Under the leadership of Artistic Director Barbara Gaines and Executive Director Criss Henderson, Chicago A NOTE FROM DIRECTOR CAITRÍONA McLAUGHLIN Shakespeare has redefined what a great American Shakespeare theater can be—a company that defies When Neil Murray and Graham McLaren (directors of theatrical category. This Regional Tony Award-winning the ) asked me to direct Roddy Doyle’s theater’s year-round season features as many as twenty new play Two Pints and tour it to pubs around productions and 650 performances—including plays, , I was thrilled. As someone who has made musicals, world premieres, family programming, and presentations from around the globe. theatre in an array of found and site-sympathetic The work is enjoyed by 225,000 audience members annually, with one in four under the age of spaces, including pubs, shops, piers, beneath eighteen. Chicago Shakespeare is the city’s leading producer of international work, and touring flyovers, and one time inside a de-sanctified church, its own productions across five continents has garnered multiple accolades, including the putting theatre on in pubs around Ireland felt like a prestigious Laurence Olivier Award. Emblematic of its role as a global theater, the company sort of homecoming. I suspect every theatre director spearheaded Shakespeare 400 Chicago, celebrating Shakespeare’s legacy in a citywide, based outside of has had a production of yearlong international arts and culture festival, which engaged 1.1 million people. The Theater’s some sort or another perform in a pub, so why did nationally acclaimed arts in literacy programs support the work of English and drama teachers, this feel different? and bring Shakespeare to life on stage for tens of thousands of their students each school year. Over the summer, the company tours a professional production of Shakespeare’s work, free for Was it the fact that we were asking two of Ireland’s leading actors to perform all, to neighborhood parks across the city. In 2017 the Theater unveiled The Yard at Chicago in such close and intimate surroundings? Shakespeare—with its innovative design that has changed the shape of theater architecture. Together with the Jentes Family Courtyard Theater and the Thoma Theater Upstairs, The Yard Was it the fact that we were bringing a slice of Dublin to towns and villages positions Chicago Shakespeare as the city’s most versatile performing arts center. around Ireland and not the other way around? BARBARA GAINES CRISS HENDERSON Artistic Director Executive Director Perhaps it was that we were bringing a new Roddy Doyle play directly into the Carl and Marilynn Thoma Chair location in which it was set—a pub—before putting it on a stage? ARTISTIC ADVANCEMENT STAGE MANAGEMENT DANIEL LOPEZ Assistant Facilities Manager Or was it simply the fact that our National Theatre had finally realised that RICK BOYNTON E. BROOKE FLANAGAN DEBORAH ACKER Creative Producer Managing Director for Production Stage Manager/ FELIX ROSS it had an audience and future theatre artists often living three or four hours Associate Producer Custodial Supervisor BOB MASON Advancement and External Affairs away in parts of the country lacking in basic public transport or access to Artistic Associate/ DOTTIE BRIS-BOIS AMANDA LANDIS DWAYNE BREWER CST Two Pints Stage Manager FLOYD CONWAY live theatre, particularly new plays written and performed by exceptional Casting Director Associate Director of Development MARIBEL CUEVAS AISLINN FRANTZ JENNY SEIDELMAN SCENERY RESHARD HUFF theatre artists? Associate Producer Director of Partnerships OCTAVIOUS MOODY ANGELA McMAHON TAMAL STEVENS DOREEN SAYEGH KRISTEN CARUSO ROBERT L. WILSON RICHARD TENNY Manager of International Senior Advancement Manager/ Scenery Supervisors SHENISE THOMAS and Special Projects Board Liaison Custodial Assistants FROM IRELAND: We wanted the experience for rural Irish audiences seeing this play in such CALEB McANDREW ROSIE BROSS GRACE SCHNECK Technical Coordinator small and intimate spaces to be like seeing the Sex Pistols at the 100 Club, Producing Assistant Advancement Manager TICKETING, GUEST ABBEY THEATRE’S PETER REGALBUTO or at Manchester Free Trade Hall, before the rest of the country knew what DIEGO ZOZAYA BRYAN HOWARD Stage Crew Head SERVICES AND EVENTS Interim Casting Assistant Grant Writer was going on. We wanted them to be the first, and to give them the sense of BRADLEY BURI MAKEDA COHRAN MIKEY GRAY EMILY McCLANATHAN Stage Carpenter Head Events Director being let in on a secret, before anyone else, as opposed to being the last. It Assistant to the Advancement Communications CAITLIN DUNLAP Creative Producer Coordinator JACK BIRDWELL was a very punk aesthetic. I just loved that idea. And hence, the Two Pints TYLER GUYNES Front of House Coordinator/ ALYSSA SOTO KARL SISSMAN ADAM HELD House Manager tour was born. Casting Intern VIP Concierge and Stewardship MICHAEL JANSSENS VICTORIA GILBERT Coordinator ADAM TODD JENN OSWALD MANAGEMENT VIKTORIA STEFANOVA House Carpenters XAVIER ROE TWO DEBORAH VANDERGRIFT Donor Records and Data ALEX ROGGOW WRITTEN BY When you get hold of a play like Two Pints, you know fairly quickly you COSTUMES House Managers General Manager Coordinator have something special on your hands. Before reading the script I admit I RYAN MAGNUSON DANIEL J. HESS FRANCZESKA VELEZ MEL GILL RODDY DOYLE Costume Shop Manager Concessions Supervisor was thinking: two men sitting at a bar talking about life and themselves, Company Manager Advancement Coordinator CATHY TANTILLO KEVIN SPELLMAN MICHAEL RUSSELL what’s new? As it turns out: everything. With this masterful piece of writing, MELANIE LEFTAKES Costume Design Assistant Assistant Concessions Manager Associate General Manager Advancement Intern Roddy Doyle teaches us an old lesson that we have perhaps lost sight of in REBECCA DOROSHUK KATE LASS SAMANTHA BRAZILLER Wardrobe Supervisor JACQUELINE POJASEK PINTS Executive Assistant HANYI WANG contemporary drama: plays are about the people we live with. He has written Gala Intern JESS KENYON Concessions Leads BEN GATES-UTTER Laundry BESSIE BESS a play that is utterly true to the banter you might hear between any two men Company Management Associate MARKETING ERIN HUNTER in their sixties sitting in the pub, and yet it never once dips into any kind of EDWARD McCREARY JULIE STANTON ELECTRICS Interim Box Office Supervisors KRISSI McEACHERN Director of Marketing and Sales JEFF GLASS ANTHONY BALDASARE bigoted, judgmental, or sexist remark. Arts Leadership Fellows HANNAH KENNEDY Lighting Supervisor DANIEL BALSAMO Public Relations Director REBECCA BOERMAN EDUCATION AND ALEC THORNE TYRA BULLOCK CATHY TAYLOR Assistant Lighting Supervisor MEGAN CLAUHS Roddy is not only teaching those of us in the theatre how to write character COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT Public Relations Consultant JOAN E. CLAUSSEN BYRON COOLIE MARILYN J. HALPERIN AMANDA CANTLIN ANGELA COTEY for a more informed and respectful world, he is showing us that empathy Director of Education Lighting Crew Head Senior Marketing Manager SCOTT COWAN is created by listening. What he allows us to do is eavesdrop on the hopes, and Communications SARA CROUNSE Ray and Judy McCaskey Chair ABIGAIL TOTH SOUND NICK CUELLAR fears, desires, and disappointments of two simple, but in their own way, JASON HARRINGTON Digital Marketing Manager JOSEPH DISBROW GRACE GLASGOW Education Outreach Manager Sound Crew Head JEFFREY GOUGIS extraordinary men. Yes, the language is colourful. Yes, there are a few four- AARON WEGNER TIFFANY GOUGIS MOLLY TRUGLIA Marketing Manager, DAN SCHRECK BRITTNEY GRANT letter words. But there is also much laughter, much love, much comedy, and Learning Programs Manager Insights and Analytics House Sound Technician MAYA HOPKINS SARA B.T. THIEL, PH.D JESSICA CONNOR ALLIE LYKE much life, too. Eavesdropping on these two men, you’ll see that, like great BRI McCABE Public Humanities Manager Marketing and Communications WIGS AND MAKE-UP Associate ALEX MEYER jazz musicians, they riff off each other, and off their own experiences. PASSION ROCHELLE RICHARD JARVIE WILL NICHOLSON ANASTASIA WRENN DANIEL WALTERS Wig and Make-up Supervisor DIANNE NORA Education Interns Marketing and Communications MIGUEL ARMSTRONG ZACHARY PARKHURST Designer Wig and Make-up Assistant DARA PRENTISS And as I sit here in a hotel bar wondering have I said too much or not enough MAYA PRENTISS FINANCE MIKAYLA SHAW MEGAN PIRTLE KATIE RANEY in writing this, the conversation of two men at the bar floats into earshot: LINDA ORELLANA Marketing Assistant Wig and Make-up Apprentice ANTHONY SANTIAGO One: He’s mad for the ambience, that’s what they used to call Director of Finance RACHEL HOLDERMAN SAM SCHNEIDER-BEHEN STEVE SHREVE #CHICAGOSHAKES #TWOPINTS MADISON KESSELRING PROPERTIES DAN GRYCZA JOEY STARCHER it anyway, ambience! Human Resources Manager/ Marketing Interns CASSANDRA WESTOVER AUDREY SIMON Two: I hear they’re building a hotel now, sixteen stories high! Finance Associate Properties Supervisor EMIL SUECK ALANA RYBAK PRODUCTION MARA RICH NICOLE TINI Annual support perennially provided by The Davee Foundation WorldStage Fund One: F*cking sharks, where’s it going? Assistant Director of Finance CHRIS PLEVIN Assistant Properties Supervisor HANNAH WILLIAMS Director of Production SHONDA WILLIAMS Two: Jesus Christ! I told you what I know! ALYSSE HUNTER LISA GRIEBEL Guest Services Associates MAJOR 2018/19 SEASON SUPPORTERS Accounting Manager JEFF WILLIAMS Properties Carpenter Associate Director of Production SARA BENBELLA BECKY TRAISMAN DAN NURCZYK ANEYA COBBS …and I am struck once again by the accuracy and brilliance of Roddy’s writing. Accounting Associate EMMALINE KEDDY-HECTOR Properties Crew Head BLAKE CORDELL Production Coordinator AARON ROBERTS OPERATIONS/FACILITIES ZOE ROSENFELD ALEXA BERKOWITZ Box Office Associates Production Office Manager SUSAN KNILL Facilities and Operations Director ALEXIS FACEMYRE Lead individual support provided by Raymond and Judy McCaskey, Burton X. and Sheli Z. Rosenberg, Production Management JEANNE DEVORE Timothy R. Schwertfeger and Gail Waller, Carl and Marilynn Thoma, and Donna Van Eekeren Foundation. Apprentice Technology Manager BARBARA GAINES CRISS HENDERSON Artistic Director Executive Director Carl and Marilynn Thoma Chair PROFILES LIAM CARNEY (One) Mr. Carney appeared in the Irish and English tours of Two Pints CAITRÍONA McLAUGHLIN (Director) Ms. McLaughlin is the associate director at the Abbey RICK BOYNTON E. BROOKE FLANAGAN in 2017 and 2018. Other work with the Abbey Theatre includes: Drum Belly, Tales of Theatre, where she has directed: Two Pints by Roddy Doyle (2018, 2017), On Raftery’s Hill Creative Producer Managing Director for Advancement and External Affairs Ballycumber, The Seafarer, The Playboy of the Western World, Romeo and Juliet, Homeland, by Marina Carr (2018 ITTA nomination for best director), Josephine K and the Algorithms by Portia Coughlan, Done Up like a Kipper, The Passion of Jerome, Twenty Grand, A Picture Stacey Gregg, and Monsters, Dinosaurs, Ghosts by Jimmy McAleavey. Other work includes: of Paradise, and Brothers of the Brush. Other theater work includes: The Silver Tassie, Autumn Royal by Kevin Barry (Everyman, Cork); Riders to the Sea (Wexford Opera Festival); (Arcola Theatre); She Knit the Roof (Earagail Arts Festival); Luck Just Kissed presents The Cripple of Inishmaan (Druid); There Came a Gypsy Riding (Livin Dred’ Theatre Company); Cruel and Tender (); A Dublin Carol (); Frozen You Hello by Amy Conroy ( International Arts Festival and the Dublin Theatre Festival); (Tall Tales); Mud (Corn Exchange); All’s Well That Ends Well (Classic Stage); Studs (Gaiety Killers and Other Family by Lucy Thurber (Obie award winner 2014, Rattlestick Playwrights Abbey Theatre’s Theatre); Bedbound (Corcadorca); and We Ourselves, Kitchensink, Buddlea (Passion Theatre, New York); Irish Blood, English Heart by Darren Murphy (Trafalgar Studios, London); Machine). Film and television work includes: Calm with Horses, Sacrifice, Tomato Can, Lost Bottom of the World by Lucy Thurber (The Atlantic Theatre, NY); Mozart at Freemasons (Royal and Found, The Virtues, Speed Dating (System Forty Eight Ltd); Studs (Brother Films); Spin Irish Academy of Music); Crows on the Wire (Verbal Arts Centre, Derry); Bunny’s Vendetta, the Bottle (Filmove Studio); Martin (Celtic Mouse Productions); Tupperware (Irish Film Board); The Recruiting Officer (Blue Eagle Productions); The Factory Girls (Millennium Forum Theatre); Gangs of New York (Miramax Films); When the Sky Falls (Entertainment International); The Wild Duck, Judgment Day (Bard Summerscape, New York); On the Subject of Love, TWO PINTS Angela’s Ashes (DB Productions); Soft Sand Blue Sea (Channel 4 Films); The Boxer (Hell’s Twinkletoes, Romeo and Juliet, Still, the Blackbird Sings (Playhouse Theatre, Derry); A Dinner MARCH 6–31, 2019 Kitchen); Braveheart (Icon Entertainment); The Commitments (Beacon Communications); Engagement (Wexford Festival Opera); (Southwark Playhouse, London); Life of Crime, The Ambassador (Ecosse); Ripper Street, , Ballykissangel The Importance of Being Earnest, (Thorndyke Theatre); and Masks and Faces, Frank Pig (BBC); Titanic Blood and Steel (Titanic Films); Jack Taylor (Finder Films); The Clinic (Parallel Says Hello (Finborough Theatre, London). CAST Films); Single Handed, , (RTÉ); and Sharpe (Carlton TV). One LIAM CARNEY AMANDA LANDIS (CST Stage Manager) CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Macbeth. CHICAGO: PHILIP JUDGE (Two) Mr. Judge appeared in Two Pints on an Irish and English tour last year. La Ruta (Steppenwolf); Lookingglass Alice, Title and Deed (Lookingglass Theatre Two PHILIP JUDGE Other work with the Abbey includes: Aristocrats, Tarry Flynn (which also played at the National Company). REGIONAL: The Wolves, Hedda Gabler, Moment, Between Riverside and Crazy, Barman LAURENCE LOWRY Theatre, London), A Woman of No Importance, and Macbeth. Productions with the Gate Bad Jews, Chimerica (Studio Theatre); An Octoroon, Kiss (Woolly Mammoth); The Smartest Theatre include: Romeo and Juliet, Mrs Warren’s Profession, A Christmas Carol, Eccentricities Girl in the World (Imagination Stage); In the Heights (GALA Hispanic Theatre); Peter and of a Nightingale, Oliver Twist, Salome, Arms and The Man, As You Like It, An Ideal Husband, the Starcatcher (Constellation Theatre Company); among others. EDUCATION: BA in theatre Writer RODDY DOYLE Cyrano de Bergerac, and A Streetcar Named Desire. Other Dublin credits include: Lear in arts, Northwestern University. King Lear (The Mill); (Gaiety); (Rough Magic); Trade (Thisispopbaby, Director CAITRÍONA McLAUGHLIN nominated for Best Actor in the 2012 Irish Times Theatre Awards); Adrenaline (Semper Fi); ABBEY THEATRE is Ireland’s national theater. It was Comedians (Bickerstaffe); and Yeats Besotted, Bear Hug, Horst Bucholz and Other Stories, founded by W.B. Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory. Since Designer KATE MOYLAN So Long Sleeping Beauty (Bewley’s Cafe Theatre). For City Theatre Dublin he has toured with it first opened its doors in 1904, the theater has played Jane Eyre and Santa and the Penguins. In Belfast he has appeared in The Family Hoffman’s a vital role in the artistic, social, and cultural life of Stage Manager EMMA DOYLE Christmas Mystery Palace at the Mac and in True West, Macbeth, and The Importance of Ireland. The Abbey Theatre’s mission is to effectively Technician ANTHONY HANLEY Being Earnest, all at the Lyric Theatre. For Kilkenny Arts Festival, he has been in De Profundis and imaginatively engage with all of Irish society through the production of ambitious and and Kvetch. Work in London and the UK includes: Bohemian Lights (Gate); Dancing at courageous theater in all its forms. The Abbey Theatre is artist-led and audience-focused: CST Stage Manager AMANDA LANDIS* Lughnasa (Garrick and national tour); The Percy French Letters (Tricycle); Shadowplay (Albany aiming to ensure its programs are driven by ambitious, big ideas by theater-makers of all Empire); Marbles (Grove); Charlie (New End); and The Rocky Horror Show (national tour). He disciplines, relevant to our times and reflective of its role as a national theater. In 1905 the *denotes member of Actors’ Equity Association. also toured with Major Road, Stage One, Age Exchange, Livestock, and Bright theater Abbey Theatre first toured internationally and continues to be an ambassador for Irish arts Two Pints in played in three parts, including two intervals, companies. Film, television, and radio work includes: Ripper Street, Damo and Ivor, Life’s a and culture worldwide. Recent tours to the US include: Cyprus Avenue (Public Theater, running a total of 2 hours and 10 minutes Breeze, Stella Days, Honeymoon for One, Hideaways, No Laughing Matter, Whistleblower, New York); Quietly (Irish Repertory Theatre, New York); The Plough and the Stars (US and Rock Rivals, The Clinic, Recoil, Na Fiorghaeil, Bachelor’s Walk, When Brendan Met Trudy, Canadian Tour); Maeve’s House (Irish Arts Centre, New York); and John Gabriel Borkman International Representation for the Abbey Theatre Not Afraid-Not Afraid, Flick, , The Governor, and The Dreaming of Roger Casement. (Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York). by Michael Mushalla of Double M Arts & Events, LLC In the 1980s, Mr. Judge was a member of cabaret act Morris Minor and the Majors. They played all the major London and New York comedy clubs, had two hit records and made The Abbey Theatre is Ireland’s National Theatre and is countless television appearances, including Saturday Live, Blue Peter, and Top of the Pops. supported by the Arts Council. He was also lead vocalist with soul and blues bands The Juice Extractors and Shades of Blue. His book In Sight of Yellow Mountain is published by Gill and he is a regular columnist for . The Two Pints US Tour is sponsored by Culture Ireland.

LAURENCE LOWRY (Barman) Mr. Lowry is an award-winning actor, having received the Spirit of the Festival Award at Origin’s 1st Irish Theatre Festival. He trained at Dublin Youth Theatre and the Dublin School of Acting. He has appeared in over 100 plays including: Brownbread, Breaking Up, Brothers and Sisters, Pericles, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Othello, The Importance of Being Earnest, Mojo, Tangles, F, Never the Sinner, Dead-a-Head, Vincent, Red Noses, The Taxi, Even the Trees, Meltdown, Abigail’s Party, Shining City, Sticks and Stones, The Field, Frugal Comforts, Bouncers, Brothers of the Brush, and Malajusted. He is artistic director of Family Theatre Company, which produces world premieres of Irish authors and Irish debuts of European works. His play The Deal was produced in New York, San Francisco, and Dublin. Currently Mr. Lowry is writing a new piece entitled The Ballybough Learn more about upcoming Kid. Film and television credits include: American Gangster, Blood Ties, Be Good or Be Gone Chicago Shakespeare productions at (also producer), Those Sad Eyes, Law and Order, Boardwalk Empire, As the World Turns, Fair City, No Comment (also co-writer), Molloy, and I Didn’t...I Wasn’t...I Amn’t. Directing credits include: Howie the Rookie, Sax in the City, Mates, The Wizard of Oz, The Marlboro Man, Bold www.chicagoshakes.com Girls, Rat in the Skull, Vincent Go F. Yourself, Docks, Socks and Jocks, and A Lady Is Waiting.

photos throughout by Ros Kavanagh