When Lighting the Voids

StoryWorks Presents: WHEN LIGHTING THE VOIDS

Written by Jon Bernson Directed by Jennifer Welch Based on the reporting of Jennifer Gollan

Center Stage Theater / 2670 Rue Palafox / Biloxi Mississippi NOTE FROM STORYWORKS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR | StoryWorks creates imme- diate arti sti c responses to some of the most controversial issues facing our society by commissioning playwrights to write plays based on investi gati ve journalism. Our producti ons are staged in both the San Francisco Bay Area, where the Center for In- vesti gati ve Reporti ng is based, and in the communiti es most directly aff ected. Over the past four years, StoryWorks has commissioned and produced nine plays, toured locati ons throughout the country, translated and performed work in Spanish and En- glish, and challenged theater and journalism to merge in innovati ve ways. What began as an experiment in 2013 to give voice to the marginalized and bring journalism to the stage, has become a new mode of storytelling. As an emerging medium, our process is evolving and each show brings new revelati ons. In each producti on, StoryWorks gets to the emoti onal truth of investi gati ve journalism, by allowing for arti sti c portrayals of factual and verifi ed events. The result highlights personal stories behind the headlines and creates dialogue through documentary theater.

Jennifer Welch Arti sti c Director, StoryWorks, Reveal from The Center for Investi gati ve Reporti ng

“When Lighti ng The Voids” was produced in partnership with Reveal from The Center for Investi gati ve Reporti ng W.K. Kellogg Foundati on

Special Thanks: Liz Ates, Joey Pett ey, Sandra Lanier, Beth Bartley, Clyde Payne, Amy Pyle, Annie Chable, Ginny Russmun and Center Stage Biloxi, Chuck Rutledge, Barbara Weitner and The Edgewater Inn, Phillip Gray, Miles Bernson

storyworks.revealnews.org StoryWorks presents When Lighting The Voids Written byJON BERNSON Directed by JENNIFER WELCH

CAST Liz Ates / Christa Payne...... Lisa Shattuck Clyde Payne / Santa...... Frederick Mead Joey Pettey / Bill Skinner...... Todd d’Amour* Therapist / Monda Dixon...... Sherri Marina Bram Ates...... Brian Slayton Robert Nettles / Danny Cobb...... Zeb Hollins III Ed Foulke / Investigator...... Carlos Gonzalez Alex Caballerro...... Christopher Robinson Juan Guzman...... Xavier Juarez Young Bram Ates...... Miles Bernson *Actors appearing courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association

PRODUCTION TEAM Directed by...... Jennifer Welch Lighting Design...... Sharon Bush Score and Sound Design...... Jon Bernson Costuming and Set Design...... Jennifer Welch Set Crew...... Xavier Juarez Todd d’Amour Miles Bernson

When Lighting The Voids is a deconstructed mystery that explores the causes of a tragic explosion at an Escatawpa, Mississippi, shipyard in 2009. Con- structed from interviews with OSHA investigators, shipyard workers, lawyers and family members of the deceased, the play explores not only what hap- pened, but the trauma inflicted by the accident and the lives that continue to be affected to this day. As with all StoryWorks productions, the play adheres to verified and factual accounts in order to portray accurate reconstructions of real-world events. CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM

Jennifer Gollan (reporter) is an Emmy Award-winning reporter for Reveal, where she covers labor issues and corporate malfeasance. She has written about everything from energy companies that dodge accountability for workers’ deaths to lax safety practices that contributed to deadly tire blowouts. Her exposé on Navy shipbuilders that received billions in public money – even after their workers were killed or injured – prompted President Donald Trump to sign a new federal law requiring the Government Ac- countability Office to examine how the Pentagon monitors workplace safety violations among defense contractors. Gollan’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Associated Press, The Guardian US, Politico Magazine and PBS NewsHour. She won a national Emmy Award for a PBS NewsHour piece and was the winner of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers’ Best in Business Award, a National Headliner Award and a two-time Gerald Loeb Award finalist. Gollan’s work has prompted new state laws to crack down on diploma mills and federal regulators to step up enforcement against dangerous companies. She received a master’s degree in journalism from University of Southern California and began her reporting career at the Los Angeles Times. She is based in Reveal’s Emeryville, California, office.

Jennifer Welch (director) is the artistic director and co-creator of StoryWorks, a groundbreaking documentary theater project launched by The Center for Investigative Reporting in 2013 that transforms investigative journalism into theater. She has developed 10 new plays across the country – in North Da- kota, New Jersey, Mississippi, Missouri and California. Each play exposes the human cost of injustice and structural inequality to help drive social change. Her work reveals the emotional truth of investigative reporting as well as the factual. Dedicated to the development of new plays as a director, dramaturge and producer, Welch has directed over 20 new plays and collaborated with visionary playwrights such as Eugenie Chan, Octavio Solis, Jon Bernson, Donte Clark and Al Letson. She is also a contributing producer for “Reveal,” the Peabody Award-winning public radio show and podcast from CIR and PRX, and the director of Reveal Live. Welch is a 2017 recipient of the Midwest Innocence Project’s Sean O’Brien Freedom Award for her work bringing the story of Bryan Sheppard, who spent 22 years in prison, to a national audience through StoryWorks and “Reveal.” She is based in CIR’s Emeryville, California, office.

Jon Bernson (playwright) is a playwright, musician and interdisciplinary artist from San Francisco. He is a former artist-in-residence at the de Young Museum and a current member of the RPI program at Playwrights Foundation. Bernson’s prolific and varied works tend to be site-specific and exploratory. In Distant Future Symposium, he fuses science fiction, live music and repurposed YouTube footage. PDX to OAK is an interactive play, written for six actors and 14 passengers on an overnight train trip from Port- land, Oregon, to Oakland. Bernson’s StoryWorks play Overnighters Is Over re-imagines Jesse Moss’ Sun- dance award-winning film The Overnighters as an immersive multimedia experience. Exray’s Logbook is an audiobook that comprises 12 pirate broadcasts that interrupted the programming of international television stations between 1986 and 2009. As a musician, Bernson has released more than 20 albums under several names, including Exray’s, whose music was featured in David Fincher’s Academy-Award winning film The Social Network. Recent instal- lations include Sound Affects, a large-scale multimedia collaboration at the Sonos Studio in Los Angeles, and Beautification Machine, his sound-sculpture with Andy Diaz Hope, which opened at Catherine Clark Gallery before it was collected by the Nevada Museum of Art. God(s)(dess)(es) – another collaboration with Hope – was voted best-in-show at Richmond, Virginia’s 2016 InLight Festival. In addition to his par- ticipation in the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Bernson will be in residence this summer at The Growlery in San Francisco working on Third Eye Moonwalk, a large-scale performance and sound installation to be exhibited and staged at Minnesota Street Project in October 2018.

Sherri Marina (Therapist / Mona Dixon) is an actress, director, educator, and one of the most sought after acting coaches in the Greater New Orleans area. With over 20 years experience, she has coached hundreds of actors in preparation for auditions in every medium. She currently resides in New Orleans, La. and is a proud board member of Actor’s Equity Association. Sherri holds an MFA from The University of Iowa and a BFA from Kent State University. Sherri was the Chair of the Department of Theatre at Dillard University from 2001 – 2010. She actively teaches workshops in movement, voice and acting at universities and schools around the USA. As a performer, her resume includes many regional theatre, commercial and film credits, most recently “Girl’s Trip” and Vieux Carre by Tennessee WIlliams. You can see her next in The Visit with Cripple Creek Theatre Company.

Lisa Morashci Shattuck (Liz Ate / Christa Payne) is a theater artist from New Orleans. She is honored to play Liz Ates in When Lighting The Voids for StoryWorks. She is co-founder of Catapult, a theater lab- oratory dedicated to original theater and innovative design. Locally she performs with Mondo Bizarro, NEW NOISE, Vagabond Inventions, Southern Repertory Theatre, and was a 10-year ensemble member of ArtSpot Productions whose work is based in social justice. Nationally she performs in Cry You One and Sea Of Common Catastrophe both funded by Creative Capital and New England Foundation for the Arts. She is a long time member of Alternate Roots, supporting original art rooted in community and is on the Media Arts faculty at New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA.) She was honored to be the 2015 alternate for the TCG Fox Actor Fellowship and a 2013 Network of Ensemble Theater’s fellow and a selected artist for Creative Capital Professional Development Program through the Joan Mitchell Foundation. An excerpt of her new show 12 which hopes to expand our understanding of privilege and oppression, was shared at “Performatica,” a forum at the Universidad de las Americas in Mexico in March. You can catch her next playing Tobias in Sea of Common Catastrophe at the Irondale in Brooklyn from June 15-June 30th, in Bulgaria playing Zelda in Cry You One and in the Catskills playing Emelda in A Kingdom A Chasm.

Todd d’Amour (Joey Pettey / Bill Skinner) is from New Orleans and attended Syracuse University (B.A. Psych) and AADA (NY - 2000). Broadway debut in 2015 - Airline Highway (dir. Joe Mantello). NYC credits: Empire Travel Agency (The Woodshed Collective), The Verge PL115/Ontological),Ether Steeds (Fringe; Best Ensemble); The Confidence Man (The Woodshed Collective), Spain (dir. Shana Gold), Pretty Theft (Flux Ensemble), Syphon (dir. Shana Gold), Orpheus - Orpheus & Eurydice, Jake - Lie of the Mind, Heracles - Women of Trachis (Target Margin), Stanley - Stanley (dir./co-created Lisa D’Amour), Colin Clement - Red Tide Blooming (dir. Taylor Mac), Bill - Major Barbara (Company OBIE), Mr. Interviewer - Nita & Zita (OBIE) New Orleans: Airline Highway (Bait Boy - So. Rep), Orpheus Descending (Val - So. Rep), Father Comes Home From The Wars (Smith - So. Rep), Venus in Fur (Thomas - So. Rep), Biloxi Blues (Roy Seldridge - WWII Museum). Todd was Horace Wells in NUMB, an original piece he created with his theatre company, Goat in the Road. Regional: Detroit (Kenny - TheatreWorks - Colorado Springs), Airline Highway (Steppenwolf Work Shop - dir. Joe Mantello), Stanley - A Streetcar Named Desire (SMT), Thomas - GEVA Theatre - Roch- ester), A Perfect Ganesh (NET), Charlie Chaplin - Silent Lives (NET), Its A Wonderful Life (George Bailey). Todd starred in the feature film Wendell and the Lemon, which premiered at Slamdance Film Festival in 2015. He won the Best Actor Award for this role in NYC VisionFest in 2015. Film/TV: AMC’s Preacher, TNT’s Claws, The Heart Wants What It Wants (New Orleans Film Festival 2014, The Purge (2018), Bigger (Steve Guttenberg, Julianne Hough). Todd’s first film as producer, Get Out Fast, was shot in and around south Louisiana and New Orleans and premiered in NYC in May of 2016 and SLAMDANCE 2016. Thanks, Beth. Thanks, Mom & Dad.

Zeb Hollins III (Robert Nettles / Danny Cobb)was last seen as Steve Hubbell in A Streetcar Named Desire presented by Le Petit Theatre Du Vieux Carre’, Nite Smile/Officer Reynolds in Black and Blue presented by CRA at Dillard University, Jim in Not About Nightingales presented by The Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans, Oddsee Dog/4th Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2, & 3) at South- ern Rep, Franklin in The High Priestess of Dark Alley at Le Petit, and Coach in Southern Rep’s COLOSSAL. He will appear as I AM in the upcoming TV Show Unintentional Community. Zeb is an actor, writer, director, coach, and workshop facilitator. He has taught with NYU, The Kennedy Center for The Perform- ing Arts, Baton Rouge, MS, and Acadiana Arts Councils. Zeb works as an Arts Coach with KID smART.

Frederick Charles Mead (Clyde Paye / Santa) serves on the nominating committee for Big Easy Theatre Awards, which means he attends 50 to 70 plays a year in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes. He nomi- nates plays, playwrights, actors, directors, designers, and choreographers for awards. A member of the Dramatist Guild, Frederick is a prolific playwright. Original works include Bring on the Lions!, The Size of Life, Love, American Style, The Kung Fu Evangelist, and ORIGIN: an audio drama. He frequently writes and performs sketch comedy and stand up. As a Director, Frederick brought his personal vision to M. Butterfly, Deathtrap, Orphans, and Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure. He received a Marquis award for his direction of The Boys in the Band. He is formerly the Artistic Director of the street theater ensemble, Louisiana History Alive! Frederick’s favorite acting roles include Doctor Astrov in Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard and Candy Delaney in And Tell Sad Stories of the Death of Queens by Tennessee Williams. He was nominated as “Best Actor in a Comedy” for the solo show, Out Comes Butch! Every December (for 12 years), he has portrayed American painter and bird watcher, John James Audubon with Louisiana History Alive! As a theatrical make-up artist, Frederick designed make-up for the 50-actor, 5-hour epic,The Lily’s Revenge and for the magical children’s play, Madame Gracieux’s Garden.

Brian Slayton (Bram Ates) is very grateful and excited to join this amazing and important production. He was born and raised in Princeton NJ, and now lives in New Orleans LA. He studied theater at American University, and has been on the Discovery Channel, Lifetime, and just finished filming a WWII movie with the guy who played the cowboy in Toy Story! He would like to offer a special thank you to each person that we have the honor to play on stage, as well as to all the family and friends. This community and everyone affected have been extremely welcoming, and it is such a humbling experience to meet and work with all of you. Thank you to Jennifer for your vision and direction, to Jon for writing this beautiful play, to the cast and crew for the love and support, to everyone at StoryWorks and Reveal News for investigating this story, and of course to Mom and Dad.

Carlos M. Gonzalez (Ed Foulke) is a New Orleans stage and film actor, photographer and oil-patch en- gineer. A late bloomer, he was charmed by stage magic in 2002, when he made his first-ever stage appearance in The Ritz at Le Petite Theatre. Since that humble start, he has trod the boards on many local stages. His favorite roles include Zelmo in A Member of the White Race and the Monsignor in A Nudists’ Wedding, both for New Orleans Fringe festivals, Agent Steve Lane in The Good Negro and Mr. Irvin in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom for Anthony Bean Theater, Judge Taylor in To Kill a Mockingbird for Tommye Myrick, and Kippy in Take Me Out for ToDo Productions. Carlos has also dabbled in Hollywood South’s burgeoning film industry, beginning inauspiciously as background in Ray, the Ray Charles biopic, and landing speaking roles in several independent films and 48-hr film contests. Carlos is inspired, delighted and grateful to work with this most talented cast and Director Jenna Welch. Look for his photographic art at the “Museum of Mardi-Gras Culture and Costuming” in the French Quarter. His other passions include travel, snow-skiing and scuba diving.

Xavier Juarez (Juan Guzman) studied film at Columbia College Chicago, before moving to New Orleans and venturing into the theatre. Past credits include: A Streetcar Named Desire, Camino Real, Merrily We Roll Along, Splish.

Christopher Robinson (Alex Caballero) began his acting career in 2006 when he moved to New Orleans to attend Dillard University. He earned his B.A. in Theater Arts under the mentorship of Ray Vrazel,Corth- eal Clark, and Sherri Marina. During his years in New Orleans Chris acted on stage in the productions of Working, Guys and Dolls, Macbeth, Gem of The Ocean, and Miss Evers Boys. He also performed in his first Tennessee Williams play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof while earning his theater degree. After the passing of his father Burnell in 2010, Chris took a hiatus for several years and moved back to his hometown of Miami. He returned to New Orleans in 2016 and was cast in the the lead role of Kilroy for the Tennessee Williams Theatre Company’s production of Camino Real. He continued the season with the TWTC in the productions ofNot About Nightingales and One Arm. Lighting the Voids is Chris’ first production with StoryWorks.

Miles Bernson - You may have seen this rising star as Buster the No Neck Monster in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at Tides Theatre in San Francisco, or as an Oompa Loompa in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory at the Salesian Boys and Girls Club, or perhaps one of his stop-motion videos on YouTube. If you haven’t, you’re in for a treat because Miles is excited to portray Bram Ates as a child, and to make his first appearance at Center Stage in Biloxi.

About CIR: The Center for Investigative Reporting is the nation’s first independent, multiplat- form investigative reporting organization. Devoted to holding powerful interests accountable to the public trust, CIR creatively employs cutting-edge technology and innovative storytelling to reveal injustice, spark change at all levels of society and influence public dialogue on critical issues. With PRX, CIR co-produces the nationally distributed “Reveal” radio show and podcast, which features CIR’s reporting, as well as stories from public radio stations and a wide range of media partners, both nonprofit and commercial. CIR produces high-impact reporting across print, video, TV, radio and online platforms and is the recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, winner of 2013 and 2015 Emmy Awards and a 2013 George Foster Peabody Award, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2012 (for local reporting) and 2013 (for public service). For more, visit revealnews.org. Find and follow Reveal on Twitter and Face- book. PAST STORYWORKS PRODUCTIONS HEADLOCK was written by William Bivins and directed by Jennifer Welch based on Ryan Gabrielson’s investigation into abuse at California’s adult care facilities.

A GUIDE TO THE AFTERMATH was written by Jon Bernson and directed by Jennifer Welch, inspired by Mimi Chakarova’s documentary about female veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and military sexual trauma.

THIS IS HOME was written by Tassianna Willis, Dante Clark, Will Houston and Deandre Evans and directed by Jennifer Welch and Jose Vadi in response to Amy Julia Harris’ reporting on corruption and squalor in Richmond, California, public housing.

ALICIA’S MIRACLE was written by Octavio Solis, translated into Spanish by Brandon Mears and directed by Jennifer Welch in response to Bernice Yeung and Andrew Donohue’s investigation into the use of fumigants in California’s $2.6 billion strawberry industry.

NORTH BY INFERNO was written by Jon Bernson and directed by Jennifer Welch and is based on Jen- nifer Gollan’s investigation into work-related deaths and injuries in the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota.

JUSTICE IN THE EMBERS was written by Michelle T. Johnson and directed by Jennifer Welch was inspired by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Mike McGraw’s investigation into the tragic explosion that killed six Kansas City, Missouri, firefighters and the shockwaves that are still being felt in the community, decades later. Produced in partnership with KCPT

TERRA INCOGNITA was written by R.N. Sandberg and directed by Jim Jack, inspired by the NJTV News with Mary Alice Williams investigative reporting series “Toxic NJ,” which delves into the contamination caused by leaking underground fuel storage tanks and the debilitating cost of cleanup. Produced in partnership with NJTV with support from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation

OVERNIGHTERS IS OVER was written by Jon Bernson, directed by Jennifer Welch and based on “The Overnighters,” a Sundance award-winning documentary by Jesse Moss. This play explores ongoing stories about the film’s principal subjects, sheds light on Moss’ 18-month filmmaking process and draws connections between the contentious forces that have placed North Dakota at the center of international energy conflicts. Produced in partnership with the International Documentary Association and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

JOURNEY TO EMERALDVILLE was written by Eugenie Chan, based on investigative reporting by Shoshana Walter, and set in Humboldt County, California’s secretive marijuana industry, where whispers of sexual abuse and trafficking haunt a culture established by free-spirited back-to-the-landers.

BEAUTIFUL AGITATORS was written and reported by Jessica James, Nick Hourston, Charles Coleman and Aallyah Wright and directed by Jennifer Welch. Headquartered at her beauty shop on Ashton Street in down- town Clarksdale, Mississippi, Vera Pigee was an instrumental figure in the fight for equality in Mississippi.