Extraordinary Chambers Program by Geffen Playhouse

MAGAZINE

THE AUDREY SKIRBALL KENIS THEATER AT THE GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE

extraordinary chambers

From the Producing Director

WELCOME TO THE GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE It is with great pride that we welcome you to this world premiere play, Extraordinary Chambers. A play born out of a writer’s experience as a foreigner in Cambodia, this piece elegantly examines what it means to survive the destruction of one’s own people, and how we, as Americans, name and judge these events. Further though, this play delicately balances a global perspective and a personal one — it is neither a condemnation nor an acceptance of the events contained within it, but rather a striking story of how the loss of one’s national identity and personal identity are inextricably linked. We are pleased to welcome playwright David Wiener who is joined by Geffen alum Pam MacKinnon as director. Together they have navigated this piece, seamlessly traversing time and place as the characters are brought to judgment in the present for the crimes of the past. To help stage this play in our intimate Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater, set designer Myung Hee Cho, lighting designer Lap Chi Chu, sound designer Vincent Olivieri, costume designer Alex Jaeger and projection designer Hana Sooyeon Kim have worked with MacKinnon and Wiener to realize the Cambodia of today, a country that straddles old world ideals and a global presence in the marketplace. It seems appropriate to be at work on this play while the Khmer Rouge have been in the news and the indictments against them have started to materialize. Although it is safe to say that the punishments will never fit the crimes committed against the people of Cambodia, I believe this play is a testament to the fact that atrocities that occur in the world will be brought to light, and the stories of those who suffer will be told through art, through literature and ultimately through drama. It is what serious theater strives to do, and we are glad that you are here to participate in the retelling. See you at the theater,

Gilbert Cates

Producing Director

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FROM THE CHAIRMAN FRANK G. MANCUSO

It is my pleasure to welcome you to Extraordinary Chambers.

This season, we’ve enjoyed great works in our unique Audrey Skriball Kenis Theater from Love, Loss and What I Wore to In Mother Words and now Extraordinary Chambers. Next season promises to bring great new works to this space, so stay tuned.

I am incredibly proud of the great work we do, not just on our stages but in the community as well. Did you know that this past year, thanks to the outstanding support of our subscribers, donors and sponsors: • 8,251 youth and adults were served through our School Tours Program, which targets underserved students in public schools that have little or no arts funding/programs. • 2,540 people benefited from our CREATE program, which provides a season-long exploration and analysis of live theater for those who might not otherwise have the opportunity to experience theater. • 462 youth, young adults and teachers were given free tickets and transportation to see Thurgood. We targeted Title 1, low-performing high schools and disadvantaged youth served through non-profit organizations. • 3,500 were served through Talk Back Tuesdays, which gives audience members the opportunity to learn more about the playwright, actors and production through a Q&A session. • 400 tickets were donated to non-profit organizations to support their mission, programs and fundraising efforts. • In all, over 19,000 underserved students, seniors and veterans were inspired by the work on our stage through our education programs in our 2009-2010 season. Please help us spread the word. It is only with your involvement and generosity that we can continue to strengthen and grow our programs. Thank you for your continued support in helping us to provide hope and inspiration to those who need it most. Now sit back, relax and enjoy Extraordinary Chambers. Respectfully yours,

Frank G. Mancuso Chairman, Geffen Playhouse

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Frank G. Mancuso Chairman Gilbert Cates President Patricia Kiernan Applegate Randall Arney Gene Block Harold A. Brown Suzanne Deal Booth † Mary Ann Cloyd Kirsten Combs Robert A. Daly † Dennis Doty John Ebey P2 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINe

Mark Fleischer David Geffen † Herbert M. Gelfand

Chairman Emeritus

Patricia L. Glaser Adi Greenberg Arthur Greenberg Martha Henderson Pamela Robinson Hollander Quincy Jones † Joan Kaloustian Jeffrey Katzenberg † Glorya Kaufman Michael B. Kong Dr. Gerald S. Levey carla malden

Karl Malden †* Susan Mallory Ginny Mancini Susanna Midnight Ron Meyer † Leslie Moonves † Jerry Moss † Ken Novice Steven A. Olsen Jerry Perenchio † Bruce M. Ramer †

Richard Sherman Victoria Mann Simms † Andy Spahn Fred Specktor Steven Spielberg † Cynthia P. Stafford Howard Tenenbaum Steve Tisch † Dr. Charles E. Young

Founding Chairman

David Goldberg

Lawrence Ramer Loren Rothschild Linda Bernstein Rubin Teri Schwartz

LEGAL COUNSEL, LATHAM & WATKINS LLP

† Trustee * in memoriam

Chairman Emeritus

Our Deepest Appreciation To ClearEdge Power ClearEdge Power and the Geffen Playhouse:

Partnering to fuel great performances by creating clean energy onsite. Geffen Playhouse acknowledges the tremendous support of ClearEdge Power. Thanks to ClearEdge Power, the Geffen Playhouse has taken a big, green step towards reducing its impact on the environment by generating 5kWs of its own clean energy onsite. By generously donating and installing a ClearEdge5 fuel cell energy system at the Geffen Playhouse, ClearEdge Power is helping this historic building and theater cut our carbon emissions by 1/3 and reduce our cost of energy. Â Using natural gas to cleanly generate electricity instead of grid-only power, the ClearEdge5 is lending a hand to keep the house lights shining. Find out how you, too, can take advantage of these environmental benefits at www.clearedgepower.com. ClearEdge Power is offering a special discount for Geffen Playhouse subscribers, donors and single ticket buyers. See details below.* Please join us in thanking ClearEdge Power for all that they do to support the arts, and the environment.

*For more details on this offer, please contact Regina Miller at ReginaM@geffenplayhouse.com or call 310.208.6500 x 112. Offer valid on signed ClearEdge5 purchase contracts dated on or before Sept 1, 2011.

tackling trauma Photo by Chris Bennion

BY AMY LEVINSON

Portia and Quincy Tyler Bernstine in Ruined.

how playwrights wrestle with unimaginable tragedy Many years ago the Geffen Playhouse produced the play Wit by Margaret Edson. The play, about a college professor who discovers that she has fourth stage metastatic ovarian cancer, had won the Pulitzer Prize and had a successful run in New York, and still, there were inevitable conversations about how we promote a play in which the central plot includes the protagonist dying of cancer. Knowing the New York accolades would not be enough, how could we convince an audience to attend and then recommend this compelling new work to friends and family? The truth is, Wit is not a play about cancer, but rather a play about a woman who looking back on her life realizes that she used her intellect to keep people at a distance. Suddenly facing mortality, she allows herself to create bonds with unlikely companions and teaches us all a lesson of living from the heart as opposed to the mind. P4 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINe

In Ruined, Lynn Nottage’s play that takes place in the Democratic Republic of Congo, audiences were once again brought into a world of unimaginable pain. The piece revolves around a group of young female prostitutes scrambling as best they can to maintain some semblance of their bodies and spirits which have been brutally raped as a weapon of civil war. Amazingly, what emerges in Ruined is a tribute to a group of women with indomitable spirits who glean hope from hopelessness and move to restore their lives where nothing can seem to flourish. This brings us to Extraordinary Chambers, a world premiere play by David Wiener. The title of the play is in reference to the court that was built in Cambodia to try members of the Khmer Rouge, the communist regime who overthrew the existing government and slaughteed 1.7 million men, women and children between the years of 1975 and 1979. In its simplest terms, this play is about an American couple who travel to Cambodia on business and come face to face with the nightmare that transpired in that beautiful country. They are forced to consider that the people with whom they are doing business

extraordinary chambers

are not completely without guilt in these war crimes and, as the play progresses, decisions must be made about who will be sacrificed and who will be saved. But like Ruined and Wit, Extraordinary Chambers is a story inhabited by survivors, rather than victims. Many of these survivors live with the guilt of having outlived their loved ones, but mostly, the survival instinct seems to endure long passed the end of the regime, and each of these characters is still whiteknuckling to stay afloat. In each of these examples, the point of view of the central characters is one of endurance. This may be the very key to how we as an audience can allow for the re-creation of these unimaginable traumas on stage. If we hold to the idea that theater’s first job is to entertain, how do we stick to that when dealing with cancer, rape and genocide? When asked, David Wiener says of the difficulty of tackling his subject, I can’t speak for other writers, but I know for me it’s difficult to approach genocide from an intellectual perspective. There’s certainly a temptation to try to explain these sorts of catastrophes through the application of political, sociological or economic models. And maybe that’s possible from a certain distance. But I think the real problem with that is that with violence of this scale, of this duration, of this complexity, any attempt to apply the logic of cause and effect collides with the awful fact that human beings did these things to other human beings, to their countrymen, their friends. The violence that took place in Cambodia was intimate. Even now, it’s very hard to distinguish the perpetrators from the victims. It’s a hard thing to try to understand intellectually. It’s overwhelming to process emotionally. And maybe that’s why we write plays about it. A play is personal. It provides a lens through which we can begin to approach these overwhelming events, not from the intellectual macro-perspective, but rather, from a place of empathy — from the focused intimacy of another human’s emotional need.

In not making the plays about the events, but rather having these events occur within the world of the play, writers bring to light events that might not otherwise have been examined — tragedies that are still occurring all over the world. But none of the playwrights examined seem to have wanted to dictate an audience’s reaction. If a play does its job, we are connecting to the characters and not to the political point of view. And ultimately, that is theater’s greatest triumph: to elicit a response that leaves the audience thinking about and discussing what they have just seen. In this, the audience is at once entertained and in some way enlightened. Wit served as a reminder to live life in a community as opposed to simply living a life of the mind; Ruined puts forth that even the worst of human suffering cannot destroy the human spirit; and Extraordinary Chambers examines how living within a culture of violence begets more violence, and how we judge those who do what they must to survive. Serious theatergoers have high expectations. We want to walk away from a play having been changed or at least questioned in some significant way. It is hard to say whether this is based on the live interaction of theater, its ephemeral quality or simply the fact that it has a certain reputation for being an art form that challenges its audience. With this said, we never want the art to be pedantic or preachy, so it is a difficult balance to strike. In the cases of these plays, and so many others too numerous to name, I believe these expectations are being met. Because the Extraordinary Chambers in the courts of Cambodia and the cases they are housing deal with a genocide of which many Americans may only be peripherally aware, Wiener bears the difficult job of explaining the inexplicable while trying to tell a story. The elegance with which this is handled is tantamount to the success of the play because the moment the audience is alienated by violence, the story cannot reach them. Wiener chooses one story to tell that serves as an example of millions – and in the end, isn’t that what every play strives to be: a mirror of our lives told from a different perspective? Hear more from playwright David Wiener and cast members at geffenplayhouse.com/chambers PErFORMANCEs MAGAZINE P5

Gilbert Cates PRODUCING DIRECTOR

Randall Arney ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Ken Novice MANAGING DIRECTOR

THE GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE presents

Written by

David Wiener Set Design

Costume Design

Myung Hee Cho Lighting Design

Alexander Jaeger Sound Design

Lap Chi Chu

Vincent Olivieri

Projection Design

Hana Sooyeon Kim

Production Stage Manager

Young Ji

Dramaturg

Amy Levinson

Casting Director

Phyllis Schuringa

Directed by

Pam MacKinnon

Opening Night: June 1, 2011 O P ENING NIGHT S P ONSORED BY :

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extraordinary chambers

cast of characters (In alphabetical order)

Dr. Heng....................................................................................................................... Francois Chau Rom Chang................................................................................................................. Kimiko Gelman Mara.............................................................................................................................. Marin Hinkle Sopoan......................................................................................................................... Greg Watanabe Carter........................................................................................................................... Mather Zickel

Time

December, 2008

place

Phnom Penh

Running Time

Approximately 2 hours There will be one intermission

The Geffen Playhouse gratefully acknowledges the following media sponsor for their generous support of Extraordinary Chambers.

The Geffen Playhouse is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission. This project was also funded in part by the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles. The Geffen Playhouse, a non-profit theater company, is proudly affiliated with the University of California at Los Angeles.

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WHO’S WHO IN THE CAST ABOUT THE PLAYERS

Francois Chau (Dr. Heng) Born in Phnom Penh, Francois Chau is a Cambodian-American actor who has worked extensively in theater, film, and television. Although he started his career as a professional actor in theater, he is currently best known as “Dr. Pierre Chang” in ABC’s groundbreaking television series, LOST. His other television credits include Chuck, The Chicago Code, Grey’s Anatomy, Medium, 24, Numbers, Jag, Gary Unmarried, Alias, Wild Palms, Stargate SG-1, MacGyver, China Beach and Hill Street Blues. His numerous film credits include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II, The Iron Triangle, Rapid Fire, City of Industry, Point of No Return, The Lodger, Lethal Weapon 4, What’s Cooking directed by Gurinder Chadha and Rescue Dawn directed by Werner Herzog. He has also continued to work in theater and his credits include In Perpetuity Throughout the Universe (Berkeley Rep), The Caretaker (San Jose Rep), The Survivor: A Cambodian Odyssey (Merrimack Rep), The Woman Warrior (Ahmanson/Doolittle), The Ballad of Yachiyo (The Public Theatre/ NYC), The L.A. Plays (The Almeida Theatre/London) and Art (East West Players).

Kimiko Gelman (Rom Chang) Gelman most recently played Meg in Crimes of the Heart at East West Players. Other theater credits include Proof, Cabaret, P8 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINe

Into the Woods, Beijing Spring, Sweeney Todd, Songs of Harmony (East West Players), Winchester House (Boston Court Theater), Desire Under the Elms (San Jose Repertory Theatre), Redwood Curtain (Seattle Repertory and Philadelphia Drama Guild), Tea (Odyssey Theatre Ensemble and CCAP) Othello (New Mexico Repertory Theatre). Film and Television credits include AI, Minority Report, Mother, Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss, The Pickle, CSI Miami, For the People, The Division, The Closer, Chicago Hope, Beverly Hills 90210, Providence, West Wing and Rose in Rags to Riches.

Marin Hinkle (Mara) Ms. Hinkle is thrilled to return to the Geffen, where past credits include Rose and Walsh and Rabbit Hole. Broadway credits include Electra, A Thousand Clowns and The Tempest. Off Broadway credits include Graceland at Lincoln Center’s LCT3, The Dybbuk (Public Theater), Miss Julie (Rattlestick), Blue Window (Barrow Group), Sabina (Primary Stages) and The Changeling (TFNA) among others. Ms. Hinkle has also performed in numerous plays at South Coast Rep, including Circle Mirror Transformation, Our Mother’s Brief Affair (directed by Pam MacKinnon) and What They Have. Other regional theater credits include Romeo and Juliet, Uncle Vanya, Ghosts, Heartbreak House, God of Vengeance, Evolution, and As You Like It. Ms. Hinkle played Judith for the past eight seasons on Two and a Half Men. Other television credits include three seasons as Judy on Once and Again, and guest starring roles on Brothers and Sisters, Private Practice, House, ER, Without a Trace, and Law and Order. Film credits include Weather Girl, Friends with Money, What Just Happened?, Quarantine, I Am Sam and the upcoming My Eleventh.

again with Pam MacKinnon. Since then, Mather has appeared in a wide variety of film and television roles. Some of his favorites are Kieran in Rachel Getting Married (Sony Classic) and District Attorney Mike Powers in Reno: 911! (Comedy Central). He can be seen currently on Adult Swim’s Delocated, and searching for property in the greater L.A. area. Greg Watanabe (Sopoan) Greg’s theater credits include the world premiere productions of The Ballad of Yachiyo (Berkeley Rep, Seattle Rep, Public Theater-NYSF), Butcher’s Burden (Asian American Theater Company), The Summer Moon (A Contemporary Theater, South Coast Rep), 10,000 Years (written and produced by John Ridley), No-No Boy (adapted by Ken Narasaki), and The Happy Ones (South Coast Rep) for which he was nominated for an L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Performance. Recently, he appeared as DHH in Yellow Face at Moolelo Theater Company, for which he was nominated for a San Diego Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Lead Performance. His television credits include Off Limits (UPN, pilot, 6 episodes), Watch Over Me (MyNetworkTV, 23 episodes), Curb Your Enthusiasm, Reno 911!, Criminal Minds. Film appearances include Only The Brave, Americanese, and Life Tastes Good.

Mather Zickel (Carter) Mather Zickel hails from New York City where he studied acting at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and The Shakespeare Lab at the Public Theatre. He spent fifteen years performing in many New York experimental venues, working with some of America’s most creative young playwrights such as Sarah Ruhl, Gina Gionfriddo, and Adam Bock. He is pleased to be working once

DAVID WIENER (Playwright) David Wiener’s playwriting credits include, Guts, La Arana, Love Song (of the Apocalypse), Blood Orange, in vitro, Huera, Cassiopeia, and System Wonderland. His latest play, Extraordinary Chambers, is the recipient of the 2010 ACT New Play Award. Mr. Wiener’s work has been developed and produced in the United States and the United Kingdom at theaters including: The Cherry Lane, The Blue Heron Arts Center, The Etcetera Theater (UK), HB Studios, ACT, The Atlantic Theater, The New Group, South Coast Repertory, The Berkshire Theater Festival, The Pacific Playwrights Festival, The Ojai Playwrights’ Conference and Soho Rep. Mr. Wiener is the recipient of the Cherry Lane Fellowship, The Rossetti Fellowship, The Lark Fellowship, and The Reynolds Price Award for Drama as well as commissions from Atlantic Theater Company, South Coast Repertory, SoHo Rep, and A Contemporary Theater. Mr. Wiener is a Core Writer of the Playwrights’ Center. He lives in New York City. Pam MacKinnon (Director) Pam is the Obie Award winning director of this year’s Pulitzer Prize winning play Clybourne Park (Playwrights Horizons) by Bruce Norris. She is a long time interpreter of the plays of Edward Albee having directed premieres of Peter and Jerry (Second Stage and Hartford) and Occupant (Signature); A Delicate Balance (Arena), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Steppenwolf, Arena and upcoming Broadway) to name a few. Recent productions include Itamar Moses’ Completeness (South Coast Rep), Rachel Axler’s Smudge (Women’s Project), Cusi Cram’s A Lifetime Burning (Primary Stages), Itamar Moses’ The Four of Us (Manhattan Theatre Club and Old Globe) and Arthur Miller’s

extraordinary chambers

WHO’S WHO IN THE CAST ABOUT THE PLAYERS Death of a Salesman (Old Globe). Upcoming projects include the New York premiere of Completeness (Playwrights Horizons) and a world premiere of a new play by Theresa Rebeck (Cincinnati Playhouse). Pam sits on the board of the downtown NY theater Clubbed Thumb, Inc. Myung Hee Cho (Set Designer) is set and costume designer for theater, opera, dance and other special productions. Myung Hee has recently designed set and costume for The Magic Flute at the Canadian Opera Company, Toronto; set design for Futura at the Boston Court; set design for The Good Person of Szechuan at the Landestheater, Linz, Austria. Other design credits include: Back to Bacharach and David, musical event; Awaking for Singapore Theatre Festival; Isle of Dunes for Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company; Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang at the Mark Taper Forum and The Public Theater; The Word Begins at The Signature Theatre, Washington DC; Goldfish by John Kolvenbach, System Wonderland by David Wiener and The Piano Teacher by Julia Cho at South Coast Repertory; Citizen 13559 at the Kennedy Center; Sonia Flew at Laguna Playhouse; The Golden Mickeys for Disney Creative Entertainment/Hong Kong; Le nozze di Figaro at the Chicago Opera Theater; Open Window at Pasadena Playhouse; Flight and Distant Shore at the Center Theatre Group/Kirk Douglas Theatre. Myung Hee designed the celebrated production of WIT and Lackawanna Blues that toured North America. Her designs have been seen at the McCarter Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, Wiltern Theatre, The Apollo Theatre, Madison Square Garden, Classic Stage Company, A.C.T./ SF, Intiman Theatre, The Public Theater, Berkeley Repertory, Union Square Theatre, Manhattan Class Company, Vineyard, Music Theatre Group, East West Players, Singapore Repertory, South Coast Repertory, Women’s Project and Productions, Center Stage, Prince Music Theatre, New York Stage & Film, New York Theatre Workshop, MA-YI Theatre Company, Children’s Theatre Company, Second Stage/NY, Boston Court and many more. Ms. Cho has been

nominated twice for The Hewes Design Awards and recipient of the Princess Grace Award, 1996. She is a professor of stage design at UCLA, School of Theater, Film and Television. Alex Jaeger (Costume Designer) NEW YORK: Two Sisters and a Piano (Public Theatre) REGIONAL: Speed the Plow, Rock N Roll, November, The Homecoming, Once in a Lifetime (ACT in San Francisco) Oedipus El Rey, OR, What We’re Up Against, Mauritius, Goldfish, Mrs. Whitney (The Magic Theatre, San Francisco) Skylight, All My Sons, True West, Nostalgia and others (South Coast Repertory) Romeo and Juliet, Handler, Stop Kiss, Fuddy Meers, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, August:Osage County, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Oregon Shakespeare Festival) Caroline or Change, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Cripple of Inishmaan, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, The History Boys (Studio Theatre, D.C.) OTHER GEFFEN: Third, Mizlanksi/Zilinski, It ‘Aint Nothin’ but the Blues, The Weir (set decoration), Cookin’ at the Cookery (set decoration), Love, Loss and What I Wore (stylist)OTHER: LAThe Paris Letter, Eclipsed (Kirk Douglas Theatre) Romeo and Juliet Antebellum New Orleans, Light, Gilgamesh, Gulls (The Theatre @ Boston Court) Doubt, Tally’s Folly, Looped (Pasadena Playhouse) South Pacific, The Sound of Music, Beethoven Spectacular (Hollywood Bowl) City of Angels, Brigadoon, Pippin (Reprise! LA, Broadway’s Best) FILM: Snips and Snails, The Day I Knew I Loved You (Chrysler), A Rainy Day (Universal), Halfway Home, The Midwife’s Tale, Toddler Town, Hollywood NOS Lap Chi Chu (Lighting Designer) At the Geffen: Love, Loss and What I Wore, Wrecks, Fat Pig, Boston Marriage. New York City design credits include The Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Second Stage, Dance Theater Workshop, PS 122, the Kitchen, Danspace, Primary Stages, and Juilliard Opera. Regional designs include the Mark Taper Forum, Geffen Playhouse, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Arena Stage, Hartford Stage, Dallas Theater Center, La Jolla Playhouse, Berkeley Rep, Portland Stage Company,

Shakespeare & Company, Cleveland Play House, the Evidence Room, Virginia Opera, and the Ordway Music Theater. Lap is the lighting designer for Chamecki/Lerner (Visible Content, Hidden Forms, I Mutantes Seras, and Please Don’t Leave Me), performed in the United States and Brazil. He has received multiple Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards, and a “Drammy” Award for Best Lighting. He holds degrees from Northwestern University and New York University. He teaches lighting design at California Institute of the Arts. Vincent Olivieri (Sound Designer) Broadway: High. Off-Broadway: The Water’s Edge, Ominum-Gatherum and Fatal Attraction: A Greek Tragedy. Southern California work includes In A Garden, Emilie, Noises Off, The Heiress, and A Feminine Ending at South Coast Repertory and Clownzilla: A Holiday Extravaganza at Rude Guerrilla. New York & regional: Actors Theatre of Louisville, Barrington Stage Company, Center Stage (Baltimore), Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, The Juilliard School, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Portland Center Stage, The Public (New York), South Coast Repertory, Syracuse Stage, Theatre Novi Most (Minneapolis), Woolly Mammoth, Virginia Stage Company, and Yale Repertory Theatre. Mr. Olivieri has created designs & music for worldpremiere productions by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Kirsten Greenidge, Lauren Gunderson, Howard Korder, Matthew Lombardo, Charles L. Mee, Adam Rapp, Theresa Rebeck, Sarah Treem, and August Wilson. For three seasons, he was the Resident Sound Designer at Actors Theatre of Louisville, where he designed for the Humana Festival of New American Plays. International work includes productions in Italy, China, South Korea, and the Czech Republic. Mr. Olivieri is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and serves on the faculty at University of California-Irvine. Hana Sooyeon Kim (Projection Designer) Hana is an emerging Projection and Set Designer based in Los Angeles. She is currently a student at the University of California, Los Angeles, working towards MFA in Scenic Design. She received a BFA in Visual Communication

Design from Seoul National University in Korea in 2008. During her undergraduate years, she engaged herself in integrating storytelling and graphic design. Her storyboard work for a television advertisement won the Silver Prize in the Cheil Advertisement Competition in 2005. Her interactive story telling book I Found You won the Happiness Prize from KT Design Festival in 2008. From 2007 to 2009, she was also a member of Samsung Design Membership(SDM), where she received the SDM Global Design Project Fellowship.With a unique background in graphic design, she naturally started pursuing a career as a Set and Projection Designer. Recently, she was nominated by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award and LA Weekly Award in the CGI/Video category with her projection design work for Futura, a Theater@Boston Court production in the summer of 2010. She is very excited to work at the Geffen Playhouse again after “How Raven Stole Fire and Other Stories. Young Ji (Production Stage Manager) Geffen Playhouse: In Mother Words, Love Loss & What I Wore, Ricky Jay: A Rogue’s Gallery; Louis & Keely: Live at the Sahara. Center Theatre Group: The Cherry Orchard (Taper); Wrecks, Trial of the Catonsville Nine, Pyrenees, A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, Apollo, Flight, New Works Festival (Kirk Douglas Theatre); Speak to Me (CTG P.L.A.Y. in-school program). Other Los Angeles includes The Antaeus Company: Cousin Bette, King Lear, The Autumn Garden (Producer); La Ronde, The Glass Menagerie (Director); American Tales, Tonight at 8:30, Phaedra (Getty Villa), ClassicsFests 04, 06, 08, 10, Mother Courage and Her Children, Pera Palas, The Dickens Project, Chekhov X 4 (Production Stage Manager). LA Theater Works: Secret Order, Sonia Flew, Work Song; Matrix Theater: Dealing with Clair; Theatre@Boston Court: A Winter People. Tour: Jerry Quickley’s Live from the Front in Finland: Urban Festival, NYC: Public Theater, Apollo Theater, Portland: TBA Festival, Seattle: Bumbershoot Festival, and others; Mariachi Los Camperos De Nati Cano; Fiesta Navidad ’06. Member of the Matrix and the Antaeus Theater Companies. PErFORMANCEs MAGAZINE P9

WHO’S WHO IN THE CAST ABOUT THE PLAYERS Phyllis Schuringa (Casting Director – Los Angeles) Phyllis is in her seventh season as Casting Director at the Geffen Playhouse. Recent plays include: Equivocation, Matthew Modine Saves the Alpacas, Farragut North, The Seafarer, Time Stands Still, By the Waters of Babylon, The Quality of Life and Third. Prior to the Geffen, Phyllis served as casting director for the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago. Her favorites include Frank Galati’s adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath (also La Jolla Playhouse, National Theatre in London, and Broadway, where it received the Tony Award for Best Play), the original production of Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile (and subsequent productions including Westwood Playhouse and Briar Street Theater in Chicago), Austin Pendleton’s Orson’s Shadow and Charles L. Mee’s Time to Burn. Broadway transfers include One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Tony for Best Revival) and The Song of Jacob Zulu. She teaches auditioning at Steppenwolf West. AMY LEVINSON (Dramaturg) Amy Levinson is the Literary Manager and Dramaturg of the Geffen Playhouse. Her dramaturgy credits at the Geffen Playhouse include The Weir, Looking for Normal, Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks, Under The Blue Sky, Rose and Walsh, Boy Gets Girl, I Just Stopped By To See The Man, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Third, The Quality of Life and Equivocation among others. Also a translator of Yiddish drama, she holds an MFA in Dramaturgy from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she taught until 1997. She has worked in literary offices at Hartford Stage and The Mark Taper Forum.

GILBERT CATES (Producing Director) Gilbert Cates is recognized as a leader in television, film and theater. Currently presiding as P10 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINe

the Producing Director of the Geffen Playhouse, he is dedicated to enriching the Los Angeles theatrical spectrum by presenting the finest in contemporary and classical theater. In November 1996, Cates was the recipient of the Jimmy Dolittle Award for Outstanding Contribution to Los Angeles Theater. He received the 1999 Ovation Award for best play for Collected Stories, starring Linda Lavin and Samantha Mathis, which he directed at the Geffen. The accolades for Cates expand into other areas of the entertainment industry. He produced and directed the 1970 film version of the Broadway hit I Never Sang for My Father, starring Melvyn Douglas, Gene Hackman and Estelle Parsons. The movie earned three Academy Award nominations. Cates also directed Joanne Woodward and Sylvia Sidney in the 1973 film Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams, which received two Oscar nominations. Other film directing credits include: The Promise, One Summer Love, The Last Married Couple in America, Oh! God Book II and Backfire. He further distinguished himself as director and/or producer of a number of television dramatic specials. These include NBC’s 1972 Emmy Award-winning To all My Friends on Shore, starring Bill Cosby, ABC’s 1974 The Affair starring Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner, NBC’s 1975 After the Fall starring Faye Dunaway and Christopher Plummer. Other credits include: Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye, The Kid from Nowhere, County Gold, Faerie Tale Theater’s Rapunzel and Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Hobson’s Choice, Burning Rage, Consenting Adults, Fatal Judgment, Do You Know the Muffin Man, Call Me Anna, Absolute Strangers, In My Daughter’s Name, and Tom Clancy’s Netforce (Cates directed James Agee’s A Death in the Family for Masterpiece Theater’s American Collection of PBS and Donald Margulies’ Collected Stories for PBS Hollywood Presents). In September 2002, he directed David Eldridge’s Under the Blue Sky for The Geffen Playhouse and directed Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 2005, the inaugural production in the newly-renovated Geffen Playhouse. In February 2007 he directed Jeffrey Hatcher’s A Picasso in the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater. He served two terms as President of the Directors Guild

of America from 1983 to 1987. In 1989, he received the Guild’s Robert B. Aldrich Award for extraordinary service and, in 1991, he received the DGA’s Honorary Life Membership. He also served as Dean of the UCLA School of Theater Film and Television (which he founded) from 1990—1998. In 2008, Cates produced the 80th Annual Academy Awards show for ABC, his 14th occasion producing the Awards, for which he has already garnered 84 nominations and 17 Emmy Awards. Mr Cates was born in New York City and attended Syracuse University. Married to Dr. Judith Reichman, he has four children, two stepchildren and six grandchildren.

RANDALL ARNEY (Artistic Director) Randall begins his eleventh season as Artistic Director at the Geffen where he has directed Joanna Murray-Smith’ The Female of the Species, Conor McPherson’s The Seafarer, Adrian Pasdar and Marcus Hummons’ Atlanta, David Mamet’s Speed-The-Plow, Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, Richard Greenberg’s Take Me Out, Stephen Jeffreys’ I Just Stopped by to See the Man, Rebecca Gilman’s Boy Gets Girl, David Rambo’s God’s Man in Texas and Conor McPherson’s The Weir. An ensemble member of Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1984, Arney also acted as the company’s artistic director from 1987 to 1995. Broadway transfers under his leadership include The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, The Song of Jacob Zulu (six Tony Award nominations) and The Grapes of Wrath (Tony Award winner). Arney’s acting credits with Steppenwolf include Born Yesterday, Ghost in the Machine, The Homecoming, Frank’s Wild Years, You Can’t Take It With You, Fool for Love, Coyote Ugly, True West and Balm in Gilead. Film/TV credits include Normal, Weapons of Mass Distraction (both for HBO), Grey’s Anatomy (ABC) and Judging Amy (CBS).

KEN NOVICE (Managing Director) Prior to joining Geffen Playhouse Novice served as Managing Director and Director of External Affairs at Pasadena Playhouse. Prior to that he was Director of Marketing and Public Relations for San Diego’s Tony Award-winning Old Globe Theatre developing marketing and public relations programs for Jack O’Brien’s revival of Damn Yankees, the Tony Awardnominated musical The Full Monty, Henry IV starring John Goodman as well as the Tony-nominated hit Play On! among many others. Novice’s credits also include marketing and public relations with the Tony Award-winning Denver Center Theater Company and New York’s Circle Repertory Company. As Director of Programming for YouthStream Media Networks he developed national marketing and public relations programs for major motion pictures from Columbia Pictures, DreamWorks S. K. G. , Buena Vista Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Fox Broadcasting, 20th Century Fox, MGM, New Line Cinema and Warner Brothers Pictures. He also managed Ken Novice Entertainment Marketing, working with such clients as The Salvation Army, Sephra Fountains LLC, and promotional partners including Warner Brothers, American Express and Gelson’s among others. Novice served as Head of Theatre Management for the California State University Long Beach theatre management M. F. A. /M. B. A. degree program and has been a guest lecturer at San Diego State University and the University of California, San Diego. He holds a B. A. from the Pennsylvania State University and an M. B. A. from San Diego State University.

extraordinary chambers

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS PRODUCTION STAFF FOR EXTRAORDINARY CHAMBERS Properties Supervisor Lissette Schettini Master Electrician dan tuttle Sound Board Operator Michael Gunderson Wardrobe Supervisor Holly Victoria Production Assistant Kyra Hansen Assistant Lighting Designer Elizabeth Harper Assistant Set Designer EunNym Cho Assistant Sound Designer Beth Lake Wigs by Carol Doran Haircuts by Mary Kay Holmes ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Set provided by scenic highlights Lighting Equipment provided by Entertainment Lighting Services Sound Equipment provided by Jon Sound Inc. SPECIAL THANKS UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television Scene, Prop, Sound and Costume Shops, London Cleaners UCLA SCHOOL OF THEATER, FILM AND TELEVISION The Geffen Playhouse is affiliated with the University of California at Los Angeles, specifically the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. The Geffen Playhouse values its role as an important educational resource by providing students with master classes, workshops and internships. Students are also able to work and learn from distinguished visiting Geffen artists such as Donald Margulies, Annette Bening, Ed Harris, Neil LaBute, John Rando, Terrence McNally, Alan Ayckbourn, David Mamet, David Ives and Jon Robin Baitz in areas of directing, playwriting, acting, design, dramaturgy, management and production. The Geffen Playhouse also draws upon the distinguished experts in the university to enhance the theater’s programs and research. The actors and stage managers employed in this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association; The Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. The director is a member of the society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, Inc., an independent national labor union.

PErFORMANCEs MAGAZINE P11

new season announced

pulitzer prize winners tony award winners west coast premieres world premieres the elaborate entrance of chad diety

next fall written by

red hot patriot:

directed by

the kick ass wit of molly ivins

kristoffer diaz

sheryl kaller

written by

directed by

“Artful, thoughtful and very moving. Mr. Nauffts has written the kind of gently incisive, naturalistic play that rarely materializes anymore.”

written by

eddie torres “A vibrantly entertaining, insightful new play about — wait for it — professional wrestling.” — Variety

pulitzer prize finalist West Coast Premiere

geoffrey nauffts

— The New York Times

2010 tony award nominee West Coast Premiere

allison engel & margaret engel directed by

david esbjornson featuring

kathleen turner “See this play!” — Politics Daily

West Coast Premiere

the exorcist

the jacksonian

written by

john pielmeier

beth henley

directed by

john doyle

robert falls

adapted from the novel by

in the

william peter blatty

AUDREY SKIRBALL KENIS THEATER

world Premiere

pulitzer prize winning playwright tony award winning director world Premiere

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radiance:

the passion of marie curie written by

alan alda in the

AUDREY SKIRBALL KENIS THEATER

world Premiere

the best seats • complimentary parking new! • easy exchanges

june – july at the geffen playhouse audrey skirball kenis theater

gil cates theater

SUNDAY

MONDAY

kinross annex 2:00Pm

TUESDAY

june

june 18 11:00am

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

2 8:00pm

2:00PM/7:00pm

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superior donuts

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the sunshine boys

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4 8:00pm

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SATURDAY

extraordinary chambers

story pirates: marshmallow the dinosaur and other stories

FRIDAY

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july

2:00PM/7:00pm

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2 8:00pm

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P14 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINe

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THE GEFFEN AT A GLANCE ADDRESS

SUPPORT THE GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE

Geffen Playhouse 10886 Le Conte Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90024 Administrative Offices.............310.208.6500 Box Office................................. 310.208.5454 Subscriber Hotline.................. 310.208.2028 geffenplayhouse.com

Become a Geffen Playhouse donor! Please contact Regina Miller: 310.208.6500, ext 112 or reginam@geffenplayhouse.com

TICKET SERVICES Box Office Window When shows are not in performance, the Box Office window is open: 7 Days a Week...............................12 pm— 6 pm During the run of a show, the window will be open until curtain. Please note: The Box Office is unable to process exchanges and future sales one hour prior to curtain time on any performance day. Phone Center....................... 310.208.5454 If you are calling regarding single tickets or general information, the Box Office Phone Center is open: 7 Days a Week................................7 am — 6 pm The Box Office is closed on major holidays. SUBSCRIBER SERVICES Subscriber Hotline............... 310.208.2028 If you are a Geffen subscriber, the Subscriber Hotline is available to assist you Monday through Friday from 10 am until 6 pm and Saturday and Sunday from 12 pm until 6pm.

TICKET DONATIONS If you cannot use your tickets, you may release them to the Geffen prior to the date of your show, in time for resale, and you will receive an acknowledgement for a charitable contribution. Please mail to: Geffen Ticket Services 10886 Le Conte Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90024 or call the Box Office. REFUNDS It is the policy of the Geffen Playhouse not to issue refunds on subscriptions or on any single performance tickets. AT THE THEATER Accessible Accommodation The Geffen Playhouse is fully committed to ensuring a satisfying theater experience for our patrons with special needs or disabilities. The theaters have been designed to provide excellent seating for patrons in wheelchairs. Please call the Box Office to discuss your needs.

Listening Devices Infrared listening devices are available free of charge at all performances. Listening devices can be retrieved at the Theater Concierge Desk in the lobby. Please arrive early to obtain a listening device, they are subject to availability. Signed Performances When appropriate, each play of the season will have a special performance that will be sign-language interpreted for the deaf and hearing impaired. Call the Box Office for more info or email boxoffice@geffenplayhouse.com. Late Seating Should you arrive late to the theater or vacate your seat during the performance, please expect to be held in the lobby until an appropriate pause in the action on-stage. To minimize disturbance to other patrons, you may be sat into the first available location by the house staff even if different from your assigned seat. Be advised that some productions or circumstances may not allow for late seating. To ensure you enjoy the performance in your assigned seat, please arrive at the theater early. PARKING The Geffen Playhouse has negotiated a special $4 flat rate for ticket holders at the following location: Palazzo Parking 1030 Glendon Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90024 Phone...............................................310.208.4549 Open 24 hours • 7 Days a Week Located less than 2 blocks away from the Geffen Playhouse and even closer to many restaurant partners. Validation tickets allowing a $4 flat rate are available upon presentation of your sameday ticket to the box office or concierge. * Please note this facility does not honor Donor Parking Passes. Rates and availability are subject to change.

PErFORMANCEs MAGAZINE P15

geffen playhouse staff Gilbert Cates Producing Director

Randall Arney Artistic Director

Ken Novice Managing Director

ARTISTIC

PRODUCTION

Mary Garrett Artistic Manager Amy Levinson Literary Manager/Dramaturg Shannon Noel Webb Executive Assistant to the Producing Director Phyllis Schuringa Casting Director & Assistant to the Artistic Director Kristina Leach Literary Associate Jen Fingal UCLA Literary Intern

Daniel Ionazzi Matthew Carleton Jill Barnes Dwayne Barnes James Grabowski Darren Rezowalli Leah A. Lewis

Behnaz Ataee General Manager

Production Manager Technical Director Production Coordinator Assistant Technical Director Sound Master Master Electrician Wardrobe Supervisor

COMMUNICATIONS

DEVELOPMENT Regina Miller Development Director Ellen Catania Director of Major Gifts & Corporate/Foundation Partnerships Jessica Brusilow Associate Director of Donor Relations Jamie Sherman Development and Events Manager Ava Bogle Development Assistant Scott Kriloff Development Assistant

EDUCATION Debra Pasquerette Education Director Louise Hung Resident Teaching Artist & Education Associate Alex Rogals Education Coordinator

ADMINISTRATION Frankie Ocasio Executive Assistant to the Managing Director Maryam Kermani Staff Accountant Janet Huynh Staff Accountant Maureen Lestelle Human Resources/Benefits Manager Marguerite Harris Receptionist

FACILITIES MANAGEMENT Miguel del Castillo Victor Cueva De Loera Mario Santillan-Perez

Facility Manager Maintenance Custodial

Allison Rawlings Tyler Tangalin

Director of Communications Communications Intern

MARKETING & SALES Joseph Yoshitomi Marketing Director Karen Gutierrez Associate Marketing Director Mark San Filippo Ticket Services Director & Database Administrator Ivy Khan Marketing Coordinator Brian Dunning Graphics / Production Artist Stephanie Strand Audience Services & Subscription Manager Paul Millet Group Sales Janice Bernal Associate Box Office Manager Bryan Martin Associate Box Office Manager Janet Huynh Assistant Box Office Manager Korie Benavidez, Audrey Cain, Ariel Goldberg, Scott Kriloff, Richard Martinez, Lilach Mendelovich, Ryan Sandoval, Martin Wurst Box Office Staff Zack Hamra, Rodrigo Perez, Grace Resler, Ben Seay Audience Services

FRONT OF HOUSE Jeni Pearsons Events Coordinator Tyler Tangalin Supervising House Manager Jessica Kummer, Sarah Rosenbloom, Zack Schultz House Managers Abdoulaye N’Gom Head Usher Beth Behrs, Adam Carr, Lindsey Cerny, Tiger Curran, Tommy French, Matt Jones, Sean Jones, Kimberly Legg, Katie Mitchell, Leah Munson, Jonathan Schwartz, Julianne Tveten Ushers

This theater operates under agreement between the League of Resident Theaters and Actors Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States. The scenic, costume, lighting and sound designers in LORT theaters are represented by United Scenic Artists Local USA-829, IATSE. P16 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINe