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Home , Amy Freed, Center Theatre Group, Secret Santa (30 Rock), South Coast Repertory, The Beard

43rd Season • 416th Production SEGERSTROM STAGE / MARCH 30 - MAY 6, 2007

David Emmes Martin Benson PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

presents the world premiere of MY WANDERING BOY

by Julie Marie Myatt

Christopher Acebo Shigeru Yaji Lonnie Rafael Alcaraz SCENIC DESIGN COSTUME DESIGN LIGHTING DESIGN

Paul James Prendergast Austin Switser Dara Weinberg SOUND DESIGN VIDEO COORDINATOR ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

Megan Monaghan Jeff Gifford Randall K. Lum* DRAMATURG PRODUCTION MANAGER STAGE MANAGER

DIRECTED BY Bill Rauch

The Playwrights Circle - HONORARY PRODUCERS Bette & Wylie Aitken • Steve & Toni Berlinger • Edward F. & Susan K. Gotschall Matthew E. & Bernice L. Massengill • John & Sue Murphy • Roger & Marion Palley Tom Rogers & Sally Anderson • Nola Schneer • Laurie Smits Staude • Richard P. & Jane Taylor

My Wandering Boy • P1 THE CAST (in order of appearance) John ...... Brent Hinkley* Liza Boudin ...... Elizabeth Ruscio* Wesley Boudin ...... Richard Doyle* Detective Howard ...... Charlie Robinson* Sally Wright ...... Purva Bedi* Rooster Forbes ...... John Cabrera* Miranda Stevens ...... Veralyn Jones*

SETTING America. The present.

LENGTH Approximately two hours including one 15-minute intermission.

PRODUCTION STAFF Assistant Stage Manager ...... Chrissy Church* Casting ...... Joanne DeNaut Stage Management Intern ...... Kristin Calhoun Assistants to the Scenic Designer ... Ken Mackenzie, Shannon Scrofano Assistant to the Lighting Designer ...... Mat Stovall Costume Design Assistant ...... Merilee Ford

Please refrain from unwrapping candy or making other noises that may disturb surrounding patrons. The use of cameras and recorders in the theatre is prohibited. Smoking is not permitted anywhere in the theatre. Cellular phones, beepers and watch alarms should be turned off or set to non-audible mode during the performance.

* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers.

Media Partner Official Airline

P2 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY • My Wandering Boy Song of the Open Road Walt Whitman, published in Leaves of Grass, 1900.

1 Afoot and light-hearted, I take to the open road, I am larger, better than I thought; Healthy, free, the world before me, I did not know I held so much goodness. The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose. All seems beautiful to me; I can repeat over to men and women, You have done Henceforth I ask not good-fortune - I myself am good such good to me, I would do the same to you. fortune; Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, I will recruit for myself and you as I go; need nothing, I will scatter myself among men and women as I go; Strong and content, I travel the open road. I will toss the new gladness and roughness among them; The earth - that is sufficient; Whoever denies me, it shall not trouble me; I do not want the constellations any nearer; Whoever accepts me, he or she shall be blessed, and I know they are very well where they are; bless me. I know they suffice for those who belong to them. 11 (Still here I carry my old delicious burdens; Listen! I will be honest with you; I carry them, men and women - I carry them with me I do not offer the old smooth prizes, but offer rough wherever I go; new prizes; I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them; These are the days that must happen to you: I am fill’d with them, and I will fill them in return.) You shall not heap up what is call’d riches, 5 You shall scatter with lavish hand all that you earn or From this hour, freedom! achieve, From this hour I ordain myself loos’d of limits and You but arrive at the city to which you were destin’d - imaginary lines, you hardly settle yourself to satisfaction, before you Going where I list, my own master, total and absolute, are call’d by an irresistible call to depart, Listening to others, and considering well what they You shall be treated to the ironical smiles and mock- say, ings of those who remain behind you; Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating, What beckonings of love you receive, you shall only Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of answer with passionate kisses of parting, the holds that would hold me. You shall not allow the hold of those who spread their reach’d hands toward you. I inhale great draughts of space; The east and the west are mine, and the north and the south are mine.

My Wandering Boy • SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P3

Through Emmett’s Eyes

There is an adder in the path which your own feet have worn. You must make tracks into the Unknown.

Henry David Thoreau, in a letter to Harrison Blake

You have completely dropped away from all who love and care about you. Whatever it is – whoever you’re with – do you think this is right?

Billie McCandless, in a letter to her son Chris, quoted in Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

All photos by Julie Marie Myatt, Playwright

P4 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY • My Wandering Boy Men go to admire the high mountains and the great flood of the seas and the wide-rolling rivers and the ring of Ocean and the movements of the stars; and they aban- don themselves!

The Confessions of St. Augustine

It should not be denied… that being footloose has al- ways exhilarated us. It is associated in our minds with escape from history and oppression and law and irksome obligations, with ab- solute freedom, and the road has always led west.

Wallace Stegner, American West

My Wandering Boy •SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P5 andering Aengus The Song Of W eats by William Butler Y

I went out to the hazel wood, We sha pe clay into a pot, Because a fire was in my head, but it is the emptiness inside tha And cut and peeled a hazel wand, t holds w hatever w And hooked a berry to a thread; e want.

And when white moths were on the wing, ch. 11, tr. Stephen— Tao Te Mitchell Ching, And moth-like stars were flickering out, I dropped the berry in a stream And caught a little silver trout. When I had laid it on the floor , I went to blow aflame, But something rustled on the floor Listening to a Flute in Yellow Crane Pavillion And some one called me by my name: It had become a glimmering girl by Li T’ai-po, translated by Sam Hamil With apple blossom in her hair . I came here a wanderer Who called me by my name and ran thinking of home, And faded through the brightening air remembering my far away Ch’ang-an. Though I am old with wandering And then, from deep in Yellow Crane Pavillion, Through hollow lads and hilly lands. I heard a beautiful bamboo flute I will find out where she has gone, play "Falling Plum Blossoms." And kiss her lips and take her hands; It was late spring in a city by the river. And walk among long dappled grass, And pluck till time and times are done The silver apples of the moon, The golden apples of the sun.

But now I was three miles into The only thing to do was to get the industrial jungle of L.A. in out of L.A. According to my friend’s mad sick sniffling smog night and instructions I stood on my head, using had to sleep all that night by a the wire fence to prevent me from wire fence in a ditch by the tracks falling over. It made my cold feel a being waked by rackets little better. Then I walked to the of Southern Pacific and Santa Fe bus station (through tracks and side switchers bellyaching around, till streets) and caught a cheap bus twen- fog and clear of midnight when I ty-five miles to Riverside. Cops kept breathed better (thinking and pray- looking at me suspiciously with that ing in my sack) but then more fog and big bag on my back. Everything was far smog again and horrible damp white away from the easy purity of being with cloud of dawn and my bag too hot to Japhy Ryder in that high rock camp sleep in and outside too raw to stand, under peaceful singing stars. nothing but horror all night long, ex- cept at dawn a little bird blessed me. — Jack Kerouac,The Dharma Bums

P6 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY • My Wandering Boy You Do Not Come By Fang Gan

The road is long, and east or west, I have no-one to ask, The cold has come, but I’ve no place to send your cold weather clothes. When you left, we’d just planted the tr Interim The tree already bears a nest, the person’ee before the hall, By Edna St. Vincent Millay s not returned. (an excerpt)

You ar e not here. I know that you are gone, And will not ever enter here again. And yet it seems to me, if I should speak, “I, too, would fain set down something Your silent step must wake across the hall; If I should turn my head, that your sweet eyes besides facts. Facts should only be as Would kiss me from the door. — So short a time the frame to my pictures; they should To teach my life its transposition to be material to the mythology which I This dif ficult and unaccustomed key! — am writing; not facts to assist men to The room is as you left it; your last touch — make money, farmers to farm prof- A thoughtless pressure, knowing not itself As saintly — hallows each simple thing; itably, in any common sense; facts to Hallows and glorifies, and glows between tell who I am, and where I have been or The dust’s grey fingers like a shielded light. what I have thought: as now the bell rings for evening meeting, and its vol- There is your book, just as you laid it down, umes of sound, like smoke which rises Face to the table, — I cannot believe from where a cannon is fired, make the That you are gone! — Just then it seemed to me tent in which I dwell. My facts shall be You must be here. I almost laughed to think How like reality the dream had been; falsehoods to the common sense. I would Yet knew before I laughed, and so was still. so state facts that they shall be signifi- That book, outspread, just as you laid it down! cant, shall be myths or mythologic. Facts Perhaps you thought, “I wonder what comes next, which the mind perceived, thoughts And whether this or this will be the end”; which the body though, — with these I So rose, and left it, thinking to r eturn. deal. I, too, cherish vague and misty forms, vaguest when the cloud at which I Perhaps that chair, when you arose and passed Out of the room, rocked silently a while gaze is dissipated quite and naught by Ere it again was still. When you wer e gone the skyey depths are seen.” Forever fr om the room, perhaps that chair, Stirred by your movement, rocked a little while, - Henry David Thoreau, Silently, to and fr o… The Journal of Thoreau And here ar e the last words your fingers wrote, Scrawled in broad characters across a page In this br own book I gave you. Here your hand, Guiding your rapid pen, moved up and down. Here with a looping knot you crossed a “t”, A Life And here another like it, just beyond by Everett Ruess These two eccentric “e’s”. Y ou were so small, A life And wrote so brave a hand! Is a mirror

ReflectingSometimes the road over which it passes.

When itThe rains mirror itself is reflected in the road.

My Wandering Boy •SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P7 Wanderers in the Light, and in the Dark

BY MEGAN MONAGHAN into the desert for 40 days, carrying no food or water — who can say whether his friends and loved ones expected him ever to return? Both of these figures I’ve been havin’ some hard travelin’, emerged from their periods of Wandering with new I thought you knowed wisdom to share. To this day, religious persons of all I’ve been havin’ some hard travelin’, descriptions engage in pilgrimage, a ritual form of way down the road Wandering intended to put them in touch with that wisdom that can only be acquired on the road. ho among us has never cherished the fantasy of dropping our daily I’ve been walking that Lincoln highway, obligations, the mortgage, the taxes, I thought you knowed, the job, the knots and troubles we I’ve been hittin’ that 66, way down the road create in our personal lives, and Wjust… walking away? The dream of freedom from The vastness and diversity of the North American worries and cares, of snapping the ties that some- wilderness made it a heaven for Wan- times seem to hold us down, of wandering the world derers through the first couple of drinking in new sights and experiences centuries of Western colonization, with every passing day, shines its , occupation and establishment of allure on almost everyone at , see statehood. In his book Pilgrims some point in our lives. e companionship g. to the Wild, author John P. There’s a key distinction e lik t stand yto lon be O’Grady describes several major “W e can’ or ver between traveling, which pre- but w es lost, Wanderers who left traces in sumes an intent to return some- selv , then writing and art, including Ev- around peopleo get ourf hile day, and is often done in com- e g or a w erett Ruess, Mary Austin, John pany; migrating, which factors So w k f gain.” Muir, and Henry David into all of human history as pop- come bac Thoreau (who managed to ulations shifted seeking more et the hell out a ator of the Wander while staying in g vestig , arable soil, better water supplies ght, in erett Ruess one place). and kinder climates; and wander- To give one example, - Ken Slei Into the Wild ing as the term is used in this play. disappearance of Ev Ruess (1914-1934) was The solitary Wanderer makes the quoted biny Jon Krakauer reared in a bohemian fami- road his home, and builds her whole ly that made no objection when lifestyle around the single constant of their teenaged son committed his life moving on. Often a Wanderer has to the road — in fact, they encouraged him. many part-time homes, maintained by Ruess’ letters to his family, published in 1983, de- other people with whom he or she nurtures intense scribe his mounting love affair with Utah’s great soli- but intermittent relationships. And in the end, a tary spaces. Those spaces swallowed him up, and Wanderer can unbind those ties one by one and drop while his two burros were found in good health, entirely out of sight, making it possible to begin an Ruess never returned. Rumors of his adopting a new entirely new life and adopt a new identity — or per- name and making a new life on the Navajo reserva- haps to pursue the end. tion in Arizona were never proven, nor entirely dis- Many world religions feature stories of Wander- proven. ing. Siddhartha Gautama Buddha left his palace and Not long before Ruess’ disappearance, the new- his royal life behind to become a monk, and spent lywed couple Glen and Bessie Hyde vanished during the rest of his life moving from place to place as he their honeymoon trip through the Grand Canyon. studied and taught. Jesus of Nazareth disappeared The pair traveled by flat-bottomed boat, hoping to be

P8 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY • My Wandering Boy the first people to navigate the entire Colorado River Yokota one of many Japanese people abducted to in such a craft. But their boat and all their belong- North Korea, a state-sponsored action finally ac- ings were discovered by the side of the river, with no knowledged by Kim Jong-Il in 2002. In our own sign of where their owners nearest neighborhoods had gone. The Hydes were never seen again. TELL ME, O MUSE, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide North American histo- after he had sacked the famous town of T ry even recounts tales of and many were the nations with whose mannersroy. Many and citiescustoms did he he was visit, entire populations disap- acquainted; mor eover he suffer pearing, from the Anasazi his own life and bring his men safelyed much home; by but sea do while what trying he might to save he peoples of the South- could not save his men, for they perished through their own sheer west, to the Roanoke colonists in 1588. While folly in eating the cattle of the Sun-god Hyperion; so the god it is more likely in these prevented them from ever r eaching home. T group disappearances these things, O daughter of Jove, from whatsoeverell me, source too, about you may all that violence or disease know them. was involved, the mys- tery lingers around the -- Opening lines of Homer’s artifacts like the Odyssey, tr. Samuel Butler haunting fragrance of long-pressed flowers.

I’ve been ridin’ them fast rattlers, I thought and areas, we see a plague of homeless- you knowed ness that affects men, women and children, those I’ve been ridin’ them flat wheelers, way down who are healthy and able to work, and those whose the road illness makes employment impossible for them. Our cities, states and nation struggle to address this prob- The Wanderer became a mythic figure, especially in lem, and in the meantime we see unwilling Wander- the . From our culture we inherit color- ers excluded from the basic comfort and safety that ful impressions of Woody Guthrie riding the rails, voluntary Wanderers deliberately leave behind. writing the songs and poetry of the Dust Bowl and the Okie migration west. Nearly every American who I’ve been ridin’ them blind passengers, makes it through adolescence at some point receives dead-enders, kickin’ up cinders Jack Kerouac’s seminal influence as played out in On I’ve been havin’ some hard travelin’, lord the Road and The Dharma Bums. Some are attracted to the stories of lesser known but more recent per- Contemporary technology paradoxically makes Wan- sons such as Chris McCandless, whose tale is told in dering both easier and more difficult. Cellular Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. phones, email, and Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment installed in cars and personal electronics I’ve been havin’ some hard travelin’, all form new leashes that bind us to our existing lives hard ramblin’, hard gamblin’ — leashes that people of Ruess’ and Guthrie’s gener- I’ve been havin’ some hard travelin’, lord ations did not have to fight. But 21st century ad- vances also offer the option to take one’s laptop and It must be acknowledged there are also darker tales cell phone and live anywhere, or nowhere — an op- of Wandering. The shining lure of footloose freedom tion that attracts people from many walks of life, in- can draw us into dangerous territory indeed. An arti- cluding numerous playwrights of this writer’s ac- cle in The New Yorker early this year delivered an in- quaintance. depth profile of Adam Gadahn, who grew up in Perhaps no one reading this essay will truly Riverside County but eventually chose to give up all follow the siren call of the open road ourselves. But his ties there and change his name. Gadahn is now perhaps we will be a touch more aware of the paral- known as Azzam the American, an important media lel world of Wanderers that constantly swirls around spokesman for Al Qaeda whose whereabouts are un- us. known. Other darker tales remove the element of choice, as in the case of 13-year-old Megumi Yokota (N.B. All italicized quotations are from the song “Hard who in 1977 was kidnapped from her life in Japan. Travelin’,” words and music © 1959 by Woody Guthrie.)

My Wandering Boy •SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P9 PURVA BEDI JOHN CABRERA RICHARD DOYLE Sally Wright Rooster Forbes Wesley Boudin

Artist Biographies

*PURVA BEDI (Sally Wright) is Medicine” and “The West Wing.” kle in Time with Lifeline Theatre. making her SCR debut. On Bedi is the Artistic Director and Film credits include Nightlight, stage, Bedi appeared in East is Founder of Disha Theatre. She Openminds, Role Play and Back- East ( Theatre Club & is also executive producer and stage Pass. Mr. Cabrera has ap- The New Group), Kingdom of lead actress on Shyam Madiraju’s peared on “American Dreams,” Lost Songs (Lincoln Center Direc- new feature film, Broken. “Miracles,” “CSI,” “NCIS,” “Studio tors Lab), Rice Boy (Mark Taper www.purvabedi.com 60 on the Sunset Strip” and cur- Forum/ Taper Too), Merchant on rently plays the role of Brian on Venice (, East *JOHN CABRERA (Rooster the CW’s series “Gilmore Girls.” West Players, Cornerstone The- Forbes) appeared at SCR previ- ater Company and The Lark The- ously in the Theatre for Young *RICHARD DOYLE (Wesley atre), Bad Women (The Talking Audiences production of The Boudin) is an SCR Founding Band), Clothes (New World The- Stinky Cheese Man, the Artist. He appeared earlier this atre) and numerous productions NewSCRipts readings of Incendi- season in Life is a Dream, Noth- with Target Margin Theater in- ary and House to Half and the ing Sacred and A Christmas cluding These Very Serious Jokes, Hispanic Playwrights Project Carol; last season in The Adven- Sonoma, The 5 Hysterical Girls reading of Cry of . tures of Pør Quinly, Born Yester- Theorem and The Seagull. Film Theatre credits include Good day and The Caucasian Chalk and television appearances in- Thing (Ovation Award, Best En- Circle; and previously in Habeas clude American Desi, Cosmopoli- semble) at the Mark Taper Corpus, as Eddie in A View from tan, Green Card Fever, The Em- Forum, Refuge (2001 Joseph Jef- the Bridge, Intimate Exchanges, peror’s Club, Wings of Hope, The ferson Award, Best Supporting The Last Night of Ballyhoo and Arrangement, “House,” “ER,” Actor) at CollaborAction Theatre, the world premieres of The “The Drew Carey Show,” “Boston Polaroid Stories at Trap Door Beard of Avon, On the Jump, But Legal,” “Alias,” “Law & Order: Theatre, Stupid Kids with Road- Not for Me, BAFO, The Interroga- Criminal Intent,” “Strong works Productions and A Wrin- tion of Nathan Hale, She Stoops

P10 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY • My Wandering Boy BRENT HINKLEY VERALYN JONES CHARLIE ROBINSON John Miranda Stevens Detective Howard

to Folly, , Hospitality Suite and credits include 1984, The Seagull in Stockholm, Sweden. Other Highest Standard of Living. and Woyzeck at Actors’ Gang The- theatre includes The Merchant of Other credits include Relatively atre; Embedded and Carnage at Venice, The Winter’s Tale, Speaking, Proof, Major Barbara, The Public Theater; A Soldier’s Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Much Ado about Nothing, A Deli- Tale and The Guilty Mother at Night’s Dream and Richard III cate Balance, Of Mice and Men, Long Beach Opera and Mother for L.A. Women’s Shakespeare Ah, Wilderness! and Intimate Courage at . Company; Hamlet at Nevada Exchanges, for which he earned Film and television credits include Shakespeare Festival; and Moon a Los Angeles Drama Critics Cir- Embedded, Blood Work, Say It on a Rainbow Shawl at the cle (LADCC) Award nomination. Isn’t So, Ed Wood, Jacob’s Ladder, Caribbean American Repertory He won an LADCC Award for his Silence of the Lambs, Falling West. Film and television credits role in Sally Nemeth’s Holy Days Down, “Monk,” “The Closer,” include The Legacy, Summoning, and was nominated for his role “Gilmore Girls,” “Carnivále,” Silent Colors, “Strong Medicine,” as Reverend Hale in The Cru- “Buddy Faro,” “The West Wing,” “Threat Matrix,” “The District,” cible. “Cheers” fans will remem- “,” “The Preston “ER,” “Just Shoot Me,” “Movie ber him as Woody’s snooty fa- Episodes,” “ER” and “The X Files.” Stars,” “Brooklyn South” and re- ther-in-law Walter Gaines. He curring roles on “City of Angels” has many other film and televi- *VERALYN JONES (Miranda and “Seinfeld.” sion credits. As a voice-actor, Stevens) is making her SCR Mr. Doyle has become a familiar debut. Ms. Jones is an award- CHARLIE ROBINSON (Detective voice in commercial advertise- winning actress who has ap- Howard) appeared at SCR previ- ments, CD-ROM games, docu- peared in numerous theatrical ously in The Piano Lesson. He mentaries and animated series. productions. Previous stage has acted in over 80 plays, win- Listen for Mr. Doyle as Senator credits include A Selfish Sacrifice ning an Ovation Award recently Kelly on “Wolverine,” the new X- at Denver Center Theatre and A for his performance in Fences. Men series. If you visit the new Perfect Wedding at Kirk Douglas He has performed at several the- Lincoln Library in Springfield, IL, Theatre. For Mark Taper atres including the Actors Studio, Mr. Doyle is your holographic Forum’s New Work Festival she Mark Taper Forum, Houston’s host in the Union Theatre. appeared in Slide Glide the Slip- and the Houston pery Slope and Black/ White Man. Music Theatre. Mr. Robinson’s *BRENT HINKLEY (John) is making She also appeared in The Father film credits include Jackson, his SCR debut. Previous stage at the August Strindberg Festival Molding Clay, Antwone Fisher,

My Wandering Boy •SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P11 “I like to dive into a rhythmic stream like a fish into the gulf currents and go where it takes me. I like to be a sun swinging through space with all my seven planets disposed about me, and I like to be the green flush that creeps up and dies rhythmically along the side of Palo Corona. Best of all, I like to flash into the life rhythm of some other human being, and find myself suddenly knowing all about what it was, now and will be.”

- Mary Austin, quoted in ELIZABETH RUSCIO Mary Austin: Song of a Maverick Liza Boudin by Esther Lanigan Stineman,

Beowulf, Set it Off, Land of the performed in Shiloh Rules, Free, The River, Apocalypse Now, productions of A View from Looking for Gray Lady Down and the soon to the Bridge, The Georgraphy of Normal, Stop Kiss, Mr. Xmas and be released Even Money. He has Luck, Fool for Love and in staged her husband Leon Martell’s appeared in numerous television readings of Mimesophobia and Bea(u)tiful in the Extreme. shows including series regular Anon, among many others. She Other productions include at The roles on “Buddy Faro,” “Ink,” is the recipient of a Los Angeles Dreamcoast, The Square, Moe’s “Love & War,” “Night Court” and Drama Critics Circle Award, sev- Lucky Seven at Taper, Too and “Buffalo Bill”; a recurring role on eral LA Weekly and Drama-Logue Living Out at Mark Taper Forum, “Home Improvement”; and sev- awards, and Ovation and Robby directed by Bill Rauch. Other eral television movies including nominations. She garnered theatre includes Slide (The Secret Santa, Miss Lettie and Me, awards at last year’s Method Fest Wilton Project), Pot Mom and Santa Jr., The Last Dance, Pro- for Best Actress/ Short Film for Savage in Limbo (The Cast), The ject: Alf, Murder C.O.D., Crash her work in her brother Michael Shaper (The Met and Actors The- Course, Rehearsal for Murder, Ruscio’s film, In Order of Ap- atre of Louisville), Hoss Drawin’ Haywire, Buffalo Soldiers, Roots: pearance; and at Deep Ellum in by Leon Mar-tell, and their co- The Next Generation, King, The Dallas (Best Ensemble). A long- written 1961 Eldorado (The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald and time veteran of the Taper New Padua Hills Playwrights’ Festival). A Killing Affair. Works Festivals and A.S.K. Com- Film appearances include 28 mon Ground Festivals, she ap- Days, Falling Like This, Letters *ELIZABETH RUSCIO (Liza peared in premiere stagings of from a Killer, A Perfect World Boudin) returns to SCR having Cat’s Paw, American Bullfighter, and, her favorite, The Positively

P12 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY • My Wandering Boy True Adventures of the Alleged lowship, a Jerome Fellowship at Irvine and is the incoming artistic Texas Cheerleader-Murdering the Playwrights’ Center, and a director of the Oregon Shake- Mom. She’s in the upcoming McKnight Advancement Grant. speare Festival. He is proud to indie feature, Otis E. Recent tele- Her other plays include August is be one of Liam and Xavier’s two vision appearances include a thin girl, Alice in the Badlands dads. “Nip/Tuck” (as Joy Kringle), “Six and Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter. Feet Under,” “The Division,” CHRISTOPHER ACEBO (Scenic “Judging Amy” and “7th Heav- BILL RAUCH (Director) is a proud Design) designed the world pre- en.” Finally, she is a published Associate Artist of SCR, where he miere productions of The Further poet, and has just been named staged The Further Adventures of Adventures of Hedda Gabler, The one of six NEWER POETS OF Hedda Gabler, Habeas Corpus, Beard of Avon, Hold Please and L.A. and will read with them later Lovers and Executioners and California Scenarios; the West this year at L.A.’s Central Library. Walking Off the Roof for the in- Coast premiere of The Countess; augural Pacific Playwrights Festi- and the annual production of La PLAYWRIGHT, val. He co-founded Cornerstone Posada Mágica at SCR. Recent DIRECTOR & DESIGNERS Theater Company, where he productions include the world served as artistic director for 20 premieres of The Clean House at JULIE MARIE MYATT (Playwright) years. For Cornerstone, he di- Yale Repertory and at Lincoln wrote the ten-minute play, Mr. rected over 40 of the company’s Center Theater; Electricidad at and Mrs. that will premiere at productions, many of them col- The (and the Humana Festival this March. laborations with diverse commu- CTG); and Water and Power, Liv- She is currently working on a nities across the nation. He has ing Out and Chavez Ravine for play about reproductive rights also directed at Mark Taper . Other re- for Cornerstone Theater Compa- Forum, Oregon Shakespeare Fes- gional design work includes pro- ny, and her play Boats On A tival, , Long ductions for Guthrie Theater, River will premiere at the Wharf Theatre, Great Lakes The- Berkeley Repertory, La Jolla Play- Guthrie Theater in May. Her ater Festival, and house, Oregon Shakespeare Fes- play The Sex Habits of American , where tival, The Goodman Theatre, Women was produced by the he is an Associate Artist. He has Denver Center Theatre Company, Guthrie Theater, Signature The- won Helen Hayes, Garland, LA The Children’s Theatre Company atre in Arlington, VA, Synchronic- Weekly, Drama-Logue and Con- in Minneapolis, Hartford Stage ity Performance Group, and pre- necticut Critics Circle Awards for and Portland Center Stage, miered at the Magic Theatre in his direction and was the only among others. Mr. Acebo is an . Her work has artist to win the inaugural Lead- ensemble member of Corner- been developed and/or seen at ership for a Changing World stone Theater Company in Los Actors Theatre of Louisville, Seat- Award. He served on the board Angeles. He received his MFA tle Repertory, Cherry Lane, of Theatre Communications in design at the University of Cal- LAByrinth Theater Company and Group from 1992-1998 and has ifornia, San Diego and is a past A.S.K Theater Projects, among testified to Congress on behalf of recipient of the NEA/TCG fellow- others. She received a Walt Dis- the N.E.A. Mr. Rauch is a Claire ship for designers. This summer ney Studios Screenwriting Fel- Trevor Professor of Drama at UC he will become the Associate

My Wandering Boy • SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P13 Artistic Director of the Oregon Three Viewings. He designed house building. He lives in Los Shakespeare Festival. Culture Clash’s The Birds at both Angeles and Joshua Tree. SCR and Berkeley Repertory, SHIGERU YAJI (Costume Design) along with their national touring AUSTIN SWITSER (Video Coordi- has designed costumes for over show, Radio Mambo, which has nator) has worked with many 50 SCR productions including been seen in Los Angeles, San performance groups around the most recently The Further Ad- Diego, San Francisco, Arizona, country, creating original video ventures of Hedda Gabler, New York, Seattle and Washing- projections for live performance, Habeas Corpus, Cyrano de Berg- ton, DC. Recent design experi- including a previous design at erac, Lovers and Executioners ence includes Warriors Don’t South Coast Repertory for Vesu- and the annual production of La Cry, Lethe, I Ask You, Farewell to vius. In the past months he has Posada Mágica. His other re- Manzanar and Waking Up In designed projections for Defi- cent work has been seen at Lin- Lost Hills with Cornerstone The- ance at Pasadena Playhouse; coln Center Theater, Yale Reper- ater Company; and Utah Shake- Gilgamesh at The Theatre @ tory Theatre, Oregon Shake- spearean Festival’s 2006 summer Boston Court; Hippolytos at the speare Festival, Cornerstone season of shows: Hamlet, The Getty Villa; ¡El Conquistador! at Theater Company and San Jose Merry Wives of Windsor and New York Theatre Workshop; Repertory Theatre, as well as at Antony & Cleopatra. He was WET, a new opera performed at Nashville Ballet. He is the recip- also a designer for Universal Stu- REDCAT; Way of Light, an origi- ient of numerous awards and dios, Japan, where he designed nal piece commissioned for the recognitions, including six Los the live shows Terminator 2 in International Trumpet Guild; Angeles Drama Critics Circle 3D, and Monster Makeup, the at- Diva and Open Window at Awards and a Bay Area Theatre tractions Jurassic Park the Ride Pasadena Playhouse; APOLLO: Critics Circle Award, as well as and Snoopy Studios, along with Lebensraum at Kirk Douglas an Emmy Award nomination for exterior architectural facades Theatre and the Ivy Substation; Cathy Rigby’s Peter Pan. Mr. throughout the park. He is a and Bell Solaris at REDCAT. He Yaji is a member of the United member of the United Scenic has also collaborated on the re- Scenic Artists Local 829 and the Artist/IATSE - Local 829. cent shows 13 and Distracted at UC Irvine Drama Department Mark Taper Forum. Mr. Switser faculty. PAUL JAMES PRENDERGAST graduated in 2004 from CalArts (Composer/Sound Design) is very with a degree in Video for Per- LONNIE RAFAEL ALCARAZ pleased to be back at SCR and formance. (Lighting Design) is an Associate among old friends. Previous www.austinswitser.com Professor at UC Irvine and a pro- SCR productions include The fessional lighting designer. He Further Adventures of Hedda DARA WEINBERG (Assistant Di- has designed at various regional Gabler, Lovers and Executioners, rector) is honored to be working theatre houses, such as SCR, Habeas Corpus and The Little at SCR for the first time. She di- Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Sier- Prince. Other theatre credits in- rected The Marriage of Heaven ra Repertory Theatre, Arena clude productions at the Mark and Hell, an improvised dance Stage, Laguna Playhouse, Alaba- Taper Forum, Long Wharf The- play based on William Blake’s ma Shakespeare Festival and atre, Hartford Stage, Great Lakes poetry, at the Met Theatre Com- Utah Shakespearean Festival. In Theater Festival, Stage, pany. Other Los Angeles direct- addition to his twelve seasons Geffen Playhouse, Oregon ing credits include A Vast Wreck with La Posada Mágica, produc- Shakespeare Festival, East West and Brandohead at Theatre of tions at SCR include The Prince Players, dozens of 99 seaters and NOTE, where she is an associate and the Pauper, Blue Door, Man 20 productions with Cornerstone member. She directed the pre- from Nebraska, Bunnicula, The Theater Company. His work has miere of Helma Fries’ anti-war Hoboken Chicken Emergency, been featured at theme parks, in play Human Bombing for the Play Strindberg, Dimly Perceived feature films, on recordings and Berliner Compagnie, a political Threats to the System, Sidney in music venues nationwide. He theatre ensemble in Kreuzberg. Bechet Killed a Man (for which also works as a vocalist, actor, The production has toured Ger- he received a Drama-Logue director, and is knee deep in the many every year since 2003. Award), BAFO, Later Life and world of alternative (natural) She choreographed Don Giovan-

P14 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY • My Wandering Boy ni and The Threepenny Opera for and Austin ScriptWorks, and a Berkeley Repertory Theatre, San West Bay Opera Company, and guest dramaturg and teacher at Jose Civic Light Opera, VITA AC/DC: A Dance Spectacular for Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Yale Shakespeare Festival, Pacific Serial Killers at Sacred Fools The- School of Drama graduate pro- Conservatory of the Performing atre Company. She was the dra- grams, Brown University, UCSD, Arts, Long Beach Ballet, San maturg for Assassins at Sight Un- and the Kennedy Center - Ameri- Francisco Convention Bureau seen. She has directed numer- can Theatre Festival. and Kawasaki Motorcycles. He ous readings and workshops, She has directed recent produc- would like everyone to take a and continues to devise methods tions at Actor’s Express, Horizon moment to remember all those of working on the free radical Theatre, and Theater Emory. Ms. who have lost the battle and all chorus, an experiment in impro- Monaghan earned an MFA in di- those still suffering and fighting vised choral theater. She holds a recting from the University of the AIDS epidemic. BA from Stanford University. Texas at Austin and a BA from Emory University. *CHRISSY CHURCH (Assistant MEGAN MONAGHAN (Dra- Stage Manager) is a proud mem- maturg) is the Literary Manager *RANDALL K. LUM (Stage Man- ber of Actors’ Equity. Previous of SCR, where she serves as co- ager), now in his 17th season, credits at SCR include the world director of the Pacific Playwrights worked on Pig Farm, Ridiculous premieres of Mr. Marmalade, Festival. She was the dramaturg Fraud, and Nothing Sacred. Last Getting Frankie Married — and of SCR’s productions of Bach at summer he stage managed his Afterwards, Making It and Nos- Leipzig, The Studio, The Further good friend ’s play talgia, productions of The Real Adventures of Hedda Gabler and Restoration Comedy for Califor- Thing, Hitchcock Blonde, three Dumb Show. Before coming to nia Shakespeare Theater in glorious seasons of A Christmas SCR, she was the Literary Direc- Northern California. Last season Carol, Born Yesterday, Pinoc- tor of the Alliance Theatre in At- he stage managed Blue Door, chio, The Little Prince, Intimate lanta, GA, the Director of Play- Man From Nebraska, Born Yes- Exchanges, La Posada Mágica, wright Services at The Play- terday and The Further Adven- , Proof and wrights’ Center in Minneapolis, tures of Hedda Gabler. During the Pacific Playwrights Festival MN, and the Director of New his long association as SCR’s resi- workshop of Tough Titty. Play Development at Frontera @ dent stage manager, he has Hyde Park Theatre in Austin, TX. worked on more than two dozen DAVID EMMES (Producing Artis- Her freelance dramaturgy work world premieres and has been tic Director) is co-founder of has included The O’Neill’s Na- associated with over 80 produc- SCR. He has received numerous tional Playwrights Conference, tions. In 1997, Mr. Lum stage awards for productions he has the New Harmony Project, and managed the AIDS Benefit Help directed during his SCR career, the Bay Area Playwrights Festi- is on the Way III at the Palace of including a Los Angeles Drama val. She has been a panelist for Fine Arts in San Francisco. Critics Circle Award for the direc- the Fulton County Arts Council, Other stage management credits tion of George Bernard Shaw’s Atlanta’s Bureau of Cultural Af- include the American Conserva- The Philanderer. He directed fairs, TCG, The O’Neill’s National tory Theater in San Francisco, the world premieres of Amy Playwrights Conference, NAMT, The Old Globe in San Diego, Freed’s Safe in Hell, The Beard of

My Wandering Boy •SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P15 Avon and Freedomland, Thomas ting Frankie Married — and Af- administrative capacities includ- Babe’s Great Day in the Morn- terwards and the critically ac- ing Subscriptions Manager, Busi- ing, Keith Reddin’s Rum and claimed California premiere of ness Manager and General Man- Coke and But Not for Me and Nicholson’s Shadowlands. He ager. She served on the board Neal Bell’s Cold Sweat; the has won accolades for his direc- of Theatre Communications American premieres of Terry tion of five major works by Group (TCG), the service organi- Johnson’s Unsuitable for Adults George Bernard Shaw, including zation for theatre, from 1998- and Joe Penhall’s Dumb Show; the Los Angeles Drama Critics 2006 and was its President for the West Coast premieres of C.P. Circle (LADCC) Award-winners four years. She has also served Taylor’s Good and Harry Kon- Major Barbara, Misalliance and as Treasurer of TCG, Vice Presi- doleon’s Christmas on Mars; and Heartbreak House. Among his dent of the League of Resident the Southland premiere of Top numerous world premieres is Theatres (LORT) and has been a Girls (at SCR and the Westwood ’s Pulitzer Prize- member of the LORT Negotiating Playhouse). Other productions winning Wit, which he also di- Committee for industry-wide include the West Coast premieres rected at Seattle Repertory The- union agreements. In addition, of Three Viewings by Jeffrey atre and the Alley Theatre in she represents SCR at national Hatcher, The Secret Rapture by Houston. He has directed Ameri- conferences of TCG and LORT; David Hare and New England by can classics including Ah, is a theatre panelist for the Na- Richard Nelson; and Arcadia by Wilderness!, A Streetcar Named tional Endowment for the Arts Tom Stoppard, The Importance Desire, A Delicate Balance and A and the California Arts Council of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, View from the Bridge. Mr. Ben- (CAC), and site visitor for the Ayckbourn’s Woman in Mind son has received the LADCC Dis- CAC; served on the Advisory and You Never Can Tell by tinguished Achievement in Di- Committee for the Arts Adminis- George Bernard Shaw, which he recting awards an unparalleled tration Certificate Program at the restaged for the Singapore Festi- seven times for the three Shaw University of California, Irvine; val of Arts. He has served as a productions, John Millington and has been a guest lecturer in theatre panelist and onsite evalu- Synge’s Playboy of the Western the graduate school of business ator for the National Endowment World, Arthur Miller’s The Cru- at Stanford and the University of for the Arts, on the Executive cible, Sally Nemeth’s Holy Days California, Irvine. She graduated Committee of the League of Res- and Wit. He also directed the from the University of California, ident Theatres, and as a panelist film version of Holy Days using Irvine with a degree in Eco- for the California Arts Council. the original SCR cast. Along with nomics and pursued an addition- After attending Emmes, he accepted SCR’s 1988 al course of study in theatre and College, he received his BA and Tony® Award for Outstanding dance. MA from San Francisco State Resident Professional Theatre University, and his PhD in the- and won the 1995 Theatre LA atre and film from USC. Ovation Award for Lifetime Achievement. Mr. Benson re- MARTIN BENSON (Artistic Direc- ceived his BA in Theatre from tor), co-founder of SCR with his San Francisco State University. colleague David Emmes, has di- rected nearly one third of the PAULA TOMEI (Managing Direc- plays produced here. He has tor) is responsible for the overall distinguished himself in the stag- administration of South Coast ing of contemporary work, in- Repertory and has been Manag- cluding William Nicholson’s The ing Director since 1994. A mem- Retreat from Moscow, the world ber of the SCR staff since 1979, premiere of ’s Get- she has served in a number of

The Actors and Stage Managers em- The Scenic, Costume, Lighting and The Director is a member of the Soci- ployed in this production are members Sound Designers in LORT theatres ety of Stage Directors and Choreogra- of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union are represented by United Scenic phers, Inc., an independent national of Professional Actors and Stage Man- Artists Local USA-829, IATSE. labor union. agers in the United States.

P16 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY • My Wandering Boy