University Theatre Department of Theatre and Drama University of Wisconsin-Madison presents
ACROSS A DISTANCE by NICK LANTZ Music by SCOTT GENDEL September 17, 18, 19, 23, 24, 25, 2010 Mitchell Theatre Director – Kelly J.G. Bremner Music Director/Composer – Scott Gendel Set Designer/Dramaturg – Kristin Hunt Costume Designer – Jim Greco Lighting Designer – Chelsie McPhilimy Technical Director – Walter Claassen Stage Manager – Hope Tyson Produced through special arrangement with Nick Lantz and Scott Gendel. Post-performance panel discussion September 19th moderated byJenny Buechner. ASL interpretation provided Co-sponsored by the UW School of Music, the McBurney Disability Resource Center, the Office of the Provost for Diversity and Climate, and the Arts Institute with support from the Evjue Foundation and the Anonymous Fund. This project is funded, in part, by a grant from the Madison Arts Commission and Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission, with additional funds from the Wisconsin Arts Board.
Learn more about the production at http://sites.google.com/site.acrossadistance University Theatre 1
CAST Woman........................................................................................................................ Julia Faulkner Man...........................................................................................................................Robert Schleifer MUSICIANS Anthony DiSanza........................................................................................................... Percussion Jessica Johnson........................................................................................................................ Piano Elizabeth Marshall.....................................................................................................Piccolo, Flute There will be one 15-minute intermission. AC K N OW L E D G E M E N T S William Farlow and the UW Opera, Professional Interpreting Enterprise, Opera Props, Opera For the Young, Madison Opera F R O M T H E D I R E C TO R O F U N I V E R S I T Y T H E AT R E When one receives a gift of a delicious gourmet dish, I think the first instinct is to share it with as many friends as you can. Well, that is how I feel about the play you are about to experience. ACROSS A DISTANCE was brought to me by director Kelly Bremner a year and a half ago. She described it as a new play that was a collaboration of many talents found right here in Madison, from the playwright, to the composer; the opera singer, the director, and the designer. I was even more amazed when she then told me that this group of creative people hoped premiere this new work at University Theatre and that there had already been a lot of “beating the bushes” for funding to help pay the production costs. I then sat down with the script and was instantly moved by what I read (and this was without hearing any of the music)! How can we, as human beings, overcome seemingly impossible barriers in order to communicate with each other? In some respects we seem to be having major problems with this task in every day life. What a great way to start of our season! We have this very special event as well as ushering in the Year of the Arts here on the UW-Madison campus. There is a wondrous smorgasbord of events planned for the entire school year so please visit the website (yearofthearts.wisc.edu) so that you can enjoy as many dishes as possible. Our fall offerings continue with The Grapes of Wrath, directed by Norma Saldivar. Valparaiso, by Don DeLillo, is next and is the final thesis production for MFA Directing candidate, Jeremy Thomas Poulsen. And we finish off the first part of our season with a play for high school students and their families by acclaimed Australian playwright, Steven House, The Yum Yum Room. This play will be directed by one of our PhD candidates, Andy Wiginton. Once again, as Director of University Theatre, I thank our support group, Friends of UT for their continued enthusiasm and generosity. And a very special thanks to you, our patrons. Without your presence, it wouldn’t be theatre. Aloha and Komo Mai-Please come in David Furumoto Director of University Theatre 2 University Theatre
D I R E C TO R ’ S N O T E “We are not two islands distant and foreign. We are the space between two islands, between dreaming and waking.” – scene 10, Across A Distance In 2005 Julia, Robert, Scott and I gathered in Julia’s living room with a crazy idea. Julia, a world-renowned operatic soprano, and Robert, an accomplished professional Deaf actor, had a rich relationship, based in great part on the dedication of their lives to their respective arts. Though they had nothing but the greatest respect for each other as artists, Julia could not speak ASL, and Robert could not hear her sing. And yet… It was that “and yet…” that led us to Across A Distance. In that living room, on that fateful night, we promised each other we would find a way to make a performance out of this seeming impasse between the worlds of music and ASL. After a flurry of amazing conversations, we began working as a group in the summer of 2007. We started by simply sharing stories about what made Julia and Robert who they were. We then worked to stage those stories in a way that blended music and sign. The next step was to contact our playwright, Nick Lantz, to adapt these fragments into a play. Nick responded with so much more than an adaptation. To start, he gave us the magic scene in Act I, and we all instantly fell in love with his take on the situation. A few months later, we got the whole script essentially as you see it now. While the script we have today would not have been possible without the autobiographic devised work we did, this play is no longer a story about Julia and Robert. The play is now a story about all of us, and how we struggle to communicate with each other. The unique nature of this project is also its challenge. Julia and Robert’s performances are nothing short of virtuosic. They have discovered how to convincingly portray moments that are literally impossible, such as “understanding” each other when their backs are turned away. While this kind of work is challenging technically, they are also both realistically portraying the horrible and beautiful things we humans do in our quest to find connections, and even love. The play itself is something special. Scene three, for example, is a perfect illustration of the script’s cleverness, where Nick so easily gives us all enough context clues in the lines of each performer that we don’t need to speak both languages in order to understand what both actors are saying. The poetry in the songs and stories is so rich and so accessible that it is easy to see why he is becoming such a celebrated poet on the national scene. Scott’s music is equally impressive. Compare the final song of scene three “Your Voice/Your Hands” (which I swear would win him a Tony if ever he had the chance) and the final song of the play, which is a duet between a singer and a performer who literally cannot hear the music, but must remain an equal participant in the song. Both are so beautiful, and yet so skillfully tell the story of this relationship. This play is not an easy one to experience. We are asking you to engage with this play in a way that will hopefully delight you at times, but will also certainly frustrate you. I have decided it is all right if the play is not “understood” in the traditional sense by everyone, all the time. There will be scenes where a hearing audience member will not understand Man, unless they know ASL. Similarly, a Deaf audience member won’t understand Woman at times. In both cases, I believe you will get a great deal out of their performances, just not literally the words. Rather, you will be frustrated and delighted right along with the characters, and find meaning outside of literal understanding. It is the meaning you make of this “space between” fully understanding, and stumbling in the dark, where the message in this play lies. We hope you love this play as much as we have loved creating it. We hope you leave this play asking yourself difficult questions about the way you interact with people and cultures you don’t fully understand. Most of all we hope you leave this play with a feeling of hope. While it is always difficult to communicate with a new culture, it is always worth it. Thanks to all of the generous sponsors of this project, but especially to David Furumoto and the University Theatre for letting us be an special extra addition to the season, and for all the student and staff help on the project.
Kelly J. G. Bremner University Theatre 3
O N A M E R I C A N S I G N L A N G UAG E I N P E R F O R M A N C E The history of American Sign Language (ASL) in the United States is uniquely bound up with the history of performance. In the 1960s, as hearing educators and researchers were finally beginning to acknowledge ASL as a legitimate language after a century of denying its validity and inhibiting deaf children from learning or communicating in sign language, the National Theatre of the Deaf (NTD) helped spread awareness of ASL among hearing individuals. Producing mainly classic plays using a cast of Deaf and hearing performers, NTD developed its own adapted form of ASL, known as “theatrical sign,” which involves heightened or expanded signs, sometimes made with multiple performers and often incorporating elements of pantomime in addition to ASL. This controversial development of an “artistic” form of ASL was in part a result of NTD’s interest in experimenting with visual communication and at the same time a response to the fact that 90 percent of NTD audiences are hearing. As a commercially and critically successful company that has toured all 50 states and spawned multiple regional Deaf theatres, NTD revolutionized mainstream acting by providing opportunities for professional Deaf actors as well as bringing awareness of the Deaf community to a wide variety of American audiences. However, as Hilary Cohen notes, much of NTD’s work is ultimately produced with a hearing audience in mind, and features classic English works performed using ASL in combination with spoken language in such a way that, “the signing becomes an added dimension to a text that is heard—hearing being the form for which it was conceived.” Former NTD member Dorothy Miles distinguishes the company’s “sign language theatre” from Deaf theatre by noting that, while sign language theatre uses sign as an evocative visual medium used to enhance “hearing” theatre and hearing audience members’ experiences, Deaf theatre is concerned with “realistic portrayals of the lives of deaf persons, or with real or imaginary representations drawn from the deaf person’s unique perception of the world.”Thus, according to Miles, while sign language theatre treats ASL less as a language and more as an aesthetic medium, Deaf theatre “uses sign language as a means of communication first, and as an art form second.” It is this second form of ASL in performance that most directly informs Across a Distance. While playwright Nick Lantz has written the script in English, Mr. Schleifer has continually translated his character’s dialogue and stories into ASL. However, since this project involves not the staging of an English classic but rather the construction of a new text written expressly for ASL performance, the actor, playwright, and director have collaborated to ensure the character’s speech works organically within ASL syntax. Thus this performance does not view ASL primarily as an added visual element for hearing audiences, but rather as a language that, like all languages, is deeply connected to a culture and forms an integral part of the character of the man who uses it. Works Cited: Cohen, Hilary U. “Theatre by and for the Deaf.” Theatre and Drama Review 33.1 (1989): 68-78. JSTOR. 29 Sept. 2006 <http://www.jstor.org>. Miles, Dorothy and Lou Fant Jr. Sign Language Theatre and Deaf Theatre: New Definitions and Directions. Ed. Harry Murphy. Center on Deafness Publication Series, 2. California State University, Northridge: Center on Deafness, 1976.
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K E Y FAC T S A B O U T A M E R I C A N S I G N L A N G UAG E (A S L) Sign language is not universal. Just as every country has its own spoken language, every country has its own signed language that is tied to the culture and beliefs of the region. ASL is not based upon simple gestures. Signed languages include complex visual grammar using facial expression, the space around the signer, and other linguistic markers to indicate temporal and spatial relationships. ASL has a unique grammar and syntax, and is not a signed version of English. As no two languages translate word-for-word, the projected titles follow the written English script of Man’s character while he signs in ASL. In storytelling, ASL users may take on the subject position of multiple different agents in the story, effectively becoming characters in the story, such as the farmer and his wife in “The Farmer and the Apple Tree.” Putting Opera and ASL into Dialogue: The Structure of Across a Distance While Across a Distance is not opera in the traditional sense of a sung drama, its structure, which takes its cue from classical opera, is one of its most distinctive features. As Donald J. Grout argues, classical operas differ fundamentally from theatre in that their structure often relies upon simpler action and slower pacing in order to allow for frequent songs and choruses that focus not on plot development but rather on emotional outpouring, poetic imagery, and the development of musical ideas. Playwright Nick Lantz has created a hybrid of traditional theatre and the classical opera, crafting a play made up of scenes of spoken and signed dialogue that is punctuated by lyrical interludes, either songs sung by the Woman or stories told by the Man. These interludes, as in an opera, are not merely diversions from the action of the play, but rather deep investigations of the nature, feelings, and imaginations of the characters. Here, Aristotle’s old adage that plot is supreme to character falls apart – this is a story about characters, and these operatic interludes allow the poetic space for those characters to tell their stories. It is in this poetic space that we are able to encounter not only the complexities of bridging gaps between two languages, but also to experience the rare magic that occurs when those gaps seem, however briefly, to disappear. The playwright and composer are able to combine ASL and English performance in a pair of songs written as romantic duets for singer and Deaf actor. As the two perform overlapping lines of poetic text, Woman in song and Man in ASL, their two languages remain distinct from one another, and our own individual fluencies determine our ability to understand them. But, we may also begin to appreciate the poetry of each character’s language beyond the level of literal comprehension, as words and signs seem both to come to the foreground and fall away simultaneously. As we witness two individuals whose worlds are colliding in a process that is by turns magical and maddening to them and to us, we are left to ask ourselves which distances are insurmountable and which may be traversed, not just in artistic practice, but in culture as well. Works Cited: Grout, Donald Jay. A Short History of Opera. 4th ed. NY: Columbia UP, 2003.
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P R O D U C T I O N S TA F F Assistant Director...........................................................................Megwyn Sanders-Andrews Rehearsal Interpreter/Outreach Assistant................................................................Amy Free Audience Outreach Coordinator............................................................Jessica Brown-VĂŠlez Accommodations Coordinator.....................................................................................Amy Free Assistant Stage Managers......................................................................... Alyssa Pon-Franklin, Evan Mayhew Rehersal Accompanist....................................................................................... David Sytkowski Carpentry Crew............................................................................Morgan Boland, Alex Nelson, Christina Keryczynskyj, Bailey Padesky, Kaleena Strenshaug, Kuanojua Lee Scenic Artist...........................................................................................................................Katie Lai Properties Master........................................................................................................ Jenna Frater Master Electrician.........................................................................................................John Salutz Electricians............................................................................................. Jono De Leon, Erik Barry, Katie Kudrick, Brandi Mitchell Light Board Operator............................................................................................Marian Zennie Sound Board Operator...........................................................................................Zack Warners Projectionist.............................................................................................................Annie Giannini Puppeteers...................................................................................................................... Stuart Mott, Kaleen Stenshaug, Evan Mayhew Shop crews........................................................................................... Th 161, 361,561 students
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WHO’S WHO
Actors Julia Faulkner (Woman) Soprano Julia Faulkner has had a distinguished International career with performances on many of the world’s great opera and concert stages. She made her Metropolitan opera debut in the title role of Strauss’ Arabella in 1994 and sang major roles for many years at the Bavarian and Vienna State Operas. Other prestigious engagements have included performances with La Scala, Hamburg, Amsterdam, The Berlin Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Concertgebouw, Dresdener Staatskapelle, Gewandhaus Leipzig, and L.A. Philharmonic to name a few. An equally celebrated recording artist, Ms. Faulkner has recordings on the Naxos, EMI and Deutsche Grammophon labels. A recent Naxos release(2009) of Hoiby songs with the composer at the piano won critical praise in the press. Recent engagements have included appearances in the 2009/10 Madison Opera season as Mrs. Grose in The Turn of the Screw and as Mary in The Flying Dutchman. In the 2010/11 season Julia will play Mrs. Hayes in Susannah in Bilbao, Spain. She will also be soprano soloist with the Madison Symphony for Mahler’s 2nd Symphony. Since the fall of 2003 Julia Faulkner has been a Professor of Voice at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she has established an international reputation as a voice teacher. Her students are singing world- wide in major houses such as the Met, Chicago Lyric, Bavarian State and La Scala. In 2009 she appeared in the feature length documentary The Audition, which starred one of her students. The film won critical praise and was shown in movie theatres world-wide on the Met Live in HD series. Robert Schleifer (Man) has appeared nationwide in many prominent theatre productions, including the recent Broadway National Tour of the Deaf West - co production of Big River. Mr. Schleifer is currently working with the National Televison’s Green Screen Adventures. His Chicago credits include seven seasons with the famed Goodman Theatre as Mr. Adams and the Ghost of Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol and appearance in a signed performance of The Diary of
Anne Frank and Endgame at Steppenwolf Theatre. Robert’s performance as Ariel in The Tempest (Milwaukee Shakespeare Company), Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing (Amaryllis Theatre in PA), Hamlet in Hamlet’s Dreams and Stage Manager in Our Town (Bailiwick Rep) were received with great acclaim. Robert was honored with the After Dark Outstanding Performance Award for the role of Stinger in Police Deaf Near Far (Stage Left Theatre) and Holy Ghost in the Jeff Award-winning musical Pope Joan. He has had the privilege of teaching his classes and workshops all over the world including several renowned Opera Programs in Austria and Italy. US presentations include programs at Purdue University, University of Wisconsin at Madison, Northwestern University, ACT ONE Studio, Columbia College, The Goodman Theatre, Whitney Young High School, North Carolina School for the Deaf, Chicago International Film Festival, and University of Chicago. Mr. Schleifer was educated at R.I.T and University of Rochester. His website is www.ActZone.org.
Artistic/Production Staff Kelly J. G. Bremner (Director) is a freelance director and performer, particularly in opera and devised performance. Kelly holds advanced degrees in both music and theatre, including a Ph.D. in Theatre from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and her performance training includes traditional and experimental theatre techniques. Recent directorial credits include Labute’s The Shape of Things, Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel in Edgerton, WI, Sophocles’s Electra for Pauline Oliveros’s Deep Listening Space in New York and the world premiere of her very talented husband’s opera, Scott Gendel’s Iphigenia at Aulis in Madison, WI. She has worked as an Assistant Director at the University Opera in Madison, and at Opera North in New Hampshire. She regularly assists for the Madison Opera as well. Recent devising credits include being a member of Richard Gough’s devising team for his performance of The Last Supper with the Arts Institute in Madison, The Fruit of All Evil for the University Theatre’s Open Stage program, and Greek to Me: A Choral Extravaganza of Mythic Proportions for the Madison Youth Choirs, where she staged close to 300 children in a devised performance. She is currently a professor of Directing at Emory University Theatre 7
W H O ’ S W H O ( c o n t .)
Opera for the Young’s
the pirates of penzance Friday, October 29 at 2PM Madison Children’s Museum 100 North Hamilton Street
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and Henry College in Emory, VA, and mother to two little girls, Lotte, age 2 1/2 and Twyla, age 4 months. Thanks to Scott for his endless support, and Nick for the amazing script, but mostly to Julia and Robert for believing in her enough to trust her with such an amazing project. Nick Lantz (Playwright) is the author of two award-winning books of poetry: We Don’t Know We Don’t Know and The Lightning That Strikes the Neighbors’ House. His work has been published in several literary magazines and journals, including Gulf Coast, Prairie Schooner, and Southern Review, and his poetry has also been featured by Garrison Keillor on The Writer’s Almanac. He was a 2007-2008 Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, and he is the current Emerging Writer Lecturer at Gettysburg College. Scott Gendel (Music Director/ Composer) is a freelance composer and arranger, professional vocal coach and accompanist, composition teacher, and music director for theatrical productions. His compositions have a wide-ranging scope, but Scott is particularly fond of all things vocal, having written twelve song cycles, thirteen stand-alone songs and duets, three pieces for voices and orchestra, eighteen choral works, and two operas. In 2005, Scott was awarded first prize in the ASCAP / Lotte Lehmann Foundation Song Cycle Competition, a juried national award in its inaugural year. That same year, he received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Composition from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with a minor in Opera Accompanying and Vocal Coaching. Scott is Composer-In-Residence with the Madison Festival Choir for their 20092010 concert season, and will continue that position next year. His composition teachers have included Stephen Dembski, Daron Hagen, and Joan Tower. Scott has received commissions from the Hobart and William Smith Colleges Cantori, soprano Claudia Waite, the University of Wisconsin-Madison choral department, and numerous other performers and grant organizations. As a collaborative pianist, he is the official accompanist of Madison Opera, and has performed a wide range of repertoire, including acting as featured soloist in Stravinsky’s Petrouchka with the UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra.
W H O ’ S W H O ( c o n t .) Anthony DiSanza (Musician), a recognized international performer and educator, has performed, presented master classes, and held residencies in North America, Europe and Asia. He has appeared as a visiting artist at over 45 colleges, universities and conservatories, and has performed as soloist and chamber musician in some of the world’s most important concert halls. Active in a wide variety of Western and non-Western percussive areas, he can be heard on numerous CD recordings with various artists and ensembles, including; Sole Nero-Piano and Percussion Duo, Linda Maxey and the Galaxy Percussion Group, The Wisconsin Brass Quintet, Keiko Abe and the Michigan Chamber Players, the Brass Band of Battle Creek and the Reptile Palace Orchestra. Anthony will soon release his first solo CD, which features works for multiple percussion, marimba and darabukka, on the Equilibrium label. Anthony earned the Bachelor of Music Education degree from Youngstown State University, and holds the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in percussion performance from the University of Michigan. Anthony has compositions published by HoneyRock and Alfred, and his handbook Improvisational Practice Techniques is published by RGM. Currently Associate Professor of Percussion at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Anthony was a recipient of the prestigious Emily Mead Baldwin Award in the Creative Arts in 2010. Jessica Johnson (Musician) serves on the piano faculty at the University of WisconsinMadison as Associate Professor of Piano and Director of Graduate Studies in Piano Pedagogy. In 2006, she was the recipient of UW-Madison’s prestigious Emil Steiger Distinguished Teaching Award for excellence in teaching. Johnson has formerly been on the faculties of Augustana College (Illinois), Sterling College, and the Ann Arbor School for the Performing Arts. In addition to her love for the standard keyboard repertoire, Johnson frequently commissions and programs contemporary solo and chamber works. Recent performances include Hunter Johnson’s Piano Sonata, Frederic Rzewski’s monumental The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, and William Albright’s Five Chromatic Dances. She regularly performs with Sole Nero, a piano and percussion duo with Anthony Di Sanza, percussion. In an effort to contribute to the repertoire of this
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W H O ’ S W H O ( c o n t .) diverse medium, the duo has engaged in an extensive commissioning project resulting in many new works by composers such as Dave Hollinden, Joel Naumann, Joseph Koykkar, Serra Hwang, Les Thimmig and Laura Schwendinger. In 2004, the duo released its first compact disc recording on the Equilibrium label titled Music per Due. Recent performance venues include the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the Society of Composers National Conference, the MTNA National Conference and multiple performances in the U.S. and China. An active clinician, she has given workshops and presentations at the European Piano Teachers Association International Conference (Prague, Portugal and Serbia), the International Society for Music Education (Bologna), the World Piano Pedagogy Conference, five featured presentations at MTNA National Conferences, as well as held residencies at major universities and colleges throughout the United States, and in Canada and China. Johnson has articles published in American Music Teacher, Piano Journal of the European Piano Teachers
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Association, Keyboard Companion, Piano Pedagogy Forum and Piano Adventures Teacher Newsletter. In 2007, she was the recipient of the AMT’s National Article of the Year Award for “The Art of Listening with Depth, Understanding, Flow and Imagery.” A devoted teacher, Johnson’s students have secured teaching positions in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia. She serves as Director of “Piano Pioneers,” a program which brings high quality piano instruction to low-income community members. In 2009, she was the recipient of the Ira and Ineva Reilly Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment in order to continue to extend this arts outreach program to high-risk youth in Wisconsin. Johnson received the MM in Piano Performance and DMA in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Michigan, where she was the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships, including the “Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award” and a graduate merit fellowship. She holds the BM in Piano Performance, magna cum laude, from East Carolina University. Her principal teachers include Arthur Greene, Charles Fisher, Donna
W H O ’ S W H O ( c o n t .) Coleman, Paul Tardif and piano pedagogy studies with Joanne Smith and Kerry Carlin. Kristin Hunt (Scenic Designer/ Dramaturg) teaches for the Department of Theatre and Drama as well as the Integrated Liberal Studies Program at the UW-Madison. In addition to scholarly research, she has worked in scenic design for over a decade, focusing mainly on classic plays including Shakespeare’s Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Ibsen’s Lady from the Sea (featured at the Prague Quadrennial Exhibition in 1999), and Sophocles’s Electra. Her recent design work has been focused on new performance, including composer Scott Gendel’s Iphigenia at Aulis. Kristin’s dramaturgical credits include John Barton’s The Greeks, Anouilh’s Antigone, and Hamlet, among others. She recently explored her interest in the intersections between performance, pedagogy, and research in Experimental Performance Lab, a program in devised and experimental performance in the UW-Madison Department of Theatre and Drama.
Jim Greco (Costume Designer) has been working as the costume studio supervisor at the UW-Madison since the fall of 2001. His design work includes The Taffetas, The Mikado,The House I Call Love, The Woman in Black and I Do! I Do! for University Theatre, The Rocky Horror Show, Abundance and Orpheus Descending for the University of AlabamaTuscaloosa, Shirley Valentine for Indian Rep., Road to Mecca, Steel Magnolias, Painting Churches and a number of others at Alabama Shakespeare Festival. He has draped for a number of theatres including The Madison Repertory Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Hartford Stage, Opera Theatre of St. Louis and others. He has managed the costume shops for ASF, Indiana Rep., The Berkshire Theatre Festival, University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa, and GeVa Theatre. At the UW he teaches Fundamentals of, and Advance Techniques of, costume technology, including sewing, pattern making, crafts and make up. Chelsie McPhilimy (Lighting Designer) is pleased to be working with such a talented cast and crew on Across a Distance. Cur-
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W H O ’ S W H O ( c o n t .) rently an undergraduate lighting student at UW-Madison, she was recently assistant lighting designer for University Theatre’s Lady from the Sea, and has also designed for Madison Theatre Guild’s productions of Tarantara! Tarantara! and The Seahorse. She would like to thank her mother for her continuous and loving support. Walter Claassen (Technical Director) Walter Claassen is a third year MFA candidate in technical direction and plans to graduate in May. He is thrilled to have had the great pleasure of working on this production with a wonderfully talented cast, crew, and production team. Walt got his BA in theatre from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. His previous credits include Technical Director for Othello with Fairbanks Shakespeare Theatre, University Theatre’s productions of Into the Woods and Falling Girls, as well as automation design for 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Blood Wedding, and the upcoming production of Rocky Horror Picture Show. Walt would like to thank Alex Nelson, Morgan Boland, Christina Keryczynskyj, Katy Lai, Chuck Mitchell, and Dan Lisowski, as well as his family and friends for their contributions and support. Hope Tyson (Stage Manager) is a junior at UW and thrilled to be stage manager for
Across a Distance, her first show with University Theater. Previous productions include Into the Woods (ASM), The Imaginary Invalid (ASM), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (ASM). She would like to thank her mama and daddy for their love and Nicole and Marian for their help and support. Megwyn Sanders-Andrews (Assistant Director) is a second year PhD student in Theatre Research at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Megwyn obtained her M.A. in Performance Studies at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. Prior to her arrival at UW, she served as the Artistic Director of the Kaleidoscope Theatre Company, an arts program for/by/ with adults with multiple/developmental disabilities. Megwyn’s research interests center around “theatre in communities” and include applied theatre, post-colonial theatre and disability studies. Jenny Buechner hails from Madison, WI. She currently works for Hamilton Relay as a Product Manager, and volunteers within the deaf community through various organizations including the National Association of the Deaf. Jenny is also the president of the Wisconsin Association of the Deaf. She is grateful for the opportunity to be a part of Across a Distance by moderating the panel discussion.
U N I V E R S I T Y T H E AT R E S TA F F Director of University Theatre...................................................................................David Furumoto General Manager.......................................................................................................... Michele Traband Production Manager........................................................................................................ David Stewart UT Technical Director......................................................................................................... Dan Lisowski Scene Studio Supervisor................................................................................................Chuck Mitchell Costume Studio Supervisor....................................................................................................Jim Greco Electrics and Sound Studio Supervisor....................................................................... Casey Martin UT Office Manager..........................................................................................................Cindy Schkirkie House Managers............................Mary McAvoy, Carol Carlson, Erin Hood, Liz Foster-Shaner PR/Marketing Assistant.................................................................................................. Molly Richards Literary Manager............................................................................................................ Sandy Peterson Scene Shop Assistants.....................................................................Walter Claassen, Cynthia Dean, Katy Lai, Michael Maloney, Cole Muth, Allyn Weber, Jennifer Reider Lighting Assistants......................................................................................... Katie Kudrick, Erik Barry, Jonathan de Leon, Brandi Mitchell Costume Assistants...................................................................................................................Katie Gray, Sarah Woodworth, Emily Smith 12 University Theatre
DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE & DRAMA FACULTY, ACADEMIC AND CLASSIFIED STAFFS
Department Chair.............................................................................................. Ann M. Archbold Acting/Directing Faculty/Staff.......................................Patricia Boyette, David Furumoto, Norma Saldivar, Patrick Sims, Susan Sweeney Design/Technical Faculty/Staff...........................................Ann M. Archbold, Gail Brassard, Jim Greco, Dan Lisowski, Casey Martin, Chuck Mitchell, David Stewart, Joe Varga Theatre Research Faculty/Staff...............................................................Aparna Dharwadker, Kristin Hunt, Michael Peterson, Mary Trotter, Michael Vanden Heuvel, Manon van de Water Theatre for Youth Director...................................................................... Manon van de Water Theatre for Cultural and Social Awareness Director........................................Patrick Sims Department Administrator..............................................................................Melinda Menard Departmental Office Staff....................................................... Brooke Seeliger, Jean Hauser, Brenda Weiss
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F R I E N D S O F U N I V E R S I T Y T H E AT R E The FRIENDS of UT is a group of individuals that serves as a support organization for UW Madisonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s University Theatre, providing members with opportunities to connect with and offer support for student actors, dramaturgs, directors, and designers involved in University Theatre productions. FRIENDS of UT plan and host receptions prior to productions, enjoy exceptional performances together, and work to encourage broader awareness and appreciation of the UW Department of Theatre and Drama throughout the community. Funds raised by FRIENDS of UT will provide much needed production support, including technical enhancements such as state-of-the-art equipment upgrades, as well as special guest artist residencies that will support the training of our students. In the past, Friends of UT have enjoyed invitations to a special post-performance reception with Olympia Dukakis as well as a pre-performance discussion with show directors. They sponsored a visit with Anthony Rapp (from the original Broadway cast of RENT). Funds raised were used to support a Suzuki acting workshop with Brandeis Professor Eric Hill and several guest sound designers. This fall, the group will sponsor a day trip for FUT members and students to Ten Chimneys in Genesee Depot, WI. We are proud to share the names of the FRIENDS of UT with you throughout this season.
FRIEND ($50-$249) Roger & Elizabeth Gray Heather & Samuel Murn Jeanne Whitish Guy Plunkett III & Joanne Harper Plunkett Louis & Julie Swedarsky Hal & Shirley Winsborough Susan Cook & Roger Pierson Dr. Jay & Sabrina Gold Shawn & George Klasek Bonnie D. Lewis Eric Mueller & Torrie Kopp Mueller David & Jodie Rohrer Gerald & Vicki Stewart Katherine & Bailey Walsh John & Nancy Webster William & Sharon Koenen Maureen Skelton
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Prof Barbara Buenger Peter & Donna Napoleone Norlin & Cynthia Benevenga David & Shirley Susan Laura & Barry Burden Joe & Jeanne Silverberg Tim & Rhonda Current ANGEL ($250 +) Shana Lewis & Robert Magasano Dennis Dorn Howard & Ellen Louise Schwartz Merry Anderson Tim & Pat Size Jon Sorenson CORPORATE ($250 +) Lathrop and Clark
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE DEPARTM ENT OF THE ATR E AN D DR A M A (from January 1 to August 23, 2010) $1,000+ Evjue Foundation Inc. Jonathan B. and Susan Lipp Timothy K. and Patricia B. Size $250-999 Russell Howes Patricia Kugler Whitely Robert D. Magasano and Shana R. Lewis $100-249 Patricia J. Boyette Daniel P. Boylen Barbara C. Buenger Dennis L. and Katherine A. Dorn Melissa J. Friesen Julie M. Johnson Eric D. Loring John E. Reilly, Jr. David M. Shaw Susan R. Sweeney Joseph Varga Milan Zivanovic $1-99 Ann M. Archbold William P. and Martha K. Barlow Steven D. Burch
Katherine M. Charron Peter M. Cole Chris M. and Joan M. Collins Pamela S. Decker-Nelson Mariam A. Duckwall David H. Fennema David J. Furumoto Roger E. and Elizabeth E. Gray John M. Gulley Jessica Holmes Virginia A. Hostetter Tamara S. M. Kaplan Marna J. King Bonnie D. Lewis Kimberley B. Marra Charles W. Mc Graw Samuel and Heather L. Murn James W. Neely, Jr. Sue A. Nilsson Joohee Park Guy D., III and Joanne H. Plunkett Sybil C. Robinson Judith R. Shuler Robert and Joann Skloot C. John and Barbara R. Tolch Michael J. and Tracy L. Vanden Heuvel Allen and Brenda Weiss Jeanne H. Whitish Mary T. Zellmer
H OW TO C O N T R I B U T E There are many ways to contribute to the Department of Theater and Drama, including:
• Gifts of appreciated securities, personal property, and real estate • Deferred gifts such as bequests, trusts, and life income agreements • Permanently endowed scholarships, fellowships, and professorships named for a relative or friend
For more information about all giving opportunities, please call Jon E. Sorenson at the UW Foundation, (800) 443-6162 or (608) 262-7211. Please make your check payable to University of Wisconsin Foundation and mail to University of Wisconsin Foundation, US Bank Lockbox, PO Box 78807, Milwaukee, WI 53278-0807. Indicate that your contribution should be credited to the Department of Theater and Drama.
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F O R YO U R I N F O R M AT I O N Cameras and Recorders: No photographs or recordings may be made during the performance. Restrooms: Restrooms and drinking fountains for patron use are located in the lower level of the theatre lobby. Wheelchair accessible facilities are available on the lobby level. Please use lower level facilities unless special needs dictate otherwise. Emergency Calls: Doctors and parents are asked to leave the campus security phone number, 264-2677, with their service or sitter. Please inform the house manager of your seat location if the possibility of a call exists. In order not to disturb other patrons, please turn off all paging devices, cell phones and watch alarms. Latecomers: Performances begin promptly. Latecomers will be seated only at a suitable break, which in some cases may not be until intermission. Exchanges and Refunds: No refunds are given, but exchanges may be made up to 24 hours prior to the ticketed performance date when tickets are available. Patrons who cannot use their tickets are asked to contact the Vilas Hall Box Office 24 hours in advance of the performance. Postdated tickets have no value and cannot be exchanged. Unused tickets can be donated to the theatre for resale, the proceeds of which will go to improvements of the theatre. Ticketing: Any person entering the theatre must have a ticket. Babes in arms will not be admitted. UT discourages bringing small children to the theatre except when the production is specifically for young audiences. Accessibility: University Theatre can accommodate your special needs. Call 265-2787 for information regarding wheelchair accessibility and hearing-assist systems. Parking: Parking passes are available for purchase by arts patrons in UW owned parking lots close to venues. Call Campus Arts Ticketing at 265-2787 for more information. Tours: Tours of the University Theatre facilities are available for interested parties. Requests for such can be made during office hours at 262-6551.
University Opera William Farlow, director James Smith, conductor 2010‐11 Season Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi (Puccini) October 29 & 31, November 2 The Consul (MenoG) April 15, 17 & 19
Carol Rennebohm Auditorium, Music Hall
Tickets: (608) 265‐ARTS music.wisc.edu 16 University Theatre