ASOLO REPERTORY THEATRE WORLD CLASS THEATRE • MADE IN SARASOTA
APRIL 1–24
PREVIEWS MARCH 30 & 31
The 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by AYAD AKHTAR Directed by MICHAEL DONALD EDWARDS
OUR LIVES ON STAGE
AN ASOLO REP PRODUCTION IN THE HISTORIC ASOLO THEATER
ASOLO REPERTORY THEATRE
PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR MICHAEL DONALD EDWARDS
MANAGING DIRECTOR LINDA DIGABRIELE
PROUDLY PRESENTS
By AYAD AKHTAR
Directed by MICHAEL DONALD EDWARDS Scenic Design
Costume Design
Lighting Design
Sound Design
Projection Design
REID THOMPSON
BETH GOLDENBERG
JEN SCHRIEVER
RYAN RUMERY
MICHAEL CLARK
Fight Director
Hair/Wig & Make-Up Design
New York Casting
BRUCE LECURE
MICHELLE HART
HARRIET BASS CASTING
Stage Manager
Dramaturg
Creative Consultant
NIA SCIARRETTA*
LAURYN E. SASSO
PETER AMSTER
Directing Fellow
SHAUN PATRICK TUBBS
Stage Management Apprentice
DAYNE SUNDMAN
Literary Apprentice
DEANIE VALLONE
CAST
in order of appearance
LEE STARK*..............................................................................................................................................................Emily DORIEN MAKHLOGHI*...............................................................................................................................................Amir NIK SADHNANI............................................................................................................................................................Abe JORDAN SOBEL........................................................................................................................................................Isaac BIANCA LaVERNE JONES*.........................................................................................................................................Jory
THE SETTING A spacious apartment on New York’s Upper East Side, 2011-2012. Disgraced will be performed without an intermission.
A discussion of the play will follow the performance. Suggested for mature audiences. Contains strong language and physical violence. Disgraced was developed in part at the New Writers New Plays residency at Vineyard Arts Project (Ashley Melone, Founder and Artistic Director). New York Premiere Produced by Lincoln Center Theater, New York City, 2012 Original Broadway Production produced by The Araca Group, Lincoln Center Theater, Jennifer Evans, Amanda Watkins, Richard Winkler, Rodger Hess, Stephanie P. Mcclelland, Tulchin/Bartner Productions, Jessica Genick, Jonathan Reinis, Carl Levin/Ashley De Simone/TNTDynaMite Productions, Alden Bergson/Rachel Weinstein, Greenleaf Productions, Darren Deverna/Jere Harris, and The Shubert Organization, The David Merrick Arts Foundation Disgraced had its world premiere in January 2012 at American Theater Company, Chicago, Illinois (PJ Paparelli, Artistic Director). Disgraced is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York. *Members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. Directors are members of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society; Designers are members of the United Scenic Artists Local USA-829; Backstage and Scene Shop Crew are members of IATSE Local 412. The video and/or audio recording of this performance by any means whatsoever are strictly prohibited. CO-PRODUCERS
Peggy and Ken Abt • David and Betty-Jean Bavar • Tom and Ann Charters • Beverly L. Koski • Diana Lager Betty Menell • Sean and Melanie Natarajan • Charlotte and Charles Perret Family Trust • Heather Reid and Graham Morris Nikki and Jeff Sedacca • Clare and Rich Segall • Carol and Morton Siegler • Paul and Sharon Steinwachs Mel and Cheryl Taub • Mrs. Edie Winston, in loving memory of Herb Winston • Bill and Margaret Wise • Geri and Ron Yonover CORPORATE SHOW SPONSORS
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A Conversation with Director
MICHAEL DONALD EDWARDS MDE: The more I have lived with the play, and thought about the play, I’ve found that the text concerns itself with a big, painful, incendiary discussion about religion. But that is not what the story is really about. The story is really about identity. How do you become a successful American when you’re from any completely different racial, cultural, or ethnic background? What do you have to give up to become a successful American? How does what you bring to the American project shape it? The play is really about that, and about identity, and that is something everyone can relate to. LS: Akhtar has said Disgraced isn’t autobiographical, but he did experience something similar to a moment in the play when talking with friends about multiculturalism and Muslim identity. He said he saw the “lightbulb” go on in their heads as they began to connect him with the larger idea of “Muslim.” It shifted their perception of who he was – though not necessarily positively or negatively. They just had a whole new identity category for him. MDE: It eclipsed his Americanness. That has been one of the interesting things – to meet and get to know Muslim-Americans who were born here – they are more American than I am. LS: What kind of preparation have you done with the community here?
LS: What drew you to Disgraced and made you feel that you wanted to direct it? What sparked your initial interest and made you feel this was a story that had to be told here and now? MDE: I’ve always been passionately interested in the role of religion in culture. And the theatre has, for me, always somehow represented a way of looking at religion. So I was drawn to the play immediately by virtue of its subject matter – it was insisting on a discussion about how religion is working in our lives right now. It investigates and exposes our preconceptions about religion, our prejudices about religion, and how we are brought up with a sense of absolutes that are destabilized the more we think about them. This play is looking at a very specific, very particular moment in the relationship between the East and the West, between the three great monotheistic religions, and between people as they are living their lives right now in post-9/11 America. LS: When Ayad Akhtar was interviewed by NPR in 2013 about the play, he said “I was not trying to convey some picture of Muslim-American life or to open a window onto a neglected community, representationally…I'm writing about Muslim-American experience, it really is a portal onto a set of themes and preoccupations that are much more enduring and I think much more — at least, hopefully — universal.” Could you expand on that idea?
MDE: I have felt, taking on this show for our theatre, there’s been a set of responsibilities that have become clear. We can’t just put the play on and expect it to connect, because it’s explosive – we have to get people ready. We have to get our community, our supporters, our audience, people who live in Sarasota ready – we want this to be an opportunity for genuine conversation and connection. That has obliged me, and everyone on the staff, to think more deeply about the play, to read more widely about its context. It’s been a wonderful opportunity to do what I love to do, which is read history, and read widely about the context for this play. I found myself reading about the history of Islam, the history of religion itself, the story of tolerance, and the future of tolerance. Preparing to stage the play has reignited my passion for learning. LS: You touched on this briefly already, but why does this play resonate so strongly in a post-9/11 America? What makes this an American story? MDE: Well, the playwright was born in Milwaukee, and the story is set in New York City – the heart of the American project. It dares to take on a conversation many of us would rather turn away from. The complexities involved in identifying with someone else’s point of view have been increasingly difficult to take on, and I think as we look at the idea of the American character and the American project we’re asking – how expansive is it? How much room is there for American citizenship to accommodate everyone? How much room is there in the American project for everyone? Interviewed by Asolo Rep dramaturg Lauryn E. Sasso. DISGRACED ASOLOREP.ORG
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A DEEPER PERSPECTIVE An Interview with Curator Christopher Jones
Those cultures were massive influences throughout
Christopher Jones is Assistant Curator of Exhibitions and the region – early Islamic art often borrowed from these oversees Photography and Works on Paper at the John preexisting traditions and changed them for their own purposes. So, we’re looking at a history of common & Mable Ringling Museum of Art. Recently, Asolo Rep exchange and borrowing. It’s very tricky to point to an dramaturg Lauryn E. Sasso caught up with him to discuss Islamic art that’s pure – there are certainly traditions and the origins and inherent nuances of the concept of ways of creating that became associated with Islamic Islamic art. LS: I know it’s a broad question, but could you talk a bit about the formation and history of the concept of Islamic art? It’s really a Western idea, isn’t it?
societies, but those boundaries between cultures and traditions are quite porous and always have been.
LS: In other words, this cross-pollination was prevalent within various Islamic cultures and – to put it simply – spread outward to European society and then further West.
CJ: Boston Museum of Fine Arts curator Laura Weinstein, who organized the [Ringling’s current] Ink, Silk and Gold CJ: Absolutely. As Islamic communities spread and developed, exhibition, makes this interesting point – this idea of an often religious ideas traveled – there were conversions, there Islamic art is a modern, recent phenomenon. It’s really were conquests – into new cultural areas. Islam arose in an ethnic a construct of European or North American scholars Arab context, but within a few centuries that community spread to and collectors, rather than something thought of by the include other ethnic identities and cultures within the Middle East creators of this material who were working in Islamic and then further out through the Mediterranean area, North Africa, societies for centuries. into Spain even. These cultures that then became part of a larger It also assumes there are discrete, pure cultural traditions Islamic society and community kept their own traditions, which were – when, in fact, the history of Islamic art is full of then often changed to bear the new markers and identities of Islamic exchanges from other cultures – a cross-pollination thought, but those traditions often survived and kept on [in some form]. of motifs and ideas. It gets very tricky when you start LS: In Disgraced, Isaac, a curator, warns Emily, an artist, that she thinking in terms of a “pure” Islamic art. could be accused of Orientalism because of her work. What part When you’re looking at that area – the Arabian does that practice play in these cultural exchanges? Peninsula and the Middle East – the dominant CJ: Often, borrowing across cultures isn’t done on an equal basis. When cultures [of the 7th century] were the Byzantine those exchanges are unequal, there’s certainly an exploitative effect. Also, Empire and the Sasanian Empire, which was a lot of the [European/Western] interest in the Islamic world was to set part of the Persian cultural tradition, centered it in opposition to a European world which was imagined as the bearer in present-day Iran. of progress and rationality. The fantasy was that the Islamic world was ossified in time and its identity was that of irrationality. This patronizing mentality was often used to justify European colonialism. These issues are really complex and they deserve thoughtfulness and discussion, because there is certainly a lot of weight to that charge of Orientalizing. Constructing a Romantic idea of “the Other” and inventing this idea of an Islamic art certainly reflect a nineteenthcentury European mindset. They invented a fantasy of “the East” – including the Islamic societies – that was tantalizing to Westerners but ultimately reaffirmed the superiority of European culture. All sorts of fantasies delighted the European mind, but those fantasies neglected the fact that actual people were being oppressed or exploited by colonialism. The exhibit, Ink, Silk and Gold: Islamic Art from The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston will be on display at The Ringling through May 1. Left: Carpet, about 1590–1600, Northern India (probably Lahore), Cotton (warp and weft) and wool (pile); asymmetrically knotted pile, 2.4 x 1.6 m (8 x 5 ft.), Gift of Mrs. Frederick L. Ames, in the name of Frederick L. Ames, 93.1480. Photograph © 2015 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 4
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From Scenic Designer
REID THOMPSON
“Disgraced is, at its heart, a play about assimilation and racial bias...”
the freed slave whose assimilation as a gentleman artist is thwarted “Disgraced is, at its heart, a play about assimilation and by racial and class bias - brilliantly captured in Velázquez’s portrait. racial bias, and the cultural conflict between fundamental Islam and American capitalism. When approaching the Emily’s painting symbolizes her attraction to the mystery and design for the set, it seemed important that the play is beauty of the Islamic world through her appropriation of the set in New York, the symbolic icon of American ambition Islamic patterning tradition. While her appreciation is genuine, and opportunity, as well as the seat of capitalism and we often now disparage this kind of cultural appropriation by extreme wealth. Americans and Europeans as Orientalism. In the design process we were particularly struck by the By stripping away everything on the set that isn’t essential to artwork that Akhtar includes in the play. The portrait of the story and featuring these paintings we hope to be able Juan de Pareja (and Emily’s portrait of Amir based on the to put Akhtar’s metaphors for the contradictions of the two Velázquez) is the thematic center of the play. Akhtar starts central characters front and center.” and ends the play with the portrait. He has related Amir’s struggle to assimilate and succeed with the story of Pareja,
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DISGRACED:
A Glossary of Terms
The intricacies of religion and religious history form the basis of the intellectual sparring that unfolds in Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced. While most of these terms are more complex than a simple definition can allow, below is a sampling of the ideologies, people, and beliefs that crop up over the course of the play. –DV
AHMADINEJAD: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the sixth JIHAD: meaning “struggling” or “surviving,” it oftentimes president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, serving from 2005 refers to an internal struggle. However, the term now to 2013. His controversial positions on nuclear development, is mostly known by Westerners as a war or struggle human rights, and Israel put him at odds with the Islamic against unbelievers – a holy war. Military action is only and Western worlds. one means of jihad. AL-QAEDA: a global radical Sunni Muslim organization KUFI: a brimless, short, and rounded cap worn by dedicated to the elimination of a Western presence in men in many populations in North Africa, East Africa, Arab countries and militantly opposed to Western foreign Western Africa, and Asia. policy. It is a designated terrorist group. Their origins MUJAHIDEEN: Islamic guerrilla fighters, especially can be traced to Arab volunteers who fought against in the Middle East. The term has been used freely by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s, and both the press and Islamic militants themselves, often the group was founded by Osama bin Laden and referring to any Muslim group engaged in hostilities with several others in 1988. non-Muslims or secularized Muslim regimes. APOSTATE: someone whose beliefs have changed NETANYAHU: Benjamin Netanyahu is the current and who no longer belongs to a religious or political prime minister of Israel. group. ORIENTALISM: a way of seeing that imagines, HAMAS: the Arabic acronym for the Islamic emphasizes, exaggerates, and distorts differences Resistance Movement. Originally a social welfare of Arab people and cultures as compared to those of agency for Palestinian refugees, it published Europe and the United States. This includes seeing Arab an Islamic Covenant in 1988 opposing Israel’s culture as exotic, backward, inferior, or uncivilized. In existence in any form. Its platform calls for the his famous book, Orientalism, Edward Said discussed creation of an Islamic republic in Palestine that the distinction between the “Orient” and the “Occident.” would replace Israel by means of jihad. IMAM: a Muslim religious leader who claims to QU’RAN: (variant of “Koran”) the book composed of be descended from Muhammad and exercises sacred writings accepted by Muslims as revelations spiritual and temporal leadership over a Muslim made to Muhammad by Allah through the angel Gabriel. community or region. RUMI: also known as Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, a 13th century Persian poet, scholar, jurist, theologian, ISLAM: major world religion promulgated by and mystic. the Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century. Believers accept surrender to the will of Allah, TALMUD: a large collection of writings containing a the sole God of the world. The will of Allah full account of the civil and religious laws of the Jews. is revealed through the Qu’ran. TAQIYYA: precautionary denial of religious beliefs in the face of potential persecution.
All dramaturgical information in this playbill written, edited, and compiled by Lauryn E. Sasso and Deanie Vallone. 6
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For even more information on all 2015–16 Rep Season productions, visit www.asolorep.org/this-season and click on the specific show's page.
“We lock the door minutes after my husband leaves.
With everything in the media, and my appearance – I’m covering my face, I’m wearing full Islamic dress – I definitely feel unsafe, at times. Sometimes fear strikes you – you see somebody of a certain type, and I feel frightened.
You know, I stereotype too.” – Amatullaah, Sarasota resident
FACES OF CHANGE
During the last several years of Asolo Rep’s American Character Project, Faces of Change has given us the opportunity to examine some of the most provocative and challenging issues that appear in our productions by looking through the lens of our own neighbors’ experiences. Questions about bias, opportunity, responsibility, and empathy can be asked and answered here in our local community.
Join the Conversation
This season’s production of Disgraced challenges us to use theatre to begin a conversation about faith and identity, and to ask “How does faith both connect and divide us in America today?”
Faces of Change raises questions in order to explore connections and start a dialogue. A free reading, talkback, and reception will be held at three community sites:
“It’s not religion that divides people; it’s politics.” “I was born and raised in a house that had no faith. My dad wanted to kick me out of the house when he first found out that I became a Christian.” “So at one point she says to me, ‘So, where do women of different faiths come together here in Sarasota?’, and she laughed, and said, ‘Well, if I can do it in Jerusalem, you can do it in Sarasota!’” These quotes come straight from our interviews and story circles with community participants, including individuals we met through Abrahamic Reunion, Bethlehem Baptist Church, Center for Religious Tolerance, Goldie Feldman Academy, Humanists of Sarasota Bay, Islamic Society of Sarasota and Bradenton, Saint Wilfred Episcopal Church, Salvation Army, Senior Friendship Centers, Temple Emanu-El, Temple Sinai, and Visible Men Academy among others. Questions we asked included: How does faith specifically relate to our lives in Sarasota and Manatee counties? What does your faith or lack of faith have to do with your identity, or the work that you do? What do you choose to share and what do you choose to keep private, and why? Every interview and drama session was recorded and transcribed, and the text became the basis for our script and performance. Faces of Change culminates in a reading of an original documentary theatre piece created and performed by local participants.
THURSDAY, APRIL 14TH, 1PM Temple Beth Sholom 1050 S. Tuttle Ave.
SATURDAY, APRIL 16TH, 2PM Historic Asolo Theater, on the set of Disgraced Located in the Ringling Visitors Pavilion 5401 Bay Shore Rd.
MONDAY, APRIL 18TH, 7:30PM Fogartyville Community Media & Arts Center 525 Kumquat Ct.
Faces of Change is FREE to the public. Reservations are strongly recommended. BOX OFFICE: 941.351.8000 or ASOLOREP.ORG
Sponsored by
Koski Family Fund For New Audiences
ASOLO REP
EDUCATION & OUTREACH DISGRACED ASOLOREP.ORG
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WHO’S WHO IN THE ARTISTIC/CREATIVE TEAM AYAD AKHTAR (Playwright) was born in New York City and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is the author of American Dervish, published in 25 languages worldwide and a 2012 Best Book of the Year at Kirkus Reviews. His play Disgraced played at New York’s Lincoln Theater in 2012 and at the Bush Theater in London in May 2013. Disgraced won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. His play The Invisible Hand won Best New Work 2013 from the St. Louis Theater Critics Circle. He was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay for The War Within. He has received commissions from Lincoln Center and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He is a graduate of Brown and Columbia Universities with degrees in Theater and Film Directing. HARRIET BASS CASTING (New York Casting, All the Way; Ah, Wilderness!; Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner; Disgraced) is an award-winning independent New York casting director, casting for theatre, film and television. In New York City, Harriet has cast for ABC/TV, Fox Television Studios, Joseph Papps’s Public Theatre: New Work Now, The Minetta Lane Theatre, The Women’s Project, La Mamma E.T.C., New York Women in Film and Television, and The Jewish Repertory Theatre. She has cast the last three of the late August Wilson’s ten part play series: the original Radio Golf, Broadway Gem of the Ocean, and Off-Broadway Jitney. Selected regional casting credits include: Mark Taper Forum, Hartford Stage, Arena Stage, Trinity Rep, San Jose Rep, Geva, Syracuse Stage, Pittsburgh Public, Merrimack Rep, Long Wharf Theatre, Alliance Theatre, The Goodman Theatre, Kansas City Rep, Baltimore Center Stage, Huntington Theatre Company, Virginia Stage Company, Dallas Theatre Company, Berkeley Rep, Portland Center Stage, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. Feature films credits include: Pushing Hands directed by Ang Lee, Underheat starring Lee Grant, First We Take Manhattan produced by Golden Harvest Inc., and Graves End directed by Sal Stabile. MICHAEL CLARK SECOND SEASON (Projection Designer) Asolo Rep: The Heidi Chronicles. Broadway designs: Ring of Fire; 700 Sundays; Dracula the Musical; The Elephant Man. Broadway Associate Designer: All the Way; Breakfast at Tiffanys; Annie; Chaplin; Ghost the Musical; Brief Encounter. Lincoln Center: Domesticated. OffBroadway: Frankenstein. Baltimore Opera: La forza del destino; Madama Butterfly; Aida. Washington National Opera: Macbetto; Manon Lescaut. Regional Projects include: Company; Sunday in the Park With George; Merrily We Roll Along (Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration); Villains Tonight (Disney Cruise Lines); Le Jugement dernier (Cannes). Architecture: Metropolitan Museum NY (various installs), Asolo Rep Lobby, White House Halloween Projection Mapping 2015. PATRICIA DELOREY THIRTEENTH SEASON (Voice and Dialect Coach, All the Way; Living on Love; Disgraced; Ah, Wilderness!; Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner) holds an MFA in Voice & Speech from MXAT/American Repertory Theatre Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University. She taught voice at the Moscow Art Theatre School in Russia, the University of Bologna in Italy, and Harvard University. She currently teaches voice & dialects at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training. Patricia works extensively as a professional voice and dialect coach including Bonnie & Clyde directed by Jeff Calhoun, 12 Angry Men directed by Frank Galati, Phaedra 4.48 directed by Robert Woodruff, Studio Six’s Plasticine directed by Dmitry Troyanovsky at the Baryshnikov Center, Saturday Night Fever for Royal Caribbean International Cruises, and the world premiere of Adam Rapp’s Nocturne directed by Marcus Stern.
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LINDA M. DIGABRIELE FOURTY-SECOND SEASON (Managing Director) Prior to her appointment as managing director, she held several other positions with Asolo Rep, including administrative director, director of touring programs and stage manager. During her 12year tenure with the touring programs, Ms. DiGabriele orchestrated 26 regional and national tours for Asolo Rep’s mainstage and educational companies. A graduate of Florida State University, her professional theatre experience includes acting and directing. Ms. DiGabriele has served on an advisory panel for the National Endowment for the Arts and, for five years, the John F. Kennedy Center’s Theatre for Young Audiences. She currently serves on the executive committee for the League of Resident Theatres (LORT), an organization of regional not-for-profit professional theatres, with which she has participated in numerous national union negotiations. Ms. DiGabriele is vice president of the Arts & Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County and a past president of the Florida Professional Theatre Association. She has served the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs as a member of various panels including the Grant Awards Task Force, Theatre Grants, Arts in Education Grants, and the Cultural Institution Programs review committee. She has also been a member of the board of directors for ASSITEJ/USA, an international theatre organization for young audiences, and the Florida Cultural Alliance. Ms. DiGabriele received the Florida Professional Theatre Association Richard G. Fallon Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. MICHAEL DONALD EDWARDS TENTH SEASON (Producing Artistic Director; Director, Disgraced) is in his tenth season as producing artistic director of Asolo repertory Theatre. He was previously the associate artistic director of Syracuse Stage and served as Artistic Director of Shakespeare Santa Cruz. A Garland Award and Drama-Logue Award-winning director, Mr. Edwards has directed at Cleveland Play House, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Geva Theatre, Syracuse Stage, The Shakespeare Theatre, San Jose Rep, Opera San Jose, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Old Globe in San Diego, Virginia Stage Company, the Virginia Opera, the State Theatre of South Australia, Opera Australia, Victoria State Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera. In previous seasons for Asolo Rep, Mr. Edwards has directed his English adaptation as well as Pulitzer Prize-winner Nilo Cruz’s Spanish translation of Shakespeare’s text in Hamlet, Prince of Cuba; as well as Las Meninas; La Bête; The Last Five Years; The Life of Galileo; Perfect Mendacity; The Winter’s Tale; Equus; A Tale of Two Cities; Down in Malibu; Nobody Don’t Like Yogi; Amadeus; The Smell of the Kill; The Grapes of Wrath and several pieces in the annual Unplugged festival of new plays. BETH GOLDENBERG FIRST SEASON (Costume Designer) Recent credits include costume design for Blueprints To Freedom (La Jolla Playhouse, Kansas City Rep); Macbeth, Stabat Mater, the little match girl passion (Glimmerglass); Engagements (Barrington Stage); God of Carnage, By the Way Meet Vera Stark (Juilliard Drama); The Changeling (Red Bull); The Other Thing (Second Stage); Soldier X (Ma-Yi); Smoke, My Daughter Keeps Our Hammer (The Flea); Wyoming (Lesser America); and Kafka-Fragments, Daphnis & Chloe (Heartbeat Opera). She holds a BFA from Boston University and an MFA from NYU/Tisch. www.bethgoldenbergdesign.com. MICHELLE HART THIRTEENTH SEASON (Hair/Wig & Make-Up Designer, All the Way; Living on Love; Ah, Wilderness!; Disgraced; Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner) is a licensed cosmetologist and certified professional make-up artist. Hart designs for Asolo Rep and the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training. Other credits: Sarasota Ballet; Florida Studio Theatre; West Coast Black Theatre Troupe; Banyan Theatre; Ruth Eckerd Hall; Venice Theatre; Dorset Theatre, Barrington Stage, and Open Stage Theatre (Awarded Best Hair). She has done hair and make-up for Joan Rivers, Doris Roberts,
WHO’S WHO IN THE ARTISTIC/CREATIVE TEAM Martin Short, Jane Russell, Arlene Dahl, Soledad Villamil, Jane Pauley, and Richard Dreyfuss. Music videos “Second Chance” by Shinedown, “Reverse Cowgirl” by T-Pain; short film Grief Splattered Canvas and feature film, Paradise, FL. Her work has been exhibited at the SCF Fine Art Gallery in 2009 & 2013. GREG LEAMING ELEVENTH SEASON (Director, FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training; Associate Artistic Director, Asolo Rep; Director, Ah, Wilderness!) For Asolo Rep, he has directed his own translation/ adaptation of Anything to Declare? as well as Good People, Other Desert Cities, The Game’s Afoot, Boeing Boeing, Hearts, The Imaginary Invalid, The Play’s the Thing, and the world premiere of Jason Wells’ Men of Tortuga. For the Conservatory, he has directed The Actor’s Nightmare/The Real Inspector Hound, The Water Engine, The School for Lies, Twelfth Night, Cloud Nine, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Pericles, Blue Window, Murder by Poe and The Mystery Plays. His play The Patsy, adapted from George Feydeau’s Le Dindon, premiered in September at Resident Ensemble Players in Delaware. He was the Director of Artistic Programming for Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, CT, as well as Acting Artistic Director for the 2001-2002 season. There he directed, among others, the world premieres of Going Native, Abstract Expression, The Third Army, Syncopation, and An Infinite Ache (also for Stamford Theatre Center, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and Merrimack Repertory Theatre). Other credits include numerous productions around the country, including the world premieres of Losing Father’s Body, Church of the Sole Survivor, Jeffrey Hatcher’s The Turn of the Screw, as well as many other productions at Hartford Stage Company, Portland Stage Company, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Philadelphia Drama Guild, Clarence Brown Theatre Company, Stage West, Shakespeare Sedona, Southwest Shakespeare, and Banyan Theatre Company. BRUCE LECURE FIFTH SEASON (Fight Director) Past Asolo Rep credits include: Grapes of Wrath; Hamlet, Prince of Cuba; Deathtrap; You Can’t Take It With You; Show Boat; Romeo & Juliet; The Tragedy of Macbeth; Hamlet Redux. Mr. Lecure has directed fights in productions at The Shakespeare Theatre, The Papermill Playhouse, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Caldwell Theatre Company, Florida Grand Opera, GableStage, Stage West, Opera Omaha and many others. He holds the title of Professor and Head of Movement Training in the Department of Theatre Arts at the University of Miami and is a Certified Teacher and Fight Director in the Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD). RYAN RUMERY FIRST SEASON (Sound Designer) is a musician, composer, music producer, and sound designer. His music has been featured in Josh Fox's upcoming film, How to Let Go of the World (Sundance 2016), City of Gold (Sundance & SXSW 2015), Gatewood, and SynchroNYCity. Scores for theater include the 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning Between Riverside and Crazy (Atlantic/Second Stage), Nice Girl (Labyrinth), Placebo (Playwrights Horizons), and Fool For Love (MTC, Williamstown). He performs with The Painted Bird (KioSK Festival, BAC, La MaMa, PS122, Legion Arts, Wexner). Ryan served as Sound Consultant for Nonesuch at 50 Festival at BAM with Dawn Upshaw, Gilbert Kalish, and Alarm Will Sound, and for Sufjan Stevens' Round Up with Yarn/Wire. He recently released two albums he produced for Jeremy Bass: Winter Bare and New York in Spring. LAURYN E. SASSO TENTH SEASON (Dramaturg, All the Way; Living on Love; Ah, Wilderness!; Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner) received her BA in Theatre Studies from Wellesley College and her MFA in Dramaturgy from UMass Amherst. She has also studied with Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA and the National Theater Institute at the O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. Previously,
she worked at Perishable Theatre in Providence, R.I. and with the SPF Summer Play Festival in NYC. During her tenure at Asolo Rep, she has served as dramaturg for the theatre’s mainstage productions and New Stages education tours. She also co-adapted 2013’s New Stages Romeo & Juliet with director Dmitry Troyanovsky. She moderates the discussion series Inside Asolo Rep and is in her third season as Festival Curator for Asolo Rep’s Unplugged Festival of New Work. JEN SCHRIEVER THIRD SEASON (Lighting Designer) Asolo Rep: Clybourne Park, Our Betters. Broadway: Eclipsed, John Leguizamo’s Ghetto Klown, also filmed for HBO. Opera: The Pearl Fishers, Die Fledermaus (Metropolitan), La Traviata, Faust, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Mariinsky, Russia). Off-Broadway: Night is a Room (Signature), I’m Looking for Helen TwelveTrees (Abrons), Bright Half Life (Women’s Project), Mala Hierba, American Hero (Second Stage), ToasT, Second Chance (Public), Sunset Baby (Labyrinth), Triassic Parq (Soho Playhouse). Regional/Other: Between Riverside and Crazy (Studio); Theory Of Relativity (Goodspeed); Rapture Blister Burn (Goodman); Guards at the Taj, Marie Antoinette (Woolly Mammoth); Sunday in the Park with George (Signature, VA); The Other Josh Cohen (Papermill); Romeo And Juliet, The Conference of the Birds, The Taming of the Shrew (Folger); American Hero (Williamstown). Member: Wingspace. Adjunct Professor: Purchase College. www.jenschriever.com. NIA SCIARRETTA* FOURTH SEASON (Stage Manager, Disgraced; Assistant Stage Manager, All the Way; Ah, Wilderness!) Previous Asolo Rep credits include assistant stage manager for Luck Be a Lady, South Pacific, and Hero: The Musical, apprentice assistant stage manager for My Fair Lady, and tour manager for Hamlet Redux. Previous off-Broadway credits include The Wayside Motor Inn at the Signature Theatre. Other NYC credits include Fulfillment at the Flea Theater, and LMNOP at the Breaking Bread Theatre. Regionally, Nia has also worked with Penguin Rep (The Faubulous Lipitones); the Hangar Theatre (Spring Awakening, Gypsy, The Trip to Bountiful, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The 39 Steps); and the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Macbeth). Ithaca College graduate. REID THOMPSON FIRST SEASON (Scenic Designer) Recent scenic design credits include: A Streetcar Named Desire (Yale Repertory Theater), A Delicate Ship (Playwright’s Realm), Fault (Theater Squared), House Rules (Ma-Yi Theater Co.), Lucia di Lammermoor, Dido & Aeneas, Kafka-Fragments, Daphnis & Chloe (Heartbeat Opera), The Homecoming, Bells Are Ringing, A Little Night Music, Design for Living, The Cat and the Canary (Berkshire Theater Festival), Erismena (Yale Baroque Opera), Merrily We Roll Along (Yale Drama), Moderato Cantibile and Antigonick (SummerWorks Theater Festival, Toronto), Ham (Ars Nova), The Love of the Nightingale and After The Fall (Atlantic Theater Co. Conservatory), In The Other Room and Grace (Inner Voices). Reid holds an MFA in Design from the Yale School of Drama, a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. www.reidthompsondesign.com SHAUN PATRICK TUBBS FIRST SEASON (Directing Fellow, All the Way; Disgraced; Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner) is a director and actor. Recipient of the 2015 SDC/Kurt Weill Fellowship recipient for emerging directors. Some of Shaun’s directing/assistant directing credits include The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (Royal Opera House, London), King Hedley II (Arena Stage), and Here I Go (La MaMa Spoleto, Italy). Recent acting credits include My Mañana Comes (Marin Theatre Company), The Book of Grace (Zach Scott Theatre), and The Tempest (Eureka Suitcase). Shaun is a member of the SDC, AEA, and SAG-AFTRA. www.shaunpatricktubbs.com DISGRACED ASOLOREP.ORG
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WHO’S WHO IN THE CAST BIANCA LaVERNE JONES* GUEST ARTIST, FIRST SEASON (Jory) is thrilled to make her Asolo Rep debut. Bianca is the face of Time Warner Cable commercial “Check Out.” Regional credits include King Lear (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), Mountaintop (City Theatre), Seeds Of Abraham (Signature/Billie Holiday), A Civil War Christmas (Long Wharf), Williamstown Theater Festival, St. Louis Black Rep, National Black Theater Festival, Classical Theater of Harlem, Roundabout Theater, and others. Recent film credits include How to Tell You Are Dating A Douchebag (SUNDANCE 2016), Blue Angel with Stanley Tucci, americanmother, and JUMP written by Eric Lockley. In June 2015, Bianca won two awards from the DC Black Theater Festival for her direction in a Solo and Duo, One Acts. Bianca received training from University of NC School of the Arts, SUNY Purchase, and Yale School of Drama. DORIEN MAKHLOGHI* GUEST ARTIST, FIRST SEASON (Amir) has appeared on Broadway in The Merchant of Venice (Public Theater) and Off-Broadway in The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night (New York Shakespeare Festival), The Oedipus Cycle, Nathan the Wise (Pearl Theatre), and Around the World in 80 Days (New Theater on 45th). Other theater credits: Scorched (Syracuse Stage); and world premieres of Love/Stories, The Great Recession (Flea Theater); and Another Life (Theater Three Collaborative). Film: I, Origins; Starving; Revulsion. Web series: www.3Dorks.com. NIK SADHNANI GUEST ARTIST, FIRST SEASON (Abe) is thrilled to be at Asolo Rep this season. Previous credits include Boston Playwrights’ Theatre’s production of a new work: She Eats Apples. Film/TV credits include Baba, Green Light and a recurring role on Hulu’s latest series, The Path, starring opposite Aaron Paul and Michelle Monaghan. Nik received training from Boston University’s School of Theatre.
JORDAN SOBEL THIRD YEAR STUDENT, FIRST SEASON (Isaac, Disgraced; Rep. William Colmer/ Network Correspondent/Nobel Announcer/ Rep. Halleck/FBI, All the Way) is thrilled to be making his Asolo Rep debut. Regional credits include: The Donkey Show (American Repertory Theatre), The Corn Is Green (Huntington Theatre Company), She Kills Monsters (Company One), Of Mice and Men (Moonbox Productions), and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Riverside Theatre Works). Jordan would like to thank his sponsors Nancy Stevenson, Nona Heaslip, Ron Banyay, the spirit of Esther M. Mertz, and his parents for their continuous love and support. LEE STARK* GUEST ARTIST, FIRST SEASON (Emily) originated the role of Emily in the 2012 World Premiere of Disgraced at American Theater Company in Chicago. Chicago credits include productions at The Goodman Theater, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Steppenwolf, Victory Gardens, and The Artistic Home. New York credits include The Iceman Cometh at Brooklyn Academy of Music (originally at The Goodman Theatre) and several productions at The Pearl Theatre. Regionally, Lee has worked at Milwaukee Rep (Elizabeth Bennet in a world premiere adaptation of Pride and Prejudice), Indiana Rep, Geva Theater Center, and the Great Lakes/ Idaho/Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festivals. She teaches classical acting and the Meisner method and can be seen in a recurring role in the current season of Shameless.
* Members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
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THANK YOU TO OUR GENEROUS 2015-2016 SEASON SUPPORTERS MAJOR SEASON SUPPORTERS
Bob and Beverly Bartner • David and Betty-Jean Bavar • Susan and Jim Buck • Margot and Warren Coville Carole Crosby, Ruby E. and Carole Crosby Family Foundation • John and Christine Currie • Herman and Sharon Frankel • Larry and Debbie Haspel Nona Macdonald Heaslip • The Huisking Foundation • Stanley Kane, in honor of Janet Kane • Carolyn Keystone and Jim Meekison • Beverly L. Koski David Peterson • Lee and Bob* Peterson • Carol Phillips • Maurice Richards and Jack Kesler • Audrey Robbins and Harry Leopold • Alice and Norman Tulchin Ted and Jean Weiller • Charles O. Wood, III and Miriam M. Wood Foundation • Judy Zuckerberg and George Kole *in memoriam
THANK YOU TO OUR 2015-2016 MAJOR SEASON SPONSORS VIRGINIA B. TOULMIN FOUNDATION
THANK YOU TO OUR DONORS FOR YOUR NEW OR INCREASED ANNUAL FUND GIFTS. YOU MAKE IT POSSIBLE! (Gifts pledged between December 11, 2015 and March 17, 2016. Asolo Rep gratefully recognizes all gifts of $125 or more.) George Allison and Alan Watkins, Co-Producer, Josephine The Rose Family, in loving memory of Jules Rose, Co-Producer, All the Way and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner Kim K. Githler, Asolo Rep Adventures Sponsor Twenty7 North Group at Morgan Stanley, Corporate Night Sponsor EDUCATION AND OUTREACH Jennie Branagan, West Side Story and Hetty Feather Family Access Bianca and Richard Lawrence and Wayne and Mindy Rollins, New Stages Tour David and Betty-Jean Bavar, Flori Roberts, and Ed and Mary Lou Winnick, New Stages Tour DIRECTORS' SOCIETY Anonymous • Mr. and Mrs. Alden Abraham • Peggy Allen and Steve Dixon • Mr. Jerry Bilik • Frances Fergusson and John Bradbury Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Greene • Patricia Lenke • Gene Noble • Liz Thompson • Penny and John Wilson CELESTIAL ANGELS Anonymous • Linda and Alex Beavers • Dr. Janet Brown and Dr. Margaret R. Martin • James Courter • George E. Doty III • Mr. Robert Harris Laura and Michael Hassan • Bruce Lehman • Ms. H. Lee Levins • Martin and Beverly Rosenberg ATTENDANT ANGELS Anonymous • Joanne Barker • Ellen Berman, in honor of Flora Major • Phoebe H. Bowers • Laura Buckland • Janice and Thomas Burne Hal and Jean Craig Flynn • The Guernsey Family • William and Carol Jones • John and Joyce Leone • Carol Mangano • Adrienne J. Matcham Bernadette and Jim Meisenheimer • Susan Frances Mikulay • Maralyn and Raymond Morrissey • Margaret Munson • Diran and Virgina Tashian • Jean Wood SPIRIT ANGELS Ms. Irene Antoniou • Edward and Judy Balmer • George & Deborah Baxter • Barbara W. Blumfield • Ina and Carl Born Heidi R. Brown and David Lyles • Grace Budrys and Dan Lortie • Mary Ann Cona • Barbara Frankel and Ronald Michalak • Michael and Jean Freed Mr. and Mrs. David Friedlander, in honor of Harriett Krass • Robert and Irene Fritsch • Ben and Judith Handelman Mr. and Mrs. Donald Helgeson • Philip H. Hubbell • Judith and William Hughes • Anthony Low Joseph • Steven Kalt and Robert Heeren Marvin W. Ostroff and Susan Schaen • Robert and Carole Kay • Georgia and Dick Meyerson • George Milburn • Helene Morgenstern Colette Purcell • Harriet and Raymond Resnick • Ms. Janice Reuther • Marta Riordan • Barry Safir • Ms. Norma Schatz • Rookie and Jordan Shifrin Susan Thomas • Mr. and Mrs. George Troy • James Walsh • Mary Lou Warner • Hannah Weinberg • Bain and Curt White GIFTS IN SUPPORT OF THE PARTNERSHIP WITH FSU/ASOLO CONSERVATORY Paula and Jon Stein, Student Fellowship Cheryl and Alasdair MacLauchlan, Associate Friend of the Conservatory Ken and Colleen Rice, Associate Friend of the Conservatory David C. Logan and Dennis M. Kovach, Benefactor Friend of the Conservatory Mrs. Lola Hoenig, Attendant Friend of the Conservatory ExxonMobil Foundation Matching Gifts Program
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WELCOME TO
asolorep 16 - 17 Recognized as one of the leading professional theatres in America and one of the largest in the southeastern United States, Asolo Rep is proud to announce our 2016-17 lineup of shows, marking our 58th season!
One of the few select theatres in the nation that performs in true rotating repertory, Asolo Rep’s highly-skilled acting company and extensive craftsmanship bring to life this unique performance method that gives audiences the opportunity to see multiple productions in the span of a few days. Through ambitious theatrical offerings and groundbreaking education and audience development programming, Asolo Rep is committed to expanding our reach into the community, furthering our collaboration with the best theatre artists working in the industry today and cultivating new artists of the American theatre through our affiliation with the FSU/ Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training. In Sarasota, a city that is recognized as the arts and culture capital of Florida, Asolo Rep represents artistic achievement on its highest level. A very special THANK YOU to our treasured audience members, loyal supporters and community organizations who make these productions possible.
GUYS AND DOLLS NOVEMBER 15–JANUARY 1
THE GREAT SOCIETY JANUARY 11–APRIL 2
THE ORIGINALIST JANUARY 18–MARCH 5
BORN YESTERDAY FEBRUARY 8–APRIL 15
THE LITTLE FOXES MARCH 15–APRIL 15
BEATSVILLE
WORLD PREMIERE APRIL 27–MAY 28
THE ELABORATE ENTRANCE OF CHAD DEITY IN THE COOK THEATRE APRIL 5–30
SUMMER PRODUCTION
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To be announced soon! JUNE 1–25 NEW STAGES TOUR
HAMLET
SEPTEMBER 27–NOVEMBER 22, 2016