Dial M for Murder-JPAC

Proudly Presents

By Frederick Knott STARRING Tim Griffin Emily Robinson Karl Lewandowski Andy Gwyn Brad Davidson Sean Forston Directed by Steve Calzaretta Scenic Design Michael Nedza

Lighting Design Dante Orfei

Costume Design Lindsay Prerost

Multimedia/Sound Designer Micheal A. Kott

Dial “M” For Murder is presented through special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc. 440 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10016 SET TING The action of the play takes place in the living room of the Wendices’ apartment in London.

There will be one 15-minute intermission.

The use of flash photography and video recording devices without the written permission of the management is prohibited.

Please remember to silence or turn off your cellular phones and other messaging devices.

Dial M for Murder

1

F R O M T H E D I R E C TO R ’ S C H A I R Picking the title Dial M for Murder for the JPAC season was not just a random thought. Fredrick Knott only wrote two plays: Dial M for Murder and Wait Until Dark. With Wait Until Dark recently produced at JPAC, how fitting is it to put on Dial M? Not only is it a fantastic show, but this year the Hitchcock classic will be re-released in 3D for the first time. What I wanted to do with this production is try to bring out the brilliant comedy in the writing. I think you will find this production intriguing, suspenseful, and fun. With all the cable, satellite TV and internet streaming we have today, I thought it would be entertaining to bring things back to the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s and make this show like the double features we used to wait for on Saturday night. I remember working in the yard all day on Saturday; my parents would order a pizza, set up a blanket on the floor in front of the single TV we had, and we would eat dinner and watch the Carol Burnett show. After the news we would watch “Creature Features.” These memories might not seem like much, but it reminds me of a simpler, happier era that this world so desperately needs now. So, I hope you enjoy tonight’s double feature. I hope, maybe, it strikes a nice memory for you as well, and maybe it will take you back to a time in your life when the simplest of things made you smile. Enjoy the production.

Director Steve Calzaretta

CAST Brad Davidson.....................................................................................................................................Captain Lesgate Tim Griffin................................................................................................................................................. Tony Wendice Andy Gwyn..................................................................................................................................... Inspector Hubbard Karl Lewandowski.................................................................................................................................... Max Halliday Emily Robinson..................................................................................................................................Margot Wendice Sean Forston......................................................................................................Officer Thompson / Phone Voices

CAST PROFILES Brad Davidson (Captain Lesgate) has appeared in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at Circle Theatre, The Importance of Being Earnest at Janus Theatre, On Golden Pond at Ouroboros Theatre/Big Noise Theater, The Odd Couple at Oil Lamp Theater, and ‘art’ and It Could Be Anyone of Us at Steel Beam Theatre. He is an Actor of Evil in the Democracy Burlesque sketch comedy ensemble.

Other performances include roles in A Streetcar Named Desire at Metropolis Performing Arts Center, the Chicago production of Awesome 80s Prom, Chicago Scriptworks’s The Other Side of the Pond, the title role in Fred Blue at Bailiwick Repertory Theatre’s Director’s Festival, The Buddy Holly Story at Village Players Theatre of Oak Park, Collaboraction Theatre’s Sketchbook 6, California Suite at Theatre in the Woods, Theatre Hike’s The Taming of the Shrew and Little House on the Prairie, and Alchemy Theatre’s Twelve Angry Men. Film credits include the award-winning Actually, Adieu My Love and Mr. Babbo; In Love with a Nun; The Color 2

Jedlicka Performing Arts Center

of Blood; Only the Money is Real; The Birthday Card; The Devil’s Dominoes; and Wages of Sin. He has a graduate degree in theatre from Purdue University.

Sean Forston (Officer Thompson/Phone Voices) Sean would like to thank everyone for watching the show and reading his bio.

Special shout outs go to his dad, Steve, and his amazing girlfriend Emily. Sean is also very excited to be part of Dial M for Murder and hopes that you, the audience enjoys it just as much as Sean enjoys being a part of it. As they say, “When in Rome...”

Tim Griffin (Tony Wendice) is very excited to be making his JPAC debut in Dial M for Murder. Earlier this year, he fulfilled a long-time dream of playing the title role in Richard III.

CAST PROFILES

c o n t.

Other roles include Hamlet in Hamlet, Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet, Dromeo of Ephesus in A Comedy of Errors, and Goldberg in Pinter’s The Birthday Party. Tim has performed in Chicago, Los Angeles, Moscow, and St. Petersburg, is an accomplished playwright, and has performed and choreographed stage combat for more than twenty years. He also sings and plays blues harmonica in his band, “The Smoking Section.” He is of indeterminate age and is currently at large.

Andy Gwyn (Inspector Hubbard) In between teaching himself the art of joke-writing for a proposed comedy routine, Andy’s been enjoying a busy year on stage. Beginning last summer in Indiana where he played Joe Keller in a summer stock production of Arthur Miller’s ALL MY SONS ... he then toured museums and college venues as Santa Claus in a festive holiday show for ABS productions. This past spring he was the Prime Minister of England in 1913 for The Shattered Globe Theatre at Stage 773. Andy’s a graduate of HB Studios in New York where he studied acting with “HB” himself ... Herbert Berghof. He has also performed here in Chicago on the main stage at Steppenwolf.

Karl Lewandowski (Max Halliday) is excited to be working once again with Jedlicka Performing Arts Center. Before moving to Cicero, Karl worked and performed in Milwaukee,

Wisconsin. It was there where he filled the shoes of Greg Sullivan in Rebecca Gilman’s Spinning Into Butter and helped produce one of his favorite plays by Sam Shepard, True West. Over the years, Karl’s energy and curiosity for acting has grown exponentially.

Some of his past roles include The Lion in The Wiz, George from Of Mice and Men, and Ali Hakim in Oklahoma! Karl would like to thank God, his family, the cast and crew, the director, and the audience for their help in making this an exciting and entertaining experience.

Emily Robinson (Margot Wendice) is excited to be doing her first show with Jedlicka! Previous Chicago-area credits include Shapeshifters Theatre’s The Case of the Music Guild Murders (Marian Monroe) and And Neither Have I Wings to Fly (Kathleen), Commedia Beauregard’s Museum of Bad Art Plays: Gina’s Demons (Gina), and Citadel Theatre Company’s The Boarding House (Sylvia).

She can also occasionally be heard voicing various guest characters in the syndicated radio show “Kids Corner” and recently appeared in the series finale of the web series “Kole’s Law” (Jennifer). Other favorite roles include The Miracle Worker (Kate Keller), All My Sons (Anne), Harvey (Nurse Kelly), and being in the core cast of a sketch comedy show at Indiana Wesleyan University. She’d like to thank God for her talents and opportunities, her friends and family for their love and support, and the awesome cast and crew.

C R E AT I V E S TA F F P R O F I L E S Dante J. Orfei (Artistic Director, Lighting Designer) has been the Artistic Director at the Jedlicka Performing Arts Center for over 25 years. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and has produced and directed a travel documentary titled European Sojourn, which aired on PBS. Dante also directed the U.S. Premiere of the musical Metropolis and worked closely with the show’s creator, Academy and Grammy Award-winner Joseph Brooks on the development of the show. Dante directed the national regional theatre premiere

of Brooks’ most recent Broadway show, In My Life. He has studied with Tony Award-winners Harold Prince and Jules Fisher. He directed the Midwest Regional Premiere of the Queen rock musical, We Will Rock You, and has also directed the World Premiere of Nefertiti – The Musical, as well as Premiere Chicago Productions of Little Women, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Aspects of Love, Blood Brothers, Jekyll and Hyde, The Baker’s Wife, and numerous plays by Olivier Awardwinning playwright Ray Cooney, including the U.S. Premiere of Cooney’s It Runs in the Family.

Dial M for Murder

3

C R E AT I V E S TA F F P R O F I L E S

c o n t.

Dante has directed well over 175 stage productions on the professional, dinner theatre and academic levels.

Education from the University of Toronto, and a Masters of Music (Musical Theatre) from the Boston Conservatory.

Steve Calzaretta (Director) Steve is happy to be back at Jedlicka Performing Arts Center.

He has directed shows here for the Theater For Young Audiences and performed in such shows as Jekyll and Hyde, Aspects of Love, The Who’s Tommy, Run for your Wife and the Big Band Shows. Steve has toured all over the country as Asst. Tour Manager and featured vocalist for Country legend Kenny Rogers as well as being a part of many regional theaters from Maine to Florida. He has performed and worked production for Marriott’s Lincolnshire theater and Drury Lane. Steve has worked on the Production end of many productions here and hopes to work on many more in the future.

Lindsay Prerost (Costume Designer) is excited to be costuming her fourth show for JPAC; recently costuming Legally Blonde. Lindsay is also the theatre assistant/designer at Downers Grove North High School and has costumed 4 one act plays including Bus Riley’s Back in Town, Relative Strangers, Law and Order Fairytale Unit and A Backwards Fairytale. Lindsay has also designed hair and makeup for many shows including Sunset Boulevard, Grease, Phantom of the Opera and University of Chicago’s Nutcracker Ballet.

Michael Nedza (Scenic and Properties Designer/Technical Director) has been designing throughout the Midwest for over 25years.

He has designed over 75 shows here at the JPAC. Some of the designs he is most proud of include, last season’s Sunset Boulevard, Phantom of the Opera, Hairspray, In My Life, We Will Rock You, Jekyll and Hyde, and 1776. Michael has been recognized twice with the “Award of Merit” from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.

Melanie Lamoureux (Theatre Manager) Melanie Lamoureux is thrilled to be joining the JPAC team. She has performed on the JPAC stage many times, most recently as Annie Sullivan in the 2011 production of The Miracle Worker. She is the Artistic Director of BAMtheatre, a youth educational theatre company based in Hinsdale, IL, where she has directed and produced over 20 musicals including Into the Woods, Violet, and Chicago. This year, Melanie will also be teaching in the music department at Fenwick High School. She holds a Bachelors of Music

Micheal Kott (Multimedia/Sound Designer) has directed numerous plays and musicals both stateside and in Europe, including his critically acclaimed production of Murderer, by Anthony Shaffer. His JPAC directing credits include Doubt, Lilies of the Field and The Boys Next Door.

Michael is also a veteran performer at the JPAC having been involved in 18 shows over the last 12 years. Among his favorites are Blood Brothers, Moonlight and Magnolias, Peter Pan, and Tuesdays with Morrie. He is very grateful to Dante Orfei for his friendship, support, encouragement and trust. Micheal played the scenestealing Psychic in Brain Damaged Film’s 2008 release Secrets of the Clown, available at www. blockbuster.com! Micheal is the founding director of the Green Door Theatre in Garlstedt, West Germany. Currently he is the Artistic Director of Master’s Backstage Players in Carol Stream, Illinois. Micheal was also an ensemble member of Cenacle Theatre in Chicago, where he acted and directed numerous productions. Mike is the multimedia specialist for Morton College by day and at night divides his time among the various theatres in the Western Suburbs of Chicago. He is very thankful to Dr. Felicity Thoet for her guidance and direction. She is a wonderful director and I thank her for her knowledge.

T H E AT R E S TA F F

4

Director..................................................................................................................................................Steve Calzaretta Artistic Director............................................................................................................................................Dante Orfei Technical Director ............................................................................................................................... Michael Nedza Theatre Manager........................................................................................................................ Melanie Lamoureux Stage Manager.......................................................................................................................................Keenan Powell Box Office......................................................................................................................................................... Diana Visk Technical Crew...............................................................................................Arthur Stepanek, Natalie Stepanek,

Martin Vanegas, Bryant Arteaga Usher/Concessions .............................................................................................................................. Robert Jadach Jedlicka Performing Arts Center