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january 27–31, 2015
Yale School of Drama James Bundy, Dean Victoria Nolan, Deputy Dean Joan Channick, Associate Dean
Presents
By moliÈre Translated by brendan pelsue Adapted by Andrej Visky, Brendan Pelsue, and Samantha Lazar Directed by andrej visky Scenic Designer Costume Designer Lighting Designer Composer and Sound Designer Projection Designer Production Dramaturg Stage Manager
Alexander Woodward Sydney Gallas Andrew F. Griffin Jing (Annie) Yin YANA BIRYUKOVA Samantha Lazar Avery Trunko
CAST Elvira Don Juan Charlotte, Servant Don Louis, Beggar, Gusman, Messenger Sganarelle Don Carlos, Mr. Davis Pierrot, Don Alonzo Mathilde, Statue
Jenelle Chu James CUsati-Moyer Anne Katherine HÄgg Julian Elijah Martinez Aubie Merrylees Aaron Luis Profumo Bradley James Tejeda Ariana VenturI
Don Juan is performed without an intermission.
Yale School of Drama thanks Nina Adams and Moreson Kaplan for their generous support of this production.
Rattling the Cage Don Juan is a cry of protest. Molière wrote the play in just a few weeks, to replace Tartuffe which had just been banned for offending the Church. But the societal critiques inherent in Don Juan were thinly veiled, so despite the king’s backing, it too was perfunctorily banished from the repertoire almost immediately after its premiere in 1660. More than any of Molière’s other works, the form of this play is itself a slap in the face of the neoclassical strictures that governed French drama in the seventeenth century. But Molière doesn’t stop at thumbing his nose at dramatic bylaws: in the voice of Don Juan, who speaks more freely than Molière himself ever dared, the playwright lashes out at all of the stifling structures and elaborate rules that governed his society. Listing the setting as Renaissance Spain (a holdover from Tirso de Molina’s earlier Don Juan, on which this play was based) did little to disguise Molière’s true targets. Molière’s was a world of elaborate hierarchies and behavioral expectations that stripped freedom from all classes. The servant was duty-bound to serve and obey, regardless of whether or not his master was inclined to pay him on time. The nobleman was similarly straight jacketed by the Honor Code, which required that he exhibit valor and seek justice at all times, not to mention follow meticulously the rarified rules of dress and decorum.
Right: Jean-Baptiste Poquelin de MoliÈre.
Overarching all of this, and rivaling even the monarchy, the Catholic Church ruled supreme. Faith and Christian morality were not options; they were the way of the world. People believed that God had assigned their place in society, and it was their job to fulfill that destiny piously. Into this web of restraint steps Don Juan, a free thinker who chafes at every limit and scorns blind adherence to custom. He represents the small contingent of libertins érudits, the artists and intellectuals who quietly rebelled against a restricted existence. Don Juan takes this impulse to the extreme, embracing every counterpoint in his yearning to break free from the cage. —SAMANTHA LAZAR, PRODUCTION DRAMATURG
Faust:
I shall enjoy deep within myself, contain Within my spirit summit and abyss, Pile on my breast their agony and bliss, And let my own self grow into theirs unfettered, Till as they are, at last I, too, am shattered.
Oscar Wilde:
Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope. They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only Beauty.
Edward Snowden:
I don’t see myself as a hero because what I’m doing is self-interested: I don’t want to live in a world where there’s no privacy and therefore no room for intellectual exploration and creativity.
Hugh Hefner:
Life is too short to be living somebody else’s dream.
PussyRiot:
We’ve been fighting for the right to sing, to think, to criticize. To be musicians and artists, ready to do everything to change our country, no matter the risks.
Bart Simpson:
There’s no such thing as a soul. It’s just something they made up to scare kids, like the boogeyman or Michael Jackson.
oscar wilde, photo by napoleon sarony, 1881; hugh hefner, photo by S. Bukley, 2010; Bart Simpson, by Matt Groening/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation; Pussy Riot, photo by Denis Bochkarev, 2012; Edward Snowden, photo by Freedom of the Press Foundation via Wikimedia Commons, 2014.
cast JENELLE CHU (ELVIRA) is a second-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where she has been seen in Paradise Lost and In Arabia We’d All Be Kings. Other credits include We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Middletown, Summer Shorts: A Festival of New Voices (Yale Summer Cabaret); The Crazy Shepherds of Rebellion (Yale Cabaret); Burying Barbie (Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival); and The Importance of Being Earnest (The Tank). While in New York, she was a proud member of The Bats at The Flea Theater where her credits include Nectarine EP, These Seven Sicknesses (directed Ed Iskandar), a cautionary tail, and #serials@theflea. Jenelle received her BM in vocal performance from University of Missouri-Kansas City. JAMES CUSATI-MOYER (DON JUAN) is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where he has appeared in The Master and Margarita, THUNDERBODIES, Measure for Measure, Tiny Boyfriend, Platonov, and House Beast. Other credits include The Soldier’s Tale, directed by Liz Diamond, part of the Yale in New York series at Carnegie Hall; Pierrot Lunaire, We Know Edie La Minx Had a Gun, A New Saint For A New World (Yale Cabaret); Why Torture Is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them (Yale Summer Cabaret); The Pits directed by Sarah Krohn and Loving v. Virginia directed by Patricia McGregor (Williamstown Theatre Festival). He holds a BA in theatre performance from Marymount Manhattan College and is a past recipient of the Constance Welch Memorial Scholarship. ANNE Katherine HÄGG (CHARLOTTE, SERVANT) is a second-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where her credits include THUNDERBODIES, Paradise Lost, and This Flat Earth. Other credits include A New Saint for a New World (Yale Cabaret), Dancing at Lughnasa (Irish Repertory Theatre), BoeingBoeing (New Harmony Theatre), and The Most Happy Fella (The Acorn at Theatre Row). Annie received a BA in history from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
JULIAN ELIJAH MARTINEZ (DON LOUIS, BEGGAR, GUSMAN, MESSENGER) is a second-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where his credits include Cardboard Piano, Paradise Lost, and Riverbank: A Noh Play for Northerly Americans. Other credits include Summer Shorts: A Festival of New Voices, We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, A Map of Virtue, Middletown (Yale Summer Cabaret); The Brothers Size, The Defendant, Solo Bach, We Fight We Die (Yale Cabaret); 9 Circles (Forum Theatre, Helen Hayes Outstanding Lead Actor in a Resident Play nomination); Locomotion (The John F. Kennedy Center); The Hampton Years (Theater J); Jekyll & Hyde (Synetic Theater); Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cymbeline (Chesapeake Shakespeare Company); Man of La Mancha (Hangar Theater); Hamlet and All’s Well That Ends Well (Orlando Shakespeare Theater). Julian holds a BFA from Elon University.
AUBIE MERRYLEES (SGANARELLE) is a second-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where his credits include Riverbank: A Noh Play for Northerly Americans, Paradise Lost, and the old man in In Arabia We’d All Be Kings. He has also appeared in Middletown, A Map of Virtue, and Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them (Yale Summer Cabaret); and as the rabbit in Look
Up, Speak Nicely, and Don’t Twiddle Your Fingers All the Time (Yale Cabaret). Originally from Philadelphia, Aubie performed in Charlotte’s Web, Women in Jep, and Rachel Bonds’s At the Old Place (Arden Theatre Company); My Romantic History (Inis Nua); The Liar (The Lantern); A Bright New Boise (Simpatico); and The Aliens (Theatre Exile), which earned him a Barrymore nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Play. Aubie is also a company member at People’s Light & Theatre, where he has acted in over ten productions, including End Days, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Beautiful Boy, Stargirl, and A Wrinkle in Time. He is a graduate of Brown University. For Mom.
AARON LUIS PROFUMO (DON CARLOS, MR. DAVIS) is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where his credits include The Master and Margarita, The Rules, Measure for Measure, As You Like It, Peter Pan, Lottie in the Late Afternoon, and Platonov. Other credits include Radio Hour and The Zero Scenario at Yale Cabaret. He graduated from Oberlin College, where he studied acting and political science with a concentration in Middle Eastern studies. Aaron also performed with and directed the long-form improv troupe Primitive Streak. He is a co-founder and project director at RTC Studios, a multimedia performance and production company.
BRADLEY JAMES TEJEDA (PIERROT, DON ALONZO) is a second-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where he was seen in Bird Fire Fly. Other credits include Arcadia (Yale Repertory Theatre); The Hotel Nepenthe, We Fight We Die, The Defendant (Yale Cabaret); and King John (Marin Shakespeare Company). Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, he holds a BA in theatre arts from the University of the Incarnate Word. ARIANA VENTURI (MATHILDE, STATUE) is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where her credits include The Master and Margarita, The Rules, Hedda Gabler, and Platonov. She was most recently seen in The Zero Scenario at Yale Cabaret. She has also appeared at Yale Repertory Theatre as Higgy in These Paper Bullets! and in Robert Woodruff’s production of In a Year with 13 Moons. Other credits include Why Torture Is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them; and A Map of Virtue (Yale Summer Cabaret); Michael von Siebenburg Melts Through the Floorboards (Actors Theatre of Louisville); Design For Living, The Cat and the Canary (Berkshire Theatre Group); and Sousepaw (US Fringe Tour). New York: Alex Timbers’s Dance Dance Revolution (Les Frères Corbusier), Vendetta Chrome (Clubbed Thumb), The Great Recession (The Flea Theater), and the sketch comedy series Ephemerama. Ari has a BA in English from Vassar College.
Creative Team YANA BIRYUKOVA (PROJECTION DESIGNER) is a first-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama. Her recent designs include 1/13/14 (Studio Tisch), Transport (Irish Repertory Theatre), and Chang in a Void Moon (Incubator Arts Project). Her recent assistant credits include The Master and Margarita (Yale School of Drama) and Deepest Man (3-Legged Dog). Yana holds a BA in film studies from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. yanabiryukova.com
Creative Team SYDNEY GALLAS (COSTUME DESIGNER) is a second-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama. Her design credits include The Hotel Nepenthe (Yale Cabaret); Bastianello and Lucrezia (Urban Arias); Macbeth for iBook (New Book Press); Leave the Balcony Open (New Feet Productions); As You Like It, Fefu and Her Friends, The Tempest (The New School); Ivanov, The Ghost Sonata (Columbia University); Future Anxiety (#serials@theflea, The Flea); After Robert Hutchens, When the Tanks Break, A Map of Virtue (Williamstown Theater Festival); and The Orpheus Variations (Deconstructive Theatre Project; The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival). Sydney is also the co-creator of The Missing Pages of Lewis Carroll, a new play opening soon at Boston Court in Pasadena, California. She has assisted notable and award winning costume designers including Gregg Barnes, Gabriel Berry, David Farley, Jane Greenwood, Susan Hilferty, and Ann Hould-Ward at respected institutions such as Williamstown Theater Festival, The Public Theater, and New York City Opera. She is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and Playwrights Horizons Theatre School. SydneyGallas.com
ANDREW F. GRIFFIN (LIGHTING DESIGNER) is a second-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where he designed The Master and Margarita and Measure for Measure. Selected credits include The Zero Scenario, The Brothers Size, The Crazy Shepherds of Rebellion, He Left Quietly, Bound To Burn (Yale Cabaret); Henry V, Twelfth Night, Othello (Folger Theatre); Avenue Q, A Chorus Line, You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown (Olney Theatre Center); You for Me for You, The K of D, and The Last Cargo Cult (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company). He has also collaborated on designs with companies including Yale Summer Cabaret, Signature Theatre, Studio Theatre, Synetic Theater, Tri-Cities Opera, Theater J, Forum Theatre, Adventure Theatre, UrbanArias, GALA Hispanic Theatre, Faction of Fools, Imagination Stage, Everyman Theatre, The Delaware Shakespeare Festival, MetroStage, and Michigan Opera Theatre Children’s Chorus. Andrew received the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lighting Design for his designs of Henry V at Folger Theatre and King Lear at Synetic Theater. AFGLighting.com SAMANTHA LAZAR (ADAPTOR, PRODUCTION DRAMATURG) is a thirdyear MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama. Last year she served as dramaturg for Yale Repertory Theatre’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist. Other dramaturgy, design, and technical credits include The Cold in My Eye (Yale School of Drama); Milk Milk Lemonade, The Twins Would Like to Say, and Crave (Yale Cabaret). Prior to coming to Yale, she worked as a dramaturg and set designer in Philadelphia, where favorite credits include Red (Philadelphia Theater Company), Ubu Roi (Renegade Classic Theatre), and Becky Shaw (Montgomery Theater). She has written performance reviews and criticism for varied publications and is currently a managing editor of Theater magazine. She holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania. BRENDAN PELSUE (Translator, ADAPTOR) is a second-year MFA candidate in playwriting at Yale School of Drama. Plays staged at the School of Drama include Riverbank: A Noh Play for Northerly Americans and Parking Lot. Originally from Newburyport, Massachusetts, he holds a BA in literary arts from Brown University.
AVERY TRUNKO (STAGE MANAGER) is a second-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where she was the assistant stage manager for THUNDERBODIES and The Visit. Other credits include A Map of Virtue, Middletown (Yale Summer Cabaret); Hotel Nepenthe, The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs, and Look Up, Speak Nicely, and Don’t Twiddle Your Fingers All the Time (Yale Cabaret); Grease, The Cat in the Hat, The Little Mermaid (Summer Theatre of New Canaan); Other Desert Cities, The Giver, and Grace, or the Art of Climbing (Denver Center Theatre); The Power of Duff, 22 Seconds (New York Stage and Film). Avery received her BFA from Hofstra University. ALEXANDER WOODWARD (SCENIC DESIGNER) is a second-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama. His credits include Why Torture Is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them (Yale Summer Cabaret); Have I None, The Mystery Boy, Rose and the Rime (Yale Cabaret); Fingers & Toes (New York and Florida); Dixon Family Album, Schmoozy Togetherness (Williamstown Theatre Festival); Ruby Place Nest on the Ground (Signature Theatre); 13 Things About Ed Carpolotti (59E59); 1940s Radio Hour (Cortland Repertory Theatre); What I Thought I Knew, the world premiere of Waiting for Spring (Kitchen Theatre Company); Oblomov (Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater); Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical (Cardinal Stage); And A Child Shall Lead (HERE Arts Center); as well as numerous assistant and associate credits in New York and across the country including the Tony-nominated designs for Bullets Over Broadway, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, The Assembled Parties, and Present Laughter. Alexander holds a BFA in scenic and costume design from Ithaca College. ANDREJ VISKY (ADAPTOR, DIRECTOR) is a director and performer from Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where his credits include Shakespeare’s As You Like It and I’m Sorry I Brought Up God by Emily Zemba. He directed Beginners by Raymond Carver, or What We Talk About When We Talk About Love at Yale Cabaret. Andrej is a founding member of Waiting Room Project, a theatre company devoted to experimental work. During his time with the company he directed Bánk Bán by Katona József and adapted, co-directed, and performed in Karl Wittlinger’s Do You Know the Milky Way?. His performing credits include What Have You Done for Three Years?, a devised work inspired by student life in Cluj, and Faites Vos Jeux!, a show based on live improvisations. In 2011, Andrej served as an assistant director at the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj, where he worked with directors from Romania and the United States. He has assisted directors Robert Woodruff, Karin Coonrod, and Mihai Mâniut,iu, and was an Assistant Lecturer in acting at Babe-Bolyai University. Andrej holds a BFA and MFA in acting from Babe-Bolyai University, where he is currently a PhD candidate. JING (ANNIE) YIN (composer and sound designer) Originally from China, Annie is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where her credits include Platonov, Dead Ends., and As You Like It.
don juan Staff artistic Fufan Zhang, Assistant Scenic Designer Haydee Zelideth, Assistant Costume Designer Elizabeth Green, Assistant Lighting Designer Christopher Ross-Ewart, Assistant Sound Designer and Engineer Michael Commendatore, Assistant Projection Designer Benjamin Pfister, Assistant Stage Manager
PRODUCTION James Lanius III, Associate Production Manager Joey Brennan, Technical Director Rae Powell, Lydia Pustell, Assistant Technical Directors William Hartley, Properties Master Mitchell Cramond, Master Electrician Sean K. Walters, Projection Engineer Emily Baldasarra, Scenic Charge Spencer Hrdy, Stage Carpenter Emily Baldasarra, Asa Benally, Ashley Chang, Claire DeLiso, Hugh D. Farrell, Jessica Hawkins, Jessica Holt, Stephanie Smith, Run Crew
ADMINISTRATION Eric Gershman, House Manager
Special Thanks City Theatrical, Ithaca College
YALE school of drama stafF James Bundy, Dean Victoria Nolan, Deputy Dean Joan Channick, Associate Dean
Artistic Artistic Management Jennifer Kiger, Associate Artistic Director Director of New Play Programs James Mountcastle, Production Stage Manager Amy Boratko, Literary Manager Kay Perdue Meadows, Artistic Associate Benjamin Fainstein, Artistic Coordinator Helen C. Jaksch, Kelly Kerwin, Literary Associates Lindsay King, Teresa Mensz, Library Services Josie Brown, Senior Administrative Assistant to the Artistic Director and Associate Artistic Director Laurie Coppola, Senior Administrative Assistant for the Directing, Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism, Playwriting, and Stage Management Departments Mary Volk, Senior Administrative Assistant for the Design, Sound Design, and Projection Departments
PRODUCTION Production Management Bronislaw J. Sammler, Head of Production Jonathan Reed, Production Manager Edward Lapine, Associate Head of Production and Student Labor Supervisor Grace O’Brien, Senior Administrative Assistant to the Production and Theater Safety and Occupational Health Departments
Scenery opening night Sponsor
Neil Mulligan, Matt Welander, Technical Directors Alan Hendrickson, Electro Mechanical Laboratory Supervisor Eric Sparks, Shop Foreman Brandon Fuller, Matt Gaffney, Ryan Gardner, Sharon Reinhart, Master Shop Carpenters Emmet Sellars, Carpenter Samantha Catanzaro, Kelly Rae Fayton, Alexandra Reynolds, Assistants to the Technical Director
Don Juan January 27–31, 2015 University Theatre, 222 York Street
Painting
The taking of photographs or the use of recording devices of any kind in the theatre without the written permission of the management is prohibited.
Ru-Jun Wang, Scenic Charge Lia Akkerhuis, Nathan Jasunas, Assistant Scenic Artists Emily Baldasarra, Assistant to the Painting Supervisor
Properties Brian Cookson, Properties Master David P. Schrader, Properties Craftsperson Jennifer McClure, Master Properties Assistant Bill Batschelet, Properties Stock Manager Ashley Flowers, Assistant to the Properties Manager
Costumes
Finance and Human Resources
Tom McAlister, Costume Shop Manager Robin Hirsch, Associate Costume Shop Manager Clarissa Wylie Youngberg, Mary Zihal, Senior Drapers Deborah Bloch, Harry Johnson, Senior First Hands Linda Kelley-Dodd, Costume Project Coordinator Denise O’Brien, Wig and Hair Design Barbara Bodine, Company Hairdresser Linda Wingerter, Costume Stock Manager Christina King, Assistant to the Costume Shop Manager
Katherine D. Burgueño, Director of Finance and Human Resources Jonathan Rohner, Business Manager Cristal Coleman, Joanna Romberg, Jennifer Truong, Business Office Specialists Janna J. Ellis, Director, Yale Tessitura Consortium Toni Ann Simiola, Senior Administrative Assistant to Business Office; Technology, Media, and Web Services; Operations; and Tessitura
Electrics
Marketing, Communications, and Audience Services
Donald W. Titus, Lighting Supervisor Brian Quiricone, Linda-Cristal Young, Senior Head Electricians
Sound Mike Backhaus, Sound Supervisor Monica Avila, Staff Sound Engineer Jessica Hawkins, Stephanie Smith, Assistants to the Sound Supervisor
Projections Erich Bolton, Projection Supervisor Mike Paddock, Head Projection Technician
ADMINISTRATION General Management Louisa Balch, Sarah Williams, Associate Managing Directors Jason Najjoum, Management Assistant Steven C. Koernig, Stephanie Rolland, Assistant Managing Directors Emalie Mayo, Senior Administrative Assistant to the Managing Director Annie Middleton, Company Manager Adam Frank, Assistant Company Manager
Development and Alumni Affairs Deborah S. Berman, Director of Development and Alumni Affairs Janice Muirhead, Senior Associate Director of Development Eric Gershman, Associate Director of Development Barry Jay Kaplan, Senior Staff Writer Susan C. Clark, Development and Alumni Affairs Officer Katherine Ingram, Development Associate Belene Day, Senior Administrative Assistant to Development and Marketing & Communications
Daniel Cress, Interim Director of Marketing Steven Padla, Interim Director of Communications Anh Lê, Associate Director of Marketing Marguerite Elliott, Publications Manager Caitlin S Griffin, Marketing and Communications Assistant T. Charles Erickson, Production Photographer Laura Kirk, Associate Director of Audience Services Shane Quinn, Assistant Director of Audience Services Tracy Baldini, Subscriptions Coordinator Roger-Paul Snell, Audience Services Assistant Charles Cowen, Nathaniel Dolquist, Paul Hanna-Cook, Katie Metcalf, Andrew Moore, Kenneth Murray, Peter Schattauer, Box Office Assistants
Operations Diane Galt, Director of Facility Operations Ian Dunn, Operations Associate Joe Proto, Arts and Graduate Studies Superintendent Sherry Stanley, Team Leader Michael Humbert, Facility Steward Lucille Bochert, Tylon Frost, Kathy Langston, Warren Lyde, Patrick Martin, Louis Moore, Mark Roy, Custodians
Technology, Media, and Web Services Sarah Stevens-Morling, Director of Technology, Media, and Web Services Daryl Brereton, Associate Director of Technology, Media, and Web Services Kathleen Martin, Web Services Associate
Theater Safety and Occupational Health William J. Reynolds, Director of Theater Safety and Occupational Health Jacob Thompson, Security Officer Ed Jooss, Audience Safety Officer Kevin Delaney, Fred Geier, Patrick Grant, John Marquez, Customer Service and Safety Officers
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