LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR

Welcome back and welcome home to Mater Dei Theatre and to our 2022-2023 season!

Mater Dei Theatre is dedicated to telling authentic stories that engage, entertain, and enrich our community. We keep this in mind with this year’s season theme, To the Moon and Beyond. We are looking forward, rejoicing at being together in community again, as we look beyond the stars and wonder at the possibilities a new season brings!

Opening the season, we were immersed in mischief, magic, and moonlight in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; we are measuring the distance between galaxies and love in the fall play A Wrinkle in Time; we go beyond when we take a visit to Mushnik’s Flower Shop to see one strange and interesting plant in the spring musical, Little Shop of Horrors.

In a look ahead to other Theatre programming, our Theatre Arts Club is looking forward to spooky plans with our annual Haunted House, presented in collaboration with the Guitar Program. Honors Musical Theatre students, under the guidance of Mrs. Andrea Fouts, will delight audiences with performances at Disneyland! The Honors Musical Theatre classes continue in their dual enrollment with Santa Ana College and both of our fall and spring shows are presented in collaboration with the SAC Theatre Department! Brand-new this year is the course Honors Theatre III, in which students participate in curricular and extracurricular technical crew opportunities, alongside Theatre III. Our Thespian Troupe #3464 and Theatre Arts Club, under the interstellar leadership of Cassidy Butscher (President, ’23) will announce dates for Theatre-related social events, drives, and charitable events throughout the year. She is supported by Vice President Kenzo Phillip Osmena (’23), Keilah Mora (Secretary, ’23), Amanda Assaf (Treasurer, ’23), Riley Lewis (Advocacy, ‘24), Dagny Canzoneri (Cappies Lead Critic, ’23), and Yannik Fischer (ComedySportz Team Captain & Manager, ’23).

I’d like to extend a warm salute of gratitude to our Mater Dei Administration, Mrs. Jeni Dennin, Mrs. Marisa Winch (‘96), Mrs. Jennifer Butscher, our 2223 Theatre Parent™, and to all of our Theatre families and donors for their support. Your encouragement and nurturing of our scholar-artists is deeply appreciated and makes serving our community an absolute joy.

Thank you for joining us this season as we continue in our mission to engage, entertain, and enrich our community. We look forward to navigating to the moon and beyond this year with these most talented Monarchs!

Mrs. Lissa Slay, M.S.Ed., M.F.A. Director of Theatre

Brendan Mulholland ‘24

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Henry Erhard ’23

STAGE MANAGER Keilah Mora ’23

ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGERS

Marieke Erhard ’24

Meghan White ’23

Jaycob Renteria ’24

Special Acknowledgments Gratitude And Thanks

PRESIDENT

PRINCIPAL

VICE PRESIDENT BUSINESS SERVICES

VICE PRESIDENT OF SCHOOL RELATIONS

ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS ................................

Mr. Michael Brennan

Ms. Frances Clare

Mr. Dave Taylor

Mr. Scott Melvin

Mrs. Molly Chace ‘00

Mrs. Diana Neustadt

Mrs. Jennifer Dennin

PERFORMING ARTS COORDINATOR Mrs. Marisa Winch ‘96

SANTA ANA COLLEGE FINE & PERFORMING ARTS DIVISION

VICE PRESIDENT OF ACADEMIC AFFAIRS Dr. Jeffery Lamb

CHAIR & PROFESSOR OF THEATRE ARTS Amberly Chamberlain

PROFESSOR OF THEATRE ARTS Chris Cannon

TECHNICAL THEATRE & PRODUCTION MANAGER ........... Sara Turner

TECHNOLOGY & PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Sean Small

The Mater Dei Theatre Program would like to sincerely thank our Mater Dei administration, including the faculty and staff who nurture our student artists, and the Santa Ana College (SAC) administration: thank you for welcoming us onto campus! Thank you to our Performing Arts Coordinator, Mrs. Marisa Winch ’96 and thank you to our 22-23 Theatre Parent™, Mrs. Jennifer Butscher, for her invaluable help in organizing our volunteers and supporting our company. Much gratitude is due to our SAC partners, in particular Professor Amberly Chamberlain and Professor Bruce Fleming for their invaluable support throughout this process. Thank you to Mrs. Andrea Fouts, and Mr. Dave Bodell, Mr. Phil Bellomo and our Facilities Department for all of your support in bringing the show to life. Thank you to our CETA judges and the Orange County Cappies for your generosity of time and ink. Thank you to our families and friends who continually support these amazing artists and a huge debt of gratitude to our Theatre Angels who make participation in our program possible; truly, we could not do it without you!