2020–2021 THEATRE SEASON
A need for reckoning, a need for change...
Truth can be scary. It can leave us in a world of confusion and mix up our core beliefs. It can wake us from the comfort of what we believe is real, test our discipline, move us, calibrate our direction, and bring relief. Join us this theatre season to experience new perspectives with stories of historic movements, courage, fear, and loss that reveal a need for change in the reality we live today.
The 2020–2021 Mainstage Theatre season is dedicated to the memory of William “Bill” Raffeld, Associate Professor Emeritus, and UIC alumni class of 1955, in honor of his 57 years of teaching and dedication to UIC performing arts, who passed away in May of 2020. Contributions may be made to the William F. Raffeld Award at UIC Chicago, https://theatreandmusic.uic.edu/donate Locate UIC William F. Raffeld Award, SAUIC, and follow instructions; or, checks payable of the University of Illinois Foundation, and mailed to: 1305 W. Green Street MC-386 Urbana, IL 61801
Crucible PRODUCTION STAFF Director
Tasia Jones
Assistant Director
Trinity Harris
Assistant Director
Ashley O’Neill
Stage Manager
Lauren Littlejohn
Assistant Stage Manager
Nicholas Slana
Dramaturg
Tim Graves
Lighting Designer
Jackie Fox
Video Designer/Editor
Alyssa Gomez
Assistant Video Designer/ Editor
Sam Castillo
PRODUCTION STAFF (CONT.) Composer/Sound Designer
Jeffrey Levin
Assistant Sound Designer
Nathan LaBranche
Production Manager
Erin Freeman
Technical Director
Hannah Holmes
Costume Designer
Stephanie Cluggish*
Scenic Designer/ Properties Design
Collette Pollard*
Assistant Scenic/ Properties Design
Eva Nyman
Text and Vocal Specialist
Jason Martin
Technology Supervisor
Ryan Ingebritsen
*Denotes U.S.A. Member
CAST JOHN PROCTOR
Omar Fernandez
ELIZABETH PROCTOR
Kaylah Crosby
ABIGAIL WILLIAMS
Yourtana Sulaiman
MARY WARREN
Ariana Lopez
REVEREND JOHN HALE
Eric Norman
REVEREND PARRIS
George Petermeier
TITUBA
Jailine Hernandez
DEPUTY GOV. DANFORTH
Adam Lawdan
THOMAS PUTNAM
Collin Baker
MRS. ANN PUTNAM
Sydney Litka
GILES COREY
Jeff Donnan
MARTHA COREY
Aileen Moreno
REBECCA NURSE
Sheri Tarrer
FRANCIS NURSE
Gabe Newman
JUDGE HATHORNE
Richard Cantu
MARSHALL HERRICK HOPKINS/ US JOHN PROCTOR
Jack Welshons
CAST (CONT.) EZEKIEL CHEEVER
Ethan Check
SARAH GOOD
Teri Lopez
MERCY LEWIS/ U.S. MRS. PUTNAM
Emma Ariagno
BETTY
Freya Trefonides
SUSANNA WALCOTT
Marla Chinbat
OTHER GIRLS/ US BETTY
Melody Lou
OTHER GIRLS/ US ELIZABETH
Allison Carmody
US ABIGAIL
Victoria Ezikovich
US REBECCA NURSE/ US SARAH GOOD
Emma Sheffey
US MARY WARREN
Trinity Harris
US SUSANNA WALCOTT/ US OTHER GIRLS
Noelle Oh
US EZEKIEL CHEEVER
Townes Genoves
US FRANCIS NURSE
Colin Callahan
US REV. PARRIS
Jack Dirnberger
US MR. PUTNAM
Narkel Robinson
US GILES COREY/ US DANFORTH
Stephen Decker
US REV. HALE
Audrey Bixby
US HERRICK/ US HATHRONE
Ashley O’Neill
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
Tasia A. Jones is a professional director, actor, and theatre educator. She is currently a full time lecturer at Northwestern University. Her most recent directing credits include Intimate Apparel (Northlight Theatre), Small Mouth Sounds (UCCS Theatreworks), Voyeurs de Venus (Northwestern University), The MLK Project (Writers Theatre), Seussical the Musical (Jean’s Playhouse), and No Child (Northwestern University). She has appeared in such works as Saturday Night/Sunday Morning (The Lyric Stage Company), Good Television (Zeitgeist Stage Company), and The Bluest Eye (Company One). She holds a BFA in Theatre Arts from Boston University and an MFA in Directing from Northwestern University. She is also an artistic associate for Black Lives Black Words International Project and the recent Artistic Fellow at Northlight Theatre. Tasia’s artistic mission is to create civic engagement and conversation through theatre and to promote positive societal change at the individual and community level.
PLEASE JOIN US FOR AN ONLINE POST-SHOW TALK Date: Sunday, March 7, 2021 Time: 2pm (CT) Topics: Paranoia, Courage, Grace Join us for a free post-show panel discussion hosted by UIC Theatre faculty member Richard Corley with writers, artists and special guest Aaron Krall. About our Special Guest: Aaron Krall teaches and writes about first-year writing, basic writing, drama, theatre, performance, and the city. He recently published “Building the Entertainment Machine: Charles L. Mee’s Time to Burn and the Performance of Postindustrial Decay in Chicago” in Theatre Survey, he is revising an essay titled “Theatrical Geographies of Segregation: Spatial Displacement in Theodore Ward’s Big White Fog” for an edited collection, and he contributed to the Shakespeare 400 Chicago City Desk Blog. Krall also writes about issues in composition and rhetoric. He is currently revising a manuscript titled “Disrupting Remediation: Neoliberalism, the Completion Agenda, and First-Year Writing,” and he regularly presents his research at the Conference on College Composition and Communication, the Thomas R. Watson Conference on Rhetoric and Composition, and other national conferences.
©2020. This Video recording was produced by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service and [Author]. All rights reserved. This performance is authorized for non-commercial use only. By accepting this license, you agree not to authorize or permit the Video to be recorded, copied, distributed, broadcast, telecast or otherwise exploited, in whole or in part, in any media now known or hereafter developed. WARNING: Federal law provides severe civil and criminal penalties for the unauthorized reproduction, distribution or exhibition of copyrighted motion pictures, Audio & Videotapes or Audio & Videodiscs. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and may constitute a felony with a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison and/or a $250,000.00 fine.
UIC THEATRE BLM SOLIDARITY STATEMENT This summer we have been wrestling with how to proceed in the righting of institutional racism that has methodically put Black and Brown bodies in physical, financial, and emotional peril. Because Black Lives Matter. At this time our society is being asked to atone for many wrongs, the most egregious of which is the systemic racism that has remained unchecked in our cultural institutions for too long. Higher Education and The American Theatre are being called upon to acknowledge their perpetuation of these racist systems, and their responsibility to fix it. We, the faculty and staff at UIC Department of Theatre, an historically white institution, begin by acknowledging the lack of inclusion of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Latinx and all People of Color) identities in our overall pedagogy and modes of production. Further, we acknowledge our shortcomings, both personally and professionally, of our previous efforts. We state our commitment to holding ourselves and each other to a higher standard - NOW. In our shared analysis of the systems, traditions, and culture of our department, we are identifying biased practices. As a unified group, we are reconceiving these practices to be inclusive, equitable, and transparent. We recognize that this work of identifying and eradicating the underlying colonialism and racism is imperative, and long overdue. Most importantly, we are committed to follow this inciting spark through by setting specific, measurable, time-oriented goals. We understand that this deeply-rooted problem does not have an easy remedy—and that it will take longer than one semester, year, or generation. Here we begin this departmental transformation with a commitment to the following set of actions:
UIC THEATRE DEPARTMENT ANTI-RACIST ACTION STEPS Read our Anti-Racist Action Steps here:
https://theatreandmusic.uic.edu/newsdetails/805/792
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