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EXPERIENCE LOCAL THEATRE Immerse yourself in the South Bay theatre scene. There are over 40 theatre companies for you to enjoy:

BootStrap Theater Foundation Broadway by the Bay California's Great America Canada College Theatre Arts Department Children's Musical Theater of San Jose City Lights Theater Co. City of Santa Clara-Roberta Jones Junior Theatre Coastal Repertory Theatre Dragon Productions Theatre Co.

A program of

Eastman Productions EnActe Arts Foothill College Theatre Arts Dept./Foothill Music Fox Theatre Half Moon Bay Shakespeare Co. Hillbarn Theatre IBP: Institute for Brain Potential/Musical Theatre John Bisceglie Presents Lively Foundation Los Altos Stage Company

Lyric Theatre Santa Clara Players Naatak Savage Wilde Traveling Northside Theatre Company Players Pacifica Spindrift Players Silicon Valley Shakespeare Palo Alto Children's Theatre sjDANCEco Palo Alto Players South Bay Musical Theatre Pear Avenue Theatre Sunnyvale Community Players Peninsula Youth Theatre Tabard Theatre Company PnCMusicCompany Teatro Vision Renegade Theatre The Academy Experiment TheatreWorks San Carlos Children's Theater Windy City Productions San Jose Stage

Photo: Sarah Moser and Wes Gabrillo in Palo Alto Players’ Eurydice. Photo by Joyce Goldschmid.

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DIRECTOR’S NOTE 2120 Broadway Street Redwood City, CA 94063 650.493.2006 info@dragonproductions.net dragonproductions.net

Our play will shortly ricochet between a dense array of seeming opposites: Spy or poetess, actress or whore Male or female, straight or gay - or both Wrong or righteous, treacherous or true Lust or love, cheap hackney trash or art Now or then, a distant fervent age Or this, our time of mingled hope and fear. And yet despite all seeming diff’rences Those ors divide less than they subtly link And what seem opposite and all at odds Are in their deepest nature most the same.

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

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

When I first read the lines above in Or, I recognized that Liz Duffy Adams’ story of the delightfully revolutionary Aphra Behn, amid its poetry and comedy and eroticism, is also a play about all of the deeply human, potentially world-changing beauty of quantum physics. (Stay with me, drama majors!) Human beings love neat little boxes. We find comfort in the tidiness of everyone being one thing or the other, and we have an affinity for the belief that the past is reassuringly distant and pleasant, always a “simpler time.” But those ideas are comfortable illusions. Astrophysicists have begun to offer explanations of truths that artists have long understood – time is not linear, and all dichotomies are false. The past is right now, and all of the aspects of who we are, even those that seem contradictory, are simultaneously true. When we explore stories and people of by-gone eras, we can choose to revel in nostalgia, distancing ourselves from a romanticized idea of who people were then. Or, we can choose instead to fully embrace how much all of us, across time and borders and desires, are truly the same.

production manager

“We are all made of star stuff,” in the words of Carl Sagan. “We are stardust, we are golden, and we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden” in the words of Joni Mitchell. If they are both right (and they are), and if all of the emotional contradictions and complexities of human beings haven’t changed much since Aphra Behn took London by storm in the 1660s (and they haven’t), then what do both art and science have to tell us about ourselves and everyone else on the planet? I hope that you see something of yourself tonight on this stage, even though the people you’ll see may not immediately seem to be much like you at all. I hope that this reminds you, as it always reminds me, of how deeply similar you must be to people from other places, or of unfamiliar faiths, or who simply live or love a bit differently than you do. That’s one of my favorite things about this work and this play, and I’m thrilled to bits that you’re here to share in that.

Josiah Frampton

Vera Sloan

STAFF Meredith Hagedorn executive artistic director/ founder of dragon

Kimberly Wadycki managing director

Karen Altree Piemme associate director, 2nd Stages

Ashley Taylor Frampton

front of house manager

Linda Olbourne company manager

@dragon_theatre

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OR,

by Liz Duffy Adams SETTING: London, late 1660s, from evening to dawn of one night.

CAST [ IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE ]

Aphra Behn.................................................................... Kathryn Han Nell Gwynne/Jailer........................................................ Naomi Evans Charles II/William Scot....................................... Michael Wayne Rice Maria/Lady Davenant.....................................................Doll Piccotto

PRODUCTION STAFF Director.............................................................................Vera Sloan Assistant Director.................................................. Kimberly Johnson Stage Manager..................................................... Kimberly Johnson Assistant Stage Manager................................................Jesse Ploog Properties Master...........................................................Jesse Ploog Scenic Designer...........................................................David Tousley Lighting Designer.............................................................. Dena Burd Sound Designer................................................Brittany S. Mellerson Costume Designer..................................................... Rebecca Heine Key Art Designer....................................................... Maggie Ziomek This production will be performed with no intermission. Produced by special agreement with Dramatist’s Play Service.

SPECIAL THANKS Ed Glazier Keith Clanton Brian Luce Michele Bisaillon

All images and/or content contributed/compiled by Dragon Productions Theatre Company 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 Dragon Productions Theatre Company 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 2015.09 • BAYSTAGES.COM

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES KATHRYN HAN (Aphra Behn)

ADAMS

HAN

EVANS

RICE

PICCOTTO

is thrilled to make her Dragon Productions Theatre Company debut. She has studied musical theatre and Shakespeare at American Conservatory Theater and dance at Stanford University. Favorite credits include Ana Smith in The Book Club Play (Center REPertory Company), Du Barry Was a Lady with comedian Bruce Vilanch (42nd Street Moon), Margie in Loose Knit (Actors Ensemble of Berkeley), Harper in Angels in America: Perestroika (Foothill College), Jennifer in The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow (Douglas Morrisson Theatre), Christmas Eve in Avenue Q (Los Altos Stage Company), The Music Man (Broadway By the Bay) and Anything Goes (The Willows Theatre Company). Offstage, she practices internet law and dances Argentine tango.

NAOMI EVANS (Nell Gwynne/ Jailer) is very excited to be performing in Or, as her first show with Dragon Productions Theatre Company! She was last seen as Teresita in City Lights Theater Company’s production of West Side Story. Some favorite past roles include Shonda Cox in The North Plan (Renegade Theatre Experiment), a Harlem Woman in Ragtime (CMT San Jose), Shigeru/Rosie/Guchi in The Battle of Midway! Live! Onstage! (Theatre Rhinoceros) and Vanessa in In the Heights (Santa Clara University). Naomi is a recent graduate from Santa Clara University with a bachelor of arts in theatre arts and a minor in musical theatre. MICHAEL WAYNE RICE (Charles

II/William Scot) has acted in over 30 productions on stages in Missouri, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Michael is a graduate of the University of Missouri - Kansas City with an MFA in classical stage performance. Michael currently teaches acting at the University of the Pacific and has also taught at UMKC and the University of San Francisco.

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Or, is his first production with Dragon Productions Theatre Company. Favorite roles have included Jaques in As You Like It, Boesman in Boesman and Lena, Simon in The Whipping Man, Tom in The Glass Menagerie and Belize in Angels In America. A special thank you to our director Vera Sloan for giving me another opportunity to work, to Meredith Hagedorn for creating spaces for artists to do their work and to the amazing cast and crew of this show. Thank you, all.

DOLL PICCOTTO (Maria/Lady

Davenant) is very excited to be making her Dragon Productions Theatre Company debut in a play she finds satisfies both her historical and feminist sensibilities. A professed Renaissance theatre afficionado, Doll has a masters degree in English literature, specializing in Renaissance drama. She is the company dramaturg for the Silicon Valley Shakespeare and has been seen in Shakespeare festivals here in California as well as the Shakespeare at Winedale festival in Texas. Her favorite roles include Toinette in Tartuffe, Lady Macbeth, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing and Kate in The Taming of the Shrew. She would like to especially thank Dragon, which has been warm and welcoming, director Vera who is, joyfully, a thinking woman’s director and James Lucas, who despite the fact that he truly believes Doll loves theatre more than him (LIES!), keeps encouraging her in all her endeavors.

LIZ DUFFY ADAMS (Playwright) is originally from Ipswitch, Massachussets and holds a dual American and Irish citizenship. She has a BFA from NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing, and an MFA in playwriting from Yale School of Drama. Ms. Adams was the 2012-2013 Briggs-Copeland Visiting Lecturer in Playwriting at Harvard University. In 2012, she was awarded the Women of Achievement Award from the Women’s Project Theater. She’s also received a 2010 Lily Award

and a 2008 Weston Playhouse Music-Theatre Award and the 2005 Will Glickman Award from Theatre Bay Area, among others. Ms. Adams also an alumna of New Dramatists (2001-2008). Other notable New Dramatists playwrights include Annie Baker, Sarah Ruhl, Lynn Nottage, Jen Silverman, Julia Cho, Qui Nguyen and Kate Fodor, so she’s in fairly illustrious company. Or, premiered Off-Broadway at Women’s Project Theater and has been produced numerous times since, including at the Magic Theatre and Seattle Rep.

VERA SLOAN (Director) is a

theatre artist and educator who has performed in, taught, directed, designed for and produced theatrical works at Bay Area companies of all sizes since 2002. She is the Artistic Director Emeritus of Silicon Valley Shakespeare and an alumna of the theatre arts program at San José State University. This is her second show with Dragon.

KIMBERLY JOHNSON (Assistant Director/Stage Manager) is thrilled to be working on her second show with Dragon Productions. She was the Stage Manager for last season’s production of Take Me Out. Kimberly is a graduate of the Foothill Theatre Conservatory a n d S a n F r a n c i s c o St a t e University, where she holds a BA in drama performance. Her directing credits include Medea (SFSU), Gross Indecency (SFSU), Creative Dating (FTC), Suburban Undertow (reading, CLTC) and various productions for Foothill’s High Noon Ensemble. In addition to directing, Kimberly is an actor, stage manager and designer. JESSE PLOOG (Assistant Stage

Manager / Properties Master) is a new resident of the Bay Area theatre community. As a recent graduate of the University of Arizona, she is very excited to have been welcomed with open arms to California and the wonderful theatre here. Jesse’s previous Dragon credits include The Voice of the Prairie (Scenic Designer and Assistant

Stage Manager), Take Me Out (Assistant Stage Manager) and The Birthday Party (Assistant Stage Manager). Her U.A. credits include Assistant Scenic Designer for Frankenstein; Charge Artist for A Little Night Music and This; Assistant Charge Artist for The Man Who Came to Dinner, Oklahoma!, and Boing! Boing!; and Scenic Artist for shows such as Avenue Q, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lend Me a Tenor, and The Full Monty. She would like to thank Dragon for another wonderful opportunity in this theatre, her boyfriend for supporting her through her crazy life and her family for being awesome, even from Arizona.

DAVID TOUSLEY ( S c e n i c

Designer) is excited to join the Dragon Productions Theatre Company family as Scenic Designer for Or,. David is also currently working as an assistant set designer for the Magic Theatre’s world premiere of Fred’s Diner and a new musical for Disney. Past design credits include Love’s Labour’s Lost, Paragon Springs, Cendrillon at the University of Nebraska and Urinetown, Death of a Salesman and Mummified Deer at San José State University. David holds a master of fine arts in stage design from the Johnny Carson School of Theatre & Film at the University of NebraskaLincoln. tousleydesigns.com

DENA BURD (Lighting Designer) loves lighting design. She graduated from the University of California Santa Cruz theater department in 2012. Her past credits include Wonderful World at Dragon Productions Theatre Company, The Play About the Baby at Custom Made Theater Co., Cymbeline at the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, and The Queer Fashion Show, The Vagina Monologues and Random with a Purpose at UCSC. BRITTANY S. MELLERSON

(Sound Designer) A newcomer to Dragon Productions Theatre Company and recent graduate of Point Park University’s 2015.09 • BAYSTAGES.COM

A full-service, restaurant-style catering and events company specializing in aesthetically redesigned comfort foods.

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

STAFF 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

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REBECCA HEINE (Costume Designer) is thrilled to be working her first show for Dragon Productions, as well as her first job as a costume designer. She has worked eight shows as a dresser for Cabrillo Stage. When not making clothes for the stage, she enjoys making traditional Japanese clothing and reproducing clothing from the English Renaissance. Rebecca has a bachelor’s of cultural anthropology from San José State University and she is currently pursuing her master’s of library science. She works in the Link+ department at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library in San José. Special thanks and love to Mom, Dad, Lucas and Vince.

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 student-written, 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

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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 Theatre Company.

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 nationally-acclaimed, awardwinning 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 the Actors’ Equity Association.

ASHLEY TAYLOR FRAMPTON

(Production Manager) matriculated from the University of California, Santa Cruz and Kent University, England with

image: Aphra Behn, by the Anglo-Dutch artist Sir Peter Lely, oil on canvas, ca. 1670. 30 1/4 inches x 25 1/4 inches (76.8 cm x 64.1 cm). Courtesy of the Yale Center for British Art, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut..

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. Currently 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.

JOSIAH FRAMPTON (Front of

House Manager) is an actor in the Bay Area. The majority

of his experience is in musical theatre throughout the South Bay. However, he has spent the majority of the last three years managing The Old Spaghetti Factory before being invited to join the Dragon team this season.

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.

APHRA BEHN Shockingly little is known of the first 27 years of Aphra Behn’s life, due mostly to the unusual absence of any records of her existence during that time. Much of the biographical information presented in this play is true… or at least as likely to be true as any other scholarly theories. What we do know is that she was a spy for the English crown who went on to be one of the first professional female playwrights in the English language. While surprisingly traditional in some of her ideas, including her fierce loyalty to Charles II, her work contained ideas about gender, race and sexuality that would have been extremely progressive from any writer of the time, but especially a woman. She paved the way for a new generation of English women to not only write professionally but live independently, inspiring 20th-century author Virginia Woolf to comment, “All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn which is, most scandalously but rather appropriately, in Westminster Abbey, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds.” She died at the (assumed) age of 48, her tomb inscribed with the words, “Here lies a proof that wit can never be defense enough against mortality.”

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