The American Century Theater presents The American Century Theater presents

About The American Century Theater The American Century Theater was founded in 1994. We are a professional nonprofit theater company dedicated to presenting great, important, and worthy American plays of the twentieth century—what Henry Luce called “the American Century.” The company’s mission is one of rediscovery, enlightenment, and perspective, not nostalgia or preservation. Americans must not lose the extraordinary vision and wisdom of past playwrights, nor can we afford to surrender the moorings to our shared cultural heritage. July 23–August 21, 2010 Our mission is also driven by a conviction that communities need theater, and theater needs audiences. To those ends, this company is Gunston Theater II committed to producing plays that challenge and move all Americans, 2700 South Lang Street, Arlington VA of all ages, origins, and points of view. In particular, we strive to create theatrical experiences that entire families can watch, enjoy, and discuss Director Producer Stage Manager long afterward. Steven Scott Mazzola Sherri L. Perper Elena Maria Lower Scenic Design Lighting Design Sound Design Deborah Wheatley Andrew Griffin Matt Otto Board of Directors Costume Design Properties Design Technical Director/ Chair Wendy Kenney Frank Labovitz Suzanne Maloney Master Carpenter Vice-Chair Ann Marie Plubell Jason M. Beagle Treasurer Kimberly Ginn Board David T. Austern, Richard Barton, Scene synopsis Elizabeth Borgen, Rebecca Christy, Vivian Kallen, Jack Marshall, Kim-Scott Miller The setting is a suburb in Chicago in the 1970s. Staff Act 1 Scene 1—Afternoon in Carl and Mary’s home Jack Marshall CEO and Artistic Director Scene 2—Early evening of the same day in Gabby and Alex’s home Sherri L. Perper Producing Director Scene 3—Evening of the same day in Carl and Mary’s home Jason M. Beagle Rhonda Hill Scene 4—Later that same day in Carl and Mary’s home Rip Claassen Steven Scott Mazzola Scene 5—After midnight in Gabby and Alex’s home Brian Crane David Olmsted Act 2 The night after Halloween in Carl and Mary and Gabby and Alex’s homes Ellen Dempsey Ginny Tarris Kate Dorrell Emma Wolfarth, Intern There will be a 15-minute intermission. Tom Fuller There will be cigarette smoking onstage. Please—Silence and stow cell phones and other distracting devices. Become a fan of The American Century Theater on Facebook. The use of recording equipment and taking of photographs Keep up with shows, auditions, volunteer opportunities, podcasts, during the performance are strictly prohibited. videos, and more. www.AmericanCentury.org Produced by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc. Cast, in order of appearance Mary ...... Vanessa Bradchulis Carl ...... Hans Dettmar Alex ...... Theodore M. Snead Serenading Louie (1970) by Lanford Wilson Gabrielle ...... Robin Covington* As birth order often is remarkably (and unfairly) determinative of success in life, play order has a bizarrely powerful effect on the success and legacy Production staff of playwrights. Director ...... Steven Scott Mazzola Producer ...... Sherri L. Perper Those who, like Paul Zindel, have a huge critical and financial hit with Stage Manager ...... Elena Maria Lower their first play (in Zindel’s case, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the- Assistant Stage Manager ...... Ian Jordan Moon Marigolds), often find that the rest of their careers are stifled by the Scenic Design ...... Deborah Wheatley burden of high expectations, with critics and audiences unable to appreciate Lighting Design ...... Andrew Griffin subsequent works on their own merits and aspirations. But even more Sound Design ...... Matt Otto perplexing is the fate of playwrights who produce impressive, even brilliant Costume Design ...... Frank Labovitz works before they are fully appreciated. That appreciation usually comes Properties Design ...... Suzanne Maloney by way of the box office, not the critics, and then is projected only forward Technical Director/Master Carpenter ...... Jason M. Beagle . . . after all, it would not reflect well on our judgment to presume that we Sound Board Operator ...... Darlene Richardson hadn’t noticed a masterful artist in our midst. No, the playwright must have Master Electrician ...... Sarah MacKowski just become great, after wandering in the creative wilderness. Carpenter ...... Noel Greer Program Design and Cover Art ...... Michael Sherman In fact, it is not uncommon for playwrights to be producing superb works Production Photography ...... Dennis Deloria before their first commercial success, and this was certainly the case with Archivist ...... Kim-Scott Miller Lanford Wilson, born in 1937 and today recognized as one of America’s greatest living (or dead) playwrights. He had been writing plays for small playhouses since 1964, not reaching a major one until his Off-Broadway Special thanks to— debut, The Gingham Dog. Critics called it promising, well done; audiences Anacostia Community Boathouse Association went elsewhere. In 1970 he had two moderately well-received dramas: Jeffrey Akman Michael Kahn Lemon Sky, about a deteriorating father-son relationship, and Serenading David Alosi J.P. Matier Louie. Neither received sufficient attention to put Wilson on a Jeopardy! Karen Currie Andrew Schmadel board, but Hot L Baltimore, his 1973 portrait of life in a dingy New York Caitlin Jones Our great TACT volunteers hotel took the city by storm. It ran 1,166 performances, an Off-Broadway record for an American-written non-musical. *Equity Membership Candidate Now Wilson was, by definition, a major playwright. Recent studies have shown the remarkable power of “framing” on our judgment and Download the podcast consciousness: sophisticated wine experts will often judge a cheap wine Listen in as Artistic Director Jack Marshall discusses the TACT production in an expensive bottle superior to a great wine in a Gallo jug. With his of Serenading Louie with director Steven Scott Mazzola and actors creative wine under an appropriate label at last, Wilson was awarded two Vanessa Bradchulis, Robin Covington, Hans Dettmar, and Theodore M. Snead. Podcast available for listening or download at Pulitzer Prizes in rapid succession, for Talley’s Folly and The Fifth of July. http://www.americancentury.org/podcasts/TACT_LOUIE.mp3 continued It takes a while for the earlier works of great writers to be discovered, but often they find themselves evaluated with new respect. Novelists in recent years made millions reissuing works that pre-dated their first entry onto the New York Times Best Seller List: All of Dan Brown’s previously ignored Vanessa Bradchulis (Mary) is returning to theatre after a year-and-a- thrillers before The Da Vinci Code became best sellers the second time half hiatus working on her master’s degree. Theatrical credits include The Eccentricities of a Nightingale (The American Century Theater), Running around, as did John Grisham’s largely ignored first novel, A Time to Kill, in Circles Screaming (Source Festival), and All the Light in the World once he hit the jackpot with The Firm. and Sirens (Rorschach Theatre’s Myth Appropriation). She was recently seen in the following films: Red Light Music Video Project, Stagefright, It takes longer with plays, but forty years or more after they premiered, the Boxes, RADIO (which screened at the Venice Biennale Film Festival), pre-Hot L Baltimore works of Lanford Wilson have been finding their way and Fracture, which she wrote and directed. Vanessa is a graduate of The to more stages, and critics who initially neglected them have been forced National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts and US Army Basic Combat Medic Training, and is completing her MFA in Film and Electronic Media to admit that Wilson was a master before his masterpieces. The Rimers of at American University. Eldritch (1967) is being included in more theatrical seasons, and thanks Robin Covington* (Gabrielle) is glad to be back at TACT after her debut to an excellent 1980s Off-Broadway revival directed by John Malkovich, here early in the season as Sissy in A Piece of My Heart. Most recently, so is Wilson’s first full-length play, Balm in Gilead. Serenading Louie Robin stage managed for Taffety Punk’s Burn Your Bookes. Up next: she has recently begun to gather new admirers as well, and The American will be onstage with The Punks in Bootleg Shakespeare: The Two Noble Century Theater is proud to do its part to give audiences another chance to Kinsmen. She earned her BFA at Shenandoah Conservatory. appreciate one of the marvelous works that Lanford Wilson produced when Hans Dettmar (Carl) was last seen at TACT as Shultz in Stalag 17. Other nobody was paying attention. roles include Ludie in The Trip to Bountiful, Irwin in The History Boys, John Merrick in The Elephant Man (which earned a 2008 WATCH Award nomination for outstanding lead actor in a play), Cradeau in No Exit, Cohen —Jack Marshall, Artistic Director in The Underpants, and Chris in All My Sons. Musical theatre roles include John Dickinson (1776), Barber/Quixote u/s (Man of La Mancha), Emile DeBeque (South Pacific), and Harold Hill (The Music Man). Thanks to best friend, Marianne. Theodore M. Snead (Alex) was last seen at TACT in MacBird. Other Washington area credits include The Fall of the House of Usher (Synetic Theater), Breath, Boom (Studio Theatre Secondstage), Hapgood (Washington Shakespeare Company), The School for Scandal (Folger Theatre), The Sandstorm (MetroStage), Richard III (Shakespeare Theatre Company), Urban Legend (Source Festival), 4.48 Psychosis (Factory 449), Bartleby (Journeymen Theater Ensemble), and LA 8 AM, directed by Steven Scott Mazzola (Madcap Players). Credits also include Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train (Theater IV), The Wire (HBO), and Prince Among Slaves (PBS).

Steven Scott Mazzola (Director) has directed numerous productions for The American Century Theater, including Edward Albee’s Seascape, Thicker than Water (2008 Capitol Fringe Festival), The Eccentricities of a Nightingale, Drama Under the Influence: Celebrating Women *Equity Membership Candidate Playwrights of the Prohibition Era, The Autumn Garden, Tea and Frank Labovitz (Costume Design) has designed costumes for a number of Sympathy, A Flag is Born, The Second Man, Picnic, and Hotel Universe. DC area theatres, including Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Direction for other area theaters includes: The Lion, the Witch, and the Olney Theatre Center, Imagination Stage, Studio Theatre Secondstage, Wardrobe and The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stoopid Tales Theater J, Theater Alliance, Catalyst Theater Company, Rorschach Theatre, (Adventure Theatre); Assistant Director for Translations (Andrew Keegan Potomac Theatre Project, and National Players. Upcoming projects include Theatre, USA and Ireland productions); Cookin’ Up Numbers (2010 Something You Did (Theater J), Mojo (Studio Theatre Secondstage) and Capitol Fringe Festival); Lady Windemere’s Fan and The Philadelphia Junie B. Jones: Jingle Bells, Batman Smells (Imagination Stage). Frank Story (Little Theatre of Alexandria); The Wizard of Oz (Gay Men’s received his MFA in design from the University of Maryland. Chorus of Washington); The Village Fable (Imagination Stage); LA 8 AM Elena Maria Lower (Stage Manager) is thrilled to be working with TACT and Right Is the Hand (Madcap Players); The Heidi Chronicles, Twelfth for the first time. Her stage management experience includes guest SM for Night, Our Lady of Sandwich, and Tantalus (National Conservatory of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (College of William &Mary), and ASM Dramatic Arts); The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Round House for It’s Lonely Out in Space (Source Festival), Pinocchio (Opera Theatre Theatre); Assistant Director, Love’s Labor’s Lost (Shakespeare Theatre of Northern Virginia), ART, A Winter’s Tale, and Much Ado About Nothing Company at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford); Director, The (Virginia Shakespeare Festival). Elena María received BAs in Psychology Royal Hunt of the Sun and In the Summerhouse and Assistant Director, and Theatre from the College of W&M. Strange Interlude, and The Winter’s Tale (Washington Shakespeare Company); and Catch and Little Hero (Source Theatre Festival). Suzanne Maloney (Properties Design) has loved theater since she helped dress Guinevere for Camelot in 6th grade. Recent projects include props for Sherri L. Perper (Producer) joined The American Century Theater as Sycamore Trees at Signature and dramaturgy for The First Light Festival Producing Director after having produced their last-season hits, Native at Theatre of the First Amendment. Past productions with The American Son and Life With Father. Of the many shows she has produced in the DC Century Theater include Seascape, Machinal, The Time of Your Life, The theatre community, her favorites are The Wiz, Joseph and the Amazing Eccentricities of a Nightingale, and Emperor Jones. She looks forward Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, and A Midsummer to the next projects: designing props for Chess at Signature Theater and Night’s Dream. Sherri earned her MA in Arts Management from George directing Almost, Maine at the Vienna Theatre Company. Mason University. Matt Otto (Sound Design) designed sound for TACT’s productions of Jason M. Beagle (Technical Director/Master Carpenter) has worked Seascape, The Eccentricities of a Nightingale, and Ah, Wilderness! Other in many capacities for TACT. In addition to carpenter for many TACT credits include Dublin Carol and The Importance of Being Earnest (Scena productions, he produced The Titans, assistant directed Cops, was Theatre), Johnny Meister and The Stitch and Everything Between Us (Solas volunteer coordinator 2008–2009, and made his Washington metropolitan Nua), El Bola—Cuba’s King of Song, Momia En El Closet: The Return area directorial debut last fall with A Piece of My Heart. Jason has directed of Eva Perón, and El Mejor Alcalde El Rey (GALA Hispanic Theatre), at regional, university, and community theatres across the Midwest and Clybourne Park and K of D (Woolly Mammoth), Four of Us and Benidictus been a directing fellow at Shakespeare Theatre Company, where he assisted (Theatre J), Black Nativity, Five Flights, and Woman Who Amuses on productions of Five by Tenn, The Rivals, Much Ado About Nothing, and Herself (Theatre Alliance), Kafka’s Dick and House of Yes (Washington A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Jason earned a Masters in drama with a Shakespeare Company), Cinderella and Her Three Sisters and Godspell directing emphasis from the University of Montana. (Olney Theatre), and numerous shows at Imagination Stage. He holds a Andrew Griffin (Lighting Design) returns to TACT where he designed BFA in Sound Design from Boston University. Seascape, Native Son, and Ah, Wilderness! Other recent credits include Darlene Richardson (Sound Board Operator) is a graduate of the Dante with Synetic, The Receptionist with Studio, Marisol with Forum Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences, Tempe AZ. She holds a Theatre, and Brundibar with Michigan Opera Theatre Children’s Chorus. BA in Music Performance and Theory from Eastern Nazarene College, Andrew has created designs for Olney Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Quincy MA, where she was prop master for The Miracle Worker and Adventure Theatre (where he is resident artist), and Washington accompanist for Carousel. She has worked as an accompanist for the voice Shakespeare Company, as well as the Toledo Opera and Delaware studio of Jean Danton, was production assistant on an upcoming album Shakespeare Festival. He is resident Assistant Lighting Designer for from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, and was sound board operator for Michigan Opera Theatre in Detroit. TACT’s recent world premiere, Treadwell: Bright and Dark. The Players ($100–$249) continued Ellen and Stu Kennedy Daniel Ross Robert L. Kimmins Charline Rugen Alan King Robert F. Schiff Thank you to the many generous donors who provided support from July 1, 2009 Paul Klingenberg Diane Schroth through July 16, 2010. Nathan and MaryLynn Kotz John Seal Lou and Jane Kriser Henry Shields Group Theater Goers ($5,000+) Kathryn and Robert Krubsack Pat Spencer Smith Arlington Commission for the Arts Virginia Commission for the Arts David A. Lamdin Jean V. Smith Mary Ann Lawler and Neil Signom Jennifer Sosin and Adam Posen Provincetown Players ($2,500–$4,999) Margaret Lorenz The Hon. and Mrs. John M. Steadman David T. Austern Wendy and Bob Kenney Gudrun Luchsinger Barbara Stearns Winnie Macfarlan Robin Suppe-Blaney Theater Guilders ($1,000–$2,499) Angus and Sharon MacInnes David Tannous Anonymous Peri Mahaley Lory Manning Bonnie Williams and Bob Skelly Rebecca and Gene Christy Donald Adams and Ellen Maland Robert Half International Steve Cohen and Mary McGowan Eleanor Marshall John Dawson Sheldon and Marilyn Wallerstein The Federal Theater Funders ($10–$99) Robert DuBois Anonymous Phebe K. Masson Boris Cherney Evelyn and Milan Matey Mercury Theater Backers ($500–$999) Sally Hill Cooper Barbara and Kenneth McLean John Acton Marjie Mayer Mary Kay Davis Michael Meyers W. Seth Carus Constance McAdam Dorothea de Zafra Atwell Margaret Mulcahy Dennis Deloria and Suzanne Thouvenelle Patricia Payne Michael deBlois Undine and Carl Nash Tracy Fisher The Plubell Firm Donna Denney Thanh Nguyen Vivian and Arthur Kallen Alison Drucker and Tom Holzman Miah Olmsted Susan Duka Richard and Rebecca Pariseau Living Theater Lovers ($250–$499) William Erdmann Carol Parowski Jean and Richard Barton Andrew and Barbara McElwaine Timothy Farris Ruth and Charles Perry Pete and Cherry Baumbusch Robert J. and Mark L. McElwaine Charles Feingersh Susan Prytherch Jim Bertine and Sharon Galm Judith and David McGarvey Donna Feirtag Michael and Loretta Rowe R.G. Bowie Harriet McGuire Jay Fisette Dennis Ryan Marvin and Ellen Cantor Suzy Platt Cathy Garman Paolo Santanya Joya Cox Ann Marie Plubell Madi Green Sharon Schoumacher Ellen Dempsey and Lou George Rhoda Ritzenberg Jean Handsberry Susan and Ralph Shepard Gloria Dugan Bill and Connie Scruggs Bill and Donna Hannay Carole Shifrin Tom and Kathryn Fuller David and Willa Siegel Rachel Hecht Bertha Shostak Adriana Hardy Marcia Neuhaus Speck Alan Heckler Linda and William Smith Alan Herman and Irene Szopo Ginny Tarris Linda Hill and Paul Steinmetz James and Patricia Snyder Angela Hughes The Troy Foundation Terri Hillaert Robert L. Spatz IBM Frontis Wiggins Steve Hornstein Paul Stayert Sandra McElwaine Elaine Howell Kathryn Tatko Howard and Myrna Kaplan Marjorie Townsend The Players ($100–$249) Shirley Kostik Wilma Ucker Linda Allen and Ron Bass Janet and Marty Fadden R.M. Kraft George and Kay Wagner Cheryl Bailey Dr. Coralie Farlee Helen Kress Doug and Evelyn Watson Tom and Loretta Beaumont James and Maria Gentle Steven Laterra Adrienne White Sally Beth Berger Larry George and Brenda Pommerenke Sharon Leiser Carol and Henry Wolinsky Janet and David Bond Jean F. Getlein Mark Linton Lisa Zagaroli Elizabeth Borgen Gabe Goldberg James Mangi and Kathleen Schmidt Annette Zimin Ron Brandt Virginia Harris Martin Marks Alan and Susan Branigan Stephen Harrison David Briggs and John F. Benton Rhonda Hill Gerald Chapman Robert Honeygosky Donors-in-kind Wendy Cohen Roger and Katharine Hood Jason Beagle, The Burdette Smith Group, P.C., Brian Crane, Dennis Deloria, Robyn Dennis Thomas Hoya Ellen Dempsey, Kate Dorrell, Bill Gordon, Rhonda Hill, Jack Marshall, Scott Durloo Richard Kamenitzer Loren Platzman, Ann Marie Plubell The American Century Theater 2010–2011 Season Comedy, Romance, Suspense, and More! Paddy Chayefsky’s The Tenth Man (1959) A unique comic drama about a Jewish exorcism by TV Golden-Age legend Paddy Chayefsky, author of Marty and Network. Directed by William Aitken September 17–October 16, 2010 Chip Deffaa’s One Night with Fanny Brice This one-woman musical celebrates Brice’s personality and comic style with performances of her signature songs and 1920s-30s standards. Directed by Ellen Dempsey November 5–27, 2010 Eugene O’Neill’s Beyond the Horizon (1920) The tale of a tragic love triangle that won O’Neill his first Pulitzer Prize. Directed by Kathleen Akerley January 14–February 12, 2011 George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber’s Stage Door (1936) A full production of the classic saga of backstage intrigue in a boarding house full of ambitious actresses. April 8–May 7, 2011 Gore Vidal’s Visit to a Small Planet (1956) A satirical comedy about a confused visitor from outer-space whose perspective on human behavior is hilarious and thought-provoking Directed by Rip Claassen July 8–August 6, 2011

Serenading Louie is funded in part by Arlington County through the Cultural Affairs Division of the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Resources, and the Arlington Commission for the Arts.

This arts event is made possible in part by the Virginia Commission on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and our many generous donors.