Dr. Cook's Garden

The American Century Theater Cast (in order of appearance) presents Bea Schmidt....................................................................................Kathryn Cocroft Jim Tennyson............................................................................................ JB Bissex Dora Ludlow..................................................................................Carol McCaffrey Dr. Cook’s Garden Elias Hart........................................................................................... Robert Lavery Leonard “Doc” Cook........................................................................ David Schmidt by Ira Levin Production Staff December 10, 2008 – January 4, 2009 Director.............................................................................................Ellen Dempsey Stage Manager...............................................................................Zoia N. Wiseman Gunston Theatre II Producer............................................................................................... Karen Currie 2700 South Lang Street Set Designer..................................................................................Trena Weiss–Null Lighting Designer.....................................................................AnnMarie Castrigno Arlington, Virginia Sound Designer............................................................................Christopher Baine Costumer..............................................................................................Rip Claassen Director Producer Musical Director Props....................................................Karen Currie, Ellen Dempsey, Lou George, Jack Marshall Ann Marie Plubell Tom Fuller Rhonda Hill, Trena Weiss–Null, Zoia N. Wiseman Fight Director..........................................................................................Steve Lada Stage Manager Lighting Designer Technical Director................................................................................Michael Null Rhonda Hill AnnMarie Castrigno Board Operator.................................................................................Teneriffe Mapp Electrics................................................................................................... Ben Welsh Costumer Sound Designer Technical Director Set Construction..................Rick Albani, Jason Beagle, Karen Currie, Tom Fuller, Rip Claassen Bill Gordon Michael Null Bill Gordon, Steven Scott Mazzola, Michael Null, Trena Weiss–Null Program.........................................................................................Michael Sherman Dr. Cook’s Garden is produced by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Already Read Used Books, Theater J, Rick Albani, Jason Beagle, Setting Deborah Rinn Critzer, Hannah Crowell, Linda Doyal, Lou George, Bill Gordon, Sarah Holt, Doug Kretzlin, Steven Scott Mazzola, Jennifer Moss Kincaid, Greenfield Center, Vermont, Fall 1966 Carol Randolph, Stephanie H. Wiseman, The Arlington County Department of Act I: Late Afternoon Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources, Cultural Affairs Division, and all others Act II: Ten Minutes Later whose names were not available as this program went to press. Act III: Half an Hour Later The American Century Theater is funded in part by Arlington County through the Cultural Affairs Division of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural There will be two 10-minute intermissions. Resources and the Arlington Commission for the Arts; the Virginia Commission for the Arts; numerous foundations; and many generous donors. Period books provided by Already Read Used Books www.alreadyreadusedbooks.com Supported in part by the Virginia Commission of the Arts and the Arlington County Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Services, Cultural Affairs Division. PLEASE NOTE: Please turn off any cell-phones and other noise making devices. The use of recording equipment and/or the taking of photographs during the performance are strictly prohibited. Artistic Director’s Notes: Dr. Cook’s Garden (1967) by Ira Levin When Ira Levin died last year, his passing was not marked as a great loss logical, unsettling conclusion. It was joined, later on, by others more to the world of literature. He was never a household name, because Levin familiar to you, perhaps―What if they cloned Hitler? What if a family never received his fair share of respect while he was alive, though he procured lovers for its necrophiliac son? What if a housewife was carrying got an abundance of grudging recognition. This was due to his peculiar Satan’s unborn child?―but it is no less memorable. Indeed, though Levin affinity for the form known as the “thriller,” a genre of both novel and managed to thrill millions of readers, play-goers and movie audiences play popular with the public but seldom with serious critics. Levin stands without establishing a strong public memory himself, the calling cards virtually alone in his ability to churn out best-sellers and Broadway hits his stories left in our collective subconscious will be turning up in our with equal success, all while generating sniffs, sneers, and disdain from nightmares for a long, long time. most reviewers. His success arose from a mastery of his own brand of thriller, a special Jack Marshall, recipe of Gothic horror, Michael Crichton techno-thrills, old-fashioned Artistic Director suspense, and satire, and also from a deep well-spring of versatility. The American Century Theater Attempting adaptations of other author’s works? Levin aced his first attempt, turning Mac Hyman’s novel No Time for Sergeants into a hit Broadway comedy, and, while he was at it, planting the roots for a whole grove of American pop culture: it was this show that launched the career THE AMERICAN CENTURY THEATER of Andy Griffith, paired him with Don Knotts, and inspired the Mayberry BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND STAFF spin-off, Gomer Pyle USMC. (Yes, Ira Levin was responsible for Jim Nabors. Oh! The horror!) Thinking of song-writing? Although Levin’s Chair: Wendy Kenney one musical, Drat the Cat!, was a failure, he wrote the lyrics for one of Vice–Chair/Secretary: Steven Scott Mazzola its songs that has become a standard: “He Touched Me.” And questioning Treasurer: Ann Marie Plubell his movies? Every one of his novels and most of his plays were made into Board: Rebecca Christy, Vivian Kallen, Peri Mahaley, movies, usually with Levin collaborating on the screenplays; his first,A Jack Marshall, Loren Platzman Kiss before Dying, has been filmed twice. Inquiring about phrasemakers? Jack Marshall, CEO and Artistic Director “Stepford wife” has become a full-fledge catch phrase, so vivid was his Rhonda Hill, Production and Casting Manager feminist nightmare about chauvinist husbands turning their liberated wives Steven Scott Mazzola, Associate Artistic Director into pie-baking, sexually submissive June Cleaver androids. Jason Beagle, Artistic Associate Rip Claassen, Community Programs/Outreach The Stepford Wives and Rosemary’s Baby, both mega-selling novels and Brian Crane, Database/Communications Manager hit movies, were examples of Levin riding cultural waves with perfection. Deborah Rinn Critzer, Front of House/Volunteer Manager Sometimes he created the wave himself: people forget that Rosemary’s Karen Currie, Group Sales Baby launched the public demand for demonic possession-themed Ellen Dempsey, Artistic Associate/Controller entertainments like The Exorcist and The Omen. On other occasions, Bill Gordon, Web Marketing/Podcasts he sensed that a previous wave still had a kick: Deathtrap, Levin’s 1978 Rebecca Hunger, Director of Operations play that became the fifth longest running play in Broadway history, Tom Fuller, Resident Musical Director/General Counsel was inspired in part by his realization that Anthony Shaffer’s Sleuth Michael Null, Technical Director was frustrating small theaters that found its set and prop requirements Michael Sherman, Graphic Artist & Design daunting. They needed a simpler cat-and-mouse American thriller with Ginny Tarris, Director of Development similar virtues, and Levin supplied it. Trena Weiss–Null, Technical Director Dr. Cook’s Garden, which played on Broadway briefly in 1967, was one of Robert McElwaine is the Residential Playwright of the times Levin missed his wave: the real-life Dr. Cook, under a different The American Century Theater name, didn’t arrive on the American scene for almost 20 years. But this play is pure Levin in concept―a disturbing “what if?” played out to its THE COMPANY PRODUCTION STAFF JB BISSEX (Jim Tennyson) has previously appeared as Snug the Joiner in A Midsummer ELLEN DEMPSEY (Director) The American Century Theater: Happy Birthday, Night’s Dream with Shakespeare Dallas and Bishop Crumley in The Sugar Bean Sisters Wanda June, MacBird!, It Had to be You; Assistant Director: That Championship at Watertower Theater in Addison, TX. Other roles include Kenneth in Memory of Two Season, Paradise Lost, Moby Dick Rehearsed; Keegan Theatre: Twelve Angry Men Mondays, Mr. Miller in Love and Intrigue, Joe in Waiting for Lefty, Mr. Morland in and Unquiet Hearts; Elden Street Players: Sweet Charity, The Antigone in Warsaw; Barrie’s Mary Rose, Oberon in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Malvolio Stage Management: Keegan Theatre: Pump Boys and Dinettes, Hamlet, On the Verge, in Twelfth Night, Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, and Violet and A Streetcar Named Desire (US and Ireland). Last seen on stage in TACT’s the

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