WHO’S WHO

from Applause -- Hotter Than Egypt, February 10-March 12, 2023

IT’S STILL A CRIME TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

Acting Company

ANI DJIRDJIRIAN (Maha) (She/Her/Hers) was born and raised in New York City. National tour: Spamilton (Elliot Norton Award winner, Outstanding Musical Actress). Favorite credits include: Kismet (Granada Theatre); The Thanksgiving Play (St. Louis Repertory Theatre). Off-Broadway: The Office. TV/ Film: “Late Night with Seth Meyers” comedy sketch, “Awkwafina is Nora from Queens.” As the child of Armenian immigrants and the great-granddaughter of genocide survivors on both sides of her family, Ani has a deep parallel passion for human rights and holds a master’s degree in Social Service with the aim of influencing positive change and exploring intergenerational trauma through art.

KATE MACCLUGGAGE (Jean) (She/Her/Hers).

At the DCPA: Anna Karenina and Noises Off. Selected New York credits include: The Farnsworth Invention (Broadway); The 39 Steps (New World Stages); Greater Clements (Lincoln Center); Happy Birthday, Wanda June (Wheelhouse); The Merchant of Venice and Much Ado About Nothing (TFANA). Regionally, Kate has been seen at Williamstown, the McCarter, Barrington Stage, CATF, Westport Country Playhouse, Long Wharf, Hartford Stage, Syracuse Stage, The Kitchen, and others. TV: “The First Lady,” “FBI,”

“Madam Secretary,” “Turn,” “Law and Order: SVU,” “The Knick.” Film: Ghosts of Christmas Always (Hallmark), The Magnificent Meyersons, and Cryptid Upcoming: Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. MFA: NYU Grad Acting.

WASIM NO’MANI (Seif). DCPA Debut. Credits include: Water by the Spoonful and Happiest Song Plays Last (Profile Theatre, Portland); Jesus Hopped the A Train (CoHo Productions, Portland); Last Days of Judas Iscariot (The Hudson Mainstage, Los Angeles); Buffalo Soldier (El Portal, Los Angeles). TV: FOX’S “Touch,” CBS’s “Seal Team,” Paramount’s “Yellowstone,” and “The Chosen.” He is born of immigrated Iraqi parents pursuing their education in theatre, spending his formative years meandering through theatres throughout the US with big immigrant dreams of playing pretend for a profession. Wasim thanks his friends and family for their unreasonably enduring support, and he proudly praises Mr. El Guindi for this play and his entire body of work.

JAMES RANA (Boatman/Museum Guard/Doorman) (He/ Him/His). Broadway: The Band’s Visit. Off Broadway: The Government Inspector (Red Bull); Serendib (Ensemble Studio Theatre); Shogun Macbeth (Pan Asian Rep); Marat/Sade,

Macbeth, Mother Courage (Classical Theatre of Harlem); Tartuffe (Worth Street Theater). National/International: The Band’s Visit (1st national tour - LA Critics Circle Nom); Love’s Labours’ Lost (Royal Shakespeare Company); Macbeth (Globe Neuss/Bonn Biennale). Radio: Poe - A Celebration (NPR). Regional: Shakespeare Theater Co., Luna Stage, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, East Lynne Theater. Film/TV: “Law & Order: SVU,” “Chicago Fire,” “Madame Secretary,” “A Girl Like You with A Boy Like Me.” MFA: Trinity Rep Conservatory

GARETH SAXE (Paul). At the DCPA: Much Ado About Nothing, You Lost Me, Anna Karenina, Macbeth Broadway: Heartbreak House, The Homecoming, The Lion King, Nicolai and The Others. Off Broadway: Harper Regan (The Atlantic); Richard III, Winter’s Tale (Public Theatre); The Daughter in Law (The Mint). Regional: Hamlet, Dangerous Liaisons, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey); iWitness (Mark Taper Forum); Pericles (Old Globe). Local: Sylvia, Plaza Suite (Arvada Center); All’s Well That Ends Well, Coriolanus, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet (CSF). Film: Public Enemies. TV: “SVU,” “Law & Order.”

Training: MFA; NYU.

PLAYWRIGHT

YUSSEF EL GUINDI. Born in Egypt, raised in London and now based in Seattle, Yussef El Guindi’s work frequently examines the collision of ethnicities, cultures and politics that face immigrants, Arab-Americans and Muslim Americans in particular. El Guindi holds an MFA in playwriting from Carnegie-Mellon University. He is the recipient of many honors, including the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award, Stranger’s Genius Award, and the 2010 Middle East America Distinguished Playwright Award. El Guindi’s past productions include Hotter Than Egypt (Marin Theatre Company/ ACT/developed at the DCPA); People of the Book (ACT); Language Rooms (Pony World Theatre/Broken Nose Theatre); Hostage (Radial Theater Project); The Talented Ones (UCSB’s LAUNCH PAD/ Artists Repertory Theatre/Santa Barbara Independent Indy Awards); Threesome (Portland Center Stage/ACT/59E59/ winner of a Portland Drammy for Best Original Script); Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World (ACT/Center Repertory Company/Mosaic Theater Company/2011 Gregory Award). Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat was produced by Silk Road Rising and won the M. Elizabeth Osborn award. His plays Back of the Throat (winner of L.A. Weekly’s Excellence in Playwriting Award), Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World, Jihad Jones and the Kalashnikov Babes, Such a Beautiful Voice is Sayeda and Karima’s City have been published by Dramatists Play Service. Ten Acrobats in an Amazing Leap of Faith, Collaborator, Threesome, The Talented Ones, Hostages and In a Clear Concise Arabic Tongue have been published by Broadway Play Publishing Inc. Bloomsbury/ Methuen Drama published “Selected Works of Yussef El Guindi.” Currently a Core Company member at ACT in Seattle, a Resident Artist at Golden Thread Productions, and a member of the Lit Council Cohort.

DIRECTOR

CHRIS COLEMAN is passionate about the connection between stories and community. He joined the DCPA Theatre Company as Artistic Director in November of 2017 and has directed Much Ado About Nothing, Rattlesnake Kate, Twelfth Night, A Doll’s House, Anna Karenina, and Oklahoma!. Previously, Chris served as Artistic Director for Portland Center Stage in Oregon for 18 years. Under his leadership, PCS renovated the city’s historic Armory into a new home, saw annual attendance nearly double, workshopped 52 new plays that went on to productions at over 100 theaters around the US and UK, and became a national leader in how theaters engage with their community.

In 1988, Chris founded Actor’s Express in Atlanta (in the basement of an old church), a company that continues to be a cultural force in the Southeast today. He has directed at major theaters across the country, including Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Alliance Theater, Dallas Theater Center, Baltimore Center Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, ACT/Seattle, the Asolo, Pittsburgh Public, 59E59, and New York Theater Workshop. He and his husband, actor/writer Rodney Hicks, live in Reunion with their 100 lb. English blockhead yellow lab and their 18 lb. terrier mix. Since moving to Colorado, he has hiked Dominguez Canyon, wandered the Cliff Dwellings of Mesa Verde, explored a working mine in Creede, and rafted down the Arkansas River.

Creative Team

ROBERT J. AGUILAR (Lighting Designer). (He/Him/His). Regional credits include work at: Seattle Rep, Portland Center Stage, ACT, The 5th Avenue Theater, The Old Globe, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Intiman Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Milwaukee Rep, and Village Theatre among others. Film: The Jinkx and Dela Holiday Special and Potato Dreams of America. www.robertjaguilar. com IG: @fake_robert.

BASS/VALLE CASTING (Casting). New York: Broadway’s Gem of the Ocean Off-Broadway: Radio Golf, Jitney. Public Theater’s: New Works Now, Minetta Lane, Women’s Project, La MaMa, Epic Theatre, Drama League, Jewish Repertory Theatre, Women in Film and Television. Regional: Hartford Stage, Mark Taper Forum, Arena Stage, Trinity Rep, Syracuse Stage, Huntington Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Dallas Theatre Co., Berkeley Rep, Playmaker’s Rep, Alliance Theatre, Virginia Stage, Geva, CenterStage, Long Wharf Theatre, Arizona Theatre Co. Film: Pushing Hands, Gravesend, First We Take Manhattan. Audition Coach at many of the nation’s top universities and actor training programs.

PEGGY CAREY (Production Manager) recently joined the DCPA team last year as an Associate Production Manager. Before then, she was working at The Public Theater (New York, NY) as an Associate Production Manager, managing readings, developments, and events, as well as hiring stage management teams. Additionally, she helped to originate the Ithaca Fringe Festival as Production Director and has worked at Actor’s Workshop of Ithaca, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, and the Kitchen Theatre.

SAMANTHA EGLE (Intimacy Choreographer) (She/Her/Hers) is a fight director, intimacy choreographer, and educator. Her work has been seen on the stages of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Opera Colorado, Arvada Center, Asolo Repertory, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Aurora Fox, Denver Children’s Theatre, Athena Project Festival, Lagoon Theme Park, New York Fringe Festival, Mizel Center, University of Denver, University of Northern Colorado, and other educational institutions. She was a Resident Artist as an Intimacy Director at Arena Stage. She is the founder of Humble Warrior Movement Arts. She is a Certified Teacher and Regional Representative with the Society of American Fight Directors.

NAKISSA ETEMAD (Dramaturg) (She/ Her/Hers) is the Associate Artistic Director of Marin Theatre Company and an Iranian American Dramaturg, Producer, and French Translator, specializing in new BIPOC plays and musicals for 30 years. Recent world premiere credits: Hotter Than Egypt (co-production: ACT in Seattle, Marin Theatre Co.); The River Bride (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); the road weeps, the well runs dry (The Lark’s four-city productions); Heart-Shaped Nebula (Shotgun Players); every tongue confess (Arena Stage). Resident Artist of Golden Thread and former Dramaturg & Literary Manager of The Wilma Theater, San Jose Rep, and San Diego Rep. MFA in Dramaturgy, UCSD. Elliott Hayes Award winner. https://dcpa.today/3VyvVY7

BARBARA HORT, PhD (Psychodramaturg) (She/Her/Hers) has maintained a private practice in Portland, Oregon for over three decades, based on the work of the psychoanalyst Carl Jung. Dr. Hort has served as a psychodramaturg on numerous productions at DCPA and at Portland Center Stage, providing material on the play’s psychological dynamics that can be used by the artists creating the production. She is the author of Hollow Crown of Fire: A Discovery of Meaning in the Coronavirus Pandemic and Its Predecessors (2023) and Unholy Hunger: Encountering the Psychic Vampire in Ourselves and Others (1996).

LEX LIANG (Costume Designer). NYC/ Off/Broadway include: 100+ productions, including Judy Gold’s Yes, I Can Say That! currently playing at Primary Stages. Regional: Actor’s Theatre Louisville, Alliance Theatre, Asolo, Cleveland Play House, Cincinnati Playhouse, Dallas Theatre, Geva, Guthrie, La Jolla, Long Wharf, Paper Mill, Pasadena Playhouse, Playmaker’s, Portland Center Stage, St. Louis Rep, Syracuse Stage, and Woolly Mammoth. Lex is the founder and principal of LDC Design Associates, an experiential event design and production company in NYC. Recent projects/ clients include Absolut Vodka, Operation Smile, Invesco, The Tony Awards, NYFW, NYWFF, William Hill, and others. www.LexLiang.com www.LDCdesign.com.

DAVID R. MOLINA (Composer and Sound Designer). Regional: El Borracho (The Old Globe); King Lear (STL Shakespeare Festival); Quixote Nuevo (Hartford Stage/ The Alley/Round House/DCPA); Mojada (Rep of St. Louis/CTG/OSF); Two Trains Running (Seattle Rep/Arena Stage); Macbeth (Next Chapter Podcasts/ Play On! Shakes). Resident Artist: Brava Theater, NAKA Dance Theater, Human Shakes. Awards: LA Ovation, Creative Capital Grant, InterMusic SF, San Francisco Arts Commission Grant, MAP Fund. Multimedia: SFMOMA, The Broad, Oakland Museum of California, McLoughlin Gallery. Music collaborations: Tau (Berlin), Emanative (UK), El Paso (Peru). Bands: Impuritan, Ghosts and Strings, Transient. www.drmsound.com.

LISA M. ORZOLEK (Scenic Designer). At the DCPA: (270+ productions/32 seasons) Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, A Doll’s House and A Doll’s House, Part 2,The Whistleblower, Native Gardens, Disgraced, The Nest, Tribes, One Night in Miami, Benediction, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Shadowlands, Jackie & Me, Death of a Salesman, Superior Donuts, Othello, Well, Gee’s Bend, The Pillowman, A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur, and more (DCPA Theatre Company); Little Red, Goodnight Moon, Corduroy, The Snowy Day (DCPA Education); Theater of the Mind (Associate Designer), DragOn, Sweet & Lucky (DCPA Off-Center); The Other Josh Cohen, The Improvised Shakespeare Company®, Xanadu, First Date, An Act of God, Love... Perfect... Change, Forbidden Broadway, Girls Only, and more (DCPA Cabaret). Lisa is a Denver native and has a BFA in Scenic Design from Boston University.

LOUIS SALLAN (Dialect Coach) is an Arab American actor and dialect/acting coach. Some recent credits include: Emma (The Guthrie); Layalina (The Goodman); Romeo and Juliet (Alabama Shakespeare Festival); Oslo (Northern Stage); The Invisible Hand (Cleveland Play House); The Mecca Tales (Sheen Center for Thought & Culture); The Strangest (New York Theatre Workshop). TV: “Blue Bloods,” “The Blacklist,” “The Blacklist: Redemption,” “Madam Secretary.”

Training: B.A., Western Michigan University; M.F.A., Graduate Acting, NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

GRADY SOAPES (Casting) (He/Him/His) is the Director of Casting and Artistic Producer with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Grady has cast over 40 DCPA productions including Rattlesnake

Kate, Theater of the Mind, The Chinese Lady, A Doll’s House and A Doll’s House Part 2 in repertory, Oklahoma!, Last Night and the Night Before, The Who’s Tommy, The Wild Party, A Christmas Carol. Grady also works as a Casting Director for Sylvia Gregory Casting where he has cast commercials for Subaru, Fruit of the Loom and has been an associate on several TV, film and video games projects. Choreography credits include A Christmas Carol, Twelfth Night, Goodnight Moon, Anna Karenina, As You Like It, Drag Machine, Lord of the Butterflies, DragON (Denver Center); Into the Woods, The Liar (Arvada Center); Comedy of Errors (Colorado Shakespeare Festival); as well as Artist in Residence at Colorado State University in 2010. Grady is the producer of the Colorado New Play Summit and former producer of the Colorado New Play Festival.

Stage Management

MARTINIQUE M. BARTHEL (Stage Manager) (She/Her/Hers). At the DCPA: A Christmas Carol. Other Credits include: Sweeney Todd, All’s Well That Ends Well (Utah Shakespeare Festival);

New Age, Toni Stone, The Niceties, The Nativity Variations (Milwaukee Repertory Theatre); Milwaukee Black Theatre Festival (2020 and 2021); Stew, Underneath the Lintel (Milwaukee Chamber Theatre); The Gospel at Colonus (Skylight Music Theatre); BE-longing!, Native Gardens, Sex With Strangers (Renaissance Theaterworks); Black Nativity (Black Arts Milwaukee, 2017 & 2018); A Christmas Carol (Children’s Theatre of Madison); Assassins, A Little Night Music, Spamalot, Big Fish, Guys and Dolls, Man of La Mancha, The Light in The Piazza, Kiss Me, Kate (Four Seasons Theatre); Romeo and Juliet, Lines, Constellations, The Bed (Theatre LILA); The Mojo and The Sayso (Theatre LILA/ Bronzeville Arts Ensemble); La Boheme (UW-Madison Opera); Die Fledermaus (Madison Savoyards); Change Your Mind, Change The World (2012) and The World We Make (2016) (panel discussions with His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama). Professional Affiliations: Actor’s Equity Association.

ANNE M. JUDE (Assistant Stage Manager) (She/Her/Hers). National Tours: Elf, Mary Poppins. Recent credits: Kinky Boots (Maine State Music Theater), Rock of Ages - Hollywood (The Bourbon Room). At the DCPA: Little Red, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. Regional credits include: A Picture of Dorian Gray, Othello, Henry V (A Noise Within); The Glass Menagerie, Man of La Mancha, Dreamgirls (Milwaukee Repertory Theater). First Stage Children’s Theater, Fulton Theatre, Goodspeed Musicals. Education: BFA Arts Administration – Viterbo University, La Crosse, Wisconsin. Proud AEA Member.

Taking Photos At The Theatre

We welcome you to take photos in the theatre before and after the performance. If you post on social media, please credit, and tag the DCPA and the design team:

Playwright: Yussef El Guindi

Director: Chris Coleman

Scenic Designer: Lisa M. Orzolek

Costume Designer: Lex Liang @Lex924

Lighting Designer: Robert Aguilar

Composer/Sound Designer: David Molina @david_r_molina

Photos and the video and/or audio recording during any part of the performance by any means whatsoever are strictly prohibited

Please Be Advised

• LATECOMERS and those exiting the theatre are seated at predetermined breaks in designated areas.

• CHILDREN 4+ are welcome in our theatres and must be ticketed.

• ASSISTIVE LISTENING DEVICES, LARGE PRINT PROGRAMS & BOOSTER SEATS are available in most theatres. Ask an usher to direct you.

• BRAILLE PROGRAMS are available with 2 weeks’ notice to accessibility@dcpa.org

The Director and Fight Director are members of the STAGE DIRECTORS AND CHOREOGRAPHERS SOCIETY, a national theatrical labor union.

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.

THEATRE

Company Leadership Team

CHRIS COLEMAN (see bio under Director)

CHARLES VARIN (Managing Director) and his team are responsible for the administrative, financial, and business operations for Theatre Company and Off-Center productions and other artistic initiatives. Since joining the Theatre Company in 2006, he has played a major role in executing the artistic vision of the organization and facilitating the production of shows such as Theater of the Mind, Sweet & Lucky, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Sense & Sensibility the Musical, The 12, Sweeney Todd with DeVotchKa and many more. Charles is passionate about artistic innovation and firmly believes in DCPA’s long-standing commitment to new plays and new voices.

In addition to DCPA staff, the following crew worked on this production: Sherry Hern, Loren Marten, Lori Worthman Sullivan, Jayanna Young

The Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) is one of the largest non-proﬁt theatre organizations in the nation, presenting Broadway tours and producing theatre, cabaret, musicals, and innovative immersive plays. In its 2021/22 season, the DCPA engaged with more than 703,000 visitors, generating a $203 million economic impact.

Backstage and Ticket Services Employees are represented by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States and Canada. (or I.A.T.S.E.)

The scenic, costume, lighting and sound designers in LORT Theatres are represented by United Scenic Artists, Local USA-829 of the IATSE.

The Theatre Company is grateful for the funds provided by the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District. Special thanks also to grants from the Helen G. Bonfils Foundation; and contributions from corporations, foundations and individuals. The Theatre Company is a division of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, a non-profit organization serving the public through the performing arts.

The Theatre Company operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States; and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. The Theatre Company also operates under an agreement with Denver Theatrical Stage Employees Union, Local No. 7 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States and Canada.

The Theatre Company is constituent of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for not-for-proﬁt resident theatre companies.

The costumes, wigs, lighting, props, furniture,scenic construction, scenic painting, sound and special eﬀects used in connection with this production were constructed and coordinated by the Theatre Company’s Production Staﬀ.

Join the DCPA’s Best of Broadway Society to experience Broadway as it was meant to be seen. Treat yourself to pre-show cocktails and dinner at Kevin Taylor’s at the Opera House, front-and-center orchestra seats, and private intermission amenities in the Wolf Room for every show of the season. As a member, you’ll also have access to DCPA subscriber benefits, including concierge ticketing services and pre-sale access to additional experiences.