The Royal Line of Thebes
or the ancient Greek audience, the fate of blinded himself and left the city of Thebes in disgrace. Antigone would have been common knowledge. His sons, Eteocles and Polyneices were elected co- The tragic poets took their stories from mytholo- rulers of the city and agreed to reign in alternate gy. The characters on the stage were the men, years. women and gods from a far-off time, but the an- As the story of Antigone begins, a bloody battle Fcient Greeks had an especially close relationship with has been waged in Thebes. Polyneices led an army history and an ap- against Eteocles, who preciation for their “Sorrows of the dead are heaped on sorrows of the living. refused to relinquish own mythology. Sorrows of the living are heaped on sorrows of the dead. the throne at the end Antigone was of his first term. born into a great, Generation cannot be freed by generation. Both brothers were but cursed family. But each is undeliverable, stricken by some god.” killed in the battle, Her father was —Chorus, Antigone and Antigone’s uncle, Oedipus, son of Creon, declared him- Laius and Jocasta, the rulers of Thebes, who were self King. As his first act of government Creon issued warned in prophecy that their son would murder his an edict declaring Polyneices a traitor and forbidding father and marry his mother. Although they took any person from burying his corpse. Antigone must steps to prevent it, the prophecy eventually came to choose whether to obey her King or bury her brother. pass. Once he learned of his fate, King Oedipus –Jennifer Kiger
Ares m. Aphrodite Agenor
Harmonica m. Cadmus (Founder of Thebes)
Laius m. Jocasta m. Creon m. Eurydice Oedipus
Eteocles Polyneices Ismene Antigone Haemon Megareus King of Thebes in Italics
Antigone •SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P3 Doing Justice to Antigone
by Brendan Kennelly loyal to my experience of life in Ireland, in the mod- ern world. We are all both limited and stimulated by hile writing Antigone I noticed that the char- such experience. Family life. Brothers and sisters. acters seemed to come more and more alive Fathers and mothers. Moments of love and hate. with each re-writing, as if, in this play Public life. Governments. Politicians. Rulers. Peo- where people are constantly judging others ple making speeches. People interested in power. and being in turn constantly judged, they People whose hearts and minds are moulded by Wwish themselves and what they believe and do to be power. People who betray, conspire and manipulate properly understood, to be accurately evaluated, to in order to achieve power. have justice done to them. Justice is of paramount So, in any serious, sustained attempt to “trans- importance in Antigone and it is frequently in conflict late” a play like Antigone, the conflict between the with reality. I would define justice as a vision of what past and the present in the mind of the translator is should prevail; reality I would define as the knowl- as real as any conflict in the play itself. We are all, to edge of what does prevail. Antigone is in the grip of some extent, creatures of conflict and, when we her vision of justice and she wants to make it reality. come to use words, we struggle to be true to our ex- Creon, too, is in the grip of his vision and he is deter- perience and understanding of that conflict. Conflict mined to make it prevail. But Antigone’s vision of is served by the language it creates. justice, love and loyalty is not Creon’s. The ancient, original Greek infiltrates life in We have a conflict of visions, a conflict of two modern Ireland. In many ways, the past shapes and passionate people, two living hearts, brought about, directs the present. The past educates and enlightens perhaps ironically, by the dead Polyneices, or rather the present. The present selects from that education, by attitudes among the living to the burial or non- that enlightenment, and makes its own way forward, burial of the corpse. Behind these conflicting atti- as we all must, into a future that can be known only tudes are a number of histories: histories of family re- by experiencing it, and then only partially, depending lationships, of personal values, of civil stability, of on our willingness to give ourselves with whatever political change, of the growth of power and effective passion we are capable of into the arms of every mo- government, of ideas concerning what actually con- ment that is waiting to be lived. stitutes civilised living. These histories are like insis- Antigone lives with passion because of her loy- tent, vigorous ghosts haunting every word that the alty to, and love for the dead. But in living out her characters say. This is a truly haunted play; the pres- love for her dead brother she loses her love for ence of the dead in the hearts and minds of the living Haemon, her living lover, Creon’s son. There is a is a fierce, driving and endlessly powerful force. This conflict between the claim of a dead brother and a presence haunts the language and makes it, at certain living lover. This conflict is resolved ‘in a black hole moments, tremble with a peculiar intensity. among the rocks’. Or is it? Will the consequences of At the end, one is left with more questions than what happens in that ‘black hole’ resonate among the answers. What is the deepest source of Antigone’s unborn, the Antigones, Creons and Haemons of the passion? What was Polyneices like? Why does future? The present is soon past. The future be- Antigone feel with such unquestioning and unques- comes the present. The mills of consequence grind tionable intensity about him? Are love and loyalty on. one and the same? What is Creon’s concept of loyal- Even now, after many re-writings, the more I ty? What is Ismene’s? What is Tiresias’s? Haemon’s? think about this play the more questions present What is the influence of the dead on the living? I’m themselves. That fact is, perhaps, the truest testimo- sure there are many people today who would reply— ny to the strange complexity and enduring attraction very little influence—very little indeed. But there are of Antigone. others who would reply in a very different vein. This version of Antigone tries to be true, to be loyal to my Excerpted from the end notes to Brendan Kennelly’s Antigone, pub- understanding of the Greek world; but it must also be lished by Bloodaxe Books, Ltd., Northumberland, 1996.
P4 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY • Antigone The Funeral Rite: Family Duties and the Afterlife
he ancient Greeks had distinct methods gods. When it came of burial, and it was often believed if time for the burial, you were not provided a proper burial before the dawn of along with the appropriate rituals, you the third day, the were destined to suffer between worlds body was taken to untilT your rites of passage into the under- the tomb by cart. world were completed. The men led the In classical Greece the burial rituals procession and the consisted of three parts. First there was women followed. At the internment, the corpse or ashes I shall vanish and be no more were placed in the But the land over which I now roam tomb along with Shall remain the grave goods of And change not. pottery, jewels, vases or other per- —Warrior song of the Hethúshka Society sonal property. Along with these gifts, offerings of prosthesis, or laying out of the body. The fruit were made women washed, anointed, dressed, and the mourners crowned, covered the body and adorned it sang and danced. with flowers. The Beginning in mouth and eyes Classical times [in were shut to pre- the era when vent the psyche Sophocles wrote (phantom or soul) Antigone] there from leaving the came to be a concept of punishment after body before re- death or a state of blessedness. The soul re- ceiving the proper sponsible for a person’s personality and burial rites and the moral decisions received eternal punishment corpse was dressed or bliss for the choices of the human form. in a long, ankle- The burial rituals perhaps spawned this be- length garment. lief that the soul must be guided to the af- The body was pre- terlife. If the body was not given a proper sented so it could burial, according to Greek ritual, the soul be viewed for two would remain trapped between the worlds days. At the view- of the living and the underworld. ings, the mour-ners Excerpted from Kristina Bagwell’s dressed in black in “Burial Rituals and the Afterlife of honor of the de- Ancient Greece” ceased and the women stood at the head of the couch to Left, the Northeast wind and the West wind grieve and sing while carry away the dead body of a young soldier to his grave. Above, the goddess Athene stands in the men stood with sorrow over a monument to the Athenian dead. their palms out to the
Antigone •SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P5 ‘Antigone’ in America
ntigone holds the pride of place for being the At the 1946 staging of Anouilh’s Antigone, most very first Greek tragedy ever offered as a com- drama critics were reluctant to recognize the possibili- mercial venture in this country. In 1845 a New ty that an ancient play could have modern political York businessman, hoping to inaugurate the meaning. While both brave and relevant to a French production of serious drama in a city then de- audience under Nazi occupation, Antigone’s protest Alighting in melodrama and spectacle, chose to mount had no meaning to an American audience never held Sophocles’ play as his initial offering. Thus did Mr. by a foreign power and free of military concerns. […] Dinneford rent Palmo’s Opera House and open with Antigone, which was to become a viable statement for Antigone on 7 April 1845. later decades, did not appeal in 1946, or, at least, did In spite of the preshow publicity and anticipa- not appeal in Jean Anouilh’s updated interpretation. tion, the play did not delight its audience. Albion’s re- We cannot know if the Sophoclean text the critics viewer, writing claimed they missed would on 12 April have had any greater populari- 1845, could ty, for the play was not staged not hide the again in the commercial the- show’s failure. atres of the United States for Although some twenty years. done “in a It was not until the 1970s style of classi- that Sopho- cal elegance cles’ script be- that should Walt Span- came a popu- gler’s set have insured models for lar text for the the represen- SCR’s con- commercial tation perfect temporary stage, but a success,” the production of 1969 produc- play was cold- Antigone.’ tion on the ly received. The critic University of suggested first of all Southern Cali- that the physical setting fornia campus of the indoor chamber in Los Angeles theatre was not suited by the Living for Greek tragedy, Theatre might which was created to be noted. This be performed outside in Antigone was vast open spaces. Sec- “Judith Mali- ond, he blamed both the ac- na’s version of tors, unused to speaking in Brecht’s version a tragic style, and an audi- of Holderlin’s ence, unused to hearing it, version of Sopho- for the show’s lack of popu- cles’ Antigone,” larity. Finally, Miss Claren- to quote Dan Sul- don, playing the title role, was disappointing. She livan’s review in the Los Angeles Times (1 March was not able “to grasp the character of the noble and 1969), which, despite its “layers of authorship [was devoted Antigone.” Thus despite Dinneford’s reduc- close] to the original.” Sullivan continued, “[The play] tion of the ticket price, the curtain fell on the produc- may be the most effective weapon the company has tion after barely two weeks. New York City was not in spreading its message of revolution.” to see another Antigone for well over a century. In May 1971 the Repertory Theatre of Lincoln
P6 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY • Antigone Center opened Antigone at the Vivian Beaumont as Sophocles’ Antigone has had relevance for the the final offering in their season, and the critics vied American theatre when the national mood favored ei- in their praise of the production. What nearly every ther political resistance or the expression of personal critic found important to emphasize was the play’s freedom. While Antigone is a young girl, she is able complete relevance to the modern world. Richard to speak for those who wish to highlight women’s Watts (New York Post, 14 May 1971) claimed it was rel- courage and integrity. The cause for which she dies evant and timely, while S.K. Overbeck (Newsweek, 24 in Sophocles’ text, the right of burial, is no longer an May 1971) elaborated on the theme: “Antigone…res- issue, but her stand against political abuse of power onates with so much contemporary relevance one remains a burning concern. Creon learns through suf- feels batted back and forth between antiquity and fering in this play, but it is pain that recoils upon him today’s headlines…Thoughts come crowding in of Sis- for his own actions, while Antigone’s suicide stains terhood, the Panthers, the Berrigans, Weathermen, etc. the ruler’s hands. Both mythic figures offer a message and you almost expect Creon to spread his palms and to any world where basic rights are trampled under say, ‘Let me make one thing perfectly clear’.” political ambition. Equally assertive was Stewart Klein (WNEW, 13 Karelisa V. Hartigan May 1971), who announced: “Antigone burns with immediacy! Excerpted from Greek Tragedy on the American Stage: Ancient Drama in the Commercial Theater, 1882-1994 Timeless in its wisdom, raw in its (Greenwood Press, Westport, CT: 1995). relevance. Its issues might have come out of today’s newspapers. Should be seen by everyone, es- The Living Theatre’s 1969 production of pecially, by every office holder ‘Antigone.’ Left, Judith Malina as Antigone in Washington!” mourning Polyneices. Below left, Antigone against the system. Below Malina with Ju- Echoes of Anouilh’s 1943 lian Beck as Creon. version have reappeared in more contemporary adaptations, e.g. Athol Fugard’s The Island (1973), wherein prison inmates stage Antigone to point out their harsh guard’s repression, or the version in Creole by Haiti’s foremost poet, Felix Morisseau-Leroy. And Antigone Africanus [sic], created by Joseph Walker and staged at Howard Uni- versity, transferred the story to Africa, a concept that emphasizes its univer- sality. In the 1980s, the ap- peal of Antigone lay less in her battle against Creon’s autocracy and more in her assertion of personal belief: the young woman is willing to die for what she holds to be true. In a world that seems to have lost its moral center, Antigone’s proud struggle offers a model not found in hero- ines of more contempo- rary scripts.
Antigone •SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P7 Greece and the Theatre
n the sixth and fifth centuries before the birth of Christ an ancient civilization reached such heights of intellectual and artistic achievement that every suc- ceeding period of Western culture, from the Roman Empire to the twentieth century, has been heavily in Iits debt, whether acknowledged or not. Those momen- tous years saw the beginnings of history and political theory (as well as political democracy) and the devel- opment of philosophical thought. In those years archi- tects designed the temples which have dominated over our concept of physical building ever since, and sculp- tors imposed on us an ideal version of the human form which remains the point of reference even for those artists who turn against it. Not least among the achievements of this great age was the invention and perfection of an artistic medium which we take so un- thinkingly for granted that we cannot imagine civilized life without it—theatre. […] The audience was, by our standards, immense; the theatre building of the late fifth century, to judge where they could change masks as well as costumes, to from its ruins, could seat between fourteen and fifteen assume a different role. […] The masks (which made it thousand spectators. They sat on rows that rise one possible for the male actors to play female parts as well above the other on the rocky southeastern slope of the as play more than one character) were not the Acropolis and border, for half of its circumference, a grotesque caricatures we know from modern theatre circular dancing floor behind which stood a wooden decorations; contemporary vase paintings show that stage building. This was the actors’ changing room, they were naturalistic representations of types—beard- ed king, old man, young girl, and so on. The play of facial expres- sions we expect from our actors was in any case ruled out in an open-air theatre where the top row of spectators was over fifty-five yards away from the stage area; in- dividuality of character had to be created by the poet’s word and the actor’s delivery and gesture. By the end of the century the parts were played by professional actors, three for each tragedy, as- signed to the dramatists by the magistrate in charge of the festival.
A fragment of a crater, above, de- picting a costumed actor holding a mask. The god of wine and the- atre, Dionysus, visits a dramatic poet, left.
P8 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY • Antigone The dramatist who composed and produced the new plays for such an occasion was in a situation unique in the history of the theatre. An audience of some fourteen thousand citizens, conscious of the religious solemnity of the occasion and the glory it reflected on the Above, a carving depicting an ancient Greek “chorus,” city and the individuals responsi- dancers and musicians celebrating an offering or perhaps ble, packed in the benches of the theatre to hear, as the war. Below, these tokens seem to be the theatre tickets sun rose, the first lines of the play. A modern reader of ancient Greece. The letters refer to the sections of might expect that a theatre such as this would produce benches. drama that was, to use a cant phrase, “relevant, living theatre,” based on contemporary themes—with no Aeschylus, the first great dramatist, acted holds barred—in which prominent statesmen and in his own plays; Sophocles followed his individual citizens were held up to ridicule in a example but then, we are told, aban- style that few modern states would permit. But doned the stage because his voice was the first three plays of the day’s performance not strong enough. His younger contem- were tragedy, and here, with very few exceptions, porary and competitor, Euripides, never, the figures who walked the stage, far from being as far as we know, appeared on stage. contemporary were men, women and gods from In addition to actors and spectators, there the far-off past, from the dim beginnings of the was a third element of the performance, one older than youth of the race—an age of heroes and either of these two. It was the chorus—a heroines, the legends of the beginnings of Greek word that means “dance”; the the Greek world. The stuff from which the chorus of Greek tragedies sang, but it tragic poet made his plays was not con- was also and has been in origin a group temporary reality but myth. And yet it did of dancers. The way Greek theatres are reflect contemporary reality, did so perhaps in built shows how central to the perfor- terms more authoritative because they were not colored mance the chorus was; the rows of stone benches by the partisan emotions of the time, terms one below the other all the way down the hillside which were in fact so authoritative that they focus the spectators’ vision not on the stage area remain meaningful even for us today. but on the circular dancing floor. –Bernard Knox Drama as we know it was created when an Athenian named Thespis added the dance and Excerpted from the Introduction to the Penguin edi- song of the chorus to the speech of the actor. tion of Sophocles: The Three Theban Plays (Penguin Books, New York: 1982). With the addition of a second actor, the performers could develop a sort of dra- matic narrative—actor to chorus—to a dramatic relationship—actor to actor— or even dramatic conflict—actor against actor. This second actor was intro- duced by Aeschylus, and it is this inno- vation that entitles him to be called, as he often has been, the creator of tragedy. When Sophocles later added a third actor, the complicated play of relationships between actors came to dominate the scene, reducing the role of chorus to that of commentator, where before it had been active partici- pant. But the chorus was always there, and it has an important function: it is an emotional bridge between specta- Amphitheatre at Epidauros, built 400 BC. tors and actors.
Antigone •SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P9 ALYSSA BRESNAHAN NAMBI E. KELLEY HAL LANDON JR. Antigone Ismene/Chorus Tiresias/Chorus
Artist Biographies
*ALYSSA BRESNAHAN (Antigone) *NAMBI E. KELLEY (Ismene/ Cho- *HAL LANDON JR. (Tiresias/Cho- is making her SCR debut. She has rus) is making her SCR debut. rus) is an SCR Founding Artist appeared in New York as Lady She has appeared at Steppenwolf who recently appeared in The Macbeth in Macbeth at the Classic Theatre in Chicago in Nikki Gio- Drawer Boy, Two Gentlemen of Stage Company, Iphegenia in vanni: New Song for a New Day Verona, Major Barbara, Getting Iphegenia in Taurus at LaMaMa, and at the School at Steppenwolf Frankie Married—and After- and Madeline in The Clearing at in Come Back to the Five and wards, The School for Wives, Blue Light Theatre. At the Hart- Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, Much Ado about Nothing, Enter- ford Stage she appeared as Max- The Marriage of Bette & Boo and taining Mr. Sloane, The Hollow ine in The Night of the Iguana, Balm in Gilead. Other regional Lands, True West, Play Strindberg, Jalena in Necessary Targets and credits include Drowning Crow Tartuffe and Ah, Wilderness! Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire. and Mirror of the Invisible World Other credits include Arcadia, Other theatre credits include The at the Goodman, The Old Settler Our Town, Sidney Bechet Killed a Rose Tattoo at the Goodman The- at Long Beach Playhouse and Man, BAFO, Six Degrees of Sepa- ater, Three Days of Rain at the Concerto Chicago and The ration, An Ideal Husband, A Mess Westport Playhouse and Tantalus Sovereign State of Boogedy of Plays by Chris Durang, The at the Denver Theatre Center, UK Boogedy at the Victory Gardens Things You Don’t Know, Faith tour and Barbicon Theatre, Lon- Theatre. Film credits include Bel Healer, Ghost in the Machine, don. Film and television appear- Air, Whipped, Shooting Stars and Green Icebergs, Morning’s at ances include an American Mas- Soul Food. Television credits in- Seven, Dancing at Lughnasa, The ters production of The Crucible (as clude “L.A. Dragnet,” “Strong Miser, Our Country’s Good and Elizabeth Proctor), a BBC film, Medicine,” “Early Edition” and Waiting for Godot. He created the Playing Shakespeare (opposite “City of Angels.” She is also a role of Ebenezer Scrooge in SCR’s Kevin Kline) and a recent guest produced, published, and award A Christmas Carol, and has per- star role on “Law and Order.” winning playwright. formed it in all 24 annual produc-
P10 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY • Antigone ALLAN LOUIS HENRI LUBATTI RANDLE MELL Chorus Leader Guard/Chorus Creon tions. He appeared in Leander appeared at the Old Globe as the “Kingpin,” “Nash Bridges” and Stillwell at the Mark Taper Forum Dauphin in Henry V, at Seattle “Law and Order.” and in Henry V at the Globe The- Repertory in An Ideal Husband atres in San Diego. Other resident and An American Daughter, and *JACQUES C. SMITH (Messenger/ theatre roles include Salieri in at Intiman Theatre in Ghosts, Chorus) is happy to be making Amadeus, Malvolio in Twelfth among others. His film and tele- his SCR debut after having played Night and Gordon Miller in Room vision work includes Last Ride, the role of Benny in the Broad- Service. Among his film credits Nowheresville and Prefontaine, way production of Rent. He was are Trespass, Pacific Heights, Al- and as a guest star on “Provi- also featured in the HBO original most an Angel, Bill and Ted’s Ex- dence,” “24,” “Dark Angel,” “Spin series “OZ”, where he played cellent Adventure and Playing by City,” “The Practice,” “E.R.” and Leroy Tidd for two seasons. Heart. Television credits include “Strong Medicine.” Other television credits include a recent episode of “Frasier.” “ER,” “Law & Order,” PBS’s *RANDLE MELL (Creon) is making Emmy-winning American Masters *ALLAN LOUIS (Chorus Leader) is his SCR debut. He has appeared series “Ralph Ellison: An Ameri- making his SCR debut. He has on Broadway in Scott Ellis’ stag- can Journey” (portraying the title appeared in Los Angeles in Rag- ing of The Rainmaker, in Zoe character of Ellison’s novel Invisi- time and in the Reprise! produc- Caldwell’s staging of Macbeth and ble Man), “The Division” and the tion of Hair, and in regional pro- in Michael Blakemore’s Noises Off. documentary Roots - Celebrating ductions of A Raisin in the Sun Off-Broadway credits include The 25 Years: The Saga of an Ameri- (Milwaukee Repertory), Hamlet Cradle Will Rock (Drama Desk can Classic. Some of this other and Rosencrantz and Gildenstern Award nomination), The Crucible, stage credits include work at are Dead (Florida Shakespeare), Savage in Limbo and Weekend many theatres around the country Exit the King and Black Star Line Near Madison. Regional theatre such as Paper Mill Playhouse (Goodman Theatre) and Ain’t credits include Closer at the Mark (NJ), Coconut Grove Playhouse Misbehavin’ at M.E.T. His films Taper Forum, The Glass (FL), La Jolla Playhouse, Arizona include Unforgettable (as Nat King Menagerie at La Jolla Playhouse, Theatre Center, Pasadena Play- Cole), Tear it Down, Cool Crime Crime and Punishment at Arena house, San Diego Repertory and and Pro. He has appeared on Stage and The Three Sisters at the Illinois Theatre Center among television in “NYPD Blue,” “City Guthrie Theatre. His films in- others. California theatre audi- of Angels,” “Martin,” “Sparks” and clude Cookie’s Fortune, The Post- ences saw him most recently in “The Jamie Foxx Show.” man, Wyatt Earp, Grand Canyon, the West Coast Premiere of Blue City of Hope, Eight Men Out and at the Pasadena Playhouse. In *HENRI LUBATTI (Guard/Chorus) Fearless. He has appeared on addition to his acting work, he is is making his SCR debut. He has television in “Dragnet,” “24,” a charter member of the Broad-
Antigone •SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P11 JACQUES C. SMITH ERIC D. STEINBERG DEBORAH VAN VALKENBURGH Messenger/Chorus Haemon/Chorus Eurydice/Chorus
way Inspirational Voices. He is a Other theatre work includes Hair Jumping for Joy at the Laguna graduate of Princeton University on Broadway and projects for Playhouse, The Beauty Queen of (BA) and University of California, Manhattan Theatre Club and La Leenane at San Diego Repertory, San Diego (MFA). “I will lift up MAMA in New York City; Hello Picasso at the Lapin Agile at ACT my eyes to the hills...” Again at the Blank Theatre Com- and many other productions for pany, The First Picture Show at theatres nationwide. Film and *ERIC D. STEINBERG (Haemon/ the Mark Taper Forum, Club Ter- television work includes “Too Chorus) appeared at SCR in Ghost mina at LATC in Los Angeles, Close for Comfort,” The Warriors, in the Machine, Ballad of Streets of Fire, Rampage, Free En- Yachiyo and the Pacific Play- AARON terprise, Fire Starter II, Venus wrights Festival reading of 99 MISAKIAN Conspiracy and Criminal for Histories. He is an actor and (Chorus) is Clooney/Soderbergh’s Section artist originally from Washington, making his SCR Eight. D.C. Mr. Steinberg received a debut. Theatri- B.A. in philosophy and literature cal credits in- PLAYWRIGHT, from University of Vermont and clude The Tro- DIRECTOR & DESIGNERS two years of an MFA fellowship jan Women under the di- at UC Irvine. Since then he has (Translator) rection of Mark Wing Davey, in as- BRENDAN KENNELLY worked in repertory theatre, tele- sociation with the NYU graduate is one of Ireland’s most distin- vision and film internationally. program; Angels in America guished poets. He achieved inter- Theatre work includes many per- (Louis); and Twelfth Night at Tina national recognition with his formances at the Mark Taper Packer’s Shakes & Co. Last winter shocking poem, Cromwell, follow- Forum, the Ahmanson, Actor’s he starred in the American debut of ing this with the even more noto- Theatre of Louisville, the Intiman The Belgrade Trilogy. Film and rious Book of Judas, which topped and ACT in Seattle among others. television credits include “8 Simple the Irish bestsellers list. Its sequel, Currently shuttling between Rules” and a new independent film Poetry my Arse, out-Judassed coasts, he is happy to return to entitled Seafood Heaven. He holds Cromwell, sinking its teeth into the west and SCR and to work a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Hon- the pants of poetry itself. He has ors in acting from NYU/Tisch. with Kate and so many talented published over 20 other books of artists. The role of Boy is played in alter- poetry as well as four verse plays, nating performances by MASON two novels and a substantial body *DEBORAH VAN VALKENBURGH ACEVEDO and CONNER THOMSEN, stu- of criticism. He is a renowned ed- (Eurydice/Chorus) appeared at dents in South Coast Repertory’s itor and anthologist, and is Profes- SCR in If We Are Women, Old Young Conservatory. sor of Modern Literature at Trinity Times and Dancing at Lughnasa. College, Dublin.
P12 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY • Antigone KATE WHORISKEY (Director) re- The Hothouse, Mojo and An Adult Hartford Stage Company, Ameri- turns to South Coast Repertory, Evening of Shel Silverstein (At- can Repertory Theatre, The where she directed the world lantic Theater Company); and The Shakespeare Theatre, Berkeley premiere of Intimate Apparel last Wax (Playwrights Horizons). Re- Repertory Theatre, The Old season. She has served as an gional credits include designs for Globe, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Artistic Associate at La Jolla Play- The Pajama Game, Short Plays by Actors Theatre of Louisville, Hunt- house and is currently Artistic As- Thornton Wilder and for colored ington Theatre Company, sociate at Intiman Theatre girls... at Center Stage; Ghosts, Williamstown Theatre Festival, through a TCG New Generations The Winter’s Tale, The Duchess of and many others. Internationally, Grant. Her regional credits in- Malfi, Hedda Gabler and Cori- his designs have been seen at clude The Rose Tattoo and the olanus for The Shakespeare The- Royal National Theatre of Great world premiere of Drowning atre; as well as productions at Britain, Royal Court Theatre, and Crow at Goodman Theatre, The The Goodman Theatre, Long Lyric Theatre Hammersmith (Lon- Master Builder at American Wharf Theatre, Actors Theatre of don), Edinburgh Festival (Scot- Repertory Theatre, Lady from the Louisville, Yale Repertory Theatre, land), Adelaide Festival (Aus- Sea and The Chairs at Intiman Dallas Theater Center, Hartford tralia), Theatre Spektakel Zurcher, Theatre and Desire Under the Stage Company, Prince Music Theatre Neumarkt (Zurich), Rot- Elms at Perseverance Theatre. Theater and Goodspeed Opera. terdamse Schouwburg (Rotter- She has worked with writers Mr. Spangler is a graduate of the dam), Sommertheater Festival Regina Taylor and Michael On- Yale School of Drama. (Hamburg), INTRANSIT (Berlin), daatje. Upcoming projects in- Schauspielhaus (Vienna), Theatre- clude Heartbreak House at the SCOTT ZIELINSKI (Lighting Works (Singapore) and Fukuoka Goodman Theatre and the world Design) returns to SCR where he (Japan). His designs for dance premiere of Lynn Nottage’s Fabu- designed the world premieres of include the Joyce Theater, lation at Playwrights Horizons. Intimate Apparel and On The Kennedy Center Modern Dance Ms. Whoriskey is a graduate of Jump. He designed Topdog/Un- Festival, and American Dance NYU-Tisch School of the Arts and derdog for Broadway. Other Festival (with Twyla Tharp); ART’s Institute for Advanced The- New York credits include produc- American Ballet Theatre; National atre Training. A recipient of an tions at Lincoln Center, Public Ballet of Canada; and the San NEA/TCG Director’s Fellowship, Theater, Theatre for a New Audi- Francisco, Boston, and Kansas she has also acted as a visiting ence, Manhattan Theatre Club, City ballets. Mr. Zielinski’s opera professor at UC Davis. Playwrights Horizons, New York credits include the Brooklyn Theatre Workshop, Ontological- Academy of Music; Houston WALT SPANGLER (Set/Costume Hysteric Theater (with Richard Grand Opera; New York, Min- Design) made his SCR debut last Foreman), Signature Theatre nesota, Pittsburgh, Berkshire Op- season with Intimate Apparel. Company, Classic Stage Company eras; Opera Colorado; Spoleto Broadway credits include Holly- and others. Highlights of his ex- Festival USA; and others. wood Arms. Off-Broadway cred- tensive regional credits include its include sets for Boston Mar- Guthrie Theater, Mark Taper ROB MILBURN and MICHAEL riage, Twelfth Night and Blue Forum, Goodman Theatre, Step- BODEEN (Composers/Sound De- Surge (The Public Theater/NYSF); penwolf Theatre Company, Arena sign) Broadway credits include Dublin Carol, The Water Engine, Stage, Baltimore Center Stage, music compositions and sound
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Antigone •SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P13 for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s St. Louis; Long Wharf Theatre in Year. Most recently he received Nest, My Thing of Love, The Speed New Haven; Pittsburgh Public the 1999 Artistic Achievement of Darkness and sound designs Theater; The Philadelphia Theatre Award from the Chicago National for A Year with Frog and Toad, Company; ACT in San Francisco Association of Dance Masters and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, King and the Mark Taper Forum and the 1999/2000 Black Theatre Al- Hedley II, Buried Child, The Rise the Ahmanson in L.A. Interna- liance Award for Best Choreogra- and Fall of Little Voice, The Song tionally their work includes music phy. Using elements of ballet, of Jacob Zulu and The Grapes of or sound for the Comedy Theatre jazz and modern dance, he has Wrath. Off Broadway includes in London’s West End, The Barbi- created works for the Joffrey Bal- music composition and sound for can Center, the National Theatre let, River North Dance Company, Space; Boy Gets Girl; and Mar- of Great Britain, the Cameri The- Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chica- vin’s Room and its productions in atre in Tel Aviv, the Subaru Act- go, Spectrum Dance Company Chicago, Boston, L.A., D.C. and ing Company in Japan, and festi- (Seattle), Bat Dor Dance Compa- London’s West End. Regionally, vals in Toronto, Canada, Dublin ny of Israel and the Tennessee they have composed music or de- and Galway, Ireland and Sydney Children’s Dance Ensemble. His signed sound at the Goodman and Perth, Australia. Projects this musical theatre credits include Theatre and Steppenwolf Theatre season include original music, tra- choreographing and appearing in in Chicago; the Kennedy Center ditional arrangements and sound Street Dreams, West Side Story, and Arena Stage in D.C.; the design for Beauty at La Jolla Play- Carousel, Hello Dolly, Don’t Both- Guthrie Theatre and the Chil- house, sound and music design er Me, I Can’t Cope and Guys and dren’s Theatre in Minneapolis; the for The Time of Your Life at Seat- Dolls. His affiliation with the Huntington Theatre in Boston; tle Repertory and ACT in San Goodman Theatre has helped the Manhattan Theatre Club, the Francisco, original music and create critically acclaimed works Public Theatre, New York Shake- sound for Top Dog/Underdog at such as Zoot Suit, The Rose Tattoo speare Festival, Circle in the Steppenwolf Theatre, the Alley and Drowning Crow. Mr. Duncan Square, Second Stage, the Union Theatre, Dallas Theatre Center recently completed his first major Square Theatre, the New Victory, and Hartford Stage, and music motion picture choreography for the Minetta Lane Theatre and composition and sound for Paramount Pictures Save the Last Playwrights Horizons in New Heartbreak House at the Good- Dance starring Julia Stiles, which York; The Brooklyn Academy of man Theatre. earned him a nomination for the Music; the Alley Theatre in Hous- American Choreography Award in ton; The Old Globe in San Diego; RANDY DUNCAN (Choreographer) the Dance on Film category. An the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta; worked with Kate Whoriskey avid supporter of HIV/AIDS caus- the McCarter Theatre in Prince- most recently on Amadeus at the es, for the past ten years he has ton; Center Stage in Baltimore; Actors Theatre of Louisville and donated his time and choreogra- the Dallas Theater Center; Hart- will work with her again later this phy to Dance for Life, creating ford Stage Company; La Jolla year on Heartbreak House at the world premieres for Chicago’s Playhouse; Rhode Island’s Trinity Goodman Theatre. He has the largest dance benefit for Repertory; Berkeley Repertory; unique privilege to be a three- HIV/AIDS. Mr. Duncan, an Seattle Repertory; Arizona Reper- time recipient of Chicago’s presti- African-American who grew up in tory; Milwaukee Repertory; Mis- gious Ruth Page Award for Out- Chicago, began his dance studies souri Repertory; the Repertory of standing Choreographer of the with Geraldine Johnson, followed
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P14 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY • Antigone by classes at the Sammy Dyer Robert Woodruff, Phaedra direct- Light Opera, VITA Shakespeare School of Theatre, Alvin Ailey ed by Liz Diamond, the world Festival, Pacific Conservatory of American Dance Center and Illi- premieres of Robert Coover’s the Performing Arts, Long Beach nois State University (vocal music Charlie in the House of Rue and Ballet, San Francisco Convention major), but credits Harriet Ross Mac Wellman’s Hypatia directed Bureau and Kawasaki Motorcy- and Joseph Holmes with much of by Bob McGrath, and Robert cles. He would like everyone to his inspiration. His guest classes Brustein’s adaptation of The Mas- take a moment to remember all in jazz with an African influence ter Builder directed by Kate Who- those who have lost the battle have taken him to England, riskey. She completed her pro- and all those still suffering and France, Amsterdam, Israel and fessional training as a dramaturg fighting the AIDS epidemic. Mexico. He teaches at colleges, at the ART Institute at Harvard universities and high schools na- and taught acting and dramatic *SCOTT HARRISON (Assistant tionwide. You can find him on arts at Harvard University. Stage Manager) has been with the faculty of the Chicago Acade- SCR for fourteen seasons and my for the Arts High School. You *RANDALL K. LUM (Stage Manag- most recently stage managed A may also find him sitting on the er) is pleased to be part of SCR’s Christmas Carol. Mr. Harrison panels of the NEA, IAC and Arts 40th Season and well into his would like to take this opportuni- Midwest. 14th season with the company. ty to acknowledge and continu- This season he has worked on ously support his friends and col- JENNIFER KIGER (Dramaturg) The Last Night of Ballyhoo and leagues who are battling the fight joined the SCR staff in 1999 and Terra Nova. Last season he stage of AIDS. This summer, along became Literary Manager in 2000. managed Major Barbara, Proof with Jamie A. Tucker, he will be In that capacity she screens and Intimate Apparel. Two sea- participating in Paradise AIDS scripts for development and pro- sons ago he had the pleasure of Ride, a fundraising cycling tour of duction and serves as dramaturg working on Getting Frankie Mar- Hawaii. on half of SCR’s workshops and ried—and Afterwards, The School productions each season. She is for Wives, The Homecoming and DAVID EMMES (Producing Artistic also the associate director of the The Circle. During his long asso- Director) is co-founder of SCR, Pacific Playwrights Festival. Re- ciation as one of SCR’s resident one of the largest professional cent projects include Nilo Cruz’s stage managers he has worked resident theatres in California. Anna in the Tropics, the world on more than a dozen world pre- He has received numerous premiere of The Intelligent Design mieres and has been associated awards for productions he has di- of Jenny Chow by Rolin Jones, Lu- with over 65 productions. In rected during SCR’s 39-year histo- cinda Coxon’s Nostalgia, Amy 1997, Mr. Lum stage managed the ry, including a 1999 Los Angeles Freed’s The Beard of Avon and AIDS Benefit Help is on the Way Drama Critics Circle Award for the site-specific California Sce- III at the Palace of Fine Arts in the direction of George Bernard narios, directed by Juliette Carril- San Francisco. Other stage man- Shaw’s The Philanderer. He di- lo. Previously, she served as dra- agement credits include the rected the world premieres of maturg at the American Repertory American Conservatory Theatre in Amy Freed’s The Beard of Avon Theatre in Cambridge, MA for San Francisco, the Old Globe and Freedomland, Thomas Babe’s several productions, including In Theatre in San Diego, Berkeley Great Day in the Morning, Keith the Jungle of Cities directed by Repertory Theatre, San Jose Civic Reddin’s Rum and Coke and But
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Antigone •SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P15 Not for Me and Neal Bell’s Cold last 39 years. He has distin- Along with David Emmes, he ac- Sweat; the American premiere of guished himself in the staging of cepted SCR’s 1988 Tony Award Terry Johnson’s Unsuitable for contemporary work, including for Outstanding Resident Profes- Adults; the West Coast premieres Horton Foote’s The Carpetbag- sional Theatre and won the 1995 of C.P. Taylor’s Good and Harry ger’s Children and the world pre- Theatre LA Ovation Award for Kondoleon’s Christmas on Mars; miere of his Getting Frankie Mar- Lifetime Achievement. Mr. Ben- and the Southland premiere of ried—and Afterwards, the critical- son received his BA in Theatre Top Girls (at SCR and the West- ly acclaimed California premiere from California State University, wood Playhouse). Other produc- of William Nicholson’s Shadow- San Francisco. tions include the West Coast pre- lands, Athol Fugard’s Playland, mieres of Three Viewings by Jef- Brian Friel’s Dancing at Lugh- PAULA TOMEI (Managing Direc- frey Hatcher, The Secret Rapture nasa, David Mamet’s Oleanna, tor) is responsible for the overall by David Hare and New England Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming, administration of South Coast by Richard Nelson; and Arcadia David Hare’s Skylight and the Repertory and has been Manag- by Tom Stoppard, Six Degrees of West Coast premieres of Peter ing Director since 1994. A mem- Separation by John Guare, The Hedges’ Good As New and Martin ber of the SCR staff since 1979, Importance of Being Earnest by McDonagh’s The Lonesome West. she has served in a number of Oscar Wilde, Ayckbourn’s He has won accolades for his di- administrative capacities including Woman in Mind and Relatively rection of five major works by Subscriptions Manager, Business Speaking and You Never Can Tell George Bernard Shaw, including Manager and General Manager. by George Bernard Shaw, which the Los Angeles Drama Critics Cir- She currently serves as President he restaged for the Singapore cle (LADCC) Award winners of the Theatre Communications Festival of Arts. His producing Major Barbara, Misalliance and Group (TCG), the national service responsibilities involve the overall Heartbreak House. Among the organization for the professional coordination of SCR’s programs numerous world premieres he not-for-profit theatre. In addition, and projects. He has served as a has directed are Tom Strelich’s she has served as Treasurer of consultant to the Orange County BAFO and Margaret Edson’s TCG, Vice President of the Performing Arts Center and as a Pulitzer Prize-winning Wit, which League of Resident Theatres theatre panelist and onsite evalu- he also directed at Seattle Reper- (LORT) and has been a member ator for the National Endowment tory Theatre and the Alley The- of the LORT Negotiating Commit- for the Arts. He has served on atre in Houston. He has directed tee for industry-wide union the Executive Committee of the American classics including Ah, agreements. She represents SCR League of Resident Theatres, and Wilderness!, A Streetcar Named at national conferences of TCG as a panelist for the California Desire, A Delicate Balance and and LORT; is a theatre panelist Arts Council. After attending Or- All My Sons. Mr. Benson has and site visitor for the National ange Coast College, he received been honored with the Drama- Endowment for the Arts and the his BA and MA from California Logue Award for his direction of California Arts Council; served on State University, San Francisco, 21 productions and received the Advisory Committee for the and his PhD in theatre and film LADCC Distinguished Achieve- Arts Administration Certificate from USC. ment in Directing awards an un- Program at the University of Cali- paralleled seven times for the fornia, Irvine; and has been a MARTIN BENSON (Artistic Direc- three Shaw productions, John guest lecturer in the graduate tor) shares co-founder credit and Millington Synge’s Playboy of the school of business at Stanford. artistic leadership of SCR with his Western World, Arthur Miller’s She graduated from the University colleague David Emmes. As one The Crucible, Sally Nemeth’s Holy of California, Irvine with a degree of SCR’s chief directors, Mr. Ben- Days and Wit. He also directed in Economics and pursued an ad- son has directed nearly one third the film version of Holy Days ditional course of study in theatre of the plays produced here in the using the original SCR cast. and dance.
The Actors and Stage Managers em- The Scenic, Costume, Lighting and The Director is a member of the Soci- ployed in this production are members Sound Designers in LORT theatres ety of Stage Directors and Choreogra- of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union are represented by United Scenic phers, Inc., an independent national of Professional Actors and Stage Man- Artists Local USA-829, IATSE. labor union. agers in the United States.
P16 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY • Antigone