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Dear Court Theatre family, It was the mid-1980s, and Gordon Davidson, the Artistic Director of the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, was asking me an important question: “what are we going to do about AIDS?” At the time, I was the Managing Director of the Taper, and like many theatres, we were reeling from the impact of the AIDS epidemic on our community. I was meeting with Gordon after a memorial for yet another young talented friend who was gone, and I didn’t immediately understand Gordon’s question for what it was: a challenge to discover a new voice with the power to speak for the generation that we were losing. Under Gordon Davidson, the Mark Taper Forum held a dominant place in producing new work: in particular, work that spoke to the issues of our time, and no other issue seemed as vitally important to our community at the time than the AIDS crisis. Gordon’s instinct was to respond to the epidemic through the art we produced on stage, and it was Gordon’s directive that set us on a course to discovering Tony Kushner and Angels in America, eventually producing both parts at the Taper in 1992. Here was a new voice in the American theatre to speak not only for the generation we were losing but for the next generation to come. Tony Kushner is no longer an unknown voice with potential, as he was back then; rather, he has evolved into a great statesman for the art of theatre, and we are proud to reintroduce his epic work Angels in America to Court Theatre as a true classic. A number of important collaborations have taken place in order to make possible such a major theatrical event as this. We are grateful to the AIDS Foundation of Chicago for partnering with Court Theatre and embracing this production. We are grateful to the Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry at the University of Chicago for helping us explore future opportunities for Tony Kushner at Court and the university. Most importantly, we are grateful for the recurring collaboration between Tony Kushner and our Artistic Director, Charles Newell, a collaboration that Court counts among its greatest artistic assets. This marks the third time that Charlie has directed a work by Tony. Caroline, or Change was an enormously successful production that introduced Tony to Charlie. The Illusion deepened their relationship and introduced Tony to the University of Chicago. When Tony approached Charlie about directing Angels in America, he suggested that it was critical in this election year for the play to be produced again and for its issues of social justice to be revisited. Tony turned to Charlie because, despite its epic scope, Angels in America is an intimate play that needs the kind of tender care that Charlie brings to his work. Charlie has assembled an extraordinarily powerful company of actors to join us on this journey. As you are joining us on the journey of Angels in America, we want to thank you for your continued support of challenging, ambitious productions like this one. We are proud to have audience members and patrons who help make these undertakings possible. The Great Work Begins.
Sincerely,
Stephen J. Albert, Executive Director Court Theatre 1
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Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes Part One: Millennium Approaches Part Two: Perestroika
By Tony Kushner
Directed by Charles Newell
John Culbert*
Scenic Design
Eva Breneman
Dialect Coach
Nan Cibula-Jenkins*
Costume Design
Sarah Fornace
Movement Consultant
Keith Parham*
Lighting Design
Drew Dir
Resident Dramaturg
Joshua Horvath*
Sound Design
Deborah Blumenthal Production Dramaturg
Kevin O’Donnell
Sound Design
William Collins
Production Stage Manager
Mike Tutaj
Projection Design
Amber Johnson
Stage Manager
Rasean Davonte Johnson Projection Design
Susana Pelayo
Assistant Stage Manager
Produced through special arrangement with Broadway Play Publishing Inc. The script to this play may be purchased from B P P I at http://www.BroadwayPlayPubl.com. Millennium Approaches was originally produced in 1991 by the Eureka Theatre Company. Perestroika was originally produced in 1992 by the Mark Taper Forum. The Director is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, Inc., an independent national labor union. *Denotes a member of the United Scenic Artists, I.A.T.S.E. Local USA829, AFL-CIO, CLC. The Stage Managers are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
Sponsored by
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Professional Theatre at
CAST Louis Ironson.....................................................................Eddie Bennett* The Angel.....................................................................Mary Beth Fisher* Harper Pitt..................................................................... Heidi Kettenring* Prior Walter.......................................................................... Rob Lindley* Joe Pitt.............................................................................Geoff Packard* Belize............................................................................... Michael Pogue Hannah Pitt........................................................................ Hollis Resnik* Roy M. Cohn........................................................................ Larry Yando* Understudies: Megan Kohl, Elan Maier, Jack Birdwell, Kelly Lynn Hogan, Sean Parris *Denotes a member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
SETTING Angels in America: Part One and Part Two takes place in the late fall and early winter, 1985-1986 in New York City (and other places). The Epilogue takes place in January 1990. There will be two ten-minute intermissions per part. Please note that due to the length of the performance, intermissions will conclude promptly after ten minutes.
SPECIAL THANKS Special thanks to Dr. Daniel Johnson, MD and Linda Walsh, NP from the University of Chicago for generously sharing their knowledge of HIV/AIDS care with the production. Thanks to Maren Robinson, Deena P. Heller, and Elena Schwartz for their consultations on Mormonism and Juddhism. Cover art for Court Theatre’s production of Angels in America by Lauren Nassef. Court Theatre performs in the intimate Abelson Auditorium, made possible through a gift from Hope and Lester Abelson. The use of cameras, videotape recorders, or audio recorders by the audience during this performance is strictly prohibited. Please turn off all phones, pagers, and chiming watches. Court Theatre operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. Productions are made possible, in part, by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency; a City Arts grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events; and the Cultural Outreach Program of the City of Chicago. Court Theatre is a constituent of Theatre Communications Group, the national organization for the American Theatre, the League of Resident Theatres, the Illinois Humanities Council, Arts Alliance Illinois, and the League of Chicago Theatres.
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Court Theatre thanks its generous sponsors for supporting Angels in America.
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PLAY NOTES
AIDS&Angels in America
An interview with David Ernesto Munar, President/CEO of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago
By Gregory Trotter, AIDS Foundation of Chicago
Angels in America and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) share a history that began in 1994 when the national tour of the play launched at the Royal George Theatre in Chicago. In 1994, there were about 8,000 people living with HIV in Chicago. Today, there are about 30,000, including the projected number of people who are infected but don’t know it. Back then, AFC was a 12-person operation in a loft on North Halsted Street. Its work was focused in the same areas that they are today—policy, advocacy, care, housing, and prevention—but on a much smaller scale. Today, AFC facilitates a vast network of agencies and services in Chicago, reaching more than 25,000 people. “There has been considerable progress in the 30-year fight against AIDS,” said AFC’s President/CEO David Ernesto Munar. “But persistent stigma and political challenges continue to hamper efforts to end the epidemic.” Below is an edited transcript of an interview with Munar, a gay man living with HIV, on the fight against AIDS and the importance of Angels today. What was it like seeing Angels in America for the first time? It was great. It was the discourse we were having. With HIV/AIDS, early on, something emerged which was really powerful—a notion that those affected must be engaged in the work of fighting this disease. It was actually revolutionary, something we take for granted now. Back then, it was not common to involve those affected. AIDS changed that paradigm. People with AIDS said our voices will be heard in every aspect of the fight. We’re not just patients. When Prior Walter is talking to the Angel, in his very fragile health status, the sense that he is seeing a view of the world that is different starts to frame this idea. For a disease so stigmatizing, so mysterious, so unknown—to make change happen requires engaging individuals who are directly affected. Angels is set in 1985. By the time it opened in Chicago in 1994, did it still feel politically timely? It was very immediate. It was very palpable that the government had not done enough. It was always clear we were playing a catch-up game. In many ways, that the epidemic kind of exploded in numbers so quickly was an indictment of the inaction by government. Was Angels groundbreaking in the way it portrayed AIDS and presented it in dramatic fashion? All of our AIDS work, in the early days, happened at the fringe. We were working in STD clinics or public health offices or really small Mom-and-Pop storefront organizations that were created to respond to HIV/AIDS. And now, here we are in the Royal George Theatre talking about AIDS. That in itself was pretty revolutionary. We kind of take for granted now that AIDS could be something continued Court Theatre 5
PLAY NOTES that could be talked about in “polite company.” But then, it was pretty extraordinary because you couldn’t talk about HIV without talking about gay men, injection drug users, and all these other concerns around poverty, homelessness, and sexual health that just weren’t talked about much. Did it affect you in a personal way? I found it very moving. For a lot of folks in my generation—I was 24 when I saw the play—it was a calling. If you’re gay and you’re living in Chicago and you’re 24, this is the challenge of your generation. This idea that there is something prophetic about the epidemic, this calling, resonated with me. Nearly 20 years later, what has changed in the ongoing fight against AIDS? A lot has changed and, at the same time, a lot of the challenges remain the same. The prospects for survival are so much greater now. Your outlook is so much better if you get access to care early. But the political fight didn’t end when Ronald Reagan uttered the word ‘AIDS.’ In many ways, it had just begun. For the first half of the epidemic, we didn’t have the tools to control AIDS. All we had were palliative measures to help control some of the symptoms and help people die with dignity. Today, we’re really helping people live for another 40 or 50 years, if we diagnose it early enough and link them to high-quality, continuous clinical care. We have the tools. But the tragedy is we’re not using them because we still struggle to muster the political and economic will to do what needs to be done. And that’s a new tragedy driven by stigma. Back in the 90s, it was hard to hide HIV after a certain point. It was easy to see someone wasting away and say, they probably have AIDS. That’s not the case today. It’s an invisible disease. We’re thrilled we’ve seen a sharp decline in AIDS-related deaths. But we’ve also seen a sharp decline in concern about AIDS. Complacency has set in. So, generating the momentum to fight AIDS, 30 years in, is increasingly tough. Why is Angels important today? I’m thrilled it’s coming back to Chicago. It’s an exciting time to see this narrative. It’s really important to see where we’ve been in this epidemic, particularly in 2012. We’re on the verge of full implementation of healthcare reform that could make a substantial difference in the trajectory of HIV in the United States. The political dimension of Angels is really important. The play captures some of the anxiety about what it means when government doesn’t respond to a health threat to a certain community or population. And there’s a vigorous debate going on now about how involved the government should be in our lives. AIDS is at the crossroads of this debate. It’s not just academic. It’s a very timely production to remember and look back at where we’ve been. If there’s a prophetic message, it’s looking where we might be in the future if we don’t take the right steps as a nation. David Ernesto Munar has been President/CEO of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) since 2011 and a member of the organization since 1991. Gregory Trotter is the staff writer for the AFC. The AIDS Foundation is an official partner of Court Theatre’s production of Angels in America. Court Theatre 6
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PLAY NOTES
In Conversation with
TONY KUSHNER On the first day of rehearsal for Angels in America, an unseasonably warm day in February, Director Charles Newell and the cast were joined by playwright Tony Kushner. Before an audience of staff, crew, donors, and university professors and students, Mr. Kushner and Mr. Newell chatted about Angels in America and their working relationship to date. Charlie Newell: Thank you everyone for being here today. This is a glorious moment for Court Theatre, and we’re so glad you’re here to share it with us. (Pause) Hi Tony. (Laughter) I guess the first thing, perhaps the obvious question, is: Tony, why Angels in America now? Tony Kushner: Well, you’re the one who’s doing it. (Laughter) I can’t answer it because why any play ever? You know the play has an identity with—not the early days but the late early days—of the epidemic, and the arrival of the play on Broadway coincided with a turning in public consciousness and certainly the end of a criminal level of denial of the epidemic in the United States, if not an actual genuine shouldering of the requirements needed to really address the consequences of the epidemic nationally (or, God knows, globally). That connection means a lot to me. I felt at the time—the play opened on Broadway in ’93—that it was clear that one of the things it provided—one place, the AIDS quilt was certainly another—was a kind of collective mourning process. Everyone had been going through private levels of grief, and in certain communities there was an organized form of it, but there was clearly a great need for any sort of public gathering to be with a large group of people and acknowledge that at that point we were more than ten years into the epidemic and a large percentage of a couple of generations was lost, and it was a source of great pride to me that Angels functioned as that. But I’ve never thought of the play as a play about AIDS. We were reading Millennium Approaches yesterday and Rob [Lindley] read the line when Prior’s in bed when the Angel’s about to—spoiler alert—(Laughter) something scary is about to happen, and he says “my name is Prior and I live here and now,” and in the way that things do, that line really jumped out at me. That was really the mission I gave myself when I started the play in 1988—it was my second play and my first play had been set in Weimar, Germany—so I wanted to write about being alive in the here and now, and what that felt like, and so I wrote about the biological catastrophe of the epidemic and the political catastrophe of Reaganism, and the way in which those things [were] what seemed to me to be the beginnings of a really terrifying transformation of the relationship between people and the planet and the sustainability of life on the planet. So those were sort of concerns, but it really felt like my job was to raise public awareness about the epidemic, and in a way, I don’t feel that my play or any play has the job of advocating for a particular group. I mean, I’m a gay man, I’m very happy that I’m a gay man, and continued Court Theatre 8
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PLAY NOTES
I’ve participated—to the extent that I’ve been an activist—helping end homophobia and advance the enfranchisement of the LGBT community. But I don’t think that a play that has as its objectives sort of teaching people to feel one way or shed a prejudice is going to be a good or interesting play, because an essay is a much more efficient way of doing it. The power of a play is a kind of indirect power, and if you don’t agree with that, as a playwright you’re likely to write a play [where], you know, people can just sign a pledge card and stay at home and watch RuPaul’s Drag Race on television. So there are things in the play that feel relevant, there are things in the play that are very sadly still relevant, I mean neither the biological catastrophe or the political catastrophe I described have passed from our midst. It’s been twenty years since Angels first appeared, and I’m feeling more confident than I’ve felt about many other things that the play has a certain kind of lasting…—there’s something in there that works—so I feel having seen your work and knowing that you’re a serious artist that the real purpose is just to figure out what’s going on with Joe and Harper and why are they having this problem, and to arrive at those answers in the most specific moment-to-moment way, and then hopefully the play will speak and will speak to every audience it’s performed for: both individually, in very private ways, and also communally and collectively. It’s Act 5, Scene 1 of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the thing that it does is really much like— Shakespeare was right—it really is the relationship of the sleeper to the dream. The choice to make those connections is really not our responsibility, as much as it is the choice of the audience: because, like a sleeper, you wake up and you can remember the dream, you can forget the dream, you can understand the dream, you can be baffled by the dream, you can have the dream for forty years until you understand the dream, and then you can choose to act on what your unconscious is very cleverly trying to set up for you. I think that it’s that connection. The real [answer to your question] for us is: now, because we’re doing it now, and, you know—why not? Court Theatre 10
PLAY NOTES CN: Why Angels here at Court Theatre? TK: Well I loved your production of Caroline, or Change, I loved your production of The Illusion… I’ve found the working relationship wonderful, and your relationship with the community of scholars. You go to great universities, and theatres that are closely associated with great universities, and you always think, “Oh God, this is going to be great because we’re going to get this really smart audience,” but for some weird reason, a number of these theatres have notoriously some of the worst audiences on the planet, and they’re people who really don’t want to be there, and students who have all been forced in by Freshman Drama 101, and they really got excited about Dames at Sea but they’re sitting through your long and very intelligent play and bored out of their mind. (Laughter) Whenever you go to a theater for the first time that’s doing one of your plays, the first thing you pay attention to is what’s the audience like, if it’s in a city other than yours. I’ve done a lot of work in Chicago, so I know that this is a great theatre city, and the audiences are eager for complexity and difficulty and very smart and wonderful audiences. But I’ve found in the Court a thrilling mix of people from the local community, people from the academic community, and a lot of the professors I’ve spoken to at these meetings, are people who really genuinely love theater and genuinely love theater as an art, rather than—and of course, everyone loves to hear gossip—but it’s not just about who won the Tony Award this year, which means it’s an academic community that actually takes theater seriously. I think that a lot of what happens in some of these other places is that they’re all incredibly brilliant people who think that theater is a kind of inferior and antiquated luxury for people who don’t have anything better to do with their time or who aren’t good enough to teach at their university. And I really have felt with the scholars that I’ve met, the people who are studying and writing about theater, that they’re not only writing about it but they have an actual vital engagement with the process of making it. I think that everyone without exception has said to me that the connection with the Court is a big part of that, which is thrilling. Angels is a very long—and it’s legitimately called an epic—play, but it’s really seventy-one incredibly intimate little scenes, so it needs size, but it also needs… it’s terrifying, it’ll go by like that, I promise. I mean part of an epic, the idea of an epic, I think, is it’s not really an epic unless it wears you out at some point, you should get to the finish line happy but really tired. If you haven’t, then you haven’t yourself replicated the epic journey. An epic shouldn’t be easy, and it should hurt your butt and cause various kinds of circulatory problems, but it needs both a kind of size and a kind of intimacy, and theatres like the Court are beautifully designed to have room to [have] that kind of scale, but the person farthest away in the audience from the stage is still right there, [and] that makes all the difference in the world. And you guys [the cast] I’m sure would agree with me about that, that you’re not pushing it against a vast sea of blue carpet. It’s a great space. To watch a video of the entire uncut conversation between Charlie Newell and Tony Kushner, visit us online at AngelsinChicago.org. Court Theatre 11
PLAY NOTES
“The World Only Spins Forward”: Revival, Nostalgia, and Angels in America By Deborah Blumenthal I was seventeen when I first saw Angels in America, and it did, as it does, change how I saw the world. It was the magnificent HBO miniseries; I remember two cold, snowy Sunday evenings, tip-toeing around my house, staying up far past my school-night bedtime to see it, and from my naive perch among the couch pillows, watching an entire unfamiliar history unfold. I was born during the period in which Angels in America takes place. Having grown up in a school system that ignored, or at least sugarcoated, the existence of the AIDS crisis (I did have one teacher who taught second and third graders about Keith Haring, much to the chagrin of some parents), encountering some of the AIDS plays as a teenager—first Angels, and a few months later, Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart, with Rent sandwiched in between—was like opening a pop-up book. Even in my high school health classes, AIDS was just a bad thing that happened to you if you didn’t use a condom, in no major way separated from other STDs. The curriculum gave some clinical biology, but the politics, details, and terrifying history were left out, and real understanding was foregone. It’s not uncommon to hear from people my age, or even younger, that Angels in America changed their lives—which might be strange considering that we weren’t there. But for us it’s like a history lesson, live in living color, opening our eyes to a reality that we can only try to imagine. The AIDS epidemic has become incorporated into our cultural consciousness; my generation has no idea what it was like for it to barely even have a name. The immersion of the theater may be the closest we’ll ever get to understanding. Nearly twenty years have gone by since Millennium Approaches opened on Broadway: a whole generation. A new, or at least altered, context begs a new way of thinking about how we relate to this play. Angels in America has been living against a changing backdrop as long as it’s been around, and so this process of contextual evolution has always been in motion. But what can we make of a time gap small enough that audiences still include people who lived these events, yet large enough to have produced a generation born into their aftermath? If the play serves as a history lesson, it’s a history still very much in the making. Reviving a play is about looking back, but the ways in which we look back on and with Angels in America are varied, deeply emotional, and often markedly complex. As the AIDS plays grow older and affirm their places in the canon, the process has already begun in which they become pieces of the past, and we see them from a time-educated future. There’s a peculiar thing happening, where they are starting to look like the history plays they were not written to be—never becoming irrelevant, but rather gaining new meaning to go with our new perspective. Young people might not see their own stories played out on stage in these plays, but we can see our own stories and our Court Theatre 12
PLAY NOTES own world mirrored in them. As much as Angels in America can serve as a history lesson, it also speaks to the world as we’ve inherited it: our politics, our continued struggle against the AIDS crisis, and our fight for LGBT equality. We look back for guidance and connections. It’s why history moves us. Last year marked the thirtieth anniversary of the first reported cases among young gay men in the U.S., and of the first article in the New York Times about the “rare and often rapidly fatal form of cancer.” Anniversaries seem to beg a sense of nostalgia, asking for a consideration of everything that’s happened since. Like revivals, they’re about looking back—and there is something about revivals, too, that seem to hinge on feelings of nostalgia. Nostalgia is wrapped up in memory and longing, an emotional condition that bridges the past and the present, not unlike the theater can do. The nostalgia inherent in a revival is two-fold; it can be for the play itself, or linked to the events captured in the play. But Angels in America seems to rattle that premise. It’s fair to say that theater aficionados probably feel nostalgic about the play—one of the greatest works of the twentieth century is surely something people long to see again. But looking back on the events portrayed in the play is hardly a glance toward the good old days, where nostalgia evokes a soft-focus glow of warmth around the memories. There is, however, a way in which nostalgia helps to mediate the time gap, without engaging the discomforting and possibly disturbing idea of longing for Reagan’s presidency or pre-AZT death rates. In the first season of Mad Men (an exercise in nostalgia itself), during his pitch for the Kodak slideshow Carousel, Don Draper says that nostalgia, which comes from the Greek for “pain from an old wound,” creates a “deeper bond” with a product than does the allure of something new. The pain is central to the feeling of longing—we are bound to our past by emotional wounds. What, then, makes us want to go back there? When Prior speaks to the audience at the end of Perestroika, it’s 1990, and we’re now seated two decades in the future. If Prior’s hope looking forward is the unfulfilled longing, the emotional space between the play’s present and ours, time seems only to exacerbate it. The longer that hope remains unfulfilled, the heavier will become an audience’s burdened nostalgia. But the flip side of that pain looks toward progress. We look back on this past knowing the devastating reality of what AIDS would become—and as much as we see the shortcomings, we also look back and see, even if it’s not enough, how far we’ve come. “We live past hope,” as Prior says. It is the best we can do. Deborah Blumenthal is the production dramaturg for Angels in America. She is a 2011 graduate of the MA Humanities program at the University of Chicago, where she wrote her thesis on historicizing Angels in America and the rhetoric of revival. This article is adapted from a longer essay in The Center for Classic Theatre Review, available for purchase in the lobby. Court Theatre 13
PROFILES EDDIE BENNETT (Louis Ironson) has appeared at Court Theatre in The Wild Duck, Titus Andronicus, and Arcadia. Chicago credits include: Mary (Goodman Theatre), War with the Newts (Next Theatre), Twelfth Night (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), Speech and Debate (American Theatre Company), and several productions in collaboration with The Building Stage. Regional credits include work at Montana Shakespeare in the Parks. Education: BA, Bard College; NTI/ Moscow Art Theater. Eddie is also an instructor at Black Box Acting. MARY BETH FISHER (The Angel) has appeared at Court Theatre in Three Tall Women, The Year of Magical Thinking (Jeff Award), The Wild Duck, What the Butler Saw, Arcadia, Travesties, and The Importance of Being Earnest. Other Chicago credits include: God of Carnage, The Seagull, Rock ‘n’ Roll, The Clean House, Dinner with Friends, Heartbreak House, Spinning into Butter, Boy Gets Girl (Goodman Theatre); Dead Man’s Cell Phone, The Dresser, The Memory of Water (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); The Taming of the Shrew (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); The Laramie Project: Epilogue, Little Dog Laughed, Theatre District (About Face Theatre); The Marriage of Figaro (Remy Bumppo Theatre Company). She has worked in regional theatres all over the country, most recently in Superior Donuts (Geffen Playhouse, Los Angeles). NY credits include: Frank’s Home (Playwright’s Horizons); Boy Gets Girl (Drama League Honoree, Drama Desk and Lucile Lortel nominations), The Radical Mystique, By the Sea … (Manhattan Theatre Club); The Night of the Iguana (Roundabout Theatre Company); Extremities (Westside Arts Theatre). TV/Film: Chicago Code, State of Romance, Without a Trace, Numb3rs, Prison Break, NYPD Blue, Profiler, Early Edition, Formosa Betrayed, Dragonfly, and Trauma. Ms. Fisher received the 2010 Chicago’s Leading Lady Award from the Sarah Siddons Society. She is a Lunt-Fontanne Fellow. HEIDI KETTENRING (Harper Pitt) has appeared at Court Theatre in Travesties, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Guys and Dolls (After Dark Award). Chicagoland credits: the Broadway in Chicago production of Wicked and work with Northlight Theatre, Drury Lane Oakbrook, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Writers’ Theatre, Marriott Theatre Lincolnshire, Drury Lane Evergreen Park, Theatre at the Center, and American Theatre Company. Regional: Goodspeed Opera House, Theatre Works in Palo Alto, Peninsula Players, and Bar Harbor Theatre. Tour: Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Heidi has also sung concerts with The Three Divas, the Ravinia Festival, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Pensacola Symphony, and can be heard singing on a Disney Princess children’s book. She is a five-time Jeff Award nominee, the recipient of the Sarah Siddons Chicago Leading Lady Award, and a proud graduate of Northwestern University. Heidi is married to Chicago actor David Girolmo. ROB LINDLEY (Prior Walter) returns to Court Theatre having been seen in The Wild Duck, Caroline, or Change, and Carousel (Jeff nomination). Rob has also been seen in Candide (Goodman Theatre and Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, DC); Urinetown (Mercury Theatre); Wings (Apple Tree Theatre); A New Brain, Children of Eden, Closer Than Ever (Porchlight Music Theatre); Bach at Liepzig, Oh Coward! (Writers’ Theatre). Rob won a Jeff Award for Best Actor in a Revue for Oh Coward! and can be heard on the company’s CD Bright Young People. Rob also produces/directs/hosts many gala concerts for organizations such as Court Theatre, Porchlight Music Theatre, and The Chicago Humanities Festival. Rob is also an improviser, improv instructor, and cabaret performer. His vocal trio Foiled Again has won an After Dark award and their debut CD Foiled Again: Live is available on iTunes and CDbaby.com. Rob is married to Chicago musical director Doug Peck. Court Theatre 14
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PROFILES GEOFF PACKARD (Joe Pitt) is making his Court Theatre debut. Credits include: Broadway–Rock of Ages, Phantom of the Opera; Chicago–Candide (Goodman Theatre, Jeff Award Best Actor); National tours–Wicked, Phantom of the Opera; Regional–Candide (Huntington Theatre and Shakespeare Theatre, DC – 2011 Helen Hayes Award Best Actor), Liberty Smith (2012 Helen Hayes Nomination Best Actor), Shenandoah (Ford’s Theatre), Winesburg, Ohio (Kansas City Repertory Theatre), Where’s Charley? (Goodspeed Opera House.) Special thanks to his loving family back in NY, and his lovely wife Chelsea. To all those who have fought for love and acceptance. MICHAEL POGUE (Belize) is proud to return to Court Theatre. He debuted earlier this season in Spunk. His other credits include Venus and Carter’s Way at Steppenwolf Theatre Company; Radio Golf at Raven Theatre; Lobby Hero at Redtwist Theatre; Night and Day at Remy Bumppo Theatre Company; and Six Degrees of Separation at Eclipse Theatre Company. He deeply thanks his family, friends, agent, colleagues, and mentors for their support. HOLLIS RESNIK (Hannah Pitt) has appeared in over fifteen productions at Court Theatre including The Little Foxes, Titus Andronicus, Man of La Mancha, James Joyce’s “The Dead,” The Chairs, An Ideal Husband, and The Cherry Orchard. Recently she was seen in Follies (Chicago Shakespeare Theater) and Candide (Goodman Theatre and Shakespeare Theatre, DC). Other credits include Light in the Piazza (Arena Stage, DC), A Streetcar Named Desire (Cleveland Play House), and The Guardsman (Alliance Theatre, Atlanta.) Chicago appearances include Grey Gardens (Northlight Theatre), Hairspray and Mame (Marriott Theatre Lincolnshire), and Rough Crossing (Writers’ Theatre). National tours include Les Miserables, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. She has sung at the Ravinia Festival, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Millennium Park, and many others. She is a ten-time Jeff award recipient, as well as two Sarah Siddons awards, the Helen Hayes award, the Connecticut Critics Circle award, and a 2012 recipient of the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship for regional actors. She wishes to thank Charlie and Court Theatre for this amazing opportunity. Visit her at www.hollisresnik.com. LARRY YANDO (Roy Cohn) returns to Court Theatre, where he has appeared in Travesties, An Ideal Husband, Ghosts, Electra, Measure for Measure, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Travels with My Aunt. Other Chicago roles include Candide (Jeff Award Best Supporting Actor) and three years as Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (Goodman Theatre); Titus Andronicus (Defiant Theatre); The Two Noble Kinsmen, Cymbeline, The Tempest, Timon of Athens, All’s Well That Ends Well, King Lear, Henry IV Parts I and II, Antony and Cleopatra, and Twelfth Night (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); Mother Courage and Fake (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); Bach at Leipzig, As You Like It, Nixon’s Nixon, and Rocket to the Moon (Writers’ Theatre); The Birthday Party and Eastern Standard (Apple Tree Theatre); I Hate Hamlet and Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (Royal George Theatre). He also performed as Scar in the national tour of The Lion King for three years. He was honored as Chicago Magazine’s Best Actor in Chicago and received DePaul University’s prestigious Excellence in the Arts Award. Yando has taught advanced acting classes at The Theatre School at DePaul University, Northwestern University, Act One Conservatory, and Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s Classical Training Program. He was also chosen for the prestigious Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship Program in 2010. Court Theatre 17
PROFILES TONY KUSHNER (Playwright) Plays include A Bright Room Called Day; Angels in America, Parts One and Two; Slavs!; Homebody/Kabul; Caroline, or Change, a musical with composer Jeanine Tesori; and The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide To Capitalism And Socialism With A Key To The Scriptures. He wrote the libretto for the opera A Blizzard on Marblehead Neck, also with Ms. Tesori. He has adapted and translated Pierre Corneille’s The Illusion, S.Y. Ansky’s The Dybbuk, Bertolt Brecht’s The Good Person of Sezuan and Mother Courage and Her Children; and the English-language libretto for the opera Brundibár by Hans Krasa. He wrote the screenplays for Mike Nichols’ film of Angels in America, and Steven Spielberg’s Munich. His books include Brundibar, with illustrations by Maurice Sendak; The Art of Maurice Sendak, 1980 to the Present; and Wrestling With Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict, co-edited with Alisa Solomon. Kushner is the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, two Tony Awards, three Obie Awards, two Evening Standard Awards, an Olivier Award, an Emmy Award, and an Oscar nomination, among other honors. In 2008, he was the first recipient of the Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award. He lives in Manhattan with his husband, Mark Harris. CHARLES NEWELL (Artistic Director/Director) has been Artistic Director of Court Theatre since 1994, where he has directed over 40 productions. He made his Chicago directorial debut in 1993 with The Triumph of Love, which won the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Production. Directorial highlights at Court include An Iliad, Porgy & Bess, Three Tall Women, The Illusion, The Year of Magical Thinking, The Wild Duck, Caroline, Or Change, Titus Andronicus, Arcadia, Man of La Mancha, Uncle Vanya, Raisin, The Glass Menagerie, Travesties, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Hamlet, The Invention of Love, The Little Foxes, Nora, and The Misanthrope. Charlie has also directed at the Goodman Theatre (Rock ‘n’ Roll), the Guthrie Theater (Resident Director: The History Cycle, Cymbeline), Arena Stage, John Houseman’s The Acting Company (Staff Repertory Director), the California and Alabama Shakespeare Festivals, Juilliard, and New York University. He is the recipient of the 1992 TCG Alan Schneider Director Award and has served on the Board of Theatre Communications Group, as well as on several panels for the National Endowment for the Arts. Opera directing credits include Marc Blitzstein’s Regina at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Rigoletto at Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Charlie is a multiple Joseph Jefferson Award nominee and recipient. His production of Caroline, or Change at Court was the recipient of 4 Joseph Jefferson Awards, including Best Production and Best Director. Most recently, he received a Jeff Award for Best Direction for Porgy and Bess. JOHN CULBERT (Scenic Design) recently designed Court Theatre’s productions of Invisible Man, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, The Illusion (for which he received a Joseph Jefferson award), The Year of Magical Thinking, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and Caroline, or Change, Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s Romeo and Juliet, Timeline Theatre Company’s The Farnsworth Invention (he is a Timeline Associate Artist), Northlight Theatre’s Civil War Christmas, and Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Regina. He also designed Lookingglass Theatre’s Argonautika, Goodman Theatre’s Rock ‘n’ Roll and Mirror of the Invisible World, and Long Wharf Theatre’s Hughie. He has designed productions for the Singapore Repertory Theatre, Opera National du Rhin, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, McCarter Theatre, and the Shakespeare Theatre. He serves as the dean of The Theatre School at DePaul University. NAN CIBULA-JENKINS (Costume Design) has designed costumes for theatre, film, television, opera, and dance. At Court Theatre, she designed The Glass Menagerie, The Piano, Travels with My Aunt, Celimene and the Cardinal, and The Misanthrope. At Steppenwolf Theatre she has designed costumes for Clybourne Park, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, American Buffalo, Glengarry Glen Ross, Top Dog Underdog, and The Dresser, among many others. Additional Court Theatre 18
PROFILES Chicago credits include Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Goodman Theatre, and Writers’ Theatre. Regional credits include costume design at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Seattle Repertory Theatre, McCarter Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Hartford Stage Company, Dallas Theatre Center, the Alley in Houston, American Repertory Theatre, The Public Theatre, ACT Seattle, Manhattan Theatre Club, and The Kennedy Center. She was the original costume designer for the American premier of Glengarry Glen Ross at Goodman Theatre and she also designed the original Broadway and tour productions of Glengarry Glen Ross and Speed the Plow. Ms. Cibula-Jenkins is a recipient of the Michael Merritt Award for Design and Collaboration. She has also been a recipient of the Hollywood Dramalogue Critics Award and the Joseph Jefferson Award for Costume Design. She is the head of the Costume Design program at The Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago. KEITH PARHAM (Lighting Design) recently designed lighting for Court Theatre’s acclaimed production of An Iliad. He is a company member of TUTA Theatre where recent credits include Fulton Street Sessions, Baal, and The Wedding. Other credits include Homebody/ Kabul (National Theatre in Belgrade, Serbia); Karen O’s Stop the Virgens (St. Ann’s Warehouse); A Minister’s Wife (Lincoln Center Theatre); Three Sisters (Classic Stage Company); Adding Machine (Minetta Lane Theatre, Obie and Lortel Awards for Design); Tribes, Mistakes Were Made, and Red Light Winter (Barrow Street Theatre); The Edge of Our Bodies (Humana Festival); Time Stands Still, Carter’s Way, Sunset Limited, and Red Light Winter (Steppenwolf); Red, The Seagull, Mary, Ghostwritten, and Gas For Less (Goodman); and Million Dollar Quartet (Goodman and The Apollo). He has also designed for Arena Stage, The Alley Theatre, Shakespeare on the Sound, The Milwaukee Repertory, Trinity Repertory, Northlight Theatre, and Lookingglass Theatre Company. JOSH HORVATH (Sound Design) Court: Invisible Man, Spunk, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, The Illusion, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Wait Until Dark, Caroline, or Change, The First Breeze of Summer, Carousel, Titus Andronicus, Arcadia, Flyin’ West, Raisin, Lettice and Lovage, Fences, Man of La Mancha, Endgame, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Fraulein Else, Guys and Dolls, and The Romance Cycle. Chicago credits: Goodman, Steppenwolf, Chicago Shakespeare, Northlight, Next, Lookingglass, About Face, The House Theatre of Chicago, Congo Square, Steep, Lifeline, Eclipse, Shattered Globe, Drury Lane Oakbrook, and TimeLine. Regional: Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Long Wharf, Centerstage, Hartford Stage, The Alliance, Milwaukee Rep, Milwaukee Shakespeare, Madison Rep, Illinois Shakespeare, Great River Shakespeare, Kansas City Rep, Center Theatre Group, and California Shakespeare. Mr. Horvath has garnered four Joseph Jefferson Awards along with eleven nominations, an LA Ovation Award, is an artistic associate of Lookingglass, a co-owner of Aria Music Designs, LLC, and teaches sound for theatre and film at Northwestern University. Current and upcoming shows: Little Shop of Horrors (Kansas City Rep), Eastland (Lookingglass), The Verona Project (The American Musical Theatre Project). KEVIN O’DONNELL (Sound Design) As a composer for theater he has worked with Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Lookingglass Theatre Company, Northlight Theatre, American Theater Company, Redmoon Theater, The Hypocrites, Next Theatre Company, TimeLine Theatre Company, Collaboraction, and The House Theatre of Chicago, where he is a company member. He has earned four Jeff Awards, two consecutive “Outstanding Season“ After Dark Awards, and two “Outstanding Achievement“ nominations by the Chicago Music and Dance Alliance for scores he wrote for contemporary dance artist Molly Shanahan. Other composing credits include: St. Anne’s Warehouse, 59E59, DTW with the Mirror Repertory Company (New York), The Stages Repertory Theatre (Houston), the Mark Taper Forum (LA) and Tangent (Montreal). MIKE TUTAJ (Projection Design) has been designing multimedia for theater in Chicago since 2002. He designed projections for Court Theatre’s production of The Year of Magical Thinking. Previous design credits include: History Boys, Fiorello!, The House Court Theatre 19
PROFILES with No Walls, Guantanamo, Tesla’s Letters (Jeff Nomination), Martin Furey’s Shot (Jeff Award), and This Happy Breed with TimeLine Theatre Company; Tomorrow Morning (Jeff Award) with Hillary A Williams LLC, Jon (Jeff Nomination) with Collaboraction; Macbeth and Romeo y Julieta with Chicago Shakespeare Theater; Hana’s Suitcase and The Red Kite Project with Chicago Children’s Theatre; Pangs of the Messiah and Our Enemies (Jeff Nomination) with Silk Road Theatre Project; Love Person and I Sailed with Magellan (Jeff Nomination) with Victory Gardens; and Death of a Salesman and Columbinus (Jeff Nomination) with Raven Theatre. Mike is an artistic associate with TimeLine Theatre Company, and a company member of Barrel of Monkeys Productions. RASEAN DAVONTE JOHNSON (Projection Design) is an experimental film and theatre artist with a deep interest in the application of video for theatrical purposes and experimentation with form and process. Select design credits include The Oxford Roof Climber’s Rebellion, Wreckage, and Brutal Imagination with Caffeine Theatre, The Original Grease and Welcome to Arroyo’s with American Theater Company, Momma’s Boyz with Teatro Vista, Faust with The MASSIVE, Powerless: Issues 1-3 with SYS, Sketchbook: Evolution with Collaboraction, and Iphigenia Crash Land Falls... with Halcyon Theatre. Visit www.youtube.com/user/ RaseanDavonte for examples of his work. SARAH FORNACE (Movement Consultant) is a choreographer, performer, and narrative theorist based in Chicago. She has choreographed fights and stunts for Court Theatre, A Red Orchid Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s Garage Repertory series, The New Colony, Adventure Stage Chicago, The Side Project Theatre Company, and elsewhere. She has performed with Redmoon Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre Company, and Babes with Blades. Sarah is a founding member of Manual Cinema (shadow puppetry) and Boum Twa (acrobatics). She is also a member of Cirque du Soliel’s artist database. DREW DIR (Production Dramaturg) is in his third season as the resident dramaturg of Court Theatre and a lecturer of Theater and Performance Studies at the University of Chicago. In the past, Drew has worked as a playwright, dramaturg, director, and puppeteer in Chicago and London. His writing has been called “daring” by the Chicago Tribune and “ballsy” by Time Out Chicago. His short play The Lurker Radio Hour was recently remounted at Chicago’s Sketchbook Reverb. He also creates and performs shadow puppetry for his company, Manual Cinema. Drew holds a master’s degree in Text and Performance Studies from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. DEBORAH BLUMENTHAL (Production Dramaturg) is thrilled to be back at Court Theatre after assistant directing An Iliad earlier this season. A graduate of the University of Chicago’s Master of Arts Program in the Humanities, Deborah wrote her MA thesis on “Historicizing Angels in America and the Rhetoric of Revival.” She also holds a BA in American Studies from Columbia University, where she focused on musical theater and 20th century American drama. Deborah originally hails from New York, and has worked with Clubbed Thumb (dramaturg for Jordan Harrison’s Amazons and Their Men), and in the literary departments of Second Stage Theatre, The Public Theater, Ars Nova, and Voice & Vision. WILLIAM COLLINS (Production Stage Manager) is in his seventh season at Court Theatre. Past shows include: The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, Three Tall Women, The Comedy of Errors, The Year of Magical Thinking, The Illusion, Thyestes, Arcadia, Uncle Vanya, Carousel, and most recently, An Iliad. William has also worked with Redmoon Theater (Sink. Sank. Sunk …, The Cabinet), Peninsula Players Theatre, About Face Theatre, The Neofuturists, Goodman Theatre, and Drury Lane Oakbrook Theatre. AMBER JOHNSON (Stage Manager) is very excited to be back at Court Theatre after working on Spunk, Comedy of Errors, and Three Tall Women. Other Chicago stage management credits include: A Girl with Sun in Her Eyes (Pine Box Theatre), The Colored Museum (Congo Square Theatre Company), The MLK Project (Writers’ Theatre), It’s a Court Theatre 20
PROFILES Wonderful Life: Live at the Biograph! (American Blues Theatre), Jersey Boys (Broadway in Chicago), I Do! I Do!, and A View from the Bridge (American Theatre Company), Three Sisters (Strawdog Theatre Company), As Much As You Can and Clouds (Dog & Pony Theatre Company), and Orange Flower Water (Steppenwolf Theatre Company). Regional credits include: Williamstown Theatre Festival, Michigan Shakespeare Festival, and Antelope Valley Ballet. Amber graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a BFA in Theatre with Stage Management emphasis. As always, Boomer Sooner! SUSANA PELAYO (Assistant Stage Manager) is happy to be returning to Court Theatre for her third year, where she was previously floor manager. She is a graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Court Theatre credits include The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, Orlando, Three Tall Women, Home, Sizwe Banzi is Dead, The Comedy of Errors, The Illusion, The Year of Magical Thinking, The Mystery of Irma Vep, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. STEPHEN J. ALBERT (Executive Director) is a founding partner in Albert Hall & Associates, LLC, a leading arts consulting firm. Prior to forming the consulting practice, Albert was recognized as a leading arts manager. He has led some of America’s most prestigious theatres, including the Mark Taper Forum/Center Theatre Group, Alley Theatre, and Hartford Stage Company. Albert began his career with the Mark Taper Forum/Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles where he worked in senior management positions for over a decade, rising to Managing Director. He went on to become Executive Director of Houston’s Alley Theatre where he led a turnaround that stabilized the organization, enabling the Alley to return to national standing and drove a capital campaign that secured the organization’s future. At Hartford Stage, his partnership with Mark Lamos resulted in some of the theatre’s most successful seasons and reinforced Hartford Stage’s position at the forefront of the regional theatre movement. In Hartford, Mr. Albert led the initiative to create a 25,000 square foot, state-of-the-art production center, securing the donation of the facility and the funding for its renovation. Albert has served as President and of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and as a board member of Theatre Communications Group (TCG). He has also written and produced a variety of productions for television, is an ACE award nominee, and has been an associate producer of numerous acclaimed Broadway productions. He is a Senior Fellow with the American Leadership Forum, a graduate of the University of Southern California, and holds an MBA from the UCLA Graduate School of Management.
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Join Dramaturg Drew Dir and many other Court artists as they THINK OUT LOUD about all things Court Theatre. www.CourtTheatre.org/blog
Court Theatre 21
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Chair Virginia Gerst
Vice Chairs Barbara E. Franke Margaret Maxwell Zagel
Secretary Mary Anton
Treasurer Roland Baker
Trustees Honorary Trustee
David Bevington Leigh Breslau Tim Bryant Jonathan Bunge James Chandler James E. Clark Martha Clinton Joan Coppleson Kenneth Cunningham Joan Feitler Lorna C. Ferguson David Fithian Karen Frank
Ex-Officio
Stephen J. Albert Charles Newell Larry Norman D. Nicholas Rudall
Timothy Goodsell Mary Louise Gorno Philip Gossett Jack Halpern Kevin Hochberg Thomas Kallen Dana Levinson Michael Lowenthal Linda Patton Jerrold Ruskin Karla Scherer Marilyn Fatt Vitale Leon I. Walker
Stanley Freehling
PRODUCTION STAFF Scenic Assistant Noelle Smith Costume Assistant Whitney McBride Associate Lighting Designer Margaret Hartmann Assistant Directors Cody Estle, Kelly Kerwin Assistant Technical Director Adina Weinig Assistant Master Electrician Brenton Wright Floor Manager Joshua Kaiser Wardrobe Supervisor Samantha Holmes Wardrobe Crew Alexia Rutherford Run Crew Kevin Decker, Adina Weinig Scenic Artists Scott Gerwitz*, Julie Ruscitti* Carpenters Jack Birdwell, Brian Claggett, Kevin Decker, Jared Miller, Dylan Jost, William Paton Stitchers Erin Gallagher, Samantha Holmes, Alexia Rutherford, Emily Waecker *Denotes a member of the United Scenic Artists union (USA).
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STAFF
Artistic Director Charles Newell Executive Director Stephen J. Albert
Resident Artist Resident Dramaturg Dramaturgy Interns Casting Director and Artists-in-the-Schools Director Teaching Artists Kemper Casting Fellow Casting/Education Assistant
Director of Production Assistant Production Manager and Company Manager Technical Director Properties Manager Costume Shop Manager Master Electrician Sound Engineer
Director of Advancement Advancement Consultant Assistant Director of Development for Institutional Relations Assistant Director of Development for Special Events Kemper Grant Writing Fellow Kemper Development Fellow
Ron OJ Parson Drew Dir Evan Garrett, Izzy Olive Cree Rankin Tracey N. Bonner, Melanie Brezill, Kam Hobbs, Ashley Honore, Tony Lawry, Patrese McClain, Mechelle Moe, Michael Pogue Jason Shain Izzy Olive Marc Stubblefield Laura Dieli Ray Vlcek Lara Musard Erica Franklin Marc Chevalier Sarah Ramos Christopher Schram Elaine Wackerly Jennifer Foughner Rebecca Silverman Erin Kelsey Alexis Chaney
General Manager Heidi Thompson Saunders Business Manager Zachary Davis Management Assistant Gretchen Wright
Director of Marketing and Communications Associate Director of Marketing and Communications / Graphic Designer Assistant Director of Marketing for Group Sales and Community Relations Kemper Marketing Fellows Public Relations
Adam Thurman
Box Office Manager Associate Box Office Manager and Database Admininstrator Customer Relations Manager Box Office Assistants House Managers Concessionaires Volunteer Ushers Volunteer Coordinator
Diane Osolin
Traci Brant Kate Vangeloff Shelly Horwitz, Jamie Mermelstein Cathy Taylor Public Relations, Inc.
Heather Dumdei Milan Pejnovich Kareem Mohammad, Alice Tsao Erin Epperson, Jason McCreery, Matthew Sitz, Bartholomew Williams Alex Colborn, Calen Cole, Jason McCreery, Bobby Morales Courtesy of The Saints Judd Rinsema Court Theatre 23
SPONSORS Court Theatre is grateful to the following corporations, foundations, and government agencies, which generously support our productions, outreach programs, and general operations. Season Sponsor Hyde Park Bank Production Sponsors Abbott Laboratories Fund Allstate Insurance Co. The Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation The Chicago Community Trust Grant Thornton LLP Kirkland & Ellis LLP National Endowment for the Arts The University of Chicago Women’s Board Winston & Strawn LLP Student Education Program Sponsors Alphawood Foundation Michael D. and Jolynn Blair Family Foundation The Crown Family Cultural Outreach Program, City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events The James S. Kemper Foundation Polk Bros. Foundation Target General Operating Sponsors City Arts IV, City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events Illinois Arts Council The Irving Harris Foundation The Julius Frankel Foundation John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Navigant Consulting Northern Trust Nuveen Investments Prince Charitable Trusts* The Rhoades Foundation The Shubert Foundation Sidley Austin LLP University of Chicago Special Initiatives Sponsors Boeing Company Harper Court Arts Council Illinois Humanities Council The Joyce Foundation *Denotes special project support in addition to general operating support. Court Theatre 24
The Producers Circle, Court Theatre’s premier donor society, is comprised of generous patrons who contribute $2,500 or more annually to the theatre. Members of the Producers Circle receive a host of benefits that offer extraordinary access to Court Theatre’s artists, creative team, and artistic process. Select benefits include: • Opening Night subscriptions • Private dinners with artists • Concierge service for theatre tickets around Chicago • Backstage tours • Group entertainment opportunities ... and much more.
For more information, visit www.CourtTheatre.org or contact Rebecca Silverman, rsilverman@uchicago.edu or 773.834.5293.
PRODUCERS CIRCLE The following individuals and institutions have made major gifts to the Producers Circle, Court’s premier giving society, and we are deeply grateful for the generosity of these donors. The list reflects gifts received through February 13, 2012. If you have a correction or would prefer to remain anonymous, please call (773) 834-5293.
Crown Society ($100,000 and above) Virginia and Gary Gerst
Royal Court ($50,000-$99,999)
Mr. Fred Eychaner, in support of Angels in America Mr. and Mrs. Robert Feitler Mr. and Mrs. James S. Frank Barbara and Richard Franke Linda and Stephen Patton Robert and Joan Rechnitz Lawrence E. Strickling and Sydney L. Hans
Distinguished Patrons ($25,000-$49,999) Martha and Bruce Clinton Karla Scherer
Grand Patrons ($15,000-$24,999) Helen N. and Roland C. Baker Joyce Chelberg
Directors ($10,000-$14,999)
Mary Anton and Paul Barron James E. Clark and Christina Labate Kevin Hochberg and James McDaniel Tom and Esta Kallen
Benefactors ($5,000-$9,999) Stephen and Terri Albert Richard and Ann Carr Joan and Warwick Coppleson Paula and Oscar D’Angelo Shawn Donnelley Mr. and Mrs. Paul Finnegan Mary Louise Gorno
Patrons ($2,500-$4,999)
Judith Barnard and Michael Fain Leigh S. Breslau and Irene J. Sherr Jonathan and Gertude Bunge Stan and Elin Christianson Ginger L. Petroff and Kenneth R. Cunningham Mr. Harve Ferrill Dr. and Mrs. Willard A. Fry Mr. and Mrs. Richard Gray Dr. and Mrs. Peter T. Heydemann Mrs. Leonard J. Horwich Bill and Jan Jentes Mr. and Mrs. Jack Karp, in honor of Karen Frank +
Lorna Ferguson and Terry Clark Mr. and Mrs. David J. Vitale+ Margaret Maxwell Zagel Anne Kutak, in support of Angels in America Mr. and Mrs. James Reynolds Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Townsend Sarita I. Warshawsky+ Jack Halpern Mr. and Mrs. Robert Helman Gayle H. Jensen Mr. and Mrs. Robert Kopecky Ann Marie Lipinski and Steve Kagan Earl and Brenda Shapiro Foundation Al Stonitsch and Helen Witt Ms. Nancy A. Lauter and Mr. Alfred L. McDougal James Noonan and Dana Levinson Mr. Michael C. Litt William and Kate Morrison Irma Parker Joan and James Shapiro Elaine and Richard Tinberg Anne and William Tobey Mr. and Mrs. James Tonsgard Fidelis and Bonnie Umeh Leon and Rian Walker Thomas and Barbara Weil
Includes gifts designated for Court’s Student Education Program. Court Theatre 25
ANNUAL SUPPORT The following individuals and institutions have made gifts to Court Theatre, and we are deeply grateful for their generosity. This list reflects gifts received through February 12, 2012. If you have a correction or would prefer to remain anonymous, please call (773) 834-5293.
Leaders ($1,000-$2,499) Anonymous Ms. Sandra Chui and Mr. Graham Atkinson Jay R. Franke and Pamela Baker Sharon and Robert Barton Jean and John Berghoff Mrs. Edwin A. Bergman David and Peggy Bevington Mr. and Mrs. Richard Black Gloria Callaci Russell and Suzy Campbell Mr. and Mrs. James K. Chandler Ms. Marcia S. Cohn Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Cruise Mr. Charles F. Custer Nancie and Bruce Dunn Philip and Phyllis Eaton Eileen and Richard Epstein Sylvia Fergus and David Cooper David B. Fithian and Michael R. Rodriguez Mrs. Zollie S. Frank Philip and Suzanne Gossett Mr. Jan Grayson Ms. Dawn-Marie Guthrie Ms. Patricia Hunckler
Supporters ($500-$999) Anonymous, in honor of Oren Jacoby Mrs. Geraldine S. Alvarez Mr. and Mrs. Paul F. Anderson Drs. Andrew J. and Iris K. Aronson Brett and Carey August Ms. Catherine Bannister Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Bell Catharine Bell and Robert Weiglein Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Berry Maurice J. and Lois R. Beznos Henry and Leigh Bienen Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Block Phyllis Booth Dr. and Mrs. Kevin Boyd Mary and Carl Boyer Ms. Janet V. Burch and Mr. Joel R. Guillory Mr. and Mrs. Michael Corey Henry Crown & Company Barbara Flynn Currie Eloise DeYoung Kent S. Dymak and Theodore N. Foss Mr. and Mrs. Scott Epstein Mr. and Mrs. Wolfgang Epstein Mr. and Mrs. Richard Feitler Court Theatre 26
Mr. and Mrs. William Landes Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Lasinski John and Jill Levi Bernard and Averill Leviton Charlene and Gary MacDougal Mr. and Mrs. John W. McCarter, Jr. Robert McDermott and Sarah Jaicks McDermott Mr. David Moes Brooks and Howard Morgan Kathleen Picken Mr. and Mrs. James M. Ratcliffe Thomas Rosenbaum and Katherine Faber Lynne F. and Ralph A. Schatz David and Judith L. Sensibar Susan H. and Robert E. Shapiro Scott Showalter Bill and Orli Staley Mr. James Stone The Ultmann Family, in loving memory of John Mr. and Mrs. R. Todd Vieregg Elaine and Patrick Wackerly Joan E. Neal and David Weisbach Ms. Gretchen Winter Charles and Sallie Wolf Paul and Mary Yovovich Mrs. Adrian Foster Mr. and Mrs. Paul E. Freehling Jacqueline and Howard Gilbert Mrs. Betty Guttman Gene and Nancy Haller Beth and Howard Helsinger Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Hill Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Hirsch Diane and William Hunckler Ms. Kineret Jaffe Mr. and Mrs. Robert Kallen Jean A. Klingenstein Mr. and Mrs. Martin J. Koldyke Mr. and Mrs. Charles Laff Barry Lesht and Kay Schichtel, in memory of Jack Shannon Ms. Nancy Levner Phoebe R. and John D. Lewis Family Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Robert Lewis Michael Lowenthal and Amy Osler Dorism and Glenn E. Merritt Mr. and Mrs. Robert Moeller Bill Mulliken and Lorna Filippini-Mulliken Mr. and Mrs. William Navin Dr. Larry Norman
ANNUAL SUPPORT Messrs. Robert Ollis and Richard Gibbons, in support of Angels in America Ms. Grayce Papp Mr. and Mrs. Denis Rogers Ms. Martha Roth and Mr. Bryon Rosner Ms. Yolanda Saul Roche Schulfer and Mary Beth Fisher Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Scott Dr. Salvador J. Sedita and Ms. Pamela L. Owens
Contributors ($250-$499) Mr. and Mrs. Steven A. Adelman John Archambault, in honor of Peggy Zagel on her retirement Eugene L. Balter and Judith R. Phillips Ms. Enriqueta Rodriguez and Mr. Ronald G. Bauer Joan and Julian Berman Mr. James Bernal, in honor of Peggy Zagel on her retirement Ms. Kathleen Betterman Catherine and Addison Braendel Mr. Scott Brickwood Brady and Geraldine Brownlee Mr. Timothy Bryant Karen A. Callaway John and Sally Carton Bob and Peggy Cassey
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Seid Ilene W. Shaw Mr. and Mrs. Charles Shea Tim Burroughs and Barbara Smith Nikki and Fred Stein Otto and Elsbeth Thilenius Brady Twiggs Mrs. Iris Witkowsky Judy Chernick Mr. Brian Cogan, in honor of Peggy Zagel on her retirement Dorothy and David Crabb Katherine and John Culbert Frederick T. Dearborn Daisy A. Driss Adam M. Dubin Mrs. Emlyn Eisenach and Mr. Eric Posner Edie and Ray Fessler B. Ellen Fisher Paul Fong Dr. and Mrs. James L. Franklin Mr. and Mrs. Julian Frazin, in honor of Virginia Gerst Joan M. Giardina Gerry and Stan Glass
Share the magic of Court Add a line or two of simple language to your will and keep Court performances running for generations to come.
For more information about bequests and other planned gifts, please contact Heather McClean in the Office of Gift Planning at 773.834.2117 or giftplan@uchicago.edu.
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ANNUAL SUPPORT Ms. Ethel Gofen Mr. and Mrs. Robert B. Hartfield Mary J. Hayes, DDS Carrie L. Hedges Dr. and Mrs. Andrew Hendrix Amy and Anthony Hirschel Douglas and Lola Hotchkis Carrie and Gary Huff Robert Kapoun Ms. Anne Van Wart and Mr. Michael Keable Nancy and Richard Kosobud Ms. Carol L. Kutak Richard L. Landau Lemme Insurance Group, in honor of Peggy Zagel on her retirement Steven and Barbara Lewis Mr. and Mrs. Joe Madden James and Katharine Mann Mr. and Mrs. Richard L. Marcus Mr. and Mrs. Michael Masterson Michelle Maton and Mike Schaeffer David E. McNeel Greg and Alice Melchor Renee M. Menegaz and Prof. R. D. Bock Dr. and Mrs. Ernest Mhoon Lisa Kohn and Harvey Nathan
Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Plotnick Qualcomm Matching Gift Program Louise Lee Reid Mr. and Mrs. H. P. Davis Rockwell Bruce Rodman Nuna and Ennio Rossi Cecilia and Joel Roth Ms. Ann M. Rothschild Carolyn O. Rusnak Sharon Salveter and Stephan Meyer Dr. Jacquelyn Sanders Joan and Lynn Small Elizabeth and Hugo Sonnenschein Dorie Sternberg George P. Surgeon Edward and Edith Turkington Ms. Christy Uchida Sharon and John van Pelt Daina Variakojis and Ernest Frizke Thomas J. Vega-Byrnes Virginia Wright Wexman and John Huntington Russell and Sindy Wieman, in honor of Peggy Zagel on her retirement Nicholas Weingarten and Cynthia Winter Joseph Wolnski and Jane Christino
February 16 – June 10, 2012 smartmuseum.uchicago.edu Admission is always free
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ANNUAL SUPPORT Associates ($150-$249) Anonymous Mr. Sam Adam Sr. Elizabeth Adkins Ms. Roula Alakiotou and Mr. Alvin Burenstine Filomena and Robert Albee The Amoroso Family Mr. and Mrs. Cal Audrain Mr. Melvin Belton Mr. and Mrs. Adrian Beverly James Bishop Mr. Nathanial Blackman Gregory and Rosalie Bork Mr. Aldridge Bousfield Jim and Sandy Boves Douglas Bragan Ralph and Rona Brown Olga and John Buenz Elizabeth Fama and John Cochrane Lydia G. Cochrane David and Suzanne Cooley Rosemary Crowley Susanne and David Cyranoski Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Darnall Bruce Davidson Quinn and Robert Delaney
Ms. Sharon Eisemann Mr. and Mrs. Richard Evans Mr. Stephen Fedo Dale and Marilyn Fitschen Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Friedmann Dr. Thomas Gajewski and Dr. Marisa Alegre Dr. Sandra Garber Judy and Mickey Gaynor Paul B. Glickman Natalie and Howard Goldberg Mrs. Ethel F. Goldsmith Ken Green and Holly Wathan Mr. and Mrs. Steven Gryll Joel and Sarah Handelman Lynn Hauser Richard and Marilyn Helmholz Mrs. Nancy Hotchkiss Mr. James Jolley Mr. Richard Jones Dorthea Juul Gloria Kearney Dr. Lauren Kern Neil and Diana King Mr. Norman Kohn Ms. Rachel Kraft, in honor of Stephen J. Albert
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ANNUAL SUPPORT Ms. Anne Lang, in honor of Peggy Zagel on her retirement Mr. and Mrs. Emmet Larkin Mr. and Mrs. Donald Larsen Bill and Blair Lawlor Michael and Susan Levine Charles and Fran Licht Herb Malkind and Etta Boot Mrs. Ann Maxwell, in honor of Peggy Zagel on her retirement Mr. and Mrs. Frank D. Mayer, Jr. Martha G. McCallister Stacey and Patrick McCusker Joanne Michalski and Mike Weeda Janet and David Midgley Dean Miller and Martha Swift Mr. and Mrs. Jack Mitchell Ms. Regina Modestas Ms. Donna Moore Marianne Nathan and James Hugunin Drs. Donald E. and Mary Ellen Newsom Nicor Gas Margaret and William J. O’Connor Mr. Gary Ossewaarde Irving and Vivian Paley Mr. Doug Peck Mr. Milan Pejnovich Ms.Claire E. Pensyl and Mr. Ira Bell Elizabeth M. Postell Ms. Jane Grady and Mr. Alan J. Pulaski Mr. Michael Raftery Mr. and Mrs. Norman Raidl
Mrs. Marelen F. Richman Pearl Rieger Mr. and Mrs. Burton Rissman Dr. Lya Dym Rosenblum and Dr. Louis Rosenblum Carol Rosofsky and Robert Lifton Drs. Donald A. and Janet Rowley Manfred Ruddat Martha Sabransky Mr. Kenneth Schug Mr. Steven Schulze Drs. Michele Seidl Mr. Michael Shapiro Ms. Corinne Siegel Roberta and Howard Siegel Mr. John Sowinski Dr. Donna Spaan Dr. and Mrs. Eric Spratford Judith E. Stein Ms. Jane Stone Gary Strandlund Mrs. Josephine N. Strauss Prof. and Mrs. Lester Telser Heidi Thompson Saunders and David Saunders Mr. and Mrs. John Turner Russell and MarleneTuttle Ms. Martha Van Haitsma Ms. Linda Vincent Anna Mary and David Wallace Ms. Lynn Werner Howard S. White Dr. Willard E. White Cynthia Zeltwanger and Robert Tomes
DINING SPONSORS Receive 10% off at Court Theatre’s Hyde Park Dining Sponsors. Only one discount per ticket. Not valid with any other offers.
Asian fusion 1509 E. 53rd St. (773) 324-1999
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Casual Italian 1642 E. 56th St. (773) 643-1106
American Bistro 5201 S. Harper Ave. (773) 241-5200
SPECIAL GIFTS Endowment Support and Planned Gifts Court Theatre greatly acknowledges the generous individuals and institutions who have supported Court’s artistic excellence by contributing to our endowment or making a planned gift. Hope and Lester Abelson Family The Michael and Lillian Braude Theatre Fund Joan S. and Stanley M. Freehling Fund for the Arts The Helen and Jack Halpern Fund The William Randolph Hearst Foundation Anne Kutak Marion Lloyd Court Theatre Fund Michael Lowenthal Carroll Mason Russell Fund The Martha Paine Newell Fund for Emerging Artists An endowment established by Timothy, Patricia, and Charles Newell in honor of their mother, Martha “Matt” Newell, will allow Court Theatre to support the work of early-career theatre artists. Court Theatre is grateful to the following donors for their inaugural gifts to The Martha Paine Newell Fund for Emerging Artists. Mrs. Edwin A. Bergman Ms. Isabelle P. Middendorf Mrs. Daisy Driss Mr. and Mrs. F. Ward Paine Mr. Daniel E. Efner Mr. Ted Walch For information on how to leave a legacy of support by making a planned gift or contribution to Court ’s endowment, contact Rebecca at (773) 834-5293 or rsilverman@uchicago.edu. Facility Support The University of Chicago
High School Performance Festival Sponsor Hyde Park Bank
In-Kind Contributions The following companies and individuals support Court Theatre through the donation of goods or services: Stephen J. Albert Helen N. and Roland C. Baker David Bevington Elizabeth Brackett Leigh Breslau Suzy Campbell James Chandler Chant Chicago q James E. Clark Joan Feitler Lorna Ferguson and Terry Clark Karen and James Frank The Gage Virginia Gerst Goodman Theatre Timothy Goodsell and Susan McGee Mary Lou Gorno Harris Theatre
Helaine and Peter Heydemann J. Hilburn Kevin Hochberg and James McDaniel KAP Graphics Tony Kushner Limelight Catering… food illuminated Mary Mastricola and La Petite Folie Brian Meister Daniel Minter David Moes Brooks and Howard Morgan Lester Munson Charles Newell and Kate Collins Northlight Theatre Oregon Shakespeare Festival Park 52
Linda and Steve Patton Piccolo Mondo Julie Purdum, Prairie Moon Creations Ritz Carlton Chicago Ritz Carlton New York Russian Pointe Dance Boutique The Saints Michael Sheerin Patrick Sheerin Sidley Austin LLP Jason Smith Photography Spoleto Festival Union League Club of Chicago The University of Chicago David and Marilyn Vitale Rian Walker Kenneth Warren Margaret Maxwell Zagel and Judge James Zagel Court Theatre 31
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