TheatreWorks SILICON VALLEY The Demon Barber of Fleet Street October 2014 About TheatreWorks Volume 45, No. 3 TheatreWorks is proud to be celebrating its 45th anniversary producing award- winning theatre in Silicon Valley. Led by Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley and Managing Director Phil Santora, it presents a wide range of programming, Paul Heppner from mainstage productions to education programs and new works for the Publisher American theatre. Susan Peterson Design & Production Director Founded in 1970, the company continues to celebrate the human spirit and the Ana Alvira, Deb Choat, diversity of our community by nurturing new work, championing arts education, Robin Kessler, Kim Love Design and Production Artists and revitalizing the great works of the past. TheatreWorks has produced 64 Mike Hathaway world premieres and 150 US and regional premieres. In the 2014/15 season, Advertising Sales Director TheatreWorks adds the world premiere of The Great Pretender and three more Marty Griswold, regional premieres to its resume. Seattle Sales Director Joey Chapman, Gwendolyn Fairbanks, TheatreWorks’ 2013/14 season included the world premieres of The Loudest Ann Manning, Lenore Waldron Man on Earth, as well as regional premieres of Other Desert Cities, Warrior Seattle Area Account Executives Class, Silent Sky, and The Hound of the Baskervilles. The company also Staci Hyatt, Marilyn Kallins, Tia Mignonne, Terri Reed produced the musical Little Women, which became the second-highest selling San Francisco/Bay Area Account Executives show in TW’s history. In the course of the year, shows that debuted at TW Denise Wong played off-Broadway and at theatres throughout the US. Executive Sales Coordinator Jonathan Shipley With an annual operating budget of $8 million, TheatreWorks produces eight Ad Services Coordinator mainstage productions at the Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto and the Mountain www.encoremediagroup.com View Center for the Performing Arts. Fourteen years ago, TW launched the New Works Initiative, rededicating itself to the development of new works for the theatre. That program inspired The Mercury News to call the company “a premiere breeding ground for new musicals, which has put the company on the Paul Heppner national map.” The Initiative has developed over 130 new works through retreats, Publisher ENCORE workshops, staged readings, developmental productions, and the annual New Marty Griswold Associate Publisher Works Festival, offering plays and musicals in various stages of development. Leah Baltus TheatreWorks believes in making theatre accessible to the entire Silicon Valley Editor-in-Chief Dan Paulus community. As a part of these efforts, the TW Education Department reaches Art Director more than 35,000 students in 92 schools in 8 counties annually. It sponsors Jonathan Zwickel outreach programs that include the Children’s Healing Project at Lucile Packard Senior Editor E N R Children’s Hospital, the Young Playwright’s Initiative, specially-priced student E Gemma Wilson B N Associate Editor matinees, school tours, post-show discussions, and theatre camps, classes, and I V E K Amanda Manitach conservatories for youth. Y B Visual Arts Editor O T For more information on TheatreWorks’ 2014/15 season, New Works Festival, O Amanda Townsend H P / Events Coordinator and Education Programs, please visit theatreworks.org or call 650.463.1960. N A www.cityartsonline.com G G U D K I N & S AFFILIATIONS—TheatreWorks is a member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and operates under I W agreement between LORT and Actors’ Equity Association (AEA), the union of professional actors and stage E L L managers in the United States. TheatreWorks is a constituent member of Theatre Communications Group, Inc., E A Paul Heppner the national organization for the nonprofit professional theatre. TheatreWorks is a member of the National H C Alliance for Musical Theatre, a national service organization for musical theatre. In addition, TheatreWorks is a I President M C member of Theatre Bay Area, the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce, and the Mountain View Chamber of I Mike Hathaway N Commerce. TheatreWorks’ 2014/15 Season is presented in cooperation with the City of Mountain View and the I M Vice President City of Palo Alto, Community Services Department, Division of Arts and Sciences. O D Erin Johnston H T I Communications Manager The director is a member of the Society of W Stage Directors and Choreographers, Inc., D D Genay Genereux an independent national labor union. The O T Accounting scenic, costume, sound, and lighting Y E N designers are members of United Scenic E E Artists. This season is supported in part by W S Corporate Office an award from the National Endowment S th A 425 North 85 Street Seattle, WA 98103 for the Arts. L L E p 206.443.0445 f 206.443.1246 W D [email protected] U T S 800.308.2898 x105 J. Lohr is the official wine Garden Court is the official D I of TheatreWorks. V www.encoremediagroup.com hotel of TheatreWorks. A D : R Encore Arts Programs is published monthly by Encore Media E The Mercury News is TheatreWorks’ Hengehold Trucks is the official trucking provider of V Group to serve musical and theatrical events in Western O 2014/15 Season Media Sponsor. TheatreWorks. C Washington and the San Francisco Bay Area. All rights reserved. T N ©2014 Encore Media Group. Reproduction O R without written permission is prohibited. F 2 THEATREWORKS In this Issue From the Board Chair Welcome to Sweeney Todd, the classic Sondheim musical—one 2 About TheatreWorks that I have already enjoyed several times in the past. Years ago, a friend told me she wasn’t interested in seeing a particular play at 6 2014/15 SEASON TheatreWorks because she had already seen it in New York. At the time, her statement didn’t strike me as odd. Now that I have so many 8 New Apprentice Program more years of theatre-going behind me, I think she was missing an opportunity. The first time we see a show, it’s all new: the plot, the songs, the 9 Director’s Notes characters, the staging, the costumes. What would be the point of seeing it again? Seeing a performance of a show by one company at one point in time can be very 10 From Penny Dreadful to different from seeing it performed by a different company, with a different director, Hollywood—The Fascination cast, and designers, and in another era. A case in point is Emma, TheatreWorks’ best- with “Sweeney” attended show of all time and a particular favorite of mine. I have seen it performed in four venues by three companies, with three different sets, under two different directors. I love the show, but it is assuredly not the same every time. (I must say, with only a little bias, that my Emma experience taught me what a consummate director is our own Robert Kelley, director of tonight’s Sweeney Todd.) This is one of the beautiful truths about live theatre: it is different every time. Even within a given production, each performance will vary. But across productions, e.g. the original 1979 Broadway Sweeney Todd vs. this one, there is enormous variation. Tonight’s version is set in the 1940s, not the 1840s. Nightly bombings have driven the action below the London streets to an improvised shelter. There is a smaller cast, a different orchestration, a different perspective. More importantly, we are seeing it in the context of our world in 2014, not the 70s, or even the 90s when TheatreWorks first produced the show. It is the same dark, funny, thrilling musical I have seen before, but it is also a very new experience. By the way, if you enjoyed Emma, or you missed it several years ago, there is a special opportunity to see a memory-filled concert version of it at TheatreWorks’ 45th Anniversary Celebration on November 8. Forty-five years of amazing plays at TheatreWorks, and a new Emma experience. Like a new production of a play you’ve already seen—and loved—this is an event not to be missed! 11 City on Fire— The London Blitz Julie Kaufman 13 TheatreWorks presents SWEENEY TODD BOARD OF TRUSTEES Julie Kaufman, Chair 16 Who’s Who Jayne Booker Michael Kahn Loren Saxe Bill Coughran Robert Kelley Barbara Shapiro Jenny Dearborn Tom Kelley Nancy Ginsburg Stern 25 Contributors Susan Fairbrook Robin Kennedy Debra Summers Anne Hambly Mike Kwatinetz Lynn Szekely-Goode Judy Heyboer Ray A. Rothrock Mark Vershel TW Staff 28 Larry Horton Adam Samuels Holly Ward Lisa Jones Phil Santora Lisa Webster 30 TW General Information Derry Kabcenell Gayla Lorthridge Wood BOARD EMERITUS Nancy Meyer, Founder William F. Adler • Edward T. Anderson, MD • Doug Barry • Lauren Berman • Chuck Bernstein Continue the conversation online! • Sharon Anthony Bower • Michael Braun • Polly W. Bredt • Bruce C. Cozadd • Jeff Crowe • Peggy Dalal • Yogen Dalal • Michael R. Flicker • Peggy Woodford Forbes • Dan Garber • Become our fan! Doug Garland • Aaron Gershenberg • Marcia Goldman • Emeri Handler • Susan M. Huch • facebook.com/TheatreWorksSV Perry A. Irvine • Nancy Lee Jalonen • Gina Jorasch • Roberta R. Katz • Dick Maltzman • Follow us! Suzanne Martin • Don McDougall • Bruce McLeod • Cynthia S. Miller • Jeffrey Moore • Leslie Murphy-Chutorian • Eileen Nelson • Karen Nierenberg • Carrie Perzow • Carey Pickus twitter.com/TheatreWorksSV • Margot Mailliard Rawlins • John Reis • Eddie Reynolds • Sandi Risser • Lynn Wilson Roberts #SweeneyTodd • Denise Stanford • Rosina Lo Sun • James Sweeney • Cathie Thermond • Helaina Titus • Robert J. Van der Leest, MD • Ronni Watson • Elissa Wellikson 4 THEATREWORKS ad proofs.indd 1 9/4/14 11:06 AM TheatreWorks Join us for our S I L I C O N V A L L E Y PETER AND THE Peter and the STARCATCHER Book by Rick Elice Starcatcher Based on the novel by Dave Barry & Ridley Pearson Music by Wayne Barker Winner of 5 Tony Awards® A hilarious romp through the Neverland you never knew, this exhilarating prequel to Peter Pan will have you hooked from the moment your imagination takes flight.