Trinity Square - Spring 2021 Issue

the

trinity square

SPRING 2021

Back to Work!

Announcing Your 2021-22 Season

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THE TRINITY SQUARE • SPRING 2021

THE TRINITY SQUARE is published quarterly and distributed free of charge by Trinity Repertory Company, 201 Washington St., Providence, RI, 02903.

(401) 521-1100 • www.trinityrep.com TRINITY REPERTORY COMPANY Curt Columbus, The Arthur P. Solomon & Sally E. Lapides Artistic Director Tom Parrish, Executive Director Kate Brandt, Director of Marketing & Communications Angela Brazil, Director of Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Programs Jordan Butterfield, Director of Education & Accessibility Jen Canole, Director of Development Michelle Cruz, Director of Community Engagement Baron Pugh, Director of Service & Experience Alyssa Smith, Director of Resource Management Laura Smith, Production Director Kate Brandt, Editor Michael Guy, Creative Director Printed by Print Synergy Solutions Season Sponsors

Southwest is the Official Airline of Trinity Rep

SPRING 2021

in this issue

the trinity square

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Greetings from Artistic Director Curt Columbus and Executive Director Tom Parrish 3 In Case You Missed It: Highlights from America Too and The Writers Room 5 Upcoming Events: Teatro en El Verano’s production of La Mancha and YASI (Young Actors Summer Institute) 6 Your 2021-22 Trinity Rep Season Announced 8 Brown/Trinity Rep Grads Pivot During Pandemic 10 Anti-Racism Update 11 Community Partner Spotlight: DARE 13 A Legacy of Resilience: Planned Giving at Trinity Rep 14 Write Here, Write Now!: Meet the Winning Student Playwrights and Their Plays 17 Meet the Staff: Director of Community Engagement Michelle Cruz 19 What We’re Listening To: Music, Recordings, Podcasts, and More that Our Staff Recommends 21 Staff and Resident Artists’ Anniversaries 21 Remembering Steve Lehrer 22 Many Thanks to Our Generous Donors!

ON THE COVER Soon we will be back to work building sets and sewing costumes for live performances in the Lederer Theater Center! Pictured here are carpenters in pre-COVID days building the stage for 2011 production of A Christmas Carol.

For more pictures and details on your upcoming 2021-22 Season, see page 6.

PHOTO MARK TUREK

Your Home for Dramatic Discoveries TRINITY REPERTORY COMPANY www.trinityrep.com • (401) 521-1100 • Box Office (401) 351-4242 201 Washington Street, Providence, RI 02903 THE TRINITY SQUARE • SPRING 2021

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FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR THERE IS A LIGHT AT THE end of the tunnel! With the now rapid distribution of vaccine and the easing of restrictions, we are feeling confident in our ability to safely resume in-person performances in the fall. We encourage everyone to get vaccinated, wear masks, and act responsibly so that vision can become a reality. We will continue to monitor public health guidance to ensure a safe return for patrons, staff, and artists.

During the hiatus in production activities caused by the pandemic, Trinity Rep has been busy fulfilling its mission of reinventing the public square in new and innovative ways. Much of our programming activity shifted online, available on our website under the heading “The Show Goes On.” From behind-the-scenes discussions, archival production footage, talk-show style content, and community-sourced material, we have found new ways to connect and “gather.” Our new media production of A Christmas Carol Online reached 200,000 viewers on six continents, and the currently running The Catastrophist is being hailed “a play for our times” (Don’t miss your chance to catch this incredible show before it ends on May 31). The Writer’s Room and America Too have also been reckoning with the past and planting seeds for the future.

In addition, we have been utilizing this time to plan for rebuilding a stronger and more equitable theater company, a Trinity Rep 2.0. The loss of staff over the past year has been difficult, but also created opportunities to rethink the way we do and make theater and programming at Trinity Rep. Our Anti-Racism Transformation Committee has been working to develop a strategic plan to advance our vision of being an anti-racist and inclusive organization dedicated to reinventing the public square in service to the full diversity of people in our region. You can read more about this work on page 10.

Our reinvention also extends to the physical space of our building and venues. We have been working with architects and contractors to design an extensive renovation and expansion in 2022 and 2023. In March, Rhode Island voters approved with 60% of the vote a Cultural Arts and State Preservation Grant Programs Bond Measure, which among other projects around the state will provide $2.5 million toward Trinity Rep’s $12 million capital project. Many thanks to those that voted in support of this important bond measure. Trinity Rep is currently in the quiet phase of a capital campaign to raise the balance needed to fund our project.

Perhaps most exciting is the planned launch of the new season. Next season’s lineup, which you can read more about on page 6, is packed with a mix of drama, comedy, and music that is sure to surprise, delight, and entertain. There is something for everyone, and it features the best of what live theater can be. You will not want to miss it!

If you have not secured your subscription for next season, I encourage you take advantage of our low prices, beginning at only $80 for four plays.

That’s less than the price of a single Broadway ticket and like getting four plays for the price of three. In addition to guaranteeing yourself memorable evenings out and saving up to 33% off, as a full season subscriber, you get the best prices; the best seats; money-saving discounts; exchange privileges; advanced, discounted access to A Christmas Carol; and other great benefits.

Payment plans are also available. Performances will sell out, so subscribe today!

Best wishes for a fun and safe summer. See you in the fall!

Tom Parrish Executive Director 2

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FROM THE ARTHUR P. SOLOMON AND SALLY E. LAPIDES ARTISTIC DIRECTOR AS THE WEATHER WARMS and the days brighten, we have begun to look forward here at Trinity Repertory Company. We have begun plans for shows, with actors on stages in our building, yes! All of the things we love doing, and most of all, things we love doing with you.

I hadn’t truly realized how much I missed live performance until one night last month. Students at the Brown/Trinity Rep MFA programs were doing a couple of projects, and faculty and other students were invited to watch. Everything was performed on open stages, with no scenery, very limited costumes, and the most basic lighting. All of the performers remained masked and socially distanced, those of us in the audience remained masked and distanced, and there were more people on the production team than there were in the audience.

I watched these brilliant, simple shows, with so many impossible limitations, and yet, I left the theater feeling… cleansed. Rejuvenated. Joyous. I had missed live story telling at a cellular level. And the effect lasted for days.

I know how fortunate I was to see these performances. I know that many of you reading this miss the theater with a similar level of urgency. In planning the season that we are announcing in this issue of the magazine, we asked ourselves: What do people need to see right now? As we return to public gathering, what stories will resonate and ring inside people and give them that same energy that I felt that night?

Once again, the students at the Brown/Trinity Rep program had the wisdom of their youth to help me think about the answers to those questions.

One of them said, “I think people are going to want to see PLAY plays; really rich structurally and in their language, really deep in their exploration of the human condition.” Got it, that sounds right. Another said, “People are going to want to see spectacular things, not in the Hollywood movie sense of spectacular, they’re tired of that. They will want to experience theatrical spectacle, things that can only happen to them live, in the theater.” Check, I can make that happen. A third said, “Audiences will want to see things that are really related to our moment, to our now, while also making ties to our turbulent history.” Yes, absolutely. We need that, too.

So we set out to make ALL of that happen. Easy, right? I am thrilled to report that the season we have chosen does ring all of those important bells.

We want to make your experience of coming back to the Lederer Theater Center for the first time in over a year that exciting! We have begun the project of putting just such a season onto our stages. You can read more about the lineup on page 6.

Trinity Repertory Company, at its finest, has always done the kind of theater that those students so passionately described. Now, more than ever, we need to make this kind of vital, urgent, and engaged work happen every time you walk through our doors. And we will in the season ahead, with you. It has been far, far too long since we’ve been in the same room together. I cannot wait to see you, each and every one of you, at the theater.

­Curt Columbus The Arthur P. Solomon and Sally E. Lapides Artistic Director

In Case You Missed It Two free online series debuted this winter, providing audiences with access to fascinating conversation and inside access America Too: Reckoning and Resilience, a c o -pro duc tion with Providence Public Library, marked the sixth year of the America Too initiative.

The five-part online series launched in January with stories and performances from our community and catalyzed community dialogue around the many challenges and potential opportunities of this time in history. Episodes about the origins of the project, education, activism, healthcare, and military service confronted the aftermath of a polarizing election season, observed the year’s anniversary of the arrival of the pandemic in Rhode Island, and reckoned with the structural racism and anti-Black violence that continues to rock our communities. The project culminates with a free, live, in-person event on Thursday, June 17, 2021 at 7:30 pm. The event will be held outdoors in Adrian Hall Way, adjacent to the theater on Washington St. Health and safety protocols including mask wearing and social distancing will be enforced.

Registration for the June 17 event and recordings of all online episodes are available at trinityrep.com/americatoo2021.

The Writer’s Room opened up the playwright’s process and introduced audienc es to four new plays, each at a different stage of their development through scene readings and c onver s ation with the creative team.

We got glimpses into Deborah Salem Smith’s new play, Anna K., a dynamic re-imagining of To ls toy ’s Anna Karenina. Next we got a look at La Mancha, an English/Spanish bilingual adaptation of Don Quixote created by director Marcel Mascaro and the cast. This brisk new version of Miguel de Cervantes’ classic novel will be produced as part of Teatro en El Verano this summer. Read more about it on page 5. Audiences next got a rare, early look at Wrap Our Injured Flesh Around You, a touching new play by James Ijames, a Philadelphia-based actor, director, educator, and playwright who joined Trinity Rep’s commissioned playwrights program in early 2020.

A special episode of The Writer’s Room in May featured four short plays by the winners of our Write Here! Write Now! high school student playwrighting competition. You can read more about the student writers and their plays on page 14. The final episode of The Writer’s Room will air on June 8 at 7:30 pm ET. Orlando Hernández will give viewers an early look at his adaptation for the stage of Marta Martínez’s oral history project about Rhode Island’s vibrant Latino community. More information is available at trinityrep.com/ newplays.

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THE TRINITY SQUARE • SPRING 2021

Coming Soon!

Summer Youth Programs

Teatro en El Verano— La Mancha

This summer, Trinity Rep and Rhode Island Latino Arts (RILA) celebrate the fifth year of Teatro en El Verano, which produces free, family-friendly, EnglishSpanish bilingual productions in Rhode Island parks and community centers. This year’s production marks the premiere of a brand new adaptation of Don Quixote, entitled La Mancha, created specifically with this program in mind.

Get to know this timeless Spanishlanguage classic, and first modern novel in European history, in a new way with this free, hour-long, family-friendly bilingual production. Don Quixote is obsessed with the ideas he encounters in books about knights and chivalry, so he sets out on his own adventure with his trusty companion, Sancho Panza. Our hero demonstrates the human capacity to recreate worlds in our own image, while chasing giants that only he can see, and falling into the space between perception and reality. For the full schedule of free performances, visit www.rilatinoarts.org.

Limited space remains in our summer programs for kids in grades K-12+. Our combination of online and in-person week-long programs have already generated considerable interest and excitement from kids looking to build their skills, flex their creative muscles, and make new friends. Classes are open to everyone, regardless of previous experience, ability, or financial status. Online classes are subject-based and provide focused experiences in areas like directing, improv, storytelling, and more! In-person camps provide opportunities for kids to perform and explore their creativity. Details and registration are available at trinityrep.com/summer.

PICTURED ABOVE: ORLANDO HERNÁNDEZ, ART BY JESSICA THOMAS

Thank you for helping us ensure that no one in Rhode Island goes hungry. rifoodbank.org

401-942-6325 THE TRINITY SQUARE • SPRING 2021

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Coming Back from a Pandemic—

YOUR

2021-22 TRINITY REP SEASON

“Coming back from a pandemic.”

It’s the conversation that is happening everywhere. Schools, restaurants, offices, and of course, theaters. At Trinity Rep, we are excited to return to in-person performances for our 2021-22 Season. We are remaining nimble and learning as we go, leaning on scientists, experts, and colleagues from all over the world when making decisions about how and when to re-open safely. You will be hearing more specific logistics of our re-opening plans later this year. But when it came to making the artistic decisions about which shows would welcome patrons back to their theater, we relied on different resources.

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THE TRINITY SQUARE • SPRING 2021

In some respects, the season selection process didn’t look all that different from a typical year: ongoing conversations with staff, artists, and community members, and a lot of script reading. Normally, this process starts in earnest in the fall. Tall stacks get narrowed down to a short list, which is further refined to a draft season lineup in December. As a matter of course, titles are switched out as we progress through scheduling and budgeting until we land on the season that gets announced to you in the spring.

This year, however, we needed a modified timeline.

Even before the season planning and budgeting process would normally have begun late last fall, we knew that we would not be able to stick to our typical schedule. At that point, no vaccines had been authorized for use in the United States, and we were experiencing a sharp rise in COVID cases.

We didn’t have nearly enough information to imagine what reopening could look like and when it might happen. We eyed a two-month delay to our process and hoped that would be enough. Indeed, with a little more time, vaccines were authorized and had started being distributed throughout the country. We were able to more confidently plan a return to in-person performances and planned our announcement for May instead of March.

This two-month delay didn’t automatically mean a belated start to the 2021-22 Season. Granted, there are months of prep work that happen before rehearsals even begin, but there was still enough time to assemble a creative team and begin the design process for a fall start. Even if the stage could be ready in September, would our staff, artists, and community be ready to return? Perhaps, but the safer bet seemed to be adding one final delay. We arrived at a plan that feels realistic and safe: a production of A Christmas Carol in November and December that can be viewed in-person or remotely over the internet, followed by an in-person four-play subscription season beginning in January.

A Christmas Carol performances will begin on November 4 and run through January 2. This year, Joe Wilson, Jr. will direct our annual re-imagining of the Charles Dickens holiday classic in ways that evoke the heartwarming magic of the season and the relevance of Scrooge’s journey to our contemporary lives. We couldn’t imagine a better way to celebrate being back in the theater together again than this joyous celebration of life.

In the new year, we will launch a four-play subscription season that runs from January 13 through June 19. We considered orchestrating a schedule that would fit a full six-show season into the winter and spring, but it quickly became clear that while technically possible, the result would have an inhumane impact on our staff and artists.

In order to determine which four titles would be slated for production, the script reading and conversations continued.

The initial list of potential plays was long: shows planned for 2020 and 2021 that were never produced, recommendations from trusted collaborators, new plays emerging from the development process, and the ever-present list of plays we love, but haven’t produced yet. As the artistic team set to winnowing the list down, there was a lot to think about. They considered

what kind of stories would be the most critical to share nearly two years after the pandemic forced a pause in performances.

We needed plays that would speak to people starved of interactions outside their homes; theatrical experiences that would remind audiences what live theater can do that Netflix cannot; and projects that would continue to fulfill the commitment we made to be an actively anti-racist organization. (You can read about conversations Curt Columbus had with MFA students and how they impacted his decisions on page 2.)

The four plays we selected excite us as art-makers, story-tellers, and community-builders, and we think you will agree. They embody both the intimacy and the spectacle that exist only in the theater. They will inspire us to think differently about our world and our place in it. These are plays that allow us to celebrate our shared humanity, and also shine a light on experiences and worlds different from ours.

And what’s more, we will do all of these things together.

Our heartbeats will synchronize as we gasp in surprise, erupt in laughter, or get drawn into quiet, heartrending moments.

We will rediscover the magic of the communal experience that is live theater. In short, when the theater is live again, we will all get to live again.

We are bursting with anticipation to share these experiences and stories with you. We promise it will be worth the wait.

Tiny Beautiful Things

First up is Tiny Beautiful Things in the Dowling Theater January 13 – February 13, 2022. This touching play is based on the best-selling book Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar, written by Cheryl Strayed about her experience as the advice columnist “Sugar.” Strayed’s book was adapted for the stage by Nia Vardalos, the writer and star of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, who also starred in the original production, which premiered in 2016. Curt Columbus will direct our production.

A celebration of the simple beauty of being human, this funny, deeply touching, and uplifting play is an exploration of resilience. Over the years, thousands of people turned to “Sugar” for words of wisdom, compassion, and hope. Reluctant to claim that she has all the answers, Sugar looks to her own past and draws on her life experiences to bring light, laughter, and humanity to others.

Gem of the Ocean

We then move upstairs to the Chace Theater for August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean, which runs February 24 through March 27, 2022. Gem of the Ocean is part of Wilson’s American Century Cycle, a collection of ten plays chronicling African American experiences, each set in a different decade of the twentieth century. Other plays in the Cycle include Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Fences, and Radio Golf, which Trinity Rep produced in early 2020, just before the pause of all in-person performances.

While nine of the ten plays in the Cycle are set in Pittsburgh’s Hill District and many include the same characters at different ages, Gem of the Ocean and Radio Golf are perhaps most closely connected, even though they are chronologically the most separate, with Gem set in the 1900s and Radio Golf in the 1990s. Characters in Radio Golf are the descendants of those in Gem of the Ocean and are directly impacted by the actions taken by their ancestors in the earlier play. Because of the connection between the two, a reading of Radio Golf will

be offered during the run of Gem of the Ocean. Jude Sandy, who directed Radio Golf will return to lead the creative team of Gem of the Ocean.

Gem of the Ocean is a soaring, spiritual, and mystical tale of a man desperate for redemption. Aunt Ester, a 285-year-old “soul cleanser,” sends him on a spiritual journey that dissects the nature of freedom amidst oppression and spurs him to take up the mantle of justice.

Sueño

From April 7 through May 8, 2022, we return to the Dowling Theater for Sueño, an adaptation by José Rivera of the Spanish Golden Age classic Life Is a Dream by Pedro Calderón de la Barca. Director Tatyana-Marie Carlo will place this larger-than-life story in the frame of a telenovela.

Years after a Spanish prince is imprisoned at birth based on astrological predictions, the young man is released to test the prophesies. His reaction could either gain him the throne or banish him to confinement once more, and cause him to question what is reality and what is a dream. Rivera’s masterful take on the original provides sparkling moments of poetry and comedy, interspersed with thought-provoking commentary.

Fairview

The season closes in the Chace Theater with a May 19 through June 19 run of Fairview, written by Jackie Sibblies Drury. This revolutionary play and recipient of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize begins as a straight-forward family comedy but takes an unexpected turn that stunned and impressed audiences and critics alike when it premiered in New York in 2018. It also won Sibblies Drury the 2019 Steinberg Playwrights Award and Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. The playwright is a graduate of the Brown University MFA program in playwriting and is currently under commission by Trinity Rep. This stunning production will be directed by Jude Sandy.

The play begins simply: It’s Grandma’s birthday, and Beverly needs the family’s celebration to be perfect. But her husband is no help, her sister is getting into the wine, her brother hasn’t arrived, and her teenage daughter’s secrets threaten to derail the day. Then this family comedy takes a surprising turn, becoming an unpredictable and thrillingly theatrical experience that boldly confronts perceptions of race and identity.

The directors and artistic staff for all five shows are assembling design teams and casts, all eager to resume the hard and meaningful work of producing live theater again.

When the house lights go down and the stage lights come up on performances again, we hope to have you here with us again.

SUBSCRIPTIONS AND TICKETS Subscriptions are available now for the 2021-22 Season and single-show tickets for all shows will be available this fall.

Subscriptions start at just $80 for all four shows and include discounts between 25% and 33%, so you’ll get four shows for the price of three. Subscribers get the security of knowing that they have four guaranteed dates on the calendar for a night out, but the flexibility of being able to change those dates.

When you add in discounts on parking and local restaurants, payment plans, early discounted access to A Christmas Carol, subscriptions are a hard deal to say no to.

You can learn more about the season and how to be a part of it at trinityrep.com or by calling (401) 351-4242.

Soon the scene and costume shops in the Lederer Theater Center will be abuzz with the sound of artists preparing for the coming season.

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Brown/Trinity Rep Grads

Pivot During Pandemic

“P

by Emily Atkinson

ivoting” has taken on new resonance in the time of the pandemic. Theater artists, deprived of in-person audiences and collaborators, are finding new methods and media. Alumni of the Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Programs in Acting and Directing are ranging freely over the digital landscape, forming collectives, and putting down deeper roots at home.

RICK DILDINE

FLORDELINO LAGUNDINO

PETER MARK KENDALL

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THE TRINITY SQUARE • SPRING 2021

Rick Dildine ’06 has been Artistic Director of Alabama Shakespeare Festival (ASF) since 2017. Nine years younger than Trinity Rep, ASF has produced nearly 500 plays and musicals and developed over 100 new scripts through its Southern Writers Festival. The pandemic spurred Rick to strengthen ASF’s bond with Montgomery, formalizing a resident company. “This year has only strengthened my belief that a thriving community needs storytellers at its center,” he says. “Our country is one of great divides, none bigger than the one between rural and urban people. We can only hope to bridge this divide through understanding our fellow citizens.

For me, this begins with theatrical storytelling and building a company of artists who can respond to the community.”

Rick is building a collective of artists whose strengths include acting, directing, playwriting, filmmaking, and textual adaptation. “They appreciate small-town community,” he says, “and are dedicated to strengthening that fabric. They’ve committed to making Montgomery their home, building community with the people of the River Region. We’re cultivating a theater of the South, by the South, and for the South.”

Rick experienced such a connection between audience and acting company during his student years in Providence.

Moreover, he credits Brown/Trinity Rep (B/T) for nurturing an expansive vision. “The training at B/T instilled that sense of company and relentless collaboration across all boundaries, real and imagined,” he reflects. “We were artists first, no matter our classification as actor, director, playwright. The holistic training gave us the tools to be responsible artists who create opportunities; we don’t have to wait for someone to do it for us, or to give us permission.”

Leading a much younger theater company, in a much colder climate, Flordelino Lagundino ’15 serves a hyper-local mission, too. He founded Theater Alaska (TA) in July 2020, inspired to share inclusive stories in our largest state. “I’ve become more intentional about why I’m creating work,” he says, “and doing it in spaces which belong to underserved communities. This arose from the pandemic, but even more in response to George Floyd’s brutal murder by a police officer.

I was in Saint Paul at the time, and I asked myself: what I am doing to combat systemic racism? As a start, I’m doubling down on representation and sharing stories from people not often seen on stage.”

Flordelino felt this spark as a B/T student, performing

Shakespeare in high schools, community centers, and at WaterFire. This led him to Minnesota’s Ten Thousand Things and California’s Globe for All at the Old Globe, which brings theater to homeless shelters, community centers, assisted living facilities, and prisons. “This is the work that we do at TA,” he says. “TA wouldn’t exist without B/T.” TA is performing Shakespeare Under the Sky and Neighborhood Cabaret outdoors in May. Another TA program, Alaska Writers Workshop (AWW) helps a cohort of Alaskan writers to develop their voice through writing for performance. Regular Zoom gatherings provide feedback from peers and professionals, including several B/T alumni. Early-stage writers work with director Heidi Handelsman ‘14. Six others, well along with full-length plays, work with playwright Julia Izumi ’19 and directors based in Alaska, Los Angeles, San Diego, New Haven, and Providence, including Addie Gorlin ‘19, Tatyana-Marie Carlo ‘20, Heidi, and Flordelino. To bring the work to life, Flordelino sought out B/T actors; Angela Brazil, director of B/T’s MFA programs, was happy to connect third-year students with the Alaskans. “Our writers remarked how, with minimal time and rehearsal, the B/T actors lifted the language off the page, creating full characters with clear arcs, intentions, and vulnerability,” he reports, “and gave feedback that is shaping the direction of their plays.”

Even as pandemic restrictions ease, AWW will continue to collaborate with artists nationwide on Zoom. “Alaska can feel very isolating,” Flordelino says. “There’s no land access to the state capital of Juneau, where I live; we can only get in and out by plane or by boat. It can take days to get from one town to the next. AWW is bringing the world to Alaska.”

In addition to inspiration and a powerful network, Flordelino draws strength from his Brown/Trinity Rep foundation, saying, “Brian McEleney and Thom Jones taught me stand behind your words. If I can do that simple thing, I’m heading in the right direction.”

Peter Mark Kendall ’13’s creative impulse was also spurred by both the pandemic and the national reckoning with systemic racism. Peter co-created the digital series Lessons in Survival, named among the Best Theater of 2020 by The New York Times. Produced and streamed by The Vineyard Theater, episodes recreate historic interviews and speeches by trailblazing Black artists and activists that resonate powerfully today. The Commissary ensemble actors use in-ear feeds to speak verbatim the words of James Baldwin, Lorraine Hansberry, Maya Angelou, and others.

During the first months of 2020, Peter was meeting regularly to read plays with other New York actors, hosted

by Marin Ireland (a 2019 castmate from Blue Ridge at The Atlantic, directed by Taibi Magar ’15). In March, the gatherings shifted to Zoom. After George Floyd’s murder, Kyle Beltran proposed reading a 1971 interview with James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni. Marin suggested the in-ear technique she’d learned with the Wooster Group, with electrifying results.

The Vineyard Theater signed on for eight episodes and The Commissary expanded to 40 — including Josiah Davis ’20, Ricardy Fabre ’20, Kalyne Coleman ’20, and often, Whitney White ’15 — who followed their curiosity to “create our own curriculum” as Marin put it, crowdsourcing more than 50 pieces. Peter found a new role as producer and facilitator.

“I felt I could contribute most by collecting, preparing, and sharing the primary source material, as episodes took shape.

I was intentional about making space for others to make art, and to have meaningful, dangerous conversations.”

Intrigued, critics tried to define Lessons in Survival.

Jesse Green wrote in the New York Times, “James Baldwin (portrayed by Nana Mensah) talking about Ray Charles with Nikki Giovanni (Kyle Beltran) is not just an education in the politics of culture, it’s also a priceless fly-on-thewall experience.” Another Times writer called it “part consciousness-raising, part history lesson and, for the actors, part white-knuckle ride, thanks to the unusual tool they are charged with using.” Peter and his colleagues describe the relationship between actor and “character” as channeling, reenacting, embodying, playing, stepping into their mindset.

Avoiding commenting through performance, they say the words as directly as possible, juggling as many as four voices in their ears as they echoed their character, a few seconds behind. “It never gets easier,” Peter confides. “The mental gymnastics are terrifying and exhilarating at the same time.

You have to just give in to it and stop thinking, staying present with your scene partner, with your primary sources in your ear, balancing two conversations in two time periods. Once you hit a groove, it’s a lesson in acting and just responding.

Someone called it ‘circular listening.’”

Speaking on the one-year anniversary of the shutdown — while shooting a TV crime procedural in Canada — Peter is grateful for the experience of building an artistic family, during those isolating months. “When George Floyd was murdered, this community was the perfect place to process that horrific event, and what followed, shifting our focus from plays to social and racial justice,” Peter says. “We were lifted up by these brilliant, radical thinkers and artists who had come before us.” He points out a parallel: “So many of the people we read were friends, mentors, collaborators — like Baldwin and Hansberry — in a community of artists and activists and organizers. In some small way, we recreated that multi-generational experience in The Commissary, from Peter Gerety, Dan Butler, Joe Morton, and Bill Irwin to actors fresh out of graduate school. One of the silver linings of this horrible year was that so many people were able to take part.

It’s the best part of doing theater, the connection and the camaraderie that we’ve all been so desperate for, this year.

It’s been a lifesaver.”

When theater work dried up, Olivia Miller ‘19 and Anita Castillo-Halvorssen ’19 turned their shared love for improv into a web series. Call From… is a nine-part series (with music by Hannah Van Sciver ’21) that reimagines classic characters in a 21st-century digital landscape. Each five-to-seven-minute episode is a Zoom call, in which Lady M. and her husband, Ernest and Cecily, Blanche and Stella, Gogo and Didi navigate their theatrical predicaments virtually.

Spoiler: Romeo still doesn’t get Friar Laurence’s message about Juliet. Hilarity ensues.

When the pandemic struck, Olivia had just learned that her solo show (written as a Brown/Trinity Rep student) had been accepted into the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. “I was packing my bags to go back to Providence for Sweeney Todd,” she laments. “I was so excited about working with everyone at Trinity Rep again! It’s a drop in the bucket of a year of cancellations and virtual work.” Anita was about to begin a classical comedy with Red Bull Theater at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. “We did it virtually, six months later,” she sighs.

Call From… was inspired by Zoom fatigue. “A month

into the shutdown, we were all doing online auditions,” Olivia recalls. “I was craving acting with another person, after recording so many self-tape monologues and songs.”

Wouldn’t this be a funny bit, she thought: doing a scene on Zoom, but you couldn’t hear your scene partner? “Anita and I had worked so well together at B/T. She was just the person to help me feel that creative energy I missed!” Sharing writing, acting, producing, editing, Olivia and Anita set out to unleash the spontaneity, collaboration, and joy of live theater in a virtual world. Call From… spoofs the Zoom experience: unstable connections, senior citizen Zoom novices, delayed and cancelled meetings are all fair game. A twin goal was “to take the traditional theatrical canon — primarily white, male and dead — and rip it to comedic shreds.”

Anita traces the Call From… “origin story” back to scene study at Brown/Trinity Rep. “Olivia and I worked our way through Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead,” she recalls.

“We had this real ping! of connection with existentialism, clowning and ‘yes, and-ing’ in a way that focused all our training… we did almost half the play! We got to play with ‘yes, and’ again, developing the episodes through improv over Zoom.”

“A handful of jokes would emerge in rehearsal,” Olivia says, “and we knew the beats we wanted to hit, storyboarding the episode.” They shot on Zoom, with a secondary camera for another angle. “Four takes, every time,” Anita laughs, “we were strangely consistent! I studied film in college, and it was incredible to return to this medium.” The exception to remote filming came with the final scene of Call From: Godot, when Didi and Gogo meet on a rooftop. “We hadn’t seen each other till we filmed that scene in July,” Olivia recalls. “It was really emotional, so charged! There’s a shot where we hold hands.

Anita was the first person I touched, who didn’t live with me.”

They edited the three episodes of Call from: Godot into a short film this winter, and it won Best of the Fest, Best Short Film, and Best Screenplay at Manhattan Repertory Theatre’s

ANITA CASTILLOHALVORSSEN

OLIVIA MILLER

Stories Film Festival, and screened in New Ohio Theatre’s NYC Indie Theatre Film Festival and Irondale Ensemble Project’s On Women Festival. “I’m comfortable working in film, now,” Olivia says. Their success is due, in part, to what they learned at B/T, Anita believes. “When we ran into something we thought we couldn’t do, we’d connect with the people we know, and learn how.” Olivia agrees: “At Brown/Trinity Rep, you cultivate the mindset to do it yourself: find the people you need, and make something happen.”

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Diversity, Equity, Inclusion — the Work Is Ongoing We are approaching one year since the murder of George Floyd and the beginning of the nationwide reckoning with systemic racism that it inspired.

Among the results of this reckoning was the formation of We See You White American Theatre (WSYWAT), a collective of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) theater artists who called upon the county’s predominantly white theater organizations to make substantial changes to practices that have and continue to cause harm to BIPOC artists, audiences, and communities while supporting systemic racism.

Though Trinity Rep had begun doing work in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in 2016, we listened to what WSYWAT and, more importantly, what our own BIPOC artists detailed in a letter to Trinity Rep and its leadership, about the harm we have caused, the harm we continue to perpetuate, and the many ways in which anti-racism and DEI have not been integrated into the artistic and financial life of Trinity Rep. Consequently, Trinity Rep then started on a journey to become actively antiracist, and we want to inform the community of the steps we have taken toward creating an anti-racist culture, with the understanding that these steps, which lead to some measurable goals, are and should always be, in progress.

Last fall, per the request of our BIPOC artists, we hired consultants to provide guidance and training. We have been honored to work with Sylvia Spears, Kelvin Dinkins, CORAJUS, and Equity Institute throughout the past nine months and have benefited immensely from their expertise. We also convened two teams of staff, artists, board members, and community members to lead us on this journey, one core working group (which meets weekly) and one larger advisory group (which meets monthly).

Our consultants have provided a series of trainings to our staff and board of trustees, including bystander training for all staff and acting company members, anti-bias training for hiring managers, and scaffolding change for board and senior management. The teams from CORAJUS and Equity Institute also conducted a comprehensive audit of our current and past practices through interviews, staff surveys, and a review of data and materials. Following the collection and analysis of this data, in partnership with the internal working groups, they are developing a three-year DEI-informed strategic plan that will be presented to the board of trustees for review and approval at their annual meeting in June.

In addition to participating in trainings, the entire staff has also been actively working to review how their individual departments can contribute to becoming a more equitable organization. To produce theater in a more humane way, the production departments have changed the rehearsal and performance schedule for next season to institute five-day work weeks, replacing the industry-standard six-day weeks. We also eliminated the “10 out of 12” days of the technical rehearsal process, which call for actors, designers, and crew to work 10 hours in a 12-hour window. The production 10

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schedule also eliminated overlapping shows, when both theaters have plays on stage at the same time.

Changes like these improve working conditions and work-life balance for all staff and artists and were explicitly included by BIPOC artists in their demands. Other changes, like training for the costume department on Black hair and make-up will specifically help us to better support BIPOC actors.

Other departments are also working through what they can do to contribute. For example, the development staff has been evaluating what changes it will make to its methodologies and donor benefits, and the marketing team will be making changes to where advertising is placed and considering all promotional language through the eyes of the BIPOC artists involved. Meanwhile, our education staff is replacing some of the texts used in their classes to be more inclusive, and our community engagement department continues to find opportunities to elevate voices and perspectives not always at the forefront of conversations. A new senior management position, the Director of Service and Experience, was created to de-centralize the transactional relationship between the theater and its patrons and place more focus on the theater experience and relationships. In addition, salaries across the organization have been increased to meet the national medians for the theater industry and to increase pay transparency and equity within the organization.

The changes most visible to the general public, however, are being made by the artistic department in the choice of plays we produce and the artists who will be hired to produce these plays. The 2021-22 Season announced on page 6, was chosen to give more BIPOC playwrights, directors, designers, and artists a creative voice within our community, a decision that will extend into every season to come at Trinity Rep. Our work in DEI and anti-racism is also seen in our new green initiatives, since climate change disproportionately affects low income and marginalized communities. As a start, we have committed to increasing our recycling efforts, using paper in our printed pieces that contain more recycled (post-consumer waste) material; making play programs available in digital form; generally reducing the amount of paper used to communicate with patrons, including encouraging the use of digital tickets; reducing the amount of plastic in our concession offerings; partnering with other arts organizations to share used or discarded set materials; and increasing our use of LED lights in our buildings and onstage.

The enthusiasm for this work throughout the organization, from the staff and artists to the board, has given us great optimism for the future. Though significant steps have been taken in the past year, the commitment to making Trinity Rep an anti-racist organization with DEI as a guiding principle is an ongoing process. Next season’s budget includes dedicated resources for this work, including continued training, the establishment of affinity groups, and a new staff position dedicated to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Another aspect of our commitment is transparency ­— letting our community know what we’re doing and inviting your feedback. So far, we have found that collaborative and non-hierarchical work may take longer, but it yields results that are more robust, inclusive of different perspectives, and ultimately more successful and more readily embraced by everyone.

We invite you to submit your feedback or questions about this work at trinityrep.com/antiracism, where you can also learn more about our commitment. Submissions can be sent anonymously, though contact information is needed for anyone looking for a direct reply.

We have a long way to go. Thank you for being part of this journey with us and for holding us accountable.

COMMUNITY PARTNER SPOTLIGHT

by Bradly Widener

DARE F PIC TURED ABOVE: DARE’s m a rc h to t h e B a r b a ra Jordan II homes in South Providence to demand they remain affordable to very low-income families. BELOW: A scene from America Too 2018: Providence’s Housing Crisis in Trinity Rep’s Dowling Theater.

ounded in 1986, DARE (Direct Action for Rights and Equality) began as a group of Providence Southside residents gathered around a kitchen table to solve problems in their neighborhood.

Today, DARE continues to champion social, political, and economic justice by organizing low-income families in communities of color. Part of their groundbreaking work included partnering with Trinity Rep in 2018 to explore how to use art to shine a light on housing insecurity in Providence.

“A group called DARE saw the good work that we had been doing…and they asked how they could help us engage the community as activists with our art making,” recounts Joe Wilson, Jr., a resident acting company member at Trinity Rep and founder of America Too, an initiative that utilizes the performing arts to reflect on the times in which we live and catalyze community conversation. “So, we had a series of conversations with DARE, and they educated us about gentrification and affordable housing and the complexities around that. In many ways, artists are often viewed as ‘gentrifiers’ – going into neighborhoods that had been in existence for a long time and ‘rejuvenating’ them, which often times, leaves behind the people who had been there for generations.

After discussing with DARE for a long time, we decided to make America Too…about the housing crisis in Providence.

We identified playwrights who had been in conversation with DARE and their members and asked them to write short plays around the topic of housing instability. Over the course of four workshops and several conversations, these plays [became] the focus of America Too 2018: Providence Housing Crisis.”

The culminating event of America Too each year is a free-to-attend, staged reading of locally written plays that illuminate the topic, followed by a robust audience discussion.

America Too 2018: Providence Housing Crisis indeed opened folks’ eyes to the deep-seated inequities that exist in the local housing market. Three years later, DARE is still fighting for housing equality in light of loopholes that allow landlords to evict tenants in the midst of the pandemic.

DARE’s efforts extend much further than just housing equality, however. Over the years, DARE has focused resources on issues ranging from protecting and improving playgrounds on the Southside to winning passage of the Providence External Review Authority (PERA) which established a civilian review of the Providence Police. In July 2020, DARE won passage of a law that removes barriers to accessing over one hundred professional licenses, such as those for plumbers, drivers, and barbers, for applicants with criminal records. DARE uses “four interconnected strategies to build power, win campaigns and fuel a lasting movement for social change.” These strategies, “base building,” “direct action organizing,” “leadership development,” and “movement building,” have empowered DARE to achieve numerous successes since their founding. We all know the phrase, “actions speak louder than words.” Well, it’s abundantly clear from their actions that DARE is deeply committed to making a real difference in the lives of so many disenfranchised local residents, and indeed, DARE has made Providence and Rhode Island a much better place for it.

We applaud DARE’s incredible tenacity and accomplishments and look forward to strengthening our partnership to further shed light on systemic issues that affect our local community.

More information about DARE can be found at www. daretowin.org or on Facebook @daretowinri, Twitter @ renterpowerpvd, and Instagram @dare.pvd.

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••• APPLY ONLINE •••

OceanStateMontessori.org EAST PROVIDENCE, RI•(401) 434-6913

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433 Main St. Wakefield, RI 401.783.1030 | dbcri.com RI GC 29141 / CT HIC.0660676 / MA 201341

A Legacy of Resilience LEGACY IN ACTION If you’ve wondered how your planned gift would impact Trinity Rep, the past year was a powerful example. When our season suddenly shuttered from the onset of the pandemic, disbursements from our endowment, funded largely by planned gifts, helped keep Trinity on firm financial footing.

According to Executive Director Tom Parrish, “The foresight of the generous donors who made planned gifts to Trinity Rep allowed us to commit to paying artists and keeping staff employed for as long as possible at the onset of the pandemic. They ensured that our educational programs could successfully navigate the transition to virtual learning.

They gave us the flexibility to create online content, including our production of A Christmas Carol Online. In the midst of unprecedented disruption, the legacy of past supporters allowed certainty.”

Those who made planned gifts to Trinity Rep could not have anticipated a pandemic, but they could anticipate that their gifts would help Trinity Rep thrive, no matter the obstacle. Their legacy is safeguarding the unparalleled artistic productions, uplifting community engagement initiatives, and vital educational activities that form the core of our mission and values.

As Suzanne Magaziner, past board chair and legacy donor, put it, “Trinity Rep holds a special place in our hearts. Our family has enjoyed seeing world-class artists grow and develop onstage and strengthen our community for many years. With our planned gift, we can ensure that future generations will benefit from all that makes Trinity Rep special.”

Supporting Trinity Rep in this way can be as simple as leaving a bequest in your will or designating Trinity Rep as a beneficiary of a life insurance policy. Other options are available as well, such as establishing a trust or chartering a named fund within our endowment. To discuss how you can start your Trinity Rep legacy today, please contact Jen Canole at jcanole@trinityrep.com or (401) 453-9234. More information is also available at www.trinityrep.com/legacy.

BY THE NUMBERS Trinity Repertory Company’s endowment funds are growing steadily. As of December 31, 2020, the Fund for Trinity Repertory Company (the theater’s general endowment fund) and its accompanied named funds totaled $3,967,129. In May 2020, endowment earnings contributed $137,773 to the FY20 Trinity Rep budget.

Trinity Rep’s endowment funds are carefully managed

by The Rhode Island Foundation. The Rhode Island Foundation’s total endowment is invested across a diverse set of asset classes, including U.S. and international equities, flexible capital, private equity, real estate, and natural resources. Through December 31, 2020, the endowment had an annual return of 12.3% and an annualized return of 10.2% over the past five years, 8.2% over ten years, and 7.0% over twenty years. The Rhode Island Foundation’s investment committee manages the endowment’s investments

with the support of an outside investment adviser and the Foundation’s CFO. SUPPORTING ARTISTS When Bill and Mindie Black’s brother Robert Clayton Black — who spent 14 years performing at Trinity Rep — passed away, they knew that the best way to honor their brother was to invest in the careers of young actors at Trinity Rep. “What better way to pay homage to my brother Bob’s life as a multi-talented actor and musician that blossomed in the dazzling creativity at Trinity Rep than to establish a memorial Fellowship?,” said Bill. “This Fellowship annually supports new and rising young actors who burn with that same desire and need that Bob had to become a consummate actor/artist.

The Robert Clayton Black Memorial Fellowship honors not only Bob Black’s legacy, but also that of Trinity Rep, a legacy that is renewed every stirring season.”

The Robert Clayton Black Memorial Fellowship Fund was created to support the salary of a young actor employed in regular season, mainstage productions at Trinity Rep. Bob Black acted at Trinity Rep in over 30 productions from 1969-83, including leading roles in the critically acclaimed PBS productions Brother to Dragons and Feasting with Panthers before working in film, television, and radio in New York and Los Angeles. His media work included featured roles with As The World Turns, Another World, Guiding Light, Loving, General Hospital, and several public television productions. He was also a talented musician and writer.

The Robert Clayton Black Memorial Fellowship Fund and three others — The Kavanaugh Fund, Barbara Meek Memorial Fund, and the Margo Skinner Memorial Fellowship Fund — provide ongoing support for actor salaries, ensuring extraordinary professional experiences for developing artists, a vibrant memorial for the actors so honored, and a powerful legacy for all fund donors. To learn how you can help grow these opportunities for the talented storytellers of Trinity Rep, contact Jen Canole at jcanole@trinityrep.com or (401) 453-9234.

NAMED FUNDS WITHIN TRINITY REP’S ENDOWMENT Victoria Irene Ball Fund for Theater Education; Robert Clayton Black Memorial Fellowship Fund; Buff & Johnnie Chace Fund; Richard Cumming Endowment Fund for Musical Programming at Trinity Rep; Doris Duke Endowment Fund; Oskar Eustis Fund for New Play Development; Michael and Donna Lee Gennaro Fund; Ed Hall Memorial Fund; Stephen Hamblett Memorial Fund; John and Yvette Harpootian Fund; Richard Kavanaugh Memorial Fund; Barbara Meek Memorial Fund; Heidi Keller Moon Fund for Project Discovery; Claiborne and Nuala Pell Fund for Arts Education; Project Discovery Endowment Fund; Elaine Rakatansky Memorial Fund; Margo Skinner Memorial Fellowship Fund; Tilles Family Fund

STANZLER SOCIETY (as of Jan. 2021)

Anonymous Mr. Paul Alexander Dr. and Mrs. Reid Appleby, Jr. The Estate of Victoria I. Ball Victor and Gussie Baxt Thomas and Linda Beall The Estate of Anna H. Blankstein Luz Bravo-Gleicher and David Gleicher Mr. Paul M. Brooks Dennis and Adrianne Cady Malcolm and Elizabeth Chace Mr. and Mrs. Paul J. Choquette, Jr. Linda and Steven Cohen Curt Columbus and Nathan Watson Loring and Louise Conant Rev. Thomas F. Conboy and Mrs. Lois Conboy Anne and Sean Connor The Estate of W. Scott Corbett The Estate of Richard Cumming Joseph L. Dowling, Jr., M.D. and Sarah T. Dowling, Esq. The Estate of Ms. Jewel Drickamer The Estate of Miss Edith C. Erlenmeyer Mrs. Merriel A. Gillan Gail A. Ginnetty The Estate of Rosa Goddard Sidney & Alice Goldstein Rabbi Leslie Y. Gutterman and Ms. Janet H. Englehart Maureen and Roger Johanson Dr. Louis Hafken and Ms. Lee Ann Johnston Howard and Myrna Hall Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Hamblett Barry G. Hittner, Esq. and Kathleen Hittner Betty Ann Hughson Simone P. Joyaux and Tom Ahern Herbert E. Kaplan and Christine Townsend Lisa Kogut Ms. Sally E. Lapides Mrs. Barbara Levine Gerry and Paula Levesque Dr. Mayer and Judy Levitt Suzanne and Ira Magaziner Joananne and Jack Marshall Jack and Sara McConnell Ellen S. Miller Heidi Keller Moon Bruce Murphy The Estate of Pearl and Ernest Nathan Jane S. Nelson Ms. Constance Palagi The Estate of Mr. Donald I. Perry Miss Mary C. Petrella & Miss Ann Petrella Donald Ramos, MD Arthur Richter The Estate of Irving and Lola Schwartz The Estate of James L. Seavor Martha P. Sherman Donna Tilles-Stahl Selma and Milton Stanzler Dennis E. Stark and Robert F. Amarantes Charles Sullivan Norman and Flo Tilles Marsha Welch Gloria Winston Mrs. Mabel T. Woolley Ann S. Zartler Anna Elsa Zopfi Janet & Mel Zurier THE TRINITY SQUARE • SPRING 2021

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E

ach spring, high school students from around New England submit original, 10-minute plays to Trinity Rep’s Write Here! Write Now! playwriting competition. Each script is considered through a blind evaluation process by Trinity Rep staff and local writers, and every student receives feedback from multiple adjudicators, including specific notes around how to continue growing as a writer.

Once the highest scoring plays are identified, a smaller roundtable of artists, writers, and educators discusses the merits of each play and advocates for their personal favorites. At the end of this thoughtful process, four plays are chosen as winners while another two to three are chosen as honorable mentions.

While winning comes with the pride of being chosen from a large pool of talented writers, the process doesn’t end there. Dramaturgs at Trinity Rep work directly with the four winners for

by Bradly Widener a few weeks to strengthen their plays even more.

Finally, each play is assigned a director and professional actors, and in a whirlwind couple of days, the plays are rehearsed and brought to life for a staged reading. Because of the current constraints around in-person performances, this year’s plays were produced virtually as a part of Trinity Rep’s digital series The Writer’s Room on May 11. In addition, each playwright received a scholarship towards a Young Actors Studio after-school class at Trinity Rep and 20 free tickets to a Project Discovery student matinee for their school.

While the competition was stiff, four submissions rose to the top this year: Purple by Ramona Boyd, The Lincoln School, Providence, RI; The Ally’s Burden by Tosin George, Cranston HS East, Cranston, RI; Fights by Charlie Boucher, La Salle Academy, Cranston, RI; and Anyways by Philip Byrnes, Dighton Rehoboth HS, Dighton, MA. Additionally, our honorable mentions were: In G-d’s Eyes by Samantha Brower, The Lincoln School, Providence, RI; Scratched by Bedros Kevorkian, Cranston HS East, Cranston, RI; and What I Do at Night by KK Eydenberg, Applewild School, Groton, MA. We were fortunate enough to speak with the winners this year to learn a bit more about who these four upcoming young playwrights are and what drives them to write.

Bradly Widener: How did you all learn about Write Here! Write Now! and what made you want to submit your plays?

Ramona Boyd: A teacher at my school, Ms. D-O, whom I adore, asked me if I wanted to enter.

Charlie Boucher: I wish I had a more profound answer than hearing about it on Instagram, but I heard about it on Instagram. I have been writing for a while, but I am always hesitant to put my work out there. I figured submitting would just be a good “rip off the band-aid” moment for me and my writing.

Philip Byrnes: I learned about it from my advanced theater arts class.

I wanted to share this story with others.

Tosin George: I believe I learned about Write Here!

Write Now! through the Trinity Rep Instagram account which prompted me to go on the Trinity Rep website and learn more about it. I wanted to submit my play because I entered last year, and the feedback I received really helped me improve my playwriting skills. Also, the Write Here! Write Now! competition gave me the motivation to start working on and developing my play.

BW: What was your inspiration when writing your plays?

RB: “Wine mom humor” is very strange, because on the surface it’s very chipper but, to me, the jokes have always read as existential crises. Roko’s basilisk, a theory that was conceived on the Internet, is also existentially horrific, and I thought it was interesting that two vastly different kinds of content could a) have something in common and b) coexist on the Internet, so I tried to find a way to link them. (I think I should note that this character is in no way based on my actual mom, who is extremely cool.)

PB: High school experience, my friends, and coming of age.

CB: Having to write something with a specific length was a good opportunity to develop and synthesize a lot of half-developed ideas in my head.

I had a good amount of funny one-liners or turns of phrase, but no real plot.

I was trying to connect those dots, but at that time things were happening in my life that forced me to think about my own future. I get overwhelmed at the idea of making decisions, which can make my attitude pretty pessimistic.

So, I am trying to write something, but all these problems are on my mind.

But, these are intangible problems, and I realized that something about the search for tangible solutions to intangible problems seemed funny. I started working with that, utilizing some other weird moments or ideas I had jotted down over time. So, this “morphing” ended up in a place that I liked, and from there I just had to rewrite a bit to be clear enough to make the piece make sense to people who are not me.

TG: My inspiration for writing my play was a multitude of things. We are living in a very strange, unprecedented, and important time not just in American history but also in human history. The intersection of the pandemic, the Black Lives Matter protests, and the racial revelations and reckonings

Tenth Ann Write Hereiversary Celebrate ! Write Now! s Young Ta lent

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that came with it were something that affected me tremendously. I felt like if I did not write something that is relevant and representative of this really weird time we are living in, I would have wasted a unique opportunity. I was not really sure how to voice all of the emotions I was feeling but I knew I needed to channel them into something, so I decided to write a play about it!

BW: How old were you when you started writing for fun, and what drew you to playwriting?

RB: I was about six years old! I’ve always been interested in film and writing screenplays, and eventually I realized that some stories are better told as plays.

PB: I started writing plays when I started high school. I like to tell stories that I enjoy and need to be told.

CB: I think I was nine or ten when I started writing for fun. My first experience with theater was being able to see some local plays as a young kid, and I was immediately fascinated. I started reading a lot about theater, and then I started acting. When I started writing, they were just short stories about superheroes or sci-fi, but even then my favorite part was getting characters to talk to each other. I eventually realized playwriting was the medium I understood most.

TG: I was 13 when I started writing for fun. In eighth grade, I took a short story writing elective class, and every time we had an assignment I couldn’t stop writing and sometimes my short stories ended up being 20-30 pages.

That was when I knew that writing was something I really enjoyed. A lot of things drew me to playwriting, though. I started doing theater when I was nine and as I grew older I didn’t really like how the roles that I could play were limited by the expectations of what a given character should “look like.” The thing about playwriting is, you get to make the rules, you get to decide who the characters are and what the story is. You get to tell the story that no one has told yet. You get to push a narrative further and start conversations. I truly believe that there is power in art and storytelling and using art to tell important messages and stories is incredibly important.

BW: What other activities do you like to do for fun?

RB: I like to read, write, illustrate, take photos, and spend time with family, friends, and my one-eyed cat, Elvis. I am also learning to read tarot!

PB: I like spending time with friends and family, I enjoy nature, I like cooking vegetarian dishes and baking, and traveling.

CB: I am really into film and tv I do a lot of reading and watching, but I have also been working on some screenplays.

TG: I like singing, dancing, and acting. I also love cooking, baking, and watching tv.

well as turning on and off.

LINDA: (interjecting) Well, you see, why I said that is because Roko’s Basilisk is an absolutely horrifying thought experiment which relies entirely on your awareness of it to pose a threat, so like I said, change the channel while you can! Or if you’re watching this on a computer, switch tabs, go watch a cat video. Ha-ha!

MALE NEWSCASTER: Ohh-p, so we’re both toast, Linda!

LINDA: Yup, the thought experiment was dreamed up by a user on the websi—

(A mouse clicks in the middle of her sentence.)

MALE NEWSCASTER (in middle of a different sentence): — idea that the world we live in was created and is supervised by very sophisticated AI whose sole objective is to make the world a better place. Now, according to theorists, the issue is that this AI will go to any lengths possible in their, um, journey to make the world a better place, and that includes torturing any humans who have the means to give them reigns to the universe but neglect to do so.

The Ally’s Burden by Tosin George

Please enjoy these excerpts from each young playwright’s winning play that exemplify their tremendous work:

SHAYLA: (taking her face mask off) How’ve you been? It feels like I haven’t seen you in forever.

KATE: I know! I’ve been pretty good, just trying to keep productive and busy during quarantine you know. How about you?

SHAYLA: I’ve been pretty good, I’ve been taking some online classes and doing some internships.

KATE: (intrigued) Oh, what kind of internships have you done?

SHAYLA: (thinking) Oh the last one I did was with this coalition for supporting and providing access to capital for (beat) black-owned businesses.

KATE: (face fills with excitement) Oh! (She takes off jacket to reveal she is wearing a black t-shirt with “BLM” written across it. Excitedly) This shirt is from a black-owned business.

SHAYLA: (looks at Kate unimpressed) Oh. Cool.

(Waiter comes and gives the two their drinks. Waiter exits.)

KATE: (looks disappointed) You know, I bought it over the summer… while I was marching in the streets.

SHAYLA: (looking a bit uncomfortable) Right. (beat) KATE: (persistent) I just really wanted to show solidarity… y’know use my privilege the right way.

(Shayla shifts her weight.)

KATE: (persisting; not taking the hint) I just can’t believe the struggle your people go through y’know?

SHAYLA: (unimpressed and a little bit offended) Mhm. KATE: I mean when I saw that video of George Lloyd— SHAYLA: (correcting her) Floyd KATE: (nervously laughing) Sorry, Floyd, something just… awakened inside me.

SHAYLA: Mhm. KATE: I mean in 2021 racism still exists! Who would’ve thought?

Purple by Ramona Boyd

Fights by Charlie Boucher

A pair of eyes are lowered to the center of the stage. The sockets are made of wood and the irises are made of foil. The floor that had been obscured by darkness before is now revealed to have a computer keyboard painted on it. There is a strip of LED lights at the front of the stage. They are white with translucent blue gels. They turn the foil irises blue. The texture of the tin foil creates glares that look like lightning. The sound of a clicking mouse and occasional tapping of keys is played over a loudspeaker.

WOMAN’S VOICE, PRESUMABLY A NEWSCASTER ON THE MORNING NEWS VIDEO PURPLE IS WATCHING: Have you ever heard of Roko’s Basilisk? If not, now’s your chance to keep it that way! Run for your life! Ha-ha, ha!

MAN’S DISEMBODIED VOICE: Ha-ha-ha! Right. Some pretty uh terrifying stuff, LindaAs LINDA and THE MAN are conversing, the white LEDS are occasionally flashing and slightly changing color, from pale orange to pink to green to blue, as

JAMES: A wolf?

ARTHUR: Yeah JAMES: A wolf!?

ARTHUR: Big time JAMES: We can’t be thinking of the same thing, cause I’m thinking of, you know, a wolf.

ARTHUR: No, it’s not a big, full wolf, it’s a...a child wolf RYAN: You have to carry around a “child wolf” with you for a week? Like, that crate, in your car, has a “child wolf” in it?

ARTHUR: Yes, yes it does. Dr. Golfi says reconnecting with animals this way releases the primal instincts in you.

JAMES: Dr. Golfi?

ARTHUR: He’s the leader of the program.

RYAN: Ah yes, the program, “FightARTHUR: (pulling brochure out of his pocket) “Fight for Your Right to Fight”, THE TRINITY SQUARE • SPRING 2021

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don’t roll your eyes at me, this is cutting edge stuff. It is the eight-week eight-step program to battle your demons and reconnect with your true warrior roots.

JAMES: Of course, of course, and where does our wolf cub factor into the equation?

ARTHUR: Step one, obviously. Seeing the animal world is the first step in tearing down your emotional walls, so that they can be built back up stronger.

RYAN: How big is this thing?

ARTHUR: I don’t know, the size of a small wolf. It’s— JAMES: The goal is to build more emotional walls?

ARTHUR: Dr. Golfi said emotional walls allow the emotions to be safe from the outside world.

JAMES: That makes zero sense.

ARTHUR: It’s not...it isn’t about understanding emotion— RYAN: —pretty sure that’s the goal of having emotions— ARTHUR: it isn’t about understanding emotions, no it isn’t. But guys, I didn’t call you here to talk about the wolf.

JAMES: You really should have, this thing’s been around for 48 hours and it’s already the most interesting thing about you.

Anyways by Philip Byrnes

SAM: (confronting in a whispering tone) What are you doing here?

NATHAN: (beat) Prom-posing?

SAM: Yeah I can see that. But I thought we had a plan?

NATHAN: Yeah, I know, but I thought it would be cuter to surprise you at your house.

SAM: (freaking out, to herself) I can’t believe this is happening.

NATHAN: If you really want me to do it at school I can? Just what I wrote on the back. I didn’t know if you wanted the attention… You know…

SAM: (frozen) What did you write on the back?

(Mom walks in with camera) MOM: (interrupting) Oh so cute. Okay get together for a picture.

(Both pose for a picture) MOM: Okay on the count of three. One, Two, Three. (Takes photo in selfie mode by accident) Ooops that was a picture of me. Okay one more (takes photo) lovely.

NATHAN: Ms. Garcia, Where should I put the cupcakes?

MOM: (excited) Ooo I’ll take those. (grabs cupcakes) What flavor are they?

NATHAN: Funfetti.

SAM: (panics to herself) Oh no.

MOM: Yummy. (looking at them) I love the little rainbows. So cute.

NATHAN: (excited) Thank you. Yeah. They go along with the prom-posal.

MOM: (intrigued) (beat) You know I never had a prom-posal. (gesturing to Nathan to ask her) So I’m very excited to finally see one.

NATHAN: (taking the hint) Well okay! (hands Sam the colorful balloons) Sam, Prom is in a couple weeks.

SAM: (Trying to avoid the topic) Maybe we should eat the cupcakes.

MOM: Sam don’t interrupt.

NATHAN: (continues) So yeah, Prom is in a couple weeks. (Nathan flips over the sign that has the word “prom?” On the other side it says, “You’re gay, I’m gay, Prom Anyways?”)

(Nathan is smiling) (Sam is frozen in shock.)

MOM: (beat) I don’t have my glasses. What does that say?

NATHAN: (smiling) Oh it says “You’re Gay, I’m Gay, Prom Anyways.” (beat)(Sam is frozen)(silence).

To read more about Write Here! Write Now! and watch the play readings, visit trinityrep.com/whwn.

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MEET THE STAFF

Michelle Cruz

DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

T

rinity Rep’s Director of Community Engagement since 2018, Michelle Cruz cultivates partnerships with community organizations, produces community-based events, helps shape our seasons, teaches classes… and the list goes on! I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Michelle so we could get to know her even better.

Bradly Widener: You worked at Trinity Rep as a receptionist from 2004 to 2007. What was it like coming back over ten years later and moving into such a different role?

Michelle Cruz: It was very strange! Before I found the Director of Community Engagement job, it felt like, what do I do now? Do I move? What am I doing here? Do I give back somehow?

What am I doing with my life right now? I was actually looking into moving to Nashville, TN to pursue more music, delve into a new community, and make an impact in a different state.

Then, I saw this job and said this is exactly what I need to do, and I hope I get this. My first inclination was thinking of myself as the eight-year-old who saw A Christmas Carol through Project Discovery. That was my first experience with theater, and I remember Tim Crowe as Scrooge. Even now, I still look at him like, “Wow, Tim Crowe!” That little kid still comes out. It was clear that it was time to stay and make an impact here in Rhode Island, my community.

BW: What does it really mean to be the Director of Community Engagement at Trinity Rep? MC: I think it means a lot of things. There is so much about my job that deals with access.

Before becoming the Director of Community Engagement, I worked with Farm Fresh Rhode Island and headed up both the wintertime farmers market and the downtown farmers market on Tuesdays. I knew a lot of the faces in Kennedy Plaza. I was also emceeing the Burnside Music Series on Thursdays, and I would see a lot of the same folks again. They would recognize me and ask, “Hey, can I come into the park?” That was so striking to me because they no longer felt like that place was for them.

At Trinity Rep, I think about what it is going to take for people to actually open that door and feel welcome here. You can walk past Trinity Rep all the time, but not feel compelled and safe and inspired to go in. I still remember my first time at the Project Discovery student matinee as a kid, and there’s this giant lobby, and it’s beautiful but it’s a little scary!

When I was hired, I started going to our neighbors to talk about what their access was to us. I was thinking about all the different perceptions that people have about Trinity Rep. How are we reaching out to them? Have they ever been here? Are there programs here for them?

I invited former Providence mayoral candidate Kobi Dennis to come talk to the Radio Golf cast since there were so many parallels between the Pittsburgh Hill District in the play and gentrified neighborhoods in Providence (Southside and Fox Point, for example) and Dennis’ own mayoral race. He and Radio Golf’s Harmon Wilkes both aspired to be the first Black mayors of their cities. I wanted to make those connections with our audience that art does indeed imitate life here, especially in that particular production.

Kobi headed up an amazing program called Princes to Kings, just being a father figure to 13-18-year-old boys of color from Providence, and he said, “You know, the kids would see

ABOVE LEFT: Michelle Cruz; ABOVE: Community engagement events organized around Trinity Rep’s 2020 production of August Wilson’s Radio Golf included a talkback featuring (l to r) Magelia Babatunde Perez Akinjobi from DARE, Dr. Claire Andrade-Watkins from the Fox Point Cape Verdean Heritage Place/SPIA Media, NAACP President Jim Vincent, and Terri Wright from DARE, as well as a classic Sunday Dinner held in Trinity Rep’s scenery shop.

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that summer program you do [Young Actors Summer Institute — YASI], and we just never felt like we could go over there.” The kids would quite literally see the YASI program 20 feet away from them, and they felt like they couldn’t ask what that program was and how they could have access to it. That was very striking to me, as well. I think that’s the beauty of the interchange of different community members and their different perspectives. I hope I can connect them and provide access. It’s important.

In talking about access to shows, especially for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color folks, I’ve said, “A lot of us have disposable income. We own homes, we’re doing just fine. [laughs] We will spend our money where we feel welcome, where we feel heard, and where we feel represented.” It’s difficult to hear that in order to get more people that look like me, there has to be more pay-what-you-can. That’s not the issue. It most certainly is for many people, but that’s not the root of the problem. I see that across the board in many theaters and in art in general.

BW: I hear you’re working on becoming fully quadrilingual in English, Cape Verdean Creole, Portuguese, and Spanish. That’s amazing. What led you to want to do that, and how’s it going?

MC: I was born here, but both my mom and dad were born in Cape Verde. They said they really wanted their kids to learn the language, so I was taught English and Creole from birth, so that was easy! Cape Verde was a colony of Portugal until 1975, so Portuguese is the official language, while Cape Verdean Creole is more of a dialect. Growing up, we had the Portuguese Times newspaper that my dad would read, and then he’d hand it to me, “Okay, read this. See how much you can understand.” Spanish, I felt, was fairly similar to Portuguese and there are many folks who speak Spanish, so I’m working on it. My reading comprehension for all four languages is good, I just need to be with others to practice!

BW: Someday! Music is a huge part of your life, obviously. Can you tell me more about what music means to you?

MC: Music expresses so much of what I don’t always say. I don’t know if it was a compliment or not, but my dad used to say I’m very “Barack Obama-like” in my demeanor. I have a very calm, soft-spoken demeanor, and then I get on stage and I’m just like BOOM. This other person comes out who’s very sassy, flower in her hair, makeup. [laughs] It’s just an absolute expression of what I am feeling. Something that’s been so hard for me in the pandemic is the lack of that energy exchange. I miss being with my bandmates who are like my brothers and being able to show people a different culture, whether it’s something from Cape Verde or Brazil, or whatever song I’m singing. I know what it’s like to be in love with a song and have no idea what they’re saying, and it’s fine. It’s the language of music and that’s the important part. That’s the beauty of it. I started a program called Music Is Healing where I’ve worked with a lot of dementia and Alzheimer’s patients, so it’s also healing on all fronts for me, and I miss it so much.

BW: I hear you. So, speaking about that a little bit more, we obviously 18

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believe in the power of theater, and performance in general, to change people’s lives, or I don’t think we would do what we do. What’s the most impactful piece of theater or live performance you’ve ever experienced?

MC: Oh, wow…I think I’ll actually go back to my first experience seeing A Christmas Carol at Trinity Rep because it’s still so well-embedded in my mind.

It didn’t necessarily inspire me to be an actor, but it did inspire me to know the possibility of what is truly possible in the arts. Before that experience, I thought, “I sit here in the audience and everything happens on stage.” But they came running out to us and were above us, and just knowing that could be possible, it really opened my younger eyes to what you can do and how you can perform. A very recent example for me is Radio Golf because it was especially pertinent to what I’ve been doing with community engagement. At the last talkback, I invited several folks from the NAACP, the Fox Point Cape Verdean Heritage Place, and DARE, and they were all talking about gentrification and what was happening in the community. Theater can be that mirror to the community, and I think that worked, fortunately or unfortunately, so well with Radio Golf. It brought a lot of conversation, and I hope it continues to do that when we are able to come back in person and have that exchange. These are themes that happen time and time again in these cities, and how we could reflect that through a local lens was really special to me.

BW: What’s something that folks don’t know about you that you wish they did?

MC: I was a pretty good BMX bike rider.

BW: No, you weren’t!

MC: I was! And one of my goals as a kid was that I really wanted to be in the X-Games. Yeah…it did not happen. BMX and skateboarding…I feel like most people don’t know that.

ABOVE LEFT: Carolers gathered at Trinity Rep before singing while strolling to Providence City Hall to join in community sing and lighting of the holiday tree.

BELOW: A knitting circle organized around Trinity Rep’s 2020 production of A Tale of Two Cities; a celebration of Dia de Los Muertos was jointly organized with RI Latino Arts and the Providence Public Library. PHOTO BY NEIL DIXON, HISTORIC NEW ENGLAND

In prior issues, our staff and artists have shared recommendations for books, television, and film. Now we share what we’ve most enjoyed listening to over the past year, both podcasts and music.

STEPHEN BERENSON, resident acting company member I’ve been dividing my time between listening to contemporary singers and classical music. Fiona Apple’s “Fetch the Bolt Cutters” and Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony make a well-balanced, rhythmic combination.

KATE BRANDT, director of marketing and communications In times of uncertainty and stress, I go to my “musical comfort zone”: Billy Joel, Elton John, and Paul Simon. When I’m feeling energized, I’ve been going to newer artists like Cold War Kids, Imagine Dragons, and Fitz and the Tantrums. Broadway musical soundtracks tend to come out when I’m home alone, no matter what mood I’m in. My complete symphonic recording of Les Miserables never gets old. ­JORDAN BUTTERFIELD, director of education and accessibility I’m listening to lots of podcasts, and like my documentary choices, LOTS of true crime. These are my favorites from Wondery: Dr. Death, Guru, Dirty John, and Over My Dead Body.

AMANDA DOWNING CARNEY, costume shop director My favorite true crime podcasts involve the perspective and testimony of family members of victims and/ or the murderers on how trauma gets inherited: Ballad of Billy Balls, Root of Evil: the true story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia, Happy Face, and The Clearing.

My favorite social commentary/documentary podcasts vary GREATLY but usually involve smashing the idea that people are one-dimensional and instead are complex humans: Dolly Parton’s America, Ear Hustle, Missing Richard Simmons, and Nice White Parents.

I also listen to a few easy listening/comedy podcasts as breaks in between murders and world problems: Conan O’Brian Needs a Friend, Life is Short with Justin Long, Every Little Thing, and Best Friends with Nicole Byer and Sasheer Zamata.

I’m also recently obsessed with Smartless, a comedy interview podcast with hosts Will Arnett, Sean Hayes, and Jason Bateman. It’s literal LAUGH OUT LOUD funny.

JACKIE DAVIS, actor and teaching artist I love the Jazz In the Background playlist on Spotify; also the R&B Instrumentals station.

NATALIE DREYER, school partnerships and professional development manager Harry Potter and the Sacred Text reexamines Harry Potter chapter by chapter through a different theme each week. Their tagline is “Reading fiction doesn’t help us escape the world, it helps us live in it.” I love it because it acknowledges many of the problematic actions of J.K. Rowling and how we can separate

ILLUSTRATION BY MICHALE GUY

What We’re Listening To

the text from the author.

It is spiritual without being religious and I always end up thinking deeply about the world while listening to the episodes.

Code Switch was recommended as I was trying to build up my anti-racist resources. The hosts are wonderful, and the episodes always bring something different, with unique perspectives and thoughtful storytelling and discussions. From book recommendations to discussing difficult topics, this podcast covers a wide range of ideas and themes.

STEVE MCLELLAN, lighting supervisor I’ve been listening to Ace Frehley’s “New York Groove” on loop while day dreaming about a post-COVID world of going to bars, and concerts.

IAN STILLMAN, technical director I love podcasts so we have: Sidedoor (stories from the Smithsonian), 99% Invisible (design and architecture in the everyday world), Tiger Style! (audio play from Huntington Theatre), Lost in the Woods (missing, murdered, and lost hikers, makes me want to hike, LOL), The Sporkful (It’s not for foodies, it’s for eaters), and Chameleon (Hollywood con queen).

JESSICA TOPOROSKI, human resources manager I like to listen to the following podcasts while I have been working from home during this pandemic. Every Little Thing — it is a podcast where the listener calls with a question and they find the answer. Its PURE GOLD. I have also been listening to The Money Nerds — this is a podcast where real people talk about paying off debt, boosting savings, or learning how to not stress as much about money. Every Friday they have a segment called 5TF (5 tip Friday) and it’s a five-minute podcast of five tips on ways to save money or earn extra money. Lastly I’ve recently found Absolutely Not! - Dear Media with Heather McMahan because sometimes you just really need to laugh, and this podcast never disappoints. Her tagline is “No topics are off limits, as we break down the everyday struggles of doing the most, and the least, at the same damn time.” Every few weeks she plays voicemails that listeners leave and she comments on them — it is hysterical!

BRADLY WIDENER, assistant director of service and experience One of our favorite albums is Ben Platt’s Sing to Me Instead. We love supporting a gay artist who speaks to our experiences so openly and with such an emotive voice. Ben was also the original Evan Hansen from the Broadway show, Dear Evan Hansen, so we get to support theater artists during this time by listening to his music!

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STAFF & ARTIST

Anniversaries

Like all of you, we’ve missed marking special occasions together over the past year. Here are the milestone anniversaries that our resident acting company members and staff celebrated in 2020 or 2021.

50 Years

Timothy Crowe, Resident Acting Company — first show was Little Murders in 1970.

45 Years

Michael Guy, Creative Director, joined the staff (as the receptionist) in 1975.

40 Years Brian McEleney, Resident Acting Company, joined the Trinity Rep Conservatory faculty in 1981.

35 Years

Stephen Berenson, Resident Acting Company — first show was A Christmas Carol in 1985.

Janice Duclos, Resident Acting Company — first shows were The Beauty Part in 1985 (understudy) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in 1986.

30 Years Brian McEleney and Stephen Berenson became co-

directors of the Trinity Rep Conservatory in 1990.

Michael McGarty, Master Carpenter, joined the staff in 1990.

Phyllis Kay, Resident Acting Company — first show was The Actor’s Nightmare in 1991.

25 Years

S. Michael Getz, Properties Supervisor, joined the staff in 1995.

Laura Smith, Production Director, joined the staff in 1996.

Peter Sasha Hurowitz, Sound Engineer, joined the staff in 1996.

20 Years

Angela Brazil, Resident Acting Company — first show was The School for Scandal in 2000.

Jennifer Canole, Director of Development, joined the staff in 2000 after a season-long internship.

Stephen Thorne, Resident Acting Company — first show was Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 2000.

Rachael Warren, Resident Acting Company — first show was My Fair Lady in 2000.

15 Years

Kelly McDonald, Receptionist, joined the staff in 2006.

Amanda Downing Carney, Costume Shop Director, joined the staff in 2006.

Curt Columbus, Artistic Director, joined the staff in 2006.

10 Years

Mia Ellis, Resident Acting Company — first show was Clybourne Park in 2011.

Brian Mertes, Resident Director and Head of MFA Directing, joined the staff in 2010.

Steve Mclellan, Lighting Supervisor, joined the staff in 2010.

5 Years

Tom Parrish, Executive Director, joined the staff in 2015.

IN MEMORIAM

Steve Lehrer

In February, Trinity Rep sadly lost a valued member of our community. Steve Lehrer worked for 13 years as our volunteer coordinator and one of our house managers and bartenders. Before joining the staff, he and his wife Freda were volunteer ushers.

Affectionately known as “Uncle Steve” around the theater, his specialty was our Project Discovery student matinees. Arriving even before the education staff, he would routinely have hot chocolate and donuts waiting for them. He was a master of seating hundreds of students with unrivaled efficiency and warmth. On the rare occasion when there was an issue with the students, he was on top of it, resolving the situation often before anyone else was even aware that there was a problem.

His last performance was the March 12, 2020 matinee of A Tale of Two Cities. That morning, all the schools scheduled to attend had cancelled, except one. About 30 students were in the audience, and Steve helped to make sure that their experience was exceptional. We know now that performance was a notable one — soon after it, we were forced by the encroaching pandemic to cut short the run of A Tale of Two Cities, and later, cancel all the remaining productions of the 2019-20 Season. Steve didn’t make it special for those kids because he knew it would be our last show for more than 18 months — he made it special because that is how he treated every performance.

In honor of his significant contributions to the Project Discovery program, the first student matinee performance of each season will be dedicated to Steve’s memory.

Working with students was not new to Steve. He taught for over 30 years in the Bristol and then Bristol/Warren school system and worked for two different summer camps. He also volunteered with Providence Performing Arts Center, was an avid sports fan, basketball player, and bike rider. Steve was a loving husband, father, grandfather, brother, and uncle and will be dearly missed.

Steve’s energy knew no bounds and was equally matched by his thoughtfulness. He frequently shared suggestions to improve the Trinity Rep experience for patrons, volunteers, and staff — and just as often, shared articles and stories he thought might be useful or interesting. They always were.

Steve Lehrer was a dedicated and hard-working colleague with a heart of gold. His absence will continue to be felt deeply throughout Trinity Rep for many years.

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! Trinity Rep gratefully acknowledges the donors who make our work possible. These alphabetical listings reflect commitments of cash and in-kind donations of $250 or more for annual operations, programs, events or facilities received between July 1, 2020 and April 30, 2021.

SEASON SPONSORS Ocean State Job Lot Charitable Foundation Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Jared and Bette Aaronson Travis Abato Michael Achey and Susan Thomas Actors’ Equity Foundation Christine and Timothy Adams Jeanne and Levi Adams Richard and Nancy Adams Adler, Pollock & Sheehan, P.C. Maureen M. Agnew Denise C. Aiken Marisa A. Albanese Nancy Allen Philip Allessi Dr. Lauren Allister and Mr. Joshua Kennedy Christopher J. Almon+ Patty and Melvin G. Alperin Fund Amica Insurance Anonymous (33) Jason E. Archambault+ Mary-Kim Arnold and Matthew Derby Marilyn and Steven Aronow Mayor Scott Avedisian Karen Baart Susan and Robert Bahr Caroline Ballou Bank of America Jim Baptista Suzanne Barksdale Jonathan Barnes and Patricia A. Sullivan Cheryl and Neil Bartholomew John Baryick and Jenna Hashway Lori Basilico and Paul Adler Tom and Linda Beall Virginia Becher Jon Bell Thomas L. and Kathryn D. Bendheim Family Fund Stephen Berenson and Brian McEleney Richard and Amy Beretta Tim and May Bergeron Berkshire Bank Laurel Bestock Bryna and Bruce Bettigole Mr. and Mrs. Paul Beukema Dennis Binette and Timothy Belt Thorr Bjorn Mr. and Mrs. Richard A. Black William N. Black and Mindie Lazarus-Black Dr. Amanda M. Bligh and Jason M. Brown Blount Fine Foods Dr. and Mrs. Jacques Bonnet-Eymard Michael Booth David and Edith Borden Ron and Marge Boss George T. Boyer and Francele Boyer Fund Kate, James, Cooper and Noah Brandt Angela Brazil and Stephen Thorne 22

Andrew S. Brem and Susan Oberbeck Wendy Brennen and Douglas Brennen Patricia Brigham Broadway OB/Gyn-Donald Ramos Abigail Brooks and Nicholas Trott Long Brown University David A. and Susan O. Brown+ Caroline Browne and Danielle Browne Dick and Sheila Brush Vincent J. Buonanno Lynne and David Burke Roberta Butler and Abbott Ikeler Jennifer and Patrick Canole Cardi’s Furniture Dena and Kenneth Carlone+ Philip, Anne and Maia Carty Nancy Cassidy and Jeffrey Schreck James and Jonatha Castle Charles Cavas Courtney B. Cazden Chace Fund, Inc. Buff Chace/Cornish Associates Mrs. Elizabeth Chace Mr. Malcolm G. Chace, Jr. Ms. Kate H. Champa The Champlin Foundation Chestnut Hill Realty Corporation Donna Chiacchia Mr. and Mrs. Paul J. Choquette, Jr. Roger and Patricia Cichy Raymond and Paulette Cieslak Citizens Bank Kathleen Clear Drs. Priscilla Cogan and C.W. Duncan Barbara Cohen Jules and Dede Cohen Linda and Steven Cohen Thomas Colby and Kathryn Colby Jonathan Cole Patricia Cole Bradley J. Collins Carol and Randy Collord Curt Columbus and Nathan Watson Commerce RI Loring and Louise Conant Ann-Marie Conklin Sheila Connery Karen and Richard Conti Colette Cook and Christopher Koller Ryan C. Cooke and William Hildreth Steven Croteau Larry and Nancy Culpepper Ruth F. Curley-Lefebvre CVS Health Michael P. Czech Karen L. Daigle, MD Mr. and Mrs. Lewis D. Dana Mr. and Mrs. Murray Danforth Brian Daniels Tracy and Bill Daugherty Judhajit De Dr. Suzanne M. de la Monte Kristin A. DeKuiper Dr. Ronald and Dolores DeLellis Louis P. Demascole Drs. Allen and Jane Dennison Mark and June DePasquale Pamela Desautel

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Karen Desmarais Sandy and Tom Dimeo+ Suzanne DiSalvo and Zack Miller Nancy Donahue Joanne Dow Dr. and Mrs. Joseph L. Dowling, Jr. Ernest W. Drew III and Jane D. Malone Carol E. Drewes Janice Duclos and Mark Peckham Julie and Jon Duffy The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Nancy Dunn+ Charles K. Dwyer Thomas Eagan+ Polly Eddy Kathleen and Erik Egge Susan E. Ellis Rick and Mary Engle Elaine Epstein David Ethier Mary-Beth Fafard Barry and Elaine Fain+ The Norman and Rosalie Fain Family Foundation Melissa Fairgrieve Barbara Feibelman and Ken Orenstein Caryl Feibelman Meg Ferguson Lisa and Scott Fertik Joseph and Amanda Finnerty Bobbi and Joe Fisler John E. Fitzgerald Scott Fitzmaurice Joan and Bill Flynn Dr. and Mrs. Daniel Foley Alissa Forleo and Raymon Memery Jordan Frank Fred J. Franklin Arthur G. Frazier and Patricia M. Dwyer James Fredricksen Karen Friend Anne and Walter Gamble Jim and Ann Ganung Thomas and Leslie Gardner Jane Garnett and David Booth Susan Geffner Hynes Gladys Getz Louis Giancola and Pamela High Becky Gibel and Charlie Thurston Roz and Larry Gibel Sharon Gibson and Brian Duff Gilbane Building Company Kim Gilbert Merri Gillan Mr. and Mrs. Mark K. W. Gim+ Gail A. Ginnetty Stephen E. Glinick and Elizabeth A. Welch Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Godley Marshall Goldberg The Gertrude N. Goldowsky and Seebert J. Goldowsky Foundation Susan F. Gonsalves Charitable Fund Mr. and Mrs. Sergio Gonzalez Carolyn Gorka Roberta Gosselin Philip Gould and Athena Poppas Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce Bill and Kira Greene Nancy D. Smith Greer Judith A. and Stephen H. Gregory Elsa and Jerry Grieder Linda Griffin The George and Nancy Grzebien Foundation Rabbi Leslie Y. Gutterman and Mrs. Janet H. Englehart

Dr. Louis Hafken and Ms. Lee Ann Johnston Myrna Hall Lynn and Dezi Halmi Jocelin Hamblett Steven Hamburg and Sarah Barker Ms. Ann E. Hamm and Ms. Janice L. Grinnell Ann and Todd Hampson Ami and Jeff Hansen+ HarborOne Bank Laura H. Harris Dan and Marcia Harrop Donald and Linda Harrop Jamie Harrower The John A. Hartford Foundation, Inc. Ms. Helaine Hartman William Haynes Roy Heaton and Mary Walsh Katherine Hebert Peter and Kathy Hendricks John and Marie Hennedy Benjamin Hensley Donna Heroux-Everson Jo Ann Hewett and George Burger Mary Higgins/Higgins Family Foundation, Bank of America, N.A., Co-Trustee David and Hope Hirsch+ Barry and Kathleen Hittner Leslie Hogan Jennifer Holmberg Elizabeth Holmes James A. Hopkins Mrs. Harold Horwitz John and Carol Howland Christopher Hubbard Melissa and Andrew Hughes Betty Ann Hughson Carlton and Marilee Hunt James Hurley IGT Anne K. Ilacqua Martha and Kyle Ingols Michael Isenberg and Karen Isenberg Joseph K. and Suzanne H. Jachinowski Lois S. Jacobs Arlene Jacquette Louis Jannetta Lynn Jarosz Glenda Jeffrey Petra Jenkins and John Hardy William and Linda Jenkins JF Moran John M. Johnson and Debra A. Dow Robert and Susan Johnston Scot Jones and Sue Smith Dayle and Ron Joseph Simone P. Joyaux and Tom Ahern Luke Kahlich Marisa Kambour and Joe Carberry Kathleen P. Kandzierski Kane-Barrengos Foundation Jeff Kaplan and Ellen Cohen Kaplan Dr. and Mrs. Jonathan D. Kaplan Peter Kaplan Memorial Fund Ellen and Jeff Kasle Kate Kataja and Greg Rodger Susan and Alan Kataja Barbara Keefe Dr. and Mrs. Thomas J. Keenan Mr. Leslie M. Kenney+ Jennifer E. Kiddie Michael and Pamela Killoran Phyllis Kimball Johnstone and H. Earl Kimball Foundation John Knight Jennifer Kobb

Michael and Ross Kraemer Kraft Group Audrey Kupchan and Sam Havens Linda and Harold Kushner Diane L. Laflamme Priscilla Lambert Susan Lampron and Gregory Fecht Robert and Lesley Landau Richard Lang Maryann and Philip Langley Sally E. Lapides and Arthur P. Solomon/ Residential Properties Ltd. Richard and Judy Lappin Mr. and Mrs. John Laramee Joanne Leary Betsy Leerssen and Neil C. Leerssen Stephen and Freda Lehrer Philip Leonard Natasha Lessard Dr. Mayer and Judy Levitt June Rockwell Levy Foundation Janice W. Libby Doris Licht and Ron Borod Peter and Deborah Lipman Lewis P. and Edna D. Lipsitt Judith Litchman Christopher and Michelle Little Caroline and Jim Lloyd Robert LoBello and Arsenio Silva Mr. and Mrs. J. Lombardi John S. Lombardo and Hannah Bell-Lombardo Dr. Noni Thomas Lopez and Mr. Rodney Lopez Andrea A. Lunsford Robert and Wendy MacDonald Tom MacDonald Audrey Macleod-Pfeiffer Joseph and Michele Madden Suzanne and Ira C. Magaziner Melinda Mailhot Robin Main Mary A. Majkut Mary Maloney Timothy and Maureen Mammen Judy and Robert Mann Kendra Marasco Steven Marcantonio Matthew and Paula Marcello Betsy Marcotte and Lloyd Feinberg Ronald C. Markoff and Karen Triedman Jean Marrapodi, PhD, CPLP Dr. Michael E. Marrapodi Anthony and Jacqueline Marro Christopher Marsella Jay and Lucia Marshall Sandra Martin and Victor Pereira Ann Mason Robert and Heather Mason Fred Mattis Claudette Mayer Peter Mazzaglia McAdams Charitable Foundation Susan C. McCarthy Jack and Sara McConnell Christopher McCoy Mrs. Norman E. McCulloch, Jr., Trustee of the McAdams Charitable Foundation Diane and Kevin McDole Barbara McDonagh Mary Kay McGarr Mary Anne McGonnigle and Steven H. Lighty Patricia McGregor Jane Larson McGuirk Bruce McLeish and Bonita Mockler Frederick McMillen Rosemary Mede and Thomas Rainey Elizabeth Messier James Meyer and John Reine

Gisela Meyn George and Elaine Milkaitis Adam Miller Anne B. Miller Ellen S. Miller Linda and Paul Miller Thom Mitchell and Catherine Schomer Maureen and Tom Moakley Meredith Moody Heidi Keller Moon Patricia Moore and Guy Geffroy Morgan Stanley & Co. Roger and Renee Morin Charlotte Morse Elsie Morse Elias Muhanna and Jennifer Jackson Michael and Celeste Mullane Farisa Mulvey The Murray Family Charitable Foundation Carolyn and Nigel Musgrave Jill H. Nagorniak Mrs. Patricia Nanian Mr. and Mrs. Alan D. Nathan National Endowment for the Arts Robert P. and Meredith A. Nault Navigant Credit Union Ramakrisha Nayak Jane S. Nelson Rich and Mary Nelson+ Pamela Nelson Erskine Leonard and Nancy Nemon Nancy and Dana Newbrook Tony and Carrie Noviello Lisa and Michael Nula Ocean State Job Lot Charitable Foundation Ocean State Job Lot Trinity Resident Artist Charitable Fund M. David and Marguerite Odeh Keri Anne O’Donnell Memorial Fund O’Halloran Family Foundation Dawnrae Oliveira David Olsen and Leonard Flood Mary C. O’Malley Charles Otto and Carol Grant Jack and Sandra Owens Susan M. Pacheco The Pacifica Foundation Elizabeth Paroli and Wayne Kezirian Tom Parrish Cynthia B. Patterson Lauren Paul and Thomas King Susi and Duncan Pendlebury Jerome and Jane Perez Marc and Claire Perlman Ms. Carol Peterson John Peterson Ann T. Petrella Trust Melissa and Greg Pezza Hope Day Pilkington Michael and Joan Pilson Jay and Eddy Placencia+ Ronald C. Plante and Dan Hammond Angela and George Plesce Peter and Suzanne Pleskunas Dick and Judy Plotz Ethan Pollock and Amy Mendillo Dan Powers Karen and Stephen Prest Tara Primis Harry Proudfoot Public Theatre Marisa Quinn Sharon Quinn Kurt Raaflaub and Deborah Boedeker David and Melissa Rabinow

Douglas and Cynthia Rademacher Dale and Patricia Radka+ Doug Rainey and Toshi Uchida Herbert Rakatansky, MD and Barbara Sokoloff Scott Raker Lynne Randall and Tom Malone Robert Raposo Sean and Pamela Redfern Kibbe and Tom Reilly Phil Reilly and Judith Hasko Kathleen Reinhardt Richard and Linda Rendine Residential Properties Ltd. Diane K. Reynolds Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education The Rhode Island Foundation Rhode Island Monthly+ Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Michael Rice Jeff Richards & Missy Magill Maxine Richman Christine Rieser GG Rigelhaupt Deborah Ring and Michael Simoncelli Peter Rintels Arthur and Judy Robbins+ Thelma Rocha Bishop and Mrs. Hays Rockwell Dr. and Mrs. Walter J. Rok Bruce and Jane Rollins Paula and Bill Rooks William and Sandra Rosen Carolyn Rosenthal Sharon S. Rounds Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Royce Leonard and Esteruth Rumpler Ms. Kathryn M. Sabatini and Mr. Michael Zabelin Nancy Safian and Jonathan Saltzman Marilyn and Jim Salisbury Janet and Ken Salomon Bill and Kate Saltonstall Tim Burns and Carolyn Sammon Mr. and Mrs. John Sampieri Paula Sandham Elizabeth M. Schaaf David Schoenfeld and Ellen Schoenfeld-Beeks Dr. and Mrs. H. Denman Scott Anne Scurria and Barry Press Katherine Seavey Kenath Shamir Peter and Kathy Shank Jane Sharp and Charles Rardin Peggy and Hank Sharpe Fund at the Rhode Island Foundation Michael and Karen Shell Richard and Deb Shell Jane and Deming Sherman George Shoemaker and Judith Shoemaker Martha and Steven Shuster Sally Shwartz Chelsea Siefert Ellie Siegel and William H. Warren Santina Siena, MD Kenneth Sigel and Sarah Kelly William and Susan Sikov Gretchen Dow Simpson and Jim Baird J. Lynn Singleton and Donna Santos Michele Siskind Jack and Maggie Skenyon Julia Anne and Peter Slom+ Eric and Peggy Smith Martha H. Smith

Margery Sokoloff and Jeffrey Shoulson Adrienne G. Southgate+ Southwest Airlines Lee E. Sproul, Jr. Ms. Debra J. Stacey Donna Tilles Stahl Alec Stais and Elissa Burke* Norma Smayda Staley Mike Stanton and Susan Hodgin Selma Stanzler Starkweather & Shepley, Inc. State of Rhode Island, Division of Taxation Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust Heather Stillman Martha Stone Robert Stout Julie and Josiah Strandberg Dexter Strong and Maureen Taylor Carol Surprenant Duncan and Annette Sutherland Luke and Linda Sutherland Judith B. Swaim Anne and Michael Szostak Target Stores Deborah Miller Tate Hana Tauber Alec and Susan Taylor John and Susan Teal Textron Inc. Theatre Forward Christine Thompson and Elizabeth Wilson Joelle Thompson David and Susan Tremblay David H. Trenteseaux Mary Lou and Maurice Trottier Twin River Casino Stephen and Dina Ucci Lindsa Ruth Vallee Susan Van Ness Donna and Jack Vanderbeck Tim Vanech Jennifer Vendettuoli Ernie Vetelino Mark Vigorito and Austin Horowitz Stuart Vyse Polly Wall Drs. Roger and Linda Warren Washington Trust Company Marvin and Ellie Wasser Edie and Jerry Weinstein Naida D. Weisberg Alan and Maria Weiss Amy M. Wendell and John W. Wendell Emily Westcott and Bill Carpenter Dr. Terrie T. Wetle and Dr. Richard Besdine+ Sandra Stuart Wheeler Mr. and Mrs. John H. White, Jr. Laura and Steve Wilkinson April Williams Eric and Elaine Williams Michelle Williams Don and Kitty Wineberg WithumSmith+Brown, PC Mabel T. Woolley Trust Ann and John Woolsey Diana M. Worley Rick and Mary Worrell+ Connie Worthington and Terry Tullis Mr. and Mrs. James J. Wrenn Mary Kae and Mike Wright Stu and Marlene Yang Myrth York and David Green Cristine Young Ann S. Zartler The Ziegler Family Lauren and Sam Zurier

+ Donation made through United Way Campaign * Donation made through State Employee Charitable Appeal Campaign ** Contribution from named endowment fund within Trinity Rep’s endowment ~ Donation made through Combined Federal Campaign

IN MEMORIAM

reflects gifts received between January 1, 2020 to April 30, 2021.

In memory of Peter and Mary Almon Christopher J. Almon In memory of Mary Ann Ambrose Mark C Ambrose In memory of Elaine Anter Lori Anter In memory of Michael Armstrong Margery Sokoloff and Jeffrey Shoulson In memory of Thomas E. Azulay David Roy Azulay In memory of Angelina Bifulco Gail Costa In memory of David Breakstone Lindsa Ruth Vallee In memory of Allan Campbell Katherine Hebert In memory of Jules and Joanne Caron Glenn and Susan Halvarson In memory of Marlene Clary Gloria Shafaee-Moghadam In memory of Margaret M. Connery John and Sheila C. Monk In memory of Margaret Divver John and Gale Green In memory of Louise Dolan HW In memory of Mary “Polly” Eddy Rabbi Leslie Y. Gutterman & Mrs. Janet H. Englehart Laura H. Harris Dr. and Mrs. Thomas J. Keenan Maria Montanaro Statia Murphy Rosamond A. Talbot Susan Van Ness In memory of Ethyl Eichelberger Mary Elliff and William Gallery In memory of Jason Ereio Elisabeth Buck In memory of Joseph Albert Esposito University of Rhode Island In memory of Estella Flores Anonymous In memory of Martha Jane Fogarty Shawn and Ann Harwood In memory of Norma Jean Geesey Elizabeth Holmes In memory of Capt. Lawrence Gemma, USNR Patricia Brigham In memory of Kenneth Getz Community Players Loran Getz Erika Koch Eric Reynolds In memory of Larry Lee Getz Gladys Getz

In memory of Christine Grinavic Mary Grinavic Edward McDonough In memory of Diane Grogan Anonymous In memory of Thomas Haskell Stephen Berenson and Brian McEleney In memory of Theresa & Edward Hawkins Chris and MaryJane Ougheltree In memory of Papa Hooley Brendan Hooley In memory of Betty Ann Hughson Elizabeth M. Schaaf In memory of Dr. Irving and Kay Kaplan Jeff Kaplan and Ellen Cohen Kaplan In memory of Shirley Kestenman GG Rigelhaupt In memory of Jason Kircher Anonymous In memory of Ruvain Klein Pearl Holloway In memory of Private Jason Kornberg Mr. and Mrs. Roland Buteau Jr. and Family In memory of Kenneth Davol Langley Maryann and Philip Langley In memory of Bernard Lanoie Natasha Lessard In memory of Stephen Lehrer Gary and Barbara Ackerman Ann Anesta Anonymous Nick Bernstein Barbara Burns Claudia Carr and David Rush Ted Chylack Steve de Eyre Alberta Del Prete Lisa DeLuca Anne Diamond Dorothy Dowling Barry and Elaine Fain Susan and Bob Fine Susan Geffner Hynes Martha Gordon Pearl Holloway Michael Huang Jill & Loren Kleinman Kraft Group Kelly McDonald Marsha Perlman Covitz Karen Pigeon Alfred Ragonese John D. and Maureen Riley Marybeth Rowland Lee E. Sproul, Jr. Linda Stanich and Douglas Stephens Dr. David Steigman, M.D. Aaron Weintraub In memory of Suzanne Lessard Jennifer Lessard In memory of Gerald Levesque Danielle J. Levesque

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In memory of Norm Lofsky Stephen and Freda Lehrer In memory of Iver Longeteig III Anonymous In memory of Loved Ones Karen Soderberg-Gomez In memory of Martha Marchio Kay Phyllis Kay and Richard Donelly In memory of Barbara Meek Angela Brazil and Stephen Thorne Phyllis Kay and Richard Donelly Peter Mazzaglia Joyce L. Stevos In memory of Sam Miller Anne B. Miller In memory of J. Anne Mitchell Bonnie Saritelli In memory of Tom Moran Taunton Area AAUW In memory of Violette Mowry Donna Chiacchia In memory of My Dad Tara Barnes In memory of Cara “Monroe” Nagle Kirk McDonough, Cate McDonough, and Aileen McDonough In memory of Sandra Nathanson Judith Cohen Marcia Feldman Jane C. Gauvin and William Moore Anne B. Miller Diane K. Reynolds Susan Saillant Robert Schleinig Anne Scurria and Barry Press Diana Sousa Jim Souza Jennifer Vendettuoli In memory of J. Louis Nielsen Martha Nielsen In memory of Judy O’Donnell Nancy Escher In memory of Senator and Mrs. Pell Dr. Tripler Pell and Mr. Tawfik Hammoud In memory of Ann T. Petrella Ann T. Petrella Trust In memory of Pignatelli family and John Nappi Barbara and Maryanne Bedard In memory of Joan Pilson Norma Smayda Staley In memory of Frank J. Piperata Susan Unger In memory of Catherine Prest Michael and Pamela Killoran In memory of Kevin Quinn Benjamin Hensley In memory of Thomas F. Rabczak Maureen & Roger Johanson In memory of Stuart B. Riley Sally Riley In memory of Artie Robillard Shannon E. Simoneau In memory of Rocky Steven Medeiros In memory of Elizabeth Schaaf Karen Baart Beth Castrodale and John Sullivan Marcia Cohen Amy Derjue Barbara Flanagan Sherri Frank Karen Henry Rosemary Jaffe 24

Alice M. Mailloux Michelle McSweeney Anna Palchik Nancy Perry Katherine Retan Christine Rutigliano Mary Lou Wilshaw-Watts In memory of James L. Seavor The James L. Seavor Revocable Trust In memory of Alex Sigel Kenneth Sigel and Sarah Kelly In memory of Marion Simon Ms. Clare Vadeboncoeur and Ms. Pamela Messore In memory of Steve Sorin Jennifer and Patrick Canole Barbara Cohen In memory of Milton Stanzler Phyllis Kay and Richard Donelly Selma Stanzler In memory of Sylvia Stingle Eliza Correia In memory of Charles Sullivan Phyllis Kay and Richard Donelly Connie Worthington and Terry Tullis In memory of Ann Marie Sylvester Maureen & Roger Johanson In memory of Bill Thompson Chris Thompson In memory of Flo Tilles Anonymous Carol E. Drewes Norlene and Kenny Gensler Lillian Golden Joan Isenberg Barry and Ellen Jagolinzer Sally E. Lapides and Arthur P. Solomon/ Residential Properties Ltd. Mrs. Frank Licht Lewis P. and Edna D. Lipsitt Jack and Sara McConnell Douglas and Arlene Mellion Jane S. Nelson Marcia Riesman Donna Tilles Stahl Janet Stahl and David Herz Selma Stanzler Strategic Point Investment Advisors Marjorie Sundlun Tracy Woznicki In memory of Stella Wilson Kishin Anderson Kate Kataja In memory of Michael Wintle Melissa Davy In memory of WishKids Elf Louise In memory of Sara Zacks Janet LeMoal Randy Polumbo In memory of Patricia Zotos Crisanthi Zotos

THE TRINITY SQUARE • SPRING 2021

TRIBUTE GIFTS

reflect gifts received between January 1, 2020 to April 30, 2021.

In honor of Roslyn Adamo Beth F Adamo Bob Fouser In honor of Ron Allen Carol Allen In honor of David Azulay Dr. and Mrs. Jacques Bonnet-Eymard Carol E. Drewes In honor of Lauren Bachman-Streitfield Brenda M. Bachman In honor of Maddox Boulware Broggi Erika Boulware In honor of Jordan Butterfield Joseph W. and Paula M. Butterfield Linda and John Souza In honor of Jen Canole Ricardo Pérez González In honor of Jen Canole, Curt Columbus and everyone in the education department Nancy Safian and Jonathan Saltzman In honor of Amanda Downing Carney Sarah Downing Christopher and Katie Garvin Carly Rivers In honor of Ms. Janice Duclos Laura LeGant In honor of George Chaput Daniel Short In honor of Curt Columbus Danielle Kemsley In honor of Curt Columbus and Tom Parrish Deborah Salem Smith and Christine Montross In honor of The Rev. Tom Conboy Sarah and Kevin Klyberg In honor of Michelle Cruz The McCarthy Family In honor of Lola Darling Gabriel Tash In honor of Kara Alexandra Dean Enfrodisia and Isa Schaaf In honor of Erin Meghan Donnelly Josh Short In honor of Rosalie Donelly Phyllis Kay and Richard Donelly In honor of Betty Dressner Michael Tushman and Marjorie Williams In honor of Mia Ellis Carol E. Drewes In honor of Joseph M. Fernandez Emily Maranjian In honor of Our Brave First Responders and Medical Professionals Sabrina Solares-Hand In honor of Mr. S Michael Getz Tina Miller In honor of Michael Guy Connie Tavanis In honor of Mauro Hantman Marie Malchodi, Lydia Grosswendt, and Sophie Grosswendt In honor of Anne Harrigan Loretta Harrigan Amanda and Tim Lazarus Kim White-Sawczynec

In honor of Ann Hayes Stephen and Freda Lehrer In honor of Barry Hittner Jane Larson McGuirk In honor of Barry and Kathleen Hittner’s 50th Anniversary Jane Larson McGuirk In honor of Richard and Sharon Jenkins Albert and Paula Kandarian In honor of Kate Kataja Jen Canole Ann S. Zartler In honor of Phyllis Kay Kathleen Carey In honor of Kathryn Bell Lansdown, Greg, Annabell and Joseph Lansdown Mr. William E. Knapp and Ms. Judith Bell In honor of Sally Lapides Dorothy and Edward Slade In honor of James Lawson Betty Merner In honor of Ronan Lehan Gloria Lehan In honor of Suzanne Magaziner Denise R. Arsenault Dr. and Mrs. Richard L. Clarkson In honor of Brian McEleney Norma Smayda Staley In honor of Brian McEleney and Stephen Berenson Ms. Katherine Freedman and Mr. Brian Beirne Ms. Catherine Perri and Mr. Aron Pasternack Hope Day Pilkington In honor of Jane Larson McGuirk John Peterson In honor of Billy Mihopoulos Amy Sobnosky In honor of Millie, Rachael Warren, and everyone involved in making YASI happen Jordan Frank In honor of Devin Mooney Erin Plante In honor of Tom Parrish Joanne Dow Michael Grosodonia Mary Hoffman In honor of Martha Rimmer Anonymous In honor of Myrna Rosen Sally E. Lapides and Arthur P. Solomon/ Residential Properties Ltd. In honor of Mike Sablone Katherine Leckenbusch In honor of Naomi Gross Safian Anonymous In honor of Rachel & Danny Salvatore Anonymous In honor of Jude Sandy Carol E. Drewes John Eng-Wong and Priscilla Angelo In honor of Anne Scurria Michael and Celeste Mullane In honor of Shannon/McNally Family Rachel McNally In honor of Laura Smith Coco Dailey In honor of Anna Soifer Morton and Naomi Soifer In honor of Kevin Sullivan Paula Sandham

In honor of Cast and Crew of A Tale of Two Cities Carol E. Drewes In honor of John Thorsen Cindy and James Thorsen In honor of Trinity Rep Acting Company Stephen and Freda Lehrer Jeff Richards & Missy Magill In honor of The Trinity Rep Costume Shop Grace Mitchell In honor of The Trinity Rep Education Staff David and Susan Tremblay In honor of The Trinity Ushers Anonymous In honor of Manley E. Tuttle III Martha Mahard and Manley Tuttle In honor of My Unemployed Colleagues Jill Jann In honor of Rachael Warren The George and Nancy Grzebien Foundation Luke Kahlich Marie Malchodi, Lydia Grosswendt, and Sophie Grosswendt In honor of Bob Whitney and Bill Lane Stephen and Freda Lehrer In honor of Joe Wilson, Jr. Carol E. Drewes Ann E. Hamm In honor of Myrth York and David Green Neath Pal and Beth Toolan, M.D. In honor of John and Kim Zwetchkenbaum Samuel Zwetchkenbaum and Debby Carr

Please note: Every effort was made to ensure the accuracy of this listing. If there is an error or omission, please accept our deepest apologies and contact Blake DeVaney at bdevaney@trinityrep.com, so we may update our listings and acknowledgements in the future.

Where we live... is where life happens.

Where we live is where our best memories are made. It’s where we relax. Where we create. Where we dine. Where we shine.

At Residential Properties we are in the business of helping you love where you live. If you are planning a move, call on our local real estate experts to assist and guide you through the entire process. Our blend of strategic marketing and concierge level service has helped home buyers and sellers for over 40 years.

Contact us today and discover The RPL Advantage.

#1 Rankings based in whole or in part on data supplied by the State-Wide Listings Service. The MLS does not guarantee and is not responsible for its accuracy. Data maintained by the MLS may not reflect all real estate activity in the market. Based on information from Statewide Multiple Listing Service, Inc. as of April 2021.

RI SALES VOLUME (2020)

#1

RI LISTINGS SOLD (2020)

#1

RI MARKET SHARE (2020)

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YOUNG ACTORS

SUMMER INSTITUTE Encourage your kids to explore their creative side this summer at Trinity Rep!

Summer programs include online and inperson options and allow students to learn more about specific skills like directing, playwriting, and movement, or put all their skills together to create short plays. We encourage enrollment from students of all experience levels and abilities and offer financial aid and payment plans to ensure that all students have access.

For details and registration, visit TRINITYREP.COM/SUMMER

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THE TRINITY SQUARE • SPRING 2021