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2017 2018 IN THIS ISSUE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 Title Page . .2 . Cast . 3 Letter from Artistic Director David Ivers . 4. Letter from Managing Director Billy Russo . 5 Director’s Note . 6. An Interview with the Playwright . 7 The Cast . 10. The Creative Team . 13 Executive Leadership . .17 . About Arizona Theatre Company . 19 ATC Board of Trustees. 22 Donors . .23 . ATC Staff . 30. Theater Information. 32 The Herberger Theater Center, Arizona Theatre Company’s home in downtown Phoenix. Cover art by: ESSER DESIGN 1 2017 2018 David Ivers Billy Russo Artistic Director Managing Director THE RIVER BRIDE BY MARISELA TREVIÑO ORTA Kinan Valdez ............................................................ Director Regina Garcia ..................................................... Scenic Designer Rose Pederson .................................................. Costume Designer David Lee Cuthbert ................................... Lighting and Projection Designer Emiliano Valdez .................................................... Sound Designer Brian Jerome Peterson. .. Resident Sound Designer Gregory W. Towle. Associate Projections Designer Rosalinda Morales and Pauline O’con, CSA ................................... Casting Mindy B. Johnson* .................................................. Stage Manager Bruno Ingram* ..................................................... Stage Manager The River Bride was developed in residency with AlterTheater Ensemble, San Rafael, California. World Premiere Produced by Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Artistic Director Bill Rauch Executive Director Cynthia Rider On this original Arizona Theatre Company production, the ATC Production Staff is responsible for scenic construction, costume construction, lighting, projections, sound, props, furniture, wigs, scene painting and special effects. PRODUCTION SPONSOR: 2017/2018 SEASON SPONSORS: I. MICHAEL AND BETH KASSER 2 2017 2018 CAST (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) Paula Rebelo .................................................... Belmira Sarita Ocón* ..................................................... Helena Leandro Cano* ................................................. Sr. Costa Sean Burgos ..................................................... Duarte Dena Martinez* ............................................... Sra. Costa Hugo E. Carbajal* ................................................ Moises *Denotes members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. THERE WILL BE NO INTERMISSION. ADDITIONAL STAFF Tajh Oates. Assistant to the Stage Manager Tony Andrea ................................................. Scenic Design Assistant Joe C. Klug .................................................. Scenic Design Assistant David Morden ............................................ Voice and Dialect Consultant Brent Gibbs ................................................... Movement Consultant UNDERSTUDIES Marissa Medina Munter ........................................... Belmira Marissa Salazar ...................................... Helena and Sra. Costa Adam Grodman ................................................... Moises Alec Michael Coles ...................................... Duarte and Sr. Costa Arizona Theatre Company operates under agreements between the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States; Stage Directors and Choreographers, an independent national labor union; and United Scenic Artists Local USA-829, IATSE. The Actors and Stage Managers The Director is a member of the The Scenic, Costume, Lighting and employed in these productions are Stage Directors and Choreographers Sound Designers in LORT Theatres members of Actors’ Equity Association, Society, an independent national are represented by Union Scenic the Union of Professional Actors and labor union. Artists Local USA-829, IATSE. Stage Managers in the United States. To learn more about The River Bride, please visit the Learning & Education page on our website at arizonatheatre.org for a comprehensive free Play Guide. The Play Guide contains historical information, cultural context, and more. Cell phones and other devices that make a noise can greatly disturb your fellow audience members and the performers. PLEASE TURN THEM OFF before the performance. 3 2017 2018 LETTER FROM ARTISTIC DIRECTOR DAVID IVERS It’s a gift to bring Marisela Treviño Orta’s The River Brideback home. As the winner of Arizona Theatre Company’s 2013 National Latino Playwriting Award, it is an honor to have it fully real- ized on our stages. A hauntingly beautiful narrative, The River Brideborrows from Brazilian myth and folklore to remind us of the power and majesty of storytelling. I know you’ll find depth and value in the exploration of another culture’s look at love, loss, longing, and its deep connectivity to the natural (and unnatural?) world that surrounds the characters. At its core, The River Bride is both mysterious and universal; it asks important questions of family and loyalty as Ms. Orta writes with profoundly textured language to illuminate the balance between custom, tradition, expectations, and dreams. I hope you’ll share your feelings with us as we look toward telling universal stories that continue to engage new voices and new communities. It’s a distinct honor to have both the playwright Marisela Treviño Orta and director Kinan Valdez return to Arizona. They represent the very best our regional theatre has to offer: kind, generous of heart, adventurous, highly skilled, and fully committed to examining our world and accurately reflecting what it looks like. I am grateful to them both for bringing great vision and courage to their craft. Thank you for your generosity, too. We are moving ahead ourselves, and looking down our own metaphorical river with the hopes our hard work will continue to generate the kind of magic, faith, and belief so readily available in this beautiful production of this important new play. Wishing you well, David Ivers [email protected] Artistic Director Arizona Theatre Company 4 2017 2018 LETTER FROM MANAGING DIRECTOR BILLY RUSSO I am so thrilled to return to Arizona Theatre Company this year in the official capacity as Managing Director. I had the great privilege to meet many of ATC’s family of audience, donors, board, and staff during my time here over the last eighteen months as the executive management consultant and acting managing director. During that time, I came to have great affection for the Board of Trustees; the communities of both Tucson and Phoenix; and especially the talented, committed, and resilient staff of this great organization. During the search process for the new artistic leadership of the organization, I got to know David Ivers very well, and it became im- mediately clear that we had a shared vision of the value of ATC in the cultural life of Arizona and the immense opportunities for its future. That, added to my newfound love of living in the desert and the vibrant and varied cultural lives of Phoenix and Tucson, I was thrilled to be asked to join David as part of the new Executive Leadership of the organization. At the beginning of ATC’s 50th Anniversary Season, I witnessed a unique galvanization of the communities behind ATC, and the outpouring of support both financial and of friendship was beyond impressive and of a scale rarely seen in the American regional theatre industry. Because of such support, we were able to move forward with a season that was grounded in the belief that for an arts organization to thrive and be vital it must be brave and ambitious in its program- ming and – with fiscal responsibility – strive to bring its audiences work that is exciting in both scope and aspiration. We are thrilled to report that in the 2016/2017 season, subscription sales increased by over 16%, single tickets increased by 45%, the annual fund contributed income was 25% above the past ten-year average, and with the implementation of a multi-year Fund for Working Capital Campaign, the year ended with an operating surplus of nearly $1 million. All of this success and forward momentum could not have been possible without the stalwart support shown by the communities in Tucson and Phoenix, and across the whole state of Ari- zona. David Ivers and I are well aware that there is still a lot of work to be done to place ATC on a firm financial footing and to properly capitalize the organization’s operations, and we are thrilled to be embarking on this next chapter together from a position of strength and growth. We resolve to live up to that belief and vote of confidence. I’m sure you will be hearing from us in the near future about other ways you may engage with the company and support Arizona’s only fully professional producing theatre, but right now I just wanted to say thank you. With deep gratitude, Billy Russo [email protected] 5 2017 2018 A LETTER FROM KINAN VALDEZ Traversing the globe and transcending all boundaries with a force like water, the awesome power of storytelling sweeps across time and pours its riches into the rivers of human life with a grandeur as majestic as the mighty Amazon. As human beings, we are forever satiating our thirst at the timeless shores of story. Within its watery wells, we soak in the wonder and wisdom of lives lived eons ago as well as yesterday. We nourish our spirits and replenish our hearts seeking the knowledge gifted to us by our forbearers: human beings