SC 56th Season • 535th Production SEGERSTROM STAGE / MARCH 28 - APRIL 25, 2020

David Ivers Paula Tomei ARTISTIC DIRECTOR MANAGING DIRECTOR

David Emmes & Martin Benson FOUNDING ARTISTIC DIRECTORS

presents the world premiere of THE SCARLET LETTER

by Kate Hamill

Christopher Acebo Danae Iris McQueen Keith Parham John Zalewski SCENIC DESIGN COSTUME DESIGN LIGHTING DESIGN SOUND DESIGN

John Glore Joanne DeNaut, csa Kathryn Davies* DRAMATRUG CASTING STAGE MANAGER

Directed by Marti Lyons

Sandy Segerstrom Daniels Joan & Andy Fimiano Honorary Producer Honorary Producer

THE SCARLET LETTER received a reading as part of The Other Season at Seattle Repertory Theatre (2018-19) and developmental support at the Hedgebrook Women Playwrights Festival, Whidbey Island.

The Scarlet Letter • South Coast Repertory • P1 CAST OF CHARACTERS Reverend Dimmesdale ...... Lea Coco Roger Chillingworth ...... Tim Cummings Governor Hibbins ...... Joe Holt Goody Hibbins ...... Rebecca Mozo Hester Prynne ...... Melisa Pereyra Pearl ...... Amy Kim Waschke

SETTING Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1642-46.

LENGTH Approximately 90 minutes, with no intermission.

PRODUCTION STAFF Associate Dramaturg ...... Molly FitzMaurice Assistant Stage Manager ...... Natalie Figaredo Assistant Director ...... Charlie Marie McGrath Hymn Music Director ...... Diane King Vann Fight Consultant ...... Bobby C. King Intimacy Coordinator ...... Zev Steinrock Assistant Scenic Designer ...... Rick Anderson Costume Design Assistant ...... Kaitlyn Kaufman Stage Management Interns ...... Hope Binfeng Ding, Emperatriz Mejia Light Board Operator ...... Keannak Parvaz Sound Board Operator ...... Jim Lupercio Automation Operator/Deck Crew ...... Alex Johnson Wardrobe Supervisor/Dresser ...... Jyll Christolini Wig and Makeup Technician ...... Gillian Woodson Additional Costume Staff ...... Whitney Claytor, Maria Huber, Lalena Hutton, Kaler Navazo, Tessa Oberle, Sarah Timm

The Actors and Stage Managers employed in this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

Please refrain from unwrapping candy or making other noises that may disturb surrounding patrons and the actors. Videotaping and/or recording of this performance by any means whatsoever are strictly prohibited. Electronic devices should be turned off or set to non-audible mode during the performance. Smoking is not permitted anywhere in the theatre.

Photos may be taken before and after the show, and during intermission, but not during the performance. Show your appreciation for the play by using the hashtag #ScarletLetterSCR and tagging the designers listed on P1.

Media Partner

P2 • South Coast Repertory • The Scarlet Letter Kate Hamill Colors Outside the Lines by John Glore she tends to play truth-tellers, oddballs, and misfits: complicated people who color outside the lines.” ack in 2013, when Kate Hamill was an actor in Hamill’s inclination to “color outside the lines” can the company of New York’s Bedlam Theatre, also be seen in her approach to adaptation. Her Austen she told Bedlam co-founder Andrus Nichols plays have a certain winking sense of humor and theat- that she intended to write her first play, an ad- ricality that both honors and refreshes the tone of the aptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, originals, while bringing the storytelling reso- and that it would be produced at Bedlam lutely into the 21st century. Her Bwith Hamill as Marianne and Nichols as her strategy is sometimes sister, Elinor. To make certain she’d follow characterized as “post- through, Hamill bet Nichols $100­—which modern.” She aims to re- she couldn’t afford to lose, being an im- main true to the essence poverished New York City-based actor. The of the source material wager served as a great motivator. from which she’s work- Hamill’s Sense and Sensibility proved ing, but she isn’t shy enormously successful for Bedlam—The New about altering genders, York Times’ lead critic, Ben Brantley, called it reinventing characters, “the greatest stage adaptation of this novel introducing anachro- in history.” The play has gone on to produc- nisms and other strate- tions at numerous theatres across the nation, gies that shake the dust launching Hamill on a new career trajectory off the original prose as an actor/playwright known especially for narratives. For exam- her female-centric adaptations of classic lit- ple, she describes her erary works. She adapted three more Aus- adaptation of Dracula ten novels: Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield as a “feminist revenge Park and, most recently, Emma, which will fantasy.” Her version premiere later this year at the Guthrie The- turns Dracula’s minion, atre. She also has written stage versions of Renfield, into a woman Homer’s Odyssey, William Makepeace Thac- (played earlier this year keray’s Vanity Fair, Louisa May Alcott’s Little by Hamill herself in the Women and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. More premiere production often than not, she acts in the original pro- at Classic Stage Com- ductions of her plays, although a particularly pany); the vampire- busy 2020 has made that impossible for SCR’s hunter Van Helsing also world premiere production of The Scarlet undergoes a sex-change Letter. from male to female; Largely on the strength of her literary adapta- and the title character himself tions (she has also written several original plays), Hamill serves as the living (undead?) embodiment has been recognized as one of the 10 most-produced of toxic masculinity. playwrights in the American theatre for three years run- Hamill has put her own spin on Nathaniel Haw- ning; and The Wall Street Journal named her Playwright thorne’s The Scarlet Letter, too, but in less obvious ways of the Year in 2017. that don’t evoke such adjectives as “winking” or “post- The bio on Hamill’s website tells us, “She is deeply modern.” Perhaps in response to the dark colorations of passionate about creating new feminist, female-centered Hawthorne’s world, she has reined in her most boister- classics: stories that center around complicated women. ous theatrical impulses and her impish sense of humor Her work as a playwright celebrates theatricality, often (although there’s plenty of imp in how she portrays Hes- features absurdity, and closely examines social and gen- ter Prynne’s little girl, Pearl). For more about how she der issues—as well as the timeless struggle to reconcile has reconfigured Hawthorne’s story, see the accompa- conscience/identity with social pressures. As an actor, nying article.

The Scarlet Letter • South Coast Repertory • P3 Re-imagining Hester Prynne

“I create radical feminist adaptations that speak to the present moment—which I think of as a collabo- ration between myself and the original author. I approach adapting the classics from a new play lens; I like to make highly theatrical, surprising, topical work. “My Scarlet Letter is an exploration of the deep roots of institutionalized misogyny, hypocrisy, and shame in American power structures. The Massachusetts Bay Colony proclaims itself the shining city on the hill, but harshly punishes any infractions or indications of the ‘other.’ Set four years after the Puri- tans massacred and enslaved the Pequots in the Pequot War and 50 years before the Salem Witch Trials, The Scarlet Letter follows Hester Prynne as she tries to find her moral compass in a society that harshly punishes women for independence, sexuality or defiance of mores. She and the other colonists—includ- ing her lover and estranged husband—struggle with their own deeply-ingrained guilt and shame, as they try to determine what Evil truly is... and how violence, superstition and repression may shape the land that will become America.” —Kate Hamill

by John Glore Hamill has distilled the cast down to six characters—in a couple of cases creating characters who don’t appear in n “collaborating” with author Nathaniel Hawthorne the novel, at least not in a way that bears any resemblance on her stage adaptation of his 1850 novel, The Scar- to her characters—and subtly shifted the story’s empha- let Letter, playwright Kate Hamill has hewed to the sis so that it more resolutely and consistently focuses on essentials of the original story while departing from the character of Hester Prynne and her experiences. Hawthorne in ways that lend theatricality and a hov- Hester is the central figure in Hawthorne’s novel Iering contemporary sensibility to the adaptation. but, for the most part, she is more symbol than fully di-

P4 • South Coast Repertory • The Scarlet Letter mensionalized character. She serves as the point of intersection for the stories of the two principal male characters: the deeply conflict- ed Reverend Arthur Dimmes- dale and the mysterious and malignant Roger Chilling- worth. Each of the two men undergoes a journey—Dimmesdale towards a kind of redemp- tion and Chillingworth to physical and spiritual cor- ruption—while Hester remains a constant from beginning to end, the source of the two men’s torment and the object of their psychological battle. In Hamill’s adapta- tion, as in the novel, Hes- ter begins as a victim of her society’s strictures but, as the play unfolds, she gradually finds agency in her own life, largely through her daughter, Pearl. Hester’s Kate Hamill’s version of the story. struggles as a sin- Hamill’s most significant depar- gle mother pro- ture from the novel is in the character of vide the spine of the Goody Hibbins, who becomes Hester’s play. Forced to live nemesis as the play’s chief representa- outside society, and tive of Puritan society’s harsh judge- with no means of ments and punishments. A character support other than named Mistress Hibbins appears in her own skills as a Hawthorne’s novel, but she is an elder- seamstress, Hester ly crone, sister to the governor of the finds meaning in colony, depicted by Hawthorne as a caring for Pearl and witch who tries to lure Hester into clings to her des- her coven of Satan-worshippers. perately when the (Hawthorne derived the character patriarchy tries to from a historical figure named Ann remove her from Hibbins who was executed for Hester’s care. The witchcraft in Boston in 1656.) stories of the two men remain im- Nathaniel Hawthorne regarded the portant in the painting The Scarlet Letter (above) play, but there’s by Merle Hughes (1859) as the no question that finest illustration of his novel. Costume rendering of Hester Hester Prynne is Prynne by Designer Danae Iris the protagonist of McQueen.

The Scarlet Letter • South Coast Repertory • P5 Hamill’s Hibbins is a younger woman dale’s guilty conscience. whose soul is being torn apart largely because As suggested by Hamill’s state- she has so poisonously internalized Puritan ment above, in her play, evil has attitudes towards sex, human origins and human explana- sin and women as the tions, even when born out of the child-bearing serfs vicissitudes of life in a harsh world of their hus- (and the stern social system that at- bands. In the tempts to bring order to that world). play, Goody Hib- In the play, the fears, needs and bins is married to desires of human hearts drive Governor Hib- both sinful actions and the bins (another shame and punishment that character who arise in response to those doesn’t appear actions. Even Chillingworth, in the novel), an the closest thing to a de- ineffectual magis- monic entity in the play, trate who struggles does what he does be- (mostly in vain) to cause his soul has been keep his wife under control. The story damaged by past experi- of what happens between Goody Hib- ences. (The story he tells bins and Hester over the course of the of what happened to him play is entirely Hamill’s invention and when he attempted to join serves to examine the novel’s the- his wife in Massachusetts is matic concerns through the lens of a Hamill’s creation.) contemporary woman’s perspective. One needn’t dig Hawthorne, paying attention deep in today’s America to Puritan beliefs and practices, lay- to find vestiges of the ered a sense of the supernatural into Puritan sensibility that his novel. Evil sits somewhere on gave rise to colonial the vaguely defined border be- attitudes towards sin, tween human actions and the in- shame, guilt and ret- terference of Satan, whose min- ribution—and to the ions on earth (Mistress Hibbins differing ways those and her kind), work to corrupt attitudes manifest the souls of well-meaning hu- with regard to mans. A notable episode in women or men. the novel—in which a mete- That’s what gives or seems to trace a red letter The Scarlet Let- A across the sky, recapitu- ter continuing lating in supernatural terms relevance, espe- the embroidered letter on cially when re- Hester’s breast—becomes imagined by a a crucial moment in the contemporary laying bare of Dimmes- female play- wright who Engraved illustration of isn’t ready to an “A” from the 1878 let today’s edition of The Scarlet society off Letter. Costume render- the histori- ing of Goody Hibbins by Designer Danae Iris cal hook. McQueen.

P6 • South Coast Repertory • The Scarlet Letter Pearl

e have as yet hardly spoken of the infant; and the result was a being whose elements were per- that little creature, whose innocent life had haps beautiful and brilliant, but all in disorder; or with sprung, by the inscrutable decree of Provi- an order peculiar to themselves, amidst which the point dence, a lovely and immortal flower, out of variety and arrangement was difficult or impossible to of the rank luxuriance of a guilty passion. be discovered… How strange it seemed to the sad woman, …Her mother, while Pearl was yet an infant, grew asW she watched the growth, and the beauty that became acquainted with a certain peculiar look, that warned her every day more brilliant, and the intelligence that threw when it would be labor thrown away to insist, persuade, its quivering sunshine over or plead. It was a look so intelli- the tiny features of this gent, yet inexplicable, so child! Her Pearl!— perverse, sometimes For so had Hester Pearl by the Seashore, so malicious, but gen- called her; not as a illustration from the erally accompanied name expressive of 1878 edition. by a wild flow of spir- her aspect, which its, that Hester could had nothing of the not help questioning, calm, white unim- at such moments, passioned lustre whether Pearl were that would be indi- a human child. She cated by the com- seemed rather an airy parison. But she sprite, which, after named the infant playing its fantas- “Pearl,” as being of tic sports for a little great price—pur- while upon the cot- chased with all she tage floor, would flit had—her mother’s away with a mocking only treasure! How smile. Whenever that strange, indeed! look appeared in her Man had marked wild, bright, deeply this woman’s sin black eyes, it invested by a scarlet letter, her with a strange re- which had such po- moteness and intan- tent and disastrous gibility; it was as if she efficacy that no human were hovering in the air and sympathy could reach her, save it were might vanish, like a glimmering light sinful like herself. God, as a direct consequence of the that comes we know not whence, and goes we know not sin which man thus punished, had given her a lovely whither… child, whose place was on that same dishonored bosom, Gazing at Pearl, Hester Prynne often dropped to connect her parent forever with the race and descent her work upon her knees, and cried out with an agony of mortals and to be finally a blessed soul in heaven! Yet which she would fain have hidden, but which made ut- these thoughts affected Hester Prynne less with hope terance for itself, betwixt speech and a groan—“O Fa- than apprehension. She knew that her deed had been ther in Heaven—if Thou art still my Father—what is this evil; she could have no faith, therefore, that its result being which I have brought into the world!” And Pearl, would be good. Day after day, she looked fearfully into overhearing the ejaculation, or aware, through some the child’s expanding nature, ever dreading to detect more subtile channel, of those throbs of anguish, would some dark and wild peculiarity, that should correspond turn her vivid and beautiful little face upon her mother, with the guiltiness to which she owed her being… smile with sprite-like intelligence, and resume her play. …The child could not be made amenable to rules. In giving her existence, a great law had been broken; Excerpted from “Pearl,” Chapter 6 of The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter • South Coast Repertory • P7 “We Are Entered Into Covenant” The Puritans

by Molly FitzMaurice

n the 16th century, the Prot- estant Church of England broke away from the Roman Catholic Church. But some “Thus stands the cause between God and us. We are entered into devout Protestants believed covenant with Him for this work. We have taken out a commis- insidious Catholic vestiges sion. The Lord hath given us leave to draw our own articles. We lurked in the new church. have professed to enterprise these and those accounts, upon these These radicals sought a direct, I and those ends. We have hereupon besought Him of favor and personal connection to God: they studied the Bible and purged any- blessing. Now if the Lord shall please to hear us, and bring us in thing not found there. They be- peace to the place we desire, then hath He ratified this covenant came the Puritans. and sealed our commission, and will expect a strict performance Persecuted by the domi- nant Church of England and be- of the articles contained in it; but if we shall neglect the observa- lieving themselves on the verge of tion of these articles which are the ends we have propounded, the millennium—the apocalyptic and, dissembling with our God, shall fall to embrace this present battle of good and evil the book of world and prosecute our carnal intentions, seeking great things Revelation prophesies and a 1618 comet seemed to presage—Puri- for ourselves and our posterity, the Lord will surely break out in tans set sail for the new world. wrath against us, and be revenged of such a people, and make Over the 1630s, an exodus us know the price of the breach of such a covenant. of about 20,000 English Puritans Now the only way to avoid this shipwreck, and to provide migrated to New England. In their eyes, each scrappy settle- for our posterity, is to follow the counsel of Micah, to do justly, to ment, clustered around a meet- love mercy, to walk humbly with our God. For this end, we must ing house, stood as a fortress of be knit together, in this work, as one man. We must entertain Godly life. each other in brotherly affection. We must be willing to abridge In 1630, as Puritans aboard the ship Arbella prepared to ar- ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of others’ necessi- rive in Massachusetts Bay Colony, ties. We must uphold a familiar commerce together in all meek- future governor John Winthrop ness, gentleness, patience and liberality. We must delight in each delivered his sermon, “A Model other; make others’ conditions our own; rejoice together, mourn of Christian Charity.” Now best known as the “city upon a hill” together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes speech, it warns the Pilgrims to our commission and community in the work, as members of the live as paragons, as “the eyes of same body.” all people are upon us.” But if we look beyond the famous line, in the following excerpt, we see Winthrop exalt the Puritans’ cove- nant, or contract, with God—and urge them to honor not just what —John Winthrop, 1630 they owe God but what they owe each other:

P8 • South Coast Repertory • The Scarlet Letter Winthrop describes the congregation as “knit together, in this work, as one man” and “as mem- bers of the same body.” If a single Puritan errs, he does not just condemn himself; he reneges on his commu- nity’s promise to God. All will “know the price of the breach of such a covenant.” Puritans believed in predestination: the idea that God has already determined the minority of people whom he will save and nothing can

Clockwise from top right, the first Boston Meet- ing House, from The History and Antiquities of Boston, by Samuel Gardner Drake (1856); portrait of John Winthrop (1588-1649), oil on canvas, Harvard University Portrait Collection; map of Southern New England, from Wil- liam Wood’s New England Prospect (1634).

be done to win salvation. The elect, called liv- ing saints, would naturally conduct a Godly life. Puritans lived in paranoid comparison to their peers, inspecting each other for signs of God’s grace or damnation. But in the ideal Puritan congregation, fel- low saints would hold each other up and up- hold their covenant together. This paradox— of individual salvation and deep, contractual interdependence—is just as central to Puritan life as the meeting house.

The Scarlet Letter • South Coast Repertory • P9 Daily Life Under the Covenant

Family Bradstreet con- cludes her poem hile entrepreneurial single men ventured to co- with grateful devo- lonial Virginia, most Massachusetts colonists ar- tion to all her el- Wrived as families. The Puritans saw the patriar- ders for protecting chal family structure as a sturdy safeguard against the her from herself. American wilderness and households as “little com- The entire Puritan monwealths” on which the larger state depended. A congregation in- good wife was her husband’s “helpmeet”: she cared for structed and cared the home and their children and served as his deputy, for all children, trading and bartering in town. Puritan families relied not just one’s own; on their neighbors for various goods and resources; in children addressed these symbiotic networks, relationships—assured by a any older woman wife’s good reputation—were as essential as food or as mother or gam- firewood. mar (grandma), in deference to their Children cooperative parent- ing. uritans gladly received children, but saw them as stained with original sin from birth. Babies were Adultery Pbaptized at the local meeting house within their first week of life and began religious education exigent- uritan morality welcomed sex within marriage, ly; literacy was expected for Bible study. Anne Brad- but forbid both fornication—sex between unmar- street, a Puritan poet, described her girlhood self as: Pried adults—and adultery—sex between a married woman and a man, regardless of his marital status. Car- Stained from birth with Adam’s sinful fact, nal knowledge “hardened” participants—blunting their Thence I begin to sin as soon as act: capacity to contribute to civic or spiritual life. Unsanc- A perverse will, a love to what’s forbid, tioned sexuality endangered both the paramours and A serpent’s sting in pleasing face lay hid: their society: one indiscretion contaminated the collec- A lying tongue as soon as it could speak tive purity. When the Reverend Thomas Shepard recom-

Above, the execution of Ann Hibbins for witch- craft on Boston Common in 1656; The Scarlet Letter by Rhoda Holmes Nicholls (1854-1930).

P10 • South Coast Repertory • The Scarlet Letter Attire

nlike the severe black-and-white uniform familiar from Thanksgiving decorations, historical Puritan Uclothing came in a variety of colors and textiles. Pu- ritans even sometimes indulged in embellishments like ruffles, exaggerated sleeves or intricate embroidery—de- spite attempts to regulate such flamboyant dress. Officials discouraged ostentation as wasteful, prideful and par- ticularly inappropriate for lower social classes. In 1651, magistrates restricted wearing costly fabrics, like lace or silk, to wealthy Puritans with assets of £200 or more; they wrote a law: mended flogging as a punishment for fornication in 1640, “to declare our utter detestation and dislike, that he advised it would “do the man as much good & cleare men or women of mean condition, should take up the repute & honor of the commonwealth,” remedy- upon them the garb of gentlemen, by wearing gold ing both the individual and the whole. or silver lace, or buttons, or points at their knees, In England, ecclesiastical courts tried adulterers, or walk in great boots; or women of the same but the colonial government made adultery a matter of rank to wear silk or…hoods, or scarfs.” state, demonstrating its belief that adultery undermined public safety, not just personal virtue. Courts routinely Clockwise from top left, Pilgrims Going to Church by George sentenced adulterers to receive 40 lashes and stand in Henry Boughton (1867); A black-and-white portion from the public shame on a ladder by the gallows, while some painting Witch Hill (The Salem Martyr); Hester Prynne and courts added the scarlet A to that punishment. Pearl before the stocks, by Mary Hallock Foote (1878).

The Scarlet Letter • South Coast Repertory • P11 Artist Biographies

Lea Coco Joe Holt Reverend Dimmesdale Governor Hibbins

returns to SCR after having ap- is making his SCR debut. He is a peared last season in Sheepdog. graduate of the University of North His notable theatre credits include Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he work with The Public Theater (New received a degree in literature. His York), Blue Man Group (as a Blue many guest-starring roles on tele- Man), Actors Theatre of Louisville, vision include “Scandal,” “Prison Utah Shakespeare Festival, Chicago Shakespeare The- Break,” “The Punisher,” “NCIS: New Orleans,” “The atre and Steppenwolf Theatre, among many others. His Blacklist,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Grey’s television credits include guest-star and recurring roles Anatomy,” “The Good Wife” and “Blue Bloods.” He was on networks such as NBC, CBS, TNT, ABC and FOX. a member of Antaeus Theatre Company, and was also He can be seen in films such as Dorian Blues, J. Edgar, one of the Bats at The Flea Theatre in New York City. Sinister 2 and The Hallmark Channel’s The Sweetest His favorite roles include Hotspur in Henry IV, Part 1, Christmas. He will soon begin filming his fifth season at Antaeus Theatre, Jonas in On the Outs at Ensemble with Ava DuVerney’s hit show, “Queen Sugar,” as Jacob Studio Theatre in New York, Man #4 in We Are Proud to Beadreaux. He is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon Univer- Present... at the The Matrix Theatre Company, Banquo sity. in Macbeth at Antaeus Theatre, The Foreman in Twelve Angry Men at Merrimack Repertory Theatre and Christo- Tim Cummings pher in Blue Orange at TheaterWorks Hartford. He can Roger Chillingworth be seen as Dr. Leo Bennett in the upcoming series “The Walking Dead: World Beyond.” returns to SCR where he previously appeared in Eurydice and Reunion. Rebecca Mozo He has won three LA Drama Crit- Goody Hibbins ics Circle Awards for Dan O’Brien’s The House in Scarsdale (2018 PEN appeared at SCR previously in America Award for Drama, Boston Sense and Sensibility; Going to a Court Pasadena), Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart Place where you Already Are; Five (The Fountain Theatre) and Enda Walsh’s The New Mile Lake; 4000 Miles; The Pari- Electric Ballroom (Rogue Machine, LA Weekly Award sian Woman; In the Next Room, for Best Supporting Actor). His other select LA credits or the vibrator play; A Wrinkle in include Daniel’s Husband (The Fountain Theatre); Time; Emilie: La Marquise Du Châtelet Defends Her Life Cal in Camo (RED DOG SQUADRON); Need To Know Tonight; The Heiress; and Doubt, a parable. Her other (Rogue Machine), The Woodsman (Coeurage Theatre theatre credits include Pasadena Playhouse, Rogue Ma- Company, StageSceneLA Award for Performance of the chine Theatre, The Matrix Theatre Company, The Colo- Year); Hamlet and The Winter’s Tale (Theatre 150); WAR ny Theatre, Center Theatre Group and at Antaeus The- and The Walworth Farce (Theatre Banshee); Tartuffe atre Company in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Uncle Vanya, and Camino Real (Boston Court Pasadena); and The Top Girls, Mrs. Warren’s Profession and Peace in Our Pursuit of Happiness (Laguna Playhouse). On Broadway, Time. Her film and television credits include “Grey’s he appeared in The Guys directed by Jim Simpson and Anatomy,” “9-1-1,” You Bury Your Own, Zerophilia, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune directed by Joe Headless Horseman, The Waterhole, “Pizza Time,” “Cold Mantello. His film and television credits include Can You Case,” “Medium,” “Modern Family” “Break a Hip” and Ever Forgive Me?, Rift, “Grimm,” “Rosewood,” Kensho at “Kittens in a Cage.” Mozo earned her BFA from Rutgers the Bedfellow, “Criminal Minds,” Presence and The Box. University and studied at The Globe Theatre in London. He earned his BFA in acting from New York University She is a member of Actors’ Equity Association and An- and MFA in writing from Antioch University Los Angeles. taeus Theatre Company.

P12 • South Coast Repertory • The Scarlet Letter Melisa Pereyra Playwright, Director and Designers Hester Prynne Kate Hamill (Playwright) is an actor and a playwright, is making her SCR debut. She is a named The Wall Street Journal’s Playwright of the Core Company actor at American Year (2017). Her work includes her play Pride and Players Theatre, where her favor- Prejudice at Primary Stages/HVSF (in which she origi- ite roles include Lady Macbeth in nated the role of Lizzy; nominee, Off-Broadway Alliance Macbeth, Emmy in A Doll’s House, Award), Sense and Sensibility at Bedlam (originated Part 2, Alice in The Book of Will, the role of Marianne; winner, Off-Broadway Alliance Rosalind in As You Like It, Isabella in Measure for Award; nominee, Drama League Award); Vanity Fair at Measure, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Hermia in A Mid- the Pearl Theatre (originated the role of Becky Sharp; summer Night’s Dream, Catherine in A View from the nominee, Off-Broadway Alliance Award); Mansfield Bridge and Little Stone in Eurydice. Regionally, she Park at Northlight Theatre (originated the role of has worked on productions with the Dallas Theater Mary Crawford); and Little Women at Primary Stages Center, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Lookingglass (as Meg March). Her plays have been produced off- Theatre Company, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Utah Broadway, as well as at A.R.T., Guthrie Theater, Seattle Shakespeare Festival, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Sac- Repertory Theatre, PlayMakers Repertory Company, ramento Theatre Company and Milwaukee Repertory Folger Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Jungle Theater. She is the voice and likeness of Artificial Intel- Theater, Trinity Repertory Company, Pittsburgh Public ligence (Gabriela Castaneda) in the real-world Halo Theater, Shakespeare Theatre Company (Washington, experience, Halo: Outpost Discovery. Her play Lines D.C.), Dallas Theater Center, Kansas City Repertory was commissioned by Theatre LILA, where she made Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, A.C.T. and others. She her directing debut. Pereyra’s writing has also been fea- has upcoming productions at McCarter Theatre Center, tured on Huffpost and Howlround Theatre Commons. Alley Theatre, Dallas Theatre Center, Kansas City Rep- She holds a BFA from Utah State University, an MFA ertory Theatre, The Old Globe, Denver Center for the from Illinois State University, and trained in the U.K. at Performing Arts. She is a resident playwright for The Shakespeare’s Globe and with the Royal Shakespeare COOP, a new off-Broadway company. She is currently Company. developing a new adaptation of The Odyssey, a Christ- mas play called Scrooge for Senate, several original Amy Kim Waschke plays (Prostitute Play, The Piper) and In the Mines (a Pearl folk musical, with music by The Bengsons, commis- sioned by SCR). Her newest original play, The Piper, is is thrilled to be making her SCR a PlayPenn selection and a finalist in the 2019 National debut. She was seen most recently Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater as Madame de Senneterre in Re- Center. In addition to The Scarlet Letter, she has three venge Song, a Vampire Cowboys other world premieres in the 2019-20 season: Dracula creation, at the Geffen Playhouse. at Classic Stage Company, Prostitute Play at Cygnet Waschke is a proud company Theatre and Emma at the Guthrie. Hamill was one of member of Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF), where the most-produced playwrights nationwide for three she will perform later this season in Qui Nguyen’s Poor seasons running (2017-20). kate-hamill.com Yella Rednecks. Her other select credits include Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Emilia in Othello and Hermione Marti Lyons (Director) most recently directed How in The Winter’s Tale (OSF); Orangutan in Water by the to Defend Yourself by liliana padilla (Victory Gardens Spoonful (Studio Theatre); Huong in Vietgone (Seattle Theater, co-production with Actors Theatre of Louis- Repertory Theatre, OSF); Olympia in Tamburlaine ville). She also directed Witch by Jen Silverman (Gef- (Shakespeare Theatre Company); and the titular char- fen Playhouse; Writers Theatre, Chicago); Cambodian acter in The White Snake (The Old Globe, Berkeley Rock Band by Lauren Yee (City Theatre in Pittsburgh, Repertory Theatre, McCarter Theatre, Goodman The- Merrimack Repertory Theatre and Victory Gardens); atre, Guthrie Theater, OSF and Wuzhen Theatre Fes- Native Gardens by Karen Zacarías (Victory Gardens); tival). Her film and TV credits include “Law & Order: The Niceties by Eleanor Burgess (Writers Theatre); Special Victims Unit” Eighteen Seconds and Boystown Botticelli in the Fire by Jordan Tannahill (Woolly Mam- (selection, New York Television Festival). IG: @ak- moth Theatre Company); The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe waschke and Kings by Sarah Burgess (Studio Theatre); Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (The Court Theatre); The

The Scarlet Letter • South Coast Repertory • P13 Merry Wives of Windsor (Montana Shakespeare in the ten’s Emma at Idaho Shakespeare Festival and Great Parks); Short Shakes! Macbeth and Short Shakes! Romeo Lakes Theater. She also builds costumes for television and Juliet (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre); Wit (The and live events including Carrie Underwood’s CRY Hypocrites); and The City of Conversation by Anthony PRETTY tour and FOX’s Emmy nominated “The Masked Giardina (Northlight Theatre Company). She directed Singer.” She earned her MFA in costume design from Wondrous Strange by Meg Miroshnik, Martyna Majok, the University of California, San Diego. danaeirismc- Jen Silverman and Jiehae Park (2016 Humana Festival) queen.com and Title and Deed by Will Eno (Lookingglass Theatre Company). Her other projects include Laura Marks’ Keith Parham (Lighting Design) is making his SCR Bethany, Marks’ Mine and Will Nedved’s Body and design debut. He designed Thérèse Raquin (Round- Blood (The Gift Theatre); Catherine Treischmann’s about Theatre Company) on Broadway and designed Hot Georgia Sunday (Haven Theatre); Prowess by Ike the off-Broadway productions of Man from Nebraska Holter, The Peacock by Calamity West (Jackalope The- (Second Stage Theatre); The Purple Lights of Joppa Illi- atre); The Play About My Dad by Boo Killebrew (Raven nois, Between Riverside and Crazy (Atlantic Theater Theatre); Give it All Back by Calamity West and Maria/ Company); Tribes, Red Light Winter (Barrow Street Stuart by Jason Grote (Sideshow Theatre). Next, she’ll Theatre); Stop the Virgens (by Karen O at St. Ann’s direct Jessica Swale’s Sense and Sensibility (American Warehouse/Sydney Opera House); Ivanov, Three Sis- Players Theatre). Lyons was the Maggio Directing Fellow ters (Classic Stage Company); A Minister’s Wife (Lin- at the Goodman Theatre (2015), is an ensemble mem- coln Center Theatre); and Adding Machine: A Musical ber at the Gift Theatre and a proud member of Stage (Minetta Lane). Regionally, he designed Roe, Father Directors and Choreographers Society. martilyons.com Comes Home from the Wars, The Wolves, Uncle Vanya (Goodman Theatre); Oedipus Rex, Photograph 51, All Christopher Acebo (Scenic Design) returns to SCR, My Sons, Man in the Ring (Court Theatre); The Way where he previously designed La Posada Mágica, The the Mountain Moved (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Beard of Avon, The Countess, My Wandering Boy, Wild Goose Dreams (La Jolla Playhouse); and Carousel Hold Please, Habeus Corpus, California Scenarios, (Arena Stage). He is a TUTA Theatre company mem- The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler and Culture ber, where he designed Hedda Gabler, Radio Culture, Clash (Still) in America. On Broadway, he designed The Edge of Our Bodies, Gentle, Music Hall, The Any- All the Way (2014 Tony Award, Best Play). His regional way Cabaret, The Jewels and The Silent Language. He credits include Oregon Shakespeare Festival (associ- is the recipient of Obie and Lucille Lortel awards. ate artistic director 2007-2019) with world premieres of All the Way, Equivocation, Head Over Heels, Finger- John Zalewski (Sound Design) is based in Los Ange- smith, Mojada and more than 30 other productions; les and has designed soundscapes and music applied to The Clean House (Lincoln Center Theatre); Throne of live performance for 22 years. His work has been heard Blood (Brooklyn Academy of Music); Zoot Suit, Electric- supporting theatre at Oregon Shakespeare Festival idad, Chavez Ravine, Water and Power and Living Out (OSF), Los Angeles Theatre Center, Arena Stage, Guth- (Center Theatre Group); West Side Story (Guthrie The- rie Theater, Portland Center Stage, Alliance Theatre, ater); and The Year to Come and Zorro in Hell (La Jolla Perseverance Theatre, Boston Court Pasadena, Cherry Playhouse). He has designed for Goodman Theatre, Lane Theatre, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, P.S. 122/ Yale Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Performance Space New York, Theatre Delicatessen Denver Center Theatre, The Kennedy Center for the (London), Disney Concert Hall, REDCAT, Evidence Performing Arts and Arizona Theater Company. He is Room, The Actors’ Gang, 24th Street Theatre and Belle chair of the Oregon Arts Commission and a board mem- Rêve Theatre Company. His work at SCR includes ber of Theater Communications Group. He earned his Dead Man’s Cell Phone and tokyo fish story. His recent MFA from UC-San Diego. IG: christopher.acebo Web- work includes Mayakovsky and Stalin (Cherry Lane site: acebocreative.com Theatre), Macbeth (OSF), The Father (Pasadena Play- house), Silent Sky (Perseverance Theatre) and Destiny Danae Iris McQueen (Costume Design) is making of Desire (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park). His next her SCR design debut. She is a costume designer and production will be Destiny of Desire at Milwaukee artisan based in Los Angeles. Her select designs include Repertory Theater and Guthrie Theater. His honors Little Shop of Horrors (Pasadena Playhouse), Witch include seven LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards, seven (Geffen Playhouse), The Pride (The Wallis Annenberg LA Weekly Awards, three Los Angeles Drama Critics Cir- Center, Ovation Award nomination), Annie (Hollywood cle Awards, 10 Backstage Garland Awards, LA Weekly Bowl) and Gidion’s Knot, and From Prague (The Con- Career Achievement and Backstage West Local Hero temporary American Theater Festival, world premiere awards. Zalewski teaches sound design at Occidental productions). Her upcoming work includes Jane Aus- College.

P14 • South Coast Repertory • The Scarlet Letter John Glore (Dramaturg) has been SCR’s associ- ate artistic director since 2005, following five years as resident dramaturg for LA’s Center Theatre Group. He previously served as SCR’s literary manager from 1985 Honorary Producers to 2000. He has worked as dramaturg on more than 100 SCR productions, workshops and readings includ- Sandy Segerstrom Daniels (Honorary Pro- ing the Pacific Playwrights Festival world premieres ducer) continues her impressive history of sup- of Mr. Wolf by Rajiv Joseph and Office Hour by Julia port at South Coast Repertory by serving as Cho. His ongoing collaboration with Culture Clash Honorary Producer of two productions in the has included co-writing new adaptations of two plays 2019-20 season: Aubergine by Julia Cho and this by Aristophanes, The Birds (co-produced by SCR and world premiere of The Scarlet Letter by Kate Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 1998) and Peace (Getty Hamill. Her past underwriting of Sense and Villa, 2009) and serving as dramaturg on five other Cul- Sensibility, The Sisters Rosensweig, Shakespeare ture Clash productions. His own plays have been pro- in Love, Destiny of Desire, Moby Dick and Ama- duced at SCR, Arena Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, deus, along with additional production spon- Berkeley Repertory Theatre and other theatres across sorship as a member of The Playwrights Circle, the country. places her among the most vital and active sup- porters of SCR’s work onstage. Adding to this Kathryn Davies (Stage Manager) previously stage- wonderful profile, she is also a longtime First managed The Velveteen Rabbit, Poor Yella Rednecks, Nights subscriber, a Platinum Circle member Sugar Plum Fairy, Orange, The Roommate, All the and a frequent Gala underwriter. SCR is deeply Way, Future Thinking, Red, Vietgone, The Whipping grateful to Sandy for her unwavering support as Man, Tartuffe, Reunion, Trudy and Max in Love, The a passionate arts advocate, a dedicated philan- Motherf**ker with the Hat, How to Write a New Book thropist and as a member of Orange County’s for the Bible, Sight Unseen, Topdog/Underdog, In the renowned Segerstrom family, whose gift of land Next Room or the vibrator play, Doctor Cerberus, Ordi- to SCR in the 1970s is the site of the David nary Days, Our Mother’s Brief Affair and The Injured Emmes/Martin Benson Theatre Center. Party—all at SCR. Her favorite credits include The Wars at the Grand Theatre; Dividing the Estate at Dallas The- Joan & Andy Fimiano (Honorary Produc- ater Center; La Bohème at Tulsa Opera; The Mystery of ers) share their passion for great theatre with Irma Vep at The Old Globe; Les Contes D’Hoffmann all of us by once again serving as Honorary at Hawaii Opera Theatre; Of Mice and Men at Nep- Producers at SCR. Throughout the years, Joan tune Theatre; The Dresser at Manitoba Theatre Centre; and Andy have helped underwrite a variety of Skylight at Tarragon Theatre; To Kill a Mockingbird at productions at SCR, ranging from musicals to Citadel Theatre; and The Designated Mourner at the world premieres to comedies to classic dramas. Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Davies also worked as head Their support for The Scarlet Letter represents theatre manager at the Toronto International, Dubai the eighth production Joan and Andy have International, AFI, TCM and Los Angeles Film festivals. sponsored. Their past production underwriting includes Photograph 51; Once; Orange; One Natalie Figaredo (Assistant Stage Manager) is a pro- Man, Two Guvnors; The Tempest; The Light in duction stage manager whose credits include With Love the Piazza and The Fantasticks. Joan and Andy and a Major Organ (Boston Court Pasadena), The Cake are season subscribers to both the Segerstrom (Geffen Playhouse), The Cake (Echo Theatre), Reasons and Julianne Argyros stages, major contributors to be Pretty, The Lieutenant of Inishmore (Long Beach to the Legacy Campaign and have been leading Playhouse) and Tender Napalm (Six01 Studio). Her underwriters for numerous SCR Galas. SCR is credits as an assistant stage manager and production truly grateful to Joan and Andy for their contin- assistant include What You Are (The Old Globe ), Poor ued support and devoted advocacy of the arts. Yella Rednecks, Amos and Boris, Little Black Shadows, Junie B Jones is Not a Crook, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Yoga Play, Orange, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, Going to a Place where you Already Are and A Year season is the first he has programmed here and he with Frog and Toad (SCR) and Closer (The Macha The- directed She Loves Me in 2020. Prior to SCR, he was atre). She is an assistant stage manager at Disneyland. artistic director for Arizona Theatre Company and, before that, served more than 20 years as an actor and David Ivers (Artistic Director) is responsible for the director at Utah Shakespeare Festival, with the last six overall artistic operation of the theatre. The 2019-20 as artistic director. He was a resident artist at Denver

The Scarlet Letter • South Coast Repertory • P15 Center for the Performing Arts for a decade, acting in Margo Jones Award for their lifetime commitment to and/or directing more than 40 plays and has helmed theatre excellence and fostering the art and craft of productions at many of the nation’s leading regional American playwriting. They also accepted SCR’s 1988 theatres including the Guthrie Theater, Oregon Shake- Tony Award for Outstanding Resident Professional speare Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theatre and South Theatre and won the 1995 Theatre LA Ovation Award Coast Repertory. His early career included serving as for Lifetime Achievement. Benson has received the Los associate artistic director of Portland Repertory Theatre Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Distinguished and he appeared in productions at some of the nation’s Achievement in Directing an unparalleled seven times top regional theatres including Portland Center Stage for George Bernard Shaw’s Major Barbara, Misalli- and the Oregon, Alabama and Idaho Shakespeare festi- ance and Heartbreak House; John Millington Synge’s vals. He taught at the University of Michigan, University Playboy of the Western World; Arthur Miller’s The Cru- of Minnesota, Southern Utah University and Southern cible; Sally Nemeth’s Holy Days; and the world pre- Oregon University. He earned his BA from Southern miere of Margaret Edson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Wit, Oregon University and his MFA from the University of which he also directed at Seattle Repertory Theatre Minnesota. and Houston’s Alley Theatre. He has directed Ameri- can classics such as A Streetcar Named Desire and has Paula Tomei (Managing Director) is responsible for distinguished himself in staging contemporary work the overall administration of SCR. She has been man- including the critically acclaimed California premiere of aging director since 1994 and a member of SCR’s staff William Nicholson’s Shadowlands. He directed reviv- since 1979. She is a past president of the board of The- als of Outside Mullingar by John Patrick Shanley, Beth atre Communications Group (TCG), the national ser- Henley’s Abundance and Horton Foote’s The Trip vice organization for theatre. In addition, she served as to Bountiful; and Samuel D. Hunter’s The Whale and treasurer of TCG, vice president of the League of Resi- Rest (world premiere); The Whipping Man by Matthew dent Theatres (LORT) and as a member of the LORT Lopez; and The Roommate by Jen Silverman (west coast Negotiating Committee for industry-wide union agree- premiere). Benson received his BA in theatre from San ments. She represents SCR at national conferences of Francisco State University. TCG and LORT and served as a theatre panelist and site visitor for the National Endowment for the Arts and David Emmes (Founding Artistic Director) is co- the California Arts Council. Her teaching background founder of South Coast Repertory. He received the includes a graduate class in non-profit management at Margo Jones Award for his lifetime commitment to UC-Irvine (UCI) and as a guest lecturer in the gradu- theatre excellence and to fostering the art of American ate school of business at Stanford. She was appointed playwriting. In addition, he has received numerous by the chancellor to UCI’s Community Arts Council awards for productions he has directed during his SCR and serves on the Dean’s Leadership Society Executive career. He directed the world premieres of Amy Freed’s Committee for the School of Social Sciences at UCI. Safe in Hell, The Beard of Avon and Freedomland; She is also on the board of Arts Orange County, the Thomas Babe’s Great Day in the Morning; Keith Red- county-wide arts council, and the board of the Nicholas din’s Rum and Coke and But Not for Me; and Neal Endowment. She graduated from UCI with a degree in Bell’s Cold Sweat; the American premieres of Terry economics and pursued an additional course of study Johnson’s Unsuitable for Adults; and Joe Penhall’s in theatre and dance. In March 2017, she received the Dumb Show; and the Southland premiere of Top Girls Mayor’s Award from the City of Costa Mesa for her con- (at SCR and the Westwood Playhouse). Other pro- tributions to the arts community. In 2018, she received ductions he has directed include Red, New England, the Helena Modjeska Cultural Legacy Award from Arts Arcadia, The Importance of Being Earnest, Woman Orange County. In 2019, she was awarded UCI’s Distin- in Mind and You Never Can Tell, which he restaged guished Alumna in the School of Social Sciences at the for the Singapore Festival of Arts. He has served as a Lauds & Laurels Celebration. theatre panelist and onsite evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as a panelist for the Martin Benson (Founding Artistic Director) has California Arts Council. After attending Orange Coast directed 125 of SCR’s productions. In 2008, he and College, he received his BA and MA from San Francisco Founding Artistic Director David Emmes received the State University and his PhD from USC.

The Actors and Stage Managers em- The Scenic, Costume, Lighting and The Director is a member of the Soci- ployed in this production are members Sound Designers in LORT theatres ety of Stage Directors and Choreogra- of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union are represented by United Scenic phers, Inc., an independent national of Professional Actors and Stage Man- Artists Local USA-829, IATSE. labor union. agers in the United States.

P16 • South Coast Repertory • The Scarlet Letter