-girl-back musical?

GG: Nice catch. We don’t want to give anything away.

KAL: No. GG: Do you generally find inspiration in wanting to break the typical conventions of musical theatre?

RL: Oh yeah. I think the conventional musicals about conventional subjects have all been written – and they’ve all been done very well and they are the classics. The way to aspire to create new classics is either to break the mold formally, or to use the forms that we know to tell unconventional stories.

KAL: Speaking as someone who is sensitive to the evolution of gender equality, there’s also an inherent breaking of the rules happening as women gain more and more equality in our society. The romantic comedy of 2015 is very different from the romantic comedy of 1975 and the romantic comedy of 1955.

Hopefully it will keep progressing forward.

GG: Does being married inform your working relationship, especially when creating a musical about a romantic relationship?

KAL: It gets a little meta, sometimes – while watching and working on a scene we wrote, we will sometimes find ourselves in the same emotional dynamic as what is depicted onstage. At least we know we are writing from truth.

But at the same time, there are positives, too. We trust each other and have faith in our communication. And no matter how tricky or heated it gets, I know that at a certain point, we’re going to have to go home and make dinner [laughs].

GG: What’s your collaborative process like?

KAL: We talk and we talk and we talk a lot. If we’re writing the book, often I’ll draft something and then Bobby will polish and “plus” that, then we’ll edit and put it together. If we’re writing music, Bobby sits at the piano and we’ll improv music and lyrics. Sometimes I’ll scribble something and he’ll scribble something and we’ll throw it all together in a kind of pile we can draw from. If something is tricky, we’ll attack it like a physics problem and work on our big white board together.

RL: When we first started [on Up Here], we decided to brainstorm a list of songs that we were just dying to write. So we came up with the idea for the opening song, “Happy Go Lucky,” and a bunch of others on index cards…

KAL: …the date montage…

RL: And on one of those index cards, we came up with this idea, “the B plot should be about a rock!”

Which is the kind of thing you write down in a fit of inspiration, and you look at it the next say and say, “What did that mean?” [laughs]

GG: And without giving too much away, what does that mean?

KAL: We thought it would be very “punk rock,” so to speak, to dramatize a story with a rock as the protagonist.

RL: We’re writing a show about consciousness. So we thought: the best foil for a character that has a consciousness is a character that doesn’t have a consciousness.

GG: Alex, what drew you to this musical?

Alex Timbers: I was lucky enough to read the first draft of the first act, once they’d finished it. This was late summer 2007, I think. I fell in love with it immediately because of the ambition of what they were trying to do, intellectually and emotionally. I loved the music and I was so excited to see characters I recognized up on stage.

GG: On the first day of rehearsal, you all described the show as a love triangle between a man, a woman, and a psyche. As a director, how do you approach a show that melds real life with the intellectual abstractions of the mind?

AT: Some people might look at that as a challenge, but for me it seems like a lot of fun. You have all these juxtapositions between the intimate world of real life and the epic world of Dan’s mind. The fun part is getting to figure out: What does the real world look like? What does consciousness look like? How can you visually distinguish between these two worlds clearly? Playing with those dialectics becomes really theatrical and exciting.

“We have these amazing galaxies in our head and yet we only have incredibly primitive tools – words and sight, smell and touch – to understand those galaxies”

Scenic ground plan by David Korins

GG: The whole scenic design concept speaks to that kind of tension between reality and the mind.

AT: With set design, you often talk about, “What’s the surround?” “What’s the envelope?” We thought a lot about that for this show, because we wanted it to be an abstract space that could be interpreted in many different ways. Often, musicals exist in a grounded world or a heightened world, but they don’t usually exist simultaneously in both, and that’s the great thing that Up Here offers. For the book scenes that take place in various locations all over New York City, those want to be really grounded. You need to supply real things like doors and couches, but it all exists within a much more abstract framework.

GG: Another idea that came up on the first day of rehearsal was that one’s psyche can be both playground and prison.

KAL: As we were developing this piece, we kept asking: how can we [scenically] create this experience for the audience as well? We wanted to simulate the experience of going through life thinking, “This is fun, this is fun – oh my gosh, I’m trapped in the prison of my own mind.” Which is how we can often be in our

own consciousness. We can be going around thinking we are part of life, and then suddenly hit a wall where we realize our experience of reality is completely different from others’ around us. Communication can only get you so far, then you come up against the walls of your own head.

GG: What would you like for the audience to have on their minds as they leave the show?

RL: It would be great for them to get the sense of what a miracle their own inner universe is; the very fact that they’re alive. But then also to leave with the feeling of what a great miracle the external universe is. That’s the journey of the show.

KAL: There’s this huge leap of faith you take when you’re in a relationship or communicating with anyone. We have these amazing galaxies in our head and yet we only have incredibly primitive tools – words and sight, smell and touch – to understand those galaxies, to bridge them. I hope people leave celebrating those galaxies and trusting that if they send out enough beacons, beacons will come back.

[Pause] Wow, there is no way to talk about this show without sounding a little crazy [laughs].

LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE

STAFF

ARTISTIC Associate Artistic Director Jaime Castañeda Resident Dramaturg Shirley Fishman Director of New Play Development Gabriel Greene Without Walls Associate Producer Marike Fitzgerald Director Emeritus Des McAnuff Executive Assistant to Christopher Ashley Rick VanNoy Artistic Assistant Teresa Sapien Audience Engagement Donnie Matsuda Fellows Randall Eames, Courtney Kattengell Interns Taryn O’Connor, Stephanie Prugh Commissioned Artists Daniel Beaty, Mark Bennett, Keith Bunin, Kirsten Greenidge, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Joe Iconis, Naomi Iizuka, Aditi Brennan Kapil, Jon Kern, Mona Mansour, Erin McKeown, Gregory S. Moss, Alfred Uhry, Charlayne Woodard 2015/2016 Resident Artist BD Wong PRODUCTION Production Manager Audrey Hoo Associate Production Manager Benjamin Seibert Assistant Production Manager Becca Duhaime Production Office Manager Tarin Hurstell Production Office Intern Joan O'Leary SCENE SHOP Technical Director Chris Borreson Assistant Technical Directors Mike Schwent, Curtis Green Scene Shop Supervisor David Weiner Technical Designer Tyler Grady Staff Production Carpenters Kyle “Boo-Boo” Ahlquist, Jeremy Luce, Preston Spence Staff Carpenters Mihai Antonescu, Robin Barnett, William Bender, Jacob Bruce, Clark Burrows, Katelynn Cardon, Matt Clark, Danielle Dunne, Sheldon Goff, James Hopper, Nick Jackson, Scott Kinney, Stephanie Lee, Brian McVicker, John Serbian, Don Dino Spezzini, Zane Whitmore Shop Helper Doug Collind PAINT SHOP Charge Scenic Artist Joan Newhouse Assistant Charge Artist Vicki Erbe Scenic Artists Dwaine Best, Drea Healy, Justine Hopkins, Stephanie Lee, Eileen McCann, Melissa Nalbach, Kira Nehmer, Ashleigh Scott PROPERTIES SHOP Prop Shop Supervisor Deb Hatch Prop Master Jeni Cheung Assistant Prop Master Jenny Fajerman Prop Shop Foreman Will Widick Lead Artisan Carlos Wauman Props Artisans Bethany Johnson, Tim Nottage, Gabe Serbian COSTUME SHOP Costume Shop Manager Sue Makkoo Costume Shop Foreman/Tailor Lissa Skiles Drapers Tara Bach-Richards, Elena Ham Master Stitchers K-Joy Lehmann-Way, Yangchen Dolkar First Hands Jan Blankenship, Rebecca Fabares, Claudia LaRue, Sundus Yousif Lead Craft Artisan Christy Jones Craft Artisan Kristine Kerr Stitchers Tracy Graham, Virginia Mershel Costume Shop Assistant Desiree Hatfield-Buckley Costume Shop Interns Paul Parnell, Danielle Rowe ELECTRICS Lighting Supervisor Mike Doyle Assistant Lighting Supervisor Kathryn Sturch Staff Electricians Kristyn Kennedy, Patricia Lesinski, Mike Lowe, Andrea Ryan, Ramon Wenn, Matt Wilson Electricians Alexandra Miller-Long, Tella Silver

Christopher Ashley, Artistic Director

SOUND/VIDEO Sound/Video Supervisor Joe Huppert Interim Sound/Video Supervisor Steve Negrete Playhouse Sound Engineer Chris Luessmann Video Technician Justin Humphres Sound Technicians Chris Aldama, Chad Goss, Jim Zadai Sound Intern Taylor Pilesvry ADMINISTRATION General Manager Debby Buchholz Associate General Manager Jenny Case Assistant General Manager Katherine Stout Human Resources Specialist Nezam Etemadi Corporate/Legal Counsel Robert C. Wright, Wright & L’Estrange Theatre/Legal Counsel F. Richard Pappas, Esq. Executive Assistant to Managing Director David Barnathan COMPANY MANAGEMENT Company Manager Megan Alvord Assistant Company Manager Samantha De La Riva Company Management Assistant Athena Espinoza Interns Noah Bunton, Nicole Hernandez FINANCE Director of Finance John O’Dea Payroll/AP Tamara Tipps Staff Accountant Vincent Ng Production Accountant Sharon Ratelle Network Specialist Mike Salapow DEVELOPMENT Director of Development David W. Hanses Sr. Associate Director of Development Erin Decker Associate Director of Development, Individual & Corporate Giving Bonnie Broberg Associate Director of Development, Special Events Rachel Terrones Grants Manager Alexandra Kritchevsky Corporate Relations Manager Alex Goodman Development Manager Annie Dawson Assistant Manager, Special Events Caitlin Finch Donor Stewardship & Volunteer Coordinator Ryann Gaspara Development Database & Research Analyst Tony Dixon NCAF Grant Coordinator Naysan Mojgani Fellow Jessica Humphrey Interns Gabi D’Amico, Laura Humphrey MARKETING Director of Communications Mary Cook Director of Public Relations Becky Biegelsen Associate Director of Sales & Marketing Mia Fiorella Communications Specialist Grace Madamba Multimedia Designer Nancy Showers Database Specialist Steven Jirjis Marketing Campaign Manager John Olchak Marketing Coordinator Tara Shoemaker PATRON SERVICES Associate Director – Patron Services Nikki Cooper Patron Services Sales Manager Jordan Marrone Patron Services Assistant Manager Travis Guss Lead Patron Services Representative/Group Sales Specialist Pearl Hang Lead Patron Services Representative Danielle Smith Patron Services Representative/UCSD Coordinator Alexandra Ancira Patron Services Representatives Mike Brown, DeAndre Clay, Makayla Hoppe, Leticia Ridley, Bill Washington Patron Services Sales Specialist Paul Preston Sales Concierge William Guiney

Michael S. Rosenberg, Managing Director

EDUCATION & OUTREACH Director of Education & Outreach Steve McCormick Associate Director of Education & Outreach Alison Urban Education & Outreach Coordinator Marisol Ferrá Audio Describers Mernie Aste, Brian Berlau, Joanne Brook, Tina Dyer, Shari Lyon, Kay O’Neil, Deborah Sanborn, Janet Schlesinger, Sylvia Southerland, Susan Weekes ASL Interpreters Lynn Ann Garrett, Anelia Glebocki, Alycen Haneyoworth, Suzanne Lightbourn, Billieanne McLellan, Geri Wu Artist Instructors Judy Bauerlein, Julie Benitez, Brian Bose, Rebecca Dennis, Lucas Dominguez, Kristen Giard, Amanda Gosh, Catherine Hanna, Cory Hammond, Rachel Hoey, Bex Hurt, Paola Kublis, Sara Luchini, Blake McCarty, Ursula Meyer, Erika Phillips, James Pillar, Mary Reich, Laurissa Rutgers, Cynthia Stokes, Skylar Sullivan, Tomas Tamayo Fellows Jacob Brent, Julia Cuppy Interns Brianna Biffath, Emma Epps, Greg Feiner, Lila Gavares, Kylie Holloway, Ali Lidbury, Dennis Peters, Joanna Pisano, Alexander Rosesler, Veronica Thompson 2015/2016 STUDENT BOARD OF TRUSTEES OFFICERS Chair Camryn Burton Vice-Chair Gabi D’Amico OPERATIONS Director of Operations Ned Collins Operations Associate Jen McClenahan FRONT OF HOUSE House Manager John Craft Assistant House Managers Katherine Cordova, Paula Kubelis, Sara Lucchini, Amy Marquez, Renee Tolson Janitorial Professional Maintenance Systems: Cesar Diaz, Luis Mena, Maria Mena Up Here Staff Production Carpenter Kyle Ahlquist Assistant Production Carpenter Jeremy Luce Automation Operator William Bender Deck Crew Stephanie Lee, Mihai Antonescu, Nick Jackson Prop Artisan Charlie Ellis Prop Runners Carlos Wauman, Traci Van Wyk Wardrobe Supervisor Jan Mah Assistant Costume Shop Manager Jeannie Galioto Dressers Debbie Allen, Jan Blankenship, Debbie Callahan, Richard Corder, Jeri Nicolas, Agatha Ventura Light Board Operator Ramon Wenn Deck Electrician Mike Lowe Spot Operators Kristyn Kennedy, Alexandra Miller-Long Audio 2 Dana Pickop Audio 3 Chad Goss Video Technician Justin Humphres