CalArts Center for New Performance in association with Poor Dog Group COMING NEXT FROM CNP presents

The Center for New Performance at CalArts BREWSIE AND WILLIE And UDG Cultura of the Universidad de Guadalajara Written by Gertrude Stein present Adapted by Marissa Chibas, Erik Ehn and Travis Preston

a Duende CalArts production Directed by Travis Preston

TIMBOCTOU MUSIC PERFORMED, COMPOSED AND IMPROVISED BY Andrew Conrad and Andrew Gilbert A new play by Alejandro Ricaño CHOREOGRAPHY Mira Kingsley Directed by Martín Acosta DRAMATURGY Juli Crockett SCENIC DESIGN Efren Delgadillo, Jr. COSTUME DESIGN E.B. Brooks March 2 - 11, 2012 LIGHTING DESIGN Efren Delgadillo, Jr. and REDCAT (the Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater) Adam Haas Hunter nd PROJECTION DESIGN Jesse Bonnell, John Kern and 2 and Hope Streets, Los Angeles Jeffrey Elias Teeter TECHNICAL DIRECTOR Oscar Arevalo PRODUCER Carol Bixler PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER Justin D. Schlegel

with COMING SOON Jonney Ahmanson, Jesse Bonnell, Caitlyn Conlin, Andrew Conrad, Brad Culver, Andrew Gilbert, Matthew Goodrich, Lucy Griffin, Adam Haas Hunter, John Kern, Jesse Saler, Catherine Ventura

533 Los Angeles Art Center Performances Wednesday – Sunday June 15 through June 26, 2011 8:00 PM 533 S. Los Angeles Street, 2nd Floor, LA, CA 90013 For Leasing Information These performances are part of RADAR L.A., an international festival of contemporary theater. For more information, visit Call 310-360-7501 radarla.org. This production received significant support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

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Director’s Notes Production Team

I discovered Stein‘s Brewsie and Willie many years ago in a used bookstore in New Assistant Director Itamar Stern York. I was moved by the voices of these young men – the soldiers that Stein loved so much. She had listened well. Stein had managed to capture and craft the authenticity, Associate Producer Laura Kay Swanson musicality, and plainspoken genius of these warriors with time on their hands. In reading this short novel I confess that I heard the voice of my father. He had been one of them: a Assistant Costume Designer Asta Hostetter high school kid who found himself on the European front within months of graduation. I determined immediately to do a stage adaptation. It is twenty-five years later. I worked Assistant Technical Director Yomy Lopez on a version in France and one in Germany – but both efforts seemed somehow forced and awkward, unable as they were to be in the original cadence of Stein‘s American Master Electricians Spencer Downie and English. When Poor Dog Group slowly took form as a collective, I knew that I had found Matt Mellinger the community of actors to bring this work to fruition. The fragility of their condition as emerging, idealistic artists with a mission shared something profound with the situation of these young soldiers trying to navigate a new world – one that they had brought about but might not be able to live in. Stein‘s reflections on the anxieties, vulnerability, and fragility of her soldiers seem prescient in the mouths of these dedicated young artists – mirroring in some way their own existential uncertainty in a United States that is in a continual state of crisis and challenge. What I did not anticipate was how recent economic turmoil would infuse the work with an additional sense of moment and urgency – reinvigorating basic questions about our identity as a nation and our ability to survive as a democracy. I am grateful to Poor Dog Group for their heart, anarchy, and fervent commitment to challenging the status quo – both in relation to the discourse on economy, national identity, and democracy as well as performance practice and aspiration. They are a Special Thanks skilled and gifted ensemble and have been a source of invigoration to me throughout this process. The Estate of Gertrude Stein, KASHCO and Joe and Abe Kash, REDCAT, Stockroom.com, The Elephant Theater, Carol Hove Ahmanson, Hugo Armstrong, Artemis, Travis Preston Eva Blumenfeld, Brigette Bowers, Merlin Camozzi, Brittany Carriger, Marissa Chibas, Lap-chi Chu, Douglas Clayton, Michael Darling, Jade Dornfeld, Jessica Emmanuel, Martha Ferrara, Jenny Greer, Art Horowitz, Milena Hunter, Antwon Jackson, Gary Dramaturgical Notes Kechely, Yung-Jin Kim, Lewis Klahr, Murray and Marvelle Koffler, Theo Koffler, Jenny Krusoe, Andrea Leblanc, Tanya Lee, Michael Mallinson, Ellen McCartney, Terence The American writer Gertrude Stein spent much of her life in France and much of the end McFarland, Sallie Merkel, Michael Michetti, Karen Murk, Jim O‘Quinn, Lynn Peterson, of her life preoccupied with the lives and minds of American servicemen. In 1945 Stein Jacob Prosich, Kari Rae Seekins, Jonney Stearns, Janet Sternberg, Kit Stolen, Karla began writing a series of essays in the New York Times about American GI‘s, expressing her concern for the feelings and futures of these young men. Her writings were based on Talavera, Brian Tichnell, Brady Westwater, Christy Willits, Amy Yeager, Edward Yoon the real conversations she engaged in during and immediately after WWII, when many American soldiers would gather in her Paris apartment to share their thoughts and anxieties. She listened to them. Brewsie and Willie was published in 1946, two weeks prior to her death on July 27, 1946.

Juli Crockett

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California Institute of the Arts From Jesse Bonnell

California Institute of the Arts, CalArts, the first U.S. higher educational institution Operating as connective tissue, the major organizations that made RADAR L.A. possible provide Poor Dog Group and 14 other influential theater ensembles the opportunity to to integrate the visual and performing arts under one roof, is recognized as the present the kind of theater that not only speaks to our immediate community, but also nation‘s leading laboratory for the arts. Housing six schools—Art, Critical Studies, allows a global discourse with like-minded international artists, thinkers, and supporters. Dance, Film/Video, Music and Theater—CalArts embraces creative cross- pollination among diverse art forms and traditions, and strongly encourages each We, at Poor Dog Group, are thrilled to be a part of this vibrant moment. We would like to artist to pursue his or her vision within a broad context of social and cultural thank RADAR L.A. and CNP for their generous support. understanding. Poor Dog Group has grown rapidly over the past four years, working with CalArts, UCLA, UCSB, TCG, and The Getty Villa, as well as abroad with organizations like The Grotowski Institute and the US Embassy in Serbia. This momentum is generated by an enthusiastic commitment to the investigation of contemporary theater. Our sights are set on having a national and global presence, including our residency at EMPAC in New York this fall and a trip to The Netherlands this summer to collaborate with the exciting performance collective Wunderbaum. This accessibility to international theater positions Poor Dog Poor Dog Group Group to reach new levels of art practice and visibility.

Poor Dog Group [PDG] was founded in late fall of 2007 by recent graduates of Please become a member of Poor Dog Group's expanding community by joining our California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). We celebrated the opening of our 6,100 mailing list and/or giving a tax-deductible donation. Thank you for coming to Brewsie and sq. ft. performance warehouse in downtown Los Angeles in January 2009. During Willie, and I hope to see you at all of our upcoming performances and events. our yearlong occupancy, PDG Performance Warehouse was witness to ambitious programming initiatives including visual arts exhibitions, dance shows, music Jesse Bonnell Artistic Director, Poor Dog Group concerts, and original PDG performances. In 2009, we toured throughout Eastern Europe performing in over a dozen cities in Croatia, Poland, and Serbia. Funding for this tour was provided by Theater Communications Group, The Foundation for Contemporary Arts, The Grotowski Institute, The United States Embassy in Serbia, and private donors. Last summer we co-presented the world premiere adaptation of Gertrude Stein‘s Brewsie & Willie with CalArts Center for New Performance. This project received significant support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In November 2010, we participated in a REDCAT residency with esteemed Polish director Grzegorz Jarzyna. Recently, PDG presented a work in progress titled, Satyr Atlas, as part of The Getty Villa Theater Lab Series. Satyr Atlas will be further developed and presented at The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) this November. In September, we will be traveling to The Netherlands to collaborate with Dutch performance collective Wunderbaum and participate in the annual Rotterdamse Schouwburg Festival. This three week residency is made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs. This production of BREWSIE AND WILLIE has received special permission from Stanford G. Gann, Jr., Literary Executor of the Gertrude Stein Estate.

10 3 Ensemble Laura Kay Swanson (Associate Producer) recently graduated from CalArts with an MFA in Producing in both Music and Theater. Earlier this year, she produced and directed ―Hymn to the Sun”, an music video that premiered at REDCAT as part of the CalArts Film/Video Brewsie Jonney Ahmanson Showcase. Also at REDCAT, she was Managing Producer for the World Premiere of Rain Coloring Forest. At CalArts, she produced Shakespeare‘s Measure for Measure, Fassbinder‘s The Bitter Willie Brad Culver Tears of Petra von Kant, and was musical director and assistant producer for Hellzapoppin‘, based on the 1941 film. Laura is Producing Director for The Industry, a new experiential opera company. The Industry‘s inaugural production of Crescent City will premiere in Los Angeles in Jo Andrew Gilbert May 2012. www.theindustryla.org

Jimmie Brock Jesse Saler* Jeffrey Elias Teeter (Projection Design) graduated from California Institute of the Arts and has worked on productions across America and Europe including: REDCAT Resident Lighting Donald Paul Adam Haas Hunter* Designer; Collage Dance Theater Lighting, Sound & Projection Designer. Baby It's You, The Broadhurst Theatre (Assistant Projection Designer), All That Skate, The Staples Center (Video Pauline Lucy Griffin Director), Piedra de Sol, The Getty Villa (Projection Designer). Before I Forget, Kirk Douglas Theater (Video Director), Jesus Ride, HERE Arts Center (Projection Designer), Mycenaean, BAM Janet Caitlyn Conlin Next Wave Festival (Associate Sound Designer), 11 September 2001, (Projection Designer), A HiphOpera, Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Projection Designer).

Jane Catherine Ventura Catherine Ventura (Jane) is one of the first female members of Poor Dog Group. She graduated from CalArts with a BFA in acting in 2008. CalArts credits include Hamlet, Skin, The Gingham Dog Richard John Kern and others. REDCAT credits include Invisible Glass. Poor Dog Group credits include Satyr Atlas, The Internationalists and the Zagat rated Serial #17. Ed Jesse Bonnell CalArts Center for New Performance Henry Matthew Goodrich CalArts Center for New Performance (CNP) was established in 1999 as a forum for the creation of work that expands the language, discourse, and boundaries of contemporary theater. The Center supports a producing model that is artist and project specific, giving priority to Musicians performance that cannot be easily produced in other circumstances. In addition to Brewsie and Saxophone Andrew Conrad Willie, recent CNP projects have included Ah!, an ―interactive opera no-opera,‖ which received its world premiere last September at REDCAT; Macbeth, a radical reinterpretation of Shakespeare‘s Macbeth, directed by Artistic Director Travis Preston and performed by Stephen Guitar Andrew Gilbert Dillane, which has been presented to glowing reviews in Los Angeles, London, Sydney and Adelaide, and will tour this spring to Madrid, Germany, and Paris; Daughter of a Cuban Harmonica Jesse Saler Revolutionary, written and performed by Marissa Chibas, which premiered in Los Angeles and has toured to New York, Miami, and the Guadalajara International Book Fair; What to Wear, a new post-rock opera, directed and designed by and composed by Michael Gordon, described by the Los Angeles Times as ―theater that you discover while you look, listen *Mr. Hunter, Mr. Saler and Mr. Schlegel, the Production Stage Manager, appear through the and wonder‖; and 11 September, 2001, by Michel Vinaver, which premiered in Los Angeles prior courtesy of Actors‘ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the to a three-city tour of France. CalArts Center for New Performance is led by Travis Preston, United States. Dean of the School of Theater and Artistic Director; Carol Bixler, Producing Director; Leslie Tamaribuchi, Managing Director; Stephan Koplowitz, Dean, School of Dance; and David Rosenboom, Dean, The Herb Alpert School of Music at CalArts.

4 9 Travis Preston (Director) is Artistic Director of the CalArts Center for New Performance and Biographies Dean of the CalArts School of Theater. This season, Travis directed the Master Builder in London at the with Stephen Dillane and Gemma Arterton and David Rosenboom‘s Systems of Judgement at the Comédie de Caen. He also Jonney Ahmanson (Brewsie) is a founding member of Poor Dog Group. He has directed Macbeth with Stephen Dillane, which opened at REDCAT in Los Angeles and was directed, conceived and acted in numerous projects with Poor Dog Group including Hey, presented by the Almeida Theatre and the Sydney and Adelaide Festivals. Upcoming Hey Man, Hey, which was part of the REDCAT NOW Festival. Jonney has toured many projects include The Long Road to Freedom, a collaboration with Harry Belafonte based on different parts of Europe with such shows as September 11, 2001 and The the history of African-American music. In 2008 he was named Chevalier of the Order of Arts Internationalists. He has been featured on comedy websites such as and Letters by the French Minister of Culture for ―contributions to the arts in France and BrevityTV.com. Other credits include Futura at The Theater @ Boston Court and Satyr throughout the world. Atlas at the Getty Villa. He dedicates his performance to the memory of his father, William H. Ahmanson.

Jesse Saler (Jimmie Brock) graduated from CalArts in 2007 and is a founding member and Oscar Arevalo (Technical Director) graduated from CalArts in 07‘ with his BFA in General Manager of Poor Dog Group. Outside of PDG, credits include Medea with UCLA Technical Direction. Since graduating Oscar has worked on the world premiere LIVE, Fidelio with LA OPERA, Strom Thurmond is Not A Racist and 365 Days/365 Plays with of Vineland Stelae, Ah! Interactive Opera No-Opera, Imaginus Zoo Productions as a Blank-The-Dog Productions, and Romeo i Julija: 1968 with Ulysses Theatre in Mali freelance Technical Director. Oscar is also currently the Technical Director for Los Brijun,Croatia. Collectively involved in all PDG endeavors, Jesse greatly looks forward to Angeles High School of the Arts in the new Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools. their upcoming residency at EMPAC this fall and their future production of End Saw. Carol Bixler (Producer) Producing Director for the CalArts Center for New Performance, Justin D. Schlegel (Production Stage Manager) Regional credits include: Center for New she has a broad background in commercial and non-commercial theater and dance. As Performance/ Théâtre Dijon Bourgogne: 11 September 2001. Magic Theatre (Asst. Stage Associate Producer of En Garde Arts in New York, her productions included The Waste Manager) Goldfish , (Asst. Stage Manager)Oedipus El Rey (Stage Manager) An Land, directed by Deborah Warner and performed by Fiona Shaw at the abandoned Accident(Stage Manager) The Lily’s Revenge. TheatreWorks-Silicon Valley (Stage Liberty Theatre on 42nd Street, and Sweet Theresienstadt, co-developed with the Archa Manager) A Christmas Memory (Workshop). Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Production Theatre of Prague. In addition to Brewsie and Willie, CNP projects have included Assistant) Chicago, The Taming of the Shrew. American Repertory Theater (Production Macbeth with Stephen Dillane, directed by Travis Preston, which has performed in Los Assistant)Othello. The Sundance Institute Theatre Lab (Stage Manager)Citizen Angeles, London, and Australia, and will tour Madrid, Germany, and France in 2011; Josh and Steve & Idi. Ojai Playwrights Conference (Stage Manager) Monkey Puzzle Tree as What to Wear, a music theater collaboration between Richard Foreman and Michael well as production assistant for Sir Peter Hall on the opening of the U.S. Tour of The Gordon; September 11, 2001, which performed throughout France in June, 2006; Peach Importance of Being Earnest. Blossom Fan, a modern Chinese opera created by Chen Shi-Zheng; The Peony Pavillion with music by Stephin Merritt; and a site-specific production of King Lear, directed by Itamar Stern (Assistant Director) is the Director of Development + Programming for Poor Travis Preston, which premiered at the Brewery Arts Complex in 2002 and toured the Dog Group. This past winter, Itamar produced PDG‘s two week residency at The Getty Villa following year to France. in Malibu and looks forward to developing their latest work, Satyr Atlas, at EMPAC in New York in the fall. In September, he will travel with Jesse Bonnell, Artistic Director, to the Jesse Bonnell (Ed/ Projection Design) As Artistic Director of PDG, Jesse has conceived Netherlands for a three week residency with Dutch performance collective Wunderbaum, and directed numerous original performance works. His work has been presented at the funded by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. Itamar produced PDG's Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, The Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, the first international tour around Eastern Europe in 2009. At CalArts, he adapted and directed Edinburgh Fringe Festival, REDCAT, The University of Zagreb, The Guthrie Theater, Murder, a site-specific performance about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, written by prominent UCLA, EMPAC, The Getty Villa, The Grotowski Institute‘s The World as a Place of Israeli playwright Hanoch Levine. He also produced and directed Tom Stoppard's Every Truth and the U.S. Artist Initiative, an international theater festival that coincided with the Good Boy Deserves Favor, an institute wide collaboration with musicians, dancers, Grotowski Year 2009. That July, PDG toured The Internationalists throughout Eastern filmmakers, and actors. Europe, including Croatia, Poland and Serbia, winning first place at the Skradin International Theater Festival. He has taught workshops at CalArts, The University of Zagreb and at The University of California Santa Barbara. His new play, Beyond the Pleasure Principle in Junkland, will premiere at The Williamstown Festival this July.

8 5 E.B. Brooks (Costume Design) Costume Design, CNP: What to Wear directed by Richard Andrew Gilbert (Jo/ Composer/ Guitar) "It's like taking a big truck, and making it come back Foreman, Theater 150: Hamlet Boston Court Theater: Courting Vampires directed by Jessica around a corner" - Joe. Andrew is an original Poor Dog Group ensemble member. He has been Kubzansky, 1001 directed by Michael Michetti, 365 plays (Meeting Brad Pitt), Black Dahlia composing, arranging, and playing music for Poor Dog productions since the beginning. What is Theater: Forgiveness, Finally, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot and Secrets of the Trade directed most exciting about Brewsie and Willie is Andrew's opportunity to work with Andrew Conrad, and of by Matt Shakman. REDCAT: WET and Sucktion directed by Nataki Garrett/ composed by Anne course, Matty. Andrew would like to thank CNP, TP, CB, BO, ED, JB, and IS. Also, a very special LeBaron. She has designed the following films: Storage, Growth, Family of Four, and The Murder thank you to W. of Hi Good. In May 2007 she received her MFA from California Institute of the Arts. E.B. is originally from Washington D.C. where her work has been seen at the John F. Kennedy Center with Matthew Goodrich (Henry) is a 3rd year MFA candidate in Acting at CalArts and holds a B.A. in City Dance Ensemble, Lumina Studio Theater of Takoma Park, and The Clarice Smith Performing Film, Television, and Theatre from the University of Notre Dame. Previous credits include Kilroy Arts Center at Maryland. She currently designs for California Institute of Technology. (Camino Real, Boston Court), Duke Vincentio (Measure for Measure, CalArts), and Mack the Knife (The Threepenny Opera, Notre Dame). Special thanks to the Dogs, TP, GS, JS, AH, MK, SDS, Caitlyn Conlin (Janet) recently graduated with her MFA in Acting from CalArts and holds a BA in GG, JC, and American servicemen and women, past and present. May God Bless America. Acting from ASU. She has had the opportunity to create and develop works with ensemble based Lucy Griffin (Pauline) is a born and bred L.A native, CalArts grad, and company member at experimental theatre companies including Vessel, Progressive Theater Workshop and Theatre in Theatre of Note. Thanks to Travis, Poor Dog Group, everyone involved in this project, her family, My Basement, as well as perform in Gertrude Stein's I'd Like it to be a Play at the Edinburgh Fringe Pierre and the aussie for all their help. Feels good to get back to Brewsie and Willie. Festival. My deepest thanks to Travis Preston and the Poor Dog Group. Adam Haas Hunter (Donald Paul/ Lighting Design) received his BFA from California Institute of the Andrew Conrad (Composer/ Saxophone) is an improvising saxophonist/clarinetist from CA. He Arts. Upon graduating he co-founded Poor Dog Group. Adam has appeared in Medea at UCLA holds a BFA in Jazz and Improvisational Music from the University of Nevada, Reno and a MFA in Live, Romeo j Julia 1968 (Mali Brijun, Croatia), Dark Play (or Stories for Boys), Sandstorm and Jazz Studies from CalArts. Andrew recently released two debut CDs with original groups Keen Hamlet among others. He has designed or performed in all Poor Dog Group productions; most Inkling and Chord Four in late 2010 and has an upcoming record release in July for the peasant- recently, he designed lights for and acted in Satyr Atlas at the Getty Villa . He received the LA funk group Orkestar Meze. Meanwhile, he continues to freelance as a soloist, composer, performer Weekly and LADCC award for featured performance in 2007 and an LA Weekly award for lighting and educator around the LA area. Special thanks to B Rad's muscles. for the original production of Brewsie and Willie. Adam is excited to be collaborating on Baby Doll by Tennessee Williams set to open at The Lillian Theater this fall. Adam would like to thank his Juli Crockett (Dramaturg) is a playwright, director, undefeated professional boxer, and the lead always supportive wife Milena for her diligence and beauty. Budalo. singer/songwriter for the alt-country band The Evangenitals. Her work has been presented at the 24th Street Theater & REDCAT in Los Angeles, HERE in NYC, and she has extensively toured the John Kern (Richard/ Projection Design) is a founding member of PDG. He is also a founding US and UK with her band. She was born in Coffee County, Alabama and is currently pursuing a member of the ‗More Life‘ initiative, a collective of writing and performance artists operating in the PhD in Philosophy. Great Lakes Region of East Africa since 2004. John holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Masters of Arts in Aesthetics & Politics, both from CalArts. Brad Culver (Willie) has performed at notable venues internationally, including The Getty Villa in Los Angeles, BITEF Theatre in Serbia, The Grotowski Festival in Poland, and the Edinburgh Fringe Mira Kingsley (Choreographer) Mira‘s choreography and directing work has been seen Festival. He is a founding member of Poor Dog Group. Brad received his BFA in Theatre from internationally in Scotland, Mexico, Thailand, and Nepal as well as nationally at venues including CalArts. He currently teaches theatre at Los Angeles Academy of Arts and Enterprise and performs REDCAT, The Bam Next Wave Festival, The Kitchen, Carnegie Hall, The Guggenheim Museum with 24th Street Theatre‘s Enter Stage Right theatre education program. Works in Process Series, and the legendary Apollo Theater. She is currently a Professor of Dance at the University of California Santa Barbara and serves a teacher of Tibetan Buddhism both in Los Efren Delgadillo Jr (Scenic and Lighting Design) Born in East Los Angeles. Resident Designer for Angeles and around the world. She received MFAs in Theater Direction and Choreography from Poor Dog Group. Some East Coast companies Efren has worked with include New School for California Institute of the Arts. Drama, The Foundry Theatre, the Acting Company, BAM Harvey, Hartford Stage, and with directors Karin Coonrod, Melanie Joseph, Casey Biggs, and Carl Hancock Rux. On the West Coast, he has designed for the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater, Cornerstone Theater Company,Hand2Mouth Theater, Getty Villa Theater Lab and CalArts Center for New Performance, and for directors Mark Valdez, Nataki Garrett, Jonathan Walters, Larry Biederman and Travis Preston.

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