This is Our Youth by VIA MEDIA / BAYSTAGES

THIS IS OUR YOUTH Written by

Kenneth Lonergan

WELCOME TO OUR NEW HOME! 533 Sutter Street San Francisco, CA 94102 415.798.2682 info@custommade.org custommade.org

STAFF Brian Katz artistic director

Leah S. Abrams execuitve director

Stewart Lyle technical director

Paul Stout company manager

Gabriel A. Ross casting director

Stuart Bousel director of new works

Adam L. Sussman literary manager

Cat Howser resident stage manager

Brooke Jennings

We had no plans to be here at 533 Sutter four months ago. In fact, while we were excited about the prospects of our 17th season, nothing particularly remarkable happened during the process. We received rights to most of the proprieties we wanted; the new work we'd been developing was falling into place; and we were set to begin the normal cycle of design, marketing and sales at our thrust stage on Gough Street. Then everything changed. And it changed quickly. Leah and I have always been a fan of this 99-seat theatre we are sitting in tonight, having enjoyed countless evenings of incredible work from SF Playhouse, which eventually grew into the powerhouse company down the block. We had often joked about how we could get our hands on it, by which we really meant something like it: more seats, near Union Square, and with facilities that would make our actors and staff more comfortable and enable them to do their best work. To our astonishment, here we are, and we are primed to take the next step of our growth into an important regional theatre. Thank you for being here as part of our inaugural season downtown. To our renewed subscribers, we cannot thank you enough for following us down the hill. To our new subs, thanks for taking a chance on an (old) new kid on the block. And if you are here for the first time, or maybe caught a show or two in the past, please consider signing up for the rest of the season. Our seasons are a journey, carefully curated, and meant to be taken in as a whole. Plus, subscriptions save you up to 50%, get you the best seats, and even a free cookie (or six!) If you subscribe tonight at the theatre, we can knock twenty dollars off the already crazy, low price. For as low as $15 a show, you become part of our family, and are invited to experience the best that Custom Made has to offer.

resident costume designer

Maxx Kurzunski resident lighting designer

Liz Ryder resident composer

Brian Katz

Perry Aliado

Artistic Director bkatz@custommade.org

resident dramaturge

@CustomMadeSF

Now in our 17th season of production in San Francisco, The Custom Made Theatre Co. is committed to producing plays that awaken our social conscience, focusing on the strength of the ensemble and creating an intimate theatrical experience.

THIS IS OUR YOUTH by Kenneth Lonergan

There will be one-fifteen minute intermission. SETTING: A small apartment on the Upper West Side. NYC, 1982.

CAST

[ IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE ]

Dennis....................................................................... David Raymond Warren.......................................................................... Sam Bertken Jessica......................................................................... Katie Robbins

PRODUCTION STAFF Director............................................................................ Brian Katz* Stage Manager................................................................. Liz Picurro Scenic Designer............................................................Stewart Lyle* Costume Designer.................................................Brooke Jennings* Lighting Designer.....................................................Maxx Kurzunski* Sound Designer.........................................................Ryan Lee Short Props Designer................................................................. Liz Picurro Fight Choreographer........................................................ Jon Bailey Key Art Designer............................................................ Cody Rishell Choreographer.......................................................... Kim Saunders* * Member, Custom Made Theatre Co.

PLEASE FILL OUT YOUR AUDIENCE SURVEY! Why? You will reap good karma like: • • • •

being entered in a drawing to win two free tickets gettting on our mailing list for great discounts and news helping Custom Made receive grants being that kind of cool person

Please see your friendly box office for concessions person to turn in your survey or just deposited in the handy bowl on the way out of the theater. Thank you! All images and/or content contributed/compiled by Custom Made Theatre Co. staff, contractors and/or creative artists unless specifically credited. Opinions expressed by contractors, contributors and/or creative artists do not necessarily reflect the views of Custom Made Theatre Co. or VIA MEDIA. Photo credits are included as provided. Program designed and published by VIA MEDIA • 415.552.8040 • advertise@via.media © Copyright 2015 VIA MEDIA, a division of Caselli Partners LLC • All Rights Reserved

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Sheri Abrams Leah S. Abrams Linda Ayres-Frederick Serge Bakalian Phil Bartenetti Norman Berman Nancy Cooper Frank Barbara Janney Brian Katz Mel & Marsha Katz Brandy Leggett-Petricka Daunielle Rasmussen Yvonne Steffin

COMPANY MEMBERS Perry Aliado Terry Bamberger Lewis Campbell Stefin Collins Ashley Cowan AJ Davenport Jennifer Dean Giana DeGeiso Danielle Doyle Mark Eisman Stephanie Ann Foster Justin Gillman Tavis Kammet Ryan Hayes Eric Johnson Shelley Lynn Johnson Catherine Luedtke Brian Martin Eden Neuendorf Fred Pitts Eric Rice Gabriel A. Ross Jessica Jade Rudholm Kim Saunders Rona Siddiqui Dave Sikula Paul Stout Richard Wenzel Teri Whipple

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IN LOVE AND WARCRAFT NOV-DEC 2015 by Madhuri Shekar ** Evie is a master of relationships. Other people’s relationships. She uses strategy, finds people’s weaknesses, and then attacks with words weaponized with just the right amount of guilt, longing, and/or lust – you know, all the skills and tactics she picked up on the way to becoming one of the best World of Warcraft players in the world. But there’s one boss Evie can’t master - and that’s herself. OF SERPENTS AND SEA SPRAY JAN 2016 by Rachel Bublitz * The story of an orphan named Iro who is the subject of ridicule by other children and punishment by uncaring foster parents. During one of her many tours through solitary confinement in the closet, Iro’s imagination brings her with a mission: find Pegasus. On her quest, Iro hides herself on an ocean liner, joins a circus, and has many other adventures, and along the way finds the truth about the death of her parents. SAM AND DEDE, OR MY DINNER WITH ANDRE THE GIANT by Gino DiIorio * FEB 2016 It’s a totally true story: 12-year old Andre the Giant, already over 6 feet tall and 240 pounds, didn’t fit on the school bus. Andre’s neighbor, as repayment of a favor, offered to drive Andre to school in his truck. The neighbor was Samuel Beckett. The play imagines a series of scenes between a giant - a man who cannot hide, and a writer obsessed with silence. Dilorio fashions a world as absurd as a Beckett play itself. MIDDLETOWN APR 2016 by Will Eno *** An absurdist with the comic sensibilities of Jon Stewart, Eno’s take on Our Town follows the lives of the inhabitants of Middletown as they intersect in strange and poignant ways, in a journey that takes them from the local library to outer space and points between. It is a wry, human portrait of a town with two lives, one ordinary and visible, the other epic and mysterious. SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION MAY-JUN 2016 by John Guare Inspired by a true story, the play follows the trail of a young AfricanAmerican con man, Paul, who insinuates himself into the lives of a wealthy, white New York couple, claiming he is the son of actor Sidney Poitier, and that he has just been mugged and all his money is gone. No subject is left untouched in this comic, fast-paced and affecting piece. * World Premiere ** Regional Premiere *** San Francisco Premiere

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES KENNETH LONERGAN (Playwright) is the author of the award-winning play Lobby Hero (Playwrights Horizons, John Houseman Theatre, Drama Desk "Best Play" nominee, Outer Critics Circle "Best Play" and John Gassner Playwrighting nominee, included in The Best Plays of 20002001), The Waverly Gallery (Williamstown Theatre Festival, Promenade; 2001 Pulitzer Prize runner-up), and This Is Our Youth (Drama Desk "Best Play" nominee). Lobby Hero (Olivier Award nominee for "Best Play") and This Is Out Youth have also received productions on London’s West End. He co-wrote the film Gangs of New York, which garnered WGA and Academy Award nominations for "Best Original Screenplay." His film You Can Count On Me, which he wrote and directed, was nominated for an Academy Award for "Best Screenplay." SAM BERTKEN (Warren) is, like,

really pumped to be returning to Custom Made to perform as Warren in This Is Our Youth, a character who, happily in not all respects, reminds him of his high school persona. Sam previously appeared as the boy who’d never grow up in last year’s Peter/Wendy. Other Bay Area performance credits include Samuel Peaches's Peripatetic Players’ Aesop Amuck and O Best Beloved (Meekins, Winner of "2013 Best of SF Fringe"), foolsFury’s Faulted (Mitch), Dragon Theatre’s Becky’s New Car (Chris) and SF Theatre Pub’s Taming Of The Shrew (Tranio).

DAVID RAYMOND (Dennis) is

ecstatic to be making his Custom Made Theatre Co. debut! Bay Area credits include The Graduate (6th Street Playhouse), Jerusalem (San Francisco Playhouse), The Importance of Being Earnest and TBA Award Winner for Outstanding Production Moby Dick: Rehearsed (Stanford Repertory Theater). Chicago credits include work with Redtwist Theatre, Brightside Theatre, Theatre-Hikes and Theatre Seven of Chicago. He is an NHSI Cherub alumnus and recipient of the 2013 Evelyn M. Draper Prize for Excellence in Acting Performance (Stanford University). He would like to thank all the Dennises and Warrens of his youth.

KATIE ROBBINS (Jessica) is so

excited to be back at Custom Made after playing Angie/Dull Gret in Top Girls last season for which she earned a TBA Award nomination. Other past roles

LONERGAN

include: Linda in Blood Brothers (Altarena Playhouse), Luisa in The Fantasticks and Ilse in Spring Awakening at Altarena Playhouse, Woodcutter and others in Blood Wedding at The Breadbox, Julie in the world premiere of Brad Erickson’s American Dream at NCTC, Sara Crewe in A Little Princess at Berkeley Playhouse, Jen/Young Sonia in Sonia Flew at Virago Theatre Company and Little Women at DMT. katierobbins.com

BRIAN KATZ (Director) is the

Founding Artistic Director of Custom Made Theatre Co., the resident company here at Custom Made Theatre. For the company he has directed over thirty productions including the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critic’s Circle "Best Overall Play of 2012" Edward Albee’s The Play About the Baby. Other recent projects include Kushner’s A Bright Room Called Day (SFBATCC nominee, "Best Director"), Next to Normal (SFBATCC nominee, "Best Overall Production"), and the regional premieres of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer, Red Light Winter and many others. He has worked at Cal Shakes, Berkeley Rep, the Goodman Theatre, Killing My Lobster and other cool places. Brian is an alumnus of Clark University. Next up, he is excited to helm the San Francisco premiere of Will Eno's Middletown at Custom Made.

BERTKEN

RAYMOND

BROOKE JENNINGS (Costume

Design) is ecstatic to return to Custom Made Theater Co. with

ROBBINS

this incredible production of This is our Youth. A graduate of UC Santa Cruz's Theater Arts Masters Program, Brooke has served as costume designer for several theaters in the Bay Area including We Players' (Ondine) Magic Theater (Asst. Designer, A Lie of the Mind and Bad Jews)Custom Made Theater Co. (Grey Gardens, How The World Began, Late: A Cowboy Song, The Crucible), Jewel Theater (Saint Joan, Pump Boys and Dinettes, Arcadia, Geography of a Horse Dreamer), Virago Theatre (Crooked, Ransom, TX, Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, Coma), OnTheHouse Theater (Melancholy Play, Ubu Rex), City Lights Theater (The Rocky Horror Show), and Santa Cruz Shakespeare (Asst. Designer, A Year With Frog and Toad). Brooke received a TBA Award nomination for "Best Costume Design" for her work on Custom Made's The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller and directed by Stuart Bousel.

MAXX KURZUNSKI (Lighting

Design) has designed lighting, sound, video or costumes for many Custom Made shows over the last four years. He is excited to return as the resident lighting designer. When not at Custom Made, Maxx is the producer for all things FaultLine Theater at PianoFight.

LIZ PICURRO (Stage Manager)

is a recent transplant to the Bay Area. Originally from Arizona, she received her BA in theatre from Knox College and has been stage managing with various touring companies across the country for the past three years including Chamber Theatre Productions' Encore!! and Charlotte's Web with California Theatre Center. Most recently, she's been the Production Manager/

Company Intern Manager for San Francisco Shakespeare Festival here in the City and is very excited to continue her Bay Area career with Custom Made. Favorite productions include the world premier of County Line by David Wells and Good People by David Lindsay-Abaire at PNT in Ann Arbor, and Under Construction by Charles Mee at Knox. She is exceedingly grateful to her Bay Area friends, old and new, and to her families for their patience and support. She hopes you enjoy the show!

Bee, Moonlight and Magnolias, The Fantasticks, Rent and Blood Brothers for Altarena, and Children of Eden for CCCT. A member of Actor’s Equity Association, he has appeared in or directed over 100 productions throughout California, including roles with TheatreWorks, San Jose Stage, Pacific Repertory Theatre, Center Rep, Diablo Theatre Company, Palo Alto Players, The Mountain Play, and most recently in Altarena’s Almost Maine and Woodminster’s Les Misérables (Thenardier). Love to Donna.

RYAN LEE SHORT (Sound Design)

LEAH S. ABRAMS (Executive Director) is the co-founder and executive director of Custom Made Theatre Co. and is ecstatic to welcome you to our new home in the Union Square space she’s coveted for well over a decade. Her favorite/ proudest of the company’s 80+ productions include last season’s Kurt Vonnegut's SlaughterhouseFive, Little Brother, Eurydice, Red Light Winter, The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer, A New Brain and Temptation. Directing credits for Custom Made include How the World Began (TBA Recommended), Sightlines (NYC), The Diary of Anne Frank, Two Rooms and a dozen Beckett plays. A recovering actor, Leah loved being on stage for Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell, The Heidi Chronicles, The Old Neighborhood and A New Brain. Leah manages the company’s NYC activities including a monthly free reading recently included with the “Directed By Women” film celebration. She is a graduate of Clark University in Worcester, MA – the “Paris of the '80s” - and received its Young Alumni Award with Brian when they were still considered young.

is thrilled to be back designing with Custom Made for this inaugural journey in the new space! In addition to CM's 2012 production of The Merchant of Venice, his designs can also be heard at TheatreFIRST (Artistic Associate) and San Francisco Shakespeare Festival (Resident Artist). Thanks to Brian, Liz, and this ludicrously talented cast and crew, but most of all thanks to Laura for not killing me because I agreed to do a show right before our wedding.

STEWART LYLE (Technical Director/

Scenic Designer) is also the Technical Director for Berkeley Playhouse, Resident Technical Director and Artistic Production Manager for Altarena Playhouse in Alameda, and the Build Manager for Contra Costa Civic Theatre in El Cerrito. He has designed, tech directed, and/or built nearly 50 shows over the last four years, including designing Custom Made’s The Pain And The Itch, The Crucible, and Three Tall Women (SFBATCC Award nominee) and Grey Gardens. He’s directed Wait Until Dark, Art, Man of La Mancha, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling

Bay Area Premiere by Madhuri Shekar

Directed by James Nelson

COMING NEXT TO CUSTOM MADE THEATRE Evie, gamer girl, college senior and confirmed virgin, is a master of relationships. Other people’s relationships. She uses strategy, finds people’s weaknesses, and then attacks with words weaponized with just the right amount of guilt, longing, and/or lust – whatever a relationship may need. You know, all the skills and tactics she picked up on the way to becoming one of the best World of Warcraft players in the world. Well, that's what she thinks... until she actually falls for a guy. In Real Life. And no amount of gaming expertise will help her out when she finds herself with a non-virtual, totally real, and incredibly cute boyfriend, who wants more from her than she's willing to give.

E X P E R I E N C E A W O W O F A J O U R N E Y S TA R T I N G O N N O V E M B E R 1 2 T H !

DONORS FOUNDATIONS

San Francisco Grants for the Arts • Fleishhacker Foundation Zellerbach Family Foundation CORPORATIONS

Amazon • Apple Matching Fund • Charles Schwab Matching Fund Google Grants • Third Workplace ANGELS [$2,500+]

Anonymous • Lewis Campbell • Brian Dice Ruth + William Isenberg • Marsha + Mel Katz • Jay Yamada BENEFACTORS [$1,000+] Sheri Abrams + Norman Berman • Joe Belanoff + Katherine Blenko Bruce Colman • D. Gleichenhaus • Danielle + David Jarvie ASSOCIATES [$500+] Chuck Bailey • Monica Cappucini • Nancy Cooper Frank • Minda Glynn Marci Ring • Margaret Sheehan • Ron Talbot

ADVOCATES [$250+] Linda Ayres-Frederick • Patricia Clark • Krystyna Finlayson • Sharon Fish • Jeannette Harris • Marten Mejstrik Bert Mittler • Danielle Moskowitz • Brandy Leggett Petricka • Sarah Phykitt • Dave Sikula • Scott Sublett • Sue Valentine

PATRONS [$100+] Leah S. Abrams • Ashrafa Anik • Aj Baker • Carole Bennett • Stuart Bousel • Kim Bromley • Diane Carlson • Cary Cronholm Rose Mark Dietrich • Laura Domingo • Betsyann Duval • Crystelle Egan • Robert Estes • Lea Ann Fleming • Catz Forsman • Stanley Hartzell William Heap • Karen Hollenbeck • Barbara Janney • Catherine Johnson • Eric Johnson • Brian Katz • Eli Katz • Siobhan King Jude Knab • Dan Kurtz • Eula Loftin • Catherine Luedtke • Thomas Lustenader • Barry Lynch • Gail Macgowan • Jennifer Marks Jeffrey Oden • Kj Page • Mary Jo Price • Glenn Reid • Deborah L Robbins • Pat Ross • Virginia Ross • Lorraine Schmall • Yvonne Steffen Robert Stumpf • Joan Sullivan • Patrick Walsh • Renee Ward

DONORS [$25+] Dale Albright • Perry Aliado • Sara Altier • Leanna Ampola • Roger Anderman • Jerome Andersen • William Baker • Ellee Bamberger Jeremy Barcan • Bruce Bell • Charles Belov • Rachel Bublitz • Edward Burfine • John Caldon • John Callan • Lynnette Campbell • Gary Carr James Caughman • Pat Chun-spielberg • Melissa Clason • Ariel Craft • Scott Cunningham • Kathleen Daufel • Aj Davenport • David Davison Jennifer Dees • Gino DiIorio • Richard + Tina Dinitz • Danielle Doyle • Susan Dunn • Mark Eisman • Elyse Eisner • Deb Elitzur • Maria Esteve Beverlie Fallik • Jane Field • Nina Fojaco Reed • Jean Forsman • Stephanie Foster • Jessica Frye • Dorothy Gatmen • Justin Gillman • Jane Gorsi David Grabstald • Jeannie Graham • Elizabeth Groenewegen • Carey Groom • Chris Hannafan • CoCo Harris • Sharon Hawley • Barbara Hebert Albert Heller • Elizabeth Hunt • Stanley Hutter • Bob Jaffe • Hass James • Alyssa Jenkins • Shelley Johnson • Sarah + Terence Keane • Scott Kirker Joanne Koltnow • Alexandra Kutik • Robert Leach • William Leben • Kelly G. Lee • Sandra Levitan • Margaret Levitt • Rebecca Longworth • Ernie Lowenstein • Carl Lucania • Carol + Thomas Lustenader • Mara Matsumura • Tim May • Pat McKelvey • Randy McMullen • Cynthia Metcalfe • Maria Meyer • Henry Milich • Charles Miller • Celiane Milner • Cheri Murrell • Judy Nakaso • Marguerite Nesbit • Karen Neuendorf • Lisa-Marie Newton Alan Olejniczak • Evelyn Pine • Clare Prowse • Madeline Puccioni • Matthew Quinonez • Eleanor Reinholdt • Laverne Reiterman • Kelly Rinehart Kathleen Rivera • Hilda Roe • Gabriel Ross • Susan Rutberg • Kim Saunders • Juliana Scalise • Linda Scourtis • Barbara Scrafford • Lisa Semeraro Andrew Sexton • Randall Shields • Kirk Shimano • Michael Shipley • Jeunee Simon • Kathleen Slobin • Glenna Snyder • Agata Sulczynski Pierre Theodore • Peter Townley • Yayoi Ukai • Michael Vezzali • Alastar Wade • Kathleen Walker • Richard Wenzel • Teri Whipple • Michael Williams

THANK YOU!

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