U.S. Drag by VIA MEDIA / BAYSTAGES

dragon productions theatre company presents

WELCOME TO DRAGON! 2120 Broadway Street Redwood City, CA 94063 650.493.2006 info@dragonproductions.net dragonproductions.net

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Katie Miller, board chair Brenda Kesler, secretary James Kasyan, treasurer Dale Albright Gennady Farber Janette Herceg Carolyn Compton Carolyn McDaniel Kimberly Mohne Hill Corinne Kason Meredith Hagedorn, ex officio

BOARD OF ADVISORS Jeff Birdwell Lessa Bouchard Ana-Catrina Buchser Lorianna + Mike Kastrop Barbara + Jerry Pierce Austin Grose

STAFF Meredith Hagedorn executive artistic director/ founder of dragon

Kimberly Wadycki managing director

Karen Altree Piemme associate director, 2nd Stages

Ashley Taylor Frampton production manager

Josiah Frampton

As we get ready to begin another season of eight exciting productions we reflect back on the successes of the past 15 years that got us here. We have to begin by thanking, first and foremost, our loyal season ticket holders, regular theatre-goers and also the brand new faces discovering Dragon for the first time with every show. We owe it all to you! Our 2015 season was filled with so many intriguing stories that made you laugh, cry, empathize and, most of all, think. We feel so lucky to have worked with so many wonderful actors, directors and designers over the last 15 years and we look forward to providing more opportunities to even more artists as well as providing more opportunities for our loyal patrons to enjoy in 2016. We want to keep rewarding that loyalty with the best possible theater that we can present.

front of house manager

Thanks so much for letting us continue to entertain you.

Linda Olbourne

See you at the next show!

company manager

Meredith Hagedorn executive artistic director @dragon_theatre

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presents

by Gina Gionfriddo directed by Noëlle GM Gibbs SETTING: Manhattan. Present day.

CAST [ IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER ]

Bookstore Manager, Janice, Bartender, Christen..........Maria Costello Christopher............................................................. Josiah Frampton Angela.......................................................................... Liz Frederick Ned...........................................................................William Gaoiran Allison.............................................................................. Olivia Haas Mary............................................................................ Lauren Hayes Evan........................................................................ Peter Ray Juarez James........................................................................... Jeremy Ryan

CREATIVE TEAM Director................................................................... Noëlle GM Gibbs Stage Manager.......................................................... Stacie Doherty Scenic Designer............................................................ Scott Ludwig Lighting Designer..............................................Brittany S. Mellerson Sound Designer.......................................................... Lance Huntley Costume Designer......................................................... Katie Barrus Properties Master................................................ Charlynn Knighton Production Manager.................................... Ashley Taylor Frampton Technical Director........................................ Ashley Taylor Frampton Key Art Designer....................................................... Maggie Ziomek Produced by special agreement with Dramatist’s Play Service .

graphic design + publishing

The performance runs 2 hours and 15 minutes. There is one intermission.

[

Performances: February 5 to 28, 2016 2.21.16: Post-show discussion with the cast and director Videotaping or other recording of this production is strictly prohibited.

All images and/or content provided by Dragon Productions Theatre Company staff, contractors and/or creative artists unless otherwise credited. Opinions expressed by contractors, contributors and/or creative artists do not necessarily reflect the views of VIA MEDIA. Photo credits are included as provided.

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ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES MARIA COSTELLO (Bookstore

Manager, Janice, Bartender, Christen) is delighted to be making her debut with Dragon Productions. She is a film actors program graduate from Shelton Studios in San Francisco. Recent credits include Beyond Therapy (Shelton Theater).

JOSIAH COSTELLO

FRAMPTON

(Christopher) is excited for his first role at Dragon Theatre. He was recently seen at Los Altos Stage Company playing The Duke/Dr. Carrasco in Man of La Mancha. Before that he performed at City Lights Theatre Company playing Riff in West Side Story and Patsy in Spamalot. He has performed with Cabrillo Stage, playing Manny/ Freddy in Escaping Queens (2012-13), in the ensemble of The Full Monty (2011) and as Ernst in Cabaret (2010). He has also had the pleasure of working with Tabard Theatre as Clive in See How They Run (2011) and Hillbarn Theatre in the Quartet of The Will Roger’s Follies (2011).

LIZ FREDERICK (Angela) is

FREDERICK

ecstatic to make her Dragon Theatre debut in U.S. Drag. She is a recent graduate from USC, where she received a BA in dramatic arts and a BA in psychology. She recently played Isabel in My Children! My Africa! (Celebration Arts Theatre) and Julia in Fefu and Her Friends (USC). Other credits include Kersten in August Strindberg’s Playing With Fire and performing in The Vagina Monologues in Galway, Ireland. Liz would like to thank her friends and family for their continued love and support.

WILLIAM GAOIRAN (Ned) is a

recent graduate of San José State University, where he received a BFA in theatre. He has worked in stage, film and voice over projects. He recently appeared in San José State University’s productions of Dead Man Walking (Chaplain Farley) and Zoot Suit (Rudy) collaborating with El Teatro Campesino. When he is not acting, he spends his time playing the guitar, singing, training in martial GAOIRAN

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arts and working on writing projects. He would like to thank you all for attending and hope you will enjoy the show.

OLIVIA HAAS (Allison) graduated

from Stanford in 2011 and moved to NYC where she enjoyed stints at the Public Theater and Manhattan Theatre Club. After realizing that it’s hard to live in New York with no money, she moved to LA where she enjoyed a longer stint working in film and television. After realizing that she wasn’t actually enjoying that stint, she chose to ditch the entertainment industry and return to the Bay Area where she is thoroughly enjoying her newfound peace of mind. A writerdirector at heart, Olivia has had her plays produced both locally and Off-Off-Broadway and she trained as an improviser at The Groundlings in Los Angeles. This is her first Dragon production.

LAUREN HAYES (Mary) is thrilled

to be making her Dragon debut! Bay Area theater credits include The Skin of our Teeth at the Douglass Morrisson Theatre. Prior to moving back to the Bay Area, her NYC credits included Quiet Peninsula (NYC Fringe), The Mysteries, #Serials@TheFlea These Seven Sicknesses (The Flea Theater), One Heart for Two (Winkel & Balktick’s Laboratory) and Stop the Virgens (St. Ann’s Warehouse). A Bay Area native, she holds a BS in chemistry from Stanford University and was a member of the Flea Theater’s resident acting company for three years in NYC. laurenhayes.info

PETER RAY JUAREZ (Evan) received a MA in theatre arts from San Jose State University, where he was the 2014 recipient of the Teatro Award. He holds a BA in theatre arts from California State University at Chico. Selected credits include Paco/Gypsy in Man of La Mancha (Los Altos Stage Company), Macbeth in Macbeth and Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing (SJSU), Spartan in Lysistrata, Doctor/Trouble in In The Blood, Sheriff in SlyFox and

Zhao in Natural Selection (CSUC).

JEREMY RYAN (James) is thrilled to return to the Dragon after appearing in 2013’s Les Liasons Dangereuses as Chevalier Danceny. Most recently, Jeremy appeared as Terry in City Lights Theater Company’s production of Handle With Care. Also at City Lights, Jeremy has appeared in Truce: A Christmas Wish from the Great War, Spamalot and West Side Story. Other favorite roles include Biff Loman in Death of a Salesman (Broadway West) Sebastian in Twelfth Night (Silicon Valley Shakespeare) and Jake Mace in House & Garden (The Pear Theatre). Jeremy is a company member at Play On Words San Jose and a graduate of the Foothill Theatre Conservatory.

GINA GIONFRIDDO (Playwright) grew up in Washington, D. C. where she attended the Georgetown Day School. She graduated from Barnard College and in 1997 received an MFA in playwrighting from Brown University where she studied with acclaimed playwright Paula Vogel. U.S. Drag was actually Ms. Gionfriddo’s thesis production at Brown University and was awarded the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, an honor for female playwrights, which she shared in a tie with Susan Miller in 2002. Also in 2002 she was given the Helen Merril Award for Emerging Playwrights. Her next play, After Ashley (Dragon’s 2013 season) caught the eye of René Balcer, the head writer and executive producer of Law & Order. Balcer hired her after he read After Ashley. Balcer said: “She really has an ear for the dialogue of everyday Americans and the quirkiness of everyday Americans... the kind of people you see being interviewed on Nancy Grace.” Her next play, Becky Shaw, premiered at the Humana Festival in 2008 and opened off-Broadway that same year. It was a finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama - she lost to Ruined by Lynn Nottage. In 2012, Gionfriddo’s play Rapture,

Blister, Burn hit the stage offBroadway and was nominated for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize Award in Drama but lost out to Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar. In addition to writing plays, Ms. Gionfriddo has a busy career in television, where she wrote and produced for both Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She’s also written episodes for the acclaimed Netflix series House of Cards and Borgia. Ms. Gionfriddo currently lives in New York City where she is a single mother.

HAAS

NOËLLE GM GIBBS (Director) is grateful to the Dragon staff for their support on this project and to Meredith for trusting her with this quirky show. Noëlle is the incoming Producing Artistic Director at Portola Valley Theatre Conservatory, where she has worn many hats over the past nine years, including Associate Artistic Director, Children’s Conservatory Director, choreographer, producer, production manager and designer. Favorite PVTC credits include Proof, Persephone, Midsummer and Distracted. Noëlle has also worked with TheatreWorks, Magic Theatre, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Arabian Shakespeare Festival and Long Wharf Theatre. She looks forward to making her City Lights debut with I & You later this year. Noëlle teaches acting and directs at Crystal Springs Uplands School and was the proud recipient of the Theatre Bay Area TITAN Award in Directing in 2014. Noëlle received BAs in theatre and dance from UC San Diego, studied at the Academia dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy, and continues to explore ideas of collaboration and audience engagement in her work. Many thanks to the whole U.S. Drag team for throwing themselves so willingly into this unexpected script and to her family for holding down the fort.

HAYES

JUAREZ

STACIE DOHERTY ( S t a g e Manager) received a BA in theatre from UC San Diego. She worked as the theatre manager for four years at the Birch North Park Theatre in Southern California and has stage 2016.02 • BAYSTAGES.COM

RYAN

managed for a variety of productions and festivals including productions at Lyric Opera San Diego, Scripps Ranch Theatre, The Kings Head Theatre in London and the La Jolla Music Society. She is currently the Artistic Administrator and Resident Stage Manager at The Portola Valley Theatre Conservatory. This is her first show working with Dragon Productions.

SCOTT LUDWIG (Scenic Designer) is an alumni of San Francisco State University’s drama department and has designed sets, props and puppets for Urban Opera, Shotgun Players, Teatro Vision and the New Conservatory Theatre Center, among others. Directing credits include Macbeth, The Three Sisters, The Blue Room, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and most recently worked as assistant director for Silicon Valley Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra.

BRITTANY S. MELLERSON (Lighting Designer) is a recent graduate of Point Park University’s conservatory program with a BFA in theatrical lighting and sound design. Some of her recent credits include lighting design for Absolutely Fabulous (Royal British Theatre Company) and The Birthday Club (San Francisco Fringe). Others include Playhouse Jr’s Huck Finn, The Alchemists’ Lab (Sound Design), Dark of the Moon (Assistant Lighting Design), Chess, Yo! Vikings (Audio Mixer) and Do Me! Date Me! Dumb Me! (Lighting Design) at the Rex Theatre. She’s extremely grateful to be working with such an incredible team of creative minds and helping hands.

LANCE HUNTLEY (Sound Designer) has designed sound for several Dragon productions and is pleased to be doing so again.

KATIE BARRUS (Costume Designer) is currently a student at the Academy of Art in San Francisco studying fashion. U.S. Drag is the first production she has costumed at Dragon Theatre.

CHARLYNN KNIGHTON (Properties Designer) is excited to join the 6

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Dragon Theatre family for U.S.Drag. Over the past few years, she has had the privilege to work as the props manager at the late San Jose Repertory Theatre, Theatreworks, Center Rep and two seasons at Millbrook Playhouse as the props designer. Some of her favorite productions have been Life Could Be a Dream, The Snow Queen, Crimes of the Heart, She Loves Me, I’ll Be Back Before Midnight, The 39 Steps, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Boeing Boeing. Charlynn also loves working as a teaching artist for Portola Valley Theatre Conservatory and Starting Arts. She is planning on returning to school to get her master’s in theatre for youth. Until then, she looks forward to the adventures ahead in theatre in the Bay Area.

MEREDITH HAGEDORN (Executive Artistic Director, Founder of Dragon) has been a professional actor and director in regional theatres across the country for almost thirty years. Meredith is the Executive Artistic Director and founder of Dragon Productions Theatre Company and is thrilled to be celebrating Dragon’s 15th season and the third in Dragon’s new home in Redwood City. Audiences last saw Meredith on the Dragon stage in 2013 as Allison in Rx and Meredith recently directed The Voice of the Prairie.

KIMBERLY WADYCKI (Managing Director) graduated from the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign with a bachelor’s degree in political science. While pursuing her degree she was very active at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. She was the founding producer of On the Rocks, a series of studentwritten, directed and produced one-acts, sat on the administrative board of the Krannert Center Student Association for three years and was the student representative on the search committee to hire the new Executive Director of the Krannert Center. After moving back to St. Louis, she was heavily involved with St. Louis Shakespeare and Magic Smoking Monkey Theatre where she worked as a stage manager, board

member and production manager. After a six-year hiatus, Kim has “un-retired” to become active with Dragon Productions.

K A R E N A LT R E E P I E M M E (Associate Director, 2nd Stages) is an accomplished director, actor, dramaturg, workshop facilitator and acting instructor, specializing in community access to the arts. Ms. Piemme spent 21 years with San Jose Repertory Theatre, where she was the Director of Outreach and Resident Dramaturg. She also served as the director of the Red Ladder Theatre Company, the nationallyacclaimed, award-winning resident outreach company, which empowers disenfranchised populations in our community by helping them develop positive life skills through the art form of theatre. Ms. Altree Piemme is a member of Actors’ Equity Association.

ASHLEY TAYLOR FRAMPTON (Production Manager) matriculated from the University of California, Santa Cruz and Kent University, England, with a BA in theatre arts, film and digital media, respectively. For the last decade she has worked internationally in both mediums as a stage manager, production manager, master electrician, properties designer, sound technician, editor and performer. She is the Assistant Technical Director for San Francisco Sketchfest and a member of Actors’ Equity Association. When not in production, she trains with mêlée weapons at Davenriche European Martial Arts School where she is an assistant instructor and apprentice to Sir Steaphen Fick.

LINDA OLBOURNE (Company Manager) An accomplished stage manager, Linda enjoys being the administrative part of a creative team. Having worked in Bay Area theatre for over 14 years, she currently works for Dragon Productions Theatre Company to provide support to the staff, cast and crew each season. Linda continues to work with several other theaters as an actor, assistant director and dresser while maintaining a day job as an editor of children’s craft books.

DONORS WIZARDS [$5,000+]

Rich Hagan + Mary Lou Torre • Meredith Hagedorn James Kasyan • Dr. Katharine Miller Silicon Valley Community Foundation Donor’s Circle for the Arts Andrew + Kimberly Wadycki FIRE BREATHERS [$1,000+]

Dale Albright + Bob Miller • The Benevity Community Impact Fund Monica Cappuccini • Gennady + Masha Farber • Janette Herceg Brenda Kessler • Redwood City Civic Cultural Commission Charles + Nancy Riffle • Maggie Wilde JEWELS [$500+] Anonymous • David + Kimberly Hill • George + Linda Kasyan • Molly Meschke Barbara + Jerry Pierce • Erik Strahm • Joseph Sturkey WINGS [$100+] Elaine Baskin + Ken Krechmer • Max Beckman-Harned • Chris Beth • Louis Caputo • Sheila Cepero Carolyn + Daryl Compton • William Davidovich • Deborah + George Doeltz • Dianne Ellsworth + Mike Wilbur Carol + Ken Emmons • Janine Evans • Fidelity Charitable (Anonymous) • Ed Glazier • Lynn Gordon + David Simon • Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation • Margaret Jane + William Hagedorn • Gina Henson Ed Jones + Eddie Reynolds • Tim Kennedy • Kristen Lo • Microsoft Employee Matching Program Kieley Nose • David Pasta • Karen Altree Piemme • Jeanette Piesciuk • Kathleen Sullivan Cheryl Vander Waal, In Honor of Marlene Hagedorn • Darcie + Walter Wadycki • David Whitman

FANGS [$50+] Grace Adloff, In Memory of Marty Hagedorn • Scott Allaway • Kirk Baldwin • Carol + Mark Bomball, In Memory of Marlene Hagedorn • John Ca • Sarah Cook • Philip Durden • Bernard Golden • Tom Gough • Eleanor Hansen • Jenny Hollingworth Walter Johnson • Ellen Kirschman • Maria Giere Marquis • Julie Montanari • Dinna Myers • John Schofield Ruth Sherer • Barrie + Court Skinner • Margo Thineman • Steve Voldseth, In Memory of Marlene Hagedorn

THANK YOU!

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NEXT ON THE DRAGON THEATRE STAGE| 2ND STAGE SERIES:

MARCH 25 to APRIL 10, 2016 BOOK NOW AT THE BOX OFFICE OR AT dragonproductions.net