JOHN by Annie Baker Welcome

Welcome to Melbourne Theatre Company’s second production for the season, the Australian premiere of John by the award-winning playwright Annie Baker.

John is a deeply affecting piece of theatre with extraordinary moments of poignancy and poetry to discover in Baker’s dialogue.

This production also marks Sarah Goodes’ directorial debut as MTC’s new Associate Director, although you have already enjoyed her work last year with one of 2016’s great successes – Switzerland.

Across the road at Southbank Theatre, our other new Associate Director Dean Bryant kicked off MTC’s 2017 season in high style with his production of Born Yesterday.

In February, MTC’s Cybec Electric will be part of Asia TOPA initiated by the Sidney Myer Fund and Arts Centre Melbourne. This is a major new festival celebrating the culture and creativity of the Asia Pacific Region. I encourage you all to grab a brochure and see a show.

As you may have noticed, we have made all our programmes $2 or free as a digital download. We made this decision so more people can access information about our productions, casts and creative teams. Our new programmes will also guide you to more information and editorial that you may enjoy post show – including podcasts, videos and behind-the-scenes stories.

Enjoy the show.

Programmes can be downloaded for free at mtc.com.au/ backstage Virginia Lovett Executive Director

Melbourne Theatre Company acknowledges the Yalukit Willam Peoples of the Boon Wurrung, the Traditional Owners of the land on which Southbank Theatre and MTC HQ stand, and we pay our respects to Melbourne’s First Peoples, to their ancestors past and present, and to our shared future.

MTC is a department MTC is assisted by the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council, MTC is a member of Live of the University its arts funding and advisory body, and by the State Government of Victoria through Performance Australia and the of Melbourne. Creative Victoria. Australian Major Performing Arts Group. MELBOURNE THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS JOHN by Annie Baker

10 FEBRUARY – 25 MARCH Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio Cast Elias Schreiber-Hoffman Johnny Carr Voice & Dialect Coach Geraldine Cook-Dafner Genevieve Marduk Melita Jurisic Fight Choreographer Felicity Steel Jenny Chung Ursula Mills Stage Manager Christine Bennett Mertis Katherine Graven Helen Morse Assistant Stage Manager Lisette Drew Stage Management Secondment Production (NIDA) Brittany Coombs Director Sarah Goodes Composer & Sound Design Set & Costume Designer Elizabeth Gadsby Attatchment Jess Keeffe Lighting Designer Richard Vabre Lighting Design Attachment Jake Kirby Composer & Sound Designer Russell Goldsmith Rehearsal Photographer Pia Johnson Production Photographer Jeff Busby About the Play

Jenny and Elias arrive late one evening at a kitschy, civil war-themed B&B in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Awkward and harried, they are a couple on the edge. It’s a feeling exacerbated by the sensation they’re being watched. Not just by Mertis and her eccentric friend Genevieve, but by the countless dolls and figurines that occupy their spooky lodgings. This might not be the right place, or the right company, for Jenny and Elias to mend their fraying relationship.

Production Partner Media Partner

World Premiere produced by Signature Theatre, New York City James Houghton, Founding Artistic Director Erika Mallin, Executive Director. THE VIDEOTAPING OR MAKING OF ELECTRONIC OR OTHER AUDIO AND/OR VISUAL RECORDINGS OF THIS PRODUCTION OR DISTRIBUTING RECORDINGS ON ANY MEDIUM, INCLUDING THE INTERNET, IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED, A VIOLATION OF THE AUTHOR’S RIGHTS AND ACTIONABLE UNDER UNITED STATES COPYRIGHT LAW. FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT: WWW.SAMUELFRENCH.COM/WHITEPAPER John is presented by special arrangement with SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. Ursula Mills; (below) Johnny Carr, Ursula Mills, Melita Jurisic and Helen Morse; (Opposite) Director Sarah Goodes with Ursula Mills From the Director

Director of John and MTC Associate Director Sarah Goodes directs a play that honours the movement of time.

When I first read Annie Baker’s play John you need to know to follow my argument. I was immediately caught in its spell. I We see that in the organic world, as was struck by how it seamlessly soared thought grows dimmer and weaker, grace from the domestic, to the epic. There is an emerges more brilliantly and decisively. essential mystery inside it that I couldn’t pin But just as a section drawn through two down; it vibrated with it and that was what I lines suddenly reappears on the other side loved most about it. after passing through infinity, or as the image in a concave mirror turns up again In the first week of rehearsals, a week of right in front of us after dwindling into reading and discussions, we realised the the distance, so grace itself returns when play was like one of Mertis’ precious birds; knowledge has as it were gone through the more you tried to pin it down the more an infinity. Grace appears most purely you clipped its wings. Our job was to open in that human form which either has no up possibilities and be alert to its potential, consciousness or an infinite consciousness. while keeping a keen eye on the carefully That is, in the puppet or in the god.’” observed action of everyday life. Heinrich von Kleist, On the Marionette Theatre Often described as supernatural realism, John is enlightening as it explores our need for ‘Nunquam minus solus, quam cum solus.’ empathy and connection, and the grace that Never less alone than when alone. will give us freedom from ourselves. When Cicero you read the script, Annie Baker includes two quotes which are wonderful to have in your Being a play that weaves between worlds head while reading or watching this play: – where two couples from very different generations sit gently alongside each other “‘Now, my excellent friend,’ said my – I knew I needed unique, generous actors companion, ‘you are in possession of all to bring this piece to life. Of course, Helen Morse, one of Australia’s Johnny Carr, this cast have been a joy to great actors of stage and screen, was a work with. perfect fit for Mertis. We began this journey with the beautiful Julia Blake playing the Annie Baker has written a play that truly role of Genevieve, but unfortunately, she celebrates storytelling with a focus on the couldn’t continue. mechanics of theatre, the temporal nature of it, its intimate relationship with its audience So it was a real challenge to find someone and not one, but two intervals thrown in just to step into the role. Luckily, I was able to to remind you where you are. convince Melita Jurisic to join us all the way from Vienna – on such short notice Set and Costume designer Elizabeth Gadsby – and as she pointed out – to play a and I spoke a lot about how Annie Baker plays character who has to consume so many with the mechanics of theatre. In lieu of a red Vienna Finger Biscuits. Together with curtain we decided to explore the revolves and Ursula Mills from Sydney, and Melbourne’s Elizabeth came up with a wonderful design Johnny Carr; (opposite, clockwise from left) Ursula Mills; Melita Jurisic and Johnny Carr; Helen Morse

that is able to turn like a clock, tracking Mertis’ In a digital age theatre offers an intimate orchestration of the passage of time through connection not just with immediate the piece. actors right in front of you, but also sitting next to people you may or may not have Composer Russell Goldsmith and I explored the met before entering an imaginary world of ‘Ken Burns effect’ from watching his incredible storytelling together. We hope you sit back documentary on the American Civil War – and enjoy this intriguing journey – one you all 7 hours of it. And lighting designer Richard can only experience in the theatre. Vabre and myself discussed the transcen- dental power of light; the sun, candles, lamps and Christmas tree lights. Needless to say, this has been a lighting designer’s dream. Hear director Sarah Goodes Geraldine Cook-Dafner has worked tirelessly speak about John at the on the accents for this piece and has been Season 2017 Launch. invaluable within the rehearsal room. mtc.com.au/backstage The Gift of Silence

Annie Baker is one Brooklyn playwright who is unafraid to break the mould.

At a bookstore in New York, celebrating the publication of her Pulitzer-Prize winning play The Flick and her Chekov adaptation – a modern Uncle Vanya – Annie Baker said she felt inspired to ‘push the boundaries of theatre’ even further.

John, Baker’s seventh professional play, is an attempt to do this and follows the signature tune of Chekov’s work including character introspection and stunted communication.

Baker first appeared on the New York theatre circuit with her series of dramas, ‘The Vermont Plays’. In this anthology lies Body Awareness (2008), Circle Mirror Transformation (2009), The Aliens and Noctumara (2010). Both Circle Mirror Transformation and The Aliens were breakthrough successes, collecting Baker Obie Awards for each and catapulting her into a category of award-winning, contemporary playwrights. Three years later Annie Baker she would pen The Flick, cementing her place in America’s most highly respected playwriting circle of Pulitzer Prize-winners. The setting of John – the site of America’s most devastating Civil War battle in Baker is part of a movement of new-wave Gettysburg – is no small coincidence. It was American writers who observe their at this place, 152 years before John opened surroundings with acute curiosity. Her work off-Broadway, that 45,000 Americans were is slow-moving, much like the real world, killed in a three-day massacre; making which allows her narratives to evolve Gettysburg the biggest ghost town in the naturally. The very first stage direction in country. It is against this backdrop that her play The Aliens reads: ‘At least a third Baker resurrects the ghosts of her – if not half – of this play is in silence.’ characters’ pasts and explores the end Dialogue is frequently paused and conflicts of her protagonists’ relationship. build as they do in real life; steadily rising until they reach boiling point, where they Baker’s analysis of what it means to be explode in a spectacular display of emotion. together, and alone, mingling with people of another generation, makes her voice Baker’s inclusion of these characters is particularly unique in her own generation. pivotal, she tells The New Yorker.

She’s been praised worldwide for her ability ‘The story of their lives might not immediately to take ordinary people and situations and appear to be exemplary or what the younger find extraordinary meaning in what they character would want,’ she explains. ‘But say. Even more extraordinary is Baker’s there’s a kind of transcendence and nobility ability to find meaning in what her they embody through having not lived the characters don’t say. Her work is loaded lives they wanted to.’ with silent moments, which are almost as crucial as her play’s leading lines. Baker doesn’t only explore the relationships between her characters on stage, she In an interview with Huffington Post, Baker explores the relationship between herself said, ‘When I’m writing: I’m picturing those as a playwright and her audience. In a world bodies in space, moving around. When it where audiences are demanding more does come to hearing the dialogue and sort feeling, with greater impact, in less time, of transcribing it, it feels a lot like what Baker continues to carve her own path. It’s I imagine writing a musical score is like. the haziness, the fragility and the subtlety The rests and the pauses are part of that of Baker’s text that drives John and all of too, like stage directions. It’s sort of like Baker’s narratives. To rush through this what you put in italics and what you don’t work would be to miss the point. Baker … to me it is all equally important.’ explores what is expected and what is provided in the ancient forum of theatre, In John, when Baker’s characters aren’t and by doing this, she continues to shape talking, and the only sounds to be heard are the mode of contemporary drama. the reverberations of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, the audience are forced to make their own assumptions about each character’s role. Mertis and Genevieve act as the adult mentors in this play. They might not Hear more from the cast of necessarily be faultless, or even particularly John about Annie Baker’s play. adept at guiding the younger adults, however mtc.com.au/backstage

BIOGRAPHY Annie Baker grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts. Her full-length plays include John, The Flick, Circle Mirror Transformation, The Aliens, Body Awareness, and an adaptation of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, for which she also designed the costumes. Baker has won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama with her play The Flick, a Hull-Warriner Award, a Susan Smith Blackburn Award, three Obie Awards, two Drama Desk nominations and an Outer Critics Circle nomination. Her plays have been produced at over 150 theatres throughout the United States and have been produced internationally in over a dozen countries. Other recent honours include a Guggenheim Fellowship, Steinberg Playwriting Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, and the Cullman Fellowship at the New York Public Library. She is a Residency Five playwright at the Signature Theatre. Proud to partner with Melbourne Theatre Company Cast & Creative Team

JOHNNY CARR MELITA JURISIC URSULA MILLS Elias Schreiber-Hoffman Genevieve Marduk Jenny Chung

Johnny Carr graduated from the Melita Jurisic has an extensive Ursula Mills makes her Victorian College of the Arts career with many theatre credits Melbourne Theatre Company in 2008. His theatre credits in Australia including I am a debut in John, playing the role include Edward II (Malthouse), Miracle, Night on Bald Mountain of Jenny Chung. Ursula was a The Events (Belvoir/Malthouse/ (Malthouse); The Wizard of Oz member of ‘The Residents’ at STCSA) What Rhymes with Cars (Belvoir); Macbeth, Suddenly Sydney Theatre Company, there and Girls (Melbourne Theatre Last Summer, Women of Troy, her theatre credits include: Vs. Company); The Dream (Bell Mourning Becomes Electra, Macbeth (Adelaide Festival in Shakespeare); The Boys (Griffin Tartuffe (STC); Poppea (Sydney collaboration with The Border Theatre); M + M (Daniel Schlusser Opera House); The Lost Breath Project), Orestaia, Accidental Ensemble); The Suicide (Melbourne International Arts Death of an Anarchist, The (The Hayloft Project/B Sharp); Festival) and King Lear (Bell Mysteries: Genesis, Leviathan Charcoal Creek (Merrigong) and Shakespeare). Melita’s stage and Comedy of Errors. In 2015, Leaves of Glass and The Rites of credits in Europe include Medea, Ursula received a nomination Evil (Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre). Macbeth, Tales of Hoffman, Das for Best Actress in a Mainstage Johnny’s screen credits include Schloss (Vienna Schauspielhaus); Production for Kryptonite, a Stories I Want to Tell You in Lysistrata, Kasimir & Karoline co-production between STC and Person, Rush, City Homicide, (Perchtoldsdorf); In the Jungle of State Theatre Company of South and the web series The Greatest the Cities (Landestheater Linz); Australia. Other theatre credits Love of All (Winner of best The Caucasian Chalk Circle include: Elektra/Orestes (Belvoir) foreign Web Series NYC WEB (Grand Theatre Luxembourgh); and Betrayal (Ensemble Theatre FEST 2014) and Echo Chamber. Purimspil (Linz: European Capital Company). Ursula has a series In 2013 Johnny received the of Culture); Poppea (Berliner of film and television credits Marten Bequest Travel Scholar- Ensemble/Edinburgh festival); including Peter Pan (Universal ship for Acting, where he trained The Family Table (Vienna Pictures) and Out of the Blue at Ecole Philippe Gaulier. Johnny festival); Middentity (Nitra (Network Ten). She received has been a proud member of festival, Slovakia); Wiener her formal training at Western Equity since 2008. Laecheln (Komische Opera, Australian Academy of Berlin) and Das Tortenstueck Performing Arts (WAAPA), and (Donau festival, Austria). The Groundlings Theatre and Melita’s film credits include School in 2016. Ursula was Mad Max: Fury Road, Kotlovina, awarded the Ian Potter Cultural Transatlantic, The Sound of One Trust Grant in 2016 and the Hand Clapping and The Tale of Shark Island Institute Award for Ruby Rose for which she won the Emerging Artists in 2012. International Critic’s prize for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival. Cast & Creative Team

HELEN MORSE SARAH GOODES ELIZABETH GADSBY Mertis Katherine Graven Director Set and Costume Designer

Helen Morse has worked in many John is Sarah Goodes’ second Elizabeth Gadsby makes her productions for Melbourne assignment for Melbourne Melbourne Theatre Company Theatre Company including Theatre Company following her debut as Set & Costumer Frozen, A Little Night Music, critically and publicly acclaimed designer in John. After a critically Arcadia, The Tempest, The direction of Switzerland last year. acclaimed season as Resident Marriage of Figaro, Our Country’s Sarah’s reputation as a leading Designer at Sydney Theatre Good, The Crucible, The Cherry director of new Australian and Company in 2016, Elizabeth Orchard, Hedda Gabler, Europe international work has been built works alongside MTC Associate and Twelfth Night. She played on wide-spread praise and Director Sarah Goodes after Katherine Mansfield in Alma de multiple award nominations. following their success on Gröen’s The Rivers Of China; Formerly Resident Director at Disgraced and The Hanging received a Green Room award Sydney Theatre Company, Sarah (STC). Elizabeth’s other theatre for de Gröen’s play about Anna directed The Hanging, Disgraced, design credits include Cinderella Akhmatova, The Woman in the Orlando, Battle of Waterloo, The (Belvoir St Theatre), A Rabbit Window, and played Theodora Effect, Vere (Faith), The Splinter, for Kim Jong-il (Griffin Theatre Goodman in Adam Cook’s and Edward Gant’s Amazing Company), Fly Away Peter and adaptation of Patrick White’s Feats of Loneliness. Her other An Index of Metals (Sydney The Aunt’s Story. She recently directing credits include Elling, Chamber Opera). Elizabeth holds performed in Daniel Keene’s Black Milk, The Sweetest Thing, a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting) Photographs of A (Antechamber/ and The Small Things (B Sharp from National Art School and MTC NEON); Wit with Artisan Belvoir); The Colour of Panic a Bachelor of Dramatic Arts Collective, Dreamers (Sydney Opera House); Vertigo (Design) from NIDA. She is a (Fortyfivedownstairs); and Michael and the Virginia, The Schelling recent recipient of an Australia Gow’s Once In Royal David’s City Point, Hilt, and What Happened Council ‘Art Start’ Grant, a (Belvoir); KAGE’s Sundowner Was (Old Fitzroy Theatre); and William Fletcher Scholar and (national tour); Love.War.Death. The Unscrupulous Murderer was resident in the City of BREL (Adelaide Cabaret Festival); Hasse Karlson Reveals the Sydney’s 2016 ‘Creative Living Tim Winton’s Signs Of Life, Joan Gruesome Truth about the Work Space’ program. Didion’s The Year Of Magical Woman Who Froze to Death on Thinking (Kate Cherry/BSSTC) a Railway Bridge (Darlinghurst and Robyn Archer’s Architektin Theatre Company). In 2015 she (STCSA). Helen’s other stage was the recipient of the Gloria work includes: Ivanov, Duets for Payten Travel Scholarship. Lovers & Dreamers ,The Rain, (Fortyfivedownstairs);Prophet & Loss (Here Theatre); Death & the Maiden (STC/national tour); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Under Milk Wood (STCSA) and Nick Enright’s Good Works (Kim Durban/Playbox). Cast & Creative Team

RICHARD VABRE RUSSELL GOLDSMITH GERALDINE COOK-DAFNER Lighting Designer Composer and Sound Designer Voice and Dialect Coach

Richard Vabre is a freelance Russell Goldsmith is a multiple Geraldine Cook-Dafner previously lighting designer who has lit award winning Melbourne based worked for Melbourne Theatre productions for Melbourne Sound Designer, Composer, Company on The Odd Couple, Theatre Company, Sydney Producer and Audio System Straight White Men, The Theatre Company, Malthouse Designer. He has a diverse Distance, Birdland, The Waiting Theatre, Belvoir St Theatre body of work in theatre, film, Room, Top Girls, The Heretic, Victorian Opera, Windmill television, commercial and radio The Swimming Club, The 39 Theatre, Arena Theatre Company, production, live music and Steps, The History Boys, All My NICA, Darwin Festival, Stuck installation works. He has Sons, The Clean House, Boy Gets Pig’s Squealing, Chambermade, worked as the sound designer Girl, Take Me Out and The Glass Rawcus, Red Stitch, Polyglot, and composer for Melbourne Menagerie. She trained at and Aphids. Richard has won four Theatre Company productions Middlesex University, the Green Room Awards including of Disgraced, Lungs, Endgame, Guildhall School of Music and the Association’s John Truscott What Rhymes with Cars and Drama, and she is an Honorary Prize for Excellence in Design Girls, I’ll Eat You Last, Fellow in the theatre department (2004). He has also been The Speechmaker, Ghosts, at the faculty of MCM. Geraldine nominated for seven other The Other Place, His Girl Friday, also works as a voice consultant Green Room Awards. For MTC, The Golden Dragon, Don Parties in film, ABC Radio, SBS Radio, Richard has previously lit Lungs, On, The Swimming Club and and for local corporate and The Waiting Room, What Rhymes Ruby Moon (for MTC Education). government bodies. Geraldine with Cars and Girls, Top Girls, He had his Broadway debut in was previously Head of Voice, On the Production of Monsters, 2009 with the critically Head of School of Performing The Water Carriers, acclaimed season of Malthouse/ Arts and an Associate Dean at The Apocalypse Bear Trilogy, Belvoir’s Exit The King at the the Faculty of VCA and MCM, and The Colours. Ethel Barrymore Theatre, where University of Melbourne. it played for sixteen weeks. Russell has received multiple Greenroom Award nominations, while his sound design for Exit the King won the 2007 Sydney Theatre Award, and was nominated for Best Sound Design at both the 2008 Green Room Awards (Melbourne) and the 2009 Tony Awards (New York). CRICOS: 00116K

University of Melbourne researchers are creating new materials for solar cells. The researchers envisage that in the future flexible solar cells will cover roofs, windows, clothing, phones and cars to capture sunlight wherever it falls. Find more world-changing research at pursuit.unimelb.edu.au Melbourne Theatre Company

BOARD OF MANAGEMENT EDUCATION TECHNICAL Staging Supervisor Subscriptions Supervisor Terry Moran AC (Chair) Head of Education and Technical Manager Lighting Grant Kennelly Jessie Phillips Tony Burgess Families and Sound Sound Supervisor Database Specialist Professor Barry Jeremy Rice Kerry Saxby Terry McKibbin Ben Gu Conyngham am Community Outreach Senior Production Lawler and Events Technical Data Analyst Professor Glyn Davis ac Manager Technician Supervisor Megan Thomson Patricia Faulkner ao Karin Farrell Allan Hirons Josh Noble VIP Ticketing Officer Jonathan Feder Education Coordinator Production Technicians Head Flyman Michael Bingham Gillian Franklin Nick Tranter Adam Bowring James Tucker Education Ticketing Officer Jane Hansen HUMAN RESOURCES Scott McAlister Bar Manager Mellita Illich Janette Kendall HR Manager Technical Manager – Staging Keziah Warner Box Office Supervisor Ian Marshman Christelle Harris Andrew Bellchambers Stage and Technical Staff Adam Walsh Martyn Myer ao HR Administrator Staging Supervisor – HQ Pete Andrews Box Office Attendants and Brett Sheehy ao Christine Verginis Jamie Cunningham Matthew Arthur Subscription Team Virginia Lovett EHS Coordinator Production Design Tom Brayshaw Jacqueline Bartlett FOUNDATION BOARD Liz Mundell Coordinator Nathan Evers Brent Davidson Jane Hansen (Chair) Andrew Bailey Adam Hanley Katie Dircks FINANCE CAD Drafting Chris Hubbard Peter Dowd Terry Bracks am Finance Director Liz Chappell Jacob Battista Jake Hutchins Max Foskey Liz Chappell David Jenkins Fran Hefferman Fiona Griffiths Company Accountant PROPERTIES Jeanette Kendall Properties Supervisor Robert Larsen Chelsea Lang Ness Harwood Paul Lim Jean Lizza Virginia Lovett IT and Systems Manager Geoff McGregor Sam Margis Props Maker James Lipari Bridget Mackey Michael Schuettke Eugene Mackinnon Debra McDougall Louise Myer Finance Officer Colin Penn Leigh O’Neill Marcus Macris Moira Millar Sarah Thompson SCENIC ART Bianca Mastroianni Daniel Scaffidi Hilary Scott Payroll Officer Scenic Art Supervisor Richard Tegoni David Membery Tain Stangret Julia Godinho Shane Dunn Sophie Norfolk Ashlee Thompson EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT Accounts Payable Officer Scenic Artists Will Patterson Artistic Director & CEO Isobel Taylor-Rodgers Tansy Elso PLAYWRIGHTS UNDER Nicholas Reich COMMISSION Brett Sheehy ao MARKETING & Colin Harman Nick Walker Declan Greene Executive Director WORKSHOP COMMUNICATIONS Alasdair Watson Roslyn Oades Virginia Lovett Workshop Supervisor Marketing and Joy Weng Hannie Rayson Executive Assistant to the Aldo Amenta Communications Director Ashlee Wohling (with Manhattan Artistic Director & CEO Deputy Workshop Kerry Noonan Nick Wollan Theatre Club) Nick Doherty Supervisor Marketing Manager House Supervisors John Romeril Executive Administrator Andrew Weavers James Wright Kasey Gambling (with Playwriting Australia) Annie Bourke Set Makers Digital Manager Brienna Macnish Aidan Fennessy ARTISTIC Ken Best Daniel Coghlan Paul Terrell Judith Lucy Associate Directors Nick Gray Marketing Campaign Drew Thomson Damien Millar Dean Bryant Bryce Hartnett Manager Bar Supervisors Ross Mueller Sarah Goodes Philip de Mulder Emily Fiori Paul Blenheim Magda Szubanski Producer Marketing Coordinator Alastair Read Natalie Holmwood NEON NEXT Commissions Martina Murray Rebecca Lawrence WARDROBE Tain Stangret Nicola Gunn Literary Director Lead Graphic Designer Wardrobe Managers Drew Thomson Daniel Schlusser Chris Mead Emma Wagstaff Judy Bunn House and Bar Attendants Malcolm Robertson Casting Director Designers Keryn Ribbands William Atkinson Foundation Commissions Janine Snape Helena Turinski Wardrobe Staff Stephanie Barham Van Badham Casting Executive Celeste Njoo John Molloy Tanya Batt Angela Betzien Matt Bebbington PR and Communications Tiffany Abbott Sarah Branton Company Manager Manager Emily Brewer Zak Brown MTC CONNECT Stephen Moore Rosie Shepherdson-Cullen Jocelyn Creed Alexina Coad AMBASSADORS CATERING Publicist Lyn Molloy Michael Cutrupi Samah Sabawi Catering Manager Stephanie Gavlak Justine Coultham Marisa Cuzzolaro Suhasini Seelin Andrea Purvis Communications Content Alice Mere Des Fleming Shannon Lim Assistant Manager Producer Nicole Theodore (VCA Damien Harrison Vidya Rajan Anita Lyovic Sarah Corridon Secondment) Rosie Howell Wahibe Moussa Café staff PR and Marketing Buyer Leighton Irwin WOMEN IN THEATRE Bev Reinmuth Administration Assistant Lucy Moran Laura Lethlean PROGRAM Stephanie Liew DEVELOPMENT Sophie Woodward Ross MacPherson Gorkem Acaroglu Receptionist Major Gifts Manager Costume Hire Will McRostie Mary Rachel Brown David Zierk Patrick Rundle Liz Symons Faran Martin Fiona Bruce Annual Giving Manager PRODUCTION & TECHNICAL Millinery Natasha Milton Samantha Butterworth Chris Walters Technical & Production Phillip Rhodes Daniel Moulds Tania Canas Philanthropy Coordinator Director Wigs and Makeup Ernesto Munoz Angelica Clunes Sytske Hillenius Adam J Howe Jurga Celikiene Amy Poonian Suzanne Cranny Head of Corporate PRODUCTION Wardrobe Maintenance Clare Reddan Kellie-Anne Kimber Partnerships Senior Production Manager Stella Cadzow Richard Saxby Clare McKenzie Dean Hampel Michele Preshaw SOUTHBANK THEATRE Myles Tankle Dans Marie Sheehan Partnerships & Commercial Production Manager Theatre Operations Director Isobel Taylor-Rodgers Erin Taylor Executive Mikkel Mynster Mark D Wheeler Isabella Vadiveloo Emily Tomlins Matthew Phoenix Production Coordinator Building Supervisor Harriet Wallace-Mead Victoria Woolley Partnerships and Michaela Deacon Adrian Aderhold Jamaica Zuanetti OVERSEAS Memberships Executive Props Buyer/ASM Swing House Services Manager TICKETING REPRESENTATIVES Syrie Payne Jess Maguire Kam Greville CRM and Ticketing Director London Memberships and Production Administrator Production Services Dale Bradbury Diana Franklin Partnerships Assistant Alyson Brown Manager Ticketing Manager New York Vivienne Poznanski Frank Stoffels Brenna Sotiropoulos Stuart Thompson Events Manager Lighting Supervisor Ticketing Services Mandy Jones James Conway Administrator Lisa Mibus MTC Circles of Giving

MTC gratefully acknowledges our visionary donors

MTC LIFETIME PATRONS Acknowledging a lifetime of extraordinary support for MTC. Peter Clemenger ao and Joan Clemenger ao The Late Biddy Ponsford Caroline Young and Derek Young am Allan Myers ac qc and Maria Myers aC Dr Roger Riordan am

ENDOWMENT DONORS Supporting the long term sustainability and creative future of MTC. Leading Endowment Donors $10,000+ David and Lily Harris $1,000,000+ Mim and Michael Bartlett Robert Peck am and Yvonne von Hartel am Jane Hansen and Paul Little ao Carolyn and John Kirby am Prof David Penington ac and Dr Sonay Hussein $20,000+ Recent Endowment Donors Emeritus Prof Peter McPhee Tony and Janine Burgess Philip Crutchfield qc and Amy Crutchfield Dr Monica Pahuja Geoffrey Cohen Scholarship Prof Margaret Gardner ao and Lady Potter ac Orcadia Foundation Prof Glyn Davis ac Renzella Family Andrew and Tracey Sisson Fred and Alex Grimwade Anne and Mark Robertson oam Rosie Harkness Steven Skala ao and Lousje Skala Anonymous

ANNUAL GIVING Donors whose annual gifts help MTC enrich and transform lives through the finest theatre imaginable. Benefactors Circle Joel Dodge and Family ● Gjergja Family $250,000+ The Dowd Foundation Heather and Bob Glindemann oam Crown Resorts Foundation Robert and Jan Green Henry Gold Packer Family Foundation David and Lily Harris ● Murray Gordon and Lisa Norton Jane Hemstritch Lesley Griffin $100,000+ Linda Herd Tony Hillery and Warwick Eddington Maureen Wheeler ao and Tony Wheeler ao George Klempfner and Bruce and Mary Humphries $50,000+ Yolanda Klempfner ao ● Rosemary Leffler The Joan and Peter Clemenger Trust Anne Le Huray Alex and Halina Lewenberg The Cybec Foundation Marshall Day Acoustics Virginia Lovett and Rose Hiscock ● (Dennis Irving Scholarship) Carol Mackay and Greg Branson $20,000+ Ian and Margaret McKellar Ian and Judi Marshman Betty Amsden ao George and Rosa Morstyn Sandy and Sandra Murdoch The Andrew and Geraldine Buxton Daniel Neal and Peter Chalk Jane and Andrew Murray ▲ Foundation Tom and Ruth O’Dea ■ Tony Osmond and Fiona Griffiths Tony and Janine Burgess Dr Pajouhesh (Smile Solutions) Peter Philpott and Robert Ratcliffe Dr Geraldine Lazarus and Greig Gailey Alison Park Max Schultz Dr Andrew McAliece and Jeanna Pratt AC Tim and Lynne Sherwood Dr Richard Simmie Janet Reid oam and Allan Reid Trikojus Education Fund – Australian Louise and Martyn Myer ao Christopher Richardson Communities Foundation ● The Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation Anne and Mark Robertson oam ● ◆ Cheryl and Paul Veith Caroline and Derek Young am ▲ Trawalla Foundation Trust Ralph Ward-Ambler am and The Vizard Foundation Dr Michael and Lynne Wright Barbara Ward-Ambler Anonymous Anonymous (4) Anthony Watson and Tracey McDonald ● $10,000+ Price and Christine Williams Erica Bagshaw Advocates Circle Ray and Margaret Wilson Mary Barlow $2,500–$4,999 Gillian and Tony Wood The Janet and Michael Buxton Foundation Marc Besen ac and Eva Besen ao Laurel Young-Das and Heather Finnegan The Cattermole Family Jay Bethell and Peter Smart Anonymous (6) Christine Gilbertson ◆ Grant Fisher and Helen Bird Petra and Larry Kamener Bill Bowness Loyalty Circle Macgeorge Bequest Bill and Sandra Burdett $1,000–$2,499 Malcolm Robertson Foundation Lynne and Rob Burgess Dr Katie Allen and Malcolm Allen The late Noel Mason and Susanna Mason ▲ Pat Burke and Jan Nolan In memory of Nicola Andrews Matsarol Foundaion ▲ Diana Burleigh Jennifer Andrews Craig Semple ▲ Stephen and Jenny Charles Valma E. Angliss am Luisa Valmorbida ▲ Caroline and Robert Clemente James and Helen Angus Anonymous (2) Tom and Elana Cordiner ● Margaret Astbury $5,000+ Debbie Dadon am John and Dagnija Balmford John and Lorraine Bates Dr Anthony Dortimer and Jillian Dortimer David and Rhonda Black Sandy Bell and Daryl Kendrick Shaun and Michelle Factor ● Marc and Orli Blecher and Family ● Dr Andrew Buchanan and Peter Darcy Melody and Jonathan Feder ■ ● Terry Bracks am Ian and Jillian Buchanan Dr Helen Ferguson Beth Brown and Tom Bruce am John and Robyn Butselaar Rosemary Forbes and Ian Hocking Pam Caldwell Barry and Joanne Cheetham Bruce Freeman ■ Alison and John Cameron John and Jan Campbell Tony and Ann Hyams Sara Renzella Clare and Richard Carlson Peter and Halina Jacobsen Dr S M Richards am and M R Richards Fiona Caro Peter Jaffe Rogers Family ■ Kathleen and Harry Cator Ed and Margaret Johnson Sue Rose Chef’s Hat Irene Kearsey Rae Rothfield Chernov Family Malcolm Kemp Patrick Rundle and Damien Mulvihill ■ Sue Clarke and Lindsay Allen Janette Kendall ◆ F & J Ryan Foundation Assoc Prof Lyn Clearihan and Fiona Kirwan-Hamilton and Edwina Sahhar Dr Anthony Palmer Simon E Marks sc Katherine Sampson and Michael Jaboor Dr Robin Collier and Neil Collier Doris and Steve Klein Susan Santoro Sandy and Yvonne Constantine Larry Kornhauser and Natalya Gill ■ Hilary and Stuart Scott ● Jane Simon and Peter Cox Ruth and Michael Kurc ■ Graeme Seabrook Dr Cyril Curtain Elizabeth Laverty Claire Sheed Ann Darby Joan and George Lefroy Prof Barry Sheehan and Pamela Waller Mark and Jo Davey Alison Leslie Steven Nicholls and Brett Sheehy ao Jocelyn Davies Peter and Judy Loney Diana and Jeffrey Sher Jessica Denehey Neil and Vida Lowry Diane Silk Mark and Amanda Derham Dr Peter and Amanda Lugg Dr John M Sime Katharine Derham-Moore Elizabeth Lyons Reg and Elaine Smith oam – Jan Dircks Ken and Jan Mackinnon Earimil Gardens Charity Robert Drake Alister and Margaret Maitland Tim and Angela Smith Bev and Geoff Edwards Joyce and Bernard Marks Annette and Graham Smorgon ◆ George and Eva Ermer Garry McLean Diana and Brian Snape am Dr Alastair Fearn Elizabeth McMeekin Jennifer Steinicke Jan and Rob Flew Brenda and Don McRae Shirley Strauss Heather Forbes ■ Robert and Helena Mestrovic Ricci Swart Elizabeth Foster John G Millard Rodney and Aviva Taft The Gordon Frost Organisation ■ Dr Jenny Miller and Alistair Hay Sylvia Taylor John Fullerton Ross and Judy Milne-Pott Richard and Debra Tegoni Kate Galvin ◆ Ging Muir and John McCawley ■ Frank Tisher OAM and Dr Miriam Tisher Nigel and Cathy Garrard Barbara and David Mushin Kevin and Elizabeth Walsh ■ Diana and Murray Gerstman Julie Nelson Pinky Watson Gill Family Foundation Nick Nichola and Ingrid Moyle ● Marion Webster ◆ Brian Goddard Dr Paul and Sue Nisselle Ursula Whiteside Leon Goldman Leigh O’Neill ◆ Ann and Alan Wilkinson Roger and Jan Goldsmith James Ostroburski John and Myriam Wylie Foundation ◆ Charles and Cornelia Goode Foundation ◆ Dr Harry and Rita Perelberg Mandy and Ted Yencken Isabella Green oam and Richard Green Dr Annamarie Perlesz Graeme and Nancy Yeomans John and Jo Grigg Dug and Lisa Pomeroy Greg Young Jane Grover ◆ Sally Redlich Roz Zalewski and Jeremy Ruskin Ian and Wendy Haines Victoria Redwood Ange and Pete Zangmeister Glen Harrington and Robyn Eastham Julie and Ian Reid Anita Zeimer ◆ Sandi and Gil Hoskins Anthony Renzella Anonymous (18) Emeritus Prof Andrea Hull ao Jessica Renzella Sarah Hunter ◆ Robert Renzella

LEGACY CIRCLE Acknowledging supporters who have made the visionary gesture of including a gift to MTC in their will. Mark and Tamara Boldiston Irene Kearsey Dr Andrew McAliece and Bernadette Broberg Fiona Griffiths Dr Richard Simmie Peter and Betty Game Anonymous (5)

LEGACY GIFTS Remembering and honouring those who have generously supported MTC through a bequest. Estate of Leta-Rae Arthy Estate of Bettie Kornhauser The Estate of Freda E White The Christine Brown Bequest The Kitty and Leslie Sandy Bequest Estate of Dorothy Wood Estate of Ron Chapman Estate of James Hollis Minson Estate of Gordan J Compton The Estate of Prudence Ann Tutton

Acknowledging Donors who join together to support innovative and inspiring programs for the benefit of our community. ▲ ARTISTIC DIRECTOR’S ■ YOUTH AMBASSADORS ◆ WOMEN IN THEATRE ● FAMILY PROGRAMMING CIRCLE GIVING CIRCLE GIVING CIRCLE GIVING CIRCLE

Current as of January 2017 To find out more about supporting MTC please call 03 8688 0959 or visit mtc.com.au/support Thank You

MTC would like to thank the following organisations for their generous support

Major Partners

Major Media Partners

Production Partners

Premium Season Partners

Season Partners

Marketing Partners

Southbank Theatre Partners

If you would like to join our corporate family or host a private event, please contact [email protected] What’s On

Voice and Dialect Coach Geraldine Cook- Dafner with Director Sarah Goodes

Women in Theatre

MTC’s Women in Theatre Program returns this year, welcoming 13 new participants to the year-long program. Discover who they are at mtc.com.au/backstage Supported by MTC’s Women in Theatre Giving Circle.

MTC ARTIST NIGHTS 2017 For a $10 membership fee, FAITH HEALER practising theatre artists by Brian Friel can access $29 tickets Irish playwright Brian Friel’s masterpiece to selected MTC productions arrives in Melbourne following an acclaimed in 2017. season at Sydney’s Belvoir St Theatre.

4 MAR–8 APR MTC.COM.AU

References: Huffington Post: Interview: ‘Annie Baker’ (Part 1 & 2) by Steven Suskin (2016) The New Yorker: ‘JUST SAYING The anti-theatrical theatre of Annie Baker’ by Nathan Heller (2013) Bomb Magazine: ‘Annie Baker’ by Elianna Kan (2013) Front cover: Photo by Justin Ridler LIFE TRUTH LOVE ANGER BEAUTY

PROUD PRODUCTION PARTNER JOHN

genovese.com.au