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Home , Amadeus (play), Amy Aquino, Dash Mihok, Eleanor Reissa, Fences (play), Jill Eikenberry

SC 54th Season • 519th Production SEGERSTROM STAGE / MAY 5 - JUNE 2, 2018

Marc Masterson Paula Tomei ARTISTIC DIRECTOR MANAGING DIRECTOR

David Emmes & Martin Benson FOUNDING ARTISTIC DIRECTORS

presents THE SISTERS ROSENSWEIG

by

John Iacovelli Denitsa Bliznakova Elizabeth Harper Jeff Polunas SCENIC DESIGN COSTUME DESIGN LIGHTING DESIGN SOUND DESIGN

Philip D. Thompson Joshua Marchesi Joanne DeNaut, csa Julie Ann Renfro Dialect Coach PRODUCTION MANAGER CASTING STAGE MANAGER

Directed by Casey Stangl

Sandy Segerstrom Daniels Honorary Producer BNY Mellon Wealth Management Corporate Honorary Associate Producer

Originally produced by Lincoln Center Theater, City, in 1992, following a workshop production by the Seattle Repertory Theatre.

THE SISTERS ROSENSWEIG is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York.

The Sisters Rosensweig • South Coast Repertory • P1 CAST OF CHARACTERS (In order of appearance) Tess Goode ...... Emily James Pfeni Rosensweig ...... Betsy Brandt Sara Goode ...... Amy Aquino Geoffrey Duncan ...... Bill Brochtrup Mervyn Kant ...... Matthew Arkin Gorgeous Teitelbaum ...... Eleanor Reissa Tom Valiunus ...... Riley Neldam Nicholas Pym ...... Julian Stone

SETTING A sitting room in Queen Anne’s Gate, London. August 1991.

LENGTH Approximately two hours and 25 minutes, including one 15 minute intermission.

PRODUCTION STAFF Dramaturg ...... Jerry Patch Assistant Stage Manager ...... Sue Karutz Assistant Director ...... Joshua Max Feder Assistant to the Scenic Designer ...... Travis Kerr Costume Design Assistant ...... Megan Knowles Stage Management Intern ...... Rachele Ekstrand Light Board Operator ...... Jacqueline Malenke Sound Board Operator ...... Jim Lupercio Wardrobe Supervisor ...... Stephanie Ebeling Wig and Makeup Technician ...... Gillian Woodson Additional Costume Staff ...... Kaler Navarjo, Tessa Oberle

The Actors and Stage Managers employed in this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

Please refrain from unwrapping candy or making other noises that may disturb surrounding patrons. Videotaping and/or recording of this performance by any means whatsoever are strictly prohibited. Electronic devices should be turned off or set to non-audible mode during the performance. Smoking is not permitted anywhere in the theatre.

Photos may be taken before and after the show, and during intermission, but not during the performance. Show your appreciation for the play: #TheSistersRosensweig

Media Partner Media Partner

P2 • South Coast Repertory • The Sisters Rosensweig From Life…Life From Art by Jerry Patch one of (Ralph) Nader’s Raider, and 1992 and became one of the preeminent invest- met with illiam Shakespeare wrote 37 ment bankers in New York, with a net equiva- plays taken from stories, his- worth of well over $2 billion just before lent Broadway suc- tories, folk tales and events his death in 2009. The fifth Wasserstein cess. Begun in Seattle (as was that happened to others. The sibling, Abner, was developmentally dis- Heidi) under Daniel Sullivan’s direc- WGreeks dramatized the histories and abled, but lived a full life, dying in 2011. tion, it came to New York to Lincoln myths of their own culture. But at least Center where Jane Alexander (Sara), three leading American playwrights— (Gorgeous) and Fran- two were Eugene O’Neill and Arthur Wasserstein’s career began with Uncom- ces McDormand (Pfeni) played the sis- Miller—used their own lives and those mon Womenm and m Others m m (1977), m her the- ters. While traditional vs. groundbreak- of family members as source material sis for her Yale Drama School MFA. Set ing roles for women are again explored, for their plays. at a reunion of Mt. Holyoke classmates, they are filtered through the tension A third was Wendy Wasserstein. who recalled their college days, the nine- of living traditional Jewish culture vs. Most of her dozen plays and essays writ- woman (!) play celebrated the Second mainstream, an issue Donald Margulies ten over 30-plus years charted—even Wave feminist aspirations of young wom- was then writing about in his Sight Un- presaged—where feminist thought and en balanced by the traditional feminine seen (SCR, 1991 and 2012). experience was and where it would go. “virtues” promoted by their housemoth- Wasserstein was a feminist and lib- Winner of a slew of awards, including er, Mrs. Plumm. Called “an extraordi- eral activist, writing outside her plays the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize nary debut” in reviews, the play’s off- on issues and even testifying before for Drama, she became the heir to Lil- Broadway cast included Swoosie Kurtz, Congress. Her last play, Third (2006), lian Hellman’s mantle of America’s Jill Eikenberry, Ellen Parker and Glenn covered an academic year at a liberal Leading Lady Playwright. Close. When PBS televised the produc- New England college during which Lau- The youngest of five siblings, Was- tion, and Close was unavailable, close rie, a middle-aged professor, charges a serstein was the third child born to friend Meryl Streep filled in. conservative legacy student from a fly- Morris, a Polish immigrant, and Lola Isn’t It Romantic (1983) follows over state with plagiarizing the paper Wasserstein. Two older biological half- two of the Uncommon Women’s ro- he’s assigned in her class. sisters, Sandra and Georgette, were mantic pursuits in NYC. One ends con- In her previous plays Wasserstein from Lola’s first marriage that ended ventionally with marriage; the other, had done battle with chauvinistic forces with her first husband’s death. disappointed and frustrated by the that impeded women and held them The somewhat observant Jewish city’s marriage-go-round, stays single. down. Third’s concerns are identity pol- family resided in the Flatbush area of Wasserstein puts the mothers of the itics and the stereotyping and demoniz- south , a working class neigh- two women (one being modeled on the ing of those with opposing views. In it, borhood of Irish, Italians and Jews. playwright’s own) on stage, contrast- Wasserstein critically examines her own Morris succeeded in textiles—he ing their work vs. family lifestyles while liberal and female biases that discredit invented the process for velveteen— uniting them in their oversight of their others and the need for respect and and he expanded into Manhattan real daughters. understanding from either side. Given estate. While Lola ran the family, her (1989) where things stand today, she was more only cooked dish was a dessert com- moved from off-Broadway to on, ran for than a decade ahead of the curve. pote; otherwise, she ordered in. two seasons and won every major play- Wendy (she was a friend, as she was Georgette married and ran a Ver- writing award. played Heidi to so many) was suffering terribly from mont inn. Multi-married Sandra was Holland, seen from high school days lymphoma as Third ­was produced in an extremely successful marketing ex- to beginning middle age as she mixed New York and she died a month after it ecutive for Procter & Gamble, the first possible romance with a strong career closed. Today Feminism, led by legions woman to run her division. Their re- as an art historian. Unable or unwilling of Millennials, has many vocal support- semblance to Sara and Gorgeous in The to settle for a less than fulfilling roman- ers—especially playwrights. Using her Sisters Rosensweig is apparent­—and relationship, she becomes a single own life as a template, Wendy Wasser- their younger sister, Pfeni, is a writer. mother through adoption—not an ex- stein was theatre’s Feminist voice in the Wendy’s brother Bruce—Univ. of traordinary event at the time, but still an last quarter of the 20th century. Today it Michigan, Harvard, Harvard Law and uncommon one. would be uncharacteristic of her to rest Cambridge—began as a journalist and The Sisters Rosensweig followed in in peace.

The Sisters Rosensweig • South Coast Repertory • P3 Artist Biographies

Amy Aquino Flagg, Death to Smoochy, An Unmarried Woman, The Sara Goode Curse, “Aquarius,” “NCIS,” “Switched at Birth,” “Harry’s Law,” “Medium,” “Rescue Me” (recurring), the “Law & performed at SCR in last season’s The Order” franchise, “Ed,” “Third Watch,” “100 Centre Street” Siegel and in 2007 in Sarah Treem’s A (recurring), “All My Children” (recurring) and “Simple Jus- Feminine Ending. Her career began tice.” Arkin is director of SCR’s Acting Intensive Program in New York, where she had roles in and the author of the suspense novel, In the Country of numerous productions at Playwrights the Blind, available at Amazon. For more information, visit Horizons and Circle Repertory Com- matthewarkin.com. pany; in Wendy Wasserstein’s The Heidi Chronicles on Broadway and, more recently, in Wasserstein’s Third at Betsy Brandt Lincoln Center and Jonathan Tolins’ Secrets of the Trade Pfeni Rosensweig at Primary Stages. Her West Coast appearances include Maria in at San Diego’s Old Globe, Mark currently stars in the CBS comedy se- Taper Forum’s Living Out and the Geffen Playhouse’s The ries, “Life in Pieces.” She is also well- Underpants by Steve Martin. Aquino’s film career spans known to television audiences for her Working Girl and Moonstruck through White Oleander portrayal of Marie, the sister-in-law and In Good Company to the upcoming Beautiful Boy of meth-making mastermind Walter with Steve Carrell. Before landing her current role as Lt. White in “Breaking Bad,” the Emmy, Billets in Amazon’s hit series, “Bosch,” she was a regular SAG and Golden Globe award-winning series. She starred on television’s “Brooklyn Bridge” and “Picket ” and opposite Michael J. Fox in the NBC comedy “The Michael made numerous guest appearances including recurring J. Fox Show.” Her numerous other television credits in- roles in “Glee,” “,” “ER,” “Everybody clude memorable recurring roles in “Masters of Sex” and Loves Raymond,” “Freaks and Geeks,” “Felicity” and SyFy’s “Parenthood.” Brandt’s recent film projects include the “Being Human.” She holds an MFA in acting from the Yale Lifetime feature, Flint, about the devastating lead poison- School of Drama, is married to financial advisor Drew ing of the water supply in Flint, Michigan; the title role in McCoy and served 20 years as a national officer of SAG- festival independent Claire in Motion; and soon-to-be re- AFTRA. @aquino_amy leased Quest, with Lou Diamond Phillips and Dash Mihok. She also appeared in the Steven Soderbergh film, Magic Matthew Arkin Mike, with Channing Tatum. SCR is one of Brandt’s favorite Mervyn Kant theatrical homes, where she originated roles in two world premieres—award-winner Julia Cho’s The Language Ar- previously appeared at SCR in The chive and Beth Henley’s Ridiculous Fraud. She portrayed Siegel, , The Whale, The Holly in the West Coast premiere of Geoffrey Nauffts’ Tony Prince of Atlantis and Our Mother’s Award-nominated Next Fall at the Geffen Playhouse and has Brief Affair. His Broadway cred- starred in numerous productions at the Intiman Theatre, A its include Losing Louie, The Sun- Contemporary Theatre and Portland Center Stage. Brandt shine Boys and Laughter on the studied theatre with the Moscow Art School and the Royal 23rd Floor. Off-Broadway, he appeared in Dinner with Scottish Academy of Music and Drama; she earned her BFA Friends (Drama Desk nomination), Rounding Third, In- in acting at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. dian Blood, War in Paramus, You Should Be So Lucky and Moonlight and Magnolias. His regional theatre work Bill Brochtrup includes Surf Report at La Jolla Playhouse, The Scene at Geoffrey Duncan Hartford Stage, Sight Unseen at George Street Playhouse, Little Footsteps and at Pennsylvania Stage returns to SCR where he was previ- Company, Around the World in 80 Days at The Cape Play- ously in Shakespeare in Love, Nois- house, A Thousand Clowns at American Stage Company, es Off, Taking Steps and The Real Two Rooms and True West at TheatreWorks and Talley’s Thing. In New York, he appeared Folly at Bay Street Theatre. His film and television cred- in the off-Broadway productions of its include Margot at the Wedding, Second Best, Raising Jonathan Tolins’ Secrets of the Trade

P4 • South Coast Repertory • The Sisters Rosensweig (Primary Stages) and David Marshall Grant’s Snakebit musical, Miami. Her directing credits include Cowgirls (Century Center), as well as the Fringe-NYC produc- (off-Broadway and The Old Globe), How to Succeed in tion of John Pollono’s Lost and Found. His Los Angeles Business Without Really Trying, The Threepenny Opera, theatre credits include productions at Pasadena Play- Avenue X, as well as Dianna of Dobson’s, Echoes of house, L.A. Theatre Works, The Theatre @ Boston Court, the War, The Skin Game and Soldier’s Wife at the Mint Fountain Theatre, Evidence Room, Odyssey Theatre En- Theater Company. An anthology of her plays, The Last semble, Rogue Machine and Antaeus Theatre Company, Survivor and Other Modern Jewish Plays, was recently where he serves as co-artistic director. He appeared in published and she was commissioned by the National the films Life as We Know It, He’s Just Not That into You, Theatre to write and direct the Yid- Ravenous and in the upcoming, Hypnotized. He has dish translation of Paddy Chayevsky’s The Tenth Man. been a television series regular on three Reissa is one of the world’s most renowned interpreters cop shows, “Public Morals,” “Total Security” and a 10-year of Yiddish music and just returned from a European tour run as cheerful police administrative aide John Irvin on with Frank London and the Klezmer Brass Allstars. She ABC’s Emmy Award-winning “NYPD Blue.” He spent the has been selected to helm From Shtetl to Stage for Carn- last five seasons recurring as savvy police psychologist Dr. egie Hall in 2019. Joe on TNT’s “Major Crimes.” billbrochtrup.com Julian Stone Emily James Nicholas Pym Tess Goode is excited to return to SCR, where returns to SCR having previously he appeared in the West Coast pre- appeared in Mr. Wolf and Flora & miere of Man from Nebraska, di- Ulysses. She was in Antigone at A rected by William Friedkin. Nation- Noise Within, Colony Collapse at The ally, his theatre credits include And Theatre @ Boston Court, Stage Kiss a Nightingale Sang (Indiana Rep- at Geffen Playhouse, Smoke and We ertory Theatre), Treasure Island (Cincinnati Playhouse Are Not These Hands at Rogue Machine Theatre and and in the Park), National Playwright’s Conference (Eugene Husbands and Wives at Ensemble Theatre Company. She O’Neill Theater Center), Dark Shadows (VIA Theater, is a graduate of Cal State Fullerton with a BFA in acting. NYC), Vampire Lesbians of Sodom (Provincetown Play- house, NYC) and Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Princeton Riley Neldam Rep Company). He has appeared extensively on the Tom Valiunus screen, guest-starring in many popular television shows including “Suburgatory,” “Maron,” “Castle,” “Columbo,” is making his SCR debut with this “Mad About You,” “Baywatch” and “Babylon 5” and was production. Neldam recently origi- a regular on “General Hospital” (ABC). As a voice actor, nated the role of Jason in the world he has worked in video game franchises such as “Call of premiere of Stefanie Zadravec’s Col- Duty,” “Medal of Honor,” “Titanfall” and “Uncharted” and ony Collapse at The Theatre @ Bos- looped film features including Star Wars: The Last Jedi, ton Court in Pasadena. His previous Rogue One, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, The Rev- regional theatre collaborations include Intiman Theatre, enant, Mad Max: Fury Road and Phantom Thread. With Seattle Shakespeare Company, 5th Avenue Theatre and his writing/producing hat, he currently has television se- Book-it Repertory Theatre. ries in development at Gaumont and Constantin Film. He is a member of Equity (U.K.) and the British Academy of Eleanor Reissa Film and Television Arts. Gorgeous Teitelbaum

is making her SCR debut. She is an Playwright, Director and Designers actor, director, playwright and sing- er. On Broadway, she was in Paula Vogel’s play and received Wendy Wasserstein’s (Playwright) play The Heidi a Tony Award nomination for direct- Chronicles won the 1989 Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award and ing Those Were the Days, in which Susan Smith Blackburn Prize; the New York Drama Crit- she performed and also choreographed. She directed ics Circle, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle awards; and starred in ’s God of Vengeance in Yid- and earned a grant from the Kennedy Center Fund for dish at La MaMa. Reissa performed in two other Wendy New American Plays. For The Sisters Rosensweig, she re- Wasserstein works, Isn’t It Romantic and a little-known ceived the 1993 Outer Critics Circle Award, a Tony Award

The Sisters Rosensweig • South Coast Repertory • P5 nomination and the William Inge Award for Distinguished tor of Eye of the Storm Theatre in Minneapolis, she was Achievement in American Theatre. Her other plays in- named Minnesota Artist of the Year. Stangl proudly serves clude Old Money, An American Daughter and Third on the executive board of Stage Directors and Choreog- (Lincoln Center); Uncommon Women and Others (Phoe- raphers Society, the national labor union for professional nix Theatre); Isn’t It Romantic (); a stage directors and choreographers. musical, Miami (with Jack Feldman and Bruce Sussman); and Waiting for Philip Glass, included in Love’s Fire (The John Iacovelli (Scenic Design) created memorable de- Acting Company). Wasserstein’s screenplays include The signs at SCR including The Roommate, , Abun- Object of My Affection, produced as a major motion pic- dance, Rest, Silent Sky, Noises Off, Talley’s Folly, The ture starring Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd. For PBS’s Philanderer, Shadowlands, Faith Healer and 18 others “Great Performances” series, she wrote Kiss, Kiss Darling; including Heartbreak House (Los Angeles Drama Crit- Drive, She Said; and adaptations of John Cheever’s The ics Circle Award.) He has designed more than 300 plays Sorrows of Gin and her own Uncommon Women and and musicals at most major theatres in the U.S. includ- Others. She adapted The Heidi Chronicles for TNT (1996, ing Steppenwolf Theatre Company, McCarter Theatre Emmy Award nomination for Best Television Movie) and Center, Long Wharf Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, An American Daughter for Lifetime Television. Her ad- Geffen Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, Berkeley Reper- aptation of The Nutcracker was performed by the The tory Theatre, , Oregon Shakespeare American Ballet Theatre at The Met and her adaptation Festival and Center Theatre Group. Iacovelli received a of The Merry Widow premiered at San Francisco Opera. primetime Emmy for the broadcast of the Broadway pro- She was the librettist for the original opera, Festival of duction of Peter Pan. He was the production designer on Regrets: Central Park, which had runs at Glimmerglass Ruby in Paradise, starring Ashley Judd, and art director Opera and Opera. She wrote Pamela’s on Honey, I Shrunk the Kids! His television credits in- First Musical, a children’s book, which she adapted with clude The Old Settler starring Phylicia Rashad and Debbie Cy Coleman into a musical that premiered in 2006. Her Allen, staring and Dick other books include the essay collections Shiksa Goddess Van Dyke, “Babylon 5,” “Ed,” “Resurrection Blvd.” and and Bachelor Girls. She contributed to The New Yorker, “Lincoln Heights.” He has an MFA in scenic design from , New York Woman and Harper’s NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. This year, he received the Bazaar, among many other publications. She was the Distinguished Achievement Award in Scene Design and recipient of an NEA Grant, Guggenheim Fellowship and a Technology from The U.S. Institute of Theatre Technol- Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome. She served ogy. iacovelli.com on the Council of the Dramatists Guild, on the Board of the British American Arts Association, School of American Denitsa Bliznakova (Costume Design) is happy to re- Ballet, WNET/Thirteen, and The Educational Foundation turn to SCR, where she previously designed the costumes of America. She taught at , New York for Orange. Her theatre design work has been seen na- University, Juilliard School and Princeton University and tionwide at venues including the Geffen Playhouse, Mark held an honorary doctorate from Mount Holyoke Col- Taper Forum, The Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, Denver lege. Wasserstein was born in Brooklyn and raised in Center for the Performing Arts, Kennedy Center for the Manhattan. She was a graduate of Mount Holyoke College Performing Arts, Cleveland Play House, A Noise Within, and the Yale School of Drama. The Theatre @ Boston Court, Williamstown Theatre Fes- tival and The Falcon Theatre. Bliznakova’s work for opera Casey Stangl (Director) returns often to work at SCR includes Carmen at Los Angeles Opera and Murder in on productions including Michael Mitnick’s The Siegel, the Cathedral at San Diego Opera. Her costume design David Ives’ Venus in Fur, Sarah Ruhl’s In the Next Room, and stylist credits for other media include films and music or the vibrator play, and many Theatre for Young Audi- videos for various artists. Her work has been nominated ences productions including this season’s Ella Enchant- for Outstanding Costume Design by LA Stage Alliance ed: The Musical. Her recent projects include The Cake Ovation Award and Colorado Theatre Guild Henry Award. at La Jolla Playhouse, The Revolutionists at Everyman She is a professor in the School of Theatre, Television Theatre in Baltimore, The Nether at the Jungle Theater and Film at San Diego State University and is the head of in Minneapolis, Cloud 9 at Antaeus Theatre Company the MFA design and technology program there. Bliznako- (winner of eight LA Drama Critics’ Association awards va is a graduate of Parsons School of Design and Brandeis including Best Director and Best Production), Stage Kiss University. Her work may be viewed at Denitsa.com. for and Ah, Wilderness, Love and In- formation and Venus in Fur for American Conservatory Elizabeth Harper (Lighting Design) returns to SCR Theater. Stangl is a resident director for Ojai Playwrights where she previously designed Little Black Shadows, Conference and is a frequent collaborator in the creation The Siegel, Reunion, Venus in Fur, Office Hour, District of new plays. For her work as the founding artistic direc- Merchants and tokyo fish story. Her other design credits

P6 • South Coast Repertory • The Sisters Rosensweig include Immediate Family, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (The Mark Taper Forum); Women Laughing Alone with Sandy Segerstrom Daniels (Honorary Produc- Salad, Throw Me on the Burnpile and Light Me Up, A er) is underwriting her fifth production at SCR in Raisin in the Sun (Kirk Douglas Theatre); Play Dead, three years, following Amadeus, Destiny of Desire, Wait Until Dark, Long Day’s Journey into Night, Good Moby Dick and, earlier this season, Shakespeare People and Bad Jews (Geffen Playhouse); The Invisible in Love. She has also been part of The Playwrights Hand (Kansas City Repertory Theatre) and Crescent City Circle, helping sponsor three world-premiere pro- (The Industry). Her industrial lighting projects include ductions featured in the Pacific Playwrights Fes- events for Microsoft, On-Live, Asics, Under Armour, Ubi- tival. Sandy is a First Nights subscriber since the soft and Universal Studios. Harper is a lecturer at the 1980s, a Platinum Circle donor since 2001 and a University of Southern California as well as a nine-time frequent Gala underwriter. As a member of Orange Ovation Award nominee and occasional winner. County’s renowned Segerstrom family, whose gift of land to SCR in the 1970s is the site of the David Jeff Polunas (Sound Design) is thrilled to be design- Emmes/Martin Benson Theatre Center, Sandy is a ing for the third time this season, having previously de- lifelong and passionate advocate for the arts and signed Shakespeare in Love and Ella Enchanted. Polunas an invaluable friend to SCR. received his MFA in sound design at UC Irvine and is currently the production sound supervisor at UC Irvine’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts. He has designed more ney Independent Theatre Company, Long Beach Shake- than 125 productions in his career. His credits include speare Company and American Coast Theatre Company. Venus in Fur, Flora & Ulysses, Tales of a Fourth Grade She holds a BA in theatre arts from Vanguard University. Nothing, Ivy & Bean and Between Us Chickens (SCR); Renfro is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association. Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Antaeus Theatre Company); Silent Sky, Fences, Abigail/1702, A Walk in the Woods, Sue Karutz (Stage Manager) toured with Robert Wil- Uncanny Valley (International City Theatre); Passion son’s The Black Rider (London, San Francisco, Sydney, Play, Seminar and A Bright New Boise (Chance Theater); Los Angeles), Wicked (Chicago, LA, San Francisco), Les The Full Monty, Peter Pan, The Wedding Singer and The Misérables (more than 100 cities across the U.S., Canada, Producers (Summer Repertory Theatre); and Company, China and Korea) and Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo (Russia Much Ado About Nothing and The Importance of Being and Belgium). Her first union contract was in 1997, off- Earnest (PCPA Theaterfest). He received the 2017 and Broadway on Howard Crabtree’s When Pigs Fly. In seven 2015 Scenie Award (StageSceneLA) for Sound Design. He seasons at SCR, her favorite projects have been Looking- has been nominated for a NAACP, Stage Raw and Ken- glass Theatre Company’s Moby Dick in 2016; One Man, nedy Center American College Theater Festival Awards. Two Guvnors from Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 2015; and this season’s Once. Elsewhere, she has been part of Philip D. Thompson (Dialect Coach) teaches at UC stage management teams at La Jolla Playhouse, The Na- Irvine and works as a voice and dialect coach for pro- tional Theatre of the Deaf, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, fessional and university productions. He is certified as American Conservatory Theater, Falcon Theatre, Pasa- a master teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework, is the co- dena Playhouse, Los Angeles Opera, the Ahmanson and founder of Knight-Thompson Speechwork and is the past Kirk Douglas theatres, Deaf West, Alpine Theatre Project, president of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association. Laguna Playhouse and Utah Shakespeare Festival, and is He is the head of voice and text at the Utah Shakespeare also a staff stage manager at Disneyland. Festival and has served as resident coach there for 16 seasons and more than 100 productions. He has coached Marc Masterson (Artistic Director) has expanded at Pasadena Playhouse, Denver Center Theatre Company SCR’s community and artistic initiatives and produced and Alabama Shakespeare Festival, among others, includ- dozens of world premieres including A Doll’s House, ing numerous productions at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Part 2 by Lucas Hnath, Vietgone by Qui Nguyen, Mr. Wolf Park. This is his 32nd production at SCR. by Rajiv Joseph and Office Hour by Julia Cho. In recent years, SCR productions have transferred to some of the Julie Ann Renfro (Stage Manager) is happy to be back leading theatres in the country including Manhattan The- at SCR for The Sisters Rosensweig! She has been a part of atre Club, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Reper- the stage management team at SCR for nine seasons and tory Theatre and The Goodman Theatre. His recent di- more than 25 productions. Some of her favorites include recting credits include Shakespeare in Love, All the Way, The Parisian Woman, The Miraculous Journey of Ed- Going to a Place where you Already Are, Zealot, Death of ward Tulane and The Light Princess. Her other credits a Salesman, Eurydice and Elemeno Pea at SCR; Hand to include Geffen Playhouse, LA Opera, Ojai Playwrights God at the Alliance Theatre; Byhalia, Mississippi by Evan Conference, Pasadena Playhouse, Laguna Playhouse, Syd- Linder at the Contemporary American Theatre Festival; As

The Sisters Rosensweig • South Coast Repertory • P7 You Like It for the Houston Shakespeare Festival; and The Martin Benson (Founding Artistic Director), co- Kite Runner at Actors Theatre of Louisville and the Cleve- founder of SCR, has directed nearly one-fourth of SCR’s land Play House. He served for 11 years as artistic director productions. In 2008, he and David Emmes received of Actors Theatre of Louisville and produced the Humana the Margo Jones Award for their lifetime commitment Festival of New American Plays, where he produced more to theatre excellence and fostering the art and craft of than 100 world premieres, expanded audiences and the American playwriting. They also accepted SCR’s 1988 repertoire, deepened arts education programs and spear- Tony Award for Outstanding Resident Professional The- headed numerous community-based projects. The world atre and won the 1995 Theatre LA Ovation Award for premieres he directed at the Humana Festival include Lifetime Achievement. Benson has received the Los works by Charles Mee, Wendell Berry, Craig Wright, Eric Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Distinguished Coble, Adam Bock, Gina Gionfriddo, Melanie Marnich, Achievement in Directing an unparalleled seven times for and Rick Dresser. His other Louisville directing credits in- George Bernard Shaw’s Major Barbara, Misalliance and clude A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shipwrecked! An En- Heartbreak House; John Millington Synge’s Playboy of tertainment, , The Tempest, Mary’s the Western World; ’s ; Sally Ne- Wedding and The Crucible. He served as artistic director meth’s Holy Days; and the world premiere of Margaret of City Theatre in for 20 years and was founder Edson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning , which he also direct- and chairman of the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Alliance. He ed at Seattle Repertory Theatre and Houston’s Alley The- has served as a theatre advisory panel member for the atre. He has directed American classics such as A Street- National Endowment for the Arts, as well as numerous car Named Desire and has distinguished himself in stag- foundations. He won the Man of the Year Vectors Award, ing contemporary work including the critically acclaimed and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the California premiere of William Nicholson’s Shadowlands. Pittsburgh New Works Festival. He directed revivals of Beth Henley’s Abundance and Horton Foote’s The Trip to Bountiful; and Samuel D. Paula Tomei (Managing Director) is responsible for Hunter’s The Whale and Rest (world premiere); The the overall administration of SCR. She has been manag- Whipping Man by Matthew Lopez; and The Roommate by ing director since 1994 and a member of SCR’s staff since Jen Silverman (west coast premiere). Benson received his 1979. She is a past president of the board of Theatre BA in theatre from San Francisco State University. Communications Group (TCG), the national service organization for theatre. In addition, she served as trea- David Emmes (Founding Artistic Director) is co-found- surer of TCG, vice president of the League of Resident er of South Coast Repertory. He received the Margo Theatres (LORT) and as a member of the LORT Negoti- Jones Award for his lifetime commitment to theatre ating Committee for industry-wide union agreements. excellence and to fostering the art of American playwrit- She represents SCR at national conferences of TCG ing. In addition, he has received numerous awards for and LORT and served as a theatre panelist and site visi- productions he has directed during his SCR career. He tor for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and directed the world premieres of Amy Freed’s Safe in Hell, the California Arts Council. Her teaching background The Beard of Avon and Freedomland; Thomas Babe’s includes a graduate class in non profit management at Great Day in the Morning; Keith Reddin’s Rum and UC Irvine (UCI) and as a guest lecturer in the graduate Coke and But Not for Me; and Neal Bell’s Cold ; school of business at Stanford. She was appointed by the the American premieres of Terry Johnson’s Unsuitable chancellor to UCI’s Community Arts Council, serves on for Adults; and Joe Penhall’s Dumb Show; and the South- the Dean’s Leadership Society Executive Committee for land premiere of Top Girls (at SCR and the Westwood the School of Social Sciences at UCI and is a member of Playhouse). Other productions he has directed include the College of Arts Dean’s Task Force for California State , New England, Arcadia, The Importance of Being University, Fullerton. She is also on the board of Arts Earnest, Woman in Mind and You Never Can Tell, which Orange County, the county-wide arts council, and the he restaged for the Singapore Festival of Arts. He has board of the Nicholas Endowment. She graduated from served as a theatre panelist and onsite evaluator for the UCI with a degree in economics and pursued an ad- National Endowment for the Arts, as well as a panelist for ditional course of study in theatre and dance. In March the California Arts Council. After attending Orange Coast 2017, she received the Mayor’s Award from the City of College, he received his BA and MA from San Francisco Costa Mesa for her contributions to the arts community. State University and his PhD from USC.

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 Manag- Artists Local USA-829, IATSE. labor union. ers in the United States.

P8 • South Coast Repertory • The Sisters Rosensweig