FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR 450 Post Street San Francisco, CA 94102 415.677.9596 info@sfplayhouse.org sfplayhouse.org Bill English
artistic director
Susi Damilano
producing director
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Andrew Teufel, president William Adler Susan Atherton Brittny Bottorff Andre Glenn Chenoweth Susi Damilano Bill English Robert Hulteng Geoffrey Jue John Kalin Helen E. Land Steven Mayer Morgan Muir William O’Keeffe Louis Parnell Sandra Robbins Dana Shapiro Christian Chadd Taylor John Trout Scott Walecka Rowland Weinstein
Steven Dietz holds a special place in the hearts of San Francisco Playhouse’s artistic and producing directors. His Private Eyes was the first show that Susi and I produced, a one-off, several years before we founded San Francisco Playhouse. It served as a kind of courtship as we came to learn how well we worked together and how fun and how rewarding it was. So - and we told Steven this when he was here - not only our theatre, but our marriage may have been brought together by his play. He, of course, denies any responsibility. This alone might have been enough to make us choose this play. But what really made me jump at the chance to produce On Clover Road was not so much the fact that it is a thriller, which I love, or that it delves into the scary world of cults, runaways, and deprogramming, which are hot topics, but because of the way Mr. Dietz portrays the power of a mother’s love and the super-human lengths to which a mother will go to protect her child. Perhaps a mother’s love is the most potent force in life. When I first read On Clover Road, it reminded me of The Mothers by Farley Mowat. Not a thriller, but an account of the Donner Party that accurately portrays the truth that, amidst all of the horror of that winter, it was the mothers who brought through the survivors. They made decisions and performed the impossible when the men were running uselessly around in the snow. I hadn’t read another account of motherly love as powerful until On Clover Road came my way. It is, of course, a thriller, with twists and turns, revelations and shocks, and also important is the theme of how children can be seduced by the power of cult leaders, and how desperate parents can resort to the morally questionable act of kidnapping them back. But in the end, On Clover Road is most powerfully the story of a mother, and what a tortuous journey she is willing to take to recover her daughter.
Bill English Artistic Director
/SFPlayhouse
@SFPlayhouse
/SFPlayhouse 2
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AND EXECUTIVE PRODUCER ROWLAND WEINSTEIN SEASON PRODUCERS ROBERT + JAN GINSBERG ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS MIKE SMITH AND
DAVID ANDERSON + NANCY KAIBLE present the world premiere of graphic design + publishing
[
by Steven Dietz
CAST
[ IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER ]
Kate.................................................................................Sally Dana ● Harris...............................................................................Adam Elder The Girl................................................................... Rachel Goldberg The Girl....................................................................... Nancy Kimball Stine.......................................................................... Michael Storm ●
including what you are holding right now to the lgbt, arts, business and hospitality communities since 1998
]
clients include
CREATIVE TEAM Director....................................................................... Susi Damilano Set Designer, Props Artisan......................................Jacquelyn Scott Casting Director......................................................... Lauren English Lighting Designer...........................................................Jessica Bent Sound Designer............................................. Theodore J.H. Hulsker Costume Designer...................................................Natalie Barshow Rope Designer............................................................. L. Lee Harper Fight Choreographer................................... Mike "Miguel" Martinez Stage Manager................................................................. Keili Elliott ●
providing outstanding graphic design + publishing solutions
Member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers ON CLOVER ROAD is being produced as a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere by Contemporary American Theatre Festival (West Virginia), San Francisco Playhouse (California) and Phoenix Theatre (Indiana). For more information please visit nnpn.org
SPECIAL THANKS: American Conservatory Theater, L. Lee Harper, Rochelle Willox, Casey Spiegel, Will Livingston, Zach Sigman, Elyse Fink and Alyssa Steverson.
san francisco playhouse broadway by the bay custom made theatre co. san francisco pride castro street fair sonoma county pride s.f. gay men’s chorus golden gate business association silicon valley shakespeare and the merchants associations of San Francisco’s
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415.552.8040
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PRODUCTION TEAM Production Manager - Mainstage......................................... Maggie Koch Production Manager - Sandbox Series............................. Jordan Puckett Technical Director - Mainstage............................................. Zach Sigman Technical Director - Sandbox Series.........................................Tish Leung Carpenter.................................................................................... Elyse Fink Scenic Artist...............................................................................Tish Leung Electrician...................................................................................Will Poulin Photography............................................... Rebecca Hodges, Ken Levin Production Assistant.............................................................. Nicole Jones Rehearsal Assistants.......................... Casey Spiegel, Will Livingston
STAFF
Artistic Director................................................................Bill English Producing Director......................................................Susi Damilano Resident Stage Manager.......................................... Tatjana Genser ● Production Manager.................................................... Maggie Koch Resident Playwright........................................................Aaron Loeb Associate Artistic Director.......................................... Jordan Puckett Casting Director.........................................................Lauren English Casting Associate..................................................... Monique Hafen Education Director....................................................... Kathleen Lee Marketing Director.................................................... Donny Gilliland Marketing Associate................................................... Jeffrey Adams Administrative Manager......................................Charlotte Brockman Accounting Manager.......................................... Camille Chenoweth Individual Gifts Manager.....................................................Ken Levin Development Manager............................................... Daniel Kessler Stewardship Coordinator.................................................Hillary Bray Patron Services Manager..........................................Tiiu Eva Rebane Box Office Associate................................................ Noelle Harrison Concessions Manager.......................................... Natalia Hermosilla Lead Front of House Manager....................................... Rebecca Hodges Front of House Team............................... Anthony Frederick Aranda, Jessica Charles, Issere Christopher, Alex Fine, Angela Knutson, Bebe LaGrua, Sarah Selig Graphics................................................................. Tatjana Genser ● Key Art Designer................... Chad Vaughan, bluejeanblack designs Publicist ..................................................................... Anne Abrams Literary Assistants.............................. Will Livingston, Casey Spiegel Marketing Assistant................................................ Alyssa Steverson Education Assistant....................................................Alexandra May ●
Member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers
by
ANDREW HINDERAKER
Performances:
directed by
March 23 to April 16, 2016
JON TRACY
The Rueff at The Strand Theater, 1127 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
now through
The performance runs approximately 80 minutes. There will be no intermission.
APRIL 30
Please turn off your cell phones. Videotaping or other recording of this production is strictly prohibited.
sfplayhouse.org 4
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ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES SALLY DANA (Kate) has been ●
performing as an actor, singer, drummer and voice-over artist for over 25 years, most recently in the San Francisco Playhouse production of Dogfight. Other credits include Tides Theatre’s production of The Little Foxes, Central Work’s The Education of a Rake, Campo Santo’s The Language of Angels for which she won a Dean Goodman Choice Award for the role of Danielle, A Common Vision at Magic Theatre, Something in the Air at B Street Theatre and a two-year run in the comedy Shear Madness. Sally was an ensemble member in Julie Taymor and Elliot Goldenthal’s Obie Award-winning and Tonynominated production of Juan Darien. Sally performed multiple roles in William Bivin's comedy Pulp Scripture (2009 Best of the SF Fringe Festival) and George Pfirrmann's Arousal (2010 Best of the SF Fringe Festival). Sally received her theatrical training from Seattle’s Cornish College of the Arts and is currently the drummer for the garage rock band The Reform School Girls.
ADAM ELDER (Harris) is a
graduate of the Esper Studio in New York, where he studied under master teacher Bill Esper. Since arriving in the Bay Area in 2014, he has appeared in Roustabout Theater Company’s Betrayal, Inferno’s King Lear and AAU's Measure for Measure. He is very excited to have this opportunity to work with San Francisco Playhouse for the first time!
RACHEL GOLDBERG (Girl) is
thrilled to be making her San Francisco Playhouse debut! She graduated with her BA from San Francisco State University in 2014. Credits include SubUrbia (Beebee) with Breach Once More, West Side Story (Maria) with Pacifica Spindrift Players, Millicent Scowlworthy (Reese Scowlworthy) with 99Stock Productions and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Honey) with A Delicate Balance. She would like to thank her parents, work, friends, and her kitty, Callie for putting up with the crazy life she has chosen.
Without them, none of this would be possible. And thanks to all of you for supporting the arts!
NANCY KIMBALL (Girl) is thrilled
to be making her San Francisco Playhouse debut in On Clover Road. She is in her senior year at Oakland School for the Arts where she studies theatre. Recent theatre credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Three Sisters and The Trojan Women (OSA) and The Hill (YATC). Recent film credits include Charlie (Breaking Glass Pictures), Raise Your Kids on Seltzer (ConFluence-Film) and Knowing Nothing Cold. Nancy would like to thank her parents, brother, and best friend Chelsea for their incredible love and support.
DANA
MICHAEL STORM (Stine) is making ●
his debut with San Francisco Playhouse. Regional theater credits include a season with the Alabama Shakespeare Festival which included Romeo and Juliet (Montague) and Two Gentlemen of Verona (Panthino), a season with the California Shakespeare Festival where he appeared in The Tempest (Sebastian), The Merchant of Venice (Tubal) and King Lear (Oswald), three seasons with the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival appearing in Twelfth Night (Sebastian), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oberon and Theseus) and Pericles, Prince of Tyre (Pericles) and in Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s production of Missing Persons (Tucker). He has also worked with San Jose Stage Company in The Turn of the Screw (Man), Glengarry Glen Ross (Williamson) and The Lonesome West (Father Welsh), Crowded Fire Theater, Livermore Shakespeare Festival and TheatreFIRST.
ELDER
GOLDBERG
KIMBALL
SUSI DAMILANO (Director) is co-
founder and producing director of San Francisco Playhouse. Directing credits include Playhouse productions of Company, Stupid Fucking Bird, Into the Woods, A Behanding in Spokane, Den of Thieves and Wirehead (SFBATCC directing nomination), the West Coast premieres of Honey Brown Eyes (SFBATCC directing 2016.03 • BAYSTAGES.COM
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STORM
R E C O M M E N D S
THE ESSENTIAL STEPHEN SONDHEIM
These 30 cast album tracks make a great introduction. (masterworksbroadway.com)
nomination), Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Coronado, The Mystery Plays, Roulette and the world premieres of Rhett Rossi’s From Red to Black and Daniel Heath’s Seven Days in the Sandbox Series. She is a five-time recipient of the SFBATCC Award for Principal Actress for Abigail’s Party, Harper Regan, Bug, Six Degrees of Separation and Reckless. At the Playhouse she has performed leading roles in Tree, Bauer, Abigail’s Party, Harper Regan, Coraline, Slasher, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Landscape of the Body, First Person Shooter, Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train, The Crucible, Kimberly Akimbo, Our Town and The Smell of the Kill.
NATALIE BARSHOW (Costume
THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME The Oscar-nominated Menken-Schwartz score re-imagined for the stage. (sh-k-boom.com)
Designer) as a lover of new works, Natalie is excited to make her Sandbox debut. Recent costume designs include The Tempest (Silicon Valley Shakespeare), Dead Man Walking (SJSU), Fuddy Meers (SPOTLITE Stage Company) and several short films. She is a recent graduate of San Jose State University, holds her BA in theatre arts, and is currently a freelance costume designer, assistant and wardrobe person for theatre and film around the Bay Area.
JESSICA BENT (Lighting
ALAN CUMMING SINGS SAPPY SONGS
The Cabaret star shares his cabaret act, live from the Cafe Carlyle . (yellowsoundlabel.com)
Designer) is thrilled to be designing her second production with the San Francisco Playhouse Sandbox Series. Her previous work includes Rhett Rossi’s From Red to Black, Federico Garcia Lorca’s Blood Wedding, Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man’s Cell Phone and Euripides' Medea. She is proud to be a part of the On Clover Road production crew and to work with Jordan, Susi and the rest of the Playhouse team again. She would like to thank her father Dave for his unconditional support and love and her many friends for their support along the way.
KEILI ELLIOTT (Stage Manager)
FIRST
DAUGHTER
SUITE
John Michael LaChiusa's score with Alison Fraser and the Off-Broadway cast. (sh-k-boom.com)
is thrilled to make her professional stage management debut with On Clover Road! Keili is a Southern California native, Colorado State University alumna and recent transplant to the Bay Area. 6
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Her past credits include CSU’s productions of The Night of the Iguana, College The Musical, One Flea Spare, The Great Food Detective (northern Colorado tour) and the 10th annual Rock Band Project. Keili feels especially thankful for this opportunity and to the Playhouse for welcoming her so warmly into the family! kemgmt.com
BILL ENGLISH (Artistic Director)
is a co-founder of San Francisco Playhouse, and in 12 years with Susi Damilano, has guided its growth from a bare-bones storefront to the second-largest theater in San Francisco. He designed the first theater space at 536 Sutter Street and personally reconfigured a barn-like 700-seat hall to the current gracious and intimate 200-seat venue. Along the way he has served as director, actor, set and sound designer, winning SFBATCC nominations or awards in all those categories. Bill is also an accomplished musician and builder. Milestone accomplishments include bringing Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Adly Guirgis to the Bay Area by directing three of his plays, commissioning 12 playwrights and moving world premieres from workshop to Sandbox Series to mainstage to New York including the recent New York transfer of the San Francisco Playhouse production of Bauer, the current New York transfer of Ideation and presenting the very first production of Grounded by George Brant which recently opened at the Public Theater. He coined the phrase “the empathy gym” and it drives everything at San Francisco Playhouse.
LAUREN ENGLISH (Casting
Director) is a founding company member at San Francisco Playhouse where she casts all mainstage and Sandbox Series productions. Favorite Playhouse roles on stage include Kate in Seminar, The Pilot in Grounded, Steph in reasons to be pretty, Becky in Becky Shaw, Sally in Cabaret, Emily in Our Town and Lisa in The Glory of Living. New York credits include TACT’s Off-Broadway production of The Cocktail Party, Hamlet at the
Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey and The Idealist at the New York Times Theatre. She has also worked at the Public Theater, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Lark Theatre and Playwrights Realm. Local work includes Word for Word, Marin Theatre Company, Marin Shakespeare Company, PlayGround and Magic Theatre. She is a two-time SFBATCC Award and three-time Dean Goodman Award recipient. Lauren trained at Foothill Theatre Conservatory and earned an MFA from NYU’s graduate acting program.
THEODORE J. H. HULSKER (Sound
Designer) is a former baby model and a San Francisco Bay Area native and sound designer. He has worked with a multiplicity of theater companies in the Bay Area including Marin Theatre Company, Shotgun Players, San Francisco Playhouse, Mugwumpin, Center REPertory Theater, Douglass Morrison Theatre, New Conservatory Theatre Center and many more. In addition to design work Theodore curates Klanghaus, a monthly event showcasing the work of local performing and visual artists. He also works as a guest artist at Tamalpais High School and Marin Academy. He graduated with honors from San Francisco State University in 2012 and was the 2012 recipient of the Eric Landisman Grant for an Emerging Designer. theodore-hulsker. squarespace.com
MAGGIE KO CH ( P r o d u c t i o n
Manager) is thrilled to have worked for San Francisco Playhouse for ten years, starting as an intern and moving to production assistant, then resident stage manager, and into her current role as production manager. She would like to thank Bill and Susi for giving her this great opportunity, her husband Ed for his love and always making her laugh, and her friends and family for their constant support. Go, Steelers!
TISH LEUNG (Technical Director) is
proud to be returning to the Sandbox Series for the third time. After building in a word and 1 2 3, she is excited to build On Clover Road for such a lovely space as the Rueff. Tish also builds San Francisco Playhouse's main stage shows as the assistant technical director and encourages you to check out more fantastic shows at the Playhouse. Tish is from San Jose and has worked with many theater companies including Center Repertory, San Jose Repertory, Berkeley Repertory, American Musical Theater San Jose and Shakespeare Santa Cruz.
MIKE “MIGUEL” MARTINEZ (Fight
Choreographer) is a 35 year veteran of the stunt industry, who began his stage combat career in the wild west stunt shows at San Jose’s Frontier Village, before going on to work in film, television and commercials. Some of his film credits include stunt double for Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Angels in the Outfield, The Matrix: Reloaded. More recent works are Transformers: Age of Extinction, San Andreas, Jurassic World and fight coordinator for the hit Netflix series Sense8 . His first show with San Francisco Playhouse, Camelot, garnered an SFBATCC Award for Fight Choreography. Other Playhouse shows include Ideation, Jerusalem, Promises, Promises , Company , Dogfight and the Sandbox Series productions From Red to Black and 77%. “Most of my choreography comes from boxing, Muay Thai and growing up in Oakland.”
NICOLE JONES (Production Assistant)
resides in Los Angeles where she works in film, television and commercials. The theater bug bit her when she worked as an assistant stage manager on The Industry’s experimental mobile opera, Hopscotch. Now, she is grateful to experience the magic of live performance again on this thrilling production of On Clover Road. She
is grateful for the opportunity and hopes to continue to be involved with theater and live storytelling. She thanks her family and loved ones for their support. She also thanks her parents for opening their home for her while she’s here!
JORDAN PUCKET (Associate Artistic
Director) has worked in a variety of capacities at San Francisco Playhouse since 2011. She is proud to now be the associate artistic director and production manager of the Sandbox Series. As a playwright, her work has been seen in California, Illinois and New York. Inevitable, her first full-length work, premiered in the Sandbox Series in 2013 and her latest play, Pajarita, will receive a workshop production on April 15 as part of Acting Out INK Fest in Los Angeles.
JACQUELYN SCOTT (Props Artisan)
works as production designer and propsmaster for theaters and film companies throughout the Bay Area. Previous credits include Stage Kiss, Company, Tree, Into The Woods, Jerusalem, Abigail’s Party, A Behanding in Spokane (San Francisco Playhouse), A Lie of the Mind, Buried Child, The Happy Ones, Annapurna, The Lily's Revenge, The Brothers Size, Goldfish, Octopus (Magic Theatre), Assassins, God's Plot (Shotgun Players), Hundred Days, Companion Piece (Z Space), American Hwangap (The Play Company, New York) and art director for Park Pictures, PaperDog and Heist.
ZACH SIGMAN (Technical Theatre
Manager) is thrilled to be working his second season at San Francisco Playhouse. He has been working in theater in the San Francisco Bay Area for the last 20 years for companies like San Jose Repertory Theatre, American Musical Theatre of San Jose, TheatreWorks, Opera San Jose and Berkeley Repertory Theatre.
● Members of Actors’ Equity Association. This theater operates under an agreement with Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
All images and/or content provided by San Francisco Playhouse 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 San Francisco Playhouse or VIA MEDIA. Photo credits are included as provided.
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ONE OF THE “TOP 10 BEST THEATRICAL PERFORMANCES OF 2015”—Huffington Post
THE LION Written and Performed by Benjamin Scheuer Directed by Sean Daniels
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APR 19–MAY 1 AT A.C.T.’S STRAND THEATER
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