Producing Artistic Director Deborah Lawlor Co-Artistic Director Stephen Sachs Producing Director Simon Levy Associate Producer James Bennett Executive Producers for Building the Wall Karen Kondazian Barbara Herman Susan Stockel present the National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of by Robert Schenkkan starring Bo Foxworth and Judith Moreland set design Se Oh lighting design Elizabeth Harper costume design Naila Aladdin Sanders composer/sound design John Nobori production stage manager Miranda Stewart technical director Scott Tuomey publicist Lucy Pollak produced by Simon Levy, Deborah Lawlor and Stephen Sachs directed by Michael Michetti BUILDING THE WALL is produced at THE FOUNTAIN THEATRE as a part of a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere. Other partnering theaters are CURIOUS THEATRE (DENVER, CO), FORUM THEATRE (WASHINGTON, D.C.), BORDERLANDS THEATER (TUCSON, AZ), and CITY THEATRE (MIAMI, FL), with support from Paul Prokop. For more information please visit www.nnpn.org Building the Wall was developed at The Lark, New York City. www.buildingthewallplay.com "Broadway Caliber! One of LA’s most indispensable venues’’ Los Angeles Times The Fountain Theatre is a non-profit producing organization established in 1990 by co-Artistic Directors Deborah Lawlor and Stephen Sachs dedicated to providing a nurturing, creative home for multi-ethnic theatre and dance artists. The Fountain offers a safe, supportive haven for artists of varied backgrounds to gather, interact and inspire each other toward the creation of work that will ignite and illuminate the community from which it’s drawn and give creative voice to those who may not otherwise be heard. Now in its 27th year, The Fountain has grown into one of the most highly regarded theatres in Los Angeles. The Fountain Theatre's activities include a year-round season of fully produced new and established plays (36 world premieres and 47 U.S./West Coast/Southern California/Los Angeles premieres), a full season of Flamenco and multi-ethnic dance, a New Plays developmental series, and educational outreach programs. The Fountain has won over 260 awards, and Fountain projects have been seen across the U.S. and internationally (including London and Off-Broadway), and around the world, and have been made into a CBS Movie-for-Television and a BBC Radio Drama. New plays developed at the Fountain Theatre have received the PEN USA Literary Award for Drama, the Elliot Norton Award for Best New Play, multiple LA Drama Critics Circle and OVATION Awards, the Edinburgh Fringe First Award, the Adelaide Fringe First Award, the California Governor’s Media Access Award, PEN Award Finalists 3 times, and many other honors. Recent highlights include being honored for our acclaimed 25th Anniversary Season in 2015 by Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Los Angeles City Council; the 2014 Ovation Award for Best Season and the 2014 BEST Award for overall excellence from the Biller Foundation; the inclusion of the Fountain’s Citizen: An American Lyric in Center Theatre Group’s 2017 Block Party at the Kirk Douglas Theatre; and the naming of seven Fountain productions in a row as “Critic's Choice” in the Los Angeles Times. Under the guidance of Producing Artistic Director Deborah Lawlor, the Fountain is also the premier venue for Flamenco music and dance in Los Angeles. Since 1990 it has produced over 600 world-class Flamenco concerts on its intimate stage and ten seasons at the 1200- seat Ford Amphitheater. The Fountain has also toured Flamenco projects throughout the Western United States. The Fountain's Forever Flamenco is in its 16th year. Playwright’s Note on Robert Schenkkan “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” - Edmund Burke Several years ago I stumbled across “Into That Darkness” by Gitta Sereny. It is an attempt to understand the bleakest of the Nazi horrors by focusing on one ordinary man who for a brief moment, found himself with unlimited power. The past is often the future and in this play I have imagined a not so distant time to come in which President Trump’s rhetoric has found its full expression. While the current political crisis is extraordinary it is not new, the authoritarian play book is well established. Create a constant state of crisis which only a “strong” leader can solve. Encourage fear, divide the populace, and scapegoat minorities with appeals to nationalism, racism, and isolationism. Smear your opponents as unpatriotic and tell the press to “just shut up and listen.” The question, of course, is not so much what the Authorities will do but how we, the citizens, will respond. Sickened by the hate, by the constant assault, will we succumb to our fears, avert our gaze, and look after our own interests? Or will we enthusiastically put our shoulders to their dark wheel? Or will we resist. To those who say that could never happen here in this country, I reply, maybe so, but that of course will depend entirely on what you do. – Robert Schenkkan National New Play Network (NNPN) is the country’s alliance of non- profit professional theaters dedicated to the development, production, and continued life of new plays. Since its founding in 1998, NNPN has supported more than 225 productions nationwide through its innovative National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere program, which provides playwright and production support for new works at its Member theaters. Additional programs - its annual National Conference, National Showcase of New Plays, and MFA Playwrights Workshop; the NNPN Annual and Smith Prize commissions; its residencies for playwrights, producers and directors; and the organization’s member accessed Collaboration, Festival, and Travel banks and online information sessions - have helped cement the Network’s position as a vital force in the new play landscape. NNPN also strives to pioneer, implement, and disseminate ideas and programs that revolutionize the way theaters collaborate to support new plays and playwrights. Its most recent project, the New Play Exchange, is changing the way playwrights share their work and others discover it by providing immediate access to information on more than 9,500 new plays by living writers. NNPN’s 30 Core and more than 75 Associate Members - along with the more than 200 affiliated artists who are its alumni, the thousands of artists and artisans employed annually by its member theaters, and the hundreds of thousands of audience members who see its supported works each year - are creating the new American theater. nnpn.org Karen Kondazian Barbara Herman and Susan Stockel The Fountain Theatre is deeply grateful to three extraordinary women who are generously supporting our world premiere of Building the Wall and serving as Executive Producers. Karen Kondazian is an award-winning actor, author and producer. She has starred in many productions at the Fountain, has guest starred in over 50 television shows and is a lifetime member of The Actors Studio. Her novel The Whip has received several awards including best historical fiction. “I wasn’t able to join the Women's March,“ explains Karen. “So I protest by supporting extraordinary Art. Robert Schenkkan's Building the Wall is precisely that. He reveals brilliantly and artfully the nightmare of what might be, then peels away layers until we understand the nightmare of what actually will be, if we do not heed the warning.” Barbara Herman was born and educated in Los Angeles. She is actively involved in the successful business established with her late husband. Barbara is an enthusiastic supporter of local culture, including the Fountain Theatre, the Broad Stage, and the Women’s Guild at Cedars Sinai. “The Fountain Theatre stands out,” she says, “for its innovative approach to offering fresh, socially relevant plays. Building the Wall is a most timely effort to help illuminate what we, the public, are facing in today’s political climate. I am honored to support the Fountain Theatre’s world premiere production of this play.” Susan Stockel was born in New York. She raised her family in California and practiced law. She is now a community activist, world traveler, and lover of the spoken word. “I am a theatre addict,” she admits. “Good theatre is about telling stories. A strong, well-written and well-acted story binds us to one another and can provide the connection that leads to action. I knew I would support Building the Wall as soon as I read it. This play must be produced now and staged across the country. As Robert Schenkkan has said, ‘We cannot hope to be useful if we can’t respond until 18 months after the fact.’ Yes, we need to move fast. And we have. I am proud to help.” CAST Gloria Judith Moreland* Rick Bo Foxworth* *Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. Setting: A Prison Meeting Room. 2019. 80 minutes. No intermission. Who’s Who JUDITH MORELAND (Gloria) has performed both on and Off- Broadway and has worked with many theater companies including the New York Shakespeare Festival, Playwrights Horizons, Ensemble Studio Theater/Los Angeles and Shakespeare Festival/LA. She was also a company member of San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater for many years. Ms. Moreland won an Ovation Award for her performance in the Fountain Theatre’s production of Miss Julie and a Bay Area Theater Critics Award for her performance in American Conservatory Theater’s production of Miss Evers’ Boys. Film and television credits include Dark Skies, Eagle Eye, Blackish, Animal Kingdom, How to Get Away with Murder, Grey’s Anatomy, Parks and Recreation, General Hospital, The Big Bang Theory and CSI Cyber. She currently teaches acting at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. BO FOXWORTH (Rick) most recently could be seen in Mr.