The Sisters Rosensweig Program
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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 Wendy Wasserstein 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, New York 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 Art 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— Madeline Kahn (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 Brooklyn, 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 The Heidi Chronicles (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. Joan Allen 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 tic 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,”