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THE LAST DAYS OF JUDAS ISCARIOT by Stephen Adly Guirgis
Cast – (in alphabetical order) St Thomas / Matthias of Galilee Jesus Pontius Pilate / St Peter El-Fayoumy Freud Gloria / Sister Glenna Judas Uncle Pino / Butch / Soldier Judge / Caiaphas / St Matthew Satan / Mother Teresa Bailiff / Simon the Zealot Henrietta Iscariot Mary Magdalene / Loretta / Soldier St Monica Cunningham
Hunter Cardinal Oscar Derkx Daniel F. K. Fernandes Ben Gorodetsky Mathew Hulshof Georgia Irwin Adam Klassen Neil Kuefler Ian Leung * Nancy McAlear * Graham Mothersill Sandra M. Nicholls * Andrea Rankin Nikki Shaffeeullah Cayley Thomas
Creative Team Director Set, Costume and Lighting Designer Composer / Sound Designer Assistant Designer Dramaturg Vocal Coach Assistant Vocal Coach Choreographer Music Consultant
Simon Bloom Jamie Plummer Aaron Macri Josee Chartrand Sarah Polkinghorne Elissa Weinzimmer Bobbi Goddard Maria Fernandes Richard Lam
Stage Management Stage Manager Assistant Stage Manager
Jessica Parr Joan Wyatt
*Appear courtesy of Canadian Actors’ Equity This production is in partial fulfillment of Simon Bloom’s MFA Directing thesis and Jamie Plummer’s MFA Theatre Design thesis There will be one 15 minute intermission Rights for this production are courtesy of Dramatists Play Service Inc.
Contents 4 Director’s Notes • 5 Dramaturgical Notes • 8 Production Team • 9 Fundraising • 12, 13 Alumni Article • 14 St. Joan Photos • 16, 17, 19 Dramaturgical Articles • 20 Staff / Front of House • 22 Donors
Director’s Notes In the 14th century, Italian poet Dante Alighieri wrote The Divine Comedy, his theological trilogy on the fate of the soul after death. Inferno, the first book of the series, describes in gruesome detail the punishment doled out to the sinners condemned to one of Hell’s nine horrifying circles. In the lowest circle, we find Judas Iscariot, where Satan is gnawing on his head and clawing his back. It is a terrifying image, and one that deeply disturbed playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis as a child. “If I can forgive someone,” Guirgis wrote in an interview with the Telegraph about the West End premiere of Judas Iscariot, “why can’t God, who was supposed to be all loving? That was the beginning of the end of my Christian experience.” It is an extremely disturbing prospect that anyone could be beyond the potential for redemption. It begs the question: Why do we punish those who need our forgiveness most? The evidence is worldwide. The Gaza Strip. North Korea. The Boston Marathon. The War on Terror. We put up walls, try to separate the good from the bad, the wheat from the chaff, or, to use a biblical parable, the sheep from the goats. This attitude just begets more anger, more misunderstanding and violence. Both sides twist religious and secular rhetoric in order to dole out punishment and justify terror. But there is Hope (which, incidentally, is where the three hours traffic of our play takes place). Religion is undergoing a spiritual renaissance worldwide, and it offers us the opportunity to re-evaluate our moral priorities. It is no coincidence that the last three shows in our Studio season revolved around religious themes: a new era of spirituality is dawning, and it heralds with it the possibility for the religious and secular citizen to come together in a mutual embrace of understanding and acceptance. Through The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Stephen Adly Guirgis reminds us that our work on this earth has barely begun. He demands that we become better human beings. To truly communicate. To understand what it means to live in a shared community. To celebrate difference. And most importantly, to forgive one another. Take up the task. - Simon Bloom 4
The playwright and the play Stephen Adly Guirgis was born and raised in Harlem, in New York City. His father was an Egyptian Christian and his mother was a devout Irish Catholic. Guirgis attended Catholic schools in his primary and secondary years. The story of Judas troubled Guirgis deeply when he first learned it. If God is all-loving and all-forgiving, he reasoned, why can Judas not be forgiven? Guirgis later described this insight as “the beginning of the end of my Christian experience.” College friend John Ortiz invited Guirgis to join LAByrinth Theatre Company, a tight-knit group founded in 1992 by 13 actors dedicated to showcasing Latino talent (LAB stands for “Latino Actors’ Base”). Guirgis was the first non-Latino artist invited to join the company. LAB developed and produced his first play, Francisco and Benny. Guirgis’ In Arabia We’d All Be Kings, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman in 1999, helped to establish LAB as a major force on the New York theatre scene. All of Guirgis’ plays have emerged from the intensive, supportive development environment created by the LAB ensemble. Between 2000 and 2005, Guirgis wrote a trilogy of critically-acclaimed, theologicallythemed plays: Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train, Our Lady of 121st Street, and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. Judas saw its premiere in 2005 at The Public Theatre with Philip Seymour Hoffman directing and Sam Rockwell and Eric Bogosian starring as Judas and Satan, respectively. Judas has been widely admired for its juxtaposition of playful vernacular with profoundly sincere religious inquiry. The New York Times’ Ben Brantley, commenting on the premiere production, noted how Judas reflects “a fierce and questing mind that refuses to settle for glib answers, a gift for identifying with life’s losers and an unforced eloquence that finds the poetry in lowdown street talk.” In making that remark, Brantley may or may not have known about Stephen Adly Guirgis’ life outside the theatre. Guirgis has worked extensively in violence prevention and HIV awareness with people in prisons, shelters, and hospitals. He has spent time in rehab. His plays illuminate the struggles of the downtrodden and reaffirm every individual’s potential for rehabilitation and redemption. His themes reflect his life experiences. Guirgis continues to enjoy critical and popular success. In 2011, The Motherfucker with the Hat, starring Chris Rock, was nominated for a slew of awards, including the Tony Award for Best Play. Today, Guirgis is co-artistic director of LAByrinth. In March he was awarded a Yale University/Windham Campbell Prize, among the richest literary awards in the world. Upon receiving the $150,000 prize, Guirgis pledged to “create new work for our theater and to be there for our young artists -- to aid their process in any way I can.” - Simon Bloom and Sarah Polkinghorne
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Production Team Production Manager: Technical Director: Production Administrative Assistant: Wardrobe Manager: Cutter: Head Scenic/Stage Carpenter: Scenic Carpenters: Scenic Art Supervisor: Scenic Art Assistant: Scenic Artists:
Properties Master: Lighting Supervisors:
Jane Kline Mel Geary Jeff Osterlin
Head of Lighting: Lighting Technicians:
Camille Maltais Laura Campbell Elijah Lindenberger Matthew Skopyk Lore Green
Sound Supervisor: Running Crew: Directing Thesis Supervisors:
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Gerry van Hezewyk Larry Clark Jonathan Durynek Joanna Johnston Ann Salmonson Darrell Cooksey Barbara Hagensen Patrick Marchand George Griffiths Yilin Chen Maria Burkinshaw Frances Girard Jonah O’Brien Allison Robinson
Design Thesis Supervisor: Stage Management Advisor:
Sandra Nicholls Stefano Muneroni Robert Shannon Betty Hushlak
Theological Consultation:
Fr. Dave Bittner
Drama Department Funds that Need Your Support Department of Drama Fund Every one of your dollars goes towards programs and productions during this academic year and is directed to the area with greatest need. With six undergraduate degree programs, six graduate degree programs, four theatres, over 25 in-house productions a year, and numerous workshops —we are a busy department!
Drama Student Emergency Bursary Endowment Fund This fund helps all Drama students, from all programs, at crucial times during their academic career. Irregular and long hours in rehearsal make it very difficult for Drama students to hold parttime jobs during the school year. Sometimes our students need to access the safety net this fund provides. Since the 2004-05 academic year we have distributed $13,500 to 29 students helping them get by when they needed it most.
Studio Theatre Endowment Fund This endowment helps us purchase the supplies needed to create intricate and beautiful sets and costumes, replace and upgrade lighting and sound equipment, and it allows us to invite professional guest directors and artists to work alongside our U of A Studio Theatre student company. All donations are recognized in U of A Studio Theatre playbills and on the Department of Drama website. Gifts over $10 receive tax receipts. Every gift makes a difference and we deeply appreciate all contributions. To arrange a gift, please visit: www.drama.ualberta.ca/Giving
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BFA ACTING ALUMNI Since its inception in 1965, the University of Alberta’s Bachelor of Fine Arts professional theatre actor training program and its alumni have had a profound impact on local, national and international theatre, film, television and broadcasting arts. The UAlberta BFA actor training program is indisputably the premiere university program in Canada. As evidence, look no further than the far ranging and enduring careers of our graduates and their influence on the theatrical landscape of their times. We are proud to count visionaries such as Paul Gross (‘97), winner of the 2009 Governor General National Arts Centre Award for Achievement, among our distinguished University of Alberta drama alumni. Many of our alumni have been very successful in film and television. Carrie Thiel (‘97) was the fight choreographer for the Oscar-winning trilogy of films The Lord of the Rings. Gemini Award winner Lorne Cardinal (‘91) starred in the television shows Corner Gas, Arctic Air and North of 60. Multiple award winner Shaun Johnston (’90) appeared in Heartland, Jake and the Kid, Agent of Influence, and Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee. Dion Johnstone (’97), has performed eight seasons at Stratford. Amanda Lisman (‘06) was hailed as “one of Stratford’s greatest leading ladies,” with BFA Acting classmate Alana Hawley (‘06) also joining her for three seasons at Stratford. Martin Happer (‘03), has been a fixture for five seasons at the Shaw Festival and still going strong. Gemini, Dora and Jessie award winning Carolyn Cave (‘99) is also regularly cast at the Shaw Festival. Two of our recent graduates, Robert Markus (‘10) and Samantha Hill (‘11) are making big strides in their careers this season; Robert as Tommy in the rock opera Tommy! at Stratford, and Samantha as Christina in Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. Laurie Blakeman (‘80) works off stage but in the spotlight as a member of the Legislative Assemble and as Deputy Leader of the Official Opposition. She credits her BFA training for her stage presence, vocal power and speech making abilities These are just a small, selected number of those making the University of Alberta’s BFA Acting unit proud, nationally and abroad. We have many UAlberta artists working in Calgary, including Vanessa Porteous (‘96), as Artistic Director of Alberta Theatre Projects. And here in Edmonton, our graduates are the heart’s blood of the thriving theatre community. Many of 12
the professional performance companies in Edmonton have a UAlberta acting graduate in a role of artistic leadership. Brian Deedrick (‘79) recently retired from the Edmonton Opera after nine years of artistic directorship. Bob Baker (‘74) is Artistic Director at the Citadel Theatre, and he works with other alumni as artistic associates: Tom Wood (‘72), James MacDonald (‘89), and Geoffrey Brumlik (‘89). Marianne Copithorne (‘82) is Artistic Director of the Freewill Players, a company that was founded twenty years ago by a cohort of BFA graduates. John Hudson (’88) is Artistic Director of Shadow Theatre. Steve Pirot (‘96) is Artistic Director of Azimuth Theatre and co-founder of NextFest. Jeff Haslam (‘86) is Artistic Director of Teatro La Quindicina. Many of our alumni are innovative artistic entrepreneurs as well. Kristi Hansen (‘03) is the cofounder of The Maggie Tree. Vincent Forcier (’09) is the cofounder of Surreal So-Real; Jesse Gervais (‘01) and Amber Borotsik (‘01) are the cofounders of Windrow Performance; Mieko Ouchi (’92) co-founded Concrete Theatre and John Ullyatt(’93) co-founded Firefly Aerial Theatre. All of these innovative artists continue to hire our extraordinary graduates, and on any given year, the Edmonton Fringe Festival might see upward of 150 current and graduating students generating a multitude of productions. - Kathleen Weiss, Chair, Department of Drama
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Saint Joan photos
1 1. Patricia Cerra. 2. Edmund Stapleton. 3. Cayley Thomas, Samantha Jeffery & Brett Dahl. 4 & 5. Cast of Saint Joan. All photos by Ed Ellis
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Sets, lights, costumes, and projections designed by Nathan Brown as his MFA Theatre design thesis project. 5
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The last days of Jesus of Nazareth The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, like any courtroom drama, is significantly concerned with the truth. Claims are made. Witnesses are questioned. Rhetoric is deployed. In the case of the Kingdom of Heaven and Earth versus Judas Iscariot, however, the “truth” occurred two thousand years ago and there are very few hard facts available to us. It’s worth considering how the Jesus story came to be. In Jesus’ time, oral history was much more influential than written history. The four books of the New Testament that tell Jesus’ story -- Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John -- are generally understood to have been written during the years 50 to 100 A.D., after Jesus had been dead for at least twenty years. In 66 A.D., Jews in Judea revolted against their imperial Roman occupiers. The uprising was quashed in 70 A.D. when the Romans destroyed the Great Temple in Jerusalem. In this context, with Jews struggling for the survival of their faith, many early converts to Christianity would have been shunned by their families and communities. In order to grow their church, Christians worked to broaden the appeal of their new religion across the wider Roman Empire. Some scholars argue that this imperative led to a softened, more hesitant portrayal of Pontius Pilate, and over time, to a depiction of Judas that embodied a villainous Jewish stereotype. We do know that Jesus was a popular and controversial rabbi, the leader of a particularly peculiar sect with numerous disciples he kept very close to him. And we do know that Judas played a role in facilitating Jesus’ arrest by the Romans. - Sarah Polkinghorne, with thanks to Fr. Dave Bittner
On purgatory and despair Purgatory is closely associated with Catholic doctrine, although its roots lie in ancient Jewish beliefs about the purification of the dead. In The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Stephen Adly Guirgis joyfully plays fast and loose with the concept. Purgatory is most often depicted and discussed as “the Gates of Heaven.” Catholic teaching reminds us, though, that purgatory is not a physical place bound by earthly laws of time and space. Rather, purgatory is a state of letting go, of making amends within our relationships, both with God and with our communities. If heaven is complete union with God, and hell is complete separation from God, purgatory is for those souls in between: those en route to heaven who have died and left unfinished business behind. 16
Traditional Catholic thought holds that souls arriving in purgatory are all heavenbound. One cannot be demoted from purgatory to hell. However, with Judas, Guirgis has built a less doctrinaire, more irreverent world. Satan shows up to complain about the cafeteria food; Pontius Pilate and Caiaphus the Elder have definitely moved on to new avocations. People pass from hell to purgatory and back again. Except, that is, for Judas. Judas has committed the sin of despair. Joyce Carol Oates, writing in The New York Times in 1993, explains that despair “is the conviction that one is damned absolutely.” It requires a choice, a conscious turning away from forgiveness. When we first meet Judas, he is deeply mired in despair. Why and for how long are central questions in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. - Sarah Polkinghorne, with thanks to Fr. Dave Bittner
The dialects of Judas Usually, when a dialect coach approaches a play, he or she can expect to be working on one or two dialects -- maybe a small handful if the characters are diverse. The Last Days of Judas Iscariot is not your average play, however. It features fourteen dialects. When the setting is purgatory and major figures from history can appear or disappear, anything can happen. This purgatory is unique too, because it looks and sounds a lot like the playwright’s home: New York City. When Simon first asked me to vocal coach the show, my knee-jerk reaction was: “How are we going to do that play?” How are we going to respectfully approach a play that was written for a New York company of actors who have very different backgrounds than the actors here in Edmonton? We honed in on the idea of archetype. Simon and I spoke about giving voice to people with real hopes and desires onstage, not just caricatures of stereotypes or historical figures. Because the task looming ahead was gargantuan, I enrolled the help of an assistant, Bobbi Goddard, who has been invaluable in the process. As Bobbi and I have worked with the actors, we have collaboratively crafted archetypes based on the words and sounds written into the text and on the actors’ imaginations. Sometimes we’ve made choices that haven’t panned out, but learning what doesn’t work is often the best way to learn what does work. As a cast, we have sourced countless videos from To Wong Foo to Pulp Fiction, listened to many audio samples, and practiced many sound substitutions.
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The crazy part is that even once we’ve done all that, the work still isn’t done. Next, we have to deliver the text. A text, I might add, that is quite dense with the rhetoric of law and religion. These actors have been champions in face of a script that is challenging on many levels. At the beginning, it seemed a daunting task to bring to life so many different characters whose ways of speaking were informed by various gender, racial, ethnic, religious, and social backgrounds. Hanging out in purgatory, though, has taught us that we are more alike than we are different. And as Fabiana believes for Judas, we all deserve to have our story heard. - Elissa Weinzimmer, MFA Theatre Voice Pedagogy student
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Administrative Staff
Kathleen Weiss: Chair, Department of Drama Julie Brown: Assistant Chair Administration David Prestley: Theatre Administrator / Events Coordinator Jonathan Durynek: Box Office Coordinator / Events Assistant Ruth Vander Woude: Graduate Advisor / Administrator Connie Golden: Undergraduate Advisor Helen Baggaley: Administrative Assistant / Office Coordinator With assistance from Faculty of Arts staff: Salena Kitteringham: Fine Arts Communications Lead Terah Jans: Fine Arts Communications Marketing Specialist Joanna Manchur: Fine Arts Recruitment Coordinator
Production Staff
Gerry van Hezewyk: Production Manager / Administrative Professional Officer Larry Clark: Technical Director, Timms Centre for the Arts Darrell Cooksey: Head Carpenter Jonathan Durynek: Production Administrative Assistant Mel Geary: Lighting Supervisor Joanna Johnston: Costume Manager Jane Kline: Property Master Don MacKenzie: Technical Director, Fine Arts Building Ann Salmonson: Cutter Matthew Skopyk: Second Playing Space Technician / Sound Supervisor Karen Swiderski: Costumer, Fine Arts Building
Front of House
Staff: Bonita Akai, Danielle Dugan, Al Gadowsky, Becky Gormley, Caitlin Gormley, Tasreen Hudson, Marie-AndrĂŠe Lachapelle, Laura Norton, Emily Paulsen, Andrew Shum, Faye Stollery, Jane Toogood, Cheryl Vandergraaf, Catherine Vielguth Volunteers: Cristian Badiu, Debbie Beaver, Susan Box, Franco Correa, Alana De Melo, Jonathan Durynek, Mary and Gene Ewanyshyn, Terri Gingras, Ron Gleason, Darcy Hoover-Correa, Marie-AndrĂŠe Lachapelle, Don Lavigne, Sareeta Lopez, Tom and Gillian McGovern, Marlene Marlj, Conner Meeker, Jennifer Morely, Carmen Nieuwenhuis, Alice Petruk, David Prestley, Catherine Vielguth, JaneVoloboeva, Diane Wright, Anisa Youssefi, Danoush Youssefi 20
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Donors
Heartfelt thanks to the individuals, foundations and organizations listed below for recognizing the importance of the arts by directly investing in the Department of Drama’s innovation and leadership in theatre training and performance. A round of applause to our supporters! Baha & Sharon Abu-Laban Derek & Mary Griffiths Leonard & Ella May Apedaile Kelly Handerek Dorothy Ayer Bohdan & Elaine Harasymiw Bacon Family Fund Alex & Joan Hawkins Douglas & Annalisa Baer Murray & Pauline Hawkins Joan Baird Christopher Head Roderick E Banks Stephen Heatley Steven Hilton David Barnet & Edith Mitchell Pavel & Sylvia Jelen William & Carole Barton Azim & Shenaz Jeraj Karin Basaraba Jim & Barb Beck Jim & Sheila Edwards Family Fund Lindsay Bell M A Keene Carl & Doreen Betke Gerald Kendal Jane King William & Kathleen Betteridge Patricia Langan Rhoini Bhatia-Singh Nicole Mallet Alan Bleviss John & Peggy Marko Julia M Boberg Gordon & Norma McIntosh M. Elizabeth Boone & Marco Katz Rod & Heleen McLeod Donna Bornhuse Pamela A. Milne Richard Bowes Rod and F June Morgan Angela Breadner Betty Moulton David Brindley & Denise Peter & Elaine Mueller Hemmings Audrey O’Brien Julie Brown & Joseph Piccolo Dale Olausen Linda Bumstead Jack & Esther Ondrack Adolf & Kathleen Buse Josephine Pilcher Cormack Campbell Family Foundation V Porteous Rachel Christopher Patricia Rocco Brent Christopherson Bente Roed Penny Coates Helen J Rosta Faye Cohen Kenneth & Joan Roy David Cormack Valerie Sarty Lesley Cormack & Andrew Ede Alan & Ramona Sather Daniel Cunningham Peter & Olga Savaryn Brian Deedrick Alison Scott-Prelorentzos Dyer Financial Strategies Ltd. Jan Selman & Curtis Palmer Mr W Gifford Edmonds Albin Shanley Jim & Joan Eliuk Sol & Shirley Sigurdson Larry Ethier Phillip Silver John & Bunny Ferguson O. Francis Sitwell Shirley Gifford Daryl Springer Sheila Gooding Brian & Marion Sproule Melvina M. Gowda
St. Peter’s Anglican Church ACW Allan Stichbury Richard & Rita Taylor Terrance O’Connor Award Fund Isobel Thomas Sheryl Turner Thomas Usher Gilda L.F. Valli Henriette van Hees Carlye S. Windsor Jerry & Deborah Yee Stephen Yorke John R. Young In Kind David Adam & Rose Liu-Adam Erica Boetcher Jill Concannon Pamela Constable Estate of Pro Rhey Mond Depro Ester Fraga Mel Geary David Jones Vincent Kadis Rosalind Kerr Karen M. Swiderski Ron Lavoie David L Lovett Larry MacInnis Don Mackenzie Ann Malyj Joanna & Travis Manchur Brian & Lorraine McDonald Philip & Kathleen Mulder David Plach David Prestley Ella Reidt Robert Shannon Michelle Warren Kathleen Weiss Donna R. Zuk Various Anonymous Donors
This list includes those who donated to various Drama funds from March 1, 2012 - March 31, 2013 . List compiled March 31, 2013. Apologies for inadvertent omissions or errors. Contact 780-492-2271 for changes.
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