SKYLIGHT THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS THE WORLD PREMIERE OF
WRITTEN BY WENDY KOUT DIRECTED BY TONY ABATEMARCO AND CELIA MANDELA RIVERA
STARRING: EVIE ABAT, ADAM FOSTER BALLARD, ELIZA BLAIR, MICHAEL KACZKOWSKI, JOEY MILLIN, SARAH TUBERT
SCENIC AND LIGHTING DESIGNER: CAROLINE ANDREW
SOUND DESIGNER: CHRISTOPHER MOSCATELIO
COSTUME DESIGNER: MYLETTE NORA
VIDEO DESIGNER: LILY BARTENSTEIN
PUBLICIST: JUDITH BORNE
GRAPHIC DESIGNER: GUILLERMO PEREZ
PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGERS: CHRISTOPHER HOFFMAN, GARRETT CROUCH
ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS: WENDY HAMMERS, AMY PELCH PRODUCERS: GARY GROSSMAN, MICHAEL KEARNS
OPENING NIGHT: SEPTEMBER 21, 2019
Adapted from Survivors by Wendy Kout commissioned, developed and produced by the Center Stage Theatre at the Louis S. Wolk Jewish Community Center of Greater Rochester, Ralph Meranto, Artistic Director. Welcome...
“Collaboration, which in circumstances associated with hate-generating leadership, has often and rightfully been given a bad name. In the theatre, it is our lifeblood; the essential component that allows for creativity to thrive. In light of recent events in our world that may equate collaboration with complacency or worse, we have made an intensive effort to accentuate the positive definition of that word. Using the testimonies of Survivors of Hitler’s death camps and the gift of hope they continue to share with succeeding generations, they have become our lodestar, guiding us toward light, reframing our present dread into action. That action makes use of our skills as artists. We hope that by sharing Never Is Now with you, we may help you reframe what seems daunting into something life-affirming. For those of us collaborating on the making of this event, we’re stronger than we were when we began. Thank you.”
- Co-Directors Tony Abatemarco & Celia Mandela Rivera CAST (In Order of Appearance)
WOMAN #1...... EVIE ABAT WOMAN #2...... ELIZA BLAIR WOMAN #3...... SARAH TUBERT MAN #1...... JOEY MILLIN MAN #2...... ADAM FOSTER BALLARD MAN #3...... MICHAEL KACZKOWSKI
SETTING Time: Now and Then Place: An Intimate Theatre
Never is Now will be performed without intermission
WHO’S WHO CAST
EVIE ABAT (Woman #1) Evie Abat is thrilled to be returning to her Skylight Theatre home, where she enjoyed a successful run earlier this year as Janelle Mae in the all-Filipina cast of America Adjacent. She was most recently seen on the Broadwater Main Stage during the Fringe Festival, playing the musical-loving Dr. Krupke in Come Back, and in front of the camera in the upcoming, Sag-Aftra web series, Crazy. She thanks Tony, Celia, Gary, Raul, and Wendy for having her on this wonderful stage again, and sends much love to Greg and Sissy for putting up with her frequent requests for line runs. Representation: Luxe Talent Agency.
ADAM FOSTER BALLARD (Man #2) Adam Foster Ballard is a Sag- Aftra actor based in Los Angeles. Select theatre credits include: La Jolla Playhouse: Accomplice; Theater Asylum’s Bard Fiction (Pulp Shakespeare), Color and Light Theatre Company’s: The Bully Project. Select regional/national commercials include: Men’s Warehouse, HBO, McDonalds, and IHOP. He will also be recurring in the web-series I Would Have Kissed You. He is represented by Aqua Talent. More info available at adamfosterballard.com ELIZA BLAIR (Woman #2) Eliza Blair’s selected credits include: Doctor Faustus (Robin the Clown/Lucifer - Long Beach Shakespeare), Proof (Catherine), Measure For Measure (Isabella), Into The Woods (Baker’s Wife), Vinegar Tom (Betty - Powerhouse Theater). Upcoming: Family Affair (Lead - feature film). Training: LAMDA, Atlantic Acting School. Education: B.A. Theater Dance & Media, Harvard College. Unendingly grateful to artists and activists everywhere. eliza-blair.com.
MICHAEL KACZKOWSKI (Man #3) Michael Kaczkowski is excited to make his debut at the Skylight. Originally from Seattle, Michael is a recent graduate of the USC School of Dramatic Arts where he acted in many stage productions and short films. He would like to dedicate this performance to his family who were some of the millions of Polish people whose lives were changed forever by the Holocaust.
JOEY MILLIN (Man #1) Joey Millin is proud to be part of such an important piece of theatre, which is also his first full production with Skylight Theatre. Other theatre credits include: The Cripple Of Inishmaan (Antaeus), Stupid F**King Bird (The Garage Theatre), All New People (The Actor’s Workout Theatre), and various readings at Skylight. Web Series: Parker And The Crew (Disney), Catching A Break. Upcoming Films: Misdirection and Threshold. Training: Studied Theatre at USC and BADA.
SARAH TUBERT (Woman #3) Sarah Tubert performed with Anteaus Theatre Company, Deaf West at the Pasadena Playhouse, and The Group Rep. On TV: Switched At Birth opposite Katie Leclerc and Marlee Matlin. Most recently Guest Star on Claws. Additional credits include Sand Angels. On YouTube, her ASL version of Hamilton and This Is Me have over one million hits. Sarah has Film and TV projects in development and enjoys a career as a Motivational Speaker, Emcee and ASL Consultant. Sarah is currently the Setter and Captain of the US National Deaf Women’s Volleyball Team. WHO’S WHO PRODUCTION
WENDY KOUT (Writer) is an award-winning writer/producer. Stage credits include Survivors, commissioned by CenterStage Theatre in Rochester, NY, We Are the Levinsons, which world premiered at Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company, and won BroadwayWorld Regional awards for Best Play and Best Ensemble Performance In A Play and Naked in Encino, which world premiered at CenterStage Theatre in Rochester, NY. Film credits include Dorfman in Love, produced by Leonard Hill Films and starring Elliott Gould, Sara Rue and Haaz Sleiman. Television credits include Creator and Co-Executive Producer of the hit ABC series, Anything But Love, starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Richard Lewis.
TONY ABATEMARCO (Director) Co-Artistic Director, Skylight. Directing credits: Julie Harris in Lucifer’s Child - Broadway and A & E, Robyn Peterson’s Catwalk Confidential, West End. Recipient two NEA Fellowships, Founder two performance venues - Accident Theatre, Night House. first Ted Schmitt Innovation In Theatre Award - first DGA/ SDC George Stevens Observership. Director, LA Live! at the Natural History Museum, Artistic Director, Jacques D’Amboise’ National Dance Institute at the Taper. Producer, eight corporate fundraisers - CTG, Guest Director, USC School of Drama.. Author - Forever House and Beautified, premiered at Skylight. His play collection, Action/Items available at amazon.com, published by F-Stop Books.
CELIA MANDELA RIVERA (Co-Director) Never is Now marks Celia’s professional debut as a director. Directing credits: Fresh Brews 10 minute plays, That Long Damn Dark at Atwater Village Theatre (assist. Director). Acting credits: Time Out LA recommended, Love Is Another Country (NeNe) at VS Theatre, Project Nongenue’s Trojan Women (Andromache) and Julius Caesar (Mark Antony), Chase What Flies’ Richard II (Bolingbroke), Illyrian Players’ Fucking A (Canary Mary). Some of her training includes USC (B.A.) British American Drama Academy and Antaeus. National finalist in the Acting Category at KCACTF. Thanks to God & familia. IG: CeliaMandela
CAROLINE ANDREW (Scenic and Lighting Designer) is a local Southern California theatrical designer, working mainly in lighting, but also scenic and projections design. She works in live entertainment designing for theatre, concerts, dance, as well as assisting on large- scale commercial events. She additionally works in themed entertainment and architecture, specializing in design and theatrical lighting controls. Caroline also designs and lights art installations and special art exhibitions around San Diego. Check out www.candrewlighting. com for more information!
MYLETTE NORA (Costume Designer) has won the NAACP Theatre Award for best costumes and is listed in the honors edition of the Cambridge Registry of Who’s Who Among Executive and Professional Women. Her work, which consists of television, film, and stage, was seen nightly on “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno. The famed artist Synthia St. James noted Mylette as being the inspiration for her world renowned painting “Ensemble” which graced the cover of the best selling novel Waiting To Exhale by Terry McMillan. Mylette’s talents continue with her creative line of heirloom dolls called My Mind’s Eye and a line of designer doggie wear called From the Heart Doggie Wear. www.FromTheHeartDoggieWear.com WHO’S WHO
CHRISTOPHER MOSCATIELLO (Sound Designer) is a sound designer, composer and music director. 2018 LADCC and 2015 Stage Raw Awards for Sound Design. Theater highlights: The Kennedy Center, Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Antaeus, Odyssey Theatre, Rogue Machine, Skylight Theatre Company, Fountain Theatre, assistant conductor for the national tour of Phantom of the Opera. TV highlights: The Walking Dead, Psych, Eureka, Human Target, The Cape, Caprica, Trauma. He has scored series, specials and promos for NBC, HBO, BBC, Discovery, National Geographic and others.
LILY BARTENSTEIN (Video Designer) is a scenic, projection and lighting designer for theatre and live performance based in Los Angeles. Recent work includes: The 100% (production design for VR experience, Springbok Entertainment), In the Penal Colony (video design, Cal Rep and Long Beach Opera), I Go Somewhere Else (video design, Playwrights’ Arena), and Bloodletting (lighting design, Center Theatre Group and Playwrights’ Arena). Lily received her BA from the University of Chicago, her MFA from the University of California San Diego, and currently teaches at CSArts San Gabriel Valley and Cal Poly Pomona. www.lilybartenstein.com
CHRISTOPHER HOFFMAN (Production Stage Manager) Christopher appeared in Skylight’s World Premiere of Hostage. He is Skylight’s resident Production Stage Manager and Production Coordinator. He has been building sets and running light boards ever since high school. During college he worked at LATC and for the Los Angeles Opera as well as on the running crew for countless shows at The Shrine Auditorium. In New York, Chris got to work in a ton of great theaters as well as building half a dozen or so shows from the ground up on Theater Row. During his years working for the Skylight Theatre Company, he has worked on the world premieres of Bronco Billy – The Musical, Dontrell Who Kissed the Sea, Church & State, Lord of the Underworld’s Home for Unwed Mothers, El Grande CIRCUS de Coca-Cola, Pray To Ball, Forever House, The Wrong Man, The End Times, Tomorrow, Beautified, Hermetically Sealed, A Death in Colombia, The Jesus Hickey, along with La Ronde de Lunch, Bulrusher, Obama-ology, and the Rogue Machine’s Dirty Filthy Love Story.
GARRETT CROUCH (Stage Manager) is a multi-hyphenate human with a deep passion and love for entertainment. Actor, writer, musician, technician, director, and stage manager are a few hats he wears. He recently collaborated with the Puckwit Gang in a successful run of Dangerous Cures of Dr. B, which he co-wrote the script and score for. When he isn’t writing scores or acting out, you can usually find him here, managing at Skylight Theatre, where he was production/stage Manager of the multiple award-winning Rotterdam.
WENDY HAMMERS (Associate Producer) is a hyphenate, an actress-storyteller-stand up- comic-producer. Also, a happy wife, proud mother and grateful pancreatic cancer survivor. Producing credits: spoken word salon Tasty Words™ (18th year), and The Vagina Monologues (Broad), featuring Wanda Sykes, Wendy Malick, and Jane Fonda. Acting credits: Agnes in Sarah Treem’s When We Were Young and Unafraid, Val in Gray Nomad (Skylight), Bunny in Old Jews Telling Jokes (Colony), national tour of solo show RIPE, Mad About You, The Sopranos, Curb Your Enthusiasm. www.wendyhammers.com WHO’S WHO
AMY PELCH (Associate Producer) Is a graduate of NYU where she studied Metropolitan Studies and Mathematics. She was a Marketing Intern at Skylight Theatre in the summer of 2016 and is now making her debut as an Associate Producer and Beyond Conversation Coordinator. Amy also works at Housing Works, Club 21 Learning & Resource Center, and as a member of Skylight’s Front of House Staff.
GARY GROSSMAN (Producer) is Skylight’s Producing Artistic Director and the recipient of the inaugural Henry Ong Award for Leadership in the Los Angeles Theatre Community, and Stage Raw’s 2016 Career Achievement Award. His career began in New York, owning two theaters and a theatrical lighting company by the age of 23. Gary worked at the Public Theatre, Café La Mama, and Sheraton Square Playhouse before joining Los Angeles’ emerging theatre movement in the 70’s. Producing over 300 stage plays and more than 60 world premieres, some of his celebrated productions are Rotterdam (3 LADCC Awards including Best Production - recently performed at CTG’s Kirk Douglas Theatre), Church & State, Dontrell Who Kissed the Sea (Steinberg/National Theatre Critics Citation), El Grande CIRCUS de Coca- Cola, Wrong Man (3 Ovation Awards), Obama-ology, Pray To Ball (1 Ovation Award), Years to the Day, Hermetically Sealed, Bullrusher, Mad Women (LA Weekly Award), Romeo and Juliet directed by Milton Katselas (3 LADCC Awards), Dylan (3 LADCC Awards), AIDS/US Portraits In Courage, America Adjacent, Influence, Dream Man, Beautifiedand La Ronde de Lunch.
MICHAEL KEARNS (Producer) began his association with Gary Grossman and the Skylight Theatre in 1984 with the groundbreaking production of AIDS/US, which he directed and co-produced. Kearns’ theatrical career—encompassing acting, directing, playwriting and producing—became aligned with determined activism which has never abated. His favorite Skylight collaborations include starring in James Carroll Pickett’s Dream Man (which went on to tour America and abroad), the QueerWise production of Shades of Disclosure (which he directed) and the INKubator and workshop productions of his two most recent plays, Bang Bang and Bloodbound.
SKYLIGHT THEATRE COMPANY was honored to have their multi-award winning production of Rotterdam at Center Theatre Group’s 2019 Block Party at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. The production won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award in 2018 for Best Production. Additional LADCC awards for Rotterdam include Writing and Lead Actress. It also received top honors at the 2018 Stage Raw Awards, winning Production of the Year and Leading Actress awards. Recognized as a “powerhouse of new play development” by Dramatist Magazine, this year Skylight presented their first full-length original musicalBronco Billy - The Musical garnering nine Stage Raw Award nominations. Many of Skylight’s World Premieres have gone on to be performed nationally and internationally: Church & State opened Off Broadway in 2017, has had 42 productions with 15 more scheduled; Dontrell, Who Kissed The Sea (a co-production with Lower Depth Theatre Ensemble) received the prestigious Steinberg American Theatre Critics Association Citation and multiple productions. Skylight’s resident writers have enjoyed productions nationwide, received the esteemed USA Ford Fellowship in Theater and Performance (Sigrid Gilmer), and a Humanitas/CTG Playwriting Prize (Louisa Hill, – Lord of the Underworld’s Home for Unwed Mothers). Skylight’s resident-writers program is helmed by the Pulitzer Prize Finalist and Tony Award nominated playwright, Lee Blessing. PRODUCTION STAFF PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGERS: CHRISTOPHER HOFFMAN, GARRETT CROUCH SCENIC PAINTING: ORLANDO DE LA PAZ PUBLICIST: JUDITH BORNE GRAPHIC DESIGNER: GUILLERMO PEREZ PHOTOGRAPHER: ED KREIGER
SPECIAL THANKS
Patty Briles, Caryn Desai, Maggie Howard, Perla Karney, Dan McCleary, Marc Bachrach, Ralph Meranto, Maria Galicia & Selma Holo at USC Fisher Museum, Jill Brown, Jordanna Gessler & Gabriella Karin at the LA Holocaust Museum, Miriam Stein at Emeritus College, Roxanne Schindler-Katz, Lorraine Sais and Elana Samuels – Museum of Tolerance, Rabbi Stan Levy and Cantor Marc Bachrach
AND VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO THE TEN BRAVE MEN & WOMEN FOR ENTRUSTING US WITH THEIR STORIES:
Helen Przysuskier Erich Arndt Arthur Herz Evie Schuerman Levinson Jacobson
Kurt Weinbach Henry Silberstern Rosemarie Marianthal Molser
Carl Voldman Eva Vezer Abrams Ellen Arndt SKYLIGHT THEATRE COMPANY STAFF
PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: GARY GROSSMAN CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: TONY ABATEMARCO EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: SANDEE GROSSMAN ARTISTIC ASSOCIATE: MICHAEL KEARNS PLAY LAB DIRECTOR: LEE BLESSING PLAY LAB ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR: TIM FURLONG ARTISTIC LEADERS: SHAINA ROSENTHAL, CHRISTOPHER HOFFMAN, VICTORIA PEARLMAN, CELIA MANDELA RIVERA LYRIC PROJECT PROGRAM DIRECTOR: JOHN J. TORRES BEYOND CONVERSATION COORDINATOR: AMY PELCH PUBLICIST: JUDITH BORNE GRAPHIC DESIGN: GUILLERMO PEREZ PRODUCTION COORDINATOR: CHRISTOPHER HOFFMAN ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: AMY PELCH STAGE MANAGERS: BEN ALTMAN, GARRETT CROUCH VIDEO PRODUCTION: MAXWELL MORRO FRONT OF HOUSE: CARLEE WILSON, AMY PELCH, JILL ABATEMARCO, MADELAINE FELDER INTERNS: MATT GARDNER, GRACE LEE
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
FR. GREGORY GOETHALS CHAIR DALE RAOUL SECRETARY BRADFORD BANCROFT, GARY GROSSMAN, WENDY KOUT, MICHAEL KEARNS, WILLIAM SLOCUM ARTISTIC ADVISORY BOARD Andy Ackerman, Brooke Adams, Ed Asner, Dan Bucatinsky, Marcia Milgrom Dodge, Scott Ellis, Johnny Galecki, Peter Gallagher, Buck Henry, John Benjamin Hickey, Winnie Holzman, Dr Jorge Huerta, Robert Israel, Sheryl Kaller, Stacy Keach, Sharon Lawrence, Eric McCormack, Terrence McNally, Alfred Molina, Geoffrey Nauffts, Billy Porter, Joan Rater, Jeffrey Richman, Thomas Sadoski, Don Roos, Marc Shmuger, Joe Spano WE DON’T JUST “PUT ON PLAYS,” WE CREATE OPPORTUNITIES, HELP LAUNCH CAREERS, AND SOMETIMES WE CHANGE MINDS.
“The Skylight Theatre Company [is] known for creating stories to that help stimulate conversation, raise our consciousness, and expand our hearts.” (BroadwayWorld) At Skylight Theatre Company We Are Dedicated To The Idea That Artists Can Create Change. Diversity, equity and inclusion are more than multi racial casting. It’s telling stories that would go unnoticed or could be controversial. It’s taking a chance on someone without regard for age, gender, ethnicity or zip code. It’s also about who’s in the audience. Contributing To Positive Change, But We Can’t Do It Alone. The stories we tell start conversations, opening doors to new ideas and new people. We offer free programs to Artists, Teens, Young Adults and lifetime learning for Audiences with Beyond Conversation.
Your Gift Makes A Big Difference. As a nonprofit intimate theatre, ticket sales cover only 25% of our annual costs. Contributions from individuals like you make up the difference and have a real impact.
Will You Help Us? You can contribute online at SkylightTheatre.org, by mail or by phone.
NOW MORE THAN EVER WE NEED THE COMPASSION AND UNDERSTANDING THAT LIVE THEATRE PROMOTES.
Skylight Theatre: 1816 ½ N Vermont, Los Angeles CA 90027 Call our local Box Office: (213) 761-7061 SkylightTheatre.org Thank You to Our 2018 Contributors (January - December)
SUSTAINER $25,000+ Tom Lavagnino Larry and Meryle Gellman Anonymous Doris Hess Lynda and Stan Levy Maud Winchester and Martha Demson ANGEL 10,000+ Lucas Reiner Mary Adair Nancy E Barton Foundation Anonymous Matthew Goldsby Paul & Monica Bancroft Family Foundation, Rhea MacCallum Jacqueline and Michael Kafka Bradford Bancroft Andrew Schneider Michelle Kholos Brooks and Los Angeles County Arts Commission Anonymous Max Brooks Steven and Julie Karic Joey and Anthony Rich Nanci Christopher D. Richard Odle Anonymous Neely Swanson Anonymous Anonymous SPONSOR $5,000+ Doug Savant Nina and Tony Borwick Dale Raoul and Ray Thompson Jeffrey Richman Pacific Resident Theatre Antioch University, Los Angeles Rob Nagle LEADER $2,500+ Steven Ong John Rothman PATRON $100+ Theresa Davis Richard Phillips Barnet Kellman Tom Jacobson Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Inc Donna Pall and Mitch Klebanoff Robyn Peterson and Albert Surprenant Kate Volpe FRIEND $50+ Loyola High School of Los Angeles Skye and Liisi LaFontaine Anonymous Anonymous 24th Street Theatre SUPPORTER $1,000+ Fran Feinman Dr. Amy Gelfand and Craig Kapson Judith Marlin David Misch Logan Katherine Sherwood Noreen Reardon Caplin Foundation Lee Blessing Whitefire Theatre Charlotte Gulezian Tim Furlong Tom Bryant David Trainer Eve Gordon and Todd Waring William Kaiser Diane Cary and James Parriott Eileen T’Kaye and David Bischoff Alan Shearman Edlow Foundation Fund Jeffrey Fischer-Smith Darcy Vebber and Human Family Education and Norma Anne Harris Andy Romanoff Cultural Institute Stephanie Waxman and Anonymous Irene Ramp and Buck Henry Dennis Hicks Brian Doughty Jan Munroe Yvonne and Jason Lee Bruce French Jennifer Rowland Carol and Robert Nace Carrie Armstrong Patricia Glaser Chris and Alex Wright Fountain Theatre Anita Nagler Tom and Fran Francis PARTNER $500+ Anonymous Austin’s Asylum Jo Beth Williams and John Pasquin Armando Molina Maria Gobetti and William Slocum Cheryl Bode Tom Ormaney Anonymous Ellie Herman and David Levinson Mary Ann Cherry Carol & Craig Kapson Dennis Nollette Meredith Besser Peter Levin IAMA Theatre Company Michael Michetti Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider James Fawcett Rambart Theatre Jeff Heglin and Randy Sheriff James Freed Richard Hochberg John Taylor James Stein Roland Palencia Ken Larson Jay Bevan Anonymous Continued Life of New Plays Fund Anonymous Stephanie Kerley Schwartz Mary and Randy Arney Joel Mintz Rolin Jones John Densmore Jean Christensen and Steven Warheit John Fleck John Flynn and Ann Bronston ADVOCATE $250+ Jordan Baker-Kilner & Kevin Kilner The Joelson Foundation Katie Mitchell Dan Frischman Kitty Swink