The Dogteam Theatre Project presents TRAILBLAZING! a showcase of new works
June 24, 2023
MESSAGE FROM CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTORS
Thank you for joining us for Trailblazing! What you will be seeing today are a series of works-in-progress that emerged from, or were the focus of, workshops we have been engaged with over the past two weeks. We kicked off our time together with a three-day playwriting workshop led by Migdalia Cruz that culminated in a presentation of 21 scenes written by the entire company. Since then, the two student playwrights, Kayla Schwartz and Teo Flesher, continued exploring and deepening their own work, resulting in the scripts presented today in the 11 a.m. segment. Those new works were directed by the student directors, Caroline Armour, Zack Maluccio, and Maggie Connolly.
The overarching schedule for our two weeks together was anchored by development workshops on two full-length scripts: A Hundred Circling Camps, a new play by Sam Collier, directed by Rebecca Wear, and La Viuda, by María Irene Fornés, translated and directed by Olga Sanchez Saltveit. The focus of this work was on advancing the scripts, rewriting and tweaking scenes, exploring moments up on our feet, refining tone in the translation, and experimenting with the ensemble work that will be a key feature of both plays in production.
We also engaged in design workshops in lighting (with Raquel Davis), scenic design (with Mark Evancho), and projection/digital media design (with Courtney Smith). Work by the design students Jayda Gilyard, Natalie Penna, and August Newell will be presented throughout the day. Dawn Wagner led a workshop in stage management, and our student stage manager August Siegel worked with the company Equity stage manager Julianna Cricchio running all rehearsals, tracking script changes, and orchestrating the flow of events today. Finally, Equity actors Lynn Hawley and Brandon Burton led acting workshops that furthered the ensemble work we were doing as well as specific scenes and monologues submitted by the actors. In all, this has been a wonderful residency full of growth and inspiration.
We thank Middlebury College for its support of the Dogteam Theatre Project, which is structured on alternating building and producing summers, with the former dedicated to script development and training in various theatre making disciplines with guest artists, and the latter featuring two productions that we will rehearse in Middlebury and then present in rep in NYC. We hope you enjoy the fruits of the Dogteam Theatre Project’s inaugural season!
Co-Artistic Directors Alex Draper and Olga Sanchez Saltveit,Alex Draper and Olga Sanchez Saltveit Co-Artistic Directors
Courtney Smith Production Designer, Company and Budget Manager Mark Evancho Resident DesignerPresents
A Hundred Circling Camps
by Sam Collier
Directed by Rebecca Wear
During the summer of 1932, over 20,000 people hopped trains to Washington, D.C., and camped out to demand fair pay for veterans of the World War. The legacy of the Bonus Army is written into our laws and culture, but the march has been largely forgotten. As America protests and forgets and protests and forgets, what is carried forward? Touching on the Poor People’s Campaign, Occupy Wall Street, and Standing Rock protests, A Hundred Circling Camps explores what it means to live in public as an act of resistance.
Stage Manager Julianna Cricchio* Assistant Stage Manager August Siegel
CAST
Walter W. Waters; Henry; Rush Brandon Burton*
Pelham D. Glassford
Evalyn Walsh McLean
. Alex Draper*
.Lynn Hawley*
Rye Maggie Connolly
Skip
Cobb; Dreamer
Madison Middleton
Zeph Santiago
Cadey Maggie Blake
Morrow
Zack Maluccio
Lark Victoria Keith
Sewilla Lamar; Mabel
Anna; Sarah; Veteran
Kayla Schwartz
Jack; Dahlia Hannah Alberti
*member of Actors Equity Association
A Hundred Circling Camps was developed with the support of the Goodman Theatre’s Playwrights Unit.
La Viuda (The Widow)
by Maria Irene Fornés Translation by Olga Sanchez Saltveit and Marina SanchezDirected by Olga
Sanchez SaltveitIn the late 19th century, the Spanish American War that supported Cuba’s liberation from Spain also disrupted Cuban society as the U.S. sought to claim the nation as a territory. In La Viuda, a Cuban woman living in Spain, estranged for decades from her husband, writes letters to her lawyer in Cuba seeking the protection of her identity and honor. Memories of her deceased husband, her child, and other influential figures in her life fill the stage as she argues for her rights. Fornés’ first play, written in 1961, was drawn from letters written to her great-grandfather, and reflects her uniquely avant-garde feminism.
Stage Manager Julianna Cricchio*
Assistant Stage Manager August Siegel
CAST
Angela Martin
Santiago*
The Clerk Zeph Santiago
Francisco (Paco) de Arenal
Zack Maluccio
Father Cravet; Don Modesto Brandon Burton*
Good Angela
Child Salvador.
Maggie Blake
Maggie Connolly
Salvador Hannah Alberti
Moncita
Victoria Keith
Manuel Alvarez Madison Middleton
Casimiro Paz
*member of Actors Equity Association
Naja Irvin-Conyers
August Newell
Hannah Alberti ’26
she/her ( A Hundred Circling Camps: Jack/ Dahlia/American; La Viuda: Salvador) is a Dogteam actor who started her career in theatre at Middlebury. She is a physics and theatre double major. In her first year at Middlebury, she played Tom in This Property is Condemned and Bear in her first-year show. Spring 2023, she assisted in stage managing for Hamlet.
Caroline Armour ’24
she/her (directing) is excited to participate in the inaugural season of the Dogteam Theatre Project. She has performed in A Monster Calls, Mamma Mia, Find Me, Alice in Wonderland, and A Streetcar Named Desire, then going on to become the assistant director for A Midsummer Nights Dream, In The Heights, Spring Awakening, Lord of the Flies, Puffs, and Matilda. After finding her passion in directing, she wrote and directed a production of Something Wicked This Way Comes, and a stage interpretation of The Office. Caroline is currently working on her BA in theatre and French Language at Middlebury College, where she has directed Dinner With Friends, and worked on the production teams for six various productions.
Brandon Burton*
he/they ( A Hundred Circling Camps: Rush/ Walter W. Waters/ Henry; La Viuda: Father Cravet/Don Modesto) is a native of Saint Louis, and a graduate of Yale School of Drama, resides in New York, and has collaborated with fine and new media artists Bassera Khan, Farai Malianga, Dominic Chambers, Theatre of the Oppressed NYC, and Shakespeare & Co. At Yale, he served as artistic director of The Yale Cabaret (2019–2020 season) and was the recipient of the Herschel Williams Prize for outstanding acting ability. Regional credits include Fences (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival), The Folks at Home (Baltimore Center Stage), Merry Wives (Public Theater).
Maggie Blake ’24
she/her ( A Hundred Circling Camps: Cadey; La Viuda: Good Angela) is a theatre and psychology double major at Middlebury College from Scituate, Massachusetts. She began her theatrical journey by working on shows like A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Drowsy Chaperone, Anything Goes, Mamma Mia, and Into the Woods. Since coming to Middlebury, her acting credits include Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play (Bart Simpson) and Rhinoceros (Iris). Technical credits include a selfwritten piece Just Desserts (director),
Wizard of Oz (assistant director), La Fête de Bienvenue (director), and The Moors (lightboard operator/set painter). In the fall, Maggie will be directing Dad Rock and acting in Greek Tragedy (Agent) at Middlebury College as she plans for her senior acting thesis.
Sam Collier ’09 she/ her ( A Hundred Circling Camps: Playwright) is a playwright, theater artist, and poet. Her plays have been presented by Echo Theatre, New College of Florida, Siena Heights University, Urbanite Theatre’s Modern Works Festival, the UC Davis Ground and Field Festival, the Goodman Theater Playwrights Unit, the Iowa New Play Festival, Theater Nyx, and others. She holds an MFA in playwriting from the Iowa Playwrights Workshop and is a PhD student at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she studies theater about climate change. She cohosts the playwriting podcast Beckett’s Babies.
Maggie Connolly ’23 she/her ( A Hundred Circling Camps: Rye; La Viuda: Child Salvador) is a recent graduate from Middlebury College with a BA in theatre and philosophy. Her Middlebury acting credits include Destroying Angels (Hem), Rhinoceros (Daisy), She Kills Monsters (Tilly Evans), Giants Have Us in Their Books (Jennifer Leigh), Julius Caesar
(Metellus Cimber), and Jump! the 2019 annual first-year show. In the summers of 2021 and 2022, Maggie acted in productions with PTP/NYC, making her NYC Off-Broadway debut last July. Outside of acting, Maggie has also gained experience working on scenes as a director and backstage in wardrobe.
Julianna Cricchio* she/her (Production Stage Manager) is from Long Island, New York, and a proud member of Actors‘ Equity. Recent stage management credits, Regional: Xanadu, Carousel (Madison Theatre), Cabaret, Full Monty (Argyle Theatre), Man of La Mancha (Opera Saratoga). She also works on productions with musical theater students at Molloy University and is an event manager at Columbia University. She is proud to join with the Dogteam Theatre Project for this building summer!
Migdalia Cruz she/ her (Masterclass Leader: Playwriting) is a Bronx-born playwright, lyricist, translator, and librettist with over 60 works performed in 150 venues across 40 cities in 12 countries. Her awards include the NEA, McKnight, NYSCA, and TCG/Pew, and she was named the 2013 Helen Merrill Distinguished Playwright. Cruz’s mentor María Irene Fornés and her residency at Latino Chicago shaped her career. She co-chaired the DGF
Playwriting Fellows, mentored the Latinx Playwrights’ Circle and is an alumna of New Dramatists.
Raquel Davis ’00
she/her (Masterclass Leader: Lighting Design) is an associate professor of lighting design at Boise State University. New York credits include: Lear and [Untitled Feminist Multimedia Technology Show] (Young Jean Lee’s Theatre Company), Paradox of the Urban Cliché and Dutch Master s (LAByrinth Theatre), End Days (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Stretch: a fantasia (Living Theatre), Removable Parts (HERE Arts Center), A Bright New Boise (Partial Comfort), Futura (NAATCO). Regional: The Clean House (GEVA Theatre Center), Boom! (Perseverance Theater), Namaste Man!, and Norway (Boise Contemporary Theatre). Raquel was the resident designer at the O’Neill Playwrights Conference from 2004–2022. She studied design at Middlebury College and received her MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Alex Draper* ’88
he/him (Co-Artistic Director; A Hundred Circling Camps: Pelham D. Glassford) is a professional stage, film, and television actor, and the current chair of the Theatre Department at Middlebury College. As a founding member and associate artistic director of PTP/NYC, and a founding
member of Blue Light Theatre in New York, he appeared in 26 productions over a combined 21 seasons with those companies. Other New York credits include the premieres of Dare Clubb’s Obie Award-winning Oedipus; Erin Courtny’s Obie Award-winning A Map of Virtue; the Presnyakov Brothers’ Terrorism; Neil Simon’s Rose’s Dilemma; Matt Pepper’s Saint Crispin’s Day ; and Phillip Ridley’s The Pitchfork Disney. Film and TV: The Witch in the Window, No Pay, Nudity, Yellowbrickroad, Joshua, Hysterical Blindness, Simply Irresistible, The Photographer, Kalapani, Chicago Med, Taken, The Good Wife, John Adams, Sex and the City, Suddenly Susan, and all the Law and Orders. BA: Middlebury, MFA: Yale School of Drama.
Mark Evancho he/ him (Resident Designer; Masterclass Leader: Scenic Design) previously taught at Drew University, New Jersey, and at Allentown College, Pennsylvaia. Mark has designed for the New York Shakespeare Company, NYC; New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, New Jerse; Blue Light Theatre, NYC; Potomac Theatre Project, Maryland; Olney Theatre Center, Maryland; Pennsylvania Stage Company, Pennsylvania; Bucks County Playhouse, Pennsylvania; and the National Opera Co., North Carolina. In the New England area, Mark has designed for Vermont Theatre Company, Burlington, Vermont;
Creative Video/ CH12, Concord, New Hampshire; Lyric Theatre Co, Burlington, Vermont; and Lost Nation Theatre, Montpelier, Vermont. Mark attended Lester Polakov’s Studio and Forum of Stage Design, NYC; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Pennsylvania; and graduated from Western Illinois University, and Baldwin-Wallace College, Ohio.
Teo Flesher ’23 he/ him (playwright) is a playwright from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He graduated from Middlebury College in 2023 where he majored in economics and minored in theatre. Selected writing credits include The Sporks, Ashes to Ashes, The Processing, Bullets and Shells, and The Vanishing Dream. Stage management credits include Hamlet. Lighting design credits include Destroying Angels and Welcome to the Party (2022 annual first-year Show).
Jayda Gilyard ’26 she/her (lighting design) is a computer science and theatre double major at Middlebury College. Tech credits include Somewhere (lightboard operator) and Tick, Tick . . . BOOM! (follow spot operator). Inspired by the lighting design in Phantom of the Opera, Jayda has been working towards being a lighting designer. She has also been the lighting designer for a classroom project of Betrayal, and
she is currently working as a lighting designer for the unproduced plays La Viuda and A Hundred Circling Camps. Jayda can usually be seen listening to AJR or Jack Stauber or trying to force other people to listen to AJR or Jack Stauber.
Lynn Hawley* ’88.5
she/her ( A Hundred Circling Camps: Evalyn Walsh McLean)
Broadway: Death of a Salesman. Off-
Broadway: The Gabriels; The Life of One Family During an Election Year (the Public, the Kennedy Center, International tour), Richard III, Venus, Woyzeck, (the Public), What Once We Felt (Lincoln Center), Aristocrats (Irish Rep), Owners, Traps (NYTW), The Illusion (CSC), The Pitchfork Disney. Regional: Yale Rep, Center Stage, Williamstown, Powerhouse, Berkshire Theatre Festival. Film/TV: FBI: Most Wanted, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, The Gabriels, Hamlet. BA: Middlebury, MFA: NYU.
Naja Irvin-Conyers
’24 she/her ( A Hundred Circling Camps: Sewilla
Lamar/Mabel/ Woman; La Viuda: Casimiro Paz) is from Bronx, New York, and is entering her final year of undergraduate with a creative writing major and a double minor in theatre and Italian. Naja first started her theatre career during her first year at Middlebury College and has since acted in a plethora of plays and short films,
taking on the roles of Somebody/ Mind (Everybody directed by Olga Sanchez), Narrator/Bugbear/ Mummy/Tiamat (She Kills Monsters directed by Olga Sanchez), and Marcellus/Claudius/Ophelia/ Rosencrantz/Hamlet/Gertrude (Hamlet directed by Alex Draper) in the theatre. She is excited to expand her portfolio with this company as well as deepen her knowledge of theatre.
Victoria Keith ’23 she/her (A Hundred Circling Camps: Lark; La Viuda: Moncita) is a recent Middlebury College graduate from Gaithersburg, Maryland. Acting credits include PTP/NYC’s Here We Go (Caregiver), Hamlet (Hamlet), This Property Is Condemned (Willie), Talk to Me Like the Rain . . . (Woman), Rhinoceros (Papillon/Housewife), Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play (Jenny), She Kills Monsters (Evil Gabbi), and Ophelia Underwater (Nanny). Tech credits include PTP/NYC’s Standing on the Edge of Time (assistant director/ ASM), Big Fish (choreographer), Dinner with Friends (scenic designer), And Baby Makes Seven (scenic designer), and A Woman Left Lonely (scenic designer). She has performed in three world premiere plays—Sloppy Firsts; Hear. Eye. Stand.; and Beach Week—as part of the Teen Performance Company at Round House Theatre in Bethesda, Maryland. victoriakeith.net
Zack Maluccio ’23 he/him ( A Hundred Circling Camps: Morrow; La Viuda: Paco [Francisco de Arenal]) graduated from Middlebury College with a double major in economics and theatre. Middlebury acting: Fun Home (Bruce), Rhinoceros, (Berenger), Company (Robert), She Kills Monsters (Orcus), and A Woman Left Lonely (Brick). Middlebury directing: Until I Do (fall 2020), Big Fish (spring 2022), and Destroying Angels (spring 2023). Assistant stage management: Everybody (spring 2021). He is thankful to be a part of the inaugural Dogteam Theatre Project.
Madison Middleton
’22.5 they/them ( A Hundred Circling Camps: Skip; La Viuda: Manuel Alvarez) is thrilled to be a part of the inaugural Dogteam Theatre Project! They are a recent Middlebury College alum where they studied acting, directing, playwriting, sound design, voice, and composition. Select Middlebury acting credits: Rhinoceros (Jeanne), Botticelli in the Fire (Sandro Botticelli/senior thesis in acting, sound design, and composition), Company (Joanne), Orphan Muses (Isabelle), Giants Have Us In Their Books (Andrea), Julius Caesar (Brutus), The Light in the Piazza (Margaret). Select D.C. acting credits: Avenue Q (Kate Monster), Cabaret (Fraulein Schneider), Tick, Tick . . . BOOM! (Susan/Others),
Sweeney Todd (Johanna), Polaroid Stories (Orpheus), The Mystery of Edwin Drood (the Chairman), August: Osage County (Ivy), Proof (Catherine), Museum (Blakey/Julie Jenkins). As a Middlebury undergraduate, Madison was the Hepburn Zoo President, one of three Theatre Department student representatives, a Beyond the Page intern, an Oratory Now head coach, and a Middlebury College Choir member. They are returning to the Bread Loaf School of English this summer as the theatre manager and member of the acting ensemble. IG: @king.of.dragons.and.trees
August Newell ’23 she/her (scenic design) After performing in the first-year show in fall 2020, she performed in the 2022 J-Term musical, Company by Stephen Sondheim, at the Town Hall Theater in Middlebury. August has spent most of her time on productions in the scene shop, building sets for Rhinoceros and The Moors as part of the production design studio. She also operated projections for Middlebury College productions of Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco and Momentary Exchanges by Michole Biancosino.
work at Middlebury College includes Dinner with Friends (technical direction), and The Nightman Cometh (scenic design/technical direction). They also worked on 00production’s An American in Paris (scenic design/ carpenter). Natalie works as a production assistant in Middlebury’s scene shop constructing sets for faculty shows and has also worked as a production assistant for the Middlebury summer language schools. Upcoming productions include The Tempes t (Master Carpenter) at the Bread Loaf School of English. When not working, Natalie can often be found in a garden.
Olga Sanchez
Natalie Penna ’24 she/her/they/them (projection design) is an English major at Middlebury College from Albany, New York. Their previous
Saltveit she/her (Co-Artistic Director; La Viuda: Translator and Director) is an actor, director, devisor, and arts activist, who has worked around the U.S., most recently at Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse, Chautauqua Theatre Co., and GALA Hispanic Theatre (DC), and internationally in Peru, Venezuela, and Honduras. She serves as assistant professor of theatre here at Middlebury College, artistic advisory board member for PICT International Classic Theatre, and artistic director emerita of Milagro. She is a member of the Fornés Institute, an initiative of the Latinx Theatre Commons, dedicated to preserving and amplifying María Irene Fornés’s legacy as a teacher, mentor and artist. Olga’s research centers Latiné and BIPOC theatre, and decolonization, and has been
published in the Journal of American
Drama and Theatre, Theatre Topics, Encuentro: Latinx Performance for the New American Theatre, Shakespeare and Latinidad, and the Bard and the Borderlands. She is slated for publication in Fornés in Context (Cambridge University Press, 2024). She is currently coediting with Noe Montez, the Routledge Companion to Latinx Theatre and Performance
Socorro Santiago* she/her (La Viuda: Angela Martin)
Broadway: Circle in the Square—The Bacchae; Off-B’way: Dancing with the Dead; writer, producer, designer and actor at INTAR; other credits include plays performed at Public Theatre, Delacorte, Roundabout , Ma-Yi Theatre, Clubbed Thumb, Page 73, NYTW, EST, Soho Rep among many; Tours: Small Mouth Sounds
(Director: Rachel Chavkin); Regional: Shakespeare, Arena, ACT, Longwharf, Hartford, Two River Theatre, Guthrie, Huntington (IRNE nomination) and Sundance theatre among others; TV: What We Do In the Shadows (recurring), Mozart in the Jungle (Recurring) Blue Bloods, Chicago PD, all the Law and Orders, All My Children (ALMA award for her work as Isabella Santos); Films: Netflix— Christmas With You, iGilbert, All Good Things, Devil’s Advocate, Vampires vs. the Bronx, and Widows
(Director: Steven McQueen).
Zeph Santiago ’26 he/they (A Hundred Circling Camps: Cobb/Voter/ Dreamer; La Viuda: the Clerk) has just finished his first year here at Middlebury College. He is so excited to be part of the Dogteam Theatre Project this year and its productions! He was most recently in Hamlet this past spring and is looking forward to being part of future productions here in Middlebury. He would like to thank his friends and family for their constant support!
Kayla Schwartz
’23.5 she/her (Playwright; A Hundred Circling Camps: Anna/Sarah/ Protester) is a super senior Feb majoring in theatre with a playwriting focus from Cleveland, Ohio. She has written stage plays including Forever Holding Peace and Madly Used as well as screenplays such as Homecoming (short film) and Champion (television pilot). Previous acting credits include Somewhere (Cassandra), and Mr. Burns (Troy McClure/Ensemble). Past directing credits include Tick, Tick . . . Boom!, Every Brilliant Thing, and Bullets and Shells written by the one and only Teo Flescher. She could not be more excited to be participating in the inaugural year of the Dogteam Theatre Project and is beyond grateful for the opportunity to work with and learn from these incredible artists.
August Siegel ’25 they/he (Assistant Stage Manager) is a stage manager and designer currently enrolled in Middlebury College as a theatre major with a focus in design. Their Middlebury stage management credits include Which Way is Up?!, We’ll Name This Later, Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play, Fun Home, and Bright Half Life. August also produced, designed, and acted in The Nightman Cometh, a show they devised based on a TV show episode. Additionally, they were the sound designer for Welcome to the Party and A Woman Left Lonely, and acted in ROSPO. This past year, August was the treasurer of the Hepburn Zoo Theater, Middlebury College’s student-run black box theater. They also work in the college’s scene shop, helping construct set/prop pieces and assisting the master electrician for faculty productions. Outside of the college, August has worked with Tiny Barn Theater and Town Hall Theater as an assistant to the producer and a production assistant/electrician, respectively.
Courtney Smith he/ him (Company and Budget Manager; Masterclass Leader: Digital Media) is a scenic, media designer, and technician for live performance. Courtney’s work has received a Distinguished Achievement Award in Scenic Design from the Kennedy
Center in Washington, D.C. Credits include Potomac Theatre Project (PTP/NYC), Project Y Theatre Company (Vermont/ New York), Warren Miller Performing Arts Center (Montana), Southwark Playhouse (United Kingdom), the Bushwick Starr (New York), Roundabout Theatre Company (New York), New York City Opera (New York), Playwrights Horizons (New York), Classic Stage Company (New York), Cedar Lake Dance (New York), Marvel Repertory Theatre (New York), Mount Baker Repertory Theatre (Washington), Montana Shakespeare in the Parks (Montana), Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre (Idaho), and Idaho Repertory Theatre (Idaho). Editorial credits include Victoria’s Secret, Saks 5th Avenue, and MercedesBenz Fashion Week.
Dawn Wagner* she/ her (Masterclass Leader: Stage Management) is an equity stage manager from Vermont. Her vast career includes numerous regional productions, and nearly two decades in NYC incubating new works with New York Stage and Film, and LAByrinth theatre company under the artistic direction of Phillip Seymor Hoffman. She was an associate production manager at Radio City Musical Hall for six years before pausing to raise her young family. Upon returning to Vermont, Dawn shifted to event management, and now runs the largest production of her life, Daily
Chocolate, a small-batch confectionery in Vergennes, Vermont.
Rebecca Wear ’10.5 she/her ( A Hundred Circling Camps: Director) has directed productions at Aurora Theatre, Horizon Theatre, Know Theatre of Cincinnati, Actor’s Express, HERE Arts Center, site specific locations, and others. She has developed work with Ojai Playwrights Conference, the Playwrights’ Realm, Artists At Play, IAMA, Cygnet Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, East West Players, and others. Work has been Ovation Recommended, Suzi Recommended, Annual Best of Cincinnati, and more. She was a 2019 National Directing Fellow and also holds a BA from Middlebury and a PhD from UC Santa Barbara.
