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ABOUT US LEADERSHIP
Robert M. Rechnitz Executive Producer John Dias Artistic Director Joan H. Rechnitz Associate Producer Michael Hurst Managing Director
BOARD OF TRUSTEES Todd Herman President Anne Luzzatto Vice President Robert Butters Treasurer Susan Olson Secretary Stephen Becker Marilyn Broege Amanda Butterbaugh Carolyn Cushman DeSena Kathleen Ellis Gale Grossman Caroline Huber Mary Jane Kroon Hon. Edward J. McKenna, Jr. Nyire Melconian Adam Rechnitz Joan H. Rechnitz Robert M. Rechnitz Geoffrey Sadwith Maureen Silliman Mary Carol Stunkel Webster Trammell Richard B. Worley Howard P. Aronson William Marracini Kathryne Singleton Emeritus Board Members
Two River Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director John Dias and Managing Director Michael Hurst, develops and produces great American theater. Through 10 theatrical productions each year (including world premieres, musicals, classics and theater for young audiences) and 50+ annual events happening around Monmouth County, we produce exceptional theater and cultivate engaged audiences. Two River celebrates and honors our core values of Artistic Excellence; Education and Community Engagement; Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion; and Operational Excellence.
Founded by Joan and Robert Rechnitz in 1994, Two River is recognized in the national theater community for its newplay commissioning program, which creates a pipeline for developing work that contributes to the vitality and future of the American theater. Each season, the theater hosts numerous artist residencies, workshops and readings, and presents an annual Cabaret of New Songs for the Musical Theater in association with NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing program. The Crossing Borders (Cruzando Fronteras) festival and Nosotros program foster a closer relationship between the theater and Latino artists and audiences. Two River cultivates a new generation of theatergoers through innovative arts education programs that introduce young people to the theater and create opportunities for them to engage with renowned theater artists. For more information, visit tworivertheater.org or call 732.345.1400.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
5 Title Page 7 Patron Services 9 A Note from the Education Director, Kate Cordaro 11 Cast of Characters 12 Bios 18 A Conversation between Playwright Matt Barbot and Director José Zayas 21 Leadership Bios 23 Education Spotlight: The Madcap Magic of A Little Shakespeare: The Comedy of Errors 24 Official El Coquí Espectacular Comic Illustration 29 Volunteer Spotlight: Art Steinman 30 From Corsets to Capes: Costume Shop 32 Program Feature: Crossing Borders & Nosotros 35 Up Next: The Bridge of San Luis Rey 36 Individual Donors 38 Be More Chill Fandom & GoFundMe Campaign 41 Institutional Support 43 Meet Our Staff & Volunteers 46 Scene at Two River
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Empowering our community to reach the highest level of health & wellness.
Hackensack Meridian Integrative Health & Medicine has developed a comprehensive health and wellness program like no other. Completely customized and focused around our Five Pillars of Health and Well-Being: Sleep, Activity, Purpose, Nutrition and Resilience. Begin your path to wellness with one of our clinical experts: Integrative Medicine Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, Acupuncturists, Nutritionists, Massage Therapists, Health Coaches, Health Psychologists, and Movement & Energy Therapists. To learn about the events and classes we offer or to schedule a consultation, please call 732-263-7999 or visit HackensackMeridianHealth.org/IntegrativeMedicine for more information.
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10/30/17 3:49 PM
EL COQUÍ
Robert M. Rechnitz Executive Producer
ESPECTACULAR AND THE BOTTLE OF DOOM
John Dias Artistic Director Joan H. Rechnitz Associate Producer Michael Hurst Managing Director
By Matt Barbot WITH
Gabriel Diego Hernández Olivia Negrón Flor De Liz Perez Cesar J. Rosado Bradley James Tejeda SCENIC DESIGNER........................................................................Arnulfo Maldonado COSTUME DESIGNER................................................................Ásta Bennie Hostetter LIGHTING DESIGNER.................................................................Zach Blane SOUND DESIGNER........................................................................Jane Shaw PROJECTIONS/ANIMATION DESIGNER.................Alex Koch FIGHT DIRECTION.........................................................................UnkleDave’s Fight-House CASTING..................................................................................................Jack Doulin + Sharky PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER ................................Terri K. Kohler
Directed by José Zayas OPENING NIGHT: JANUARY 12/2018 MARION HUBER THEATER
Two River Theater is supported in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
LEAD SPONSOR:
MEDIA PARTNER:
SEASON SPONSORS:
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Bank of America applauds Two River Theater for bringing the arts to all When members of the community support the arts, they help inspire and enrich everyone. Artistic diversity can be a powerful force for unity, creating shared experiences and a desire for excellence. Bank of America recognizes Two River Theater for its success in bringing the arts to performers and audiences throughout our community. Visit us at bankofamerica.com/newjersey Life’s better when we’re connected® ©2017 Bank of America Corporation | SPN-126-AD | ARMWTPSR
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PATRON SERVICES Thank you for joining us at this performance. Two River Theater is dedicated to making your experience the best that it can possibly be. Please note the following offerings and requests to better enhance your time at the theater:
BEFORE PLAY Join us 45 minutes prior to every performance in the Two River lobby for a pre-performance talk, which will give you valuable insight into the play you are about to see. Talks last 10-15 minutes and are led by a member of the company or Two River’s Artistic Department.
POST-PLAY DISCUSSIONS Post-play discussions are scheduled following three performances of every production. During these discussions, audiences are invited to share their questions and responses to the work on stage with members of the cast and staff of the theater. Post-play discussion dates for the current season can be found in our season brochure or on our website.
INSIDE TWO RIVER EVENTS A series of mostly FREE arts & humanities events specially curated for each of our productions. Events include film screenings, book club, poetry readings, crafting nights, lectures, social events with our artists & more! To make sure you are first to hear about these events sign up for our email list, follow us on Facebook, and stay tuned to our website!
ACCESS Two River Theater is committed to making its facilities and performances accessible for all patrons through: Barrier Free Access Assistive Listening Devices Large Print Programs *Open Captioning *Audio Description *American Sign Language Interpretation *Relaxed Performances *Available at select performances only.
2017/18 SEASON ACCESS DATES
El CoquĂ Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom Relaxed Performance: Saturday, January 27 at 3PM Audio Description: Wednesday, January 31 at 1PM Open Caption: Saturday, February 3 at 3PM
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Audio Description: Wednesday, March 14 at 1PM Open Caption: Saturday, March 17 at 3PM
A Little Shakespeare: The Comedy of Errors Relaxed Performance: Saturday, March 10 at 2PM
Dancing at Lughnasa
BOX OFFICE
Audio Description: Wednesday, May 2 at 1PM Open Caption: Saturday, May 5 at 3PM
Box Office Hours: Monday through Saturday 10am-6pm, Sunday from 12-5pm and starting one hour prior to all performances.
The Young King
CONCESSIONS
Oo-Bla-Dee
Coffee, tea, water, soda, candy, and snacks are available at the concessions stand in the lobby. Only water will be permitted into the theater during performances.
COURTESY
Relaxed Performance: Saturday, April 21 at 2PM Audio Description: Wednesday, June 27 at 1PM Open Caption: Saturday, June 30 at 3PM Access programs made possible through support from New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
Please limit food and drink, taking photographs and cell phone usage to our lobby or outside the theater. Late seating will occur at the discretion of Management.
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monmouth.edu
Monmouth University proudly supports Two River Theater
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A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION,
KATE CORDARO Photo by Mike McLaughlin.
At Two River Theater, we believe that arts education promotes two central goals: supporting the artist within each student, and building future audiences. We inspire empathy, risk-taking, and a sense of adventure; and we support academic achievement and life-long learning. Among the many things that make us proud here at the theater is how our Education programs have expanded along with the theater’s growth, especially over the past few seasons. When I started working here in 2004, we were a staff of 11 and our educational offerings consisted of three student matinees. Today, we serve thousands of students, teachers, and families through our myriad of programs, a few of which I’ll outline here. Just recently, we continued our season of Theater for Young Audiences productions (four of them!) with the world premiere of The Rainbow Fish, based on the beloved illustrated book for children by Marcus Pfister. Created for audiences age 3 and up by the Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia (which enchanted our audiences with their production of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Other Eric Carle Favorites in 2014), The Rainbow Fish was a marvel of brilliant storytelling and luminous, large-scale puppetry. To bring our audiences closer to our work, we launched First Monday Masters as a series of master classes led by artists affiliated with the theater. Classes are taught by actors, directors, playwrights, and designers, and we are thrilled that these great artists are eager to further engage with our audiences in this way. It’s just one advantage of working in a professional theater that attracts the highest level of talent— getting to share that talent with students and lifelong learners. Some of our Monday Masters classes are for high school students, some are for adults, and some are for mixed ages. Classes so far have included a musical theater dance workshop with choreographer Caleb Teicher; an acting class with Crystal A. Dickinson; a playwriting class with Pulitzer Prize nominee Madeleine George; a directing class with Tony Award nominee Michael Cumpsty; and a college audition workshop with Kate Murray, a casting director for The Public Theater. Additional classes for this season will be announced soon!
We often hear that our local families want more opportunities to bring their children with autism to the theater. However, for many, the traditional rules of the theater (keeping quiet, staying in seats) propose real barriers. To that end, we have launched a Relaxed Performance Series, designed to provide a welcoming and judgement–free theater experience for people on the autism spectrum or with other sensitivity issues. After piloting with one sensory-friendly performance last year, we are delighted this season to expand and offer multiple relaxed performances designed to reach more than 500 audience members of varying ages—from toddlers and kids to teens and adults. We hope the introduction of relaxed performances will help to break down some barriers and result in more patrons feeling welcome, safe and excited to attend our productions. On page 23 of this program, you will read about our A Little Shakespeare program, which introduces the works of Shakespeare to hundreds of young people each season—as audience members, working behind the scenes, and as actors. Imagine the educational value for the high schoolers who are cast in A Little Shakespeare! When our cast begins to tackle Shakespeare’s language in rehearsal, it is often completely foreign and difficult—they are baffled, lost, and frustrated. Through the rehearsal process, they learn to crack the code. One student, after months of rehearsal and performances, had this to say about the experience: “A Little Shakespeare made me incredibly comfortable with Shakespeare. I was never afraid of it, but I never really got it. Now, I love it and I have a passion for it.” A love and a passion for Shakespeare, felt by a 16 year old. What’s better than that? Not only are students involved as actors in the play, but high school students assist each professional designer through the rehearsal and performance process—lighting, sound, costumes, props, set, stage management, directing, and run crew. They, too, are learning to work collaboratively, to listen, to meet deadlines, to create something they can be proud of. Our teenaged light board operator’s proud assessment? “I got to be a fundamental part of the show. It ran almost entirely on teenage power.” In all things we do, we are actively cultivating a community of current and future audiences. We are thrilled and proud to play this role in their lives. n 9
Director Josè Zayas (far left) and Playwright Matt Barbot with the company of El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom. Photo by Yurik L. Lozano.
GETTING THERE IS HALF THE FUN! MEET OUR
MEDIA PARTNER
#SpotTh
eFrog
Hop around town to Red Bank’s many restaurants, bars and shops in the El Coquí Mobile! This luxury scooter, fully equipped for the winter with heated seats and weatherproof flaps, can be seen throughout Red Bank with our show’s artwork and hashtag #SpotTheFrog through February. Ready to scoot when you are, just text the Scooter Dudes at 732.784.3011 with your name, Red Bank location, number of riders, pick up time and destination and your ride will be ready in 10-15 minutes. Rides start at $2.50 per person. 10
CAST OF CHARACTERS (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
Insure Invest Retire
El Chupacabra/Junior.......................... Gabriel Diego Hernández
Van Winkle Associates
Patricia .............................................................. Olivia Negrón
A leading provider of benefits,
Yesica.................................................................. Flor De Liz Perez
estate & wealth planning
Joe.......................................................................... Cesar J. Rosado
strategies for families &
Alex........................................................................ Bradley James Tejeda
businesses since 1979. 732.741.4046
SETTING Sunset Park, Brooklyn El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom will be performed without an intermission.
PRODUCTION CREDITS
A mutual company founded in 1845
Assistant to the Director: Brian Eckert Assistant Lighting Designer: Mike Megliola Assistant Projections Designer: John Erickson Assistant Fight Director: Jesse Geguiz
SPECIAL THANKS FROM MATT BARBOT Teatro IATI, Repertorio Español, The Brick, Hispanic Federation, Columbia University School of the Arts, Lynn Nottage, David Henry Hwang, Kelly Stuart, Charles Mee, Anne Cecelia Haney, Nelson T. Eusebio III, Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez, and the casts and crews who have made developing this play possible. The Actors and Stage Manager employed in this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. The scenic, costume, lighting, and sound designers in LORT theatres are represented by United Scenic Artists, Local USA-829 of the IATSE. Two River Theater Company is a member of the League of Resident Theaters (LORT), Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the New Jersey Theatre Alliance, and ArtPride New Jersey.
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The Designers at this Theatre are Represented by
United Scenic Artists • Local USA 829 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes
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BIOS MEET THE ARTISTS!
Gabriel Diego Hernández (El Chupacabra/Junior) is a voiceover artist, burlesque performer, and member of Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater’s acting and music ensemble. Recent NYC credits include La Canción (Repertorio Español), El Bolero Was My Downfall (Pregones), Ajax (Theater of War), The Marchers (PRTT), and two-time Drama Desk Award nominee CasablancaBox (HERE Arts Center). Gabriel hails from Hoboken, NJ and holds two degrees from Yale University, where he met his wife Rachel, with whom he makes nostalgic ’90s hip hop and curates their eight-month-old son’s Instagram account.
Olivia Negrón (Patricia) is thrilled to return to Two River, where she previously appeared as Olga in Mariela in the Desert (Crossing Borders Festival, 2011). She made her professional debut as Juliet at the Walnut Street Theatre, her Broadway debut in the arms of Robert De Niro in Cuba and His Teddy Bear and her second Broadway appearance in Serious Money by Caryl Churchill that same year. Other NY credits include performances at Circle Rep, La MaMa, Henry Street Settlement, Raw Space, HB Playwrights Foundation, and Women’s Interart, where she directed Womantalk, and was awarded a Mayoral Citation for Excellence. Regionally she appeared at Boise Contemporary, Portland Center Stage, Atlanta’s Alliance, Coconut Grove, Mark Taper Forum, Merrimack Rep, Philadelphia Theatre Co, and South Coast Rep. Film, TV, Media credits: Everything Relative (Sundance Film Festival), The Rock (series regular), Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Grand Theft Auto V (Patricia), Girls, Devious Maids, Tinderellas, Without a Trace, Brand New Old Love and The Devil’s Whisper (now in theatres and streaming). She co-created the television pilot Weally Wealthy Women, a half-hour comedy, now in development, and is Executive Producer on the current HBO documentary, ATOMIC HOMEFRONT. Olivia is the granddaughter of the Puerto Rican-born poet Delis Negrón.
Flor De Liz Perez (Yesica) returns to Two River Theater, where she was previously seen in Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England. International: The Motherf**ker with the Hat (National Theatre, London). Off-Broadway: Dolphins and Sharks (Labyrinth Theater); Seven Spots on the Sun (Rattlestick Theater/The Sol Project); Comedy of Errors, Pericles (The Public); Sense and Sensibility (Bedlam); Los Monólogos de la Vagina (Westside Theatre); In the Time of the Butterflies (Repertorio Español). Selected Regional: Good Men Wanted (NY Stage & Film/Vassar College); The House that will not Stand (Berkeley Rep/Yale Rep); A Christmas Carol (Hartford Stage); In the Continuum, Pride and Prejudice, Nicholas Nickleby (PlayMakers Rep). Film: Big Exit (in post-production), The House That Jack Built. TV: Blue Bloods, Madam Secretary, The Good Wife, Elementary (CBS). www.flordelizperez.com.
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Cesar J. Rosado (Joe) is a Bronx native and a founding member and Co-Artistic Director of the Middle Voice at Rattlestick. Cesar is an alumnus of the Atlantic Theater Company Conservatory and received his BFA at Mason Gross School of the Arts, at Rutgers University. His latest works include: The Workshop dir. Knud Adams (Soft Focus/HB Playwrights Theatre); Red Emma & The Mad Monk dir. Katie Lindsay (Ars Nova’s AntFest); Seven Spots on the Sun dir. Weyni Mengesha (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater); Dolphins and Sharks dir. Charlotte Brathwaite (Labyrinth Theater Company); The Orchard dir. Sean B. Leo (Strange Sun Theater Co.); Dolphins and Sharks dir. Nelson Eusebio (Berkshire Playwrights Lab at the Mahaiwe Theater); The Invincible Ones dir. Jenna Worsham (Columbia University MFA Playwrights showcase at Signature Theatre); Lights Over Philo dir. Lee Sunday Evans (Rutgers Theater Company); Exposure dir. Victor Cervantes (Middle Voice at Rattlestick); Henry V dir. Michael Sexton (Rutgers Theater Company); Henry V dir. Tim Walker (The London Shakespeare’s Globe Education); and An Evening of Odets dir. Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Rutgers Theater Company). Cesar also plays the role of Jonathan in the pilot Guap by Chris Myers. Bradley James Tejeda (Alex) is a Hispanic Tejano from the south side of Harlandale, San Antonio, Texas. He graduated with a B.A in Theatre Arts from the University of the Incarnate Word, then spent the next three years attending the Yale School of Drama, graduating in 2016. This past spring marked his firstever New York stage performance with The Light Fantastic Theatre Company’s mobile production of A View from the Bridge as Rodolfo. He spent half of his summer as a resident artist for the Rasquache Artist Residency where he held physical acting workshops with middle-school students of San Francisco Coapan, Mexico, near Cholula and Puebla. He continues to build a career as an actor, teacher, and writer. He dedicates his performance to his father and mother, Henry and Suzanne Tejeda, and his little brothers Jared, Sean, and Luke. And the family away from home: Stephanie Machado, Eston Fung, Andrew Burnap, Sebastian Arboleda, Galen Kane, Bobby Guzman, Julie MarÍn, Michael Muenchow, Ron Van Lieu, Erica Fae, Jane Fujita, and Los Gatos de la Noche.
Matt Barbot (Playwright) is a writer from Brooklyn, NY. He’s very excited for the world premiere of El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom, which was a finalist in the 2013 Repertorio Español Nuestras Voces competition, and won the Kennedy Center’s Darrel Ayers Award for Outstanding Student-Written Play for Young Audiences, as well as the Kennedy Center’s Latinidad Award for Outstanding Play Written by a Student of Latino/Hispanic Heritage. His play Infallibility was produced as part of the 2013 New York International Fringe Festival. Recently, his short play, A List of Some Shit I've Killed, was published as part of the Red Bull Theater’s anthology Red Bull Shorts Volume III. He was recently a Playwright Observer at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center’s 2017 National Playwrights Conference. Matt received his MFA from Columbia University.
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2 Bridge Ave. Red Bank, NJ (the Galleria) 732-224-1233 www.siamgardenrestaurant.com José Zayas (Director) has directed over 100 productions in New York, regionally and internationally. Previously at Two River: Pinkolandia by Andrea Thome. Recent credits include: The Magnetic Fields: 50 Song Memoir (BAM, Mass MoCA, US and European Tour), A Nonesuch Celebration (BAM), Undocumented (Joe’s Pub), Blind Spot, In the Name of Salome, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (Ace and HOLA Awards for best production and direction), Burundanga, The House of the Spirits (Ace Awards, HOLA Award and Ovation Awards for best production and direction), Your Name Will Follow You Home, La Nena Se Casa, Love in the Time of Cholera, In the Time of the Butterflies, Madre (el drama padre), Besame Mucho, Nowhere on the Border, and Barceló on the Rocks (Repertorio Español); Washed Up on the Potomac (Flea Theater); Corazón Eterno (Mixed Blood); Southern Promises and Strom Thurmond Is Not a Racist (PS 122, Brick); Useless (IRT); Father of Lies and Vengeance Can Wait (PS122); P.S. Jones and the Frozen City, Feeder: A Love Story (TerraNOVA Collective); Okay, Mrs. Jones and the Man From Dixieland (EST); The Idea of Me (Cherry Lane Theatre); The Queen Bees (Queens Theatre in the Park); Manuel Vs. The Statue of Liberty and Children of Salt (NYMF); Cancun, Chronicle of a Death Foretold (GALA Theatre, DC); Wedding Dress, The Island of Lonely Man (Teatro Espressivo, Costa Rica). He has premiered works by Caridad Svich, Rob Askins, Thomas Bradshaw, Duncan Sheik, Steven Sater, Taylor Mac, Marco Antonio Rodriguez, Lynn Rosen, Saviana Stanescu, Carlos Murillo, Rob Urbinati, Kristina Poe, Catherine Filloux, James Carter, Gerardo Cardenas, and Jordi Galceran. He was assistant director for Talk Radio directed by Robert Falls; Regrets Only directed by Christopher Ashley; and Come Back, Little Sheba directed by Michael Pressman. Awards: Ace, HOLA Awards, Premios ATI, Ovation. Nytheater.com: People of the Year. Drama League Fellow, Lincoln Center’s Director’s Lab, SoHo Rep Writers/Director’s Lab, NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Directors, Ensemble Studio Theatre member, Resident Director Repertorio Español. Born in Puerto Rico, he graduated from Harvard and Carnegie Mellon Universities. Arnulfo Maldonado (Scenic Designer) is a New York City-based set and costume designer. Previously at Two River: The Women of Padilla by Tony Meneses and Madeleine George’s Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England, both with director Ken Rus Schmoll. Notable New York credits include: School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play and Charm (MCC Theater); Bull in a China Shop (Lincoln Theater Center); Twelfth Night (The Public); Kingdom Come (Roundabout); Duat and generations (Soho Rep); Caught (Play Co); Men on Boats, Iowa (Playwrights Horizons); Iphigenia in Aulis (CSC). Regional: Berkeley Rep, Center Stage, Central City Opera, Guthrie Theater, Old Globe, Olney Theatre Center, Opera Theatre of St Louis, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival. Tour: Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower (Under the Radar Festival, NYUAD Arts Center, Abu Dhabi US Tour); The Magnetic Fields: 50 Song Memoir (BAM Next Wave/International tour). Mr. Maldonado is a Clubbed Thumb Affiliated Artist, a recipient of a Princess Grace Fabergé Theater Award, and a multiple-Henry Hewes Design nominee. MFA: NYU Tisch. www.arnulfomaldonado.com 14
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Ásta Bennie Hostetter (Costume Designer) At Two River: Pinkolandia. NYC: The Wolves (Lincoln Center), The Rape of the Sabine Women… (Playwrights Realm), Fulfillment Center (MTC), Smokefall (MCC), John (Signature), Men on Boats (Playwrights Horizons), The Terrifying (Abrons Arts Center), Porto (Bushwick Starr), Picnic/Come Back, Little Sheba (Transport Group), Coriolanus (Red Bull Theater), 10 Out of 12, Generations (Soho Rep). Regional: Mystery of Love & Sex (Signature Theatre), 4000 Miles and After The Revolution (Baltimore Center Stage). Zach Blane (Lighting Designer) Selected OffBroadway: Too Much, Too Much, Too Many and Suicide, Incorporated (Roundabout Theatre Company); Would You Still Love Me If (New World Stages, dir. Kathleen Turner); Charles Busch’s Cleopatra (TFANC); Wringer (City Center); The Siblings Play (Cherry Lane); Suitcase Under the Bed (Mint Theater Company, Theatre Row); Bulldozer: The Ballad of Robert Moses (St. Clements); The Crusade of Connor Stephens (Jerry Orbach); The Eternal Space (Theatre Row); Soul Doctor (Actors Temple); The Good Girl (59E59); The Dork Knight (Abingdon); Sommerfugl; Holiday House (4th Street, NYTW). National Tour: Crane: On Earth, In Sky (Heather Henson). Regional: Barrington Stage Company, Two River Theater, Olney Theatre Center, Bucks County Playhouse, Dorset Theatre Festival, Cape Playhouse, Fiddlehead Theatre Company, Shubert Theatre, Adirondack Theatre Company, City Theatre, Engeman Theater, Will Rogers Center. Norwegian Cruise Lines (Fleet-wide Lighting Designer). Named “Designer to Watch” by Live Design Magazine, 2011. www.ZachBlane.com. Instagram: @zachblane. Jane Shaw (Sound Designer) previously designed The Women of Padilla, Lives of Reason, Guadalupe in the Guest Room and Pinkolandia (directed by José Zayas) at Two River Theater. New York credits include Actually (MTC, Williamstown Theatre Festival); Measure for Measure, The Killer (Theatre for a New Audience); The Suitcase under the Bed (Mint Theater); Ironbound (Rattlestick/Women’s Project). Regional credits include Jane Eyre (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park/Milwaukee Rep); Caroline or Change (Tantrum Theater); Rear Window, Seder (Hartford Stage); and Shakespeare in Love, The Crucible (Cleveland Play House). Next: Water by the Spoonful at the Mark Taper Forum, The Royale at Cleveland Play House. Recognition: Bessie Award, Henry Award, Drama Desk, Premios ACE 2012, two Connecticut Critics Circle awards, Meet the Composer grant, Theatre Communications Group’s Career Development Program, and nominations for two Lortels, Henry Hewes and Elliot Norton Awards. She was born in Kansas and lives in Brooklyn. Alex Koch (Projections/Animation Designer) Selected credits: Concert design: The Magnetic Fields: 50 Song Memoir. Projections design on Broadway: Irena’s Vow (Walter Kerr). Selected OffBroadway and downtown credits: Buyer & Cellar (Barrow Street; Rattlestick); Body of an American (Primary Stages); The Liquid Plain (Signature Theatre); En el Tiempo de las Mariposas, La Casa de los Espíritus (Repertorio Español); ReEntry, The Oxford Roof Climber’s Rebellion (Urban Stages); Lenin’s Embalmers (Ensemble Studio Theatre). Regional: Marley (Center Stage, Baltimore); The Invisible Man (Court Theatre, Chicago; Studio Theatre, Washington DC; Huntington Theatre Company, Boston); ReEntry (Center Stage, Baltimore; Round House, Washington DC; Actors Theater 16
of Louisville); 33 Variations (Capitol Repertory, Albany); La Casa de los Espíritus (Teatro Espressivo, Costa Rica; Mori Theater, Chile). Additional collaborators include the Director’s Company, Theater MITU, The Woodshed Collective, the Assembly, SummerStage, Little Opera Theater, Dixon Place, Electric Pear, Shalimar, and the New Ensemble. www.alexbascokoch.com UnkleDave’s Fight-House (Fight Direction) UnkleDave’s FightHouse is a company of fight-directors founded by Dave Anzuelo. The core members of the team are Jesse Geguzis, Gerry Rodriguez, and Sean Griffin. Two River Theater credits: Be More Chill; Seven Guitars; A Raisin in the Sun. Broadway credits: Tuck Everlasting (Broadhurst); An American in Paris (Palace); Disgraced (Lyceum). Off-Broadway: Oedipus El Rey, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Public Theater); Downtown Race Riot, Sticks and Bones (New Group); Alligator (New Georges/Sol Project); And I And Silence (Signature); The Hill Town Plays (Rattlestick; Axis; Cherry Lane); To the Bone (Cherry Lane); Adoration of the Old Woman (Intar). National Tour: An American in Paris. Regional: Macbeth (Northern Stage); Oklahoma (Goodspeed); Disgraced (Goodman, Mark Taper Forum, Seattle Rep). Jack Doulin + Sharky (Casting) Jack has been the Casting Director at New York Theatre Workshop since 2000. Productions there include: Peter and the Starcatcher, Homebody/Kabul, Far Away, A Number, Hedda Gabler, The Misanthrope, and The Little Foxes. Other NYC highlights include two notable productions of Uncle Vanya: André Gregory’s production with Julianne Moore and Wallace Shawn (filmed by Louis Malle as Vanya on 42nd Street), and Annie Baker’s adaptation with Reed Birney, Maria Dizzia, and Michael Shannon directed by Sam Gold. For SoHo Rep: Blasted, A Public Reading...Disney, Marie Antoinette. Film: New Orleans, Mon Amour directed by Michael Almereyda and Jonathan Demme’s A Master Builder and What the Night Can Do. Sharky, also known as Taylor Williams, serves as the Casting Associate at New York Theatre Workshop. Together they have cast: Love and Information (NYTW), Oklahoma! (Bard SummerScape), Scenes from a Marriage (NYTW), You Got Older (P73), City of Conversation (Arena Stage), An Octoroon (Soho Rep and TFANA), Red Speedo (NTYW), Hadestown (NYTW), Othello (NYTW) directed by Sam Gold, Mary Jane (NYTW) written by Amy Herzog and upcoming The Winter’s Tale (TFANA) and Adrienne Kennedy’s new play He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box (TFANA). Terri K. Kohler (Production Stage Manager) Two River: As You Like It. New York: In the Blood, The Death of the Last Black Man…, Chéri (Signature Theatre); Can You Forgive Her?, Indecent (Vineyard Theatre); Red Speedo, Scenes from a Marriage, Belleville, The Black Eyed (New York Theatre Workshop); Mother Courage, Doctor Faustus, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, The School for Lies, The Forest (CSC); Futurity (Soho Rep/Ars Nova); Washeteria, We Are Proud...., Orange, Hat & Grace (Soho Rep); Pretty Filthy, In the Footprint, Paris Commune, The Great Immensity (Civilians); The Designated Mourner, In Darfur (Public Theater); Garden of Earthly Delights, Angel Reapers (conceived by Martha Clarke). Select regional: Parable of the Sower (ArtsEmerson); Good Men Wanted (NY Stage and Film); Wild Swans (ART/ Young Vic); Oedipus, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, La Dispute, The Sound of a Voice (ART). Usual Suspect (NYTW), Associate Artist, The Civilians.
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N O I T O T B R A A B S T R T
A E M V T H YA S N G I O R A C AY W Z A L P N E TWE
BE C E R I AND D
É S O J TOR
ano. L. Loz Yurik y b s o . Phot Zayas José d n a t Barbo : Matt L to R From
MAT T: I remember taking trips to visit family in Puerto Rico. I was eight years old the first time we went, and I was immediately enchanted by vejigante masks as a sort of iconic symbol. When I was little, they reminded me of very elaborate characters out of myth, or superheroes out of comic books. So, that idea never really sort of went away. When I was in college and I started writing plays, I started to go back to that idea. I was also thinking about representation and comic books, about the media I was consuming and the messages it was giving me for the first time. And I was thinking about my identity and my heritage in the context of my surroundings, a liberal arts college in southern Pennsylvania. When all these different ideas percolate separately, and then wind up together, is when you wind up with a play. [The playwright] Kristoffer Diaz talks about writing the play that only you can write, and I think about that in Coquír. There are particular questions about relation to El Coquí. identity that I never really knew how to talk about—things
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that I had been thinking about or felt or wondered— that I couldn’t really express in a story until the idea of Alex creating a vejigante superhero came together. J O S É : I, of course, responded to the fact that no one was doing this type of play within the context of my culture. I’m Puerto Rican, I grew up in the Virgin Islands. For me, Puerto Rico was always something that I floated around, quite literally sometimes. Even though Spanish is my first language, I do feel disconnected from it. I have these questions for myself, like—“how authentic am I?” and “how am I supposed to talk to my culture?”—and a lot of the plays I do are ways to have that conversation with myself. I’ve done a couple of high-effect superhero plays, but
I’ve never done one that has also married the real world with this alternate world in the way you have. The two worlds affect one another in unexpected ways—it is about the stories we tell, and how we use these stories to understand where we are, what we’re doing. I hope the audience connects to this process of storytelling, and to seeing someone struggle with the questions of identity through their art. That’s one of the elements that make it universal. MAT T: I am very interested in story as a way that we define ourselves, so a lot of my plays have to do with comic books, or religion, or video games—things that we pass down. There is an element of writing stories about stories that shows up in a lot of my work, whether I want it there or not. Something that’s very important to me is telling stories about second-generation Latino people who are born here. J O S É : Is this you? MAT T: I think this is more me than an immigration narrative. This is more me than a story about a revolution in Latin America, right? And I think oftentimes, in regards to the narratives that get told about Latinos or any identity group, we mistake the story that we’re accustomed to seeing for the story people want or the story they will accept. So it’s exciting to me to be able to tell stories about people that are more like me, more like how I grew up, because there are more stories to tell, there are wider stories to tell. And I think that, as I said before, stories define us; if we continue to define people as perpetual immigrants, or perpetual prisoners, perpetual revolutionaries, there are only so many—
that he’s adopted when he’s talking about how he gets his powers and where he gets them from. He uses those tropes and adapts them. JO S É : A lot of what’s successful in American theater is the middle-class living room play. And a lot of the Hispanic artists I work with don’t write those. They write plays that are very explosively theatrical. So I haven’t really seen my family onstage in English, or even in Spanish; I haven’t seen the people I grew up with onstage. I think that’s what a lot of Latinx writers are searching for right now, like—what is the story I can tell? They’re trying to put their families onstage—not just the immigrant story, not the stories of crime—they’re trying to tell these very, you know, I want to say “middle-class” stories. It’s that next step, and it’s what you’re trying to investigate now. M AT T: Right, and the pop culture you’re drawing from is American, but the food on your table is not, so what are the definitions, and what are the boundaries, and how do these things mix together? JO S É : I think those are great questions, how do these things mix? I’m a huge genre fan, and whenever I can find a play that is actually doing genre onstage, it’s exciting. The way identity is dealt with in this play could not happen in a movie in the same way because in a movie, it might be too literal, but onstage you can really reflect on it as metaphor. Genre allows you to think outside of what you’re normally able to do. I’ve seen many plays where characters struggle with questions of their identity, but El Coquí is an exciting and unusual combination of elements that we really don’t see enough of. n
J O S É : And yet, we’ve inherited those narratives. And as we create new ones, we’re aware of those that have come before. A lot of the characters in El Coquí are responding to those narratives—trying to not be them, or trying to embrace the clichés in them. MAT T: Absolutely, one hundred percent. And that’s being aware of it, navigating pop culture, and drawing on those things. In the play, Alex uses the tropes of pop culture
PLEASE CONSIDER DONATING to Puerto Rican hurricane relief. Your contribution will help greatly and provide much needed hope as the people of PR continue to rebuild after Hurricane Maria. gofundme.com/puertoricohurricanerelief hispanicfederation.org/donate
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LEADERSHIP BIOS JOHN DIAS (ARTISTIC DIRECTOR) assumed his position as Artistic Director of Two River Theater in August 2010 after working as a producer and dramaturg in New York for 20 years. In partnership with Managing Director Michael Hurst he has brought new vitality to the 24-yearold Red Bank theater, including producing subscription shows on two stages for the first time; launching the theater’s first literary department and commissioning program for new plays; presenting annual events such as a musical theater cabaret in collaboration with New York University’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program and the Crossing Borders festival of Latino plays; and developing numerous arts-education initiatives for young people including A Little Shakespeare, an annual production of one of Shakespeare’s plays performed by high-school students. He is the co-author and was the director of Two River’s musical The Ballad of Little Jo, which he wrote with composer Mike Reid and lyricist Sarah Schlesinger. Throughout his career, John has been a leading advocate for bold new American plays and stimulating productions of the classics, including the Broadway productions of Lisa Kron’s Well and Shakespeare’s The Tempest. For 12 seasons, he worked in a variety of capacities at The Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival, including Associate Producer and Associate Artistic Director. Previously, John was dramaturg at Hartford Stage Company. He also co-founded and led Affinity Company Theater, a production company dedicated to bringing daring new works from around the world to New York, and The Playwrights Realm, an off-Broadway company that produces new plays by emerging artists. He has been a Tony Award nominator, a consultant for the National Endowment for the Arts and numerous other organizations, and he has taught at New York University and Yale University. John currently teaches in the graduate school at Columbia University. He received his BA from George Washington University and his MFA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
MICHAEL HURST (MANAGING DIRECTOR) has been the Managing Director of Two River Theater since 2011. During his tenure, Two River has embarked on a new Strategic Plan; began producing subscription shows on two stages for the first time; and launched the theater’s first commissioning program for original plays, as well as numerous new community and education programs. Under his joint leadership with Artistic Director John Dias, Two River has experienced ambitious growth and enjoyed new recognition in the national theater community. Prior experience includes 16 years at The Public Theater, including four years as General Manager and six as Managing Director, overseeing budgets that ranged from $16 to $20 million. Michael was responsible for all financial aspects of the productions at The Public Theater and Central Park’s Delacorte Theater. During his tenure at The Public, he oversaw the Broadway transfers of many productions, including Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama; Take Me Out, winner of the Tony Award for Best Play; and Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori’s Caroline, or Change. Michael was also part of all strategic planning including the opening of Joe’s Pub, now considered one of the country’s best small venues for music and performance. Prior to coming to Two River, Michael was Chief Operating Officer of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, which presents the New York Film Festival. At the Film Society, he oversaw the building of a new three-theater, $40-million facility that opened in June 2011, and he managed the organizational growth necessary to support the facility. Michael served as Vice President for The Off-Broadway League and was a member of The Broadway League for 14 years. He is a graduate of Rutgers University and currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the New Jersey Theatre Alliance and on the Advisory Board for the Indie Street Film Festival.
ROBERT M. RECHNITZ (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) founded Two River Theater in 1994 and serves as the theater’s Executive Producer. In 2015/16, Two River premiered his play (written with Kenneth Stunkel), Lives of Reason. An educator, writer, and director, he is one of New Jersey’s most esteemed theater leaders. He earned his PhD from the University of Colorado and was a Professor of American Literature at Monmouth University for 35 years, contributing scholarly articles and short stories to various academic journals. As Two River’s Executive Producer, he oversaw the theater’s move from Monmouth University in West Long Branch to the Algonquin Arts in Manasquan. While the company was in residence in Manasquan, he planned for and oversaw the building of Two River’s state-of-the-art, two-theater complex in Red Bank as its permanent home. He directed the opening production in the new building, the classic American comedy You Can’t Take It with You, in 2005. Among the other notable productions he has directed at Two River are Curse of the Starving Class (for which he received a nomination for Best Director of a Comedy from The Star-Ledger), True West, A View from the Bridge, The Glass Menagerie, Thieves’ Carnival, Uncle Vanya, American Buffalo, and Barefoot in the Park. Bob is an active member of a number of organizations benefiting our Monmouth Country, including serving as a Board member for several local non-profits. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, honors, commendations, and accolades. 21
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THE MADCAP MAGIC OF
EDUCATION SPOTLIGHT
A LITTLE SHAKESPEARE: THE COMEDY OF ERRORS Each season, Two River Theater introduces the works of Shakespeare to hundreds of young people through our A Little Shakespeare program. One of our most popular initiatives, A Little Shakespeare brings a 75-minute version of one of Shakespeare’s plays—adapted, directed and designed by professional artists—to Red Bank audiences. Each Little Shakes production is performed by local high-school students, with additional opportunities for students to work as an assistant director, assistant stage manager, design assistant, or on the production’s run crew.
dynamic use of language fused with athletic storytelling, vibrant visual worlds, and a spirit of joy, collaboration, and play.
This year, we are presenting The Comedy of Errors, adapted and directed by Sara Holdren. Two sets of identical twins, separated at birth + several cases of mistaken identity = hijinks ensue in Shakespeare’s great comedy!
Student actors are cast through auditions, which are followed by three months of rehearsals, including script analysis, blocking, and character development. This year, our company includes 14 students from 6 high schools (Asbury Park HS, Christian Brothers Academy, Howell HS – FPAC, Neptune HS, Red Bank Regional HS – VPA, Trinity Hall). We are delighted to introduce you to them here!
Holdren, a director and teacher, is the Artistic Director/cofounder of the Tiltyard theater company and was appointed the theater critic for New York magazine in July 2017. In her work, she combines a lifelong love of Shakespeare and classical texts with an interest in contemporary ensemble training and devised theater, striving for a rigorous and
The Comedy of Errors will run March 6-11, 2018 on the stage of the Rechnitz Theater. There will be eight performances, including four student matinees geared toward young people ages 9 and up. Each student matinee includes an in-school pre-show workshop conducted by a professional Two River teaching artist, as well as a talkback after the show with the cast and crew.
A Little Shakespeare: The Comedy of Errors is supported by OceanFirst, The Jorgensen Foundation, and Monmouth University. n
CAST:
Christianah Akinsanmi
Olivia Ferrigine
Michael Aron
Sean Gassaway
Anarah Dyani Black
Maeve Gearty
Lev Brewer
Davis Bush
Jack Cusik
Jack Davis
AJ Johnson
Ashley Moshett
Dixie O"Connell
Mei-Ling Steward
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Two River Theater recently teamed up with Jay Webb of Red Bank's Indie Street Film Festival and co-creator of the new graphic novel, Legend of Sumeria, to create a mini illustrated comic book story of El CoquĂ Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom. Inspired from actual costume sketches, actor headshots, and dialogue from the play, he and local illustrator Conor Hughes were able to make the plot come to life through these beautiful drawings.
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Comic Design: Jay Webb. Illustration: Conor Hughes 25
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STONES IN HIS POCKETS By
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JANUARY 12 – FEBRUARY 11, 2018
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VOLUNTEER
ART STEINMAN
PASSION (AND PUNK ROCK) IN THE PARTERRE
This Volunteer Spotlight will come as no surprise to the lucky Two River theatergoers who’ve snagged seats in the uppermost rows of the Rechnitz Theater. They’ve already experienced the particular magic of Art Steinman, Fair Haven resident, arts lover, and Volunteer Guild member extraordinaire. Art’s love of theater and all art was instilled in him from an early age during his Brooklyn upbringing, from his entire family but especially from his mother. “She loved theater, she joined them all: Theater in the Round, Circle in the Square. If they had a triangle she would’ve joined that too,” Art laughs. “She loved theater, opera, ballet, museums—my father did too, but she was a ‘macher’: she made everything happen.” When Art was a child in the 1960s, he’d babysit his brother Wesley every weekend while his parents went out for their regular arts appreciation. As soon as the boys were old enough to join them, the whole family stepped out for all the vast variety of arts that New York City had to offer, experiencing Broadway shows like The Man of La Mancha, Camelot, and Irma la Douce, and playing the original cast albums until the grooves wore out.
SPOTLIGHT
A musician himself from the age of 15, Steinman left college—and the ‘garage band’ life—to become a full-time musician in 1970. As part of the early days of what would become punk rock, he played in Brooklyn Heights, coffee Art Steinman houses in the Village, and legendary NYC venues including the Fillmore East, the Mercer Art Center, and the Diplomat Hotel. He performed with Wilbert Harrison (of “Kansas City” fame), played guitar for a band called Shaker which opened for the New York Dolls for over a year, and was signed with Atlantic Records for a period. He formed a duo with his younger brother Wesley, a self-taught musical virtuoso, songwriter, and political activist. The two called themselves Samson (so named because of their dad, Sam), and canvassed the New York City music scene, racking up hundreds of recordings and songs that Art still
has today, and has cherished even more since Wesley’s untimely death. After meeting his wife Rita, Steinman went back to technical school and got his associate degree in electronics. He took a job with Bell Labs, and moved with Rita to Fair Haven in 1983, where they raised their daughter, and where they still live today. “As soon as Two River Theater opened, we were wowed. The architecture alone, as soon as you walk in the doors you get such a feeling. I still get that feeling today. As soon as the building opened, we knew we had to see a show. And we just fell in love.” Art has contributed to almost every part of Two River Theater, other than trodding the boards himself (though let’s not rule that out as a possibility). He’s been a subscriber, a regular participant at Inside Two River events and Open Rehearsals, Vice President of Fundraising for the Volunteer Guild, an Ambassador for Senior Community outreach, usher, and so much more. Since Art and Rita are also longtime subscribers, they use the free tickets that Art gets as a member of the Volunteer Guild to pay the Two River experience forward, gifting the tickets to friends and neighbors who haven’t been to the theater before. “I love when people come in and their faces light up, and they’re like ‘oh my God, this is really here in Red Bank, how lucky are we.’ I give them a program, I say ‘welcome to the theater,’ and it’s just incredible getting the feedback and making people feel special. “When you walk through those doors, it changes your whole outlook. It rearranges the atoms and molecules in your body. It charges your batteries, and it’s a reciprocal thing. I’m helping out the theater, but they’re helping me. It’s been a great social and cultural and spiritual and artistic experience, and that really is priceless. “The love of theater came from my family, it got me into musicality and my career, and then being here and discovering Two River Theater, it’s enriched our lives a million percent. I can’t do enough for them, whatever [House Manager] Angela White asks me to do. When you have a love for the theater and the people in it, it can’t get any better than that.” n 29
FROM CORSETS TO CAPES: From The Importance of Being Earnest to El Coquí &TQFDUBDVMBS with the Two River Theater
COSTUME SHOP Photos by Yurik L. Lozano.
The 2017/18 is taking Two River Theater on some amazing journeys, but the greatest distance travelled this season might be between the two winter productions: the frills and finery of The Importance of Being Earnest jumping (with a single bound) to the Brooklyn street fashion and Comic-Con-esque superhero splendor of El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom. The costumes for The Importance of Being Earnest, recently seen in our Rechnitz Theater, were designed by Jess Goldstein; the heroes and villains of El Coquí Espectacular, now on stage in the Marion Huber Theater, are wearing costumes designed by Ásta Bennie Hostetter. For both shows (and for every show in our season), the designers’ ideas are executed by the same powerhouse team: Costume Shop Supervisor Lesley Sorenson, Draper Jill DiGiuseppe, Wardrobe Supervisor Maggie Barnett, and Costume Assistant Jaclyn Vela.
“As soon as we have actors, I’m reaching out to them for their measurements,” says Sorenson, “and at the same time I’m checking in with the costume designer for more info about their vision, including what materials they think the costumes are made of. Altogether, we have four to five weeks to get things ready for Opening Night.” THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING HISTORICALLY ACCURATE The frothy frills for Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest were dreamed up by Goldstein, a Tony Award-winning designer, based on his historical research into the clothing of the period—and then built in the costume shop, realized by the teams experience in bringing period clothes to a modern stage. “The play is already established in a timeline. There’s a clear way of doing well-done turn-of-the-century dresses,” says DiGiuseppe, the resident expert in costuming for the Victorian and Edwardian eras. “And it’s done quite frequently. All of us have worked on, if not one, then several plays set in a similar period.” “Earnest is a classic,” agrees Sorenson. “A lot of us had to buy textbooks on the history of the period when we went into costume education. It’s tried and true with us.” WE COULD BE HEROES, JUST FOR FOUR WEEKS For El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom, there were no scholarly texts to consult when it came to Brooklyn streetwear or masked vigilante couture. The costume team went to work through the arguably more intensely peer-reviewed world of the Internet. “We went online,” Sorenson says. “The world of cosplay and Comic-Con is amazing, and there’s a ton of YouTube videos. We found a company in Texas, and we’ve been emailing back and forth with them about spikes and antlers and teeth; we’ve started experimenting with thermoplastics for masks— it’s a whole new world.”
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El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom renderings by Ásta Bennie Hostetter. The Importance of Being Earnest rendering (center) by Jess Goldstein.
The process has been a combination of new ideas and drawing on the team’s expertise and experience. YouTube costume tutorials put them onto the idea to transform pool noodles into a tail for the villainous Chupacabra, played by actor Gabriel Diego Hernández. Fortunately, though, the costume team already knew how they could create a base to attach the tail to the actor: they have experience outfitting tails to woodland creatures for The Wind in the Willows Christmas in 2013! The team also knew that the traditional papier-mâché used to make vejigante carnival masks would be too time-consuming and fragile for the play’s deeds of derring-do, so they collaged masks out of Halloween monsters, foam soccer helmets, small lights, and sunglass lenses—trying things out, seeing what worked best, and going from there. SUPERHERO ORIGIN STORY: INSIDE THE REHEARSAL ROOM Putting costumes together isn’t as easy as stepping into a phone booth right before final dress rehearsal. Costumes are a part of the rehearsal process as the actors, the director, and the stage manager learn what is and isn’t possible with what they might be wearing on stage. For The Importance of Being Earnest, that meant outfitting actresses with rehearsal corsets and skirts. For El Coquí, it meant outfitting actors with rehearsal masks, tails, claws, and feet. “It informs the choreography and blocking,” says Barnett. “When an actress is in a corset, you can’t ask her to bend over to pick something up.” “Rehearsal costumes are important when you’re thinking about entrances and exits,” Sorenson agrees. “Right now, we have to ask: how long is your tail, and how big is the door you have to get through? For Earnest it was how big is your skirt, how does it affect how you sit in that chair? It gets an actor used to the new shape that they’re living in.” NO SLEEP(ING ON COSTUME DESIGN) ‘TIL BROOKLYN Where Earnest included textbook turn-of-the-century finery, the world of modern streetwear wasn’t exactly simple stuff, even compared to constructing a vejigante mask out of thermoplastic. For a modern show, instead of a fixed wardrobe the actors are given what Sorenson calls “a little closet” full of different options. It’ll be narrowed down from there through the tech week process, until this shirt and that pair of jeans is decided on for the final look. “With built costumes, the design is pretty set from the beginning,” DiGiuseppe says. “It does change a little bit, but usually since it’s being built it has a very specific design. With modern shows you’re working with what’s out there, and it’s a lot more fluid as you decide on what you want.” n 31
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BIENVENIDOS!
ASSOCIATES,
PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT: CROSSING BORDERS & NOSOTROS
WELCOME TO THE THEATER! Here at Two River Theater, we believe that we have a responsibility to create the most diverse and representative theater that we can. We have cast our productions with diverse acting companies, and made plays by Latino and African-American theater artists an essential part of each mainstage season—including making a commitment to produce all 10 plays in August Wilson’s American Century Cycle. (We have produced four so far, all of which have enjoyed extended runs and critical acclaim.) Additionally, we host play readings (including Spanishlanguage readings), offer free community events including family programming, and make available free tickets to performances so that all audiences will feel a part of the work we do at Two River Theater. And, each year, we further expand the reach of our Crossing Borders (Cruzando Fronteras) new Latino play festival. The annual five-day festival features free readings of works by Latino playwrights, at least one of which is also read in Spanish; conversations with artists; and live music. In 2017, more than 800 people attended the festival—a record number of attendees—and Crossing Borders expanded to include a community mural project; our first production for young audiences, Blancaflor, by Cecilia Cackley; and our first musical, The Golem of Havana, with music by Salomon Lerner, lyrics by Len Schiff, and book by Michael Hausmann. In 2018, we plan to deepen the local relevance of Crossing Borders even more, with programming that reflects the diverse voices of our community. We’ll be announcing more information about this year’s festival throughout our season—mark your calendars now to join us August 1-5! Since Crossing Borders launched in 2011, three productions that were introduced to Red Bank audiences in the festival have gone on to mainstage productions at the theater, including Pinkolandia, Ropes, our current world premiere of Matt Barbot’s El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom, directed by José Zayas. Employing deft use of the superhero/comic book genre, El Coquí explores questions of individual and national identity—including what it means to be “Latino” or “not Latino enough”—in contemporary America. El Coquí looks at Latino identity in a deeply personal, emotionally honest, very funny way that only grows more relevant in our political and cultural climate.
In addition to producing plays by Latino writers, Two River engages Latino artists and audiences through an ongoing initiative called Nosotros (“Us”), an artistic outreach program dedicated to supporting Latino artists and cultivating Latino audiences that launched in conjunction with our 2014 production of Tony Meneses’ play Guadalupe in the Guest Room. Nosotros has grown to include Spanish-language programming and family events at the theater throughout each of our seasons. Past events have included “Beauty in Two Language: An Evening of Spanish-Language Poetry in English Translation,” which included poems by noted Spanish writers including Federico García Lorca and Pablo Neruda; and Spanish-language readings of plays including The Women of Padilla (Las Mujeres de Padilla), a world premiere by Tony Meneses and, most recently, The Importance of Being Earnest (La Importancia de Ser Franco), the classic comedy by Oscar Wilde. This season, we are also offering Día de la Familia family programming for our Theatre for Young Audiences productions of Skeletons: A Day of the Dead Bedtime Story and The Rainbow Fish. Nosotros began as a series of storytelling workshops created and led by playwright Tanya Saracho and director Jerry Ruiz; as part of the initiative, Two River has commissioned Tanya to write a play that will speak directly to the concerns of Red Bank’s Latino community, and will be drawn from experiences and challenges specific to this community in this particular place. The play will be developed at the theater under Jerry’s direction. Stay tuned for information about opportunities for audiences to hear it read aloud as a work-in-progress! n
CELEBRATING Socorro Santiago and Alfredo Huereca in Guadalupe in the Guest Room.
49 YEARS IN BUSINESS
The company of our Spanish-language reading of The Importance of Being Earnest.
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THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY
COMING SOON
Writer and actor David Greenspan, the winner of five Obie Awards, is one of the most original and audacious figures in the American theater. This season, Two River is proud to bring our audience his commissioned world-premiere adaptation of The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder, the beloved author of Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth. Wilder’s great, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel—about five travelers who fall to their deaths when they are crossing a bridge that breaks without warning—is a gorgeous piece of writing that questions whether it is divine purpose, or chaos, that shapes the course of our lives. Greenspan invites the audience to imagine that we are in 18th century Peru—but it is always clear that we are in theater. Inspired by the spirit of Wilder’s landmark play Our Town, he conjures one of the characters, Uncle Pio (played by Greenspan himself), as sort of a stage manager—in the spirit of the Stage Manager in Our Town. The resulting play—uniquely faithful to Wilder, yet equally uniquely Greenspan’s own—is a dazzling rumination on the nature of love.
FREE INSIDE TWO RIVER EVENTS TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6 AT 7PM Theater 101: Thornton Wilder MONDAY, MARCH 12 AT 6:30PM Book Club: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
è
Don’t miss The Bridge of San Luis Rey in our intimate Marion Huber Theater, directed by Ken Rus Schmoll. Performances begin February 17 and continue through March 18. For more information or tickets, visit tworivertheater.org or stop by the box office.
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INDIVIDUAL
DONORS
THANK YOU to the following generous individuals who made contributions to the theater! VISIONARY CIRCLE ($25,000+) Anonymous Caroline P. Huber The Estate of Victoria J. Mastrobuono Joan and Robert Rechnitz The Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation
THE INNOVATOR CIRCLE ($10,000-$24,999) Jane Bergere Marilyn and Bob Broege Diane and Robert Butters Todd and Lanae Herman Phyllis Kinsler Mary Jane and Rick Kroon Joanna and Brian Leddin* Helaine and Sid Lerner Anne Luzzatto and Gordon Litwin Victoria and William Marraccini Susan and Ty Olson Adam and Liz Rechnitz John Paladino and Emily Rechnitz Anne and Sheldon Vogel
BENEFACTOR ($5,000-$9,999) Howard P. Aronson Lisa and Stephen Becker Sam Chevalier Melissa and Joseph Del Broccolo III* Carolyn and Neil DeSena Robert E. Evanson Ms. Joan Fishman and Dr. Paul Brown Gale and Dr. Robert B. Grossman Guttenplan Family Foundation Joan and Paul Hamelberg Barbara and Jim Hrebek Nancy Karpf and Scott Brady Linda McKean 36
The Honorable Edward J. McKenna, Jr. Nyire and Gregory Melconian Shirley and Bob Neff JP Nicolaides and The Honorable Ed Zipprich Sean Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connell Mary Beth and Gerald Radke Anne Marie Schultz* Elizabeth Tortorella and Ivan Polonsky Susan E. Whyman Meta and Ralph Wyndrum
CHAMPION ($2,500-$4,999) Marie and Robert Abour Shirley S. Boll Rose Caiola Juliet Cozzi and Ronald Gumbaz Lynn and Jan Dash The Devon Group Joan Ellis Linda and Bob Ensor The Gravina Family Foundation, Inc Christina Hewitt Maureen and James Hurst* Cathy Larson Beth and Vinnie Mazza* Kathleen and Arthur McConnell Gloria Nilson Fund Allyn and Patrick Quagliano Patricia and Vernon Ralph Linda and Andrew Safran Mary Carol Stunkel Kathy and Webster Trammell Cynthia and William Wilby
PATRON ($1,000-$2,499) Anonymous Jutta and George Aguilar Barbara and Andy Andres
Pat and Andre Archambault Betsy and Robert Barrett The Honorable William G. Bassler Lois Broder Dennice and Ray Carey Barbara and Tom Carroll Tamara Casriel Barbara and Harold Chafkin Patricia and Dr. E.F. Cheslock Jennifer and Tristram Collins Elizabeth Mihalyak Columbo Jennifer Colyer and Shemmy Mishaan Nancy and Michael Del Priore Gail and John Duffy Lorraine and Bob Henry Michael Hurst Paul and Melissa Hurst Jean Jaslovsky and Vincent Gifford Grace and Peter Kalac Ginny Kamin Edward Madden The Wendy and Jerry Marks Foundation Aida and Brian Murphy Herbert Paul Patricia Perfect Jean Pokress Barry V. Qualls Rev. and Mrs. William C. Riker Monica and John Ryan* Lori and Geoff Sadwith David Schwartz Foundation June and Morton Seligman Candy and Dr. Sigmund Sattenspiel Caryl and Charles Sills Maureen Silliman and William Parry Bruce Sherill and Robert Cordrey Arthur and Rita Steinman The Warters Family Fund Laura and Greg Wallace* Cathy and Gene Weber* Catherine Weiss and Samuel Huber Chryssa Yaccarino, Esq. Joan Zakanych
PRODUCER ($500-$999) Jennifer and Joe Anderson Kasandrea Banks Roxane Blount Nancy and Ed Butler Stephanie and Kevin Christiano Richard and Judy Fuller Margean Gladysz Valerie Gordon-Johnson Barbara and Dr. Alan Haratz Eve R. Hershkowitz Gail Klein and Marc L. Harrison Patricia and William Jaeger Drs. Sheela and Suresh Jain Natalia Y. Kachala Giovanna Kanu Judith Laufer May Louie and Walter Graczyk Bob MacKasek Kim Mason Robert L. Morteenson Penney Riegelman The Craig and Flori Roberts Foundation, Inc. Daryl Roth Peter A. Schkeeper William G. Shlala Susan Stamler Anita and Robert Stix* Penny and Larry Turtel Gail and Stuart Van Winkle Dee and Fred Williamson
DIRECTOR ($250-$499) Anonymous (3) Meredyth Armitage Barbara Boas and Stephen Hect Dr. Janice Breen Amanda Butterbaugh and Michael Mulheren Mara and Joel Browndorf Dr. Joseph Calabro Lucy Campanella Marjorie and Peter Cavalier Isabella and John Chiappanelli Susan and Alan Coen
Roberta and Harvey Cohen Robert Connolly Karen and Joseph D’Amore Harold Farin* Barbara and Jonathan File Barbara G. Fleischman Susan and Roy Gelber Thomas K. Hessman Kathleen A. Horgan Dr. Barbara Jaye and Dr. William Mitchell Claudette Lupton Alan Mallach Lorraine and Robert McGirr Diane Mensanko Jennifer and Thomas Mullins Lauren Nicosia Karen C. Pajak Marion and Michael Portnoy Karen and David Rajala Ginger and Joel Richman Toni Rinella and Brian Compton Ann Roseman and Stan Lumish Barbara Sager Peggy Sansone Linda M. Schottland Kathryne and Richard Singleton Maria and George Staphos Karin and Joe Stein Judith and Joseph Vassallo Cheryl Wild Marjorie and Zeke Zaccaro Barbara and Maurice Zagha
MATCHING GIFTS
The following have provided matching gifts to Two River on behalf of their employees. BlackRock CR Bard Johnson & Johnson Matching Gifts (2) Microsoft Prudential Financial, Inc. TE Connectivity Verisk Analytics Verizon Wireless *Includes matching gift.
TRIBUTES AND MEMORIALS In Memory of Suzanne Allyn’s Mother: Barbara Kenas In Honor of Howard P. Aronson: Caroline Huber In Memory of Eileen Bassler: The Honorable William G. Bassler In Memory of Robert “Bob” Benson Julia and Jeffrey Mullen In Honor of Judith and Rich Fuller: Nancy and Jim Hoffman In Honor of Caroline Huber: Howard Aronson Jacqueline and David Carboy Dennice and Raymond Carey Diane Dey Joan Ellis Samuel Huber and Catherine Weiss Ginny Kamin Linda McKean Ann McKee Marilyn I. Pearlman Joan Zakanych In Honor of Michele Klinsky: Debra L. Lemeshow In Honor of Mary Jane and Rick Kroon: Susan Stamler In Honor of Edward J. McKenna, Esq.: Lauren Nicosia In Memory of Dorothy Nicosia: Phyllis Kinsler In Honor of Emily J. Patek: Katherine & Thomas Esposito In Memory of Richard J. Schwartz David Schwartz Foundation, Inc In Memory of Bernice Steinman Rita and Arthur Steinman In Honor of Michael Stelle: Maureen Silliman and William Parry In Memory of Fred Traphagen: Debra Lenden
Listing reflects gifts made between August 1, 2016 and December 8, 2017 to the Annual Fund. 37
BE MORE CHILL FANDOM IS “COOL, POWERFUL, AND POPULAR”
Two River Theater GoFundMe campaign raises more than $15,000 with the help of a worldwide fanbase of teenagers! At the end of the musical Be More Chill (spoiler alert!) teenage loser Jeremy Heere manages to foil the world-domination plan of his “Squip”—an ingestible supercomputer that is teaching him how to be popular. But maybe the Squip’s plan wasn’t foiled after all: within two days of its November 21 launch, a $10,000 GoFundMe campaign—hosted by Two River Theater, the original home of Be More Chill—was fully funded, thanks to donations coming from around the U.S. and internationally. Sounds kind of like successful world domination after all, doesn’t it? The campaign started as a joint plan hatched by the theater’s Marketing and Development departments, as an alternative to the more traditional Giving Tuesday outreach. Two torturously vague Instagram posts addressed to the #BeMoreChillMusical fans kicked off a frenzy of buzz, thousands of likes, and hundreds of comments. All over the world, Be More Chill fans were definitely listening. And they were excited (“dying” and “crying,” but still definitely excited) to see what Two River Theater had planned. 38
The GoFundMe campaign revealed a two-fold mission that we thought the Be More Chill fandom would love: raising funds for the next project by creators Joe Iconis and Joe Tracz at Two River Theater, and offering contributors “rewards” of programs, posters, and special Be More Chill official “swag” at certain donation levels. The campaign included “stretch goals” for further fundraising milestones, including a free giveaway sweepstakes, release of production pictures based on a fan vote, and a much-requested look at video from the original production. Within two days, the campaign exceeded its $10,000 goal. The top-tier $100 item, a program from the original production signed by “the Joes,” ran out of its limited quantity within just a few hours. Donations to the campaign ranged between $5 and $200, with donors giving whatever they could to support the teams’ future theatrical goals. As of the print deadline for this program, the campaign had made more than $15,000, with fans still vocally urging others to donate in order to push it past $20,000. Based on a book by Ned Vizzini, Be More Chill had its world premiere at Two River Theater in June 2015. The musical was something special from the start, with houses full of young fans and audience members, some of whom came back as many as nine times during the show’s four-week run. Through an original cast recording and the international reach of Spotify and iTunes, the show’s local cult popularity
Messages from Be More Chill fans “This musical has helped me through a really tough time in my senior year. I don’t know where I’d be if it weren’t for the BMC soundtrack with its rich storytelling and engaging music helping me more than survive. This is the least I could do to show my gratitude to the Joes for the impact their work has made in my life.”
6,153 1,499 “I live in the UK and absolutely adore Be More … ‘Michael in the Bathroom’ got me through a hard time last summer, when I was bullied, so I just want to say thank you to y’all for making this amazing thing!” “Thank you so much for doing this for the fans—and for letting us help bring about the next great show! Be More Chill is so immensely important to me and has genuinely changed my life for the better. This announcement and being able to donate has been the highlight of my day (yeah right—of my life!)”
5,855 1,634
“I’ve been a fan for a bit now and this show has impacted and changed my life. Being bullied everyday sucked but when I listen to BMC it helped me really connect to ignore these people. You guys and this show rocks and keep being awesome!!” “Being from Sweden, I’m probably never going to be able to see this musical live but I still love it and want to support it!”
exploded to circle the globe within the past year, with fans as far away as Australia and the Squip’s homeland of Japan. The album has made it as high up as #8 on Billboard’s cast album chart, and the #BeMoreChill tag on Instagram includes over 100,000 posts—just a small fraction of the fandom’s multi-platform online enthusiasm. Popular fandom hub tumblr.com ranked Be More Chill as second overall for the Top Musicals of 2017, beating out musicals like Tony Award winner Dear Evan Hansen and Wicked. The only musical to beat Be More Chill, according to Tumblr fans, was Hamilton. More than just a story about tech gone awry, the musical’s themes of inclusion,
friendship, and staying true to oneself connected with fans that had never seen the original production. As the largely teenaged fanbase donated to the campaign, they also shared how the musical has helped them overcome bullying, strengthen friendships, and cope with mental illness. While excited about the chance to pick up an original production poster or see some neverbefore-seen production photos, many campaign contributors also said they were just happy to help “the Joes” and Two River Theater, and to give back to a production that has given them so much. Visit the GoFundMe page and marvel at this generous, passionate, and amazing fanbase at bit.ly/SquipFund. n
“Hey, just want you to know how much I love this show and how much it means to me! It honestly brought me closer to a friend given how much we see ourselves in Jeremy and Michael” “Hey, everybody, have you heard? This fundraiser’s awesome now go spread the word!! Been listening to the BMC soundtrack on repeat for the past few months, and saw the live Exit 82 production just a couple weeks ago. I love everything about this show and would love to see even more amazing productions like BMC from Joe Iconis and Joe Tracz. May all your donation goals be successfully reached and then some!” 39
Fabre-Montmayou Patagonia Malbec 2015
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INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT
THE VISIONARY CIRCLE $25,000+
THE STONE FOUNDATION
INNOVATOR CIRCLE $10,000-$24,999 The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust
BENEFACTOR $5,000 - $9,999
COMMUNITY PARTNERS DAVID SCHWARTZ FOUNDATION
The Merrill G. & Emita E. Hastings Foundation
IN-KIND SUPPORT
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The Oyster Point Hotel
invites you to join us to preview an array of local wedding professionals
Saturday February 3, 2018 From 2-5pm
Please R.S.V.P. (732) 784-4028 To register for the event please visit: www.theoysterpointhotel.com/save-date 42
MEET OUR STAFF & VOLUNTEERS! ARTISTIC Stephanie Coen Associate Artistic Director Madeleine George Playwright in Residence Brian Eckert Artistic Assistant ADMINISTRATION Alma MalabananMcGrath General Manager Margaret Shafai Director of Finance Karen Pierce Staff Accountant AUDIENCE SERVICES, PR & MARKETING Courtney Schroeder Director of Marketing Jenna Rocca Associate Director of Marketing Hannah Walker Institutional Marketing Manager Yurik L. Lozano Multimedia Manager Michele Klinsky Box Office Manager Lauren Mancuso Box Office Supervisor Kristina Marinos Box Office Supervisor/ Student Matinee Coordinator Lynn Kroll Box Officer/Group Sales Coordinator Vernette Spicer Box Officer/Access Coordinator Evan Kudish Brianna Merriman Samantha Truglio Matt Yee Box Officers Box Officers Angela White House Manager & Volunteer Coordinator Carmen Balentine Doreen Fromage Melissa Javorek Julie Mullen Donna Stiles Francesca Trerotola Assistant House Managers Briana Butler Colette Dante Thomas Dougherty Matt Markowski Daniel Pino
Kayla Santry Gabby Scerbo John Knodel Front of House Staff DEVELOPMENT Jennifer Anderson Director of Development Katie Benson Events Associate Ellen Hahn Institutional Development Associate Lauren Milne Development Associate EDUCATION Kate Cordaro Director of Education Amanda Espinoza Education Assistant Amanda Butterbaugh Claro de los Reyes Livv DiMattio Tara Giordano Melissa Hodges Artem Yatsunov Teaching Artists Sara Holdren Adaptor/Director OPERATIONS Zeke Zaccaro Director of Operations Vinnie Gillick Lamar Hicks William Hinton Donnie Quarles Wayne Van Saint Building Maintenance PRODUCTION Lauren Kurinskas Director of Production Will Cruttenden Associate Production Manager Margaux Greenhouse Production Management Assistant Mackenzie Cole Company Management Assistant Matt Balfour Colt Luedtke Production Assistants Frank Meyer Technical Director Fiona Malone Assistant Technical Director Duane Noch Master Carpenter Christian Dilks Staff Carpenter
David Slice Shop Assistant Colleen Dolan Scenic Charge Jeena Yoon Properties Supervisor Victoria Schilling Assistant Properties Supervisor Katherine Browne Props Assistant Dan Montano Sound supervisor Sue Patino Lighting Supervisor Eric Nickl Lighting Assistant Tiffany Reichel Sound Assistant Lesley Sorenson Costume Shop Supervisor Jill DiGiusppe Draper Maggie Barnett Wardrobe Supervisor Jaclyn Vela Costume Assistant SPECIAL SERVICES Gilda Rogers Community Relations Social Sidekick Press & Publicity Design Army Graphic Design Suzanne Anan Graphic Design T. Charles Erickson Production Photography Michael Boylan Pennant Collective, Production Video Trailers and Commercials Gordon N. Litwin, Esq., Litwin & Provence, LLC Legal Counsel WithumSmith + Brown Auditors VOLUNTEER GUILD Arthur Aaron Ronnie Aaron Suzanne Allyn Marlene Abelon Debbie Adamchak Juanita Agee Irwin Altschiller Maddy Altschiller Karen Anderson Cecelia Ambrosio Ellen Balthazar Gale Baran Myriam Barthole Paddy Barber
Carl Battaglia Ellen Battaglia Joyce Becker Herb Bein Diane Bein Carmen Benimeli Barbara Berg Joan Blake Kathy Boushie Charles Blake Helena Blyskun Marti Bookstein Mercedes Brand Barbara Brodzinski Arlene Brown Robert Buchbinder April Bunn Carmen Cancel-Seaman Judith Carluccio Kathleen Castore Barbara Chasser Dora Chu Bob Connolly Roslyn Cooper Lynda Crawford Nancy Daley Elizabeth De Carvalho Diane DeLoche Florence Diller Eleanor Falcichio Ellen Falvo June Farkouh Steve Faustina Arleen Faustina Bonnie Foerst George Foerst Robyn Flipse Judy Fuller Prudence Frechette Janet Garcia Nancy Gargan Sidney Gelbein Pat George Bill Gerdes Lara Gomez Jim Graf Margaret Graf Marilyn Griffin Constance Gryczka Helene HelgesenMonserrate Roland Monserrate Nona Hammer Kathleen Hari Cynthia Hellman Greg Held Jeri Held Robert Hespe Karen Hespe Karen Heyer Marion Holinaty Caroline Huber Cecilia Jelic Shirley Johnson Bonnie Johnson Thomas Johnson
Virginia Kamin Barry Kaplan Dee Kaplan Karen Kelly Barbara Kenas Beverly Keyes Karen Kirkwood Valerie Kilpatrick Phyllis Kinsler Dottie Kirschenbaum Eleanor Kitzhoffer Mavis Kolb Diane Kragh Diane Kuriloff Harriet Kuropatwa Betti Lane Mary Anne Lapiana Margaret Lelivelt Donna Lizotte Bob Levine Carol Levine Barbara Lipton Kathy Lloyd Diane Lopresti Frank Lopresti Brittany Lovely Donna Lovely Gay Lowden Sharon Lucas Iris MacNeil Mary Mahoney Joanne Mallon Robert Mallon Janis Marano Pamela Marhan Libby Markowitz Mary Mason Susan Mazur Vinnie Mazza Joan McCue Eileen McDermott Jo McKeon-Hutton Bill McMurray Mary Melosh Evelyn Mendelsohn Anne Messinger Dorothy Michels Carol Migliore Bernard Miller Carol Miller Susan Minehardt Linda Monti Marilynne Morley Gloria Moro Susan Moss Michele Mullin Judith Mugrace Leslie Nicholson Kathy Nielsen Eileen Nolan Maureen Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connor Leach Olivia Olson Linda Pacotti Dolores Palonetti Katherine Parisi Terri Pinto
Marilyn Pennell Art Perri Pat Perri Tracy Peternich Claire Planchere Terri Pontecorvo Philomena Porcello Lois Priest Marion Quinn Mark Rabinow Judy Rector Fran Reinhold Susan Richman Ruth Rosencrown Carl Rosencrown Lori Sadwith Gil Saltzman Marcia Saltzman Gail Sanderson Evelyn Schneider Connie Schulman Phyllis Searby Jeffrey Shepard Deb Sieron Robin Siegel Judy Simmons-Bradshaw George Smith Arlene Smelson Arthur Steinman Cathy Stelzner Howie Stelzner Linda Stewart Carol Stewart Mary Carol Stunkel Denise Sobotka Martin Sulkes Rose Sullivan Lorraine Stone Leila Sulkes Michele Susalis Eunice Taylor Steve Tepperman David Tolleth Deborah Tolleth Lauren Tolleth Chris Wallace Patricia Walter Mollie Warar Deborah Wasserman Marvin Wasserman Marty Weinstein Marla Weinstein Joy Weinstein Gregory White Nina Willey Kirk Willey Joyce Wingerter Barbara Withers Mary Ellen Wirin Zina Wolin Martin Wolin Joan Zakanych Laura Zakanych
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MCA CENTER FOR THE ARTS MONMOUTH UNIVERSITY
SPRING 2018 SEASON NOW ON SALE! The
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FEBRUARY 3● 8 PM
FEBRUARY 8 ● 7:30PM
FEBRUARY 17 ● 8PM
MARCH 1 ● 7:30 PM
MARCH 24 ● 8PM
CAROLYN DORFMAN DANCE The Legacy Project: A Dance of Hope
FEBRUARY 25 ● 4 PM
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CATERING - BUSINESS NETWORK MEETING - SPECIAL DINNERS 45
SCENE
AT
TWO RIVER
THE BALLAD OF LITTLE JO CAST ALBUM RELEASE CONCERT
On November 12th, Two River Theater celebrated the release of The Ballad of Little Jo original cast album at Feinstein’s/54 Below in New York City. Fresh from the critically acclaimed production in Red Bank, the cast came together once again to perform a concert version of the score. The concert was produced by Sean Patrick Flahaven and cast album was recorded by The Musical Company. Cast included: Teal Wicks, Eric William Morris, Jane Bruce, Daniel K. Isaac, Brian Flores, Leenya Rideout, Perry Sherman, Kristin Stokes, and Barbara Tirrell. Music Director: John O’Neill. Musicians: John O’Neill, Philip Coiro, Justin Rothberg, Joseph Wallace
THE RAINBOW FISH
Photos by Lia Chang.
In December, Two River Theater was delighted to bring back The Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia for their world premiere production of The Rainbow Fish. The performance included the telling of three beloved Rainbow Fish stories from author Marcus Pfister through enchanting puppetry. The theater was happy to welcome over 250 patrons to our Día de la Familia performance and over 175 patrons to our Relaxed Performance.
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FIVE SISTERS, ONE IRISH SUMMER, AND THE BOY WHO REMEMBERS IT ALL.
BRIAN FRIEL DIRECTED BY JESSICA STONE WRITTEN BY
APRIL 14 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; MAY 13 LEAD SPONSOR: