Biographies Stacy Eckert (Music Director) is in her second year of teaching at GSU. She received her BFA in Theatre/Voice from the University of Kansas and her MM and DMA in Vocal Performance with a minor in Theatre from the University of Illinois in Urbana. Dr. Eckert has performed throughout the US and in Europe. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 1995. As a member of the Chicago Symphony Chorus, she sang on the double Grammy award winning recording of Verdi’s Requiem conducted by Riccardo Mu . She also leant her voice to the soundtrack of Stephen Spielberg’s Lincoln. Dr. Eckert is a member of the American Guild of Musical Ar sts, AFTRA, and the Na onal Associa on of Teachers of Singing. Shelley Strasser Holland (LighƟ ng Designer) is no stranger to the GSU stage as she was a member of the team that opened the very fi rst performance (Rich Li le) in the Center back in 1995! Much more recently she designed TransformaƟ ons last spring with Dr. Santoro and is thrilled to return to work on A… My Name is Alice. Ms. Strasser Holland is the Resident Ligh ng Designer for Theatre at the Center in Munster, IN and is about ready to start technical rehearsals for A Christmas Carol. She is an ensemble member and resident ligh ng designer for The Sha ered Globe Theatre in Chicago and an Ar s c Associate at First Folio Theatre in Oak Brook. Some of her favorite produc ons include Godspell and Petrifi ed Forest (TatC), Glass Menagerie (Jeff Nomina on) and Judgment at Nuremberg (SGT), Under the Lintel and Woman in Black (First Folio) and Much Ado About Nothing and How I Became a Pirate (Homewood Flossmoor High School). Ms. Strasser Holland is an adjunct professor in theatre at Governors State University and Indiana University Northwest. She holds an MFA in Ligh ng Design from Northwestern University and a BS in Mathema cs/Theatre from Eureka College. Aarika Hughes (Performer) is delighted to debut in her fi rst produc on at Governors State University. She is currently a student at Prairie State College with plans to a end DePaul University next fall for a degree in Communica on. Favorite credits include Don’t Drink the Water and CATS for Crete Monee High School. Lorell Jones (Performer) grew up singing in church and loves gospel, R&B, blues, jazz, funk, and classical music. A er a hiatus from singing to explore the world, her passion has brought her back to her roots—music and the stage. She is a singer/songwriter and avid reader who loves me with her family and laughing. Lorell is thankful for all of her talents, true love, her wonderfully drama c parents and siblings, the Chicago lakefront, and lives by the mo o: “music & love heals.” Megan Lindsay (Choreographer) graduated Cum Laude from Ball State University, and later obtained her Masters of Arts in Dance/Movement Therapy from Columbia College Chicago. Megan has been an inspira on to students na onwide while on staff of numerous dance programs, studios, and companies. She has served as a performer, choreographer and co-founder for many dance companies in Illinois and Indiana. A er graduate school, Megan danced professionally with Perceptual Mo on Dance Company—a mul -genera on modern dance company—Fuzion Dance Ar sts in Sarasota, Florida, and co-created Rebound Dance, NPF, a dance fes val produc on company in Chicago. Megan currently works as an adjunct professor of dance at Governors State University and Indiana University Northwest, directs the IU Northwest Student Dance Company, This presentation is supported by The Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. A… My Name is Alice Production Staff A Musical Revue with material by Calvin Alexander Anne Meara Direction: Dr. Patrick Santoro Susan Birkenhead Cassandra Medley Music Direction: Dr. Stacy Eckert Maggie Bloomfi eld David Mettee Choreography: Megan Lindsay David Crane Art Murray Stage Management: Joshua E. Young David Evans Susan Rice Technical Direction: Michael Krull Carol Hall Glen Roven Lighting Design: Shelley Strasser Holland Cheryl Hardwick Mark Saltzman Costume Design: Alice Broughton Georgia Bogardus Holof James Shorter Stage Crew: Arika Rogers Winnie Holtzman June Siegel Property Mistress: Tamike Hurley Doug Katsaros Lucy Simon Marta Kauff man Michael Skloff Produced by Richard LaGravenese Steve Tesich Th e College of Arts and Sciences Stephen Lawrence Don Tucker Th e Division of Communication, Visual and Performing Arts Amanda McBroom David Zippel Director’s Note Initial Off -Broadway Stage Production by Rosita Sarnoff , Anne Wilder, and Douglas F. Goodman Welcome to the Center for Performing Arts and this evening’s production of Originally Produced by A… My Name is Alice! I’m glad that you are here. Th e Women’s Project at the American Place Th eatre Alice is a musical revue that’s more than you think. While its approach in Conceived by presenting women of diff erent ages and types in a variety of situations and JOAN MICKLIN SILVER and JULIANNE BOYD relationships is mostly comedic, sometimes bawdy, Alice is also profound, never letting us forget that the characters, storylines, and emotions are rooted Cast in reality. Making its Off -Broadway debut in 1983, Alice is insightful, off ering (In Alphabetical Order) a glimpse into the historic fi ght for gender equality while also asking us to consider women’s experiences—the beauty and struggles of living, loving, and Aarika Hughes losing as women—and how they have shift ed in the last 30 years. Lorell Jones Women journey in Alice, and the fi ve women in our production become an Killeen McClowry embodiment of every-woman-Alice as she travels through her ever-evolving identity, revealing not a fi nal image of what a woman is or should be, but, Lois Nemeth instead, a multilayered process of navigating and negotiating womanhood. Deirdre L. Webb Alice is an invitation into a kaleidoscopic world of mothers, daughters, wives, sisters, girlfriends, and rivals. Alice is a reminder that “woman’s work is never A… My Name is Alice runs approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes done.” Above all else, Alice is a celebration of women. and is performed with a 15 minute intermission. Let the festivities begin! Produced by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc. Dr. Patrick Santoro Biographies Stacy Eckert (Music Director) is in her second year of teaching at GSU. She received her BFA in Theatre/Voice from the University of Kansas and her MM and DMA in Vocal Performance with a minor in Theatre from the University of Illinois in Urbana. Dr. Eckert has performed throughout the US and in Europe. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 1995. As a member of the Chicago Symphony Chorus, she sang on the double Grammy award winning recording of Verdi’s Requiem conducted by Riccardo Mu . She also leant her voice to the soundtrack of Stephen Spielberg’s Lincoln. Dr. Eckert is a member of the American Guild of Musical Ar sts, AFTRA, and the Na onal Associa on of Teachers of Singing. Shelley Strasser Holland (LighƟ ng Designer) is no stranger to the GSU stage as she was a member of the team that opened the very fi rst performance (Rich Li le) in the Center back in 1995! Much more recently she designed TransformaƟ ons last spring with Dr. Santoro and is thrilled to return to work on A… My Name is Alice. Ms. Strasser Holland is the Resident Ligh ng Designer for Theatre at the Center in Munster, IN and is about ready to start technical rehearsals for A Christmas Carol. She is an ensemble member and resident ligh ng designer for The Sha ered Globe Theatre in Chicago and an Ar s c Associate at First Folio Theatre in Oak Brook. Some of her favorite produc ons include Godspell and Petrifi ed Forest (TatC), Glass Menagerie (Jeff Nomina on) and Judgment at Nuremberg (SGT), Under the Lintel and Woman in Black (First Folio) and Much Ado About Nothing and How I Became a Pirate (Homewood Flossmoor High School). Ms. Strasser Holland is an adjunct professor in theatre at Governors State University and Indiana University Northwest. She holds an MFA in Ligh ng Design from Northwestern University and a BS in Mathema cs/Theatre from Eureka College. Aarika Hughes (Performer) is delighted to debut in her fi rst produc on at Governors State University. She is currently a student at Prairie State College with plans to a end DePaul University next fall for a degree in Communica on. Favorite credits include Don’t Drink the Water and CATS for Crete Monee High School. Lorell Jones (Performer) grew up singing in church and loves gospel, R&B, blues, jazz, funk, and classical music. A er a hiatus from singing to explore the world, her passion has brought her back to her roots—music and the stage. She is a singer/songwriter and avid reader who loves me with her family and laughing. Lorell is thankful for all of her talents, true love, her wonderfully drama c parents and siblings, the Chicago lakefront, and lives by the mo o: “music & love heals.” Megan Lindsay (Choreographer) graduated Cum Laude from Ball State University, and later obtained her Masters of Arts in Dance/Movement Therapy from Columbia College Chicago. Megan has been an inspira on to students na onwide while on staff of numerous dance programs, studios, and companies. She has served as a performer, choreographer and co-founder for many dance companies in Illinois and Indiana. A er graduate school, Megan danced professionally with Perceptual Mo on Dance Company—a mul -genera on modern dance company—Fuzion Dance Ar sts in Sarasota, Florida, and co-created Rebound Dance, NPF, a dance fes val produc on company in Chicago.