TheatreWorks S I L I C O N V A L L E Y PLANNED G IVING STANFORD March 2016 About TheatreWorks Silicon Valley Volume 47, No. 6 Welcome to TheatreWorks Silicon Valley and our 46th season of award-winning theatre. Led by Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley and Managing Director Phil Santora, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley presents a wide range of productions Paul Heppner and programming throughout the region. Publisher Founded in 1970, we continue to celebrate the human spirit and the diversity of Susan Peterson Design & Production Director our community, presenting contemporary plays and musicals, revitalizing great Ana Alvira, Robin Kessler, works of the past, championing arts education, and nurturing new works for the Shaun Swick, Stevie VanBronkhorst American theatre. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley has produced 65 world premieres Production Artists and Graphic Design and over 150 US and regional premieres. In the 2015/16 season, we add the Mike Hathaway world premiere of the musical Triangle and five more regional premieres to our Sales Director résumé. Brieanna Bright, Joey Chapman, Ann Manning TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s 2014/15 season included the world premiere of Seattle Area Account Executives The Great Pretender, as well as regional premieres of Water by the Spoonful, Marilyn Kallins, Terri Reed San Francisco/Bay Area Account Executives The Lake Effect, and Fire on the Mountain. Last season’s holiday production, Brett Hamil Peter and the Starcatcher, joined our January show 2 Pianos 4 Hands as the Online Editor two highest-grossing plays in our history. In the course of the year, shows that Jonathan Shipley debuted here were produced at theatres around the world, including our world Associate Online Editor premiere Memphis, which opened in London’s West End. Ad Services Coordinator Carol Yip With an annual operating budget of $8 million, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley Sales Coordinator produces eight mainstage productions at the Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto and the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. Fifteen years ago, we launched the New Works Initiative, rededicating ourselves to the development of new plays and musicals. The Initiative has since supported over 140 new works Leah Baltus ENCORE through retreats, workshops, staged readings, developmental productions, Editor-in-Chief and the annual New Works Festival, inspiring The Mercury News to call us “a Paul Heppner premiere breeding ground for new musicals, which has put the company on the Publisher national map.” Marty Griswold Associate Publisher TheatreWorks Silicon Valley believes in making theatre accessible to the entire Dan Paulus Silicon Valley community. Our Arts Education Department reaches more than Art Director 25,000 students in 70 schools in 7 counties annually. It sponsors outreach Jonathan Zwickel Senior Editor programs that include the Children’s Healing Project at Lucile Packard Children’s Gemma Wilson Hospital, the Young Playwright’s Initiative, specially-priced student matinees, Associate Editor extensive school tours, post-show discussions, and theatre camps, classes, and Amanda Manitach conservatories for youth. Visual Arts Editor For more information on our 2015/16 season, New Works Festival, and Education Programs, please visit theatreworks.org or call 650.463.1950. Paul Heppner AFFILIATIONS—TheatreWorks Silicon Valley is a member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and President operates under agreement between LORT and Actors’ Equity Association (AEA), the union of professional actors Mike Hathaway and stage managers in the United States. TheatreWorks is a constituent member of Theatre Communications Group, Inc., the national organization for the nonprofit professional theatre. TheatreWorks is a member of the Vice President National Alliance for Musical Theatre, a national service organization for musical theatre. In addition, Marty Griswold TheatreWorks is a member of Theatre Bay Area, the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce, and the Mountain View Director of Business & Community Development Chamber of Commerce. TheatreWorks’ 2015/16 Season is presented in cooperation with the City of Mountain View and the City of Palo Alto, Community Services Department, Division of Arts and Sciences. Genay Genereux Accounting The director is a member of the Society Sara Keats of Stage Directors and Choreographers, Marketing Coordinator Inc., an independent national labor union. Ryan Devlin The scenic, lighting, and sound designers are members of United Scenic Artists. This Events / Admin Coordinator season is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Corporate Office 425 North 85th Street Seattle, WA 98103 p 206.443.0445 f 206.443.1246 [email protected] Garden Court is the official J. Lohr is the official wine 800.308.2898 x105 hotel of TheatreWorks. of TheatreWorks. www.encoremediagroup.com The Mercury News is TheatreWorks’ Hengehold Trucks is the official trucking provider of Encore Arts Programs is published monthly by Encore Media 2015/16 Season Media Sponsor. TheatreWorks. Group to serve musical and theatrical events in the Puget Sound and San Francisco Bay Areas. All rights reserved. ©2016 Encore Media Group. Reproduction without written permission is prohibited. 2 THEATREWORKS SL 020816 keigwin fp.pdf 2015-16 SEASON THE CHOIR OF SAINT JOHN’S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE TUE & WED, MAR & KEIGWIN + COMPANY’S BOLERO SILICON VALLEY SAT & SUN, APR & GO BACK IN TIME WITH A CHORALE TRADITION DATING BACK TO THE s, THEN FLASH FORWARD WITH A SPIRITED DANCE CELEBRATION OF SILICON VALLEY. GREAT SEATS STILL AVAILABLE. BUY YOUR TICKETS TODAY! ONLINE: LIVE.STANFORD.EDU BY PHONE: 650.724.2464 (BING) Season Media Sponsors IN PERSON: 327 LASUEN STREET, STANFORD UNIVERSITY EAP full-page template.indd 1 2/8/16 12:33 PM In this Issue From the Board Chair I clearly remember my first experience with tokyo fish story. It was 2 About TheatreWorks a staged reading a couple of years ago at TheatreWorks Silicon Silicon Valley Valley’s New Works Festival, and I remember hoping that we would mount a mainstage production of this culturally rich and beautifully 6 THE 2016/17 SEASON written play. However, I also remember leaving the theatre trying to imagine what the sets would look like, wondering how we could portray the dreamlike elements of the script, and if we would have TheatreWorks Summer Studio 8 to find actors proficient in making sushi. It all seemed a daunting task. Yet here we are, and I’m thrilled that creative people with much more imagina- 9 From the Artistic Director tion than I were able to conceptualize and deliver on the promise we all knew was in tokyo fish story. I love that TheatreWorks is committed not only to bringing our audiences diverse and imaginative multi-cultural theatre, but multi-generational theatre as well, building empathy and sparking the imagination of Bay Area youth. Perhaps it’s because our founder and artistic director, Robert Kelley, began TheatreWorks in 1970 as a theatre arts workshop for young artists to create socially relevant productions during an unsettled period in American life. Or perhaps it’s because exposing kids to the arts at an early age helps create the next generation of theatregoers who will keep theatre vibrant. Or perhaps it’s because we know that cultural literacy is just as important in today’s diverse and divisive world as math and science literacy. Education fueled by imagination is clearly in TheatreWorks’ DNA. Our experi- enced teaching artists inspire over 25,000 students every year through in-school programs, student matinees, young playwrights projects, and community outreach. Whether it’s nurturing the creative spirit with the youngest aspiring thespian in our Playmakers summer camp, or collaborating with 7th–12th graders during our popular 1440 Countdown playwriting competition, TheatreWorks helps kids explore their Playwright Kimber Lee creativity, solve problems, and gain a greater understanding and appreciation of the world in which they live. 10 About the Play & Playwright Maybe this is why I suspect that theatre people are among the most empathetic and accepting of cohorts. Somewhere in each playwright’s, actor’s, director’s, or production designer’s past, his or her wild and crazy ideas were nurtured and 11 America’s Love Affair with Sushi affirmed. All were told it was okay to imagine the impossible and then make it happen. As Albert Einstein once said, “Logic will get you from A to B but imagination 12 A Gaijin’s Guide to Sushi will take you everywhere.” 13 TheatreWorks Silicon Valley Barbara Shapiro presents tokyo fish story Coming Next at TheatreWorks 15 Who’s Who BOARD OF TRUSTEES Barbara Shapiro, Chair 18 Leading Ladies Jayne Booker Michael Kahn Nancy Ginsburg Stern Bill Coughran Julie Kaufman Debra Summers 19 Contributors Susan Fairbrook Robert Kelley Lynn Szekely-Goode Ciro Giammona Tom Kelley Tzipor Ulman 22 TWSV Staff Anne Hambly Ray A. Rothrock Mark Vershel Judy Heyboer Adam Samuels Holly Ward Larry Horton Phil Santora Lisa Webster By Edmund Rostand 23 TWSV General Information Roy Johnson Loren Saxe Jane Weston Derry Kabcenell Gayla Lorthridge Wood Translated by Michael Hollinger BOARD EMERITUS Adapted by Michael Hollinger & Aaron Posner Continue the conversation online! Nancy Meyer, Founder • William F. Adler • Edward T. Anderson, MD • Doug Barry • Lauren Directed by Robert Kelley Berman • Chuck Bernstein • Sharon Anthony Bower • Michael Braun • Polly W. Bredt • Bruce Become our fan on Facebook! C. Cozadd • Jeff Crowe • Peggy Dalal