AN ALL-NEW HOLIDAY MUSICAL A CHRISTMAS MEMORY

Based on the story by Book by Duane Poole Music by Larry Grossman Lyrics by Carol Hall

Directed by Robert Kelley

Lucie Stern Theatre

December 1—December 26, 2010

World Premiere Sure to delight the entire family, Truman Capote’s enchanting masterpiece springs to life in this big-hearted musical treat. A wistful memoir of cherished youth, it chronicles the 1930s friendship of a shy boy and his eccentric cousin—misfits who launch kites, haunt speakeasies, and mail fruitcakes to everyone from Jean Harlow to President Roosevelt!

*Visual Voice audio described performances 12/17 8pm, 12/18 8pm, 12/26 2pm

Groups of 8 or more save 15%! Contact Rachel Wilde at 650.463.7170 or [email protected] for more information or to make a reservation.

“If you're in a 'bah, humbug' mood this holiday season, A Christmas Memory may be just the remedy…it is an entertaining and heartwarming theatrical work that is just PERFECT FOR THE HOLIDAYS.” San Jose Mercury News “[Gabriel Hoffman] is a veritable WUNDERKIND…the show wraps the audience in a bright holiday mood.” Palo Alto Weekly

“Sings from the stage...a TRUE GIFT to the community.” Stark Insider

“Captures the magic of the Truman Capote story...Fuller is LUMINOUS.” Theater Dogs

“FIRST RATE...warm, wise heart.” San Francisco Chronicle

“Extraordinary performances…Adults and children will enjoy this MASTERPIECE of theatre.” Gilroy Dispatch

“Universally WONDERFUL...great cast.” Palo Alto Daily News

“ELEGANTLY CRAFTED...the casting could not have been better.” San Jose Metro

Director Robert Kelley and the creators of A Christmas Memory discuss the National Endowment for the Arts $25,000 grant to TheatreWorks’ New Works Initiative.

ABC7 News

EILEEN BARNETT

(Jennie Faulk) starred on Broadway in Tommy Tune’s Tony Award-winning musical, NINE. She also starred in the national tour of Footlooseand has appeared on regional theatre stages across the country, most recently at the Colony Theatre in Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well…. Some of her television credits include guest starring roles on Brothers and Sisters, ER, Southland, and most recently as Sister Anne on Days of Our Lives. Ms. Barnett can be heard on her award winning children’s CD, Broadway with a Beat, as well as on her cabaret recording, Eileen Barnett, Live at The Cinegrill. She is a proud member of Actors’ Equity and The Guild in Los Angeles. Ms. Barnett lives very happily in Los Angeles where she cherishes her five dogs and husband, actor, Bruce French.

MAGGIE BROWN

(Nelle Harper, selected performances) is thrilled to be performing in her TheatreWorks debut. Recently, Ms. Brown performed in Seussical (Gertrude McFuzz) with Peninsula Youth Theatre. Other theatrical experience includes Annie (Lily St. Regis) and Les Misérables(Gavroche) with Peninsula Youth Theatre, and Honk! (Ida) and Bye Bye Birdie (Mayor’s Wife) with the Youth Theatre Conservatory. Ms. Brown has studied voice with Molly Bell. She is currently attending Henry M. Gunn Senior High School, where she is in her freshman year.

JENNIFER CHAPMAN

(Nelle Harper) is pleased to have the opportunity to once again play a character based on novelist Harper Lee after having appeared as the understudy for Scout (4 performances) in TheatreWorks’ To Kill a Mockingbird. She was recently seen in Oliver(Artful Dodger); Ragtime (Little Girl); Les Misérables (Young Cosette); and You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Sally) at Children’s Musical Theater San Jose, where she is a three-time Joshua Grant Brawn Award nominee. She has also appeared in Once Upon a Mattress (Princess Winnifred), Bye Bye Birdie (Mae Peterson), and Once on this Island(Mama Euralie)at Archbishop Mitty High School. Ms. Chapman thanks her teachers, directors, friends and family for their support.

RICHARD FARRELL

(Seabon/HaHa/Farley) appears with TheatreWorks for the first time in A Christmas Memory. He has performed on stages throughout the country including Seattle Repertory Theatre, Cleveland Playhouse, Alliance Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, GEVA Theatre Company, Arizona Theatre Company, A Contemporary Theatre, Intiman Theatre and off-Broadway with The Pearl Theatre Company. Mr. Farrell was a company member with Alabama Shakespeare Festival for five seasons where he was an associate artist, and a company member of Oregon Shakespeare Festival for twelve seasons. In the Bay Area he has performed with Shakespeare Santa Cruz, San Francisco Opera, and most recently with Center REPertory Company in their productions of Noises Off and She Loves Me.

PENNY FULLER

(Sook) began her Broadway career starring inBarefoot in the Park, three productions in Shakespeare-in-the-Park, and the musicals Cabaret, Rex, and Applause (Tony nomination). Her television work garnered 6 Emmy nominations and an Emmy Award for The Elephant Man. Recent Broadway appearances include The Dinner Party (Tony Nomination) and Dividing the Estate, and numerous off-Broadway and regional productions include The Glass Menagerie (Charlotte Repertory Theatre), The Seagull (The Matrix Theatre Company), and A Delicate Balance (Merrimack Repertory Theatre). With ’s A New Brain (Lincoln Center) she returned to musical theatre, and has starred in A Little Night Music(White Plains Performing Arts Center), Do I Hear A Waltz (George Street Playhouse), Noel Coward’s Sail Away (London), and embarked on a new career phase as a cabaret artist in New York clubs and theatres.

PETER HEINTZ

(Young Buddy, selected performances) is excited to be making his regional theatre debut in this TheatreWorks World Premiere production. He recently appeared in Honk! (Bullfrog) with Roberta Jones Junior Theatre. Other roles with Roberta Jones Junior Theatre include Aladdin Jr. (Aladdin), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Puck) and Seussical: the Musical (Boy/Jojo). He has also performed with South Bay Musical Theatre (formerly Saratoga Drama Group) in Hello, Dolly! (Ensemble), Will Rogers Follies (Will Rogers, Jr.) and Ragtime (Little Boy/Edgar) and with Lyric Theatre in Camelot (Tom of Warwick) and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Ensemble). He is in the eighth grade at St. Clare School and enjoys playing competitive soccer.

GABRIEL HOFFMAN

(Buddy) is happy to return to TheatreWorks following his roles as Dill in To Kill a Mockingbird, Jesse in Distracted, and Noah in Caroline, or Change (understudy—6 performances). Prior to that he was seen in A Thousand Clowns (Nick) with Hillbarn Theatre (Winner, Favorite Supporting Actor) and in Annie Get Your Gun (Little Jake) with Broadway by the Bay. Mr. Hoffman has enjoyed roles in Gypsy and Christmas Dreamland with American Musical Theatre of San Jose. He has appeared in American Conservatory Theater’s New Works production of Dani Girl (Marty) and as a child dancer in ODC’s Velveteen Rabbit as well as in multiple productions with Pied Piper Players. He is currently in tenth grade.

JOSHUA PARK

(Adult Buddy) has appeared on Broadway in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Tom) and Finian’s Rainbow (concert). He played the title role in the National Tour of Pippin and has appeared off-Broadway in Child’s Christmas, Streets of New York, Celtic Christmas (all at Irish Repertory Theatre), Like You Like It (New York Musical Festival), and Prodigal (York Theatre). Regionally his work includes Miss Saigon (Chris, Drury Lane, Chicago), Master Harold…and the Boys (Westport Country Playhouse), Equus (Alan, The Standard Theatre), and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Hero, StageWorks of Charlotte). He has performed the National Anthem at Yankee Stadium, and received the “Outstanding Broadway Debut” Award from Theatre World and was Drama League’s Outstanding Artist Honoree. Mr. Park graduated from The North Carolina School for the Arts.

CATHLEEN RIDDLEY

(Anna Stabler) is thrilled to be returning to TheatreWorks, where she has was last seen in To Kill a Mockingbird (Calpurnia), Dessa Rose (Rose), and Crowns (Mabel, 9 performances). Credits include Blastosphere! (Carol) at Central Works, Over the Mountain (Isabelle) at BRAVA!, A Raisin in the Sun (Mama) at Solano College Theatre, Love Person (Maggie) at Marin Theatre Company, Rust (Ella Mae Walker/Randall’s Ma) at Magic Theatre, Crumbs from the Table of Joy (Lily) at Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, and Man of La Mancha (Aldonza) at San Francisco Playhouse. Ms. Riddley can be seen in the movie La Missionand can be heard in voiceovers in a variety of media. Ms. Riddley is a PlayGround company member, a TBA member, a Sign Language interpreter, an alumna of The Juilliard School, and has an MA in Sociology.

LARRY GROSSMAN

(Music) has Broadway credits including A Doll’s Life (Tony nomination) and Grind (Tony and Drama Desk nominations) both directed by Harold Prince,Minnie’s Boys, Goodtime Charley, Snoopy!! (The Musical) translated into six languages, and he was Creative Consultant to the Tony-winning Elaine Stritch: at Liberty. He composed incidental music for Play Memory and End of the World and off-Broadway and regional credits include Paper Moon and Diamonds. His extensive television work has been awarded six Emmys (17 nominations) and a Peabody Award for his contributions to The Muppet Show. His film credits include Disney’s Pocahontas 2: Journey to a New World and The Great Mouse Detective, Princess Diaries 2, and That’s Dancing. His songs have been recorded by artists ranging from and Lena Horne to David Bowie and Michael Jackson.

CAROL HALL

(Lyrics) wrote music and lyrics for the Tony-winning The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and contributed songs to , A… My Name Is Alice, and the landmark children’s classic Free To Be… You and Me. She wrote the Off-Broadway musical To Whom It May Concern, and the score for Max and Ruby, a children’s musical now in its fourth year on national tour. Her work has generated Grammys, Emmys, Drama Desk, and Peabody Awards, as well as the prestigious Johnny Mercer Award, acknowledging her contribution to American popular song. She also garnered an ASCAP Most-Performed Country Song Award for Dolly Parton’s recording of “Hard Candy Christmas.” Her songs have been performed by , Tony Bennett, Chita Rivera, Barbara Cook, Ann-Margret, , and Big Bird, among others.

DUANE POOLE

(Book) has written numerous theatrical projects, including the musical Dorianwhich had its world premiere at Denver’s Buell Theatre. He has created tribute evenings to Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, , and Stephen Schwartz for the Pasadena Playhouse. Upcoming productions include Make Someone Happy for Broadway’s and Love Makes the World Go ’Round, featuring the songs of Bob Merrill. As writer and producer, Mr. Poole’s credits range from Hanna-Barbera to Hotel to The Hallmark Hall of Fame, including over forty television movies and features. His film, Shattered Image, was an official selection at the Venice, Montreal, and Toronto Film Festivals. He hates name-dropping, as do the stars he’s written for such as Johnny Depp, Glenn Close, Anthony Quinn, Jack Lemmon, George Clooney, Fred Flintstone, and Katharine Hepburn. ROBERT KELLEY

(Director) is a Bay Area native and Stanford University graduate. He founded TheatreWorks in 1970 and has been its Artistic Director ever since. He has directed over 150 TheatreWorks productions, including many world or regional premieres. In 2003 he received the Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Paine Knickerbocker Award for lifetime achievement. He has garnered BATCC Awards Outstanding Direction for his productions of Into the Woods, Pacific Overtures, Rags, Sweeney Todd, Another Midsummer Night, Sunday in the Park with George, Jane Eyre, and Caroline, or Change; Bay Area Drama-Logue Awards for his direction of Ah, Wilderness! and Once in a Lifetime; Dean Goodman Choice Awards for Violet, Ragtime, Proof, Dolly West’s Kitchen, and Harold & Maude; and Back Stage West Garland Awards for his direction of Side Show and Sunday in the Park with George. He recently directed The Light in the Piazza, To Kill a Mockingbird, A Civil War Christmas; Yellow Face; Tinyard Hill; Snapshots; Caroline, or Change; and productions ofEmma at TheatreWorks, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, and Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. CLIFF CARUTHERS

(Sound Designer) has created soundscapes and music for over a hundred Bay Area productions. After seven years as TheatreWorks’ resident sound designer, he now serves as sound design associate at American Conservatory Theater, and is currently an artistic associate of Cutting Ball Theatre. Recent projects include Auctioning the Ainsleys (TheatreWorks), Crime and Punishment and Tragedy: a Tragedy (Berkeley Repertory Theatre), The Tempest (Cutting Ball), Drip (Crowded Fire), Bug and Dead Man’s Cell Phone(SF Playhouse), Caucasian Chalk Circle and November (ACT), Happy Days(Guthrie Theater), 9 Circles (Marin Theatre Company), and Dracula (Center REPertory Company). Outside theatre, he is co-curator of the San Francisco Tape Music Center, and his electronic music has been performed at the 2007 Prague Quadrennial, 964 Natoma, Deep Wireless, Noise Pancakes, SFEMF, SFTMF, and the SEAMUS. KIMILY CONKLE

(Dialect Coach) has enjoyed a long association with TheatreWorks. She served as dialect coach for TheatreWorks’ To Kill a Mockingbird, Memphis, Tinyard Hill, Bat Boy: The Musical, The Grapes of Wrath, Floyd Collins, Nickel and Dimed, Violet, Holiday Memories, and Foxfire and as assistant director for You Can’t Take It With You and Holiday Memories. Ms. Conkle has performed with TheatreWorks, San Jose Stage Company, Western Stage, PCPA Theatrefest, Los Altos Conservatory Theatre, American Accent Theatre and at the Plush Room Cabaret. As an actor/producer she has taken three shows to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. She is a former member of the Foothill Theatre Arts faculty and received her theatre training from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, American Conservatory Theater, and Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts. ALLISON CONNOR

(Costume Designer) performed in TheatreWorks’ very first production, Popcorn! She went on to earn an MFA in costume design from New York University, and to design costumes for over 20 productions at TheatreWorks including To Kill a Mockingbird; Twelfth Night; Dessa Rose; Intimate Apparel; Vincent in Brixton; Bat Boy: The Musical; Floyd Collins; Side Show; and Cabaret. Other Bay Area theatres where her work has been seen include Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Aurora Theatre Company, California Shakespeare Festival, Magic Theatre, and Opera San José. Ms. Connor is an instructor at San Jose City College, where she teaches Art History and Color Theory. WILLIAM LIBERATORE

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

(Casting Director) is TheatreWorks’ Associate Artist and Casting Director. She recently directed the West Coast Premiere of Superior Donuts for TheatreWorks, where her other directing credits include Theophilus North, If We Are Women, Brilliant Traces, The Boys Next Door, Interpreters, Stepping Out, and The Voice of the Prairie. A graduate of Occidental College, she has been a Watson Fellow, a member of Lincoln Center Directors’ Lab, a member of the LaMaMa International Directing Symposium and has served on Theatre Bay Area’s Theatre Services Committee since 2002. In 2009 she was awarded an Individual Artist Fellowship in Stage Direction from the Arts Council of Silicon Valley for artistic achievement and community impact. In addition to directing, she leads master classes and workshops for many Bay Area universities and theatre companies. STEVEN B. MANNSHARDT

(Lighting Designer) has been the lighting designer for over 55 productions at TheatreWorks, having won numerous Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards and Dean Goodman Choice Awards for his work. His regional design credits include Long Wharf Theatre, New Haven; A Contemporary Theatre, Seattle; American Repertory Theater, Cambridge; Studio Arena Theatre, Buffalo; Magic Theatre; Pasadena Playhouse; The Weston Playhouse Theatre Company, Vermont; Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company; Centaur Theatre Company, Montreal; The du Maurier Theater, Toronto; and Olympia Theatre, Dublin, Ireland. Mr. Mannshardt taught lighting design at Santa Rosa Junior College for 14 years and continues to be a guest lecturer at various local colleges. Formerly the production manager at TheatreWorks, Mr. Mannshardt now runs an organization dedicated to improving the education system for both children and adults in Nepal. www.nepal.wwep.org REBECCA MUENCH

(Stage Manager) is in her eleventh season as a resident stage manager at TheatreWorks. During that time she has stage managed 41 productions, including the world premieres of Vanities: A New Musical; Baby Taj; A Little Princess; My Ántonia; Memphis; Legacy Codes; and Kept. Ms. Muench graduated from the University of Evansville in Indiana with a BS in technical theatre and a BA in literature, and is a proud member of Equity. STEVE ORICH

(Orchestrator) was the Musical Supervisor and Orchestrator for TheatreWorks’ Snapshots and received a Tony nomination (Best Orchestrations) for his work on the 2006 Best Musical Jersey Boys. In regional theatres, he has orchestrated Turn of the Century (Goodman Theatre), (Goodspeed Opera House), Paint Your Wagon (Geffen Playhouse), Can-Can(Pasadena Playhouse) and Time After Time (Pittsburgh Playhouse.) As a composer, he has scored many television series, specials and documentaries, and orchestrated solo albums for artists including Helen Reddy, Judy Kaye, Debbie Gravitte, , and Deborah Gibson, as well as the Grammy-winning Jersey Boys cast album. His orchestrations have been performed by the Boston Pops, at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the White House and around the world. JOE RAGEY

(Scenic Designer) has designed over 50 shows for TheatreWorks over the last 24 years. Some of his favorite TheatreWorks designs include Merrily We Roll Along, Baby Taj, My Ántonia, Jane Eyre, Peter Pan, Triumph of Love, You Can’t Take it With You, Equus, Conversations With My Father, Nagasaki Dust, Honor Song for Crazy Horse, La Bete, and Pacific Overtures. He has received over a dozen Bay Area Critics Circle Awards, LA Drama-Logue Awards and Dean Goodman Choice Awards for shows he designed for TheatreWorks. JOSHUA M. ROSE

(Assistant Stage Manager) is returning for his twenty-second show in his sixth season with TheatreWorks, having most recently been the Equity Assistant Stage Manager for The Light in the Piazza, To Kill a Mockingbird, Daddy Long Legs (world premiere), and Tinyard Hill (world premiere). Recently, he was also the Equity Stage Manager for Secret Order, Groundswell, and Splitting Infinityat San Jose Repertory Theatre. Mr. Rose has also worked with A Contemporary Theatre, Tacoma Actors’ Guild, Seattle Children’s Theatre, The Fifth Avenue, Village Theatre, On the Boards, Fulton Opera House, Mount Washington Valley Theatre Company, Minnesota Repertory Theatre, and Minnesota Festival Theatre. He received his BFA in Stage Manage-ment and Theatre Technology from the University of Minnesota Duluth and is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association. VICKIE ROZELL (Dramaturg) has been TheatreWorks’ resident dramaturg for nine seasons, working on over seventy productions including co-director/dramaturg on Doubt,Arcadia, and Wrong for Each Other; and associate director/dramaturg for To Kill a Mockingbird, Yellow Face, Caroline, or Change; M Butterfly; Into the Woods; Dolly West’s Kitchen; Jane Eyre; Ragtime; Pacific Overtures; Side Show; and Floyd Collins, among many others. She has directed Picnic, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, The Little Foxes, and Ladies of the Camellias (Palo Alto Players); W;t (Bus Barn Stage Company); Proof (City Lights Theatre Company); CNTRL+ALT+ DELETE (Pear Avenue Theatre), and The Vagina Monologues (California Theatre), taught at Ohlone and Foothill Colleges, is a member of the West Coast Director’s Lab, has BAs in English and Psychology from Stanford University, and an MFA in directing from the University of California