The Artistic Director’s Circle Season Sponsors Gail & Ralph Bryan Una K. Davis Brian & Silvija Devine Joan & Irwin Jacobs Sheri L. Jamieson Frank Marshall and Kathy Kennedy Becky Moores Jordan Ressler Charitable Fund of the The William Hall Tippett and Ruth Rathell Tippett Foundation, Jewish Community Foundation David C. Copley Foundation, Mandell Weiss Charitable Trust, Gary & Marlene Cohen, The Rich Family Foundation The Dow Divas, Foster Family Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation, The Fredman Family, Wendy Gillespie & Karen Tanz, Lynn Gorguze & The Honorable Dr. Seuss Fund at The San Diego Scott Peters, Kay & Bill Gurtin, Debby & Hal Jacobs, Lynelle & William Lynch, Foundation and Molli Wagner Steven Strauss & Lise Wilson JUNE 30 – JULY 28 PRODUCTION SPONSORS Una K. Davis Larry & Robin Rusinko The Paula Marie Black Endowment for Women’s Voices in the Art of Theatre Dear Friends, LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE PRESENTS When I first read Melissa Ross’s new Christopher Ashley Debby Buchholz play, The Luckiest, I was confronted The Rich Family Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse Managing Director of La Jolla Playhouse by the fascinating irony of its title. The central character, Lissette, has consistently and voraciously devoured MISSION STATEMENT: life on her own terms. When she gets MISSION STATEMENT: diagnosed with a serious illness, it La Jolla Playhouse advances initially seems to be an event that is as Latheatre Jolla Playhouse as an art formadvances and astheatre a vital as unlucky as it gets. But the joy of Melissa’s play is that it asks us ansocial, art form moral and and as apolitical vital social, platform moral to reconsider what good fortune actually looks like, even in the andby providingpolitical platform unfettered by providing creative most extreme of circumstances. unfetteredopportunities creative for theopportunities leading artists As Lissette navigates her new reality alongside her mother Cheryl for the leading artists of today and BY of today and tomorrow. With our and her best friend Peter, what emerges is an essential story of tomorrow. With our youthful spirit and youthful spirit and eclectic, artist- how we choose to take care of each other – and ourselves. How MELISSA ROSS eclectic, artist-driven approach, we driven approach, we will continue can we exert control over our lives when seemingly all options will continue to cultivate a local and are closed off? How can we maintain our independence while still to cultivate a local and national national following with an insatiable being open to accepting help? appetitefollowing for with audacious an insatiable and diverse appetite DIRECTED BY work.for audacious In the future, and San diverse Diego’s work. La With surprising humor and startling insight, Melissa has created JAIME CASTAÑEDA JollaIn the Playhouse future, San will Diego’sbe considered La Jolla three richly-human characters who struggle to genuinely see each singularlyPlayhouse indispensable will be considered to the other, who fight and love with equal ferocity, who come to realize that true generosity and understanding from our family – and our worldwidesingularly theatreindispensable landscape, to the as we become a permanent safe harbor for chosen family – are among the luckiest things you can possess. worldwide theatre landscape, as FEATURING the unsafe and surprising. The day will we become a permanent safe In addition to introducing Melissa’s work to San Diego audiences, come when it will be essential to enter DEIRDRE LOVEJOY*, ALEQUE REID*, REGGIE D. WHITE* harbor for the unsafe and surprising. The Luckiest also reunites us with Jaime Castañeda, who served the La Jolla Playhouse village in order as the Playhouse’s Associate Artistic Director from 2014 to 2018. The day will come when it will to get a glimpse of what is about to It’s our great fortune to welcome him back with this urgent, happenbe essential in American to enter theatre. the La Jolla compassionate and tender story. SCENIC DESIGN TIM MACKABEE Playhouse village in order to get a COSTUME DESIGN DENITSA BLIZNAKOVA glimpse of what is about to happen CHRISTOPHER ASHLEY in American theatre. THE RICH FAMILY ARTISTIC DIRECTOR LIGHTING DESIGN LAP CHI CHU OF LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE COMPOSER AND SOUND DESIGN RYAN RUMERY DRAMATURG GABRIEL GREENE La Jolla Playhouse gives heartfelt thanks to our lead donors for their generous contributions CASTING TELSEY + COMPANY; KARYN CASL, C.S.A.; DESTINY LILLY to the Sheri L. Jamieson New Work Development Fund for La Jolla Playhouse: STAGE MANAGER ANJEE NERO* Sheri L. Jamieson Joan and Irwin Jacobs STAGE MANAGER DEAN REMINGTON* ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER KIRA VINE PROJECT PRODUCTION MANAGER BECCA DUHAIME Developed with the support of New York Stage & Film's 2018 Winter Season. The deep commitment to developing new work is at the very core of the Playhouse’s identity and the Sheri L. Jamieson Developed, in part, with Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. New Work Development Fund for La Jolla Playhouse provides lasting resources to such vital programs as the DNA New Work Series, Page To Stage, artist commissions and residencies, and Without Walls programs, securing our legacy of new work development, as well as our place at the forefront of the American theatre landscape. THE COMPANY THE CAST DEIRDRE LOVEJOY, Cheryl JAIME CASTAÑEDA, Director (in alphabetical order) La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Broadway: Nora Ephron’s Lucky served as La Jolla Playhouse’s Associate Artistic Director from 2014 to Guy (starring Tom Hanks), Six Degrees of Separation, The 2018, where he directed Will Power’s Seize the King, Rachel Bonds’ Cheryl ............................................................................................................................ Deirdre Lovejoy* Gathering, Getting and Spending. Off-Broadway: How I At the Old Place, Mike Lew’s Tiger Style! and Rajiv Joseph’s Guards at Learned to Drive (original production). Regional: Macbeth the Taj. Other productions include Vietgone (American Conservatory Lissette .................................................................................................................................Aleque Reid* (The Old Globe). Ms. Lovejoy has appeared in over 100 Theatre), The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity by Kristoffer Diaz (Dallas plays and episodes of television, including The Wire, The Blacklist, NCIS, Theater Center), Chimichangas and Zoloft by Fernanda Coppel (Atlantic Peter ..............................................................................................................................Reggie D. White* The West Wing, Girls, Bones (The Gravedigger) and the upcoming Theater Company), How We Got On by Idris Goodwin (Cleveland Play Raising Dion (Netflix, October). Recent film: The Post, Step Up, I Am House), The Royale by Marco Ramirez (American Theater Company), Elizabeth Smart (Wanda Barzee). B.F.A.: University of Evansville; M.F.A.: Welcome to Arroyo’s by Kristoffer Diaz (The Old Globe) and Red Light Time and Place: NYU. Currently developing her solo play Bird Elephant China. Thank you Winter by Adam Rapp (Perseverance Theatre). He has also developed Spanning the last decade or so Mr. Pickles & Mrs. Pickles. Visit DeirdreLovejoy.com. Social: @ddlovejoy. new plays with the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Rattlestick Theater, Portland Center Stage, Denver Center Theatre, The Kennedy Center and New York City and Vermont ALEQUE REID, Lissette the Atlantic Theater Company, where he spent five seasons as Artistic La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Off-Broadway: Domesticated Associate. A Drama League Fellow, Jaime is the recipient of a Princess The Luckiest will be performed in one act without an intermission. (Lincoln Center Theater); All’s Well That Ends Well (Public Grace Award and a TCG New Generations Grant. He holds an M.F.A. in Theater); Nobody Loves You (Second Stage); Really Really Directing from The University of Texas at Austin. (MCC). National Tour: Hair (Jeanie). TV: Dying Up Here, Doubt. Film: Insidious: The Last Key, A Simple Wedding. TIM MACKABEE, Scenic Designer ADDITIONAL STAFF VO: Trolls: The Beat Goes On, Captain Underpants, Dragon Rescue La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Broadway: The Elephant Man (starring Bradley Riders, Pitch Perfect 3, The Grinch Movie, Super Monsters. Education: Cooper), Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth (dir. Spike Lee). West End: The UNCSA. For my loves, Heath and Reid. Elephant Man. Off-Broadway: Heathers The Musical, The Last Match ‡ Assistant Director .......................................Natalia Duong Scenic Design Resident Assistant .................Hsi-An Chen (Roundabout); Vietgone, Important Hats of the Twentieth Century (MTC); Assistant Scenic Designer ........................ Anna Robinson ALS Consultant............................................. Eric Andrews REGGIE D. WHITE, Peter Guards at the Taj (Lortel Award), Describe the Night, The Penitent, Our La Jolla Playhouse: Hundred Days, The Last Tiger in Haiti. New Girl (Atlantic Theater); Luce (Lincoln Center Theater); Gigantic Assistant Lighting Designer ......................Rachel Tibbetts Speech Consultant ..................................Joanna Burgess Off-Broadway: Hundred Days, I & You, For the Last Time. (Vineyard Theatre); Much Ado About Nothing (Public Theater). TV: Amy Assistant Sound Designer........................ Mason Pilevsky Physical Consultant .................................... Jesse J. Perez Selected Regional: The Bluest Eye (Arden Theatre), Eddie Schumer: Live at the Apollo (HBO), Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth (HBO), the Marvelous... (O’Neill),