THE ACTORS'2020

WINTER RENAISSANCE AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE CENTER 6 About the American Shakespeare Center 8 Shakespeare’s Staging Conditions 10 About the Blackfriars Playhouse 12 Recovering the Joys of Shakespeare 14 The Actors’ Renaissance Explained 16 Cast and Creative Team

WHAT'S PL AYING JANUARY 24 - APRIL 19 18 Much Ado about Nothing 22 Henry IV, Part 2 26 Henry IV, Part 1 30 A King and No King 34 Enhance Your Visit 35 Spring: Tour Homecoming 36 Summer/Fall: The Marquee Repertory 38 Actor Bios 42 Creative Team Bios 44 ASC Leadership and Board 46 Ingrained in the Blackfriars 48 Donor Honor Roll 52 Help Us Grow 53 ASC Staff 54 2020/21 ASC on Tour

BLACKFRIARS PLAYHOUSE 10 South Market Street, Staunton, VA 24401 BOX OFFICE HOURS 1.877.MUCH.ADO | 1.877.682.4236 Monday-Saturday 9:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m. [email protected] Sunday Noon-5:00 p.m. americanshakespearecenter.com

COVER: Zoe Speas and Sylvie Davidson. THIS PAGE: Ethan McSweeny. WELCOME! ou are here at the start of something. Well, the middle, Yreally, because 2020 is the 15TH ANNIVERSARY of ASC’s groundbreaking exploration of director-less classical theatre: the Actors’ Renaissance, or as we affectionately shorthand it, the Ren. When this great experiment began, ASC was the modern progenitor of a very old idea: ensembles of artists organizing themselves around a text without the aid of a director. Over the last fifteen years, this practice has been studied and emulated, but nowhere has it reached fuller expression than here on the Blackfriars stage. We’re celebrating this anniversary with another first: our first Ren Season revival. Why revive? Two reasons: 1) It’s something we know that Shakespeare’s company did and we wanted to explore how it worked in this context and 2) because this revival marks the beginning of an extraordinary exploration of Shakespeare’s history plays that will take place over the next five Ren seasons. It’s a journey that started with 2018’s Richard II, and one that we now extend through Henry IV, Part 2, then onward into Henry V (2021), Henry VI (2022 and 2023), and Richard III (2024). Along the way, we will regularly revive past plays in the cycle, so you can reconnect to the story no matter where you join the trip. And in 2025? Well, if we play our cards right, then we’ll gather to celebrate a Ren season for the ages when this company of extraordinary artists presents the full, sweeping, timeless journey of Richard II to Richard III and a whole bunch of Henrys in between. Along the way, we will continue ASC’s signature investigation of neglected Early Modern work: the comedies, tragedies, and even oddities that would have been produced alongside Shakespeare’s plays in the Elizabethan theatre’s golden age. Join us in this Ren season of revival as we renew our familiarity with characters old and new, revisit this one-of-a-kind space, and reinvigorate our commitment to the work of ASC with the finest Shakespearean actors this side of 1611. See you at the Playhouse,

Ethan McSweeny Artistic Director ABOUT THE AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE CENTER ocated in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, Virginia’s premiere classical Ltheatre is at once intimate in scale and epic in imagination—creating vital, sophisticated, and accessible productions built around companies of versatile actors. Each year we produce up to 14 productions over 3 seasons featuring at least 3 distinct companies of actors. All shows are performed in repertory with troupe members playing multiple roles in each show. We are a center for shared discovery by audiences, artists, and scholars of Shakespeare, his contemporaries, and classics old and new.

OUR HISTORY e began in 1988 when Jim Warren Wand Ralph Alan Cohen formed the DID YOU KNOW? Shenandoah Shakespeare Express, a traveling troupe that used Shakespeare’s ASC PRODUCED staging conditions to perform his plays. By THREE WORLD- 2000, we had performed in 47 states, one PREMIERE U.S. territory, and six foreign countries. SHOWS IN 2019, INCLUDING THE Partnering with the City of Staunton and HIT MUSICAL aided by private donors and generous THE WILLARD help from Augusta County and the SUITCASES. Commonwealth of Virginia, we built the world’s only re-creation of Shakespeare’s indoor playhouse in 2001. With one troupe at home and one on the road, we expanded our educational offerings and created America’s first MFA program in Shakespeare and Performance at Mary Baldwin University. We also established an international biennial conference for scholars, and we became the American Shakespeare Center. In 2009, we received the Governor’s Arts Award to honor our achievement of turning Staunton into a world Shakespeare destination. By our 30th year, in 2018, we had played to nearly two million people and produced all 38 of Shakespeare’s plays (many of them more than twice) along with more than 30 plays by his contemporaries. 7 CENTER.COM • 1.877.MUCH.ADO CENTER.COM AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE

OUR MISSION he American Shakespeare Center’s mission Tis to recover the joys and accessibility of Shakespeare’s theatre, language, and humanity by exploring the English Renaissance stage and its practices through performance and education.

OUR FUTURE ith Artistic Director Ethan McSweeny, we Whave entered a new artistic era, treating our beloved Playhouse as a living, breathing space—a laboratory for exploring the Early Modern stage and its performance conditions in a contemporary context. In this, as in all our programming, our mission is to make good on our promise to be Shakespeare’s American Home.

Chris Johnston. SHAKESPEARE’S STAGING CONDITIONS ou may have heard us say, “We do it with the lights on.” But do you know why? We Ybelieve Shakespeare’s Staging Conditions provide the perfect blueprint to create modern, engaging, interactive, and magical theatre—even when the show isn’t by William Shakespeare.

UNIVERSAL LIGHTING Shakespeare’s actors could see their audience; our actors can see you. You play the roles that Shakespeare wrote for you— Cleopatra’s court, Henry V’s army, or the butt of many jokes. LENGTH We cannot know the precise running time of a Shakespeare play in the Renaissance, but the Chorus in Romeo and Juliet promises “two hours’ traffic of our stage.” We try to fulfill this promise through brisk pacing, judicious cutting, and continuous dramatic action.

CASTING Actors in the age of Shakespeare were predominately, if not exclusively, white males. Women didn’t take to the professional English stage until after the Restoration (1660), so Shakespeare’s female roles were played by boys.

Fortunately, we’ve moved beyond Elizabethan casting practices. We look for actors of all shapes, sizes, colors, and abilities. We frequently cast women as male characters and sometimes men as female characters. We cast actors of color in any/all roles. We believe that Shakespeare’s plays tell the stories of all of us and we want our casting to reflect that.

Original architectural rendering of the American Shakespeare Center's Blackfriars Playhouse. 9

MUSIC Musicians played instruments before, during, and after the play. Shakespeare’s plays are sprinkled with songs for which many of the lyrics, but not much of the music, survive. We set many of these songs in contemporary style, furthering • 1.877.MUCH.ADO CENTER.COM our mission to connect Shakespeare’s text to you.

DOUBLING Shakespeare's Julius Caesar has 49 characters and features the scene with the most speaking parts in the canon—15—which provides some idea AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE of the minimum available actors. Henry VI, Part 2, with 64 speaking roles, might have required actors to play at least four (or more!) roles. Our actors, following these conventions, have played as many as seven roles in a single show.

COSTUMING Costuming was important to the theatre companies of Shakespeare’s day for three reasons:

• Costumes provided fresh color and design for the theatres. • Costumes made it easy for one actor to play a variety of roles. • Costumes helped an audience “read” the play quickly by showing at a glance who was rich or poor, royalty or peasantry, ready to work or party.

However, historically accurate costumes were NOT important in the theatres Shakespeare worked in—more important was sharing stories with his audiences. Similarly, we’ll use costumes that are contemporary, Elizabethan, and everything in between to build a unique world for each play. Original architectural rendering of the American Shakespeare Center's Blackfriars Playhouse. ABOUT THE BLACKFRIARS PLAYHOUSE

hakespeare’s Blackfriars Theatre was originally a 13th-century monastery. SJames Burbage purchased the property in 1596 and converted it into a playhouse, but owing to zoning restrictions, Shakespeare’s company didn’t begin performing there until 1608. They charged twelve times as much for tickets to the indoor theatre as they did for his outdoor theatre, The Globe. In 2000, at the invitation of Staunton citizens and with the support of the City Council, as well as state and private donations, we began building the Blackfriars Playhouse, the world’s only re-creation of Shakespeare’s indoor theatre. As no reliable records of the original theatre are known, architect Tom McLaughlin based the design on plans for other 17th-century theatres, surviving halls of the period, Shakespeare’s stage directions, consultation with theatre scholars, and the research on the Blackfriars of the late theatre historian Irwin Smith. The result is this beautiful space you are enjoying today. Since opening in 2001, the Playhouse has welcomed over 944,024 guests to over 6,000 performances. 11 CENTER.COM • 1.877.MUCH.ADO CENTER.COM AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE

DID YOU KNOW? PLAYHOUSE TOURS You can explore the Blackfriars Playhouse from the inside out, learn about its historical predecessor, and discover the inner workings of our 21st-century professional company. 1-hour tours led by scholars are available weekdays at 2 p.m. and Saturdays at 11 a.m. $7 per person, tickets and calendar available on our website. Groups larger than 10, call 540.466.5874 to reserve.

Josh Clark, Ally Farzetta, and Constance Swain in The Taming of The Shrew. Photo by Tommy Thompson. RECOVERING THE JOYS OF SHAKESPEARE ON TOUR In addition to our performances here at the Blackfriars Playhouse, American Shakespeare Center takes the show on the road to dozens of high schools, colleges, and community performance spaces across the United States each year, offering audiences young and old what may be their only opportunity to see classical theater performed live. • We have brought Shakespeare to more than 500 venues across the U.S. since 1988. • Our tour reaches upwards of 20,000 patrons each year. • We begin in September each year traveling from Virginia to Maine before returning to Staunton in November, where the troupe performs in our Holiday Season. • In January, our touring troupe travels to Texas and back before their triumphant return to Staunton for their Tour Homecoming Season. BOOK THE TOUR Contact Associate Artistic Director Dan Hasse at dan.hasse@ americanshakespearecenter.com.

DID YOU KNOW? ASC THEATRE CAMPERS CAN EARN COLLEGE CREDIT AND GAIN INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE. 13

IN THE CLASSROOM AND BEYOND Working directly with students and educators at every level, American Shakespeare Center fosters the study of Shakespeare in lively experiences that encourage lifelong enjoyment and learning.

• Camp | Our immersive theatre camp, housed on Mary Baldwin University’s • 1.877.MUCH.ADO CENTER.COM campus, hosts up to 80 teens each year in two 3-week sessions. • Teacher Training | Educators trained throughout the year at ASC teacher seminars learn how to cure “Shakesfear” in students. • Corporate Leadership | Established and emerging leaders grow in confidence and collaboration by exploring the art of persuasion, spoken and unspoken, in Shakespeare’s characters. • Student Workshops | Led by experts at home or on the road, our workshops

cover everything from stage combat to unraveling Shakespeare’s text. AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE • Consortium | Our collegiate consortium strengthens the study of Shakespeare nationwide through a mutual exchange of study and performance. • Archives | Students and scholars can mine our 30 years of production history— online, at Washington & Lee University, and in Staunton.

BOOK YOUR EXPERIENCE Our Group Sales and Education team can facilitate your immersive experience through workshops, group tickets, and leadership training. Contact [email protected]. THE ACTORS' RENAISSANCE EXPLAINED (SORT OF) Born of an experiment to bring Shakespeare’s performance conditions into our rehearsal hall, the Actors’ Renaissance has become a hallmark of ASC’s unique blend of scholarship and practice. It’s our deepest dive into the Elizabethan era, and in doing it we continue to make discoveries about how things might have happened in the original Blackfriars Playhouse. Here are the basics: A 12 to 15 member acting company composed entirely of ASC veterans performs four plays in rotating repertory, rehearsing each of them in 10 days or less, without directors. Decisions about setting, music, props, and costumes are made by the company collectively and individually, accessing ASC’s stock of clothes, swords, and furniture. Nothing empowers the actors more than being given the reins. We’ve practiced this way for fifteen winters now, and it has created some of our most memorable productions (for good and ill)! SHAKESPEARE'S REHEARSAL CONDITIONS CUE SCRIPTS In the absence of copiers and printers, actors were provided scripts with only their lines, and with three or four words before each speech—their cues. They relied on listening to each other closely on stage to hear their cue. NO DIRECTOR, NO DESIGNERS Actors assembled the play and chose their own costumes from what was on- hand, often discarded clothing from their supporting patrons. Scenery? That's taken care of by lines like, "This is the forest of Arden." LIVING PLAYWRIGHT The playwright fed off the actors' questions, feedback, and performance to hone the text. This closeness between playwrights and actors may be why so many plays were written between 1580 and 1642 (when the Puritans—boo!—closed the theatres). REN RUN Our self-termed “Ren Run” approximates what might have happened in the early stages of Shakespeare’s short rehearsal process where actors run through the play, inventing and improvising as they go. Want to see it in action? Check out A Chaste Maid in Cheapside on page 34.

JOHN HARRELL PLAYED BESSUS IN ASC’S 2005 A KING AND NO KING, THE ROLE CHRIS JOHNSTON PLAYS IN DID YOU KNOW? THE 2020 PRODUCTION, 15 YEARS LATER. 15 CENTER.COM • 1.877.MUCH.ADO CENTER.COM DID YOU KNOW? RENAISSANCE REVIVAL To compete with one another, London’s Early Modern theatre companies had to feed the public a constant diet of new titles. The average “run” of a single play was no more AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE than two days before a company replaced it with another, but the company would keep the play—if it pleased—in its overall repertory and revive it for short runs over the years. This process required a durable ensemble of actors who had together created the original production of the play—a circumstance rare in today’s theatre world. Rare, except here at the Blackfriars, where our ensemble of experienced actors collaborate in creating the shows in our Renaissance Season. This year, for the first time, we are using this advantage to experiment with the Early Modern tradition of revivals by restaging last year’s production of Henry IV, Part 1, and pairing it with its sequel Henry IV, Part 2. In doing so, we will not only be able to give you these two great plays in the same season, but also to recreate the circumstances that made the stage in Shakespeare’s age so productive.

David Anthony Lewis. WINTER SEASON CREATIVE TEAM ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC PRODUCER Jay McClure ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Dan Hasse PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER Sarah Dale Lewis* ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER Adrienne Johnson Butler* ACTOR-MANAGER (TEXT) John Harrell ACTOR-MANAGER (MUSIC) Chris Johnston FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHER Benjamin Reed** ASSISTANT MUSIC CAPTAIN Ronald Román-Meléndez ASSISTANT FIGHT CAPTAIN Constance Swain DANCE CAPTAIN Zoe Speas

CASTING GRID Shakespeare’s company performed upwards of 40 titles in a year. From what we can tell, they employed between 11 and 16 company members, but the average number of roles in a Shakespeare play is 30. In our Actors’ Renaissance, 14 company members play more than 90 roles in 4 titles.

BRANDON SYLVIE JOHN CHRIS DAVID KP BENJAMIN CARTER* DAVIDSON* HARRELL JOHNSTON ANTHONY POWELL** REED** LEWIS*

Dogberry, Borachio, Margaret, Antonio, Leonato, Friar Conrade, Boy, George Verges Hugh Claudio Francis Seacoal Balthasar Oatcake Messenger MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Mistress Pistol, Chief Justice, Porter, King Shallow, Prince Quickly, Sir John Henry IV, Francis, Travers, Gower, Hastings,

PART 2 PART Hal Falstaff Snare, Feeble,

HENRY IV, IV, HENRY Warwick, Bullcalf, Beadle Morton, Davy Mowbray Coleville

Mistress Gadshill, Prince Quickly , Sir John Worcester, King Hotspur Hal Lady Falstaff Sheriff Henry IV Douglas, PART 1 PART

HENRY IV, IV, HENRY Mortimer, Mortimer Chamberlain

Bacurius Spaconia Lygones Bessus Gobrias Mardonius Arbaces A KING AND NO KING 17

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR Tracie Steger Skipper PROPERTIES MASTER Rhi Sanders COSTUME SHOP MANAGER Hope Maddox WARDROBE MANAGER Amber Kuennen COSTUME SHOP ASSISTANT Liz Estes DRAMATURG Anne G. Morgan LITERARY FELLOW Natalie Rich PRODUCTION ASSISTANT INTERNS Emily Dean Crystal Fleshman Alison O’Brien Megan Pelaccio CENTER.COM • 1.877.MUCH.ADO CENTER.COM * Member of Actors' Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States. ** Appears courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association.

“I felt a much closer kinship to Shakespeare’s intentions as I listened to the ASC actors... a delightful company of well-drilled classicists…”

— Peter Marks, The Washington Post AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE

RONALD MEG CONSTANCE ZOE JESSIKA D. RENEA S. DANIELLE ROMÁN- RODGERS SWAIN SPEAS WILLIAMS* BROWN A. FESTA MELÉNDEZ

Don John, Don Pedro Beatrice Hero Benedick Ursula, Understudy Sexton Understudy

Lady Doll Rumour, Northumberland, Lady Percy, Tearsheet, Poins, Northumberland, Peto, Prince John, Lord Archbishop, Falstaff’s Bardolph Silence, Fang, Bardolph, Prince Understudy Page, Understudy Prince Shadow Westmoreland, Thomas, Humphrey Mouldy Wart

Northumberland, Bardolph, Peto, Westmoreland, Poins, Lady Percy, Understudy Blunt, Glendower, Vernon Prince John Francis Archbishop Understudy Sir Michael

2nd 1st Ensemble, Tigranes Swordsman, Swordsman, Panthea Arane Understudy 2nd 1st Understudy Gentleman Gentleman MUCH A DO A BOU T NOT H I NG BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

CAST David Anthony Lewis LEONATO, Governor of Messina Constance Swain HERO, his daughter Meg Rodgers BEATRICE, his niece John Harrell ANTONIO, his brother Sylvie Davidson MARGARET Hero’s gentlewomen Renea S. Brown URSULA

Ronald Román-Meléndez DON PEDRO, Prince of Aragon KP Powell CLAUDIO, a young lord Jessika D. Williams BENEDICK, a lord Zoe Speas DON JOHN, Don Pedro’s bastard brother Chris Johnston CONRADE his followers Brandon Carter BORACHIO

Benjamin Reed DOGBERRY, Constable of the Watch John Harrell VERGES, his assistant David Anthony Lewis HUGH OATCAKE watchmen Sylvie Davidson GEORGE SEACOAL Chris Johnston BALTHASAR, a singer Brandon Carter FRIAR FRANCIS, a priest

Zoe Speas A SEXTON Benjamin Reed A BOY

This production is sponsored in part by a generous gift from DAVID AND DONNA LADD 19 CENTER.COM • 1.877.MUCH.ADO CENTER.COM AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE

THE NAMES BEATRICE DID AND BENEDICK BOTH YOU MEAN “BLESSED” KNOW? IN LATIN.

Constance Swain. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING STUFF THAT HAPPENS DURING THE PLAY • After a recent military victory, Don Pedro of Aragon and his troops arrive in Messina where they are welcomed by Leonato, the governor. • Beatrice (Leonato’s niece) and Benedick (Don Pedro’s friend) verbally spar with one another. Both adamantly swear they will never fall in love. • Claudio, another of Don Pedro’s contingent, tells Benedick that he is in love with Hero, Leonato’s daughter. Benedick shares this news with Don Pedro. • In an effort to help, Don Pedro plans to woo Hero on Claudio’s behalf and obtains Leonato’s consent for their marriage. • Leonato and his brother Antonio prepare for the evening’s festivities and mistakenly think Don Pedro plans to marry Hero himself. • Don Pedro’s bastard brother Don John rejects his sidekick Conrade’s advice to play nice and make up with his brother. Instead, he villainously opts to disrupt the lovers’ plans. • At the party, Don John convinces Claudio that Don Pedro has successfully wooed Hero for himself. • Don Pedro and Leonato undeceive Claudio and plan for the pair to wed. Don Pedro proposes a plot to make Beatrice and Benedick fall in love. • Don John devises another scheme against Claudio enlisting Borachio, another of his men, to make Claudio believe Hero has been unfaithful. • Arranging for Benedick to eavesdrop on them, Don Pedro, Claudio, and Leonato spin elaborate falsehoods alleging Beatrice’s love for Benedick. • Arranging for Beatrice to eavesdrop on them, Hero and Ursula (her gentlewoman) spin elaborate falsehoods alleging Benedick’s love for Beatrice. • Don John tells Claudio that Hero is unfaithful and promises to provide proof. Claudio vows to break off the wedding if the accusations are true. • Dogberry the Constable and his partner Verges prepare their watchmen for the night patrol. • Public shaming, love vows, murder plans, and redemption ensue. 21 DR. RALPH BRIEF 1. When was the play first performed? A single edition of the play appeared in 1600; it was performed one or two years earlier. 2. Where was the play first performed? First at James Burbage’s outdoor playhouse, The Theatre, north of the city wall, then at the newly-constructed Globe. 3. How does this play fit into Shakespeare’s career? It comes DR. RALPH ALAN COHEN roughly in the middle of his career, and scholars group it as a “mature comedy” with The Merchant of Venice (coming soon to the

Blackfriars Playhouse), As You Like It, and Twelfth Night (also coming soon in a • 1.877.MUCH.ADO CENTER.COM new, abbreviated version to the Blackfriars Playhouse). 4. How is this play like Shakespeare’s other plays? In terms of gender relationships, the play seems to be a reworking of Shakespeare’s theme (Two Gentlemen of Verona, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Julius Caesar) that guys who hang out together are generally idiots and largely undeserving of the women they claim to love. 5. How is this play unlike Shakespeare’s other plays? Shakespeare’s works

famously don’t take sides on the political and social issues they raise, but the AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE ferocity of Beatrice’s attack on male chauvinism (see #4 above) and Benedick’s conversion leave no doubt on the play’s viewpoint. 6. What do scholars think about this play? They admire it. Though, oddly, they have less to say about it than they do about the comedies they group with it. This relative quiet may be a subconscious response to the play’s message that much of what we have to say is nonsense, a message neatly summed up in the play’s title. 7. Is there any controversy surrounding the work? No. 8. What characters should I especially look for? Beatrice and Benedick, one of the great couples in literature, are among Shakespeare’s wittiest creations, and Beatrice is among his wisest. People who love words cannot resist the two of them nor the play’s hilarious foil to witty language, Dogberry, whose words are a very fantastical banquet. 9. What scenes should I especially look for? For laughs: Act Two, scene three, called “the Gulling Scene,” is theatrical magic in which Benedick’s friends trick him into realizing he’s in love with Beatrice. For not laughs: The sudden descent into darkness of Act Four, scene one, has few parallels in comedy, and the duet at the end of the scene may be the stage’s most important exchange about romantic love. 10. What is the language like? This play has more prose in it than all but one of Shakespeare’s plays (Merry Wives), and, rich and intricate as it is, that prose contributes to the sense that the play is so contemporary. HENRY IV

PARTBY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 2 CAST Jessika D RUMOUR. Williams , the prologue THE CROWN David Anthony Lewis KING HENRY IV, Henry Bolingbroke Brandon Carter PRINCE HAL, the King’s eldest son, Prince of Wales Jessika D. Williams PRINCE THOMAS, the King’s second son, Duke of Clarence Constance Swain PRINCE JOHN, the King’s third son, Duke of Lancaster Meg Rodgers PRINCE HUMPHREY, the King’s youngest son, Duke of Gloucester Chris Johnston EARL OF WARWICK Danielle A. Festa EARL OF SURREY Zoe Speas EARL OF WESTMORELAND THE REBELS Jessika D. Williams ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, Richard Scroop Ronald Román-Meléndez EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND, Henry Percy Meg Rodgers LADY NORTHUMBERLAND, his wife Constance Swain LADY PERCY, Hotspur’s widow Chris Johnston LORD MOWBRAY KP Powell LORD HASTINGS Zoe Speas LORD BARDOLPH THE TAVERN John Harrell SIR JOHN FALSTAFF Danielle A. Festa FALSTAFF’S PAGE Sylvie Davidson MISTRESS QUICKLY, hostess of the Boar’s Head Tavern Zoe Speas DOLL TEARSHEET, a “companion” Chris Johnston PISTOL, a swaggerer Ronald Román-Meléndez BARDOLPH Jessika D. Williams POINS Meg Rodgers PETO Benjamin Reed LORD CHIEF JUSTICE THE COUNTRY KP Powell ROBERT SHALLOW, a country justice Meg Rodgers SILENCE, his cousin Sylvie Davidson DAVY, Shallow’s servant The company Recruits, Messengers, Servants, Soldiers

This production is sponsored in part by a generous gift from CHRISTINE HARRELL IN MEMORY OF DON HARRELL 23 CENTER.COM • 1.877.MUCH.ADO CENTER.COM AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE

PRINCE HAL HAS THE MOST LINES OF DID ANY CHARACTER IN SHAKESPEARE IF YOU YOU COMBINE HIS LINES FROM BOTH KNOW? PARTS OF HENRY IV AND HENRY V. Brandon Carter. HENRY IV, PART 2 STUFF THAT HAPPENS BEFORE THE PLAY • William Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, part of ASC’s 2019 Actors’ Renaissance and revived this season. (See page 28)

STUFF THAT HAPPENS DURING THE PLAY • Following the Battle of Shrewsbury, rumors fly about the battle’s outcome and the fates of those who fought. • The earl of Northumberland learns of his son Hotspur’s death and is determined to join his brother, the earl of Worcester (still unaware that he is also dead) and the other rebels in battle. • Sir John Falstaff continues to frequent taverns, engage in petty crime, and owe people money. • Feeling the loss of Worcester and hoping for Northumberland’s support, the Archbishop of York and the rebel leaders regroup in Yorkshire to prepare for further battle. • Prince Hal and his friend Poins continue to make trouble and poke fun at Falstaff. • Mistress Quickly is joined by Doll Tearsheet at her still-bawdy establishment in Eastcheap. • In the midst of debauchery, Doll and Falstaff express affection for one another. • Northumberland’s wife and daughter-in-law convince him not to go off to fight with the other rebels. Instead he goes to Scotland. • King Henry IV is losing sleep over the state of the country and his wayward son. He dreams of making a long overdue pilgrimage to the Holy Land. • Falstaff conscripts thieves and lowlifes into his loyalist army. • Falstaff and his old school chum, Justice Shallow, reminisce about their raucous pasts. • King Henry IV’s illness worsens. • Prince John and Westmoreland parley with the rebels at Gaultree Forest in Yorkshire. • Falstaff speaks eloquently about sack. • Succession, banishment, and the chimes at midnight ensue. 25 DR. RALPH BRIEF 1. When was the play first performed? 1597-99. 2. Where was the play first performed? At The Theatre, James Burgage’s playhouse in Shoreditch, north of London’s city walls. 3. How does this play fit into Shakespeare’s career? Your word of the day: “tetralogy,” a set of four works. Shakespeare wrote two tetralogies based on English history. His first, when he was DR. RALPH learning his craft, looks at the War of the Roses in the three parts of ALAN COHEN Henry VI and Richard III (the only one regularly staged). The second tetralogy—Richard II, the two parts of Henry IV, and Henry V, all four among the most admired of Shakespeare’s works—comes towards the middle of his career. • 1.877.MUCH.ADO CENTER.COM 4. How is this play like Shakespeare’s other plays? This is a sequel to Shakespeare’s blockbuster Henry IV, and Shakespeare looks out for the box office by picking up the narrative from where Part 1 leaves off and by giving Part 2 a structure that looks to be the twin of Part 1 as it switches back and forth from the world of royalty—the King, Prince Hal, the rebellious nobles—to the tavern life of Falstaff and his companions…

5. How is this play unlike Shakespeare’s other plays? … BUT Shakespeare, AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE who never behaves, tempts us to expect a serio-comic play like Henry IV, Part 1, that ends in a “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” between Prince Hal and Hotspur. He gives us instead something deeper, a comic-serio play about the Prince and his two father figures, the King and Falstaff. 6. What do scholars think about this play? As many film critics rank Godfather II above Godfather I, many Shakespeare scholars think that Henry IV, Part 2, may be even better than its predecessor. I am one of those many. It might also be the best play yet about a man growing old. 7. Are there any controversies surrounding the work? None except academic squabbles about when exactly Shakespeare wrote this relative to The Merry Wives of Windsor, the other “Falstaff play.” 8. What characters should I especially look for? Shakespeare introduces an unusual number of new characters near the middle of this play: Doll Tearsheet (Falstaff’s combative “whore”), Pistol (Falstaff’s outrageous “ensign”), and Justice Shallow (Falstaff’s prosperous “host” in Gloucestershire). All brighten and deepen the play. 9. What scene should I especially look for? The final scene is perhaps Shakespeare’s most haunting, and Act Two, scene four, at the Boarshead Tavern, is perhaps his best. 10. What is the language like? As fancy as calling a crown a “polished perturbation,” as simple as “I am old.” HENRY IV

PARTBY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 1 CAST THE CROWN David Anthony Lewis KING HENRY IV, Henry Bolingbroke Brandon Carter PRINCE HAL, the King’s eldest son, Prince of Wales Constance Swain PRINCE JOHN, the King’s younger son, Duke of Lancaster Zoe Speas EARL OF WESTMORELAND loyal to the king Danielle A. Festa SIR WALTER BLUNT THE REBELS Chris Johnston EARL OF WORCESTER, Thomas Percy Ronald Román-Meléndez EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND, Henry Percy KP Powell HENRY PERCY (HOTSPUR), Northumberland’s son Constance Swain LADY PERCY, Hotspur’s wife Ronald Román-Meléndez OWEN GLENDOWER, a Welsh rebel Benjamin Reed EDMUND MORTIMER, a claimant to the throne Sylvie Davidson LADY MORTIMER, Mortimer’s wife Benjamin Reed EARL OF DOUGLAS, a Scottish rebel Jessika D. Williams ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, Richard Scroop Ronald Román-Meléndez SIR MICHAEL, of Scroop’s household Meg Rodgers SIR RICHARD VERNON, a rebel THE TAVERN John Harrell SIR JOHN FALSTAFF, a roguish knight Sylvie Davidson MISTRESS QUICKLY, hostess of the Boar’s Head Tavern Jessika D. Williams POINS, Hal’s companion Benjamin Reed GADSHILL Meg Rodgers PETO Falstaff’s companions Ronald Román-Meléndez BARDOLPH Zoe Speas FRANCIS, a tapster Chris Johnston A SHERIFF Sam Saint Ours MUSICIAN

The company Travelers, Servants, Soldiers

This production is sponsored in part by a generous gift from KEN AND CAROL ADELMAN 27 CENTER.COM • 1.877.MUCH.ADO CENTER.COM AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE

KING HENRY V (PRINCE HAL) WAS DID BORN IN 1386; HENRY PERCY YOU (HOTSPUR) IN 1364. IN SHAKESPEARE’S KNOW? PLAY, THEY ARE ABOUT THE SAME AGE.

John Harrell. HENRY IV, PART 1 STUFF THAT HAPPENS BEFORE THE PLAY • William Shakespeare’s Richard II, part of ASC’s 2018 Actors’ Renaissance. • King Richard II yields his crown to his cousin, Bolingbroke, making him King Henry IV. • King Henry sends Richard to Pomfret castle where he is eventually killed by Henry’s supporters. • At the close of Richard II, the newly enthroned Henry IV promises to make a penitential trip to the Holy Land. STUFF THAT HAPPENS DURING THE PLAY • King Henry meets with his advisers to discuss his proposed crusade to the Holy Land, but the discussion turns to new battles on England’s northern borders. • In the north, England’s forces have prevailed over the Scots, but the young English nobleman Harry Percy (Hotspur) won’t turn over his prisoners to King Henry. • The King mourns the wanton behavior of his own Harry, his son, the Prince of Wales. • Away from court, Prince Hal and Sir John Falstaff taunt each other after a night of drinking. Their cohort Poins attempts to enlist them in an upcoming robbery; after Falstaff leaves, Poins persuades Hal to rob and embarrass Falstaff; after Poins leaves, Hal tells the audience his plans for the future. • King Henry meets with Hotspur, Hotspur’s father (Northumberland), and Hotspur’s uncle (Worcester) to demand that Hotspur give up his prisoners. Hotspur agrees to do so only if the King will ransom Mortimer (Hotspur’s brother- in-law) from captivity in Wales. The King refuses. • Hotspur’s family members agree on a plot to depose the King that involves Douglas (a Scottish warrior) and Glendower (a self-proclaimed Welsh wizard). • Falstaff and his confederates (Peto, Bardolph, and Gadshill) rob some travelers and are, in turn, robbed by the disguised Prince Hal and Poins. • Hotspur reads a letter from a nobleman who refuses to join the rebellion against King Henry. Hotspur’s wife (Lady Percy) asks Hotspur what’s troubling him. • At a tavern in Eastcheap, Falstaff exaggerates and lies about the robbery. A nobleman brings a summons for Hal from the King. • In Wales, the rebels plan their campaign against the royal forces and discuss the division of the kingdom they have yet to win. • Honor, cowardice, bravery, growing up, and civil wars ensue. 29 DR. RALPH BRIEF 1. When was the play first performed? 1597. 2. Where was the play first performed? Probably at The Theatre, James Burbage’s outdoor playhouse, north of London’s city walls, where the Lord Chamberlain’s Men played. 3. How does this play fit into Shakespeare’s career? Henry IV, Part 1, is one of the four plays that make up Shakespeare’s second “tetralogy” of history plays.

DR. RALPH He’s already written some of his most popular plays, including Romeo and Juliet ALAN COHEN and The Merchant of Venice, and he’s beginning the decade that will produce his greatest works. Perhaps he knows by now that he is a pretty big deal, because around this time he applies for a Shakespeare coat-of-arms and purchases a grand home in Stratford. CENTER.COM • 1.877.MUCH.ADO CENTER.COM 4. How is this play like Shakespeare’s other plays? This sequel to Richard II looks at the reign of the usurping Bolingbroke (King Henry IV). As usual, Shakespeare creates “round” characters about whom we have a variety of conflicting feelings—primarily King Henry, Prince Hal, Hotspur, and (“roundest” of all) Sir John Falstaff. 5. How is this play unlike Shakespeare’s other plays? Whereas Shakespeare’s previous history plays have used a linear approach to the historical material and focused primarily on the title characters or their royal opponents, here Shakespeare uses a triple split-screen approach, alternating scenes of the English court with scenes of Hotspur and the rebels and scenes with Falstaff and his gang of ne’er-do-wells in Eastcheap. AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE 6. What do scholars think about this play? They universally admire it. They like that it is a coming-of-age story of a young prince, that beneath the historic narrative of major events is the domestic story of a father and son, and that Shakespeare manages at the end of the play to condense the complicated story of a rebellion to a showdown between Hal and Hotspur at the Battle of Shrewsbury. They like that the play provides a glimpse of tavern life in London. They see the reprehensible yet irresistible Sir John Falstaff as one of Shakespeare’s greatest creations. 7. Are there any controversies surrounding the work? At first. The original name of Fat Jack was “Sir John Oldcastle,” the name of a famous rebel and religious non-conformist, but his descendant Lord Cobham, a member of Elizabeth I’s Privy Council, objected, and Shakespeare had to change the name. How good was Shakespeare? “Falstaff,” simultaneously suggests cowardice, old age, impotency, and, oh yes, just happens to be a two-word antonym of “Shakespeare.” 8. What characters should I especially look for? Take your pick. Even beyond the four “leads” (the King, the Prince, Hotspur, and Falstaff) the play is stuffed with roles any actor would want: the magician Welshman, Glendower; the Hot Scot, Douglas; the hostess, Mistress Quickly; and Hotspur’s wife, Kate, the Lady Percy. 9. What scene should I especially look for? The Boarshead scene (Act Two, scene four) following the robbery at Gadshill is a play within a play and has everything from broad comedy to pathos. 10. What is the language like? Where its predecessor Richard II is almost entirely verse, some of it “high” poetry, the Falstaff scenes of Henry IV, Part 1, are almost half prose, all of it pure “low” poetry. A KING and NO KING BY FRANCIS BEAUMONT AND JOHN FLETCHER

CAST Benjamin Reed ARBACES, King of Iberia Zoe Speas PANTHEA, Princess of Iberia Jessika D. Williams ARANE, Queen-Mother of Iberia Ronald Román-Meléndez TIGRANES, captured King of Armenia Sylvie Davidson SPACONIA, Tigranes’ fiancée David Anthony Lewis GOBRIAS, Lord-Protector of Iberia Brandon Carter BACURIUS, a Lord KP Powell MARDONIUS Captains Chris Johnston BESSUS John Harrell LYGONES, Spaconia’s father

Constance Swain GENTLEMEN Meg Rodgers Constance Swain SWORDSMEN Meg Rodgers Renea S. Brown A MESSENGER Sam Saint Ours MUSICIAN

This production is sponsored in part by a generous gift from JOHN ATTIG 31 CENTER.COM • 1.877.MUCH.ADO CENTER.COM AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE

QUEEN HENRIETTA MARIA, CHARLES I’S WIFE, DID ATTENDED PLAYS AT THE ORIGINAL BLACKFRIARS IN YOU LONDON AND MENTIONED THE CHARACTER BESSUS KNOW? IN A 1643 LETTER TO HER HUSBAND. Benjamin Reed and Zoe Speas. A KING and NO KING STUFF THAT HAPPENS BEFORE THE PLAY • Arbaces, the King of Iberia, has defeated Tigranes, King of Armenia, in single combat, putting an end to many long years of war. STUFF THAT HAPPENS DURING THE PLAY • Victorious Arbaces declares that the only ransom Tigranes must pay is to marry Arbaces’ younger sister Panthea. Arbaces hasn’t seen his sister since he left Iberia when she was nine years old, but he promises Tigranes that she is peerless in beauty and grace. • Tigranes counters that he would rather pay “worlds of ransom” than marry Panthea; Arbaces demands that Tigranes journey to Iberia to meet Panthea before refusing her. Tigranes agrees. • Mardonius, an Iberian Captain, urges Arbaces to check his hasty temper. • Arbaces learns that his mother was foiled in her latest attempt to take his life. • Tigranes entreats his secret beloved Spaconia to travel before him to Iberia and lobby Panthea to refuse the marriage. • In Iberia, Lord Protector Gobrius and the Queen Mother Arane engage in a cryptic exchange and he cautions her to cease her treasonous plotting. • Captain Bessus arrives in Iberia to report on Arbaces’s success and deliver Spaconia, but focuses primarily on his own role in the conflict. • Having seen Panthea, Spaconia is afraid that Tigranes will fall in love with her on first sight. Spaconia confesses to Panthea Tigranes’s desire not to be wooed and urges her help in the matter. Panthea swears she will not stand between the pair. • The Iberian citizens welcome Arbaces home. After years apart, Arbaces cannot believe that the young woman in front of him is his sister. He falls in love with her. • Panthea is confused and distressed by her brother’s erratic behavior. • Tigranes also falls in love with Panthea despite his guilt over breaking his vow to Spaconia. • Spaconia sees the change in Tigranes’s affections and is distraught. • Arbaces sends Tigranes to prison. • The boastful Bessus, his honor newly restored by his actions in war, is dismayed to be challenged to several duels. • Arbaces is wracked with guilt over his incestuous love for his sister. • Potential damnation ensues. 33 DR. RALPH BRIEF 1. When was the play first performed? 26 December 1611. 2. Where was the play first performed? At the Court for King James in Whitehall by Shakespeare’s company, the King’s Men. It would then have played at the Blackfriars. 3. Who wrote it? Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher. John Fletcher (1579-1625) came from a distinguished family (his father was chaplain DR. RALPH to Queen Elizabeth) and attended university at Cambridge. Francis ALAN COHEN Beaumont (1584-1616), the son of a prominent Leicestershire family, went to Oxford (at age 13) and later received legal training at the Inner Temple. He

seems never to have practiced law but was active in London literary circles. He wrote • 1.877.MUCH.ADO CENTER.COM The Knight of the Burning Pestle (which the ASC has produced three times). Beaumont and Fletcher teamed up on some of the most popular plays of the day, all of them for Shakespeare’s company, the King’s Men. (They also roomed together for a time and were said to have shared a mistress). Beaumont married well and retired from the stage in 1613; he died in 1616, also the year of Shakespeare’s death. Fletcher, having collaborated with Shakespeare on Henry VIII and The Two Noble Kinsmen, went on to succeed him as the King’s Men’s chief playwright until his death in 1625. 4. How is this work like Shakespeare’s? It might be more accurate to think of

Shakespeare’s late plays as being like Fletcher and Beaumont’s. Their work pioneered AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE the genre of tragicomedy, plays whose romantic plots bring their heroes and heroines into great danger of dying but do not kill them. Shakespeare’s final plays, especially Cymbeline (aka Imogen), Pericles, and The Winter’s Tale, could be cashing in on the popularity of the earlier work of Fletcher and Beaumont. 5. How is this play unlike Shakespeare? The plays of Beaumont and Fletcher work to make audiences uncomfortable during the play but let them off the hook at the end of the show. Many of Shakespeare’s plays work in the opposite way. 6. What do critics think about this play? Despite the fact that the play lays the groundwork for its ending, critics complain that the resolution of the play is contrived. 7. How successful has the play been? For a century after its first production: very. In 1647, during the English Civil War—five years after the Puritans closed the theatres— the authorities had to shut down a rogue production of the play at the Salisbury Court Theatre. During the Restoration the play was so popular that the diarist Samuel Pepys saw it five times. In this century, the most consequential production of the play was the American Shakespeare Center’s in 2005 during our first Renaissance Season; its success persuaded us to continue with this experiment. 8. What character should I especially look for? Bessus, a Falstaffian braggart, provides the play’s comic relief and was one of the most popular characters on the Early Modern stage. 9. What scene should I especially look for? The scene in which King Arbaces first meets his sister Panthea and refuses to recognize her. 10. What is the language like? Exotic and witty. ENHANCE YOUR VISIT WEEKLY EVENTS Dr. Ralph Presents Every Friday at 5:00 p.m. Start your weekend with fascinating insights from scholars and artists, curated by ASC Co-Founder and Director of Mission, Dr. Ralph Alan Cohen. $5 or FREE to subscribers.

Talkback Thursdays Every Thursday post-show After each Thursday night performance, our actors take the stage for an engaging and interactive conversation with the audience. FREE with ticket.

Discovery Space Every Sunday at 11:00 a.m. Get an inside look behind the curtain with educators and performers in fascinating sessions suited for the whole family. Learn what goes into the work that you see on the Blackfriars stage. FREE, please reserve a spot online.

SPECIAL EVENTS A Chaste Maid in Cheapside by Thomas Middleton Sunday, April 5 & 12 at 7:00 p.m. DID YOU KNOW? and Thursday, April 16 at 7:30 p.m. Though considered among the best and most memorable WHILE ASC HAS Jacobean comedies, Middleton’s masterpiece is rarely PRODUCED SEVEN performed today. ASC’s signature Ren Run of this delightful OTHER THOMAS script may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Watch as MIDDLETON our skilled actors, scripts in hand, navigate the multiple TITLES, THIS IS THE plots and dramatic ironies of this romp through the city of FIRST TIME FOR Cheapside. $10. A CHASTE MAID IN CHEAPSIDE. Band Candy Benefit Concert Sunday, April 19 at 7:30 p.m. Celebrate with our rockin’ actors while raising money for the music they make—that’s a pretty great two-in-one. Help us say “Goodbye” to the 2020 Actors’ Renaissance and “Welcome Home” to the 2019/20 National Tour. Enjoy blues, hip-hop, folk, and rock-n-roll performed live and unplugged. All proceeds will benefit our Band Candy fund that pays for the instruments, upkeep, and music you love to hear. Tickets start at $25, available now.

All event tickets can be purchased online at americanshakespearecenter.com or by calling the Box Office at 1.877.MUCH.ADO. 35 TICKETS ON SALE NOW! 2020 SPRING THE TOUR HOMECOMING Road tested, audience approved. CENTER.COM • 1.877.MUCH.ADO CENTER.COM APRIL 23 - MAY 31 The preeminent touring group in the nation, ASC’s National Tour Company, hits the road from Maine to Texas between September and April, reaching 14 states with more than 100 performances and workshops for audiences of more than 17,000 at high schools, colleges, and performing arts centers. Here’s your chance to see these seasoned actors in shows that have become a part of them—an unforgettable experience. AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM by William Shakespeare ASC’s New-Orleans-flavored production of Shakespeare’s magical comedy wades into a bayou of masked hobgoblins, enchanting nymphs, and imps who DID YOU KNOW? sing the blues. “Spellbinding storytelling...perfect for children and adults alike.” (C-Ville Weekly)

IMOGEN (AKA CYMBELINE) by William Shakespeare Cymbeline’s daughter Imogen finally gets star billing in ASC’s take on Shakespeare’s fairy-tale classic. Disguises, mistaken identity, a missing head, and nefarious plots swirl through this riveting romance.

THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck, adapted by Frank Galati A deeply affirming tribute to the endurance of the human spirit, Steinbeck’s Depression-era masterwork is a classic of American literature, a landmark film, and became a Broadway hit in Frank Galati’s Tony Award-winning adaptation. The most moving experience you will have in this or any season.

SNC by Emma Whipday SHAKESPEARE’S THE DEFAMATION OF CICELY LEE NEW CONTEMPORARIES SHAKESPEARE’S NEW CONTEMPORARIES WINNER Each year ASC selects plays that correspond with a Shakespeare title through its groundbreaking SNC initiative—and this one is a winner indeed. The story, in conversation with Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, follows a maidservant in 1611 who is accused of adultery and must fight to tell her story—and defend her honor.

Sylvie Davidson. TICKETS ON SALE NOW! 2020 SUMMER/FALL THE MARQUEE REPERTORY Venice, where every sin —and soul—is for sale. JUNE 19 - NOVEMBER 29 The Marquee Repertory complements ASC’s company of brilliant actors with acclaimed guest artists—this season with a mix of masterworks set in Venice, where the four corners of the world meet in a simmering brew of vice and avarice, power and prejudice.

OTHELLO by William Shakespeare Evil is everywhere in Shakespeare’s great tragedy, as the love of Othello and Desdemona is destroyed by envy, jealousy, and truth twisted by innuendo. You’ll find yourself on the edge of your seat as the deadly machinations unfold. ASC veteran Jessika D. Williams (Doctor Who) takes on the title role.

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE by William Shakespeare Two of Shakespeare’s most indelible characters—Shylock and Portia—come to life in this saga of greed and vengeance, justice and mercy. Against a backdrop of intolerance suddenly buffeted by change, the play weaves interconnected tales of friendship, love, and family. Portia, one of Shakespeare’s strongest and most resourceful heroines, will be played by Sara Topham, of Stratford Festival/Shaw Festival fame.

VOLPONE by Ben Jonson In Jonson’s comic masterpiece, the residents of extravagant Venice are transformed into animals by an infection of greed, as the rich, sly Volpone tries to trick his neighbors out of an inheritance through masks, feigned illness, and miserly mischief. With ASC actor-manager and favorite John Harrell as Volpone, this bombastic satire will have you rolling in the aisles while also questioning your own judgment. 37 CENTER.COM • 1.877.MUCH.ADO CENTER.COM AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE

SNC SHAKESPEARE’S KEENE by Anchuli Felicia King NEW CONTEMPORARIES SHAKESPEARE’S NEW CONTEMPORARIES WINNER Two young scholars of color, adrift in a sea of whiteness at a Shakespeare conference that could shape their careers, grapple with their longing for recognition, the scrabbling competitiveness of their peers, and their own hilarious personal demons in this funny, thought-provoking play. Winner of ASC’s Shakespeare’s New Contemporaries Competition and featuring ASC veteran Brandon Carter, Keene is a fascinating companion piece to Othello, weaving together the history of the first African American Othello with a court as treacherous as any Shakespeare could have imagined: academia.

TWELFTH NIGHT 90 by William Shakespeare A merry 90-minute, no-intermission romp through one of Shakespeare’s most joyous rom-coms featuring ASC’s National Tour company! Viola is in love with Orsino...who is in love with Olivia...who is in love with Cesario...who is secretly Viola in disguise as a man! A laugh-out-loud funny look at gender, love, and longing.

THAI-AUSTRALIAN PLAYWRIGHT ANCHULI FELICIA KING DID (KEENE) IS IN GOOD COMPANY; 10% OF APPLICATIONS FOR YOU SHAKESPEARE’S NEW CONTEMPORARIES COME FROM KNOW? INTERNATIONAL WRITERS. Mia Wurgaft. ACTOR BIOS BRANDON SYLVIE CARTER DAVIDSON THIS SEASON: Borachio, THIS SEASON: Margaret, Friar Francis in Much Ado about George Seacoal in Much Nothing; Prince Hal in Henry IV, Ado about Nothing; Mistress Part 2; Bacurius in A King and No Quickly, Travers, Bullcalf, King; Prince Hal in Henry IV, Part 1 Davy in Henry IV, Part 2; PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: 5 Spaconia in A King and seasons and 21 roles including No King; Lady Mortimer, Hal in Henry IV, Part 1; Cassius in Julius Caesar; Orlando in Chamberlain, Mistress Quickly in Henry IV, Part 1 As You Like It; Frank in The Willard Suitcases; Menas, Scarus, PREVIOUSLY AT ASC: Iras, Octavia in Antony and Mardian in Antony & Cleopatra Cleopatra; Cinna, Artemidorous, Pindarus in Julius OTHER THEATRE: Justin in Blood at the Root (The Caesar; Theodotus, Iras in Caesar and Cleopatra; Anna, Kennedy Center; The Market Theatre, Johannesburg, Pearl, Ensemble in TheWillard Suitcases South Africa; National Arts Festival, Grahamstown, OTHER THEATRE: Cordelia in King Lear (Rubicon South Africa; Edinburgh Festival Fringe; Adelaide Fringe Theatre, Ventura, CA); Ariel in The Tempest (Island Festival; The National Black Theatre, NYC); Skeeter in Stage Left, Friday Harbor, WA); Maddy in How The First Noel (The Apollo, NYC); Aramis in The Three to Break (Village Theatre, Issaquah, WA); Abigail Musketeers, Malcolm in Macbeth, Gonzalo in The Tempest (Classical Theatre of Harlem, NYC); Macduff in Drunk Williams in The Crucible (ACT Theatre, Seattle, WA); Shakespeare, Theodore in Black Angels Over Tuskegee Inez in Troubadour (Alliance Theatre, Atlanta, GA); (Off-Broadway, NYC); Associate Pastor in The Christians Emma in Emma (Book-It Repertory Theatre, Seattle, (Cadence Theatre, Richmond, VA) and Will Shakespeare WA) in Shakespeare in Love (Virginia Rep) AWARDS: Footlight Award for “Outstanding AWARDS: John F. Kennedy Center Hip-Hop Theater Performance” – Seattle Times Creator Award; Adelaide Fringe Festival Peace EDUCATION: BA in Theatre and Creative Writing, Foundation Award Knox College in Galesburg, IL EDUCATION: MFA in Acting, Penn State University; BA in Theatre, Longwood University

JOHN CHRIS HARRELL JOHNSTON ACTOR-MANAGER (TEXT) ACTOR-MANAGER (MUSIC) THIS SEASON: Antonio, THIS SEASON: Conrade, Verges in Much Ado about Balthasar in Much Ado about Nothing; Falstaff in Henry IV, Nothing; Pistol, Porter, Gower, Part 2; Lygones in A King and Warwick, Mowbray in Henry No King; Falstaff in Henry IV, Part 2; Bessus in A King and IV, Part 1 No King; Worcester, Sheriff in PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: 26 seasons and over 200 Henry IV, Part 1 roles including Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor; PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: 22 seasons and over 160 Falstaff in Henry IV, Part 1; Guildenstern in Rosencrantz roles including Enobarbus in Antony and Cleopatra; and Guildenstern Are Dead; Shylock in The Merchant of Black Will in Arden of Faversham; Flamenio in White Devil; Venice; Orsino (2016) and Malvolio (2010) in Twelfth George Knightley in Emma; Buckingham, Ghost in Night; Gloucester in King Lear; Dromio of Syracuse Richard III; Demetre in The Willard Suitcases; Rosencrantz in The Comedy of Errors; Touchstone in As You Like It; in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead; King Henry in Dogberry in Much Ado about Nothing; Lady Bracknell Henry VI Parts 2 and 3; Don Armando in Love’s Labour’s in The Importance of Being Earnest; Oberon (2015) and Lost Bottom (2009) in A Midsummer Night’s Dream; and the title roles in Cyrano de Bergerac, King John, Hamlet, OTHER THEATRE: Feste in Twelfth Night (Salt Lake Julius Caesar, Richard II, and Richard III Shakespeare, Salt Lake City, UT); Ferdinand in The Duchess of Malfi, Antiphilous of Syracuse in The Comedy OTHER THEATRE: Le Beau, Amiens in As You Like It; Wabash in Shakespeare in Love (Utah Shakespeare Of Errors, Gerry in Dancing at Lughnasa (Babcock Festival); Sergius in Arms and the Man (Theatre Theatre, Salt Lake City, UT) Gael, Atlanta, GA); Co-founder of Foolery in EDUCATION: BFA in Actor Training, University Charlottesville, VA of Utah AWARDS: Most Innovative Production—BBC Radio, for Foolery’s 1997 Cyrano de Bergerac at Edinburgh EDUCATION: BA in English, James Madison University 39

DAVID KP ANTHONY LEWIS POWELL THIS SEASON: Leonato, THIS SEASON: Claudio Hugh Oatcake in Much Ado in Much Ado about Nothing; about Nothing; King Henry, Shallow, Morton, Hastings in Snare, Beedle in Henry IV, Part Henry IV, Part 2; Mardonius in 2; Gobrias in A King and No A King and No King; Hotspur in King; King Henry in Henry IV, Henry IV, Part 1 Part 1 PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: Hotspur in Henry IV, Part 1; PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: 8 seasons and over 35 Slender in The Merry Wives of Windsor, John Willoughby roles including Frank Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor; in Sense and Sensibility; Witch, Donalbain, Murderer, Henry Bolingbroke in Richard II and Henry IV, Part 1; Arden Caithness in Macbeth; Lord, Gremio, Nathaniel, Tailor in Arden of Faversham; Kent in King Lear; The Player in in The Taming of the Shrew; Tom Wintour in Equivocation; Mr. Webb in Our Town; Paris, Sampson in Romeo and

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead; Slank in Peter • 1.877.MUCH.ADO CENTER.COM and the Starcatcher; Benedick in Much Ado about Nothing; Juliet; Panthino in Two Gentlemen of Verona; Ghost in Peter Teazle in School for Scandal Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet); Fred in A OTHER THEATRE: The Dentist in Little Shop of Horrors, Christmas Carol Mr. Hyde in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (ACT Theatre, Seattle, OTHER THEATRE: Benedick in Much Ado about WA); Valmont in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Proteus Nothing, Macduff in Macbeth (North Dakota in Two Gentlemen of Verona (Theatre at Monmouth, Shakespeare Festival); Thomas Jefferson in 1776 (New Shakespeare Theatre of Maine, Monmouth, ME); Repertory Theater); Feste in Twelfth Night, Anthony Orlando in As You Like It (Sun Valley Shakespeare Wilding in Enchanted April; Bingley, Wickham in Festival, Ketchum, ID); Helenus in Troilus and Cressida, Pride@Prejudice (Theater at Monmouth); Bassanio Peter Simple in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Puppeteer in in The Merchant of Venice, Malcolm in Macbeth Life Is a Dream (Oregon Shakespeare Festival) (Houston Shakespeare Festival); Tom Robinson in EDUCATION: BFA in Acting from Cornish College of To Kill a Mockingbird (Insight Theater, St. Louis, MO); the Arts, Seattle, WA Gatekeeper in The Wiz (St. Louis Black Rep) AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE EDUCATION: MFA from the University of Houston’s Professional Actor Training Program

BENJAMIN MEG REED RODGERS THIS SEASON: Dogberry, THIS SEASON: Beatrice in Boy, Messenger in Much Ado Much Ado about Nothing; about Nothing; Chief Justice, Lady Northumberland, Peto, Francis, Feeble, Coleville in Silence, Prince Humphrey Henry IV, Part 2; Arbaces in A in Henry IV, Part 2; 2nd King and No King; Gadshill, Swordsman, 2nd Gentleman Douglas, Mortimer in in A King and No King; Peto, Henry IV, Part 1 Vernon in Henry IV, Part 1 PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: 9 seasons and over 48 roles PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: Performer in Every including Laertes in Hamlet; Antonio in Antonio’s Revenge; Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!); Meg Page Peter in Peter and the Starcatcher; Claudio in Much Ado in The Merry Wives of Windsor; Peto, Vernon in Henry about Nothing; Van Buren in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson IV, Part 1; Anne Page in Anne Page Hates Fun; Dennis, OTHER THEATRE: Macbeth in Macbeth (Arkansas Audrey, Lord in As You Like It; Jane Fairfax in Emma; Shakespeare Theatre); Hamlet in Hamlet, Orlando in Dorset/Grey, Mayor, Blunt in Richard III; and Lady As You Like It (Houston Shakespeare Festival); Tom in A Townley in The Man of Mode Few Good Men (The Alley Theatre, Houston, TX); Ken in OTHER THEATRE: Viola in Shakespeare in Love, Red, Halberstam in The Columnist (Tennessee Repertory Mabelu in The Old Man and The Old Moon, Clarice Theatre); Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew (Nashville in West Side Story (Hope Summer Repertory); Lady Shakespeare Festival) Macbeth, Lady Macduff, Witch 3 in Macbeth; FILM AND TV: Private Anderson in The Last Rescue; Queen Elizabeth in Richard III; Olivia in Twelfth Night; Stage Manager in Pure Country 2: The Gift Margaret in Much Ado about Nothing (Houston Shakespeare Festival, Houston, TX); Tatyana EDUCATION: MFA in Acting, University of Houston in Enemies (Main Street Theater, Houston, TX); Professional Actor Training Program; BA in Theatre, Lysander, Flute, Mustardseed in A Midsummer Night’s Belmont University Dream (Rec Room, Houston, TX) EDUCATION: MFA in Acting, University of Houston Professional Actor Training Program

ACTOR BIOS RONALD ROMÁN- ZOE MELÉNDEZ SPEAS THIS SEASON: Don Pedro THIS SEASON: Don John, in Much Ado about Nothing; Sexton in Much Ado about Northumberland, Bardolph Nothing; Doll Tearsheet, in Henry IV, Part 2; Tigranes Lord Bardolph, Mouldy, in A King and No King; Westmoreland in Henry IV, Northumberland, Bardolph, Part 2; Panthea in A King Glendower, Sir Michael in and No King; Westmoreland, Henry IV, Part 1 Francis in Henry IV, Part 1 PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: 4 seasons and over 25 PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: 4 seasons and over roles including Pompey, Soothsayer in Antony and 20 roles including Portia, Messala in Julius Caesar; Cleopatra; Soothsayer, Metellus Cimber in Julius Caesar; Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra; Lucius Septimius in Apollodorus in Caesar and Cleopatra; Earl, Fred, Michael Caesar and Cleopatra; Irma, Mary Agnes in The Willard in The Willard Suitcases; Leontes in The Winter’s Tale; Suitcases; Le Beau, Phebe in As You Like It; Emma Creon in Antigone; Edward Ferrars in Sense and Sensibility; Woodhouse in Emma; Murderer, Prince Edward, Lovell Duncan, Porter, Seyton in Macbeth; Petruchio in The in Richard III; Lady Woodvil in The Man of Mode; Mrs. Taming of the Shrew; Shag in Equivocation; Various Roles Webb in Our Town; Juliet in Romeo and Juliet; Sylvia in Our Town; Prince, Peter in Romeo and Juliet in The Two Gentlemen of Verona; Juliet in Goodnight OTHER THEATRE: Sir Toby/Antonio u/s in Short Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) Shakespeare! Twelfth Night (Chicago Shakespeare OTHER THEATRE: Queen Catherine/Musician in Nell Theatre); Guildenstern in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Gwynn (Folger Theatre); Core Member in Dylathon: Are Dead (Cat’s Cradle Theatre Co.); Dumaine in Love’s A Celebration of Dylan Thomas (Wales Theater Labour’s Lost and Love’s Labor’s Won, Henry Percy in Company, Swansea); Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Richard II, Borachio in Much Ado about Nothing, Eros in Dream, Dudard in Rhinoceros (Onomatopoeia Antony and Cleopatra (Illinois Shakespeare Festival) Theater Company, NYC) EDUCATION: MFA in Classical Acting, Illinois State EDUCATION: BA English and BA Theater, The University; BA in Theatre, Concordia University College of William and Mary Chicago; Certified Actor Combatant with the SAFD CONSTANCE JESSIKA D. SWAIN WILLIAMS THIS SEASON: Hero in THIS SEASON: Benedick Much Ado about Nothing; in Much Ado about Nothing; Lady Percy, Prince John, Fang, Rumour, Poins, Archbishop, Shadow in Henry IV, Part 2; 1st Wart, Prince Thomas in Henry Swordsman, 1st Gentleman in IV, Part 2; Arane in A King and No A King and No King; Lady Percy, King; Poins, Archbishop in Henry Prince John in Henry IV, Part 1 IV, Part 1 PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: 3 seasons and over 15 roles PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: 4 seasons and over 24 roles including Cleopatra in Caesar and Cleopatra, Antigone including Jacques in As You Like It; Margaret in Richard III; in Antigone; Perdita in The Winter’s Tale; Adrianna in The Anne Weston in Emma; Mrs Loviet in The Man of Mode; Comedy of Errors; Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Eleanor in Henry VI Part 2; Viola in Twelfth Night; Goneril Sensibility in King Lear; Lady Wishfort in The Way of the World; Lady OTHER THEATRE: Intimate Apparel, Fuente Ovejuna, Teazle in The School for Scandal; Gertrude in Hamlet; The Liar (Quintero Theatre, Houston, TX); All My Morocco in Merchant of Venice Sons, King Lear (Studio 208, Houston, TX); Antony and OTHER THEATRE: Katherine in The Taming of the Cleopatra, All’s Well That Ends Well (Virginia Shakespeare Shrew (Great Lakes, Boise and Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival); Grimm Lives of the In-Betweens (Alliance Festivals); Rosalind in As You Like It (California Theatre, Atlanta, GA); Fear and Misery of the Third Reich Shakespeare Theater); Rosaline in Love’s Labour’s Lost (Ovalhouse Theatre, London, England) (Shakespeare Forum, NY); Eurydice’s Dream (Blessed EDUCATION: MFA from the University of Houston’s Unrest, NY); The Bacchae (National Theater of Scotland, Professional Actor Training Program; BA in Theatre UK tour and Lincoln Center, NY); St Monica in The Last from Spelman College; Intensive Training from the Days of Judas Iscariot (Almeida Theater, London); Wig Out British American Drama Academy; Certified Actor (Royal Court, London); Theater Uncut. (NY) Combatant with the SAFD FILM AND TV: Taggart (Scottish TV); Doctor Who (BBC); The Descent 2 (Celador Films) EDUCATION: BA in Theatre, The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Interlochen Arts Academy 41 RENEA S. DANIELLE A. BROWN FESTA ACTING FELLOW ACTING FELLOW THIS SEASON: Ursula in Much THIS SEASON: Ado about Nothing; Understudy Understudy in Much Ado in Henry IV, Part 2; Messenger, About Nothing; Falstaff’s Woman, Understudy in A King Page, Understudy in Henry and No King; Understudy in IV, Part 2; Understudy in A Henry IV, Part 1 King and No King ; Blunt, EDUCATION: Theatre Arts, University of Louisville; Understudy in Henry IV, Part 1 Classical Acting, Academy of Classical Acting EDUCATION: MFA and MLitt in Shakespeare & Masters Program. Society of American Fight Directors Performance, Mary Baldwin University, VA; BA in recommended pass in Unarmed, Rapier/ Dagger, and Theatre, Florida State University, FL Broadsword. @4realdarklady CENTER.COM • 1.877.MUCH.ADO CENTER.COM

SAM SAINT OURS DID YOU KNOW? ACTING FELLOW YOU CAN VOLUNTEER TO THIS SEASON: Understudy BECOME AN USHER FOR OUR in Much Ado about Nothing; PUBLIC PERFORMANCES AND Understudy in Henry IV, Part 2; Musician, Understudy in A STUDENT MATINEES. VISIT King and No King; Musician, AMERICANSHAKESPEARECENTER. Understudy in Henry IV, Part 1 COM/VOLUNTEER OR CONTACT AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE EDUCATION: B.A. in Theatre and Dance with a Music THE BOX OFFICE FOR MORE INFO. minor from James Madison University

MICHAEL SLON MUSIC DIRECTOR 2019-2020 Season Together in Song: A Community Sing-In Saturday, March 14, 2020 First Presbyterian Church • Charlottesville MaySong Concert Friday, May 22, 2020 Old Cabell Hall • UVA Interested in singing with us? Auditions held in January and March Please see our website for ticket information and audition details. WWW.ORATORIOSOCIETY.ORG CREATIVE TEAM BIOS ADRIENNE JOHNSON BUTLER SARAH DALE LEWIS RESIDENT ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER Adrienne has worked part-time and full-time with Sarah is starting her sixth season with ASC after the ASC as a Tour Guide, Education Artist, Camp first joining for the 2016 Summer/Fall season. Counselor, Camp-Life Coordinator, Company Sarah’s additional favorite stage managing credits Manager, and Understudy since 2014. This will include How to Succeed in Business Without Really be her fifth season as Assistant Stage Manager Trying at The 5th Avenue Theatre; Othello, As You with the ASC. Adrienne has previously managed Like It, Comedy of Errors, and Richard III at Seattle with Sweet Wag Shakespeare, Shakespeare Shakespeare Company; Chicago, Cabaret, In Santa Cruz, and the Santa Fe Opera. Adrienne the Heights, Trails, and The Mousetrap at Village graduated from Longwood University with a Theatre; Seven Keys to Baldpate, Big River, and Bachelor of Fine Arts and from Mary Baldwin The God Committee at Taproot Theatre; Elektra, University with both a Master of Letters and a Traviata, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Seattle Master of Fine Arts in Shakespeare. Opera; and La Bohème at Intermountain Opera. Sarah graduated from Seattle Pacific University DAN HASSE with degrees in Theatre and Fiction Writing.

ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR HOPE MADDOX Off-Broadway: The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet COSTUME SHOP MANAGER (Shakespeare in the Square; Gym at Judson). Hope is originally from Amherst, VA, and Off-Off: Richard II (Robert Moss Theater), A graduated from Longwood University with a BA Midsummer Night’s Dream (Access Theater / East in Theatre and a Minor in History. Previously she Coast Tour), The Winter’s Tale, Beautiful Bodies was the Costume Shop Supervisor at Randolph (Stella Adler Studio; NYU Conservatory). Dan’s College, where she designed Little Shop of Horrors, plays include Rocco, Chelsea, Adriana… (HERE Arts; The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, and Sea dir. John Gould Rubin) and Fist in Mouth (Studio Voyage. Hope has also worked at Endstation at Cherry Lane). Screenplays include Fritz Haber Theatre Company and The Prizery. She holds (Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Award and Grant) a certificate from the University of Glasgow and Daughters of Erin (HHF Films). Residencies and Historic Royal Palaces in A History of Royal with Bedlam (“MadLAB”) and The Actors Studio Fashion, as well as one from the University of (“The Playwright/Directors Unit”). Member of the Roehampton in The Tudors. 2014 LAByrinth Theater Intensive Ensemble, 2015 Shakespeare Society Ambassador Program, and JAY MCCLURE 2018-2019 SDC Foundation Observership. Dan ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC PRODUCER adapted and co-directed Hamlet in the Golden Vale Jay joined the ASC in 1999 after working for nine years as a project leader for Corning (feature film; 2018) and King of Infinite Space (VR Incorporated. Prior to that, he was an actor in experience; 2018), produced by Roll the Bones New York. He was instrumental in the opening with production support from “The Immersive of the Blackfriars Playhouse and conceived and Storytelling Studio” at The National Theatre (UK). developed the Actors’ Renaissance Season.

AMBER KUENNEN He has worked as a casting director, actor, or WARDROBE MANAGER producer on all of Shakespeare’s plays (most multiple times), three dozen other early modern Amber is an Iowa native and BFA graduate from plays, and over 80 musicals and modern plays. Minnesota State University, Mankato in Theatre with an Art minor. She previously worked with ANNE G. MORGAN Goodspeed Musicals in Connecticut as their LITERARY MANAGER/DRAMATURG Wardrobe Assistant and Nebraska Shakespeare Anne received the 2019 Elliott Hayes Award for on the Green as a Stitcher/Lightboard Operator. Outstanding Achievement in Dramaturgy for her In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her work on Shakespeare’s New Contemporaries, dogs and working on her many other craft projects. ASC’s groundbreaking initiative to discover, 43 develop, and produce new plays inspired by and McGrath. She spent the Summer 2017 season as in conversation with Shakespeare’s work. At a Scenic Intern for Studio Theatre in Washington, ASC, she dramaturged the world premieres of D.C. and the 2018/19 season as the Huntington 16 Winters, or The Bear’s Tale by Mary Elizabeth Theatre Co.’s Scenic Art Apprentice in Boston. This Hamilton; Anne Page Hates Fun by Amy E. is her first season as Properties Master; you may have previously seen her in the Box Office assisting Witting; and Emma by Emma Whipday. She also our wonderful patrons. When she’s not tinkering provides additional dramaturgical support for behind the scenes, Rhi can be found on the nearest other ASC productions. Prior to joining ASC, mountaintop or experimenting in her kitchen. Anne was the Literary Manager & Dramaturg at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. Other credits TRACIE STEGER SKIPPER include work with the Great Plains Theatre OPERATIONS MANAGER Conference, New York Theatre Workshop, AND TECHNICAL DIRECTOR the Kennedy Center NNPN/MFA Playwrights’ Tracie received a BFA in Technical Theater Workshop, and Company One Theatre. She from Longwood College with a focus in • 1.877.MUCH.ADO CENTER.COM serves on the executive board of the Literary stage management. She has worked in stage Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas. management at Georgia Shakespeare, Steppenwolf Theatre, Circle in the Square, The RHI SANDERS MacHayden Theatre, and Circa 21’ Dinner PROPERTIES MASTER Rhi graduated from Virginia Tech with a BA in Playhouse. Locally she was the Company Theatre Arts and a minor in Industrial Design, and Production Manager for Live Arts in where she executed a significant amount of the Charlottesville VA, Production Manager at Four charge work for the mainstage and graduate County Players in Barboursville, VA, and the projects. She designed David Mamet’s Glengarry Technical Director for DMR Adventures/The Glen Ross with an all-female cast, directed by Bob Belmont Arts Collaborative. AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE THE PLAY’S THE THING (but Movies are good, too)

GREAT MOVIES. GREAT SEATS. GREAT BEER.

VISULITE CINEMA 12 N. Augusta St (4 blocks from the Blackfriars) www.visulitecinemas.com | 540.885.9959 AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE CENTER LEADERSHIP ETHAN MCSWEENY AMY WRATCHFORD ARTISTIC DIRECTOR MANAGING DIRECTOR Now in his second year, Ethan was As the company’s chief named Artistic Director in June administrative and financial 2018 and made his Blackfriars officer, Amy oversees finance, directing debut last summer with marketing, development, and Julius Caesar followed by the world other business management premiere of Julianne Wick Davis’ functions for the ASC. During musical The Willard Suitcases. her tenure, the ASC’s revenue has grown from His internationally acclaimed work over the $2.4M in 2010 to $4.2M in 2020. Before joining past two decades has been distinguished by the ASC, Amy served as Managing Director of its remarkable diversity as well as breadth of Synchronicity Theatre in Atlanta. Previously, she achievement. In New York, his direction includes worked in a number of capacities in theatre in the Broadway revival of Gore Vidal’s The Best Man (Tony Award nomination, Drama Desk and New York City including producer, director, and Outer Critics Circle awards) and premiere of actor. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting John Grisham’s A Time to Kill; the off-Broadway from New York University’s Tisch School of the premieres of John Logan’s Never the Sinner (Outer Arts and a Master of Fine Arts in Performing Arts Critics and Drama Desk awards), Stephen Management from Brooklyn College. Amy has Unwin’s All Our Children, and Ellen McLaughlin’s lectured on finance, budgeting, and nonprofit adaptation of Aeschylus’ The Persians, as well as governance for Mary Baldwin University’s MFA world premieres by Kate Fodor, Jason Grote, and program in Shakespeare in Performance Thomas Bradshaw, among others. and others. Nationally, his work on new plays, musicals, RALPH ALAN COHEN and revivals has been seen at most of the major CO-FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR OF MISSION institutional theatres in the country including Ralph is Co-Founder and the Guthrie, the Goodman, the Old Globe, the Director of Mission of the ASC, Denver Center, the Alley, Dallas Theater Center, Emeritus Professor of English at South Coast Rep, Center Stage, the Wilma, James Madison University, and the Pittsburgh Public, Westport Playhouse, the currently Gonder Professor of Arena Stage, and the Shakespeare Theatre Shakespeare at Mary Baldwin Company in Washington, DC, where his string of University, where he founded the acclaimed interpretations of classics included The graduate program in Shakespeare Tempest, Much Ado about Nothing, The Merchant of and Performance. Venice, Euripides’ Ion, and Shaw’s Major Barbara. He was project director for the building of Recently, he made his grand opera debut with a the Blackfriars Playhouse and has directed Tosca for the Washington National Opera at the 30 productions of plays by Shakespeare and Kennedy Center. his contemporaries. He founded the Studies Internationally, he spent two seasons at the Abroad program at James Madison University, celebrated Stratford Festival in Canada, staged where he won Virginia’s award for outstanding multiple productions for The Gate in Dublin, and faculty. He has directed four scholar summer toured with his A Midsummer Night’s Dream to the institutes on Shakespeare and staging Macao Arts Festival in China. His productions sponsored by the National Endowment for have been nominated from more than 75 awards, the Humanities. He is the author of ShakesFear claiming 30 wins, including four for Best Director: and How to Cure It: The Complete Handbook for Twelfth Night (Helen Hayes Award, 2017), A Teaching Shakespeare. Streetcar Named Desire (Irish Times Award, 2013), In 2001, he established the Blackfriars A Body of Water (San Diego Critics Circle, 2006) Conference. He has received numerous awards and Six Degrees of Separation (Minneapolis Star- and fellowships including the Governor’s Arts Tribune Award, 2003). Award with ASC Co-founder Jim Warren (2008), the Theo Crosby Fellowship at Ethan served as the Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe in London (2009), the the Chautauqua Theatre Company from Folger Shakespeare Library’s Shakespeare 2004-2011, as a Trustee of SDC, the national Steward Award (2013), and the Globe’s Sam labor union representing directors and Wanamaker award — the first American choreographers, from 2005-2017, and as to receive this honor (2014). He earned his Treasurer on the inaugural board of the SDC undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College Foundation since 2018. He received the first- and his doctorate at Duke University, where he ever undergraduate degree in Theatre and received the outstanding alumni award Dramatic Arts from Columbia University. in 2016. 45 BOARD OF TRUSTEES ADVISORY BOARD Candice Hark, Chair, Finance Committee Chair Miles Anderson CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA Dame Judi Dench G. Rodney Young, Vice Chair Lesley Duff STAUNTON, VA Michael Goldman Clifford Garstang, Secretary Phoef Sutton STAUNTON, VA Gary Taylor David Ladd, Development Committee Chair Zoë Wanamaker FISHERSVILLE, VA George Walton Williams Miriam Donald Burrows, Jerry Zaks Board Governance Committee Chair STAUNTON, VA CHARTER MEMBERS • 1.877.MUCH.ADO CENTER.COM Kara McLane Burke, OF ASC LEADERSHIP Board Development Task Force Chair CONSORTIUM CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA Washington and Lee University Carol Adelman Sewanee, The University of the South ARLINGTON, VA Paul G. Beers The ASC Leadership Consortium is a ROANOKE, VA group of colleges and universities who Ralph Alan Cohen, ex officio have made a three-year commitment at a $20 or $27K annual level to bring

BRIDGEWATER, VA AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE ASC on Tour to the members’ campuses Marc Conner to enhance their curriculum, serve their LEXINGTON, VA faculties, engage their student bodies, and Frank Gannon energize their alumni and donors. NORTH BEACH, MD Emma Kozlowski ROANOKE, VA GIVE THE GIFT OF Nancy Kyler LIVE THEATRE STAUNTON, VA TO SOMEONE Stephen Larson BIG CANOE, GA YOU LOVE Pamela Macfie SEWANNE, TN Richard F. McPherson, III NEW YORK, NY Ethan McSweeney, ex officio STAUNTON, VA Davidson A. Perry-Miller STAUNTON, VA Myron F. Steves, Jr. Gift cards are available at the HOUSTON, TX Blackfriars Playhouse and Tom W. Thrash, Jr. americanshakespearecenter.com. ATLANTA, GA Redeemable online and Amy Wratchford, ex officio at the Box Office. STAUNTON, VA

BECOME INGRAINED IN THE BLACKFRIARS ROYALS $50,000+ aking great art is a collective Mactivity. To create worlds out of words, it takes the imagination NOBLES $25,000-$49,999 of a team of creative artists working together, decades of scholarship to help inform our understanding, a one- of-a-kind space, and an audience to receive the performance. Each part of the equation is indispensable, including PATRONS $15,000-$24,999 you. When a moment happens on stage, you are there to add your part—your laughter, your tears, your gasps. AMBASSADORS $10,000-$14,999 When you make a donation to support American Shakespeare Center, you $2,500-$4,999 become ingrained in the PLAYERS Blackfriars Playhouse. You become shared light; you GALLANTS $5,000-$9,999 become part of every cushion, every pillar, every gallant, and JOURNEYMEN $1,000-$2,499 every actor’s every word. Join us by making your tax-deductible donation today and take your place in the Blackfriars Playhouse. APPRENTICES $500-$999

You can make your tax-deductible donation in the lobby after the show, or visit our website at GROUNDLINGS $250-$499 www.amshakes.center/donate, or call us at 540.885.5588 ext. 21, or mail your donation to 20 S. New St., 4th Floor, Staunton, VA 24401. 47

ROYALS $50,000+

NOBLES $25,000-$49,999 CENTER.COM • 1.877.MUCH.ADO CENTER.COM

PATRONS $15,000-$24,999

AMBASSADORS $10,000-$14,999 AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE

PLAYERS $2,500-$4,999

GALLANTS $5,000-$9,999

JOURNEYMEN $1,000-$2,499

APPRENTICES $500-$999

GROUNDLINGS $250-$499 The American Shakespeare Center gratefully acknowledges the contributions of its current season supporters: ROYALS ($50,000+) Chris & Betsy Little Virginia Commission for the Arts NOBLES ($25,000 - $49,999) Amanda Bennett & Donald Graham Kathy & Bernie Campbell Candice & Aaron Hark Kimberly R. West

PATRONS ($15,000 - $24,999) Carol & Ken Adelman Paul G. Beers Jim & Shirley Gillespie David & Donna Ladd Nora Palmatier & Jess Thompson

AMBASSADORS ($10,000 - $14,999) John Attig Ralph & Judy Cohen Martha L. Ferguson Christine Harrell in memory of Don Harrell

INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT The Clayton-Royer Proteus Foundation Family Fund Charlottesville Area The Dilston Foundation Community Foundation The Edmund Beck The Evergreen Fund Foundation

HOSPITALITY PARTNERS

This list represents gifts made January 1 - December 17, 2019. For the most updated list, please visit our website. Names in bold represent those who have shown their support of ASC with an annual contribution of at least $250 for the past five years or more. Starred names are members of the Epizeuxis Society recurring donation program. 49 GALLANTS ($5,000 - $9,999) Ellen Berelson & Larry Franks William & Susan Baribault Betty Rossell McGowin Charitable Trust Charlotte & Collins Beagle Patrick & Allison Baroco * John & Penelope Biggs Dr. Marjorie Deutsch & John Broadbent Richard & Kathryn Bump The Clayton-Royer Family Fund John Chamberlin William C. “Jack” Davis, & Sandra C. Davis Harvey & Naomi Cohen Frank Gannon Mary Hill Cole Clifford Garstang * JoEllen & Michael Collins Kathy Guy Marc & Barbara Conner Debra Drummond-Berger in memory of Bouvard Hosticka Tom Berger * • 1.877.MUCH.ADO CENTER.COM Dr. & Mrs. Preston Manning, Jr. Dorothy Duval Nelson Joan Saxton, M.D. Howard & Marnie Fienberg in Memory of William A. & Carole H. Schmidt Joyce & Steve Fienberg Christopher & Rebecca Grandle Dr. Robert & Rev. Sarah Sealand Kathleen & Don Greenhouse Diane & Kevin Wilshere Meg & John Hauge Fund Christopher Wolf Stephen King *

Rodney Young & John A. Gillies and Lydia J. Petersson * AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE Mandi Montgomery Smith Michael & Nicole Putnam-Frenchik * Emma & Christopher Kozlowski PLAYERS ($2,500 - $4,999) Robert & Letty Ann Macdonald Christopher & Kara McLane Burke Mary Ann & Jeff Markunas Dan Collins Ernst Melchior Tracy Fisher * Robert E. & Sara Lee Menzer Pamela Fox & Dan Layman Kevin & Patricia Moore Joe Kraemer Phil & Cheri Moran Stephen & JoAnn Larson David and Heather Morgan * Joe M. Norton Victor & Sally Ludwig Lyn & Tom Olson Colleen & Larry McCarthy Boyce Craig Owens & Elizabeth Pee Owens Leigh & Danny McDaniel Michael & Mary Jim Quillen Richard McPherson Tim & Marilyn Reed Dorothy & Bill McSweeny Sandi & Bo Rose Robin Miller Ali & Mark Russell Bill & Lisa Moore Michael R. Seidl Dr. Ashton D. Trice Slingluff-Swenson Family Fund Richard B. Smith JOURNEYMEN Michael M. Stahl & Ann Pontius ($1,000 - $2,499) Thomas W. Thrash, Jr. Anonymous (3) Robert Haywood Morrison Foundation: Steven Barnhart Cynthia Haldenby Tyson APPRENTICES ($500 - $999) Carl & Betsy Sadler Anonymous Bob & Pat Schieffer Eleanor Adams Roller & JerryLynn Shipplett Alan Armstrong C. Robert & Charity Showalter Laurie Berman John M. Smallwood & Mary Satterfield George H. Booth, III Ben M. & Elizabeth C. Smith A. Richard Bolstein & Sharon Adams Myron Steves, Jr. & Rowena Young Amber Brister and Jim Simons * Perry & Cynthia Swope The Burns Family Paul Tertault & John Jeter The Caplin Foundation Lucas & Isabel Thornton Ray Cubbage and Pam Robbins William Trainer Brooks Lucas Cushman in honor of Brigette M. Wilds & Michael C. Byrne Raymond Robertson Timberlake, Smith, Thomas & Moses Ted Deming & Roz Ridgway George & Harriet Williams in honor of Bobbi & Lewis Dunn Ralph & Judy Cohen Joele Dupont Lawrence R. & Vicky C. Eicher GROUNDLINGS ($250 - $499) Landon & Rebecca Elswick Anonymous (5) James Adelman & Susan Jackowitz Diane & Tom Fechtel Jack Barchas & Rosemary Stevens Pamela Friedman and Ronald Bailey * Charles Blaylock Beth & Skip Fox Mari Bonomi Richard Hay Charles & Hedy Breckenridge Dr. Janice M. Heiges * Michael Brookings & Melinda Ferguson Joe & Evy Harman Merry Bruns & Mike Bray Samuel & Melissa Hostetter The Carringtons Mark & Cheryl Keeler Rick Chittum Kjellstrom + Lee Jessica Christy John & Diane Kowal Scott Colley Robert & Nancy Kyler Robert W. Cover & Bonnie Lepoff * Chad Lash & Caryn Wagner Stephen Davis & Anna Scholl Brian J Delaney * Long Island Community Foundation & Morris Foundation Charman Driver in honor of Kara McLane Burke Carole Duff & Keith Kenny James Lott Traci Lorraine Farmer The Lowell Inhorn & Cynthia Petzold Fund Dana Flanders David Lusk & Deborah Bodner Jamison Ford & Robert H., Jr. Craft Patricia & Stuart Margolin William & Kathleen Frazier Janet Fitzpatrick Moran Natwar Gandhi Susan Odom & Jim McClary Adam & Nicole Hark Bill & Louisa Newlin Don Harrell’s nieces & nephews Deborah Patton William C. Hatchett Julie & Stevsadlere Plumbley Sandra Higgins George & Pree Ray Robert Higgs 51 Donald & Diana Hopkins Family Fund, a PHOENIX SOCIETY Donor Advised Fund of USAA® Giving Fund The Phoenix Society welcomes all people who have Susan Jackowitz generously included ASC into the estate plans and/ or as a beneficiary of a charitable trust, retirement Elizabeth Janthey plans, or life insurance policy. The Dammann Fund, Inc. / Christopher M. & Anonymous (2) Catherine C. Kramer Paul G. Beers Rita Markey & Dennis Johnson Dr. & Mrs. Ralph Alan Cohen Cathy and Chris Marsh Dudley D. & Martha Flanders Richard Massey Art & Mindy Kaufman John & Cathy Matherly Stephen & JoAnn Larson Katharine Eisaman Maus Chris & Betsy Little Ray & Colleen McDuffie * Robert C. Macdonald & Letty Ann Robin McNallie Macdonald • 1.877.MUCH.ADO CENTER.COM James & Joan Mummery Robin Miller Judith Murdock-Anderson Phillip & Cheri Moran Jeffrey & Cecilia Nelson Jean Quinlan Ned & Patty Nicholas Joan Saxton, M.D. Deborah H. O’Donnell in memory of Sidney Stark, Jr. Bob O’Donnell Nancy Troike Donna Jo Pangburn Miguel Pellon & Teri Self-Pellon ACTOR-MANAGER FUND Robert Pierce John Attig AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE Matthew Poteat John Chamberlin Jean Quinlan William C. “Jack” Davis & Sandra C. Davis John Reid Dianne Rodman SIDNEY STARK III MEMORIAL Jim & Heather Rogus SCHOLARSHIP FUND Supporting ASC Theatre Camp Carol C. Ross Harvey & Naomi Cohen Ben & Jennifer Roe Joe & Mary Beth Dickey Jackie Schwimmer, in honor & appreciation of Ralph Alan Cohen David & Kate Franzen Donald & Patricia Seitz Jason Lyman & Kristen Atkins Diane Sheehey, Esq. & Mike Sando in memory of Joe White Matthew Page Jones, MD * Seth & Sharon Stark Margot & Aran Shetterly Sidney Stark, Jr. Katie & Ken Shevlin Rodney Young Curt & Susan Smith Fran Zehmer Jim Sofka Dr. & Mrs. Fred L. Fox & Gail P. CORPORATE & Frederick L. Fox of The Community MATCHING GIFTS Foundation of Harrisonburg Aetna Dr. Steven Urkowitz & Ms. Callie Wronker Collie Limited Partnership Paul & Martha Vames Dell Rachel Vere Nicoll ExxonMobile Martha Walker Google Joe White Pfizer E. Adger Williams SunTrust Bank DONOR SPOTLIGHT wedding gift of tickets first brought Jack and Sandra Davis to the Blackfriars APlayhouse. As their marriage was launched, so was their love of the American Shakespeare Center. With that 2003 production of King Lear (featuring John Harrell in his memorable portrayal of the Duke of Albany), Jack & Sandra were instantly engaged and have continued to support ASC as donors and in the audience. This year, the Davises became members of our Actor- JACK SANDRA Manager Fund—a fund designated to supporting the DAVIS DAVIS salaries of our long-term resident actors. Their gifts are motivated in part by their deep appreciation for the Actors’ Renaissance, with its adept ASC-veteran casts, innovative exploration of Elizabethan stagecraft, and spotlight on Shakespeare’s contemporaries. “Man could live by Shakespeare alone, I suppose,” shared Jack, “but the rich legacy of his generation of playwrights is too good to be ignored.” Patrons like Jack & Sandra Davis are the lifeblood of ASC. We offer them our most sincere thanks for their thoughtfully considered support. OTHER WAYS TO HELP US GROW REFER US • Tell a teacher about our student matinees, teacher seminars, and a semester in a week (Shxcademy). • Tell your company about our corporate and group leadership training. • Tell your hometown performance venue or your college about ASC on Tour. • Tell your favorite high schooler about our immersive summer camp. • Tell a writer about our renowned playwriting competition. SEE MORE SHOWS There’s still time to build your own season of dreams with a custom subscription package. Visit americanshakespearecenter.com/subscribe. SOCIAL MEDIA Follow us at: SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE! American Shakespeare Center Use these hashtags to join the action: americanshakespearecenter #ASCMuchAdo #ASCNoKing @shakespearectr #ASCHenry4P1 #ASCWinter #ASCHenry4P2 #ASCRen American Shakespeare Center #BlackfriarsPlayhouse

But please remember no pictures or videos of the actors are allowed at any time in the Blackfriars Playhouse. To take pictures of the theatre, please wait in your seat until the stage is clear or take a behind the scenes tour. AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE CENTER STAFF 53

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR MANAGING DIRECTOR DIRECTOR OF MISSION Ethan McSweeny Amy Wratchford Ralph Alan Cohen

ADMINISTRATIVE EDUCATION Theatre Operations Business /Human Director of Education Manager/Technical Director Resources Manager SARAH ENLOE TRACIE STEGER SKIPPER JOELE LOUISE DUPONT College Prep Properties Master Programs Manager RHI SANDERS Finance Assistant LIA WALLACE LINDA HAYWARD Costume Shop Manager Education Associate HOPE MADDOX Company Manager AUBREY WHITLOCK Wardrobe Manager • 1.877.MUCH.ADO CENTER.COM ARI POLLACK Education Assistant AMBER KUENNEN CALLIE BANHOLZER Executive Assistant Costume Shop Assistant AMY WOLF MARKETING LIZ ESTES Assistant Director of Branding ARTISTIC LAUREN PARKER Production Assistant Interns Associate Artistic Producer EMILY DEAN JAY MCCLURE Marketing Manager CRYSTAL FLESHMAN AMBER JAMES ALISON O’BRIEN MEGAN PELACCIO Associate Artistic Director Sales Manager DAN HASSE LIZ BERNARDO-STEWART BOX OFFICE AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE Box Office Manager Literary Manager/ Digital Marketing & ALEX OSHEROWITZ Dramaturg Public Relations Manager ANNE G. MORGAN SKY WILSON Senior House Manager SUZ LOCHNER Literary Fellow PRODUCTION NATALIE RICH Production Stage Manager Box Office Staff SARAH DALE LEWIS KELSIE BLOCKER SAMANTHA CADIEUX NY Casting Consultant Assistant Stage Manager CATHERINE CRIDER NATHAN WINKELSTEIN ADRIENNE JOHNSON NICK HOPF BUTLER MILISSIA KONCELIK DEVELOPMENT Touring Troupe Manager THOMAS PRATER Director of Development THOMAS J. COPPOLA REBEKAH BRADLEY RAY KELLY M. BURDICK CAROLYN RUEDY Touring Troupe HESSY SANDERS Development Associate Assistant Manager JAMES SMOOT STEPHANIE A. CABACOY COLIN MACKEY VICTORIA WAMSLEY ASC ON TOUR ACTING COMPANY ALEXIS BAIGUE KENN HOPKINS JR. ANDREA BELLAMORE SARA LINARES CHRIS BELLINGER MICHAEL MORÉT SOPHIA BERATTA ANDREW TUNG MADELINE CALAIS MIA WURGAFT TOPHER EMBREY

Production Photography Publicity Photography & Videography LINDSEY WALTERS LAUREN PARKER NOW BOOKING! 2020/21 NATIONAL TOUR

TITLES RECENTLY ANNOUNCED September-November 2020 Mid-Atlantic, New England January-April 2021 South, Midwest TWELFTH NIGHT by William Shakespeare TITUS ANDRONICUS by William Shakespeare

A COMPANION SNC:PLAY TO ONE OF SHAKESPEARE’S NEW SHAKESPEARE’S CONTEMPORARIES WORKS

BOOK NOW Contact Dan Hasse, Associate Artistic Director, at 540.272.4321 (cell) or [email protected]. Learn More at amshakes.center/on-tour

Topher Embrey.