February 23 – March 21, 2021
Stage West presents the Moonrise Initiative production of
In Search of the Sublime
Written and directed by Kara-Lynn Vaeni Created by Victoria A. Cruz, Olivia de Guzman, Kelsey Milbourn, Shyama Nithiananda, Galen Sho Sato, Mitchell Stephens, and Garret Storms
CAST
Poet 1 – Shyama Nithiananda Poet 2 – Victoria A. Cruz Poet 3 – Garret Storms Poet 4 – Galen Sho Sato Poet 5 – Olivia de Guzman
Understudies: Kelsey Milbourn, Mitchell Stephens
PRODUCTION
Set and Prop Design –Allen Dean Lighting Design – Bryan Stevenson Costume Design – Yvonne Johnson Sound Design – Kellen Voss
Production Manager – Tiffany Cromwell Assistant Director – Mikaela Brooks Assistant Production Manager – Sabrina Alegria Projection Design – Karry Liu, Jen Schultes, Evan Michael Woods Videographer – Richard Massey Technical Director – Bryan Stevenson Photography – Evan Michael Woods Graphics/Web Design - Jen Schultes
Special thanks to: Southern Methodist University Texas Wesleyan Stage West Theatre George Miller Holli Price Jason Biggs Kelsey Milbourn Mitchell Stephens
Stage West is funded in part by the Arts Council of Fort Worth, the City of Fort Worth, the Texas Commission on the Arts, and The National Endowment for the Arts.
Stage West is a proud member of The Live Theatre League of Tarrant County (livetheatreleague.org)
ABOUT THE SHOW
Arthur Schopenhauer defined The Sublime this way:
“If we are very lucky, we may stumble into an experience so vast and terrible, it threatens to overwhelm the individual or reduce our existence on this planet to a mere speck. Desert landscapes, earthquakes, violent ocean storms, the starry night sky, are some examples of The Sublime.”
Schopenhauer listed five levels of The Sublime:
• Level One: Weakest Feeling of Sublime – Light reflected off stones. (Pleasure from beholding objects objects devoid of life) • Level Two: Weaker Feeling of Sublime – Endless desert with no movement. (Pleasure from seeing objects that could not sustain the life of the observer) • Level Three: Sublime – Turbulent Nature. (Pleasure from perceiving objects that threaten to hurt or destroy observer) • Level Four: Full Feeling of Sublime – Overpowering turbulent Nature. (Pleasure from beholding very violent, destructive objects) • Level Five: Fullest Feeling of Sublime – Immensity of Universe's extent or duration. (Pleasure from knowledge of observer's nothingness and oneness with Nature)
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION STAFF
KARA-LYNN VAENI (Director) is thrilled to return to Stage West. The last play she directed pre-Covid was The Children for Stage West, and this is the first play she has directed since Covid began, and she is really grateful to SW for their intense commitment to the arts and artists. Although most of 2020 is best forgotten, three exciting things that came out of it for Kara-Lynn were 1. Her play Shape won an NEA Grant, was named to the Kilroys List and she is scheduled to direct it in NY in June 2021. 2. She was named “Best Theatre Director in Dallas 2020” by the Dallas Observer, for which she received a heavy lucite/crystal award with her name on it. She carries it everywhere. 3. She adopted a dog named Daisy Mae and her life is much richer for it. She teaches Acting and Directing at SMU and Yale Summer Sessions. She’s been “finishing her website” since 2006.
TIFFANY CROMWELL (Production Manager) served as Production Manager for the first Moonrise Initiative production, The Naughty List, and also for Prism Movement Theater’s production of Everything Will Be Fine. She first worked with Stage West as Assistant Stage Manager for Ann, and has also been Stage Manager for October Playlets, Ada and the Engine, First Date, Lungs, Holmes and Watson, The Father, Everybody, An Octoroon, HIR, Like a Billion Likes, Life Sucks and Ann (remount), Assistant Director for A Funny Thing…, Dramaturg for Are You Now or Have You Ever Been…, and ASM for The Royal Society of Antarctica and Stupid F*cking Bird. She graduated from The University of Texas at Arlington with a BFA in Design and Technology. She also served as the Assistant Stage Manager at PCPA for several shows including Cinderella, The Pirates of Penzance and Richard III as well as Stage Manager for Much Ado About Nothing. Other credits include SM Intern for Dreamgirls at Dallas Theater Center, SM for Dallas Pride Festival and ASM for It Shoulda Been You at Uptown Players.
BRYAN STEVENSON (Lighting Designer) holds a BFA in Theatre from Texas Wesleyan University and an MFA in Design from University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. He has designed at many local theatre companies including Shakespeare in the Park, Stage West (including The Lifespan of a Fact, Holmes and Watson, An Octoroon, The Aliens and Bootycandy), Jubilee and Circle. Nationally Bryan designs for the Boy Scouts of America National Conferences and Shows. Bryan is an active participant in the United States Institute of Theatre Technology, where he has served on panels on lighting and scenic design. He is also a member Stagehands Union, IATSE local 126. He is currently Associate Professor, Designer, Technical Director, and Chair of Theatre at Texas Wesleyan.
ALLEN DEAN (Set Designer) is currently an Instructional Associate at Tarrant County College Northwest Campus and has been working professionally in the DFW theatre community for the past seven years as theatrical technician. In that time, he has worked with many theatre companies in the area including Jubilee Theatre, Lyric Stage, Stage West, Amphibian Stage, WaterTower Theatre, and many more. He received Bachelor of Arts from Texas Wesleyan University in 2013. He is now Stage West's Master Carpenter.
YVONNE JOHNSON (Costume Designer) made her costume design debut at Stage West with The Children. She is a Marine Corps veteran currently attending SMU’s M.F.A. Stage Design program & works in film, television, opera & theatre. She is the recent recipient of the Black Theatre Network’s Judy Dearing award for costume design & the Television Academy’s 2018 costume design internship winner. She is currently working on DTC’s Public Works Dallas Twelfth Night. www.yvonnejohnsondesigns.com
KELLEN VOSS (Sound Designer) most recently served as Stage West Sound Designer on The Children. He graduated from Full Sail University in Orlando with a degree in Recording Arts before moving to Dallas to work for a studio specializing in English dubs of anime films. He splits his time between theatre, film, television, music, and video game projects, including Dragonball Z and Borderlands 2. Favorite theatre credits include WaterTower Theatre’s Native Gardens, Discord, Bright Half Life, Lord of the Flies, Honky, Good People, Dogfight, The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical, and Sweet Charity, Kitchen Dog’s Trevor, A Stain Upon the Silence, I’m Gonna Pray for You So Hard, Wilde/Earnest, The Arsonists, Detroit and BBQ Apocalypse, Stage West’s Deer, Ann, The Nether, Explorer’s Club, and Wait Until Dark, Nouveau 47’s Metamorphosis II, Echo Theatre’s Precious Little, and Theatre Three’s Memphis (Dallas Column Award for Best Sound Design of a Musical), The Hot Mikado, On The Eve, and Hands on a Hardbody.
ABOUT THE CAST
VICTORIA A. CRUZ (Poet 2) First appearance at Stage West. Work outside Stage West includes: This is a Hoax and Men on Boats at SMU, original musical Savage at the Alys Stephen’s Center in Birmingham, AL.
OLIVIA DE GUZMAN (Poet 5) Work at Stage West includes: Christmas Eve in Avenue Q. Work outside Stage West includes: Gina in Office Hour (Circle Theatre), Gabby in King Liz (Amphibian Stage Productions), Yvonne in Miss Saigon (Casa Manana), Jenny in John (Undermain Theatre), Madam Satan in Doom McCoy (Ochre House Theatre, DFW Critics Forum Award 2019).
KELSEY MILBOURN (Understudy) Work at Stage West includes: Company in Everything Will Be Fine (Prism Movement Theater), Mash in Stupid F*cking Bird, Daphna in Bad Jews, Julia in The Rivals. Work outside Stage West includes: Miri in Everything is Wonderful (WaterTower Theatre), Stage Manager in Our Town, Legolas/Arwen in Fellowship! (Circle Theatre), Alicia in The Thanksgiving Play (Undermain), Lucrezia in A Lost Leonardo (Amphibian Stage Productions), 10-year artistic associate and cast member of Trinity Shakespeare Festival.
SHYAMA NITHIANANDA (Poet 1) First appearance at Stage West. Work outside Stage West includes: Bradley in Men on Boats, Thea in Spring Awakening (SMU Theatre).
GALEN SHO SATO (Poet 4) First appearance at Stage West. Work outside Stage West includes: Hamlet, A Lie of the Mind (Margo Jones Theater), Shakespeare in Love (Shakespeare Dallas), As You Like It (Greer Garson Theater), Romeo & Juliet (Redhouse Arts Center). Film/Television: Tomorrow’s End.
MITCHELL STEPHENS (Understudy) Work at Stage West includes: Company in Everything Will Be Fine (Prism Movement Theater), Malcolm in Bedroom Farce, Andrew the Waiter in Beyond Therapy. Work outside Stage West includes: Lucius/Strato in Julius Caesar, Antonio in The Merchant of Venice, Peter Simple in The Merry Wives of Windsor (all Trinity Shakespeare Festival), Nick Potter in Holiday, Angelo in Measure for Measure, Leon Czolgosz in Assassins, Ronnie in House of Blue Leaves (all Theatre TCU). Television/Film: Delivery.
GARRET STORMS (Poet 3) Work at Stage West includes: Actor: Lord Lovelace, Lord Byron in Ada and the Engine, Con in Stupid F*cking Bird, Liam in Bad Jews, Watson in The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence, Captain Jack Absolute in The Rivals, Leo in 4000 Miles, Gabriel in Gabriel, Nicholas Beckett in What the Butler Saw, Spinoza in New Jerusalem, Director: Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol, Hir, Like a Billion Likes, The Nether, Mr. Burns, a post-electric play, International Falls, and Orlando. Work outside Stage West includes: Timothy in Hand to God (WaterTower Theatre), Prior Walter in Angels in America, Part 1 and Part 2 (Uptown Players), Man in Lela & Co. (Second Thought Theatre), 4 seasons with Trinity Shakespeare Festival, co- conceiver and director of The Naughty List (Moonrise Initiative), among others. Other: Anime Voice-overs with FUNimation.
ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF
Dana Schultes, Executive Producer Mark Shum, Managing Director Garret Storms, Associate Producer Tiffany Cromwell, Company Manager Jen Schultes, Marketing Director/Graphics and Web Design Beth Bando Bontley, Director of Education Nick Burns, Sarah Cordell, Production Box Office Suzi McLaughlin, Information Karry Liu, Marketing Associate Tonya Wilson-Brown, Grants Pam Huie, Café Manager Arturo Limon, Café Chef
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
LARRY ANFIN, President NATHAN VASSEUR, Vice-President MAGGIE KNAPP, Secretary ETHAN STINSON, Treasurer BRONSON DAVIS, Immediate Past President
Shari Barnes Tracy Bristol Al Celaya Thomas Fairchild Subie Green Yvonne Johnson Mark Levine Tom McCraw David O’Brien, Jr. John G. Ripperton William T. Slater Carol Stanford Paul Sweitzer Randy Thomson