A QUIRKY NEW MUSICAL [title of show]

Book by Hunter Bell Music and lyrics by Jeff Bowen

Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts

June 1—June 26, 2011 Regional Premiere Imagine a funny new musical by a pair of terrifically talented writers about a pair of terrifically talented writers writing a funny new musical. A love letter to musical theatre, this hit Broadway comedy chronicles four theatre geeks struggling to escape a run-down rehearsal hall and scale the heights of the Great White Way. Contains mature language. “Hilarious! A fresh new musical worth cheering!” –The New York Times

*Visual Voice audio described performances 6/24 8pm, 6/25 8pm, 6/26 2pm

GROUPS OF 8 OR MORE SAVE 15%! Contact Jonathan Amores at 650.463.7170 or at [email protected] for more information or to make a reservation.

[title of show] is presented through special arrangement with R&H Theatricals: www.rnhtheatricals.com

“[SEE THIS SHOW] Brilliant cast delivers hilarious comedy for TheatreWorks” The Daily News "A thoroughly entertaining, funny and feel-good evening... THE MOST FUN I'VE HAD IN THE THEATER IN AGES... TheatreWorks has knocked it out of the park" Palo Alto Weekly

“FRESH, FUNNY, and FABULOUS Director Meredith McDonough has knit together a wonderfully blended ensemble cast.” BroadwayWorld.com

“An impossibly wonderful, heart-filled romp… Together, the four actors sound like the vocal group from your favorite dream… FIVE STARS!” SF Theater Blog

“MUSICAL THEATER BLISS a bold piece of theater... more than just a clever comedy.” Theater Dogs

“A HIGH-POWERED cast… these people do more with four random chairs than most of us could do with an entire household of furniture.” Stark Insider “An INTELLIGENT, HEARTFELT, and VERY, VERY FUNNY tribute to the creative process. Go see it.” SF Weekly

“EARNEST, SMART and RATHER GOOFY.” Metro Silicon Valley

“IMMENSELY FUNNY… exquisite comic timing” San Mateo Daily Journal “Playful homage to musical-theatre conventions… comedic charms on several theatrical levels.” Bay Area Reporter

“What really sells the show is the charm of its four-member ensemble” My Cultural Landscape

“You’d have to be a serious sourpuss not to enjoy the current TheatreWorks production” KQED

“The TheatreWorks cast is TALENTED and TIGHT” San Francisco Chronicle

“Director Meredith McDonough keeps the comedy on line with great pacing” For All Events

FARAH ALVIN

(Heidi) has appeared on Broadway in Nine, The Look of Love, Saturday Night Fever, Grease!, and A Christmas Carol. Her off-Broadway credits include The Marvelous Wonderettes (Drama Desk Nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress), I Love You Because, Cam Jansen, If You Give A Mouse A Cookie..., and Kuni-Leml. Recent regional credits include the role of Ginnie in the world premiere of Sycamore Trees(Signature Theatre), Mabel in Pirates! (Goodspeed Opera House, Papermill Playhouse, and Huntington Theatre Company) and Mother in Ragtime (White Plains Performing Arts Center). Ms. Alvin has performed as a soloist with the National Symphonies of the United States and Canada. She can be heard on the original cast recordings of The Marvelous Wonderettes, I Love You Because, as well as Someday, an album of her original music. LAURA JORDAN

(Susan) is thrilled to be part of [title of show]. She appeared on Broadway in the original companies of Cry-Baby and In My Life. Other notable NYC appearances include Kathy Griffin in Perez Hilton Saves the Universe! (Outstanding Musical NYC Fringe Festival 2008), Coral in Glimpses of the Moon (The Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel), Ronnie in .22 Caliber Mouth (The Ohio Theater), Rocky in VVVRRROOOMMM!!! (Summer Play Festival), and Oedipus for Kids! (New York Musical Theatre Festival). Workshops include Prairie (with Melissa Gilbert and Patrick Swayze), Lucky Break (directed by Tony winner John Caird) and In My Life. Her regional credits include Portland Stage Company, Northshore Music Theater, New York Stage & Film, Hartford Stage, and The Wilma Theater. Her best production to date: her one year old daughter Audrey.

IAN LEONARD

(Jeff) loves returning to TheatreWorks, where he recently completed the run of A Christmas Memory (Adult Buddy) and has appeared in Dessa Rose (Adam Nehemiah), My Ántonia (Jimmy Burden), and Jane Eyre: The Musical (St. John). Last summer, he played the role of Harold in Fly By Night, the New Works Festival's developmental production, and he's excited to revisit that role in TheatreWorks' upcoming season. Mr. Leonard spent a year overseas on the international tour of The Sound of Music (Rolf). Recent local performances include The Full Monty (Ethan) at American Musical Theatre of San Jose and She Loves Me (Kodaly) at Foothill Music Theatre. When not at Connect Studios, the acting school he founded for young performers, Mr. Leonard spends his time fronting the Bay Area corporate band, The Peelers. www.thepeelersband.com

JAMISON STERN

(Hunter) appeared on Broadway in By Jeeves as Bingo Little, and National Tours of Little Shop of Horrors and Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Some other New York credits include Newsical (Upstairs at Studio 54), Love! Valour! Compassion! (Genesius Guild), and Minnie's Boys(Jewish Repertory Theatre). Regional appearances include Around the World in 80 Days (Triad Stage); Chapter Two directed by Jay Sandrich, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Theatre Aspen); It's Only Life directed by Daisy Prince, She Loves Me (Rubicon Theatre); Fully Committed, Invention of Love, Black Comedy, As Bees in Honey Drown, A Flea in Her Ear directed by Gregory Boyd (Alley Theatre); The Compleat Wks of Wllm Shkspr (abridged) (Cincinnati Playhouse); and Ragtime (Pioneer Theatre). Some TV/film credits include Law and Order, Day Zero, The Finger Lakes, and The Entrepreneurs.

HUNTER BELL

(Book) wrote and starred in [title of show] which premiered at the New York Musical Theatre Festival (2004), played off-Broadway (2006), and on Broadway (2008). It earned him a Tony nomination for Best Book of a Musical and an Obie Award special citation along with lyricist Jeff Bowen and director Michael Berresse. Mr. Bell has also authored the original books for Silence! The Musical, Villains Tonight! (Disney Cruise Lines), and Bellobration!, which chronicles the 137th edition of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. His acting credits include How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Broadway), The Tempest (Dallas Shakespeare Festival), and The Last Night of Ballyhoo (Coconut Grove Playhouse). He was a finalist in the Warner Brothers Comedy Writing Workshop and earned a BFA in Musical Theatre from Webster University's Conservatory of Theatre Arts.

JEFF BOWEN

(Music & Lyrics) wrote the music and lyrics for and starred in [title of show] which earned him an Obie Award special citation along with Hunter Bell and director Michael Berresse. He and Bell also composed the music and lyrics for two original songs in the musical revue Villains Tonight! for Disney Cruise Line. Bowen wrote music for The Vineyard Theatre's 25th Anniversary Gala, the 53rd Annual Drama Desk Awards, and music and lyrics for the opening number for Broadway Bares 18: Wonderland, benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity fights AIDS. In 2008, Mr. Bowen ranked as one of the top 100 most influential people in OUT magazine. He is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, Actors Equity Association, the Yale Dramat, and the Dramatist Guild of America.

MEREDITH MCDONOUGH

(Director/Musical Staging) is TheatreWorks' Director of New Works where she's directed Auctioning the Ainsleys and Opus (Bay Area Theatre Cirtics Circle Award). She recently was one of the directors of The Lily's Revenge for Magic Theatre, and prior to moving to the Bay she spent three seasons as a Resident Director at Actors Theatre of Louisville, directing numerous world premieres in the Humana Festival. She directed premieres for Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Actors Express, Summer Play Festival, and Keen Company. Favorites include Summer of '42(Round House Theatre), Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice (Williamstown Theatre Festival), and Angels in America (UCSD). She was the New Works Program Director for National Alliance for Musical Theatre, is an Affiliated Artist with New Georges and the Orchard Project, and a Drama League Fellow. Her MFA in directing is from UCSD and BS in Performance Studies from Northwestern University.

WILLIAM LIBERATORE

(Musical Director) is TheatreWorks' resident musical director having conducted more than twenty shows including A Christmas Memory, Grey Gardens, Merrily We Roll Along, Harold and Maude, Crowns, My Ántonia, Jane Eyre, Ragtime, Smokey Joe's Cafe, and Pacific Overtures. He was the musical director at American Musical Theatre of San Jose, conducting over 30 shows including Flower Drum Song, Little Shop of Horrors, Gypsy, A Chorus Line, 42nd Street, Follies, Children of Eden, and Crazy For You. Mr. Liberatore has won Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards for A Little Night Music, South Pacific, and Damn Yankees (AMTSJ) and Bat Boy; Into the Woods; Emma; Caroline, or Change; and The Light in the Piazza (TheatreWorks). He is also the choral director at Gunn High School, and is proudly conducting Symphony Silicon Valley's Broadway in Concert Series KIKAU ALVARO

(Associate Director/Musical Staging) is happy to be making his TheatreWorks debut. He has worked with the Children's Musical Theater of San Jose for the last eight years, recently directing the mainstage production of The Drowsy Chaperone and providing choreography for Chicago and The Secret Garden. Mr. Alvaro made his New York directing debut with a one-act piece called Life Recital, which was featured in a new works festival called "New Life Crisis." He is a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York and holds a Theatre Arts degree from San Jose State University. KATE EDMUNDS

(Scenic Designer) designed M Butterfly and The Clean House at TheatreWorks. She has designed at Arena Stage, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Children's Theater of Minneapolis, Goodman Theater, Steppenwolf, Mark Taper Forum, Huntington Theater, and Manhattan Theater Club. In the Bay Area she has designed at American Conservatory Theater (Angels In America, Old Times, The Gamester, The Rose Tattoo, The Misanthrope, and many others); Berkeley Repertory Theatre (SLAVS!, Heartbreak House, Blue Door, Homebody/Kabul, and over twenty others); Magic Theater (Triptych); California Shakespeare Theater (Winter's Tale, As You Like It); and San Jose Repertory Theatre. Exhibition design includes "Technology Benefiting Humanity" at the Tech Museum of Innovation, San Jose. She recently designed Groundswell at the The Old Globe. Ms. Edmunds taught at UC Berkeley for thirteen years and now teaches design at UC Santa Cruz. LESLIE MARTINSON

(Casting Director) is TheatreWorks' Associate Artist and Casting Director. She recently directed the West Coast Premiere of Superior Donuts for TheatreWorks, where her other directing credits include Theophilus North, If We Are Women, Brilliant Traces, The Boys Next Door, Interpreters, Stepping Out, and The Voice of the Prairie. A graduate of Occidental College, she has been a Watson Fellow, a member of Lincoln Center Directors' Lab, a member of the LaMaMa International Directing Symposium and has served on Theatre Bay Area's Theatre Services Committee since 2002. In 2009 she was awarded an Individual Artist Fellowship in Stage Direction from the Arts Council of Silicon Valley for artistic achievement and community impact. In addition to directing, she leads master classes and workshops for many Bay Area universities and theatre companies. JEFF MOCKUS (Sound Designer) made his TheatreWorks debut with Superior Donuts. His work has been heard in American Conservatory Theater's Clybourne Park, Center REPertory Company's A Marvelous Party, and California Shakespeare Theatre's Mrs. Warren's Profession, as well as world premieres of Tracy's Tiger for Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Lend Me A Tenor: The Musical for the Utah Shakespearean Festival; War Music at American Conservatory Theater; and Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Menocchio. Most recently, Mr. Mockus contributed original music to the west coast premiere of Legacy of Light, which marked his 70th production for San Jose Repertory Theatre, where he has received Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards for Old Wicked Songs and Mary's Wedding, and Dean Goodman Choice Awards for By The Bog of Cats, ART, and Major Barbara. REBECCA MUENCH

(Stage Manager) is finishing her eleventh season as a resident stage manager at TheatreWorks. During that time she has stage managed 43 productions, including the musicals A Christmas Memory; The Light in the Piazza; Caroline, or Change; Merrily We Roll Along; Vanities: A New Musical; Harold and Maude; Striking 12; A Little Princess; Memphis; Ragtime; Smokey Joe's Café; Kept; Pacific Overtures (2001); and Floyd Collins. Ms. Muench graduated from the University of Evansville in Indiana with a BS in technical theatre and a BA in literature, and is a proud member of Equity. VICKIE ROZELL

(Dramaturg) has been TheatreWorks' resident dramaturg for ten seasons, working on over seventy productions including as co-director/dramaturg onDoubt, Arcadia, and Wrong for Each Other; and as associate director/ dramaturg for Snow Falling on Cedars; Yellow Face, Caroline, or Change; M Butterfly; Into the Woods; Dolly West's Kitchen; Shakespeare in Hollywood; Jane Eyre; Ragtime; Pacific Overtures; and Side Show among many others. She has directed Picnic, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, The Little Foxes, and Ladies of the Camellias (Palo Alto Players); W;t (Bus Barn Stage Company); Proof (City Lights Theatre Company); CNTRL+ ALT+DELETE (Pear Avenue Theatre) and The Vagina Monologues (California Theatre), taught at Ohlone and Foothill Colleges, is a member of the West Coast Director's Lab, has BAs in English and Psychology from Stanford University, and an MFA in directing from the University of California. ANNIE SMART

(Costume Designer) designed TheatreWorks' Auctioning the Ainsleys, Theophilus North, and Brooklyn Boy. Recent designs locally include California Shakespeare Theatre (The Tempest, Man and Superman, Private Lives, Pastures of Heaven), Center REPertory Company (She Loves Me), Berkeley Repertory Theatre (In the Next Room, Passing Strange, Tiny Kushner, Yellowjackets, Fetes de la Nuit, To The Lighthouse, Three Sisters), and San Jose Repertory Theatre (Long Day's Journey Into Night, The Weir). Ms. Smart is originally from London where she designed the premieres of Caryl Churchill's Fen, Ice Cream and Hot Fudge, and The Skriker, and worked regularly for The Royal Court, Joint Stock Theatre Group, and the National Theatre amongst many others. She works nationwide, including The Public Theater, A.R.T., Guthrie Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, Steppenwolf, and La Jolla Playhouse; and teaches theater design at UC Berkeley. PAUL TOBEN

(Lighting Designer) designed TheatreWorks' Daddy Long Legs, Auctioning the Ainsleys, and Fly by Night in the 2010 New Works Festival. His New York credits include The Story of My Life (Broadway), The Realm and Electra in a One Piece (The Wild Project), Futurity (HERE Arts Center), Romeo & Juliet(Columbia Stages), When in Disgrace (Examined Man), and The Redheaded Man (Down Payment). Regionally, he has designed for Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Flat Rock Playhouse, Theatre by the Sea, and Northlight Theatre, among others. In three seasons at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, he designed Caravan Man and Demon Dreams. He was Associate Designer for Broadway's Anything Goes, Everyday Rapture, Bye Bye Birdie, Sunday in the Park with George, and Pal Joey, and for National Tours of Spring Awakening, A Bronx Tale and Annie. ROBERT KELLEY

(Artistic Director) is a Bay Area native and Stanford University graduate. He founded TheatreWorks in 1970 and has been its Artistic Director ever since. He has directed over 150 TheatreWorks productions, including many world or regional premieres. He has received the Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Paine Knickerbocker Award for lifetime achievement, BATCC Awards for Outstanding Direction for his productions of Into the Woods; Pacific Overtures; Rags; Sweeney Todd; Another Midsummer Night; Sunday in the Park with George; Jane Eyre; and Caroline, or Change; Bay Area Drama-Logue Awards for his direction of Ah, Wilderness! and Once in a Lifetime; Dean Goodman Choice Awards for Violet, Ragtime, Proof, Dolly West's Kitchen, and Harold & Maude; and Back Stage West Garland Awards for his direction of Side Show andSunday in the Park with George. He recently directed Snow Falling on Cedars, The 39 Steps, A Christmas Memory, The Light in the Piazza, and To Kill a Mockingbird. PHIL SANTORA

(Managing Director) is in his fourth season at TheatreWorks after spending four years as Managing Director of Northlight Theatre outside Chicago. Prior to working at Northlight, he was Managing Director of Georgia Shakespeare Festival (GSF) in Atlanta, as well as Development Director for Great Lakes Theatre Festival in Cleveland and George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He holds an MFA in Theater Administration from the Yale School of Drama and a BA in Drama from Duke University. Mr. Santora has served on the boards of the League of Chicago Theatres, the Atlanta Coalition of Theatres, and the executive committee of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT). He was named 2000's Best Arts Administrator by Atlanta Magazine, received the Atlanta Arts and Business Council's 1998 ABBY Award for Arts Administrator, and under his leadership GSF won the 1997 Managing for Excellence Award.