playwise ON STAGE AND OFF
MaRCh 18 through aPRIL 10, 2011
philadelphia Theatre company in association with arena stage presents the second stage Theater’s production of
LET ME DOWN EASY conceived, written and performed by ANNA DEAVERE SMITH directed by LEONARD FOGLIA
What’s InsIde: Talking abouT Race
by Sarah Ollove, Production Dramaturg
Mock Trials
by Sarah Ollove, Production Dramaturg
We can’T sTop Talking abouT Race in aMerica
by David Mamet
Anna Deavere Smith, Photo by Joan Marcus
P h I L a d e L P h I a t h e at R e C O M P a n Y
C e L e b R at I n g O u R 3 5 t h a n n I v e R s a R Y s e a s O n
Theater teaches and entertains us by interpreting the human experience. Through live theater we can discover and understand the many facets of our well-being and the issues we face. HealthAmerica is proud to support the arts that bring us thought-provoking discourse to inform, question and illuminate the human condition.
healthamerica.cvty.com | 1-800-788-7895
Source for top 15 health plans in the nation is "NCQA's Health Insurance Plan Rankings 2010-11 - Private."
Dear Friends, It is with great pride that Philadelphia Theatre Company presents Let Me Down Easy, an extraordinary and deeply moving theatrical event that represents the Philadelphia debut of Anna Deavere Smith, arguably one of the world’s greatest theater artists. To describe her as simply an “artist,” however, does not adequately convey the many roles that combine to shape her unique creative identity. She is actress, journalist, advocate, humanist, investigator, conjurer, shape-shifter, entertainer and more. Over the last thirty years or so, she has been perfecting her singular brand of docudrama that begins with interviews and ends with her astounding transformation into these subjects. I have always appreciated the New York Times’ characterization of her work: “Anna Deavere Smith does people’s souls.” Throughout the course of this performance you will experience twenty of these souls culled from over three hundred interviews: athlete, supermodel, patient, doctor, scholar, dancer, clergy and more. Together they offer a living rumination on many things from healthcare to the vulnerability of the human body and the strength of the human spirit. Most notably, and to paraphrase dramaturg Alisa Solomon, they offer us a demonstration of that most lovely and ephemeral quality: grace. Although Philadelphia Theatre Company is presenting Anna Deavere Smith, we consider ourselves merely the conduit through which she and the issues she raises can be shared with the greater community. The run of Let Me Down Easy, as in the case of our most recent production, Race, will be marked by a number of public dialogues involving experts in fields as wide ranging as public health to sports psychology and bioethics. But do not let these medical-sounding topics put you off. To discuss any and all parts of what Let Me Down Easy inspires is to talk about what it means to be human right now at this moment in the life of our nation. For this reason, we are privileged to have joined forces with Arena Stage, La Jolla Playhouse, Berkeley Rep and others in bringing Anna to Philadelphia and other major cities across the country. Up next, we are joining forces with the Gershman Y and the Philadelphia Museum of Arts to present a world premiere cabaret performance about Marc Chagall’s wife and muse called Bella: The Color of Love as a part of Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts, inspired by the Kimmel Center. You might want to catch the performance in conjunction with the Museum’s fabulous Chagall exhibit occuring at the same time. And following Bella, comes the regional premiere of Lynn Nottage’s deeply moving Pulitzer Prize-winning play Ruined, directed by Barrymore Award-winning Maria Mileaf. Thank you for experiencing Let Me Down Easy with us and we hope you will enter into our ongoing conversations!
Sara Garonzik Producing Artistic Director
A LETTER FROM THE PRODUCTION SPONSOR OF LET ME DOWN EASY: HEALTHAMERICA On behalf of HealthAmerica, welcome to Philadelphia Theatre Company’s presentation of Let Me Down Easy. We are proud to support Philadelphia Theatre Company and this vitally important production created by the vibrant and talented Anna Deavere Smith. For over 35 years, HealthAmerica has been a presence in Pennsylvania, serving the health insurance needs of its employers and citizens. We are committed to providing access to high quality health care and promoting healthy lifestyles for all those we serve. HealthAmerica is also committed to our community, doing our part to support such endeavors as health education and research, community safety, and the arts and humanities. This is an exciting and challenging time for all Americans, but through the arts –specifically productions such as Let Me Down Easy – we are able to discover and better understand the various facets that make up our well-being and the issues that we collectively face. Knowledge and access to this information are crucial to each of us as we make decisions now and in the future. HealthAmerica is proud to join this exploration of ideas by supporting Let Me Down Easy and Philadelphia Theatre Company, an organization with a longstanding tradition of providing high quality arts and programming that examines the human condition. It is through the arts that we become enlightened, thoughtful, and inspired. Enjoy the show! Sincerely,
Howard A. Cutler Vice President and Executive Director HealthAmerica, Eastern Pennsylvania Region
THANK YOU TO OUR 2010/2011 SEASON SPONSORS Let Me Down Easy Production Sponsor
35th Anniversary Ticket Sponsor
be par t of ar t
Official Airline
Official Media Sponsor
Philadelphia Theatre Company Sara Garonzik Producing Artistic Director
Kathleen Kund Nolan Interim Managing Director
in association with Arena Stage presents Second Stage Theatre’s production of
LET ME DOWN EASY conceived, written and performed by ANNA DEAVERE SMITH directed by LEONARD FOGLIA
CAST Anna Deavere Smith CREATIVE TEAM Director...................................................................................................................... Leonard Foglia Set Designer................................................................................................. Ricardo Hernandez Costume Designer............................................................................................. Ann Hould-Ward Lighting Design.............................................................................................. Dan Ozminkowski, based on the original by Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer
Sound Designer......................................................................................................... Ryan Rumery Projection Designer.......................................................................................... Zachary Borovay Original Musical Elements................................................................................ Joshua Redman Dramaturg ................................................................................................................ Alisa Solomon Artistic Associate .................................................................................................... Kimber Riddle Dialect Coach................................................................................................................. Amy Stoller Movement Coach.............................................................................. Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish Hair Designer ....................................................................................................... Anthony Dickey Makeup Designer.......................................................................................................... Maria Verel Stage Manager...................................................................................................... Joseph Smelser Assistant Stage Manager......................................................................................... Ronee Penoi Assistant Director.............................................................................................. Keturah Stickann Assistant Scenic Designer....................................................................................... Maruti Evans Associate Sound Designer.................................................................................. Veronika Vorel Associate Movement Coach .......................................................................... Michael Thomas Director of Production...........................................................................................Bruce Charlick Technical Director...............................................................................................Michael Cristaldi
RUNNING ORDER Let Me Down Easy will be performed without an intermission. JAMES H. CONE ............................................................................“Let Me Down Easy” Author & Professor, Union Theological Seminary, NYC
ELIZABETH STREB ...................................................................................... “Fire Dance” Choreographer, STREB Extreme Action Company
LANCE ARMSTRONG .......................................................................... “Right on Time” Tour de France Victor
SALLY JENKINS ......................................................................................................“Ashes” Sports Columnist, Washington Post
EVE ENSLER ........................................................................................... “A Raisin a Day” Writer, Activist
BRENT WILLIAMS ....................................................................................... “Toughness” Rodeo Bull Rider, Idaho
MICHAEL BENTT ............................................................... “When Boxers See Lights” Heavyweight Champion Boxer
HAZEL MERRIT ......................................................“A Sheet Around My Daughter” Patient
LAUREN HUTON ......................................................................................................“Mojo” Supermodel
RUTH KATZ ...............................................................................“That Bedrock of Care” Patient, Yale New Haven Hospital
KIERSTA KURTZ -BURKE ................. “Heavy Sense Physician, of Resignation” Charity Hospital, New Orleans
PHIL PIZZO ...................................................................................“Takes a Lot of Time” Dean, Stanford University School of Medicine
SUSAN YOUENS ...................................................................................... “Passing Bells” Musicologist, University of Notre Dame
EDUARDO BRUERA ...................................................................“Existential Sadness” Palliative Care, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
ANN RICHARDS .......................................................................................................... “Chi” Former Governor, Texas
LORRAINE COLEMAN .........................................................................................“Gloves” Retired Teacher, Anna Deavere Smith’s Aunt
JOEL SIEGEL ............................... “3,000 Years of Being Kicked Around Europe” Movie Critic ABC News
THE REV. PETER GOMES ..................................... “Why Don’t You Stick Around” Harvard University, Minister, Memorial Church
TRUDY HOWELL ....................................................“Don’t Leave Them in the Dark” Director, Chance Orphanage, Johannesburg, South Africa
MATTHIEU RICARD .......................................................................................... “Tea Cup” Buddhist Monk
The video and/or audio recording of this performance by any means whatsoever is strictly prohibited. All electronic devices such as beepers, cell phones, and watch alarms must be turned off prior to the performance.
THE ACTORS AND STAGE MANAGERS EMPLOYED IN THIS PRODUCTION ARE MEMBERS OF ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION, THE UNION OF PROFESSIONAL ACTORS AND STAGE MANAGERS IN THE UNITED STATES. THE DIRECTOR IS A MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF STAGE DIRECTORS AND CHOREOGRAPHERS, AN INDEPENDENT NATIONAL LABOR UNION. THE SCENIC, COSTUME, LIGHTING AND SOUND DESIGNERS IN LORT THEATERS ARE REPRESENTED BY UNITED SCENIC ARTISTS LOCAL USA-829, IASTE. PHILADELPHIA THEATRE COMPANY IS A PROUD MEMBER OF THE LEAGUE OF REGIONAL THEATRES (LORT). A CONSTITUENT MEMBER OF THEATRE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP, INC. (TCG), A MEMBER OF THE GREATER PHILADELPHIA CULTURAL ALLIANCE (GPCA), THEATRE ALLIANCE OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA (TAGP), THE GREATER PHILADELPHIA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. PHILADELPHIA THEATRE COMPANY PROUDLY PARTICIPATES IN THE BARRYMORE AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN THEATRE, A PROGRAM OF THE THEATRE ALLIANCE OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA. ONE OPEN CAPTION PERFORMANCE IS PROVIDED FOR EVERY PRODUCTION TO OUR DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING PATRONS. ONE AUDIO DESCRIPTION PERFORMANCE IS PROVIDED FOR OUR BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED PATRONS. LARGE PRINT, BRAILLE AND AUDIO CASSETTE PROGRAMS ARE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.
SUPPORT FOR PHILADELPHIA THEATRE COMPANY’S ACCENT ON ACCESSIBILITY PROGRAM COMES FROM: Independence Foundation Louis N. Cassett Foundation
Wachovia Fargo Foundation
WHO’S WHO Anna Deavere Smith is an actress, playwright, and author. It has been said that she created a new form of theater. When granted the prestigious MacArthur Award, her work was described as “a blend of theatrical art, social commentary, journalism, and intimate reverie.” She has performed in film and TV as well as on stage. She currently plays Gloria Akalitus on Showtime’s hit series Nurse Jackie. She’s probably most recognizable in popular culture as Nancy McNally, national security advisor on NBC’s former hit The West Wing. In theater, she has been looking at current events from multiple points of view. Ms. Smith’s theater combines the journalistic technique of interviewing her subjects with the art of interpreting their words through performance. These one-woman shows are a part of a series she began in the early 1980s called On the Road: A Search for American Character. Her goal has been to learn as much about America as she can, by interviewing individual Americans from diverse backgrounds, and putting herself in other people’s words the way you might think of putting yourself in another person’s “shoes.” A reviewer for The New York Times, writing about her Broadway show Twilight: Los Angeles, which depicted the 1992 Los Angeles riots, said of her performance that she’s “the ultimate impressionist: she does people’s souls.” Jack Kroll of Newsweek proclaimed the work “an American masterpiece.” She conducts hundreds of interviews while creating a play. Using verbatim excerpts of interviews, she has performed up to as many as 46 people in the course of an evening. Ms. Smith performed Twilight: Los Angeles around the U.S. and on Broadway. It received two Tony nominations, an Obie, Drama Desk Award, Special Citation from the New York Drama Critics Circle, and numerous other honors. President and Mrs. Clinton and Vice President Al Gore attended her Washington performance. She produced, wrote, and performed the film version of Twilight for PBS. Another of her plays, Fires in the Mirror, examined a race riot in Crown Heights, Brooklyn (1991) when age-old racial tensions between black and Jewish neighbors exploded. It received an Obie Award, numerous other awards, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. It, too, was broadcast on PBS. Other works in the On the Road series include House Arrest, which deals with the American presidency, and Hymn, a collaboration with world-famous choreographer and dancer Judith Jamison, for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Let Me Down Easy was inspired by work she did at Yale School of Medicine, where she was Visiting Professor. While at Yale, she created a performance for medical grand rounds called Rounding It Out (2000). To create Let Me Down Easy she conducted 320 interviews on three continents. She has been featured in several films, among them The American President, The Human Stain, Life Support, and Rachel Getting Married. She was recently featured in a full-hour segment on PBS’s Bill Moyers Journal. She has written for The New York Times, Newsweek, The New Yorker, O Magazine, Elle, Essence, and The Drama Review, as well as other publications. She has been inaugural artist in residence at the Ford Foundation, MTV Networks, The Aspen Institute and currently the Center for American Progress in Washington. She is director and founder of Anna Deavere Smith Works, Inc., a place for artistic excellence and social change. ADS Works is based at New York Univ. and convenes artists whose work focuses on the pressing social problems of our time. She has received several honorary degrees among them: Juilliard, Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Bates, Northwestern, Wesleyan, Radcliffe, Cooper Union, Holy Cross, John Jay College of Criminal Justice. She will receive one from Spelman College in 2012. She serves on the boards of The Aspen Institute andthe Museum of Modern Art. She is a member of the council on Foreign Relations. She is a Professor at New York University.
Leonard Foglia (Director) Broadway: Thurgood (also Kennedy Center, Geffen Playhouse), On Golden Pond (also Kennedy Center, national tour), Wait Until Dark, Master Class (also Kennedy Center, national tour, London’s West End). Off-Broadway: Let Me Down Easy (Second Stage), The Stendhal Syndrome (Primary Stages), One Touch of Venus (City Center), If Memory Serves (Promenade, Pasadena Playhouse), By the Sea (MTC, Bay St.), Lonely Planet (Circle Rep). Regional: Unusual Acts of Devotion (Philadelphia Theatre Company); Distracted (Mark Taper); Paper Doll, The Secret Letters of Jackie and Marilyn (Pittsburgh Public); The Subject Was Roses (Kennedy Center); Things Being What They Are, Seascape, A Coffin in Egypt, The Woman in Black (Bay St.); God’s Man in Texas, Dinner with Friends (Old Globe). Opera: Moby Dick (Dallas), Dead Man Walking (NYC Opera, Opera Pacific, Cincinnati, Detroit, etc.), The End of the Affair (Houston Grand, Seattle, Madison), Three Decembers (Houston Grand, San Francisco, Chicago Opera Theater), To Cross the Face of the Moon (librettist and director: Houston Grand). He is co-author with David Richards of the mystery novels 1 Ragged Ridge Road, Face Down in the Park and El Sudario and its sequel, La Sangre del Sudario. Ricardo Hernandez (Set Designer) Broadway: Elaine Stritch at Liberty, Topdog/Underdog, Bells Are Ringing, Parade (Tony, Drama Desk nom), Noise/Funk, The Tempest. Public Theater: Macbeth, Blade to the Heat, One Flea Spare, many others. MTC, Playwrights Horizons, Vineyard, BAM, ART, Goodman, Geffen, Arena Stage, Center Stage, Taper, La Jolla, Seattle Rep, Yale Rep, Houston Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, L.A. Opera, Hong Kong Opera. In 2000, Mr. Hernandez received the Princess Grace Award. He was raised and educated in Buenos Aires and is a 1992 graduate of Yale School of Drama. Ann Hould-Ward (Costume Designer) Broadway: Free Man of Color, A Catered Affair (Drama Desk nom), Company, Dance of the Vampires, Beauty and the Beast (Tony, American Theatre Wing, Ovation awards; Oliver nom), Into the Woods (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle noms; L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award), Falsettos, Sunday in the Park with George (Tony, Drama Desk noms), Harrigan ’n’ Hart, Dream, Saint Joan, Three Men on a Horse, Timon of Athens, Little Me, The Molière Comedies, among others. Off-Broadway: Wings, In the Grand Manner, Let Me Down Easy, Road Show, Surviving Grace, Lobster Alice, Cymbline. Film: Strike!, House Arrest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet. Other: Peter Grimes (Metropolitan Opera); The Most Happy Fella (NYC Opera); BigApple Circus, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus; Mahagonny (L.A. Opera); Ballet Hispanico; Lar Lubovitch’s White Oak Project (SF Ballet); Othello, Artemis, Meadow (ABT); Reminicin’, Saddle Up, Morning Star (Alvin Ailey). Recipient: FIT’s Patricia Zipprodt Award. Dan Ozminkowski (Lighting Designer) Recent design credits include A Celebration of Maurice Sendak with Tony Kushner (92nd St. Y); Spirit of Uganda 2010 (North American tour); Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre’s Passage (Kumble Theater); Meet Me in St. Louis and I Left My Heart (Merry-Go-Round Playhouse); Dancin’ Downtown 2010 (Joyce); To Walk in Darkness, B*tch, & Pucelandia (Off-Off-Broadway). Resident designer of Treehouse Shakers and UHSPAC. Associate/assistant credits include Impressionism and The Ritz (Broadway); Let Me Down Easy (Second Stage); Le Réve (Wynn, Las Vegas); Jennifer Muller/The Works (Brazil); Foxfire, Private Lives and Secret Garden (Utah Shakespearean Festival); She Loves Me (Williamstown); Anne of Green Gables and The Giver (People’s Light Theatre Co.). Alumnus, Conservatory of Theatre Arts & Film, Purchase College.
Ryan Rumery (Sound Designer) Broadway credits include Thurgood, which starred Laurence Fishburne. Off-Broadway his recent work includes original music in Bright New Boise, Wild Project, Emperor Jones at Irish Rep; CSC’s Orlando, Three Sisters, and Uncle Vanya; Precious Little for Clubbed Thumb; and End Days at EST. His recent sound design credits include Gruesome Playground Injuries (Second Stage), Now Circa Then (Ars Nova), Blind (Rattlestick), Neighbors (Public Lab), Back Back Back and Based on a Totally True Story (MTC), and Beauty on the Vine (Epic Theatre Center). Regional credits include Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Center Stage, Dallas Theater Center, Kennedy Center, Geffen Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre, PlayMakers Rep, Hartford Stage, Westport Country Playhouse, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Ford’s Theatre, Florida Stage, Alley Theatre, People’s Light & Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Trinity Rep, Adirondack Theatre Festival, Hangar, Woolly Mammoth, Alliance, and Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. His film credits include SyncroNYCity. Zachary Boravoy (Projection Designer) Recent: Elf (Broadway), Lombardi (Broadway), Limelight (La Jolla), Rock of Ages (Broadway, national tour, Toronto, Off-Broadway), Let Me Down Easy (Off-Broadway), To Be or Not to Be (Broadway), A Catered Affair (Broadway, Drama Desk nom), Xanadu (Broadway, national tour, Japan), Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, Nickelodeon’s Storytime Live! (national tour), Voyage de la Vie (Sentosa, Singapore) and Peepshow (Planet Hollywood Resort Casino, Las Vegas). Mr. Borovay was the first projection designer to join United Scenic Artists Local 829. www.borovay.com Joshua Redman (Original Music Elements) is one of the most acclaimed and charismatic jazz artists to have emerged in the 1990s. Born in Berkeley, Calif., he’s the son of legendary saxophonist Dewey Redman and dancer Renee Shedroff. In 1991, Mr. Redman graduated from Harvard Coll. summa cum laude and had already been accepted by Yale Law School but deferred entrance for what he believed was only going to be one year. He moved to New York and immediately found himself immersed in the burgeoning jazz scene. Five months later, Mr. Redman was named the winner of the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition. Since then, he has worked and played with a vast array of jazz luminaries, released 13 jazz albums (Warner and Nonesuch), been nominated for a Grammy three times, and has garnered top honors in critics and readers polls of DownBeat, Jazz Times, Village Voice and Rolling Stone. Alisa Solomon (Dramaturg) teaches at Columbia Univ.’s Graduate School of Journalism, where she directs the M.A. concentration in arts and culture. Her criticism, essays and political reporting have appeared in a wide range of magazines, newspapers, radio shows and websites, including The New York Times, GuardianAmerica.com, The Nation, WNYC, Forward Theater and The Village Voice (where she was on the staff for 21 years). Her book Re-Dressing the Cannon: Essays on Theater and Gender won the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism. As a dramaturg, she has also worked with such artists as Anne Bogart, Lee Breuer, Peter Brosius, Liz Diamond, Gordon Edelstein, Matthew Maguire, Mark Russell, Jean Simpson, Gerald Thomas, Lois Weaver and Mac Wellman.
2010-2011 SeaSon
philadelphia theatre company
ACT OUT!
Summer Theatre Ca mp for Teens 13–18
PTC Summer Conservatory:
actout Summer Session 2011:
June 20 - July 1 ((9:30am – 4:00pm)
Week #1 – July 11 - July 15; Week #2 – July 18 - 22; Week #3 – July 25 - July 29
In this intensive course, teens will spend 2 weeks working together as an ensemble of writers, actors, directors, and sound and lighting designers to create and produce an original one-act which will be presented on July 1st. Students will work with professional teaching artists and theater technicians to fully produce their piece. Fee: $725
(10:00am – 4:00pm with an optional warm-up at 9:30am)
With PTC’s flexible single week sessions, you can attend one, two, or all three weeks of ActOut Summer Session. Students spend mornings cycling through classes in playwriting, acting, directing, and design. Afternoons are spent with their company actively exploring theater concepts, building an ensemble and deciding what pieces to put on stage in our Theater Lab each Friday at 2:00pm – friends and family are encouraged to attend. Fees: $350 for 1 week; $675 for 2 weeks; $ 1,000 for 3 weeks.
SPeCial CombinaTion offer!
Receive $50 off PTC Summer Conservatory if you also register for any week of ActOut Summer Session!
215.985.0420 or PhiladelphiaTheatreCompany.org/education
Kimber Ridle (Artistic Associate) M.F.A. from New York Univ. Graduate Acting Program. Off-Broadway: The Mad Forest (Manhattan Theater Club), Zero Church (St. Ann’s Warehouse), Enrico IV (NYU Director’s Lab). Regional: Tranced (Merrimack Rep); House Arrest (Mark Taper Forum); Common Infractions, GrossInjustices (ART); Piano (Harvard Univ.); IACD Acting Company 1998-2000 (Harvard Univ., dir. Anna Deavere Smith). Film: Guy, Thirty, Under The Bridge. TV: ABC miniseries Stephen King’s The Langoliers, CBS miniseries The Last Mafia Marriage. Ms. Riddle also teaches acting and has assisted Ms. Smith on Let Me Down Easy since its first incarnation in 2007. Amy Stoller (Dialect Coach) is delighted to rejoin Anna Deavere Smith and Leonard Foglia on Let Me Down Easy, for which she has been dialect coach since its world premiere. As Resident Dialect Designer/Coach (and occasional dramaturg) at Off-Broadway’s Mint Theater Company since 1996, her most recent credit is this season’s Wife to James Whelan. She has also worked with such NY companies as Second Stage, Pearl, Keen, Origin, and Drama League DirectorFest, among many others. Regional work includes three world premieres at the Long Wharf and productions at ART and Peterborough Players. TV credits include coaching Justin Bartha as Austrian Jack Werner in WWII in HD and several episodes of Dora the Explorer and Go Diego, Go! Amy is associate editor for NYC of International Dialects of English Archive, and an officer of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association. For more information, please visit www.stollersystem.com. Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish (Movement Coach) was born in Manila and became the youngest member of Ballet Philippines. She danced with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Ohad Naharin and Joyce Trisler before joining Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, where she was a principal dancer from 1984 to 1997. She performed in the Emmy Award-winning PBS specials Two by Dove and Judith Jamison’s A Hymn for Alvin Ailey, among others, and was featured in a 1997 Dance magazine cover article and named by Avenue magazine as one of the 500 most influential Asian-Americans. After leaving Ailey as a dancer, Ms. Roxas was asked to perform on Broadway in The King and I as Eliza and made several guest appearances in the U.S. and abroad before she turned to teaching. She currently teaches Horton Technique, as well as the Actors Studio Class, at the Ailey School. She has worked with Anna Deavere smith, teaching at the Graduate School of New York Univ. and in 2010 taught dance for a semester at Harvard Univ. She has choreographed in regional theaters and OffBroadway and restages ballets of Alvin Ailey works. Anthony Dickey (Hair Designer) celebrity hairstylist and founder of Hair Rules, navigates effortlessly through the texture spectrum. In over 20 years working on videos, album covers, editorial shoots and behind the chair, he’s learned all hair may not be created equally, but it should be treated as such. Touted a “Style Svengali” by the New York Times, Mr. Dickey has created iconic hairstyles for celebrities like Rihanna, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michelle Obama and Alicia Keys and publications like Vogue, Vanity Fair, Essence, Vibe and Harper’s Bazaar. His stints at world-class salons Oribe, John Frieda and Louis Licari refined his technical wizardry, and in 2003, he authored Hair Rules!, pioneering a new standard of hair care and styling for a multi-textural world. Inspired by its success, Mr. Dickey launched a solutions-oriented line of cleansers, conditioners and styling aids for kinky, curly and wavy hair. Since 2009, Hair Rules salon has offered the healthiest hair care and styling for all textures under one roof.
Maria Verel (Makeup Designer), fulltime makeup artist for Diane Sawyer since 1995, is honored to return to Arena Stage since House Arrest in 1997, created and performed by Anna Deavere Smith. She also designed Ms. Smith’s makeup for the New York production of Let Me Down Easy. Ms. Verel designed for Rebecca Caine, Phantom of the Opera, Toronto, Harold Prince directing; Side Show on Broadway; and the current Off-Broadway phenomenon Love, Loss, and What I Wore. Her constant demand includes film, video, TV, print, redcarpet appearances, and her expert advice is featured regularly in Allure, O, Self, Elle, Bazaar, InStyle, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, Shape, Women’s Health. Her extensive career roster boasts a who’s who of Hollywood celebrities and Washington luminaries, including President Barack and Michelle Obama, George W. Bush, Bill and Hillary Clinton, George H.W. and BarbaraBush. Longstanding clients include Swoosie Kurtz, Emmylou Harris, Diana Krall, Nora Ephron, Delia Ephron, and Arianna Huffington. Joseph Smelser (Stage Manager) returns to DC after recently stage managing All’s Well the Ends Well at Shakespeare Theatre Company. Regional theater work includes long associations with Seattle Rep (associate artistic director and production stage manager; credits include Play On!, Golden Child, Speech and Debate), American Conservatory Theatre (Vigil, The Circle, The Rivals), Berkeley Repertory Theatre (resident stage manager) and Aurora Theatre (production manager). He stage managed the regional tour of Ms. Smith’s Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (with a stop at Ford’s Theatre) as well as Piano at the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue at Harvard Univ. Rone Penoi (Assistant Stage Manager) is thrilled to join Let Me Down Easy after working at Arena as Senior New Play Producing Fellow in the American Voices New Play Institute and as Arena’s 2008/09 directing fellow (with Pam MacKinnon on A Delicate Balance, with Michael Greif on Next to Normal, with Molly Smith on Legacy of Light). At Shakespeare Theatre Company, Ms. Penoi was artistic fellow and assistant directed the Carter Baron production of Hamlet, as well as On the Eve of Friday Morning. Ms. Penoi is a Creative Communities Fund grand recipient to write a new musical on the Native American Indian school experience, part of the Cultural Development Corporation’s Mead Theater Lab program. Ms. Penoi is a 2007 graduate of Princeton Univ. Second Stage Theatre(Producer) founded in 1979 under the leadership of Artistic Director Carole Rothman, produces a diverse range of premieres and new interpretations of America’s best contemporary theater, including such productions as Coastal Disturbances, This Is Our Youth, The Good Times Are Killing Me, Saturday Night, Tiny Alice, Jitney, Crowns, Living Out, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Little Dog Laughed, Next to Normal, Becky Shaw and Everyday Rapture. The company’s more than 125 citations include two 2009 Tony Awards for the Pulitzer Prize-winning Next to Normal. Major support for Let Me Down Easy at Second Stage Theatre was provided by American Express. For subscriptions, tickets and more information, visit www.2ST.com. Michael Cristaldi (Technical Director) has been with PTC since 2000. He is proud to be a part of the growing and vibrant theatre arts scene here in our wonderful city. Staldi has traveled the country and all over the world as TD for Enchantment Theatre Company, freelanced at almost every theatre in town, and has designed lights for the Walnut Street Theatre’s Studio 3 and for the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival. He also co-produced the 2008 “Unofficial Fringe Late-Night Cabaret.” Staldi credits his success to Allentown College (now DeSales University), his wonderful family, and his incredible wife, Stacey.
Bruce Charlick (Director of Production and Theater Operations) is in his 14th season with Philadelphia Theatre Company. Bruce’s career in theater spans four decades, including: The Annenberg Center of the University of Pennsylvania, The Mann Center for the Performing Arts, and Temple University’s Department of Theatre. In his “spare” time Bruce enjoys his family of three children, a dog, and wife of over 30 years. Kathleen Kund Nolan (Interim Managing Director) A seasoned theater manager, Kathleen served as Interim Managing Director at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre in 2008 where she had previously enjoyed a long association as General Manager. She continues to serve as a trustee on McCarter’s Board where she is Vice President for Development. Philadelphia theatre-goers might recall that Kathleen served as Business Manager for five years at the Philadelphia Drama Guild, and prior to that held positions with Pennsylvania Stage Company, Cleveland Playhouse and the North Shore Music Theatre. In addition to serving on the Board of McCarter Theater, Kathleen also serves as a Trustee on the Boards of the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival and the Tofte Lake Center. She and her family live in Newtown, PA. Sara Garonzik (Producing Artistic Director) has directed and produced for Philadelphia Theatre Company since 1982, and introduced more than 130 world or regional premieres of major new American plays and musicals to Philadelphia including new work by Terrence McNally, Bill Irwin, Jeffrey Hatcher, Christopher Durang, John Henry Redwood, Tracey Scott Wilson, Naomi Wallace and Bruce Graham, among others. In 1991 she was named to the Philadelphia Theatre Company Board of Directors. Other service has included: Board Member of ArtReach and the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance (GPCA); theater panels for the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Ohio State Councils on the Arts; theater panels for The Philadelphia Theatre Initiative, the McKnight Foundation Advancement Awards for Playwriting and the O’Neill Playwrights Conference, and as a judge for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. She is listed in “Who’s Who of American Women” and was named one of Business Philadelphia’s and Philadelphia Magazine’s “People to Watch.” She was recently elected to The Court of Honor of Distinuished Daughters of The Philadelphia High School for Girl by their Alumnae Association and has recieved the President’s Award from the Philadelphia Young Playwrights. In 2007, she received the Achievement Award from the American Association of University Women, an honor she proudly shared with Dawn Staley and Terry D’Alessandro. In June 2008, she received the first Arts Pioneer Award created by Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown. She currently serves as a Board Member of the Arts & Business Council of Greater Philadelphia, as President of the Board of the Philadelphia Cultural Fund and on the advisory board of PlayPenn, a new play development organization.
A LETTER FROM A PTC CORPORATE MEMBER, FLASTER/GREENBERG PC As a Corporate Partner of the Philadelphia Theatre Company, Flaster/Greenberg is proud to support shows like the thoughtprovoking Let Me Down Easy, a play that ponders the experiences of people in this country’s healthcare system. Our partnership allows us to tangibly underscore our commitment to foster the arts and cultural endeavors in our community, a responsibility our firm has undertaken with pleasure since our founding over four decades ago. From our roots in the early 1970s, Flaster/Greenberg is now recognized as one of New Jersey’s largest law firms with a growing presence in Philadelphia. Our client roster has also grown, as our legal solutions have helped clients achieve success. Commercial real estate developers, healthcare providers, technology companies, manufacturers and other businesses and individual clients increasingly seek our counsel. As the world around us continues to change, we proactively respond by broadening the depth of our practice areas and recommitting ourselves to our clients’ success. We would also like to congratulate the PTC on 35 years of excellence, and wish to acknowledge and openly recognize the positive effect that its high caliber programming has had on our communities and our region.
Peter R. Spirgel, Esq. Managing Shareholder Flaster/Greenberg PC
PHILLY REALITY 2011@ PHILADELPHIA THEATRE COMPANY
Students from eight schools across the city took over the SRT stage, backstage and lobbies on February 25th to present Philly Reality 2011, PTC’s annual production of student monologues. Under the guidance of PTC staff and teaching artists in partnership with classroom teachers, students experience every aspect of putting a play on stage from the original idea to writing, acting and directing the monologues, to running the sound and light boards, to choosing set pieces, props and costumes, and even to ticketing and marketing the show. Bravo to the students for their hard work and creativity and to the packed house of friends and family that came out to see the show. SCHOOL Arise Academy Charter School Creative & Performing Arts High School of Philadelphia Boys Latin of Philadelphia Charter School Masterman High School - Drama A Masterman high School – Drama B Parkway School for Peace & Social Justice PTC’s ActOut Saturday Class World Communications Charter School
SHOW TITLE Rude on the Outside, What’s on the Inside? At the Party . . . . Solo Cup Route 30 Disconnect Life As It Is Here’s Where I Stand Everything Isn’t As It Seems
IN CONVERSATION WITH ANNA DEAVERE SMITH On October 23, 2010, during Arena Stage’s Homecoming celebration, Artistic Director Molly Smith interviewed Anna Deavere Smith about her show Let Me Down Easy. Here is a short excerpt from that conversation.
Molly Smith: Could you talk a little bit about grace as an inspiration and how you arrived at the final draft of Let Me Down Easy? Anna Deavere Smith: Really, Let Me Down Easy started as long ago as the 1990s, when I got a letter … from the Yale University School of Medicine. … It was a letter from the head of internal medicine asking me to come to Yale as a visiting professor to interview doctors and patients and to then present at medical grand rounds – which is sort of a lecture series for doctors with scientists and so forth. … I put it off. I kept saying, “Well, I’m not sure, I’m not sure.” I thought it was because I didn’t want to embarrass myself around all those smart people. But then finally, in 2000 when I went to Yale and sat down with my tape recorder and did the interviews, I realized what had kept me away from it was my own fear of being close to sick people. And to deal with the fact that the rumor is true: We are all mortal. In fact, I would leave those days at Yale and feel sick just from the power of hearing these stories of people who were healing and surviving but nonetheless had touched these
incredibly terrible moments. So that was that. And that was going to be the end of it. I delivered it. It was a commission. It was done and everyone was very happy. However, then they invited me back under other circumstances to do it again. And what interested me the most about that process was that people who had come the first time to see it – patients – I thought, “Well, why do you want to come again and hear me speak as you about this awful moment in your life?” And when they would come back to see me afterward it wasn’t a lot of talk, “Oh you were so wonderful,” it was just a look that we exchanged. I realized that we had been through something together. That kept me tied to the material. ... Things go wrong. What are the things that really get us through that? This notion of grace came up. … We all sing that song “Amazing Grace” without realizing the important line; what does that mean? “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.” We think it’s about good luck or getting through the rough times. It’s really about the fact that we all have a share in the fallen nature of the human enterprise. I’m quoting Peter Gomes there.
So, nonetheless, I think this investigation of grace, which still stays with me now, and these excursions into other religious ideas that have other ways of thinking about the things that are right and wrong about us and how we walk that walk informed the play and informed me and still inform me. … And my work is about really using my ability to mimic. … To ask you to not look at me but to watch me – if you think about the medical metaphor – to watch me try to put my hand inside and pull up something that is the matter and to offer that to you for you to use the considerable intelligence that you have. … To see what you can do about it or want to do about it. Molly Smith: Anna, you’ve really been able to delve into intensely controversial topics like … healthcare in Let Me Down Easy. As an artist, everybody is drawn to different kinds of materials for different reasons, and your work, although it often has a spiritual focus, often has a political focus as well. Would you talk to us about that? Anna Deavere Smith: I think that … with Let Me Down Easy, [by discussing] the vulnerability of the body, the resilience of the body, and the price of care, then it automatically becomes political. It’s immediately political when we start to see that things aren’t fair. I’ve always been interested in things not being fair [and] people … expressing themselves in ways that the media didn’t capture. … I would say that it becomes political maybe because also I am the embodiment – and have been all my life – the embodiment of a political situation. Right? My race. And my gender. If you’re embodying that every day and then if you’re putting that in front of other people’s stories, I think you can’t help but be political. …
Is “political” the word or is the word to ask questions about the nature of things? I would like to think that in this world that we’re in now, I’m easily cast and seen as political, but what I’m really trying to do every time I work is to get as close as possible – when I’m listening and when I’m learning – to someone who is very different than me, to understand something deeper about the nature of things. And then somehow I become political. But I think what’s driving me is an insatiable love of people and ideas. Molly Smith: I’d like to move for a moment to your rehearsal and performance process. In intentionally embodying a real person through speech, through gesture, through movement, do you feel a responsibility as an artist toward the person you’re portraying? Anna Deavere Smith: Let me say this about what I’m trying to do artistically. Artistically this is what is happening. It’s called “The Shakespeare Story.” It was my first Shakespeare class and I was very nervous, and the teacher said, “Take fourteen lines of Shakespeare, go home, say it over and over again until something happens.” I go home and … I’m just looking for fourteen lines spoken by a woman. Very hard. However, Richard III’s Queen Margaret holds forth. … I’m saying this [monologue] over and over again. No drugs, no alcohol. Over and over because I’m a goodie-goodie. I saw Queen Margaret. She showed up in my apartment. Talk about imagination. … And what I saw was someone who was nothing like me, and it was so profound. And so artistically, my journey has been about “How did that happen? How did I find Queen Margaret?” So every time I sit with somebody and take their words and say them over and over again, I’m hoping that something will happen and it will be a little bit like what happened with Queen Margaret.
Grace Notes Alisa Solomon, Production Dramaturg
T
hough Let Me Down Easy is performed inside a theater, there was something site-specific in the process of its creation — not so much because of geography, but because of local people. New Haven was the city where the seeds of the play were planted, about a decade ago, when Anna was invited to perform medical grand rounds at Yale/New Haven Hospital. She interviewed patients and doctors and performed her findings for an audience wearing white jackets and stethoscopes. With Anna as the medium, many of those doctors learned for the first time about the deepest fears, profound wells of strength, and day-today lives of the people in their care. It seemed fitting that New Haven would be the place, some years later, where Let Me Down Easy would germinate into the play you are seeing today.
Anna Deavere Smith photo by Joan Marcus
First in a summer workshop and then in a full developmental rehearsal process and performance run in 2007/2008 at the Long Wharf Theater, the show retained many of the characters from the hospital. But by then, ever more curious about issues of care, the body’s astonishing capacities, and its alarming vulnerabilities, Anna had conducted scores of new interviews. She’d met with athletes, dancers, and models, among those who push their bodies to achieve an extraordinary beauty and power; and, among those facing the body’s most extreme exposure to harm, she interviewed perpetrators and survivors of the genocide in Rwanda, healers and AIDS activists in Uganda and South Africa, and men, women, and youngsters confronting severe illnesses here in the U.S. Through the play — through Anna’s own present body in performance -- many of them were brought into conversation with the New Haven residents, widening the perspective and extending the reach of the work: the body and the body politic, their risks and their resilience. When we took LMDE to the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, MA the following summer and fall, Anna was returning to the community where, from 1997 to 2000, she had built the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue (a “think and do tank,” as she’d put it, where artists making work about social change interacted with scholars, activists, and a highly engaged local audience.) As Anna decided to make more explicit one of the play’s underlying themes — grace— she interviewed people in Cambridge (and some elsewhere) who had long contemplated the subject: clergy, artists, music and literary scholars. In that setting and in that moment, the play both demonstrated
grace and expressed a mortal yearning for it -- whether as the elegance of an athlete or dancer, the capacity to forgive, a gesture of gratitude, or the Christian notion of God’s infinite love and mercy. By the summer of 2009, when Anna began preparing the play for its final version, which would premiere in New York at Second Stage, the healthcare debate was raging and the discourse growing more vituperative by the day. The charge that the President’s plan called for “death panels” made clear that one of LMDE’s primary concerns was the very subject that at least some of the country couldn’t bear to discuss. If we didn’t have a way to talk about end-of-life issues with grace, how would we be able to handle them with grace? Anna hit the road again, this time interviewing policy makers, Tea Party protesters, insurance analysts. Few of those new characters stayed in the play — Anna wasn’t interested in staging the political debate itself — and indeed, some 300 interviews conducted over 10 years on three continents, were left on the cutting room floor. But every voice brought at some point into the rehearsal room continued to echo and inform the work. Like all plays, this one is ephemeral: a performance exists only in the present tense and when it’s over, it’s over forever. As Reverend Gomes would say, “This is it, folks.” So all theater, in some sense, is concerned with mortality. With its own grace, Let Me Down Easy confronts mortality head-on, even as it underscores the theater’s— and life’s — urgent summons that we attend fully to the wonder of the present moment.
STUDENT OF EXPRESSION by Anna Deavere Smith
On “Let Me Down Easy” at Philadelphia Theater Company For many years, following the life changing experience of studying acting in a San Francisco conservatory for three years, I moved to New York and wandered from book stores, to theaters, to concert halls, to jazz clubs, to poetry readings, to public speeches, to looking to see if other environments where sounds were made would deliver to me, the magical moments I had first had speaking and hearing the words in the texts of William Shakespeare. I listened to recordings of speeches as various as those of Franklin Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, and even some spoken in other languages: Che Guevara addressing Fidel Castro. Fidel addressing crowds in stadiums. President Kennedy addressing us during the Bay of Pigs Crisis. And music! I listened to Peggy Lee’s rendition of “Black Coffee” over and over. Then someone told me about the great jazz singer Abbey Lincoln. Another major shift happened : one hot August in New York: I was listening to the radio and beautiful repetitive sounds shot across my railroad flat. I got introduced to a slew of minimalist musicians: Steve Reich, Meredith Monk, Robert Ashley. That led me to the modern classical composer John Adams. Plays by Ntozake Shange led me to record stores where guys deep into jazz warned me that I should be cautious about opening the plastic on the albums I was about to buy with tip money from bussing tables: David Murray, Eric Dolphy. The list goes on and on. I was interested in language as spoken or sung. I was interested in words rendered as a form of influence. I listened to how great speakers spoke. I realized that the words themselves were not the only trigger for how ideas landed on an audience. All of the singers and speakers I listened to were doing more than causing the audience to hear an idea. They were often moving them. Literally. FDR fireside chats will cause you to waltz. The preacher at my maternal grandmother’s church-Grace Memorial Baptist, in Baltimore, preaching her funeral made you sway and knew exactly when the tears would flow. And so on. Years later, I would learn from a Black Baptist preacher with one brown eye and one white eye, way back deep in the woods in South Carolina that he knew exactly what to do to get his congregation to shout, to dance, to wail, to roll. I soon realized that you don’t have to be a great public speaker to move people. I sought out to hear remarkable manners of expression from “everyday people”. I started taking my tape recorder around America, and now the world, to get people to “talk to me”. My ongoing project “On the Road: A Search for American Character” was born in the early eighties, and Let Me Down Easy is the 18th or so in the series. Words are magic. Words are the entry. Words are the way in to souls and cultures and hearts. They spark love and hate and war and back again to create peace and love and marriage and families. The southern writer Eudora Welty says it best. She wrote about her youth and about how her love of language was bred by– the story telling in her family. She was not allowed at the Sunday dinner table as a child, so she would sit in the hallway to listen. Her ears would open up “like morning glories”. That evoked an image in my mind of my paternal grandfather’s house when aunts and uncles and cousins drove down to Baltimore from Philly and Trenton and Harrisburg and sat after dinner. We children were excused from the table. I preferred to leave my cousins who were playing outside, to sit someplace unseen and hear the loud laughter, the loud stories and the bursts of passion that came
with political disagreement. The men and women had deep resonant voices and rich laughter. To me the voices were like jewelry. I have been, since that time, a student of expression. I studied sounds and now the gestures that make up the moments of human communication. I interviewed over 300 people on three continents to write Let Me Down Easy. Tonight you will hear and see just a fraction of those people represented by me on stage. What do they have in common? They are all uniquely expressive. And so were the rest of the 300! Yet all of the speakers you see tonight will tell you (and me) about something that they love. The first speaker, Reverend James Cone, in responding to my question to him “What do the words “Let Me Down Easy” mean to you – inadvertently tells you what the whole play is about. “It certainly is about love”. He also lets you know about the great African American cultural tradition that has informed my work: “as most people realize most of that black love songs, and blues and jazz is a transmutation, of - about injustice too”. The show is an offering about our health care system: and meant to tell the human side of the story that is being spun out in political discourse and in the media. “Let Me Down Easy” concerns itself with the vulnerability of the body, the resilience of the spirit, and the price of care. It seeks to evoke in you the audience, a discussion - perhaps with the stranger sitting next to you, about matters quite important in our society. Those matters are - how we take care of ourselves, and how we take care of each other in a time where we have on the one hand extraordinary discoveries in science, but fewer financial resources. How do we have a caring nation that takes care of not just the ones who can afford it? The play also peeks at how we Americans think about mortality. These topics are sometimes volatile in civic discourse, specifically because they are so important and specifically because the victory of America is that it is the place where people have come for centuries with different belief systems. It’s less important that we agree, more important that we find places to sort it out. It’s less important that we homogenize our beliefs. It’s more important that we know the difference between opinions and beliefs. The media, ( which is civic space as most of us know it ) is full of opinions. It’s not that often that we really hear beliefs shared. A theater is such a place, where we can be exposed to differences in beliefs. So is the lobby, so is the parking lot, so is any conversation you might evoke in your community or your work place as a result of seeing the play. Often people ask what I’d like audiences to take a way. When it comes to the matters addressed in “Let Me Down Easy”, I know you are bringing your own experiences, your own beliefs, your own desires for yourself and those you love, as you cross the doorway to Philadelphia Theater Company. My sense is that what you bring, may very likely outweigh what you could possibly take away. So what then did you come for? I think of our relationship – that is, the one between me up here on the stage and you out there in the audience- as a kind of chemical one, where a mix takes place. You’ve brought a lot – I hope that what I am bringing when the lights come up at 8:03 or so, causes you to realize how much more you have on your mind and in your heart than you thought you did when you parked your car and entered 480 South Broad Street. Thanks so much for giving up an evening to be with me. February 2011
OUR SUPPORTERS Philadelphia Theatre Company is deeply grateful for the support it receives from the many generous individuals, corporations, foundations and government partners who contribute to the annual fund. For more information about how to support the annual fund, please call the Development Office at 215-985-1400 ext. 117
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Anonymous (2) Mr. & Mrs. Guy Aiman Richard Allison Robert & Betty Anderson Charlotte & Dirk Ave Ms. Margaret McLaughlin & Dr. Donald Bakove Karen Bareiss Mr. William Barth Rochelle & Herb Bass Robert & Sandy Clay Bauer Mr. & Dr. Steven E. Bauer Carroll W. Baylson Cari & Rodd Bender Mr. & Mrs. Lance A. Berger Mr. Richard L. Berkman Ruth & David Bernhardt Mrs. Dene K. Bernstein Mr. & Mrs. Sydney Beshunsky Hugh N. Blair Marian & John Bumbaca Mr. Andrew Bushko Mr. & Ms. Robert J. Butera Mr. & Mrs. Jay H. Calvert Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Anthony Carozza Keith Case Randolph Charles Scott & Nelly Childress Dr. Gail Ciociola Mr. Louis Coffey Natalie & Herbert Cohn
Barbara & Ronald Coleman Darlene & John Cooke Rosalie B. Coombs Elizabeth P. Cornman Joseph H. Danziger Dr. & Ms. John A. DeFlaminis Robert & Barbara DeLuca Dr. & Mrs. B. Franklin Diamond Don & Nancy Donaghy Ms. Maxine Dotseth Ms. Katharine Driver Mr. & Ms. Peter J. Edinburg Mr. & Mrs. Brian H. Effron Mr. & Ms. Gordon Elkins Debbie & Jerry Epstein Ms. Rosa Esquenazi Drs. Jay Federman & Sylvia Beck Sandy & Len Feldman Ilda & Miguel Ficher Lisa Dimedio & John Flamma Mr. J. L. Freed Ms. Lois S. Fried David Furniss Mr. Bernardo C. Garcia Professor Janet-Lynn Garrabrant Edwin & Judy Gerber Marion Gershman Emilia DeMarco & James F. Giblin Dave & Sandy Gift Joan Gmitter Ms. Sandra S. Gordon Ms. Barbara Govatos & Julian Rodescu Diane Graboyes David Grande Mr. & Mrs. Donald Greenhall Ms. Margaret W. Grip Judge Marvin R. & Marcia O. Halbert Elaine Hamilton Ralph & Sharon Harris Ms. Ann E. Harrison Karen & Bruce Harrison Robert Hedley & Harriet Power Morgan Y. Himelstein Diane & Millage Holloway, Jr. Ms. Linda E. Howard Mr. John J. Ianacone
Annabelle & Miles Jellinek Sandy & Richard Josephs Mary & Donald Kane Luci & Edwin W. Kane Roberta & Jaan Kangilaski Donald Kaskey Ms. Sylvia Kauders Dr. & Mrs. Alan Kaufman Doug & Ruth Keating Rhena & Steven Kelsen Mr. A. R. Kendall Anne & Barry Kleban Dr. & Mrs. Robert Kleiner Barbara Kligerman Mr. & Mrs. Louis & Eleana Kohn Rebecca Landes & Tim Kolman Leonard & Pearl Kornit Jim & Nina Korsh Selma & Goncer Krestal Magdalyn Y. Lawton Daniel T. Lee Mr. & Mrs. R. Donald & Martha Leedy Ms. & Ms. Eric W. Leichter Janet Levitt Sylvia & Norman Lieberman Michael Lillys Mr. & Mrs. Don H. Liu Ms. Loretta Lynch Mr. Richard L. Maimon Anne & Daryl Manuel Mr. & Mrs. Lawrence N. Margel Terri Loring & Robert Margolies Mr. & Mrs Michael T. Marquardt Mr. & Mrs. David Massari Sandra Mayers Mr. Michael K. McClure Mr. Robert M. McCord David S. Miller Judith & Martin Miller Eric Minch Constance C. Moore Jeff & Maxine Morgan Carmen C. Mucci & Lois Marianni Hershel & Charlotte Muchnick Ms. Gail Howard & Mr. Richard Munoz
Mr. James R. Murray Jr. Margaret Goodman & Jack Nachamkin Mr. & Ms. Thomas Naff Dr. & Mrs. Martin S. Neifield Dr. & Mrs. Andrew Newman Dr. Eliot & Bonnie Nierman Etta & Chuck Nissman Dr. Monica Norris Larry Pace Richard J. Pariseau John & Judith Peakes Jane G. Pepper Ms. Margaret E. Phillips John & Jo Anne Pinto Rhoda Polakoff Elise Vider & Dick Polman Joyce & Tim Ratner Mr. & Mrs. Abraham C. Reich Robert Reinstein Phoebe & Myron Resnick Bettye Ricks Marvin & Lorraine Riesenbach Janet Riser George & Zara Roberts Tony & Barbara Rooklin Dorothy Roseman Mr. & Mrs. Edward H. Rosen Donald Rosenberg Ms. Arline Rosenfeld Sally & Edwin Rosenthol Mr. & Mrs. Stuart Rubin Ms. Selma Rudolph Linda McAleer & Maitlon Russell Mr. Peter Ryker Ruth & Marvin Sachs Mark E. Sandberg Ed & Arlene Schaller Mark & Janet Schreiner Mr. & Mrs. Samuel Schutzbank David A. Schwartz Dr. Louis & Linda Schwartz Mr. & Mrs. David Scott Marilyn & Jerome Segal Mr. & Ms. Elliott Seif Keith Shively & Thomas Williams Mr. & Mrs. Richard Shulman Milton & Sylva Silver Ms. Gladys Simon Anne C. Singer
Morton & Joan Sklaroff Corey & Jonne Smith Dr. Stanton & Sara Kay Smullens Lee Snyder & Hellen Zahniser-Snyder Jay Snyderman Ms. Julie Sokoloff Mr. & Mrs. Robert E. Spallone Judith Spiller Debbie & Gary Stahl Mr. & Mrs. Bruce Stark Anne L. Stein Mrs. Lucille Stein Bette Steinberg Phil & Doris Steinberg Michael Sullivan Mr. & Ms. Jim Sumerson Ms. Shirley Swerdloff Robert Taglieri & Timothy Moir Dr. & Mrs. John Taylor Craig Thomas & Tim Graham Ms. Eleanor Thompson Mr. & Mrs. Norman A. Trudel Walter Vail Deborah McColloch & Charles Valentine Dr. Lisa B. Wallenstein Mr. & Mrs. Edel Wasserman Ms. Joan Weiner Ms. Virginia Weinle Mr. & Mrs. David Weinstein Mr. & Mrs. Harold B. Wells Jr. Ms. Lillian R. Wicker Evelyn Wiener Mr. & Mrs. Walter Williams Sherry Shamansky & Wallace Wing Mr. & Mrs. Sam Yankell Mr. F. Gordon Yasinow Roger & Lillian Youman Mr. & Mrs. Thomas E. Zemaitis Ms. Margo K. Zitin Mr. & Mrs. Theodore Zutz
Make a donation through your workplace United Way Program. Our Donor Choice Number: 4273 Contributions made through the United Way support our educational programs with at-risk youth in Philadelphia and the region. GIFTS IN MEMORY
Martha Barr Laurie Beechman Patsy Brandt Milton Brenner Richard Cohen Judy Littman Henry Miller Norma Testardi Egendorf Pomerantz Bobbie Curson Price Carol Spector Giorgio Vigano GIFTS IN HONOR
Michael Coleman Kenneth Kaiserman Sally Lynn Katz E. Gerald Riesenbach, Esq. Carol Saline Harriet Weiss MATCHING GIFTS
Bank of New York Mellon GE Foundation Matching Gifts Program GlaxoSmithKline Foundation Matching Gifts Program Merck Partnership for Giving Increase the impact of your support. Ask your company about its matching gift program.
CORPORATE PARTNERS Let Philadelphia Theatre Company put your business in the spotlight. For more information about corporate memberships, sponsorships and in-kind support, please call 215-985-1400, ext. 117.
CORPORATE OTHER
Clean Rental Services, Inc. IBM Isdaner & Company Metropolitan Carpets Philip Rosenau Company, Inc. SSH Real Estate Target
CORPORATE SPONSORS ($25,000+)
FOUNDATION SUPPORT
AKA CBS 3 HealthAmerica Lincoln Financial Group Foundation PECO PNC Arts Alive US Airways
AYCO Charitable Foundation The Barra Foundation, Inc. Beatrice Fox Auerbach Foundation Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving Jacob Burns Foundation, Inc. Louis N. Cassett Foundation The Civic Foundation, Inc. Connelly Foundation The Charlotte Cushman Foundation in memory of their Trustee Norma Testardi Egendorf Pomerantz Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation The Hamilton Family Foundation Independence Foundation Virginia and Harvey Kimmel Arts-Education Fund John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Lomax Family Foundation Performing Arts Foundation, Inc. The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, through the Philadelphia Cultural Management Initiative and the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative Fund for Children of The Philadelphia Foundation The Suzanne F. and Ralph J. Roberts Foundation Rosenlund Family Foundation The Saramar Charitable Fund The Sheerr Foundation The Shubert Foundation, Inc. Tanker Family Charitable Trust The Victory Foundation
CORPORATE MEMBERS ($3,000- $24,999)
Beneficial Bank Berwind Fund Blank Rome LLP Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC CBIZ MHM LLC Coleman/Nourian Electronic Ink Eric Hafer & Associates, P.A. Firstrust Bank Flaster/Greenberg PC Fleischman Gerber Associates Hangley Aronchick Segal & Pudlin McCarter & English LLP Newman & Company, Inc. PMA Capital Corporation Sage Financial Group Shamrock Clean Shire Pharmaceuticals Spring Garden Construction Company Inc. TD Bank, through the TD Charitable Foundation Team Clean Towers Watson Verizon Wells Fargo Foundation
Virginia Brown Martin Fund of The Philadelphia Foundation The Wallace Foundation The William Penn Foundation June and Steve Wolfson Family Foundation GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
This season was financed in part by a grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Community & Economic Development Philadelphia Theatre Company receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
Philadelphia Theatre Company is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Philadelphia Theatre Company gratefully acknowledges the support of the Philadelphia Cultural Fund. This list acknowledges donors as of February 28, 2011. PTC strives for accuracy in its donor listings. If there is a misprint or your name has been inadvertently omitted, please call 215-985-1400, ext. 117.
Philadelphia Theatre Company Gives Special Thanks to: Bare Foot Wine Center City Film & Video Cozen O’Connor CRW Graphics Diccicco Batista Communications Iovine Brothers Produce
Ken Kaiserman Lafayette Hill Studios Steen Outdoor Advertising The 12th St. Gym West Park Imports, Inc.
Preferred Hospitality Partners: Philadelphia Theatre Company thanks the following members of the Preferred Hospitality Partners Program (PHP) who have made significant in-kind contributions of their exceptional goods and services. Please keep members of the PHP in mind when planning a pre-theatre, in-theatre or personal special event.
PHP Caterers
PHP Event Consultants
PHP Restaurants
Inquiries from the hospitality industry may be made to 215-985-1400 ext. 117 or mjones@philadelphiatheatrecompany.org
Organize 8 OR MORE of your friends and neighbors, book club, alumni association, church or synagogue and enjoy discount group rates at Philadelphia Theatre Company! photo: Opening Night of The Happiness Lecture
Call Carol Flannery, Group Sales Manager, at 215.985.1400 x304
Bella Presented by The Gershman Y and Philadelphia Theatre Company
April 28 - May 1, 2011 Starring Theresa Tova Written by Theresa Tova and Mary Kerr Musical Direction and Compositions by Matt Herskowitz
Bella: The Color of Love, a world premiere cabaret inspired by the life of Bella Chagall, wife of famed artist Marc Chagall. The performance is offered in conjunction with the exhibition Paris through the Window: Marc Chagall and His Circle, on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through July 10, 2011.
Performed at the beautiful: home of
philadelphiatheatrecompany
philadelphiatheatrecompany.org 215.985.0420 Š2010 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris
Capital Campaign Contributors Philadelphia Theatre Company applauds these leadership and major donors for their generous support of the campaign to help bring Philadelphia Theatre Company and the Suzanne Roberts Theatre to the Avenue of the Arts.
LEAD DONORS
The Arcadia Foundation Marilyn and J. Robert Birnhak
Susan and James Meyer
Leslie MIller and Richard Worley
Aileen K. and Brian L. Roberts
THE CORNERSTONE SOCIETY PATRONS
Diane and Douglas A. Roberts
Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz
Sue Perel Rosefsky
Tracy and Rick Burke
Lisa S. Roberts and David Seltzer
Citibank
Anita and Terry Steen
Michael M. Coleman
Shel and Karen Thompson
David and Nancy Colman
U.S. Airways Community Foundation
Dorothy J. del Bueno
Independence Foundation Marguerite and Gerry Lenfest
Harriet and Larry Weiss
Suzanne F. and Ralph J. Roberts
Alan and Janet Widra
Weight Watchers of Philadelphia, Inc.
THE CORNERSTONE SOCIETY BENEFACTORS
City of Philadelphia Commonwealth of Pennsylvania The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation The Kaiserman Family
June and Steve Wolfson The William Penn Foundation
THE FOUNDERS CLUB
Catherine Roberts Clifton and Anthony A. Clifton The Comcast Family Cozen O’Connor The Dietrich Foundation
Linda and David Glickstein Daniel B. and Florence E. Green Family Foundation
Ken and Edna Adelberg Valla Amsterdam
Beatrice Fox Auerbach Foundation Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving Beneficia Foundation
Roberta and Carl Dranoff Ernst & Young Donna and Barry Feinberg Debbie and Bob Fleischman Matt and Marie Garfield Teresa Gavigan and Larry Besnoff Hamilton Family Foundation Independence Blue Cross
Blank Rome LLP
Eleanor M. and Herbert D. Katz Family Foundation
Connelly Foundation
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas J. Maher
Will and Lucille Daniel
Richard and Alice Norman Mandel
Sir David Bruce Duncan and Lady Deana Pitcairn Duncan
Frank and Barbara Osinki
Samuel S. Fels Fund
PNC
Phoebe W. Haas Charitable Trust A at the recommendation of Carole Haas Gravagno
Otto Haas Charitable Trust #2 at the recommendation of Leonard C. Haas
Don and Lynne Rosenblit
Mr. and Mrs. Jon Harmelin
Sally Lyn Katz
Neal and Sheila Schneider
KieranTimberlake Associates
The Lida Foundation
Shire Pharmaceuticals
Monika Krug
Jerry and Cookie Riesenbach
Richard and Dale Levy
Carol Saline and Paul Rathblott
James T. Smith and Debra I. Klebanoff
Kim and Rob Roberts The Fulcrum Foundation
Bryna and Andrew Scott
LIncoln Financial Foundation
Ruth W. and A. Morris Williams, Jr.
Kenneth M. Rutherford
Laura and Richard Steel Tracey B. Weiss and William I. Goldberg Special thanks to our many other donors.
PHILADELPHIA THEATRE COMPANY SEAT NAMING CAMPAIGN Name a seat today and become an indelible part of the Suzanne Roberts Theatre. We invite you to place your name, that of a loved one, or your business on one or more of the seats in the theatre. An elegantly engraved plaque with your specified text will be placed on the back of a seat on the orchestra or mezzanine levels of the theatre. Reasons to Name a Seat Today: •
You enjoy and care about theatre and Philadelphia Theatre Company
•
You’d like to make a meaningful contribution that supports our work
•
You’d like to recognize a special person, occasion, or institution
•
You’d like to honor the memory of a loved one
•
You need to find the perfect gift for the person who has everything
For information about naming a seat, please call the Development Office at 215-985-1400, ext. 115
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35 Seasons of Premieres! P TC’s mission is centered around the development and production of imaginative and entertaining contemporary theater focused on the American experience that both ignites the intellect and touches the soul.
Under the ongoing artistic direction of Producing Artistic Director Sara Garonzik, PTC supports the work of a growing body of diverse dramatists and takes pride in being a home to scores of nationally recognized artists who have participated in more than 130 world and Philadelphia premieres. Our PTC@PLAY new play project provides residencies and commissions while having developed over 75 scripts, half of which have gone on to production or publication. Philadelphia Theatre Company’s exceptional history of producing moving and provocative new work for the stage includes the world premieres of The Happiness Lecture (a PTC commission conceived by Bill Irwin), Terrence McNally’s Master Class (1995); Bunny Bunny by Alan Zweibel (1996); David Ives’s Lives of The Saints (1999); J.T. Rogers’s White People (2000); No Niggers, No Jews, No Dogs by John Henry Redwood (2001); Barbra’s Wedding by Daniel Stern (2002); A Picasso by Jeffrey Hatcher (2003); Bruce Graham’s According to Goldman (2004); Adrift in Macao by Christopher Durang and Peter Melnick (2005); and Some Men by Terrence McNally (2006), all of which were then produced in New York and other cities. Among its numerous other honors are the 45 Barrymore Awards that PTC has garnered over the years, including the 2008 Barrymore Award for Excellence in Education & Community Service, Best Theater Company or Theatre Company of the Year from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Magazine, Philadelphia Weekly, City Paper, Philadelphia Style Magazine, Philadelphia Gay News and the Arts & Business Council Award (twice) for Arts Management Excellence and its partnership with Dranoff Properties. With its loyal subscription base and expansive education and outreach programming, PTC is now in its fourth season in its beautiful home on the Avenue of the Arts, the Suzanne Roberts Theatre, confirming its status as a major player in the American national theater scene.
Productions with National Impact Red Hot Patriot: The Kick -Ass Wit of Molly Ivins by Margaret and Allison Engel Philadelphia Theatre Co. 2010 Golden Age by Terrence McNally Philadelphia Theatre Co. 2010 The Kennedy Center, 2010 Unusual Acts of Devotion by Terrence McNally Philadelphia Theatre Co. 2008 La Jolla Playhouse, 2009
The Happiness Lecture Conceived & Performed by Bill Irwin, PTC Commissioned, 2008 Some Men by Terrence McNally Philadelphia Theatre Co. 2006 Second Stage, 2007 Adrift in Macao Books & Lyrics by Christopher Durang Music by Peter Melnick Philadelphia Theatre Co. 2005 Primary Stages, 2007
A Picasso by Jeffrey Hatcher Philadelphia Theatre Co. 2003 Coconut Grove Playhouse, Cincinatti Playhouse and Manhattan Theatre Club, 2005 Geffen Theaer, 2007 Barbra’s Wedding by Daniel Stern Philadelphia Theatre Co. 2002 Westside Arts Theatre, Off Broadway, 2003 Invisible Theatre, 2006
No Niggers, No Jews, No Dogs by John Henry Redwood Philadelphia Theatre Co. 2001 Primary Stages, Off Broadway, 2001 Detroit Repertory Theatre, New Repetory Theatre, 2003 White People by J.T. Rogers Philadelphia Theatre Co. 2000 Salt Lake Acting Company, 2001 Atlantic Theater Company, 2009 Shakespeare & Company, 2009
Lives of the Saints by David Ives Philadelphia Theatre Co.1999 Berkshire Theatre Festival, 1999 Birdy by Naomi Wallace adapted from William Wharton Philadelphia Theatre Co.1998 Women’s Project, Off Broadway, 2003
Bunnny Bunny by Alan Zweibel Philadelphia Theatre Co.1996 Lucille Lortel Theatre, Off Broadway 1997 Master Class by Terrence McNally Philadelphia Theatre Co.1995 Tony Award for Best Play Broadway, Kennedy Center, Mark Taper Forum, National Tour, 1995-1999
PHILADELPHIA THEATRE COMPANY PRODUCTIONS Key Code
All productions are Philadelphia premieres unless otherwise note v World Premiere l Co-Production n East Coast, Professional or American Premiere mProduction moved on to NY or other regional theater. THE SUZANNE ROBERTS THEATRE (2007 - Present) 2009 - 10 HUMOR ABUSE by Lorenzo Pisoni and Erica Schmidt THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA by Craig Lucas and Adam Guettel v GOLDEN AGE by Terrence McNally v RED HOT PATRIOT: THE KICK-ASS WIT OF MOLLY IVINS by Margaret Engel & Allison Engel MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM by August Wilson 2008 - 09 v UNUSUAL ACTS OF DEVOTION by Terrence McNally 25 QUESTIONS FOR A JEWISH MOTHER by Kate Moira Ryan & Judy Gold RESURRECTION by Daniel Beaty AT HOME AT THE ZOO by Edward Albee GREY GARDENS book by Doug Wright, Music by Scott Frankel, Lyrics by Michael Korie 2007 - 08 v BEING ALIVE music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, conceived and directed by Billy Porter M. BUTTERFLY by David Henry Hwang THIRD by Wendy Wasserstein v THE HAPPINESS LECTURE by Bill Irwin
PLAYS & PLAYERS THEATER (1982 - 2007) 2006 - 07
n MURDERERS by Jeffrey Hatcher
THE FROG BRIDE by David Gonzalez v NERDS://A MUSICAL SOFTWARE SATIRE by Jordan Allen-Dutton, Erik Weiner, music by Hal Goldberg l IN THE CONTINUUM by Danai Gurira & Nikkole Salter ORSON’S SHADOW by Austin Pendleton 2005 - 06 vm ADRIFT IN MACAO book & lyrics by Christopher Durang, music by Melnick BEN FRANKLIN: UNPLUGGED by Josh Kornbluth in collaboration with David Dower AFTER ASHLEY by Gina Gionfriddo INTIMATE APPAREL by Lynn Nottage vm SOME MEN by Terrence McNally 2004 - 05 TRUMBO by Christopher Trumbo with Bill Irwin THE STORY by Tracey Scott Wilson ELEGIES: A SONG CYCLE by William Finn TAKE ME OUT by Richard Greenberg 2003 - 04 TOPDOG/UNDERDOG by Suzan-Lori Parks NICKEL AND DIMED by Joan Holden v ACCORDING TO GOLDMAN by Bruce Graham THE GOAT OR, WHO IS SYLVIA? by Edward Albee 2002 - 03 FULLY COMMITTED by Becky Mode KING HEDLEY II by August Wilson THE LAST FIVE YEARS by Jason Robert Brown vm A PICASSO by Jeffrey Hatcher 2001 - 02 DINNER WITH FRIENDS by Donald Margulies n THE INFIDEL by Bruce Norris THE PLAY ABOUT THE BABY by Edward Albee vm BARBRA’S WEDDING by Daniel Stern 2000 - 01 m COMPLEAT FEMALE STAGE BEAUTY by Jeffrey Hatcher vm NO NIGGERS, NO JEWS, NO DOGS by John Henry Redwood THIS IS OUR YOUTH by Kenneth Lonergan
THE LARAMIE PROJECT by Moisés Kaufman and Members of the Tectonic Theater Project 1999 - 00 l DINAH WAS: THE DINAH WASHINGTON MUSICAL by Oliver Goldstick v WHITE PEOPLE by J.T. Rogers WIT by Margaret Edson SIDE MAN by Warren Leight 1998 - 99 HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE by Paula Vogel vm LIVES OF THE SAINTS by David Ives GROSS INDECENCY: THE THREE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE by Moisés Kaufman THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE by Martin McDonagh 1997 - 98 FULL GALLOP by Mark Hampton and Mary Louise Wilson MINUTES FROM THE BLUE ROUTE by Tom Donaghy A QUESTION OF MERCY by David Rabe nm BIRDY by William Wharton, adapted by Naomi Wallace 1996 - 97 vm BUNNY BUNNY by Alan Zweibel MOLLY SWEENEY by Brian Friel l SYLVIA by A.R. Gurney SEVEN GUITARS by August Wilson 1995 - 96 THREE VIEWINGS by Jeffrey Hatcher I AM A MAN by Oyamo BROKEN GLASS by Arthur Miller LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION! by Terrence McNally 1994 - 95 ALL IN THE TIMING by David Ives KEELY AND DU by Jane Martin THE WOODS by David Mamet vm MASTER CLASS by Terrence McNally 1993 - 94 SIGHT UNSEEN by Donald Margulies THE WORLD GOES ‘ROUND by John Kander and Fred Ebb n “2” by Romulus Linney NIGHT SKY by Susan Yankowitz
1992 - 93 PRELUDE TO A KISS by Craig Lucas MOUNTAIN by Douglas Scott with Len Cariou v TINY TIM IS DEAD by Barbara Lebow LIPS TOGETHER, TEETH APART by Terrence McNally 1991 - 92 NATIONAL ANTHEMS by Dennis McIntyre MISS EVERS’ BOYS by David Feldshuh n LADY-LIKE by Laura Shamas vm NAGASAKI DUST by W. Colin McKay 1990 - 91 SPEED-THE-PLOW by David Mamet THE COCKTAIL HOUR by A.R. Gurney with Celeste Holm n PILL HILL by Samuel Kelley 1989 THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE songs by Randy Newman and Tracy Friedman 1988 - 89 ELAINE’S DAUGHTER by Mayo Simon THE VOICE OF THE PRAIRIE by John Olive FRANKIE AND JOHNNY IN THE CLAIR DE LUNE by Terrence McNally GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS by David Mamet HANNAH SENESH by Lori Wilner and David Schechter adapt: of Senesh diaries AVNER THE ECCENTRIC with Avner Eisenberg 1987 - 88 vm STAUF by Eric Saltzman and Michael Sahl co-produced with the American Music Theater Festival ORPHANS by Lyle Kessler SOUTHERN EXPOSURE: n SISTER AND MISS LEXIE by Eudora Welty, adapt. by Brenda Curran; and From The Mississippi Delta by Endesha Ida Mae Holland vm HOSPITALITY by Allan Havis OUT! by Lawrence Kelly First fully-mounted production 1986 - 87 WILLIAMS & WALKER by Vincent D. Smith vm CITIZEN TOM PAINE by Howard Fast with Richard Thomas, co-produced with The Kennedy Center DAYS AND NIGHTS WITHIN by Ellen McLaughlin AS IS by William M. Hoffman
1985 - 86 PAINTING CHURCHES by Tina Howe SPLIT SECOND by Dennis McIntyre. Co-produced with Freedom Theatre. Original commissioned from Grover Washington, Jr. GREAT AMERICAN SIDESHOW: ONE ACTS by Romulus Linney, Alan Zweibel and Robert Pine EXTREMITIES by William Mastrosimone 1984 - 85 TERRA NOVA by Ted Tally GENIUSES by Jonathan Reynolds TO GILLIAN ON HER 37TH BIRTHDAY by Michael Brady FOOL FOR LOVE by Sam Shepard 1983 - 84 GETTING OUT by Marsha Norman TRUE WEST by Sam Shepard STRANGE SNOW by Steve Metcalfe FIFTH OF JULY by Lanford Wilson 1982 - 83 WINGS by Arthur Kopit LONE STAR/LAUNDRY & BOURBON by James McLure FINAL PASSAGES by Robert Schenkkan DYLAN THOMAS by Jack Aranson with Jack Aranson 1981 - 82 WHEN YOU COMIN’ BACK, RED RYDER by Mark Medoff THE VIETNAMIZATION OF NEW JERSEY by Christopher Durang NUTS by Tom Topor
VARIOUS THEATRES (1975 - 1981) 1980 - 81 THE RIMERS OF ELDRITCH by Lanford Wilson ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS company developed by Lewis Carroll HOOTERS by Ted Tally JESSE AND THE BANDIT QUEEN by David Freeman GETTING OUT by Marsha Norman 1979 - 80 STREAMERS by David Rabe THE INSANITY OF MARY GIRARD by Lainie Robertson THE EMPEROR JONES by Eugene O’Neill DEMENTIA 80 by Don Steele
1979 ASHES by David Rudkin THE EXHIBITION by Thomas Gibbons SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS ARE WOMEN by Don Steele and Edward Earle 1978 THE SEAGULL by Anton Chekhov THE TRANSFIGURATION OF BENNO BLIMPIE by Albert Innaurato THE PERSECUTION OF EUGENE WATERMAN by Louis Lippa THE FINAL CONCERT TOUR OF MICKEY COLOSSUS by Peter Mattaliano A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM by William Shakespeare CENTER CITY SOAP by Dorothy Louise 1976 - 77 THE LION AND THE LAMB by Joseph Orazi FUTURE TENSE by John Sevcik THE KEEPER by Karolyn Nelke 27 WAGONS FULL OF COTTON by Tennessee Williams MARS by Clay Goss SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER by Oliver Goldsmith (Theatre in the Court) TWELFTH NIGHT by William Shakespeare (Theatre in the Court) 1976 MARLOWE by John Yinger RAIN by W. Somerset Maugham, adapted by Colton and Randolph THE CROSSING/AS I LAY DYING A VICTIM OF SPRING by David Rabe & Leslie Lee THE THREE DAUGHTERS OF M. DUPONT by E. Brieux TRANSLATION by Pauline Jones TWELFTH NIGHT by William Shakespeare (NewMarket) 1975 THE ADDING MACHINE by Elmer Rice SARGEANT MUSGRAVE’S DANCE by John Arden BETWEEN NOW AND THEN by Leslie Lee
ABOUT OUR HOME The Suzanne Roberts Theatre, designed by KieranTimberlake Associates, is owned and operated by Philadelphia Theatre Company and is the Company’s first permanent home. PTC is proud that the creation and development of its home, in partnership with Symphony House developer Carl Dranoff, has become a model for civic redevelopment; one that capitalizes on the ability of the arts to reinvigorate districts for residential and commercial revival. The Theatre’s design honors PTC’s mission to produce and develop new American plays and musicals. The space is contemporary, elegant and urbane, and features a 160’ double height glass facade on the Avenue of the Arts. The interior is defined by a uniquely warm and sculptural 365 seat mainstage auditorium with a proscenium arch of interlocking leather tiles, a spacious and contemporary mezzanine, and a planned 100 seat flexible second stage for new play development, intimate performances, and educational programming. Our stage house significantly enhances our ability to respond to the most imaginative visions of our creative teams with its spacious wings, soaring fly gallery, and trapped stage. The Theatre offers a full range of public amenities with an on-site box office, ample public restrooms, a concession stand, and lobbies designed for patron comfort and engagement with the City visible through large expanses of glass. The grand staircase leads from the main floor to the double height mezzanine lobby. The Theatre’s contemporary universal design makes it one of the country’s most accessible performing arts venues and supports one of PTC’s core values ensuring that our artistry is accessible to everyone in our community.
ABOUT SUZANNE ROBERTS Philadelphia Theatre Company is honored to name its home after Suzanne Roberts--actress, playwright, director, educator, producer and philanthropist. For more than 40 years, Suzanne has been a leading champion of the Philadelphia theater community. An actress by training, Suzanne has engaged as an artist in meaningful public service with projects as diverse as performing in dramas to inspire the purchase of war bonds during World War II to national appearances in plays discouraging racism and alcoholism. Demonstrating the breadth of her artistry, Suzanne has performed on many stages throughout our region in plays from Shakespeare to A.R Gurney. She has also performed in a variety of media including radio and television and is well known to audiences as the creator and host of the Emmy Award winning “Seeking Solutions with Suzanne.” One of Suzanne’s lifelong passions has been using theater to improve the lives of young people. Through the Suzanne Roberts Cultural Development Fund, she has supported the outreach work of theater and dance companies in sharing their creativity with school children and young adults. Portrait of Suzanne Roberts by Alan Kole. Photo of Mainstage of Suzanne Roberts Theatre, home of Philadelphia Theatre Company, by Mark Garvin
FOR YOUR INFORMATION Box Office Hours:
During Productions: Mon - Fri: 10am to showtime Sat - Sun: 12pm to showtime Between Productions: Mon - Fri: 10am to 5pm Sat - Sun: closed
Open Captioned Performances: 2/12/11 at 2pm
For audience members who are hearing impaired. A large LED captioning screen, positioned beside the stage, scrolls text of the lyrics/dialogue in tandem with the lyrics/dialogue of the performance.
Assisted Listening Devices:
State-of-the-Art assisted listening headsets that use an infrared signal to wirelessly deliver all dialogue, music and sound from the show at a personally adjustable volume are available for free at every PTC performance through the House Manager or concessionaire.
Audio Described Performances & Sensory Workshops 2/12/11 at 2pm
For audience members who are blind or low vision. Assistive listening devices are provided, through which a trained audio describer fills in the visual details and action on stage, live while it is being performed. A sensory workshop is provided before the show in which teaching artists provide in depth explanations of the visual aspects of the show, with patrons often invited on stage to touch and experience the set and costumes. Large Print and Braille programs available upon special request. Contact the box office to make a reservation for this workshop and/or performance. PTC’s accessibility programming is sponsored by the Lincoln Financial Foundation and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts’ Accessibility to the Arts in Pennsylvania for Individuals with Disabilities Program. Accessibility technology in the Suzanne Roberts Theatre was made possible by a grant from the Lincoln Financial Foundation.
Photography
The use of photographic or recording devices is strictly prohibited. Please note: The audience may be photographed by PTC staff for archival and publicity purposes. If you prefer that your likeness not appear in PTC materials, please notify the House Manager.
Group Ticketing & Events
Contact PTC’s Group Sales Manager, Carol Flannery at 215.985.1400 x304
Student Matinees, In-School Workshops, and Summer Camp
Contact PTC’s Education Department at 215.985.1400 x106
Facility Rentals
Contact events@philadelphiatheatrecompany.org
Volunteer Opportunities
Contact PTC’s Patron Services Manager, Meg Morris at 215.985.0420 x105
Advertising Opportunities
Contact Angela Madgin at 215.985.1400 x112 or amadgin@philadelphiatheatrecompany.org
Parking and Public Transportation
The Theatre is easily accessible by the Walnut/Locust and Lombard/South SEPTA Broad Street Subway stations, 15th/16th PATCO station, Route “C” bus, or taxi. On-site parking is available at the InterPark lot, as well as nearby garages along Broad Street. PTC Subscribers can pick up $2-off parking vouchers for the Interpark or Ez-Park lot at the Box Office.
Restrooms, Elevator, Water Fountains
LADIES’ & MEN’S ROOMS are located on the orchestra level of the Theatre. All restrooms are ADA compliant. The ELEVATOR is located to the left of the concession stand which may be used to reach the mezzanine level. WATER FOUNTAINS are located outside the restrooms.
Lost & Found
If you have lost or found an item, please see the Box Office or House Manager. PTC is not responsible for loss or theft of personal belongings.
Lobby Video Installation
The klip//collective is dedicated to creating high-end, large-scale and unique video installations. klip//collective transforms architectural spaces into immersive visual experiences. For more information visit www.klip.tv/about.html.
Put a little PEP in your PTC experience
EdwardAlbee Albee Edward
Faith Prince, Angela Lansbury, Terrence McNally
Peter Peter Melnick, Melnick, Christopher Christopher Durang Durang
FREE PATRON ENRICHMENT PROGRAMS FOR LET ME DOWN EASY Meet-The-Experts - 3/24, 3/29, 4/7 Come talk to special guests in varying professional fields about the themes of healthcare and public health as it relates to our community at large.
AMERICAN PLAYWRIGHTS IN CONTEXT (APIC) - 3/27
Our special guest is the creator, playwright, and performer, Anna Deavere Smith. Ms. Smith will be interviewed by the Chair of Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism at Yale School of Drama and the Resident Dramaturg at Yale Repertory Theatre, Catherine Sheehy.
BOOK CLUB - 3/24 @ 6:30PM Join us for snacks as we discuss Ann Patchett’s remarkable memoir, Truth & Beauty: A Friendship, which details her closeness with Lucy Grealy in all its joys and life-changing health woes. THE BODY POLITIC: HEALTH IN PHILADELPHIA - 3/26
We will be joined by leading medical and wellness professionals from the region.
Stay tuned for a second Special Topics event – Topic TBA – on Wednesday, April 6th.
All PEP events are FREE! Photos by Paola Nogueras
2010/11 BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Priscilla M. Luce, President Julia Ericksen, Ph.D., Vice President Neal Schneider, Vice President Neal Cupersmith, Treasurer Brigitte Daniel, Secretary Michael M. Coleman, Co-Chairman E. Gerald Riesenbach, Esq., Co-Chairman Lynda Barness Marilyn Birnhak Richard Burke John C. Carrow Sara Garonzik Alice L. George Frank Giordano Glenn Gundersen Kenneth Kaiserman* Sally Lyn Katz Monika Krug* Carol Clark Lawrence Dale Penneys Levy James M. Meyer, CFA Donald Rosenblit, Chairman Emeritus* Carol Saline Jordan Savitch Elliot Schwartz Bryna Silver Scott, Esq. James T. Smith, Esq. Harriet Weiss Alan Widra Members Emeritus Joanne Harmelin Sheldon L. Thompson* Bettyruth Walter, Ph.D. Tracey Weiss, Ph.D. *denotes past president
PHILADELPHIA THEATRE COMPANY STAFF Producing Artistic Director Sara Garonzik Interim Managing Director Kathleen Kund Nolan Assistant to the Producing Artistic & Managing Directors Sharon Kling Business Manager Patricia Lustig Director of Development Sophie V. Steuer Manager of Donor Relations Charles R. Grafman Development Associate Meg Jones Director of Marketing & Communications Amy Lebo Marketing Associate Rose Schnall Publicist Deborah K. Fleischman Group Sales Manager Carol Flannery Patron Services Manager Meg Morris Box Office Manager Sarah Blask Assistant Box Office Manager Liz Fontenla Box Office Associates Jessie Pasquariello, Carla Emanuele, Liam Daley, Sara Blomquist House Manager Ron Hunter Director of Education Maureen Sweeney Education Coordinator Rashanda Freeman Teaching Artists Carla Emaunele, Jan Michener, Melody Tash Literary Manager and Dramaturg Carrie Chapter Literary Interns Veronica Decker Annie Halliday PRODUCTION STAFF Director of Production & Theater Operations Technical Director & Theater Operations Manager Associate Production Manager/Company Manager Facilities Supervisor Assistant Stage Manager Props Master Sound Supervisor Wardrobe Supervisor Light Board Operator/Programmer Video Operator Deck Crew Prodcution Electrician PRoduction Apprecntice Production Intern CREDITS Cover Design Auditor
Bruce Charlick Michael L. Cristaldi Bridget A. Cook Chris Butterfield Danielle Commini Melissa A. Cristaldi Daniel A. Little Maxine Johnson Sam Henderson Jacob Lyon Goddard Stuart Bartlett Terry Smith Melissa C. Mann Julian Fernandez
diccico battista communications Larson Allen
Right place. Right time. Right now. 94% Sold.
OPEN HOUSE Sundays, 1-3pm
A DRANOFF PROPERTY
SymphonyHouseCondo.com
UP NEXT AT PHILADELPHIA THEATRE COMPANY WINNER of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama! may 20 - june 12, 2011
by Lynn Nottage directed by Maria Mileaf
In war-torn Congo, Mama Nadi keeps the peace between customers on both sides of the civil war by serving up cold beers and warm beds. Ruined is a probing and courageous work celebrating human strength and dignity with humor and song in the face of immeasurable loss.
Ruined has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative.
215.985.0420 or PhiladelphiaTheatreCompany.org