®
GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE GIL CATES THEATER
POWER OF SAIL
WELCOME TO
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
PHOTO BY JEFF LORCH
MATT SHAKMAN
Happy new year to you, and welcome to Power of Sail! As I thought about planning the Geffen’s 25th Anniversary Season, two of my central goals were to bring beloved alums back to the Playhouse and to introduce audiences to some of the most exciting voices in contemporary theatre. This production is especially exciting in that it does both things at once. The remarkably talented Bryan Cranston was last here for The God of Hell in 2006, and he and I looked long and hard for the right project to bring him back this season. When we found Paul Grellong’s Power of Sail, a searingly written piece about the chilling spread of white supremacy in American culture, we knew this was it. Told from the perspective of a protagonist who would self-identify as liberal, this play stares down the insidiousness of inaction and the cost of prioritizing personal gain over morality. 2 P L AY B I L L
In addition to welcoming Paul Grellong, we are thrilled to have director Weyni Mengesha at the Geffen for the first time. As the Artistic Director of Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre Company, Weyni is a theatre luminary in her own right and it’s a joy to introduce her work to you. Weyni, the wonderful cast and design team, and the invaluable behind-the-scenes group have brought to life a powerful and deeply nuanced telling of this story. We are eager to welcome you back soon to Lindsay Joelle’s heartwarming TRAYF in our Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater, as well as to the other exciting shows we have coming up this season. Thank you, as always, for your support of live theatre. Enjoy the show! Matt Shakman Artistic Director
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Adi Greenberg
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
GIL CATES, JR.
CHAIR
Victoria Alonso
Jerry Moss
Patricia Kiernan Applegate
Bruce M. Ramer Founding Chair
Beth Behrs
Victoria Mann Simms
Dr. Gene D. Block
Andy Spahn
Kevin Bright
Steven Spielberg
Gil Cates Jr. Executive Director
Steve Tisch Dr. Charles E. Young Chair Emeritus
Merle Dandridge
IN MEMORIAM
Dr. Brad Edgerton
Gilbert Cates Founder
Bonnie E. Eskenazi Mark Fleischer Sue Nahley Fleishman Patricia L. Glaser Martha Henderson Chair Emeritus
Marcia Israel-Curley Audrey Skirball Kenis Charles Kenis Karl Malden Ginny Mancini
Loretta Everett Kaufman
Jerry Perenchio
Carla Malden
Lew Wasserman
Brian Mann Tiffany Mayberry Danny Passman Holly Rice Pamela Robinson Chair Emeritus
Edie Wasserman
LEGAL COUNSEL Peter Rosen Latham & Watkins LLP
Linda Bernstein Rubin
ADVISORY BOARD
Matt Shakman Artistic Director
Miranda Tollman Chair
Richard Sherman
Stephanie Carson
Cynthia P. Stafford
Lori Collins
Howard Tenenbaum Chair Emeritus
Ellyce R. Cooper
Marc Weinstock Kevyn Wynn
Debra Davis Brenda Garcia Ann Gianopulos
FOUNDING TRUSTEES
Priscila Giraldo
Harold A. Brown
Eric Heer
Kirsten Combs
Laura Kennedy
Robert A. Daly
Wendy Kurtzman
David Geffen
Hannah Linkenhoker
Herbert M. Gelfand Chair Emeritus
John McCrite
Quincy Jones Jeffrey Katzenberg Glorya Kaufman Frank G. Mancuso Chair Emeritus Ron Meyer
PHOTO BY JEFF LORCH
Mary Ann Cloyd Vice Chair
Kirsten Hansen
Audrey Povar
On behalf of the Geffen Playhouse family, I’d like to welcome you as we celebrate our 25th Anniversary Season. After an unprecedented break from in-person performances, our theater is again buzzing with the energy of artists, actors, crew, designers and now—audiences! I remember as if it were yesterday, seeing the West Coast premiere of Four Dogs and a Bone, the first show to open Geffen Playhouse in 1995. Fast forward to 2022, and we’re ushering in our next 25 years with the West Coast premiere of Paul Grellong’s complex and compelling Power of Sail. As we continue with this special anniversary season, I am grateful for many things. We have an incredible, resilient staff which has endured a great deal of change and uncertainty over the past few years and has come out exceedingly strong. We have wonderful boards and committees that supported us as we navigated through unprecedented times. And right now, especially, I am grateful for you. You have made the commitment to support live, local theater and keep the arts thriving in Los Angeles. Thank you and welcome back to the Geffen. Gil Cates, Jr. Executive Director
Eric Rollins Allen Shay John Sonego Cela Devine Sutton Laurie Ziegler G E F F E N P L AY H O U S E 3
NOW ON DISPLAY IN THE LOBBY
ART LIVES HERE
As part of Geffen Playhouse’s inaugural Art Lives Here project, four Los Angeles artists have been invited to create original art works to be displayed in our lobby welcoming back audiences during our 25th Anniversary Season. We celebrate the diversity in our audiences and our productions, and it is our mission to create, foster, and nourish an environment that is open and welcoming for all. We are a home for the arts, and we believe our physical space should also reflect and be representative of our ongoing commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion in everything we do and the communities we support.
FEATURED WORK #2 The Drummer and the Lady ARTIST Roberto Delgado ON DISPLAY Feb. 8 – Apr. 10, 2022
This work layers Old World Shakespeare with New World Chicano Theatre. Most prominently, this work is inspired by the Luís Valdez El Teatro Campesino, and features a lady lute player and a drummer from Día de Los Muertos carpas plays. Carpa, or tent theatre, were touring groups on both sides of the border that toured from town to town, set up tents, and performed a mix of slapstick comedy, folk dance, circus stunts and puppetry, all for a mostly working-class audience. Like the Shakespearean actor William Kempe's "nine daies wonder" performed "in a daunce from London to Norwich," the carpa tradition is making a comeback with Valdez's TC, and "The Carpa Plays," of the Teatro Bravo, connecting a theatre tradition 400 years apart. ABOUT THE ARTIST The work of Roberto Delgado evolves from the reality of the photo. Both the easel work and public art murals have been based on the people and circumstances that he has encountered, with both being an appreciation of the human figure. Born and raised in the
Koreatown area of Los Angeles, Delgado served in the US Army and was a graduate of UCLA’s M.F.A. program. Spending most of the 70s and 80s in Chiapas State, Mexico, Delgado honed his skills in murals and public art. In 1985 he was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship and lived in Mexico City, working on large monotypes and murals. Seeing the influence of Mexican-American-Chicano barrio realism on the Mexico City art world first hand, he realized how Chicano art had come full circle, with the craft of Mexican art taken to L.A., now coming back to the Mexico City art world.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS PROJECT VISIT GEFFENPLAYHOUSE.ORG/ARTLIVESHERE
TRAYF
03.01–04.10
WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? 04.19–05.22
S PACKAGJEUST $90! START AT 3 10.2 0
MAN OF GOD 05.10–06.19
E • GEFF 8 .2 0 2 8
A WICKED SOUL IN CHERRY HILL 06.21–07.24
N P L AY
HOUSE
.O R G
KING LIZ 07.12–08.14
GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE & DARYL ROTH
POWER OF SAIL PRESENT
WRITTEN BY
PAUL GRELLONG DIRECTED BY
WEYNI MENGESHA SCENIC DESIGNER
COSTUME DESIGNER
RACHEL MYERS
SAMANTHA C. JONES
LIGHTING DESIGNER
ORIGINAL MUSIC & SOUND DESIGN BY
LAP CHI CHU
JONATHAN SNIPES
DRAMATURG
MIKE SABLONE PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER
J. JASON DAUNTER
LIZZIE THOMPSON
CASTING DIRECTOR
PHYLLIS SCHURINGA‚ CSA
OPENING NIGHT
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022 PRESENTING SPONSOR
The World Premiere of Power of Sail opened on March 15, 2019 at The Warehouse Theatre, Greenville, SC, Mike Sablone, Producing Artistic Director, Jason D. Johnson, Managing Director
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS CIRCLE MEMBERS Adi & Jerry Greenberg
Jerry & Terri Kohl
Martha Henderson
Linda Bernstein Rubin & Tony Rubin
Pamela Robinson Hollander & Robert Hollander Loretta Everett Kaufman & Victor Kaufman 6 P L AY B I L L
Miranda & Brett Tollman
WE WEMAKE MAKE ITITOUR OUR BUSINESS BUSINESS TO TOBE BE PERSONAL. PERSONAL. ® proudly supports ® proudly National CityCity National supports Geffen Playhouse. Geffen Playhouse.
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767203-02
767203-02
POWER OF SAIL CAST OF CHARACTERS (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
HUGO ARMSTRONG AMY KATZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AMY BRENNEMAN CHARLES NICHOLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BRYAN CRANSTON QUINN HARRIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DONNA SIMONE JOHNSON MAGGIE ROSEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TEDRA MILLAN LUCAS POOLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SETH NUMRICH BAXTER FORREST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BRANDON SCOTT FRANK SULLIVAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
UNDERSTUDIES
HUGO ARMSTRONG QUINN HARRIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SAFIYA FREDERICKS LUCAS POOLE / FRANK SULLIVAN ���������������������������������������������������������������������������� ZACH KENNEY AMY KATZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SHARON SHARTH MAGGIE ROSEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SARAH TRAISMAN BAXTER FORREST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HARI WILLIAMS CHARLES NICHOLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Understudies never substitute for listed players unless specified. 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.
TIME/STRUCTURE
Fall, 2019 The scenes of the play progress in a non-linear manner, so that the story takes the form of a round-trip journey. PLEASE NOTE
There is no photography or filming of any kind allowed in the theater. Please turn off all electronic devices, including cell phones. Thank you!
25TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON SPONSOR
8 P L AY B I L L
OPENING NIGHT SPONSORS
PRODUCTION BIOGRAPHIES Leftovers (Peabody Award, Critic’s Choice nomination), and Tell Me Your Secrets. In 2022 she will be seen in Shining Girls with Elisabeth Moss and The Old Man opposite Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow. Film credits include Casper, Fear, Daylight, HUGO ARMSTRONG
AMY BRENNEMAN
Frank Sullivan
Amy Katz
Hugo Armstrong has been a
Amy Brenneman was a founding
part of productions at Mark
member of the award-winning
Taper Forum, Sacred Fools The-
Cornerstone Theater Company,
atre Company, Theatre of Note,
which specializes in site-specif-
The Kennedy Center, Ahmanson
ic community-based theater on
Theatre, LA Theatre Works, The
themes of social justice. Favorite
Echo, Kirk Douglas Theatre,
Cornerstone roles include Juliet
RedCat, Walt Disney Concert
(Romeo and Juliet), Natasha
Hall, Boston Court, as well as at
(Three Sisters), Clytemnestra
South Coast Repertory where he
(The Oresteia), and Solveig (Peer
played LBJ in All the Way, and
Gynt). Other theater: CSC Rep,
here at the Geffen Playhouse in
Lincoln Center Theater, LA The-
Radiance: The Passion of Marie
ater Works, LATC, Williamstown
Curie and Mysterious Circum-
Theater Festival, En Garde Arts,
stances. Most recent television
American Repertory Theater,
work includes the upcoming
and Yale Rep. She starred in the
Bosch: Legacy, Cinema Toast,
world premiere of the Pulit-
The Blacklist, Room 104, For
zer Prize nominated Rapture,
the People, Into the Dark, Fear
Blister, Burn (Playwrights
The Walking Dead, and NCIS.
Horizons, Geffen Playhouse)
Movies include Lucky with
and in the world premiere of
Harry Dean Stanton and David
Rules of Seconds directed by
Lynch, Jim Byrkit’s Coherence,
Jo Bonney. Additionally, Amy
Roman J. Israel, Esq. with Denzel
co-created, wrote, and starred
Washington, Daniel Martinico’s
in Mouth Wide Open (The Yard,
OK, Good and Excursions, as
American Repertory Theater)
well as Drib, Love in the Time of
and Overcome (The Yard). Amy
Monsters, No Man of God with
created, executive produced and
Elijah Wood and Luke Kirby, the
starred in Judging Amy (two TV
newly released The Only One, as
Guide Awards, three Golden
well as the upcoming features
Globe nominations, Producer’s
Dark Cloud, Mr. Limbo, and
Guild nomination, three Emmy
Rachel by Victor Nunez. Hugo is
Award nominations, People’s
a CalArts grad.
Choice nomination, and a SAG nomination). Other television: NYPD Blue (two Emmy nominations, SAG award), Frasier, Heartbeat (executive producer), Goliath, Private Practice, The
Heat, Friends and Neighbors, The Jane Austen Book Club, Peel, The Look of Love, Words and Pictures, Nine Lives, Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her, and Mother and Child.
B RYA N C R A N S TO N
Charles Nichols
Bryan Cranston is an Academy Award nominee, and an Emmy, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, Tony, and Olivier Award winner. Cranston recently starred and Executive Produced Showtime’s Your Honor, which was renewed for Season 2. In 2021, Cranston wrapped production on Jerry and Marge Go Large for Paramount+; the Wes Anderson film Asteroid City; and the Apple Original Film Argylle. Cranston made his Broadway debut as President Lyndon B. Johnson in All the Way and went on to produce the HBO film adaption of the play through his Moonshot Entertainment production company. In 2018, Cranston starred as the iconic Howard Beale in the Broadway run of Network. Cranston is best known for his portrayal of
G E F F E N P L AY H O U S E 9
PRODUCTION BIOGRAPHIES two very different characters;
(Resident Acting Company) and
upcoming Sundance premiere),
Hal on the sitcom Malcolm in
A.R.T./CNP’s Hamlet, directed
Modern Persuasion (Tangerine
the Middle, and Walter White
by Robert Brustein. Notable
Entertainment). TV: A League
on the drama Breaking Bad.
national and international tours,
of Their Own (Amazon), Fosse/
Cranston is a New York Times
include the European tour of
Verdon (FX), Almost Family
bestselling author of A Life
Cloud 9 (Moving Arts), High
(FOX), Katy Keene (CW), Tales of
in Parts, where he revisits the
School Musical, and Pang!, now a
the City (Netflix), The Goldbergs
many parts he’s played on and
New York Times-acclaimed pod-
(ABC). Tedra is making her direc-
off camera. In 2019, Cranston
cast, amongst others. TV/Film
torial debut with the upcoming
and his Breaking Bad partner,
credits: Netflix’s Super Drags (re-
film We Can Voyage There (Floor
Aaron Paul, released an artis-
curring), The Inspectors (NBC),
1 Productions). M.A. in Classical
anal Mezcal, “Dos Hombres”,
Teachers (CBS), Agent X (TNT),
Acting, London Academy of Mu-
which has grown to become the
Frances Loy’s Ophelia, and
sic and Dramatic Art, and B.F.A.
6th best-selling mezcal in the
WarnerMedia OneFifty/HBO
in Acting, University of Michigan.
United States. He would like to
Max’s Bertie the Brilliant. She
raise a glass and toast tonight’s
is Co-Artistic Director of Watts
audiences for their support of
Village Theater Company, which
live theater. Cheers.
produces and honors the stories of South L.A., and holds an M.F.A. from CalArts. Gratitude to Chad and her son, Coltrane, who make this possible. SETH NUMRICH
Lucas Poole
Seth Numrich is grateful to be returning to the Geffen after DONNA SIMONE JOHNSON
appearing in 2015’s production
Quinn Harris
of Switzerland opposite Laura
Donna Simone Johnson is
Linney. Broadway credits include War Horse and Golden Boy (both
thrilled to be making her Geffen
for Lincoln Center Theater),
she appeared in the World
TEDRA MILLAN
Maggie Rosen
The Merchant of Venice (The
Premiere of Inda Craig-Gal-
Geffen Playhouse debut! Tedra
Public Theater), and Travesties
ván’s A Hit Dog Will Holler at
starred on Broadway as “Daphne
(Roundabout Theatre Company).
Playwrights’ Arena / Skylight
Stillington” in Present Laughter
Off-Broadway credits include
Theatre and is next onstage
with Kevin Kline. Off-Broadway,
roles at Signature Theatre, Lin-
as Madame de Senneterre in
she originated the role of “#46”
coln Center Theater, Rattlestick
Revenge Song at the Oregon
in The Wolves (Playwrights
Playwrights Theater, LAByrinth
Shakespeare Festival. Select
Realm & Lincoln Center), for
Theater Company, and others.
theatre credits include Bring
which she received Drama
London/UK credits include roles
Down The House (Henry VI) at
Desk and Obie Awards. Other
at The Old Vic, Donmar Ware-
OSF, Broken Fences, (NAACP
off-Broadway: Happy Talk (The
house, Menier Chocolate Factory,
Award, Best Lead Actress, The
New Group), On the Shore of the
King’s Theatre (Edinburgh), and
Road Theatre Company), Van
Wide World (Atlantic Theater
Theatr Clwyd (Wales). For his
Helsing in Dracula (Actors The-
Company), The Flick (Barrow
stage work, Seth has received a
atre of Louisville), I Go Some-
Street Theatre). Film: The Lot
Theatre World Dorothy Loudon
where Else (Playwright’s Arena),
(Speakeasy Pictures), Daddy’s
Award, an Evening Standard
Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
Girl (Station 26 Productions,
Award, and nominations from
Playhouse debut! Most recently,
1 0 P L AY B I L L
PRODUCTION BIOGRAPHIES the Outer Critics Circle and the
flix), amongst others. Brandon
Drama League. On screen, Seth
recently wrapped a starring role
can be seen in the upcoming se-
in the feature film Dead for a
ries Under the Banner of Heaven
Dollar, directed by Walter Hill
(FX/Hulu) and has previously
and co-starring Christoph Waltz,
appeared in Turn: Washing-
Willem Dafoe, and Rachel Bros-
ton’s Spies (AMC), Homeland
nahan. He is excited to make his
(Showtime), The Blacklist (NBC),
Geffen Playhouse debut.
Madam Secretary (CBS), The
WEYNI MENGESHA
Good Wife (CBS), The Code
Director
(CBS), and Gravity (Starz). Film
Weyni Mengesha is the Artistic
credits include the independent
Director of Soulpepper Theatre
features Imperium (Lionsgate),
Company in Toronto. She has
Paper Tiger (Gravitas Ventures),
directed shows across Canada
and Private Romeo (Frameline).
that have gone on to tour
Training: Juilliard.
nationally and internationally, PAUL GRELLONG
Playwright
Paul Grellong’s plays include Manuscript, produced by Daryl Roth at the Daryl Roth Theatre, which has since been performed internationally; Radio Free Emerson (Winner: Elliot B R A N D O N S C OT T
Norton Award from the Boston
Baxter Forrest
Theater Critics Association
Brandon Scott is a founding
for Outstanding New Script),
member of Los Angeles theater
which was commissioned and
companies IAMA Theatre
produced by Rhode Island's
and Ammunition Theatre. He
Gamm Theatre; and Power
recently originated the role
of Sail, which had its world
of Will in the Center Theatre
premiere at The Warehouse
Group/IAMA Theatre/Latino
Theatre in Greenville, South
Theater Company co-production
Carolina. He is currently at work
of Jonathan Caren’s Canyon
on a commission for Bay Street
(original direction by Whitney
Theater. His plays have been
White, Digital Stage direction
read and workshopped at Cen-
by Colleen Labella). He holds a
ter Theatre Group, MCC, Trinity
B.F.A. in Theater from NYU. TV/
Repertory Company, Symphony
Film credits include Nick Prager
Space, Echo Theater Company,
in Dead to Me (Netflix), Rob
and the Cape Cod Theatre Proj-
Bettencourt in the fourth and
ect. Television credits include:
final season of Goliath (Amazon),
The Boys, Scorpion, Revolution,
Leroy in Guerrilla (Showtime),
and Law & Order: SVU. Paul
Dr. Ryan Spaulding in Grey’s
studied playwriting at Brown
Anatomy (ABC), Cory Lawrence
University. He lives in Los Ange-
in This Is Us (NBC), Coach J.J.
les, where he is an alumnus of
Kerba in 13 Reasons Why (Net-
the Playwrights Union.
and have been developed into television shows playing on CBC, Global, and Netflix. She has also directed in London, New York, and Los Angeles, garnering an NAACP nomination for Best Direction as well as Dora (Toronto), Drama League (New York), and Drama Critics Circle (Los Angeles) nominations and awards for Direction. Some recent credits for Soulpepper include Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Kim’s Convenience. She has been an instructor at the National Theatre School of Canada and the Canadian Film Centre, and was Co-Artistic Director of the A.M.Y (artists mentoring youth) Project for seven years. She has also directed award winning short films, episodic TV and is developing her first feature. She wants to thank everyone at the Geffen, and the wonderful cast and crew. She also thanks her husband and two boys for all their support, and all of you, for being here to share this story tonight.
G E F F E N P L AY H O U S E 1 1
PRODUCTION BIOGRAPHIES DA RY L R OT H
Producer
Daryl Roth holds the singular distinction of producing seven Pulitzer Prize-winning plays: Anna in the Tropics; August: Osage County; Clybourne Park; How I Learned to Drive; Proof; Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women; and Wit. The proud recipient of 12 Tony Awards and London’s Olivier Award, her over 120 award winning productions include: the 2013 Tony winner for Best Musical, Kinky Boots, 6 years on Broadway and around the globe; Absolute Brightness; Angels in America; Buyer & Cellar; Company; Curtains; Gloria: A Life; Edward Albee’s The Goat or Who is Sylvia; Indecent; It Shoulda Been You; Love, Loss, and What I Wore; The Normal Heart; The Tale of the Allergist's Wife; Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992; War Horse; and The Year of Magical Thinking. Upcoming: the new musical Between the Lines; the revival of How I Learned to Drive; and Funny Girl. A Trustee of Lincoln Center Theater and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, she was honored to have been inducted into the 2017 Theatre Hall of Fame. darylrothproductions.com. R AC H E L M Y E RS
Scenic Designer
Rachel is a storyteller for stage, film, and live events. She is thrilled to return to the Geffen after designing Skeleton Crew. Credits include: BAM; Regional: Center Theatre Group, South Coast Repertory, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Shakespeare Theatre, Getty
1 2 P L AY B I L L
Villa, The Watermill Center, and Williamstown Theatre Festival; Los Angeles: Rattlestick West, IAMA, Theatre @ Boston Court, and Vs. Theatre. Rachel’s company, 3 Penny Design, has conceived, designed, and produced live events for Crayola in Times Square, the Emmy Awards, the Golden Globe Awards, and VidCon, winning Ovation, NAACP, Streamy, and Broadway World awards. Production design credits include: Short Term 12 (winner SXSW, Independent Spirit Awards), Kim Possible, Desperados, The Drowning, and more. As a director, Rachel’s award-winning films Wendy’s Shabbat and 2 Black Boys premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and Outfest, screening at Palm Springs International Film Festival and 70 other festivals worldwide. Wendy’s Shabbat (broadcast on PBS and Topic) was considered for the Academy Awards. Her films have exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Northwest Film Center; and Northwest Film Forum. Awarded the inaugural Shondaland Women Directing Mentorship, a WarnerMedia OneFifty Artist grant, nominated for the Lynn Shelton Grant, and selected for the Sundance Director’s Co-Lab. Directed for Dove, DC Comics, Disney, originated and directed the series Confidence, and directed Mensajes in Spanish. M.F.A. Yale Drama, ADG800 and USA829. Representation: UTA, Artists First. 3pennydesign. com, racheldirects.com, and rachelmyersdesign.com.
SA M A N T H A C. J O N E S
Costume Designer
Samantha C. Jones is excited to be making her Geffen Playhouse debut with this wonderful piece of theatre and in such great company. She is a Costume Designer and educator with previous design credits at the Goodman Theatre, Court Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, Steppenwolf Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Drury Lane Theatre, Writers Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre Company, Chicago Children’s Theatre, TimeLine Theatre, Porchlight Music Theatre, Jackalope Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Alley Theatre, Seattle Children’s Theatre, First Stage Theatre, Skylight Music Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Peninsula Players Theater, and others. Upcoming productions include: King James with Steppenwolf Theatre/Center Theatre Group, and Once on This Island with Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Her work can be viewed at samanthacjones.com. LAP CHI CHU
Lighting Designer
Recent designs include the premiere of Simon Stephens’ Morning Sun at Manhattan Theatre Club and David Lindsay-Abaire/ Jeanine Tesori’s new musical, Kimberly Akimbo at the Atlantic Theater Company. He has designed regionally for Mark Taper Forum, Williamstown Theater Festival, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Contemporary Theater, Goodman Theatre, American Repertory Theater, Arena Stage, Dallas Theater
PRODUCTION BIOGRAPHIES Center, and the Alley Theater.
Brunstetter, Kristoffer Diaz,
and Chita Rivera at Carnegie
His New York design credits
Dorothy Fortenberry, Marco
Hall. In the world of educational
include The Public Theater,
Ramirez, and others. World
theatre, Jason has served on the
Roundabout Theatre Company,
premiere dramaturgy includes
Board of Directors for the Edu-
Lincoln Center Theater, New
Ken Weitzman’s The Catch at
cational Theatre Association and
York Theatre Workshop, Sig-
Denver Center for the Perform-
currently sits on the Board for
nature Theatre, Second Stage
ing Arts; John Belluso’s Henry
California Thespians. A leading
Theatre, Performance Space
Flamethrowa at Trinity Repertory
advocate in the nation for educa-
122, and Kitchen Theatre Com-
Company; and for Center The-
tional theatre and speaking year-
pany. His awards include the
atre Group’s productions of Da-
ly about anti-bullying, accep-
Obie for Sustained Excellence
vid Henry Hwang’s Pulitzer Prize
tance, and empowering youth in
in Lighting Design, the Lucile
finalist Yellow Face, and Alex
various states. Upcoming: Who’s
Lortel Award, Los Angeles
Timbers and Michael Friedman’s
Afraid of Virginia Woolf? here, at
Drama Critics Circle Angstrom
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson—
the Geffen. Member of Actors’
Award for Career Achievement
the latter of which he stayed
Equity Association. Thanks
in Lighting Design, the Ovation
with from development through
and love to the JSquad. Happy
Award, and multiple Bay Area
its Broadway run where it was
Anniversary Geffen!
Theatre Critics Circle Awards.
nominated for Best Book at the
He is a professor and the Head
Tony Awards. He spent five years
of Lighting Design at University
as Director of Development for
of Los Angeles. lapchichu.com
John Krasinski’s Sunday Night Productions, serving as Execu-
J O N AT H A N S N I P E S
Original Music & Sound Design
Jonathan Snipes is a Los Angeles-based composer and sound designer. He teaches
tive Producer of Krasinski’s The Hollars and Co-Producer of Gus
LIZZIE THOMPSON
Assistant Stage Manager
Lizzie Thompson is thrilled to be back stage managing again at the Geffen Playhouse. She has previously worked at the Geffen
Van Sant’s Promised Land.
on The Enigmatist, Revenge
J. JAS O N DAU N T E R
Creation, Key Largo, Skintight,
Song: A Vampire Cowboys
sound design at UCLA and
Production Stage Manager
Mysterious Circumstances, Black
is a member of the rap group
Jason is thrilled to be making his
Super Hero Magic Mama, Charles
“clipping,” currently signed to
Geffen Playhouse debut and is
Dickens’ A Christmas Carol,
Sub Pop Records. Other Geffen
honored to be working with this
Significant Other, and Ironbound,
Playhouse credits include Good
amazing group of collaborators!
among others. Originally from
People (2012), Wait Until Dark
A recent California transplant,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she
(2013), Bad Jews (2015), Myste-
Jason spent 15 years in New
received her B.S. from Allegheny
rious Circumstances (2019), and
York. Jason’s Broadway credits
College and her M.F.A. in The-
Man of God (2020).
include: To Kill a Mockingbird;
ater from Long Island University.
Meteor Shower; A Doll’s House,
Lizzie would like to thank her
Part 2; Shuffle Along; Wicked;
mom and dad for always believ-
Glory Days; Chicago; and Cyrano
ing in her, and her Geffen family.
M I K E SA B LO N E
Dramaturg
Mike Sablone is the Producing Artistic Director of The Warehouse Theatre in Greenville, South Carolina. At The Warehouse, he produced the world premiere of Power of Sail as well as 11 digital world premieres, including Mister and Mischief’s Objectivity, and Long Story Short, featuring Bekah
de Bergerac. National tour credits include: A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Chicago, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Thoroughly Modern Millie, A Christmas Carol, and Wicked. Regional: The Kennedy Center, The Muny, Pittsburgh CLO, Stages St. Louis, Santa Barbara Symphony,
P H Y L L I S S C H U R I N G A , C SA
Casting Director
Phyllis is an Artistic Associate and the Casting Director for Geffen Playhouse. Recent casting includes Paradise Blue, Mysterious Circumstances, Black Super Hero Magic Mama, Skeleton Crew, The Legend of
G E F F E N P L AY H O U S E 1 3
PRODUCTION BIOGRAPHIES Georgia McBride, Guards at the
West Coast premiere of David
for managing the Geffen’s day-
Taj, and American Buffalo at the
Lindsay-Abaire’s Good People
to-day operations; developing
Geffen, and Put Your House in
(2012), the world premiere of
new, ongoing theater partner-
Order at La Jolla Playhouse. She
Jeffrey Hatcher’s new adapta-
ships and leading its mission
has received 6 Artios nomina-
tion of Wait Until Dark (2013),
to inform, entertain and inspire
tions: Witch, Significant Other,
and Joshua Harmon’s Bad Jews
diverse audiences with live
Actually, Barbecue, Barcelona,
(2015). Matt founded and was
theater of the highest caliber.
The Country House. Before
the artistic director of the Black
Prior to being named Executive
joining the Geffen, she was the
Dahlia Theatre in Los Angeles,
Director in 2015, Cates served
Casting Director for Steppenwolf
which was named “one of a
as Geffen Playhouse Board
Theater Company in Chicago
dozen young American com-
Vice Chairman since 2012 and
where her favorites include Frank
panies you need to know” by
served as a producer and di-
Galati’s adaptation of The Grapes
American Theatre magazine
rector in theater, film and televi-
of Wrath (also La Jolla Playhouse,
and “Best Small Theatre” by
sion. His theater credits include
National Theatre in London and
Los Angeles magazine. Matt is
the award-winning Names
Broadway, where it received the
a director and producer for FX’s
(Matrix Theatre Company)
Tony Award for Best Play), the
It’s Always Sunny in Philadel-
and Three Sisters and David
original production of Steve Mar-
phia and has directed episodes
Mamet’s A Life in the Theatre
tin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile
of Game of Thrones (DGA
(both at Syracuse Stage).
(and subsequent productions
nomination), Mad Men, Fargo,
Cates’ film credits include
including Westwood Playhouse
The Good Wife, and Succession.
The Surface (starring Sean
and Briar Street Theater in
He helmed the pilot episode
Astin and Geffen Playhouse
Chicago), Austin Pendleton’s
for Hulu’s The Great (Emmy
alumnus Chris Mulkey), Jobs
Orson’s Shadow, and Charles L.
nomination) starring Elle Fan-
(starring Ashton Kutcher, Josh
Mee’s Time to Burn. Broadway
ning and Nicholas Hoult and
Gad, Dermot Mulroney, as well
transfers include One Flew Over
produced and directed all epi-
as Geffen Playhouse alumni
the Cuckoo’s Nest (Tony Award
sodes of WandaVision (Emmy
Matthew Modine and Ron El-
for Best Revival) and The Song of
nominations for Direction and
dard) and the 2011 feature film
Jacob Zulu. She is a member of
Limited Series, DGA nomina-
Lucky (starring Colin Hanks,
the Casting Society of America.
tion), a Marvel Studios event
Ari Graynor and Ann-Margret).
series for Disney+ starring Paul
In addition, Cates co-produced
Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen.
and co-directed the critically
Matt is currently directing Star
acclaimed Life After Tomorrow,
Trek for Bad Robot and Para-
featuring Sarah Jessica Parker,
mount Studios.
which premiered on Showtime. His other films include Deal (starring Burt Reynolds, Bret Harrison and Charles Durning) and The Mesmerist (starring Jessica Capshaw and Geffen
M AT T S H A K M A N
Artistic Director
Playhouse alumnus Neil Patrick
Matt Shakman is Artistic
Harris). Cates’ television direc-
Director of Geffen Playhouse.
torial debut was an episode of
Matt last helmed Mysterious Circumstances for the Geffen in
the NBC comedy Joey, starring G I L CAT E S, J R .
Emmy winner Matt LeBlanc. He
2019 and prior to joining as Ar-
Executive Director
tistic Director in 2017, Shakman
Gil Cates, Jr. is Executive
Institute in Waterford, Connecti-
Director of Geffen Playhouse.
cut, and holds a B.F.A. in Drama
In this role, he is responsible
from Syracuse University.
directed three acclaimed productions at the Playhouse: the
1 4 P L AY B I L L
studied at the National Theatre
PRODUCTION BIOGRAPHIES for accounting functions of
Sloten CPA, after holding the
the theater, including oper-
position of Director of Account-
ating and capital budgets. In
ing at FABS Management,
addition, she supports all IT
where she was responsible for
and HR activities. Behnaz was
overseeing the finances of more
named Chief Financial Officer
than 25 non-profit organiza-
in 2015 after serving as General
tions. As a financial professional
Manager since 2002. She first
with more than 30 years’ experi-
joined Geffen Playhouse in
ence in for-profit and non-profit
1999. Previously, Ataee worked
financial management and au-
as a senior financial analyst for
diting, Ataee began her career
Behnaz “Nazy” Ataee is Chief
Ultratech Inc., an international
in the Bay Area as a partner in a
Financial Officer of Geffen
semiconductor company based
small tech startup. She holds a
Playhouse. In this role, she
in San Jose. Prior to Ultratech,
master’s degree from Pepper-
has oversight responsibility
she was an auditor for Van
dine University.
B E H N A Z ATA E E Chief Financial Officer
THE NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM Supporting artists is central to the mission of the Geffen Playhouse, and play commissions are a cornerstone of that support. To commission a playwright to write a play means making a commitment to their voice, craft and vision, with the hope of sharing the fruits of their work on our stage. The Geffen Playhouse’s New Play Development Program is made possible, in large part, through the leadership and generosity of donations from: The Edgerton Foundation, The Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Fay & Frank Mancuso, Sandra Krause & William Fitzgerald, Hilary & Jack Angelo and Mary Bianco, The MOCA Foundation. We are proud to have the following artists under commission: RACHEL BONDS COLMAN DOMINGO MICHAEL GOLAMCO MEGHAN KENNEDY MATTHEW LOPEZ MARTYNA MAJOK
CHELSEA MARCANTEL STACY OSEI-KUFFOUR JIEHAE PARK JOHN POLLONO ZOE SARNAK ROBERT SCHENKKAN
JEN SILVERMAN DAVID WIENER LAUREN YEE ANNA ZIEGLER
For more information on this program, please visit geffenplayhouse.org/newplays.
THE WRITERS’ ROOM A group for Los Angeles-based playwrights, The Writers’ Room is a product of the Geffen’s deep commitment to supporting new plays and specifically to fostering bold, relevant work by the vibrant artistic community of this city. During this one-year residency, playwright members gather monthly at the Geffen to share their work and receive feedback from their peers and the Geffen’s artistic staff, culminating in a play reading series. VIVIAN BARNES LISA SANAYE DRING WESTON GAYLORD
ALEXANDRA KALINOWSKI, TOVA KATZ, & KATIE LINDSAY
NICHOLAS PILAPIL MICHAEL SHAYAN
The Writers’ Room 2021/2022 is made possible through the generous support of Jerry and Terri Kohl. For more information on this program, please visit geffenplayhouse.org/thewritersroom.
G E F F E N P L AY H O U S E 1 5
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
GEFFEN AT A GLANCE
PRODUCTION STAFF FOR POWER OF SAIL
CONTACT
Assistant Scenic Designer Cindy Lin
Stage Crew Austin Bosley, Oliver Brink
Assistant Costume Designer Alexandria Hoffman
Lead Carpenter Philip Rossi
Geffen Playhouse 10886 Le Conte Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90024
Assistant Lighting Designer Christian Mejia
Carpenters Chris Baab, Christopher Bowe, Austin Bosley, Oliver Brink, James Chew, Chris Cowan, Melissa Hartman, Rob Hille, Vanessa Lara, Xander Ritchey, Nathan Shapiro, James Stanley
Lighting Design Intern Emily Moore Assistant Sound Designer Alexis Tongue Production Assistant Domenica Diaz Automation Operator & Stage Supervisor Alexandre Norkus Moving Light Programmer & Board Operator Julie Cowger A1 Jake Delgado
Please visit geffenplayhouse.org for hours, parking and more information.
Electricians Miri Henerson, Emma Inglehart, Nicole Jaja, Justin Kelley-Cahill, Skye Mahaffie, Keanu Ross-Cabrera
BOX OFFICE
COVID-19 Compliance Manager Bella Luna
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Sound Equipment Provided By Jon Sound Inc.
The box office window is open Tuesday through Sunday from 12:00pm – 6:00pm, as well as on performance days up until 15 minutes after curtain during the run of a show. Please note: the box office window is unable to process exchanges and future sales one hour prior to curtain time on any performance day.
Dresser Liz Rose
Lighting Equipment Provided By Kinetic Lighting, Inc.
AUDIENCE SERVICES
310.208.2028 Tuesday through Sunday, 12:00pm – 6:00pm
Properties Artisans Allison Mamann, Steven McFann, Sarah Nearhoff
Wardrobe Supervisor Sarah Lindsley
Scenery Provided by F&D Scene Changes Ltd., Mason Hauser, Rose Brand Wipers
ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES
310.208.6500 Monday through Friday, 10:00am – 6:00pm
Production Photographer Jeff Lorch Media Filming Ramon Garcia Photography Justin Bettman
SPECIAL THANKS UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television Scene, Prop, Sound, and Costume Shops; London Cleaners; Pannill Camp; Kevin Hynes; Paul Lerner
UCLA SCHOOL OF THEATER, FILM AND TELEVISION
ACCESSIBLE ACCOMMODATION Geffen Playhouse is fully committed to providing access to patrons with mobility, visual and hearing impairments. Parking spaces directly outside the theater are zoned for drop off and pick up, as well as disabled parking spots for patrons with appropriate placards and plates. For more information about our Accessibility services and programs, visit geffenplayhouse.org/ access or call our box office.
LATE SEATING
Geffen Playhouse is affiliated with the University of California at Los Angeles, specifically the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. 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 in areas of directing, playwriting, acting, design, dramaturgy, management and production. Geffen Playhouse also draws upon the distinguished experts in the university to enhance the theater’s programs and research.
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 seated in the first available location by the house staff even if it is different from your assigned seat. Be advised that some productions or circumstances may not allow for late or return seating.
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.
NO PHOTOGRAPHY
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. This theater operates under agreement between the League of Resident Theaters and Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, an independent national labor union. The Director is a Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union. The scenic, costume, lighting and sound designers in LORT theaters are represented by United Scenic Artists Local USA-829, IATSE.
1 6 P L AY B I L L
There is no photography or filming of any kind allowed in the theater. Please turn off all electronic devices, including cell phones.
EDUCATION & COMMUNITY
THEATER IN EDUCATION HAS THE POWER TO IGNITE CHANGE
Geffen Playhouse is deeply committed to creating powerful and impactful arts education and engagement experiences that amplify, inspire, and encompass our diverse Los Angeles community. Our programs provide unique, in-depth access to theater and the arts for under-resourced and under-represented groups of youth and adults.
PHOTO BY JEFF LORCH
We invite you to support the vitality of education by contributing to the continued growth and expansion of our programs.
DONATE TO SUPPORT OUR PROGRAMS GEFFENPLAYHOUSE.ORG/DONATENOW
BEHIND THE SCENES Q&A
DISTORTING THE NARRATIVE
AN INTERVIEW WITH PLAYWRIGHT PAUL GRELLONG
Playwright Paul Grellong
BY AMY LEVINSON, GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
A M Y L E V I N S O N : Let’s start with talking about your inspiration for the play and what inspired you to place it in 2019. PAU L G R E L LO N G : I first wrote a draft of this play many years ago and then shelved it for a while. It was probably in 2002 when I started working on this, and at the time, the play was focused on Holocaust denial and that particular movement on the far right. But other elements about it were the same—the central character, the structure. But as I said, I put it away for a long time. Then, in 2017, I was speaking to Mike Sablone, who is the Artistic Director of the Warehouse in Greenville, and an old friend and collaborator of mine. I was talking to him about another play that I was starting to work on, and he asked a question that I wasn’t expecting, which was, do you ever think about taking Power of Sail out of the drawer and revising it for today? And this was right after Charlottesville, so I thought it was an interesting question. If I’m being honest, I had been focused on this other play and hadn’t really 1 8 P L AY B I L L
considered it. So that weekend, Mike and I read it again. I took out this old script and just tore it to shreds. He and I got on the phone a couple of days later, and I came at him with all of these plans—I want to change this, and I want to change that, and these characters have to go. I was excited and so was he, so I spent that fall working on it. It was also a way for me to process some of the rage and frustration about what was happening in this country at the time. So I rewrote the play and changed essentially everything about it except the central character and the structure. A L : So the setting of the play remained the same as well? P G : Yes. At the start it wasn’t Harvard, but it’s been like that from a very early draft. And it was always a New England setting. We ended up doing the play at the Warehouse in the 2018/19 season, so it was set at that time, March of 2019. As to the second question of why I have kept it in 2019, I have two reasons.
BEHIND THE SCENES Q&A
One is specifically COVID-related. Artists in various fields have differing feelings about depicting life in or after coronavirus. Some are all for it and others are adamantly opposed. Personally, and I’m only speaking for myself, I didn’t want to have this play live in this time. I wasn’t writing a script dealing with that. I’ve enjoyed plenty of work that is set in the present and deals with COVID. It just didn’t seem like the right choice for this play. The second reason is a more important one, actually, which has to do with the characters’ psychology. The way they approach the events of this play involves a mindset that is different from those who would have seen the murder of George Floyd, seen the public’s response, seen the long overdue yet still decidedly unfinished racial reckoning it gave rise to—not only in this country, but around the world. I think that these characters would bring a different perspective, and a different set of behaviors in the wake of that, so it was important to me to set it at the doorstep of these two seismic events. A L : Let’s talk a little bit about the structure of the play. I love your description of it, talking about it as a roundtrip journey. P G : That was one of the first things that I hit upon as I went from filling up notebooks with ideas to actually sitting down to write a cohesive play. I stumbled across this particular phrase in nautical law—that a vessel under power of motor has to grant right of way to a vessel under power of sail, so the powerful granting passage to the less powerful—and it rang true as a way to explore power dynamics while writing about people who distort history, historical narratives, and their own personal narratives. They dole out information in ways precisely designed to accomplish their goals. This was true specifically of the characters in the play, and also of the Holocaust denial movement more generally. So I thought, what better way to depict that dramatically than to show one timeline from two different perspectives? I knew that if we could withhold information in a judicious way in the front half of the play, that the second half would come alive with moments of revelation and dawning understanding. If we were doing our jobs, it would end up being true to the subject matter and the genre I was working in. This play
is a thriller and deploys certain tricks of that trade in telling the story, one of which is toying around with timeline. Not to fill viewers with a sense of having been manipulated, but rather providing them with an experience that delivers consistent surprise, especially in the second half. Because the play exists in an academic setting, some of the things that are talked about are intellectual in nature, but the goal has always been something with a pulse—to make the stakes high, and to make the temperature in the room heat up as we move along. I felt the structure could be our friend in that pursuit, that it could tell this story in a non-traditional way. So, here’s hoping that our audiences agree. A L : These characters are all very well-drawn, and I’m curious if any of them are people you’ve known in your life or if they’re amalgamations of people you’ve known. P G : The events of the play have nothing to do with any lived experience on my part. But some of the conversations in the play are versions of conversations I’ve had over the years with friends, colleagues, and family members about what free speech means. I was often unresolved after some of those discussions, especially when we’d hit a genuine impasse. So, part of writing this was an effort to finish the conversation and play out some of these disagreements in a dramatic way, almost as an experiment. What would happen if we follow this line of argument all the way to its conclusion? This was especially true of the conversations about free speech and white supremacy that were happening between 2015 and 2018. There were many false equivalencies that were drawn, explanations that were either insufficient or absurd, even as you could sense that the danger that had been creeping over the horizon was no longer approaching—it was here. It had arrived. So, writing the play was an attempt to make sense of one small facet of that. It was never designed to present an all-encompassing overview, but rather specific people in one set of given circumstances. What happens when they bring these theoretical arguments down to the ground level? And really, really live it. To read more about Power of Sail, visit geffenplayhouse.org/blog. G E F F E N P L AY H O U S E 1 9
2 5B TE HH IANNDN IT VH EE R SS CA ER NY E SS E QA &S AO N
25 YEARS AND COUNTING Founder Gilbert Cates with Trustee Kristen Combs at the soon-to-be Geffen Playhouse (formerly Westwood Playhouse)
“ONWARD AND UPWARD WITH THE ARTS.” That was the mantra of Geffen Playhouse Founder and Producing Director Gilbert (Gil) Cates, a visionary and a showman who brought this theater to life a quarter of a century ago. And it remains our mantra today. With the launch of our 2021/2022 season, we celebrate 25 years of storytelling, opening nights, world premieres, standing ovations, and all the artists and audiences who have passed through our doors since we first raised our curtain with Four Dogs and a Bone in 1995. We did not just begin life as Geffen Playhouse—there’s more to our story. It was the early 1990s and, as a lover of the arts, then-Dean of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television Gil Cates had a dream and a vision. The goal was to create a new non-profit professional theater company that 2 0 P L AY B I L L
OCT 10, 1995 — John Patrick Shanley’s Four Dogs and a Bone, directed by Lawrence Kasdan, featuring Brendan Fraser, Elizabeth Perkins, Parker Posey, and Martin Short opened the Geffen Playhouse
Founder Gilbert Cates with philanthropist David Geffen and UCLA Chancellor Emeritus Charles E. Young
Geffen Playhouse is excited to celebrate 25 years with its 2021/2022 Anniversary Season
would enrich the cultural life of Greater Los
of an endowment gift from philanthropist
Angeles and the UCLA community through
David Geffen) to begin the creation of a
plays and educational programs that in-
permanent professional non-profit theater
form, entertain and inspire.
in Westwood. The university created an
UCLA had a long history of working closely with professional theaters as an extension of its academic mission and, for many
independent board, helmed by Cates, which would assume all costs and risks of operating the theater. And the rest is history.
years, owned and operated the Doolittle
Since opening, Geffen Playhouse has
Theater in Hollywood to fulfill this mission.
staged nearly 200 productions, held more
Cates recognized the Doolittle’s geographic
than 9,000 performances, and entertained
distance from campus created a barrier to
countless audiences from around the world
any meaningful relationship with UCLA and
and every walk of life. Each year has brought
argued a better partner would be the West-
with it new stories, new artists, new laugh-
wood Playhouse, located right across from
ter, new tears and new challenges—and we
campus. Compelled by the proximity and
grow as a theater, and as a family, with every
potential of the historic theater, Chancellor
one of them.
Charles Young agreed to sell the Doolittle and pledged the proceeds of the sale to assist Cates with the purchase and refurbishment of the Westwood Playhouse.
It has been an honor to be a home for the arts in this remarkable city of Los Angeles, and we are excited for what the next 25 years will bring. We hope you will continue
UCLA leased the theater to the newly
to join us on this journey, as we go onward
named Geffen Playhouse (in recognition
and upward with the arts. G E F F E N P L AY H O U S E 2 1
IN LOVING MEMORY OF GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE BOARD MEMBERS GINNY MANCINI & MARTHA DE LAURENTIIS
GINNY MANCINI "Ginny was an incredible advocate for the Geffen and championed arts education throughout the community. She joined the Board in 1996, shortly after the Geffen was founded, and transitioned to a Trustee in 2017. In 2004, she generously supported the redesign of the lobby restrooms during Geffen's Capital Campaign. She was passionate about theater and never missed a show at the Geffen. For those that knew her, she was a beautiful soul who genuinely cared for those around her. We cherish the time we had with her and are very sad to lose such a beloved and treasured member of our Geffen Playhouse family." — Gil Cates, Jr., Executive Director
MARTHA DE LAURENTIIS "Martha joined the Geffen Board in February of 2020. With her incredible passion for the arts and uplifting support of the Geffen and our mission, she became an important part of the Geffen family. Her work as a producer for over four decades was expansive, to say the least, spanning across over 40 different film and TV productions, though it was her unyielding kindness and grace that was a force all its own. Martha’s legacy as a loving mother, devoted friend, outstanding producer, and champion of the arts will never be forgotten." —Adi Greenberg, Board Chair
ANNUAL DONORS Geffen Playhouse recognizes the following individuals and organizations for their generous support of our Annual Fund and Backstage at the Geffen. Donors are listed at the Associate level and higher for gifts made between September 1, 2019, and December 21, 2021. In appreciation, donors enjoy a host of special benefits including house seats, complimentary drinks, receptions, and much more. For more information, please call Christine Drew Benjamin at 310.208.6500 ext. 195. ANGELS
ARTISTIC CIRCLE
Anonymous (2)
Anonymous Jack & Hilary Angelo City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs Robin Dearden & Bryan Cranston The Walt Disney Company Joyce Eisenberg-Keefer & Melvin Keefer Carol & Paul Frimmer Herbert M. & Beverly J. Gelfand The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Patty Glaser & Sam Mudie Samantha & Eric Heer Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation Cindy & Alan Horn Marcia Israel Foundation, Inc. LA County Department of Arts and Culture Laurents / Hatcher Foundation Paramount Pictures The Edward A. & Ai O Shay Family Foundation Stanley Iezman & Nancy Stark State of California, Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development Judith & Bruce Stern STK Steakhouse Kevyn Wynn
$100,000+
Kevin & Claudia Bright City National Bank Mary Ann Cloyd Louise & Dr. Brad Edgerton Edgerton Foundation David Geffen Foundation The Adi & Jerry Greenberg Foundation Martha Henderson Marilyn & Jeffrey Katzenberg Marilyn & Jeffrey Katzenberg Fund for Arts Education at the Geffen Playhouse Loretta Everett Kaufman & Victor Kaufman Jerry & Terri Kohl Linda Bernstein Rubin & Tony Rubin Matt Shakman & Maggie Malone Shubert Foundation Kate Capshaw & Steven Spielberg Jodi & Howard Tenenbaum UCLA UCLA Health
CHAIRMANʾS CIRCLE $50,000 – $99,999
California Arts Council Elizabeth & Gil Cates, Jr. Dwight Stuart Youth Fund Ben/Joyce Eisenberg Foundation Fay & Frank Mancuso John McCrite & Juan Lopez Donna McKenna & Flynn Chernos Tina & Jerry Moss / The Moss Foundation Kenneth T. & Eileen L. Norris Foundation Ralph M. Parsons Foundation Madeline & Bruce Ramer Holly Rice & Vince Gilligan Allen Blue & Kira Snyder Shel & Cynthia Stone Miranda & Brett Tollman Ken Willner & Jim Stine The Elaine P. Wynn & Family Foundation Judy & Chancellor Charles E. Young Dirk & Natasha Ziff
$25,000 – $49,999
PRODUCER
$10,000 – $24,999 Eva Aaronson & Bucky Hazan Pat & Sandy Adams Patricia Kiernan Applegate Audi of America, Inc. Hank Azaria Cathy & Shel Bachrach The Hilaria & Alec Baldwin Foundation Mary Bianco & The MOCA Foundation The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation Cindy & Bob Broder Eileen & Harold Brown Marcy Carsey Stephanie & Jonathan Carson Marc Cherry Comcast NBCUniversal Merle Dandridge Martha De Laurentiis & Randy Sherman M.D. Dr. & Mrs. Paul Eisenberg Bonnie E. Eskenazi Eric Flamholtz & Yvonne Randle
Susan & Mark Fleischer Susan Nahley Fleishman Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea Fox Entertainment Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown & Passman, Inc. Ann & Jim Gianopulos Michael Golamco Goldman Sachs Marcy & Edgar Gross Bryan Hawkins In Memory of Morris A. Hazan ICM Partners Liberty Ross & Jimmy Iovine Peggy Jones & Parise Livanos Glorya Kaufman Julie & David Kavner Kathleen Kennedy & Frank Marshall Willette & Manny Klausner LA Unified School District Lyn & Norman Lear Carla Malden & Norman Beil In Memory of Ginny Mancini Wendy & Barry Meyer Ron Meyer Anonymous Stephen Muller & Donna Baldwin Conan & Liza O’Brien Mo Ostin Soundis & Danny Passman Judith Reichman, MD Pamela Robinson Hollander & Robert Hollander Fredric D. Rosen & Nadine SchiffRosen Family Foundation The Rosenthal Family Foundation Thomas L. Safran Salesforce Hon. Nicole A. Avant & Ted Sarandos Carol ‘Jackie’ & Charles Schwartz The Schwartzberg Family Jessica & Jerry Seinfeld Richard & Barbara Sherman Marcia & Robert Shuwarger The Simms/Mann Family Foundation Sony Pictures Entertainment Wendy Stark Steve Tisch Daniel Tongbai & Henry Clancy U.S. Bank Foundation Joanne & Ken Weinman Aurora & Marc Weinstock Tetiana Wey Stretto David Zuckerman G E F F E N P L AY H O U S E 2 3
ANNUAL DONORS DIRECTOR
$5,000 – $9,999 Jehan F. Agrama & Dwora Fried In Honor of Laura Alpert AMD American Financial Services Bank of America Pamela & Dennis Beck Carolyn Benson Nancy Better Stanley & Joyce Black Family Foundation Ellen Brast Mara W. Breech Foundation Robert Brook & Jacqueline Kosecoff Butterfly Equity Captive8 Glenn & Lynn Cardoso Lisa Chambers Mary Jo & Caleb Deschanel Susan & Jonathan Dolgen Lauren Shuler Donner Donna Dubinsky Fielding Edlow & Larry Clarke Eisner Foundation Alexis Elguera Eric Felder Lisa Field, Field Family Foundation Erika Fiore A.B. Fischer Kimiko Fox Mimi & Marvin Freedman Sonia & Robert Freedman and Family Steve Freedman & Helen Sideris Bob & Diana Friedman Mary Garbesi Kiki & David Gindler Waterman & Glicksteen Families MaryAnn & Irwin Gold Dr. Irene Goldenberg Diane Goldman/Martin Lawrence Galleries Lori & Ken Goldman Greenberg Glusker LLP Greenberg Traurig Jill Grey Alexander & Katie & Grey Grosvenor Star Gutman Cindy Hanson Jed Heller/Insight Partners Tran Ho Mellody Hobson / Ariel Investments, LLC Ann Husvar Impossible Ventures Sir Elton John & David Furnish Kat Judd David & Martha Kadue Mannon Kaplan Geoff Keighley Laura Kennedy Kinder Morgan Foundation Kitty Hawk Kling Family Foundation / Allen & Jessica Kling Eric Knoben Cindi Krippendorf Wendy Kurtzman 24 P L AY B I L L
Jamie Kwiatek L & N Andreas Foundation Adam Lagosz Marnie Larkin Leo S. Guthman Fund Lexington Partners Lord Miller Inc. Padma & Rao Makineni Stewart Mayeda Nancy & Michael McClelland Merle & Jerry Measer Hillary Messenger Microsoft Marcia & Brett Molotsky Rio & Frank Morse Niantic, Inc. Eileen Nugent Rob O’Neill & Shawn M. Anderson Benedicta & Geoffry Oblath Carol & Bill Ouchi Paradigm Talent Agency Laurie MacDonald & Walter Parkes PCCP, LLC Cheryl Petersen & Roger Lustberg Madison Wells Media Allison & Birk Rawlings Drew & Laura Roder Ropes & Gray LLP The Michael Schwab Family Steve & Paula Mae Schwartz D.E. Shaw & Co. LP Jane Silfen Gussie Paster Sitkin Diana Siu Slaack Productions Jane Rissman & Richard Sondheimer Nancy Heller & Fred Specktor TJ Tang Heather Thomas & Skip Brittenham Karen Zoller, M.D. & David Tillman, M.D. William & Karen Timberlake Timken Museum of Art San Diego Olympus Theatricals TM Financial Forensics, LLC Town & Country Event Rentals Davis Wright Tremaine LLP Gayle & Barry Tyerman Valor Capital Group Andrew Van Der Laan Village Global Management Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz Dannelle Ward / Acropolis Investment Management Kelsey Wasilewski The Wasserman Foundation The Waterman Family Foundation Laura Weir Benjamin Weisman Sandra Willen Rita Wilson & Tom Hanks Terry Wilson Karen & Rick Wolfen YPO BC YPO Gold Los Angeles Chapter YPO Golden West Gold In Loving Memory of Herman Ziegler
SPONSOR
$3,000 – $4,999 Anonymous Janis Adams & John Lyons Alligator Pear Catering Aversa Foundation Robert E. & Maria H. Barron David Bartman Beam Suntory Madelyn Bennett & Eric Gibson Paula & Bruce Bennett Shelly & Libby Bergen Laurie Bernhard Susan Bloch-Kay & Stephen Kay Susan J. Booth & Christopher Wadden Thomas & Nancy Boxwell VJ Boyd Helen Breitwieser & James Jacks The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation Linda & Jerry Bruckheimer Carillon Miami Wellness Resort Adam & Lin Cheyer Ellyce R. Cooper & Barry Cohen / Sidley Austin LLP Scott, Susan & Joshua Corwin Chris Daily Lawrence N. Field Lisa Firestone & Caspar Von Winterfeldt Larry Gagosian Sue & Steve Glusker Karney Guren Family Foundation Madeline Gussman John & Ann Daly Gustafson Michael Hayden Gallery Stephen Sass & Steven Hochstadt Vicki Iovine & David Coiro Lenny & David Kelton Mindy Kirshner Freedman Marla & Daniel Klein Thea & Neal Koss Nancy Koven David & Tam Lachoff Joyce Lederer & Family Renee & Meyer Luskin Vicki Magasinn & Robert Somer Jane & Rand Marlis Jill Mazursky Sheila & Joel Mendelsohn Robin Mitchel & Kathleen Marshall Morgan Stanley Bruce Nowel Michael R. Oppenheim The Perry Family Kimberly Steward & Josh Godfrey / Steward Family Foundation Jennifer von Schneidau Mike Weinstock Leslie White & Al Limon Susan & Dan White
PARTNER
$1,500 – $2,999 Anonymous Miriam Aguiar Olga S. Alderson Dr. & Mrs. Bruce Allen
ANNUAL DONORS AnonyMoose Foundation Dr. Peter H. & Nancy V. Antoniou Amy Arenson Daniel & Diana Attias Basch Family Foundation Shelley & Rick Bayer Yvette Bergeron & Dean Bailey Joe Blackstone & Jamie Mohn Mara & Jonathan Blum Blumhouse Dr. Wallace P. Brithinee James L. Brooks Jay Butterfield & Susan Ewert Kristen & Jake Carlson Lexy & John Carroll Kasey Carrothers Candy Carstensen Steven Cerasale & Mary Katherine Cocharo Jo Champa Darcy & Dean Christal Cindy Clark Linda & John Coleman Lori & Jerry Collins Phil Davis Noah Dinkin Rich & Christina Doren Anne Dougherty Jacki & Murray Drechsler Ed & Barbara Dreyfus Victoria Dummer Edward Avedis Fine Jewelry David Edwards Eric Eisner Trust David & Joyce Evans Michael Faber Barbara Fairchild Patti Felker Anita Dann Friedman & Harvey Friedman G2 Graphic Service, Inc. Charlotte Gold Linda & Louis Goldsman Kelly Gonda Manuela & James Goren Barry Gribble Jack Grossbart & Marc Schwartz Penny Grosz & Eugene Korney The Guerin Foundation Deidre Hall Lynda & Neal Hersh Jean Himmelstein Rand Hoffman & Charlotte Robinson Gail & Stanley Hollander Linda Janger Deborah & Ivan Kallick Meg & Lawrence Kasdan Trisha Kelley Corrinne Mann Kempinsky & Louis Kempinsky
Katherine Kleindienst & Marc Goldsmith Latham & Watkins Carol Leif & Jeff Parker Lydia & Chuck Levy Trini Lewis Elisabeth & Jeff Lipsman Judith Locke The Malins Family Foundation Sue & Anthony Marguleas Sharon Shelton & John Mazziotta Sue McHugh & Herb Seese Cookie Miller Jonathan Moonves John Murphy Oaktree Capital Mgmt. Tal Oren & Liana Morgado-Oren Carol & Alan Ostroff In Memory of Robert & Stephen Paskus PC Communications Group Zak Penn Daniel & Denise Perlstein Stephen Philibosian Foundation Craig Piligian Ruth Popkin Clark & Kathryn Porter Drs. Laurence & Isabell Purdy Joyce & Harvey Reichard Pamela Ribon Douglas Robinson Louis & Laura Rohl Nancy Stephens & Rick Rosenthal and The Rosenthal Family Foundation Seymour Rosenwasser & Sue Weiss Rosenwasser Wil Rosser Ajay Sahgal David Schwartz Foundation, Inc. Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc. Kristen & Emil Smith Eshaya Snyder Family Foundation Drs. Matthew & Marion Solomon Jonathan St. Clair Mitch & Sherry Stein Nora Stines Eric Strom & Eileen Goodis Deborah Tavlin Franklin David Tell Catherine & Leonard Unger Union Bank Kathryn & Alan Van Vliet Peter & Denise Walsh Julie & Peter Weil Gelena & Seth Weissman Alison Whalen & Steve Marenberg Chris Williams
Fred Wolf Dean Zander Marcie & Howard Zelikow Ellen & Arnold Zetcher
EDUCATION ADVOCATE $1,000 – $1,499
Anonymous Harry & Gay Abrams / Abrams Artists Agency Dr. Richard Ackerman & Miriam Shakter Jan & David Altemus Eva Anderson Margaret Campbell Arvey Elissa & Scott Ashwood Tom Bajoras Peter & Barbara Benedek Dr. Joan Denson & Dr. Victoria Berck Wendy & John Bergquist Diane & James Berliner Mrs. Carol K. Block & Chancellor Gene D. Block Brenda & Alan Borstein Nina & Hon. Anthony Borwick Broadway Wine Club Janet & Mark Brown Diana Buckhantz and the Vladimir and Araxia Buckhantz Foundation C&O Trattoria Chancellor Albert Carnesale & Mrs. Robin Carnesale Margaret Casey Jane Cates Shelby & Lee Chaden Danny & Lisa CharnesSarokin Sachiko T. Cochran M.D. & Joseph T. Araki Honorable Candace Cooper Terri ann Cooper Konheim Jen Crittenden & Bill Wrubel Donald DeBrier Jan & Thea Drayer Dr. & Mrs. William M. Duxler Roni & Ethan Eller Steve Elson Elizabeth A. Evans Bill Fagerbakke Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Lynne & Michael Feldman Susanna Felleman & Erik Feig Ralph Finerman Burt & Nanette Forester Steven Forness In Honor of Frank & Betty Fouce Joan & Charles Fox Grant Friedman Susan & Ben Friedman Tomas Fuller & William Kelly Pat & Sandy Gage Diane & Bruce Gewertz
Cherna & Dr. Gary Gitnick The Glass Family Hannah & Barrie Godwin Roz & Abner Goldstine Ellie Goodman Jonathan Greenberg Jill Grigsby & Rett Bull Harris Family Foundation Scott Hartle Murray & Gail Heltzer Zvia Hempling Jackson Henry Richard Rasiej & Joan Herman Robin & Edgar Hirst Dr. John D. Hofbauer & Dr. Laura E. Fox Rob & Cassie Holmes Linda Burrow & John Horn Roger & Linda Howard Lynn Hunt & Margaret Jacob Gary T. Izumi Victoria Jackson & Bill Guthy Nancy & Len Jacoby Carla Janzen Carrie Johnson Yvonne & Damien Jordan Linda & David Kagel Mark Kaplan Sally & Dr. Manny J. Karbelnig Patricia Keating King Nutronics Corporation Christopher Klapp Barton H. Kogan Norman Koplof & Leslie Falick Carol Krause Lena & Mark Labowe Sheila & Aaron Leibovic Steven & Nancy Lippman In Memory of Effie Lucero & Anne Ettinger Martin S Appel Survivors Trust David Israeli & Dr. Marie Mazzone Sheri & Jim McCashin The McCray Foundation Jeanne McDonald-Powers & Travis Powers James & Ana Miles Family Foundation Andrew & Laura Mintzer Thaine & Elizabeth Morris Craig Morrison Dr. Paula C. Moseley Ron Myrick Mieke & Spencer Neumann Albert & Barbara Nichols Deborah & Stacey Olliff Ornest Family Foundation London, Alex & Marty Padilla Gia Paladino & Michael Wise Jacalyn & Paul Pepperman Carolyn A. Poer & John M. Poer Gary & Gail Rachelefsky G E F F E N P L AY H O U S E 2 5
ANNUAL DONORS Rabbi Steven & Didi Carr Reuben Dr. Robert Rigg Leslie & Doug Robinson Dolores Rogers Allison & Bennett Rosenthal Peymaneh Rothstein & Emad Asfoury Philip & Janet Rotner Lori & David Rousso David A. & Karen Richards Sachs Allen Sackler Nancy & Ted Sanborn Gerald Sauer Schneider Charitable Fund Jane & Bill Schopf Susan Schwarz & Stuart Berton Peggy & Robert Shapiro John Shaw Sherry Lansing Foundation Robin & Robert L. Sills Ron Silverman & Soraya Ross Randi & Rand Singer Amy Jo & Jeff Smith Ronald Smith Aaron & Ross Smith-Knight Jerome & Joan Snyder John Sonego & Thomas Faughnan Tom & Melanie Staggs Melora Sundt & Rob Kadota Anna M. Swanson & Mark Eyles Theodore H. Sweetser Rose Tarlow The Tatasciore Family Anne C. Taubman & David Boyle James Taylor & Stephanie Garcia John M. Teeples & Nicolas Martinez, Jr. Marjorie Thomson Tito + Craig John Turmes Leon & Stephanie Vahn Daniel & Shauna Valenzuela Marcia & Charles Wasserman Ph.D Jennifer Weiser In Honor of Sid & Sheila Weiss John & Connie Weston In Loving Memory of Gareth Wigan Mark Williams Judith & Philip Winik Karen & Gary Winnick Cherie Wrigley Richard Yaffe Dr. Stephen & Dr. Anna Yallourakis Linda Yellin David Young Alissa & Jordan Zachary Shoshana & Parham Zar Bobbi & Walter Zifkin 2 6 P L AY B I L L
ARTISTIC ADVOCATE $500 – $999
Anonymous (6) Toshka & Norman Abrams Elaine & Michael Agran Sylvia Almstadt Henry Alpert Claudia Apelfeld Bonnie R. Arnold David & Linda Atkinson Don Bacigalupi Marsha & Philip Bartenetti Judith & Thomas Beckmen Patricia & Mark Benjamin Dr. Lindsey Bergman Michael J. Bordy The Bordy & Leibovic Families Christopher Bower Carol J. Bradshaw Paula Brand Sandy & Mayer Brenner Marlene Bronson Laurrie Brooke Katherine Brown Mary Ellen Callahan Tom & Patricia Camp Anthony Carbone Sean & Martha Carey Family Sylvie & Peter Cartmell Julianna & William Cellini Julie Chait James Clark Laurel & Aaron Clark Becky & Mike Clements Dr. Mara Cohen Ginger Conrad Jeremy Coon Ted Cordes & Bill Derby Bruce Cormicle Joanna Davis Julie & Don Davis Clare Davis Dale Dickey Stephen Duncan Jim Esserman Michael Warady & Anna Fiastro Brian & Krista Fleming Charles Flippen Lynne & Michael Flynn Carol & John Fox Joanne Freed Kenneth J. Friedman & Marilynn J. Friedman Family Foundation Diane Futterman Lois Gallop Sharlene & Sol Galper GE Foundation Benita & Bert Ginsberg Tina & Michael Gittelson Ellen & Reginald Golla Lori & Robert Goodman Adrienne Grant & Paul Jennings Shelley Hill Grant Gaby & Rob Greenberg
Dean Haas Richard Hart Mary Hartley Drex Heikes Hella Hershson Winifred C Hervey Lynne & Michael Heslov Mrs. Dorothy Hoffman Paul Gordon Hoffman & Sue Caren Hoffman Kelley M. Hogan Glenn Howerton IBM Corp. Dr. Nancy B. Irwin Brenda Marie Izzi Brett Johnson Dr. Carole & David Jones Judith & Steaven Jones Linda Kaplan Lee Kaufman Beverlee Bickmore & James Kelly William & Renee Kendall Nancy Kenney Sharon Kerson Ann & Jonathan Kirsch Dr. Leonard & Stella S. Kleinrock Dorothy Klinger Sharon & Joel Koppelman Lisa Korbatov Millicent Sanchez Hisao Kushi Deborah Lacusta & Daniel Castellaneta Gustavo Lamanna Christo & Jeanne Lavagnino David Lee Jason & Yvonne Lee Ann Leland Marla E. Levine Angela & Jonathan Light Jeffrey Lipp Fran & David Loew Robert Lohmer Tracy Cohen & William Ludel Sarah Coade Mandell & Peter Mandell Deborah Marsten John Massa Kathy & Jim McCaffery Vickie McCorkendale Stephen McFeely Anne McGrail & Ann Donahue Christina Medigovich Cara Gardenswartz & David Melnick Nick & Vaughan Meyer Norma & Larry Meyers Joan & Phil Miller Lee & Jeff Milman Mintz Family Fund Sue & Monty Mohrman Laurie & Chuck Mondrus Ms. Janet Moore Charitable Trust John Moschitta, Jr. Sharon Norris Charles Owens
Ralph Page Carol Parry & John Fox Naidu & Jane Permaul Tami Pflug The Poker People Astrid & Howard Preston Ron Rafay Catherine Raneri Rollin Ransom & Chris Lacroix Fred & Denise Reimer Carol Risher Ronda & Fred Rose Peter Rose Barry Rosen & Neil Bokal David & Susan Rosenblum Edward Rubinstein Arlene & Peter Sacks Susan & Kenneth Sarno Lorin Schiff Joel & Sonia Schneider Nancy & Steven Schneider Sonia Schneider Susan & Peter Schwab In Memory of Sylvester Scott & Barbara Hill John H. Scott Dr. & Mrs. P.K. Shah Melanie Sharp & Kevin Miller Mary Sheibani In Memory of Michael Sherman Rita & Jose Sigal Manish Singh Karen & Bill Skinner Bradley Small Diane Good & Frank Smith Chris Sorgi South Pasadena Arts and Music Academy Jan Spiegel Jill & Scott Spiwak Sarah Stegemoeller Sandra Stewart In Memory of Lawrence Strange Dr. Margaret Stuber Robert & Kristie Svaleson Mr. & Mrs. David Tann Audri & Stan Tendler Andrea & David Tenenbaum Tina Tepper David & Cathy Thomas Brigitta Troy Richard Vance Ira & Laurie Waldman Bradley & Natalie Wallace Deborah Walsh Carl Weathers Barry Weissler Blake West Elizabeth Wheat JoBeth Williams Delores Komar & Susan Wolford Jack S. Yeh Marc Zachary
ANNUAL DONORS ASSOCIATE $250 – $499
Anonymous (7) Terry & Richard Abrams Barbara Adams Loren Adams Shannon Ahl Bette & Wylie Aitken Geraldine & Harold Alden Charles & Annick Allen Debra Alpert Eden Alpert Laura & Harvey Alpert Charitable Foundation Robert C. Anderson Peter Anderson Jon Anderson Eloise & Mark Appel Joseph D. Argilagos Barbara & Ethan Aronoff Judith Ashmann-Gerst & Robert Gerst Behnaz Ataee Lisa Austin Elizabeth & Marc Axelrod Mike & Kim Baginski Cecilia Ball Cindy & Jeff Ballard Donald Balzano Thomas Barad Penny Bard John & Bree Bedford Karen Bell & Robb Cox Marshall Bell Anthony Bellasalma & Susan B. Katz Jeme Benadon Benevity Joanne & Miles Benickes Leslie Berger Karen Berko-Gibson Barbara Berkowitz Marsha C. Berkowitz John Bjorge & Mary McKelvey Marilyn R. Blacker Deborah Blake Marjorie Blatt Bonnie & Cary Blume Ruthven & Hannah Bonaparte Toby Bornstein Jill Boyd & Jarid Sumner Doug & Arlene Braun Howard Brightman The Broderick Family Raegan Brunson Marshall Bull Kimberly & Mark Burstein Laura D. Campbell Karla Campbell Steven & Ellie Campbell Marlene & David Capell Lorena Carlson Richard Cassese Ellen Castleman The Claman/Cates Family
Valarie de la Garza & Michael Centeno Sandra Chan & Richard Pezner Martha J. Chase Diane Chernansky Nancy Chess The Chisolm Family Caroline Choi Lori Christopher Shirley Churgin Jessica & Frederick Lodge Steven Clayman Pam Coats Carl Cohn Jennifer Colantuoni Els Collins Lynn Comer Nessa Cooper Heidi Jo Corey Tonia Corwin Norman & Nancy Cravens Rosella Forte Shawn Cunningham In Loving Memory of Ed Cypert Muriel Dance & Alvin Martin Steven & Linda Darling Susan Dashe Jeffrey & Louise Davis Elizabeth De Oliveira & Moacyr Da Silva Bert Deixler Judith Delafield Hal & Roberta Delevie Gayle & Dan Devin Gina DiBona Kristin Diehl Daryl & Paul F. Doucette Linda Dozier The Milton L. & Betty J. Dranow Family Foundation Kay & Larry Driscoll Jane DuBovy Brian Duffield Tom & Diane Duralde Michael East & Tanisha Gonzalez Richard Eden Ken Egel & Liz Wiegardt Joan & Jerry Elledge Colleen M. Ellis Terri & David Elston Carl & Courtenay Enright Lidia & Mauricio Epelbaum Rena & Peter Falk Stephen Falk Carol Fatuzzo Wilbur Faulk Francesco Federico & Lauren Wilson Diedre Feehan Terry Feuerborn Lisa & William Finkelstein Billy Finnegan Ruth Fisher Elisabeth Fleischman
Geralyn Flood Melissa Ford Christopher & Claire Forsyth Dennis & Jackie Fox Dr. Scott C. Fraser Fran Fredella Amyanne Freeburg Elaine & Larry Friedman Jean & Jerome Friedman Lynn & Barry Friesen Catherine Froloff Laurelle Frome & Brady Frome Mr. Scot McIntosh & Dr. Ruchira Garg Corinne B. Garson Henry Gayden Daniel Giesberg Jarrod Gilbreath Priscila Giraldo Linda & Tom Givvin Lori Glickman Lorain Goldberg Francine Golden & Marvin Schlossman The Goldfarbs Adam Goldman Gretchen Goldsmith Julie Clayton Goldsmith Dina Goldstein AnaAlicia Gonzalez Jay Gordon & Meyera Robbins Roger Gordon Helen Goss Liz Gottainer & David Sadkin Andrea Gozali Howard Gradet Michael A. Green Madelyne & Jerry Green Trudi Green Jana & Randall Greer Kimberly Grieger Edwin & Cecile Gromis Vera & Paul Guerin Annika Guy Eve Haberfield & David N. Johnson Ross & Lindsey Avner Louise Halevy & Kenneth Erlich Mary & Alan Halkett Pamela Halle Jeff Haller Susan Harbert Chris Hardeman Susan & Norm Harper Barbara Harris-Holdrege Lorraine Hartman Brian & Karen Hatch Erica & Madison Hatchett Diane Haun Kam Hekmat Jacqueline Heller & Gabriel Kahana Dr. Felicia D. Henderson Sue Herbers
Carla & Alan A. Herd Michael & Candie Herman Gary & Jane Hewer Jerry Higgins Karen Higgins Penny Hildebrand Jack Hileman & Roxanne Huddleston Cina Hodges Mike & Wanda Hogan Melvin Horowitz Ada & Jim Horwich Tamara Horwich & Gerry Lipshutz Sofie Howard Sharon Ignarro Katherine Immerman Michael Infiesto Jackie & Warren Jackson In Memory of Joseph Jacobs Frederic A. & Nancy Jacobus Marcie & Marc J. Jacoby Mr. & Mrs. Buford James Stephen & Erica Jamieson Jewish Communal Fund Sheila Johnson-Brousseau Philip Angerhofer & Stephen A. Jones Arlene Kageyama Joanne & Larry Kahn Isabel Kallman Jessica Kaltman & Robert Reznik Julia Kantrowitz Victoria Kapitany Mr. & Mrs. Eran & Raquel Karoly Michael Karon Joanna Kasirer Harris Katleman Owen Kato Geoffrey Evans & Bernard Katz Jim Keily Dr. Louanne Kennedy Stuart Kessler Sarah Kilpatrick Cynthia King Phyllis H. Klein Leana Kleinman & Jerald Johnson Patricia Klous Chad Kojorui Charles Kolstad The Kriloff Family Charles Kristenson Barbara Kroll & Ruth Spielman Kimberly Kruse Lynne Lainer Mona Lands John & Sandra Langfitt Donald LaPlante Joan Larkin Jill & Michael Lasky Mindy Lauerlevin & Ed Levin G E F F E N P L AY H O U S E 2 7
ANNUAL DONORS Alyce LaViolette Pamela Lawler Rhonda Lawrence Miriam & Eli Lebental Doreen & Bruce Leddy Mark Leonard Johanna Leovey Jerry & Eve Lerman Learning Encounters / Valerie & Pamela Lev Rick & Vivian Levy Josh Lewensohn & Katia Benthale Lawrin & Linda Lewin Leslie Lian Mae & Hugh Lichtig David Lieberman Joanne Lindsay Hannah Linkenhoker & Carter Cohn Andria Litto Leslie & Adam Lobel The Taylor Family Foundation Karen & Walter Loewenstern Renee Lonner Bryan Lourd Mr. Eric Lund Elizabeth Luster Morgan MacDouglas Paul Madwin Mactarun & Risha Malik Jain Malkin Eric & Eva Plaza Mandel Jeannette & Mervyn Mandelbaum Annette Marmalefsky Phillips & Emily Marshall Gina Martino Laura Maslon Phyllis & Bert Massing Doug & Cindy Maxwell George Mayer Douglas McAvoy, Jr. Kathleen McCarthy John McClure Kelly McDevitt Joel & Sherry McKuin Barbara McLoughlin Kathleen McMullin Sharon McQueen Jay Melnick Cynthia Melville Anupama Menon Eileen & Paul Meshekow Mary Meyer For Everett Mikelich In Memory of Gregory Millar Julie Miller-Phipps Teddie J. Milner Adriana Kahane & Pino Modica Denise V. Moore Suzanne Morrel Howard J. Morris Dr. Brian Morrow Lon Morse & Toni Hollander Morse Linda Muccitelli 2 8 P L AY B I L L
Cynthia Murphy Anita Nagler Michael & Delight Nasatir Bonnie Nash Stephen Nathan David Neilan Sherri & Arnie Nelson Paulette & Ron Nessim Tom Nevermann Dan Newman Andrew Newman Qui Nguyen & Abby Marcus Helen Nightengale Robert & Anita Nitta Doreen & Donald Nortman Susan Oka Louise Olin Adrienne & Arthur Omansky Dr. Ronald & Iris Onkin Martin Ordman Janie & Allan Orenstein Stefan Otto Sharon Oxborough Ron Ozur & Nancy Lahana Jorge Paganin Steven Papazian Sylvia & Robert Paris Edward Parker Sun Parmeshwaran Kelly & Abhilash Patel Paul & Kathy Pearlson Mr. & Dr. Don Pestana Susan Petelik Dr. David B Peterson Leo & Nina Pircher Vanessa Pizzuto Darcy Pollack Jack & Jane Pollock Cory Popovich Heather M. Porter Susan Poulson Sam Puathasnanon Paul Quaranto Dr. Stephen & Lani Rabin Joann Ralphs Joan Ransohoff Gloria & Michael Rausch Mike Rausch Kay & Bob Rehme Elyse Resch Mike Resnick Janice & Benjamin Reznik Sheena M. Ricchio Linda & Erin Rice Jason Ritter Lindy Robbins Jaime & Linda Rodriguez Julie Rogers Robert Rosania Brad & Nancy Rosenberg Margaret Rosenthal Douglas Ross Brad Ross Laurie Ross Lawrence Ross & Linda Nussbaum Terry Ross Dr. Diane & Michael Glazer Becca Rothschild
Mindy Rutigliano Liz Ryan Terry Ryan Anne Sacks Nancy Sacks Noriko Salamon Susan & Wayne San Filippo Tawny & Jerry Sanders Jennifer Saunders Maxine Savitz Cliff & Linda Schaffer Mary Lou Schanche Carole & Michael Scheinberg Melanie Scher Chris T. Schmidt Jamie Schmidt Marilyn Schmitter Stanley Schneider Renee Schnell Ian Schorvitz Toni & John Schulman Heidi & Mickey Schulman Linda Schwarz Marc Scott Marc Seltzer Morton & Marjorie Hansen Shaevitz Roy Shaked Lisa Shalet Eric Shalov Barbara Vickery & Martin Shapiro Robin Share Tom & Judy Sharp Muriel F. Sherman Alex & Ben Dashwood George Shohet Stuart Siegel Elizabeth Silberlicht Nancy & Bruce Silverman In Honor of Daniel Robaire David B. Simons In Memory of Ross Hunter & Jacque Mapes Sandra & Irwin Sitkoff Marlene Sklar & Joel Moskowitz Leah Sklar Steve Slaughter Ethan & Joanna Smith Jon Snow Susan Solomon Melvin Spears Debra Spector Alice Cortez & Richard Spitzer Donald Spradlin Elina Srulevitch-Chin Andrea & David Stanley M Leslie Stearns Cydney Stewart
Frances & Sy Strasberg Frances Strasberg Arthur Streeter Mr. Kayser Sume & Dr. Renee Sabshin Ann & Paul Sunderland Katherine Sung Neely & Larry Swanson Robin & David Swartz Andrea & Jay Swerdlow Susan Szambelan Katherine Szopa Joanne Takahashi Lance & Maureen Tan Ilisa E. Tanner Christine Tarr Tenenbaums & Schoenfelds David Tepper The Thayer Family Allison Thomas Natalie & Matthew Thompson Rebecca Thyret Judy & Art Tompkins William Toth Joyce & Josh Trabulus Barbara Tuchi Karen Van Kirk Maureen Vana Robin Venturelli Julia Wackenheim Ann Wallace William Wallace Fern Wallach Chris Walther Louise Wannier Barry Ward Jill Waterman Gerald Watkins Julie Waxman Kelly Weber Williams Donna Weiss Marsha & Steven Weiss Teresa & Bill White Mr. & Mrs. Mark Whitman Aaron Widera Mike Williams Rae Jeane Williams WME Albert Wolsky Karen Woo Jennifer & Randy Wooster Lisa Yen & Tom Bajoras Arnold & Tricia Zane Diane Zapach David & Christine ZeBrack Steven Ziel Dr. & Mrs. Darin Detwiler Laura Zucker & Allan Miller Sandy Zwirn
HAVE WE MADE AN ERROR?
To report a misspelling or omission in these listings, please contact the Development department at 310.208.6500 ext. 195
Matt Shakman
Gil Cates, Jr.
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
ARTISTIC
Amy Levinson Associate Artistic Director Daniel Ionazzi Producer Ross Jackson Artistic Producer Phyllis Schuringa Artistic Associate / Casting Director Rachel Wiegardt-Egel Director of New Play Development Abby Weston-Mark Company Manager Carly Plasha Assistant to the Artistic Director
PRODUCTION
Isaac Katzanek Production Manager Jill Barnes Production Office Manager Evan Friedman Technical Director Patty Squibb Assistant Technical Director Alexandre Norkus Gil Cates Theater Stage Supervisor Tyler Brogla Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater Stage Supervisor Rick Gilles Properties Master Karin Rabe Associate Properties Master Audrey Lastar Costume Supervisor Sarah Lindsley Wardrobe Supervisor Andrew Vance Lighting & Projection Supervisor Julie Cowger Assistant Lighting Supervisor James Grabowski House Sound Supervisor Jake Delgado Associate House Sound Supervisor
ADMINISTRATION
Behnaz Ataee Chief Financial Officer Berenice Campos Director of Human Resources Peter Banachowski Accounting Manager Nova George Staff Accountant & Payroll Manager Clay Dzygun Office Coordinator Marguerite Harris Receptionist
DEVELOPMENT
Danielle Bearden-Mead Interim Director of Development Jessica Brusilow Rollins Director of Institutional Giving Mark San Filippo Director of Donor Stewardship Christine Drew Benjamin Assistant Director of Institutional Giving Allie Reasol Development Assistant
EDUCATION
Dawn Robinson-Patrick Director of Education & Community Engagement Brian Allman Manager of Theater Education Rudy King Manager of Community Engagement Paloma Nozicka Education Associate Sean Michael Boozer, DeJuan Christopher Conner, Lyssa Deehan, Ramy El-Etreby, Elisa Noemí, Tara Ricasa, Maddy Wagner Teaching Artists
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS
Patrick Brown Director of Marketing Zenon Dmytryk Director of Communications Karen Gutierrez Director of Advertising & Audience Development Brian Dunning Director of Content & Creative Zack Hamra Associate Director of Audience Services & Ticketing Kevin O’Brien Marketing Manager Georgia Arnold Social Media & Communications Manager Janice Bernal Box Office Manager Alyssa Tyson Box Office Manager
Lexy McAvinchey Assistant Box Office Manager & House Seat Manager Vaneh Assadourian, Brianna Barrett, Alan Kistler, Lauren Machain, Sara Turken, Yua Watanabe Box Office Staff
FRONT OF HOUSE
Jeni Pearsons Director of Operations Mel Yonzon Front of House Manager Amy Farkas Lead Concierge Rob Mersola Event Manager Adam Carr Hospitality Captain Bella Luna, Anya Pryjmak, Emir Yonzon Part Time House Managers Sam Baker, Sigourney Chin, Sarah Chute, Savanna Chute, Ki Duncan, Tony Jose Garcia, Taylor McClain Guest Services Brynn Allen, Hannah Battersby, Blaire Battle, Lauren Curet, Sydney Fleischman, Aja Hinds, Clayton McInerney, Austin Merrill, Adam Simers, Areaney Tolentino, Titus VanHook, Steven Vargas, Sydney Yockey, Paulyne Youri Ushers
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Karim Bouzzit IT Manager Dream Warrior Group System Administrator
FACILITIES MANAGEMENT
Art Guillen Facilities Manager Martin Ayala, Felipe Ayala Building Maintenance Mario Santillan-Perez Custodial Juan Carlos Umaña, Camerina Martinez Cleaning Custodial
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. Geffen Playhouse, a not-for-profit theater company, is proudly affiliated with the University of California at Los Angeles. G E F F E N P L AY H O U S E 2 9