National Players Tour 57

TOUR 63 Presenter Press Book Dear Presenter of the National Players 63rd Tour: This is your Press Book, containing complete program copy and information to help you with your Presentation of Tour 63. Please use these materials or paraphrase as you see fit. Any information that MUST be included in your program is notated as such. The company may be available, when in your area, for interviews. Please call Madeleine Russell, General Manager at 301.924.4485 x116 to make arrangements or if you have any questions. The following division of the Press Book should enable you to find what you might need: The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare Cast List and Credits Director’s Notes Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Cast List and Credits Director’s Notes National Players Information Company Biographies Director and Designer Biographies Olney Theatre Center Staff Listing A History of National Players On all programs, the following information must appear: National Players is a program of Olney Theatre Center. Olney Theatre Center is funded by an operating grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive. Funding for the Maryland State Arts Council is also provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, which believes that a great nation deserves great art. 2 The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare Directed by Clay Hopper, Associate Artistic Director Jim Petosa Amy Marshall Artistic Director Managing Director Set Design Costume Design Lighting Design Sound Design Meaghan Toohey Ivania Stack Sonya Dowhaluk Christopher Baine Actor Coach Performance Consultant Halo Wines William H. Graham, Sr. Assistant Director General Manager Michael R. Kelly Madeleine Russell Cast List Kate Alex Christine Highsmith Lucentio Casey Hoekstra Petruchio Patrick Hogan Vincentio Mat Leonard Bianca Eryn O'Sullivan Tranio Michael Pettey Gremio Sam Rabinovitz Baptista Marcus Salley Biondello/Widow/Curtis Spenser Smith Grumio Chad Tallon Hortensio Brian Vaughn There will be one 15-minute intermission. 3 A Note on the Play - The Taming of the Shrew The world of The Taming of the Shrew is one rife with classic comic situations: servants disguised as their masters, masters disguised as servants, young lovers deceiving their fathers, and joyful triple marriages. In this early comedy of his, Shakespeare masterfully draws inspiration from the Italian Renaissance theatrical tradition of commedia dell’arte, or “comedy of craft”, to provide his characters, situations, and settings for his play. Where the style of commedia was more of an improvisational tool for Italian actors to expand upon in performance, its characters were often two-dimensional in terms of emotional depth and personal discovery. Shakespeare takes these roughly drawn suggestions of archetypal characters and places them together into a fully cohesive play. However, what makes Shakespeare’s take on commedia truly original is the love story between two of the wittiest and fully realized characters of his early period: Petruchio and Kate. Their romance glows with dimension and detail, tucked neatly inside the commedia structure. Kate and Petruchio clash intellectually, spar physically and grow psychologically, revealing depth and humanity amidst the wacky and manic world that is The Taming of the Shrew. Michael Kelly, Assistant Director and Dramaturg 4 Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Directed by Jason King Jones Jim Petosa Amy Marshall Artistic Director Managing Director Set Design Costume Design Lighting Design Sound Design Meaghan Toohey Ivania Stack Sonya Dowhaluk Christopher Baine Actor Coach Performance Consultant Associate Artistic Director Halo Wines William H. Graham, Sr. Clay Hopper Assistant Director General Manager Michael R. Kelly Madeleine Russell Cast List Curley’s Wife Alex Christine Highsmith The Boss Casey Hoekstra Carlson Patrick Hogan Lennie Mat Leonard Curley’s Wife Eryn O'Sullivan George Michael Pettey Curley Sam Rabinovitz Crooks Marcus Salley Whit Spenser Smith Candy Chad Tallon Slim Brian Vaughn There will one 15 minute intermission. Original harmonica music by Eryn O’Sullivan. 5 Director’s Notes – Of Mice and Men “It is one of the paradoxes of Truth that we gain by giving up; we lose by greedily grasping. Every gain in virtue necessitates some loss in vice; every accession of holiness means some selfish pleasure yielded up; and every forward step on the path to Truth demands the forfeit of some self-assertive error. He who would be clothed in new garments must first cast away the old, and he who would find the True must sacrifice the false. The gardener digs in the weeds in order that they may feed, with their decay, the plants which are good for food; and the Tree of Wisdom can only flourish on the compost of uprooted follies. Growth/gain necessitates sacrifice/loss.” - James Allen “It is this Compassion alone which is the real basis of all voluntary justice and all genuine loving-kindness. Only so far as an action springs therefrom, has it moral value; and all conduct that proceeds from any other motive whatever has none. When once compassion is stirred within me, by another's pain, then his weal and woe go straight to my heart, exactly in the same way, if not always to the same degree, as otherwise I feel only my own. Consequently the difference between myself and him is no longer an absolute one. No doubt this operation is astonishing, indeed hardly comprehensible. It is, in fact, the great mystery of Ethics.” - Arthur Schopenhauer “It has always seemed strange to me... the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.” - John Steinbeck Jason King Jones 6 UNDER THE LIGHTS Alex Christine Highsmith (Kate/Curley’s Wife) is thrilled to be embarking on her first journey with the National Players! A native to Utah, Alex recently graduated with a BFA in Acting from Boston University’s College of Fine Arts where some of her favorite roles included Viola in Twelfth Night, Maggie Mundy in Dancing at Lughnasa and Hedda in Hedda Gabler. Casey Hoekstra (Lucentio/The Boss) is very excited to be joining the National Players in their 63rd season! Regionally, Casey has appeared on the stage at Georgia Shakespeare, as Ferdinand (The Tempest), Eros (Antony and Cleoparta), Dull (Love's Labour's Lost), Burgundy (King Lear), Demetrius (Titus Andronicus), and Biondello (Shrew: the Muscial!). He also had the pleasure of joining GA Shakespeare's Will on Wheels Tour, playing Romeo (Romeo and Juliet.) Casey recently graduated from the University of Minnesota with a BFA in Acting, through the Guthrie Theater Actor Training Program. Patrick Hogan (Petruchio/Carlson) is thrilled to be a part of the 63rd tour of the National players! He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2009 with a BA in Drama. While at UNC some of his favorite credits include Benedick in Much Ado about Nothing, Dennis in This is Our Youth, and Sgt Carlino in Wait until Dark. Recently he performed the role of Chris in Becky’s New Car at The Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte, and last summer he performed in The Lost Colony in Manteo, NC. He would like to thank his friends and family for their constant love and support. Mat Leonard (Vincentio/Lennie) is thrilled to be a part of The National Players 63rd tour. Recent roles include Meathead in Fallujah (Kennedy Center/ACTF), Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire, Joe Pitt in Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, and St. Peter in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. Mat recently graduated from Boston University with a B.A. in Psychology. Eryn O'Sullivan (Bianca/Curley’s Wife) is a 2011 graduate of Boston University with a BFA in Acting. Being involved in this 63rd tour of The National Players is a real honor, and she is delighted to bring theatre all over the country. Some of her favorite roles include Agnetha in Frozen, the title role in Hamlet, Paulina from The Winter's Tale, and Aunt Lila in Spring Storm, and Madame in The Maids. Michael Pettey (Tranio/George) is thrilled to be returning to the National Players after appearing in as Dogberry in Much ado About Nothing for tour 61. Recently, he played Agate in Waiting for Lefty at the 45th St. Theatre in New York City. Favorite credits include Katurian in The Pillowman, the Emcee in Cabaret and Dorsey in Parade. A Florida Arts Scholar Award winner, Michael received a B.F.A. in Acting from the University of Central Florida. Sam Rabinovitz (Gremio/Curley) is very excited to be returning to the National Players after completing Tour 62 where he played both Demetrius and Flute in A Midsummer Night’s Dream as well as Bellingham in The Scarlet Letter. This past summer he made his Capital Fringe Fest debut with the Grain of Sand Theatre Company playing Hamlet in their production of Hamlet: Reframed. Sam recently completed the American Shakespeare Center’s Professional Training 7 Program and is a graduate of the University of Virginia where he studied both Drama and Economics. Marcus Salley (Baptista/Crooks) is proud to be touring with the National Players. He recently graduated from Anderson University in Anderson, SC with a BA in Theatre and is excited to reach a new level in his acting career. His favorite credits include Macbeth in Macbeth, Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, Creon in Antigone, Lord Buckingham in Richard III, Joe Keller in All My Sons, and William Barfee in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Faulkland in The Rivals, Horatio in Hamlet, and Grumio in Taming of the Shrew.

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