The Call Is Places

The Call Is Places Welcome from Artistic Director Joseph Haj 2017–2018 SEASON Dear Friends, Romeo and Juliet When playwright Matthew Lopez wrote The Legend of Georgia McBride, September 9 – October 28, 2017 he intended it to be an homage to the drag queens who raised him in Wurtele Thrust Stage the only place he felt safe growing up – a small-town gay bar in the Watch on the Rhine Florida panhandle. Yet his play has become a legend, brought vividly September 30 – November 5, 2017 to life under the keen direction of Jeffrey Meanza, the Guthrie’s own McGuire Proscenium Stage associate artistic director. A Christmas Carol You don’t need glitz and glam to fall in love with this heartfelt story November 14 – December 30, 2017 and unique cast of characters, but there’s no shortage of spectacle and Wurtele Thrust Stage over-the-top surprises. However, it’s what happens behind the pageantry that you may find most Blithe Spirit intriguing, like when Casey realizes his true talent November 25, 2017 – January 14, 2018 lies in embodying a woman – not Elvis – and McGuire Proscenium Stage when Rexy opens up about the deep wounds Indecent in her past. February 17 – March 24, 2018 Wurtele Thrust Stage For Lopez, drag is a populist art form accessible to anyone willing to put on a Familiar pair of stilettos and take the stage. It’s March 10 – April 14, 2018 also hard work that demands talent and McGuire Proscenium Stage tenacity, and his admiration for drag is evident from the opening scene to the Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner final curtain. As you get to know each April 7 – May 27, 2018 character, you’ll also learn the beauty Wurtele Thrust Stage of finding and claiming your “logical” family and how the families we create An Enemy of the People can heal, reveal and challenge us while April 28 – June 3, 2018 offering solace and community. McGuire Proscenium Stage I’m so excited for this spectacular show. West Side Story It’s going to be legendary, and I’m June 16 – August 26, 2018 thrilled to have you along for the ride. Wurtele Thrust Stage The Legend of Yours, Georgia McBride July 14 – August 26, 2018 McGuire Proscenium Stage Visit guthrietheater.org for additional productions and play descriptions. 1 \ GUTHRIE THEATER PHOTO: JOSEPH HAJ (HEIDI BOHNENKAMP) The Legend of Georgia McBride by Matthew Lopez The Guthrie gratefully recognizes Wayne Zink & Christopher Schout as Executive Producers; Dr. Mitchell & Cast Katherine Pincus as Producers; and in alphabetical order Brian Pietsch & Christopher Hermann as Associate Producers. TRACY Cameron Folmar* Setting JO Chaz Hodges* Panama City Beach, Florida. Any time right about now. EDDIE Jim Lichtscheidl* REXY/JASON Arturo Soria* Run Time Approximately 1 hour, 45 minutes with CASEY no intermission. Jayson Speters* Acknowledgments The Legend of Georgia McBride is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York. Creative Team Originally commissioned by The Old DIRECTOR Jeffrey Meanza Globe in San Diego, California (Louis Spisto, executive producer) and CHOREOGRAPHER Matthew Steffens originally developed and produced at Denver Center Theatre Company SCENIC DESIGNER Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams (Kent Thompson, artistic director), The Legend of Georgia McBride premiered COSTUME DESIGNER Patrick Holt in New York at MCC Theater on September 9, 2015 (Robert LuPone, LIGHTING DESIGNER Ryan Connealy Bernard Telsey and William Cantler, artistic directors; Blake West, executive SOUND DESIGNER Scott W. Edwards director). DRAMATURG “Lost and Found” Jo Holcomb Music by Joe Tippett VOCAL COACH Lyrics by Matthew Lopez John Patrick “Padam Padam” STAGE MANAGER Jason Clusman* Norbert Glanzberg/Henri Contet © Ed. Salabert c/o Universal Music ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER Justin Hossle* Publishing ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Laura Leffler Special thanks to Music Affairs Services for their assistance in song licensing and NYC CASTING CONSULTANT McCorkle Casting, Ltd. to Calvin Adams for guitar coaching. DESIGN ASSISTANTS Alice L. Fredrickson (costumes) The Guthrie’s rush line is made Reid Rejsa (sound) possible with support from Target. Megan Jolene Winter (lighting) Delta Air Lines is the official airline of the *Member of Actors’ Equity Association Guthrie Theater. 2 \ GUTHRIE THEATER THE PLAY SETTING Panama City Beach, Florida. Synopsis Any time right about now. CHARACTERS Casey is an Elvis impersonator and tribute artist with everything going Casey (20s, white), an Elvis for him, including a flashy sequin jumpsuit. There’s no question that he’s impersonator who works at a natural, but he’s in the wrong place at the wrong time – at least so Cleo’s Bar far – and his act just doesn’t make it at Cleo’s, a failing bar in Panama Jo (20s, African American), City Beach. Casey’s wife Eddie (50s/60s), the owner When Eddie, the bar’s owner, decides to give his cousin Tracy a chance of Cleo’s bar to resurrect his club and her drag act, things start to pick up – but not for Casey. His long-suffering wife Jo is growing weary of their always- Tracy (40s/50s), Eddie’s cousin bouncing rent checks while Casey continues to drop cash on slices of and an elegant, down-on-her- pizza or yet another rhinestone-bedazzled jumpsuit. And as their finances luck drag queen named Miss hit rock bottom, Jo discovers she’s pregnant. Tracy Mills (sometimes referred to as Bobby) Their future seems bleak until one fateful night at Cleo’s, when Tracy’s Rexy (20s/30s)*, a not-so- partner Rexy has one too many pre-show drinks and can’t take the stage elegant drag queen named as Anorexia Nervosa. It’s the big break Casey’s dreamed of, but only if he’s Miss Anorexia Nervosa willing to trade in his jumpsuit for a pair of stilettos. He agrees, and “The Jason (20s/30s)*, Casey’s King” transforms into an all-out queen with the help of some new friends. lifelong friend, neighbor As his success and reputation grow, so do his personal conflicts with this and landlord newfound work that – much to Casey’s surprise – gives him the artistic fulfillment and family he’s always wanted. *One actor plays the roles of Rexy and Jason. 3 \ GUTHRIE THEATER PHOTOS: COSTUME SKETCHES BY PATRICK HOLT THE CREATIVE TEAM Playwright Matthew Lopez Matthew Lopez is the author of The Whipping Man, one of the most widely produced new American plays of the last several years. The play premiered at Luna Stage in Montclair, New Jersey, and debuted in New York City at Manhattan Theatre Club. The Legend of Georgia McBride premiered at Denver Center for the Performing Arts and ran off-Broadway at MCC Theater in a production that received multiple Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle nominations. Other plays include Somewhere (The Old Globe, world premiere), Reverberation (Hartford Stage, world premiere), The Inheritance (London’s Young Vic and Noël Coward Theatre) and The Sentinels (London’s Headlong Theatre). Lopez holds commissions from Roundabout Theatre “ I have always loved the notion that Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, South Coast Repertory, for Casey, the path to true adulthood Williamstown Theatre Festival and Hartford Stage. He was a as a heterosexual male is through his writer for the HBO series “The Newsroom” and is currently discovery of drag.” developing Some Like It Hot (Broadway) as well as a film version of The Legend of Georgia McBride (New Regency/ Fox 2000/That’s Wonderful Productions). Director Jeffrey Meanza Jeffrey Meanza has served as the Guthrie Theater’s associate artistic director since August 2015. In his role at the Guthrie, Meanza oversees the artistic department, including casting, producing, education, community engagement, literary and the Guthrie’s esteemed training programs. An actor, director and educator, Meanza began his collaboration with Joseph Haj at PlayMakers Repertory Company in 2007 as director of education and outreach. In 2010, he was named the theater’s first associate artistic director, working closely with Haj to develop the vision and mission of the organization. During his tenure at PlayMakers, Meanza launched the theater’s Artist Residency program, which sent teaching artists into underserved schools to “ The play never apologizes for what it prepare them to attend PlayMakers productions, and he led sets out to accomplish – to imagine the Summer Youth Conservatory, providing area middle and a world where the most unlikely cast high school students the opportunity to receive professional- of characters finds a way to build level training and performance experience. Additionally, something together in the most Meanza developed numerous community partnerships and unexpected of places.” managed the theater’s engagement programs. Most recently, Meanza directed the regional premiere of Bekah Brunstetter’s The Cake for PlayMakers. He holds an M.F.A. in Acting from the Professional Actor Training Program at UNC-Chapel Hill and a B.A. in Theater and Performance Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. 4 \ GUTHRIE THEATER PLAY FEATURE Designer by Day, Drag Queen by Night By Patrick Holt Costume Designer My first experience performing in drag was a solo appearance as Miss Piggy in my sixth-grade talent show. My parents and siblings were horrified, but I was amazed and empowered in ways I had never experienced in my 12-year-old existence. 5 \ GUTHRIE THEATER PHOTO: PATRICK HOLT AS TEMPEST DuJOUR (MAGNUS HASTINGS) Nearly 30 years later, I appeared as Tempest DuJour on the Emmy Award-winning “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” which has been credited for mainstreaming drag as an art form worldwide. Yet men were donning wigs and makeup to play female parts in the theater centuries before RuPaul uttered her first “Sashay away!” From ancient Asian performance to classical Greek theater to the creaky wooden stage of the 16th-century Globe Theatre, female parts were written for and originated by men.

Load more