August 20 – September 15
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The Artistic Director’s Circle Season Sponsors Gail & Ralph Bryan Una K. Davis Brian & Silvija Devine Joan & Irwin Jacobs Sheri L. Jamieson Frank Marshall & 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 AUGUST 20 – SEPTEMBER 15 PRODUCTION SPONSORS Una K. Davis Brian & Silvija Devine Recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award Dear Friends, LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE PRESENTS “Go West, young man.” Christopher Ashley Debby Buchholz That phrase, most often attributed to Horace Greeley The Rich Family Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse Managing Director of La Jolla Playhouse in 1865, perfectly captures the essence of American expansion that permeated much of the 19th century. An untold number of people, whether driven by the idea of “Manifest Destiny” or simply unable or unwilling to MISSION STATEMENT: fit into established society, made the journey West. It La Jolla Playhouse advances was often uncharted, rough territory that required – and rewarded – hard work and a pioneering spirit. theatre as an art form and as a vital social, moral and political platform The truth, of course, is much more complicated than that. Westward expansion by providing unfettered creative also caused a staggering amount of violence and oppression against the Native population of America. But the mythology still maintains a warm home in our opportunities for the leading artists history books; the West was (and remains) a place of opportunity, possibility, BY of today and tomorrow. With our adventure and optimism. KEITH BUNIN youthful spirit and eclectic, artist- The setting of Keith Bunin’s luminous new play, The Coast Starlight, is an apt driven approach, we will continue metaphor; a train is an impermanent, transitional space, delivering people from one to cultivate a local and national place to another. Keith’s characters may once have shared in that pioneer spirit of following with an insatiable appetite optimism and opportunity, but now they’re bone-tired or disillusioned, locked in a DIRECTED BY place of uncertainty and disruption. But by the end of their journey, they will each for audacious and diverse work. arrive at a new understanding of themselves. TYNE RAFAELI In the future, San Diego’s La Jolla Playhouse will be considered Keith wrote this play while living in California for a long-term writing job. During his downtime, he’d often ride the Coast Starlight, imagining the lives of his fellow singularly indispensable to the passengers: what brought them here? Where were they heading? What were they FEATURING worldwide theatre landscape, as running towards – or from? This play honors that impulse by unfolding as a series of we become a permanent safe (mostly) imagined interactions between the characters that illuminate the emotional MIA BARRON*, CAMILA CANÓ-FLAVIÁ*, RHYS COIRO* topography we all share, even if we seldom grant other people access to it. harbor for the unsafe and surprising. NATE MANN*, STEPHANIE WEEKS*, ROB YANG* The day will come when it will Keith once told me that The Coast Starlight is a tribute to all the people he met be essential to enter the La Jolla along the way, and to all the people who’d made the same journey before him – those who had, in one way or another, built the tracks on which he traveled. The UNDERSTUDIES ‡ ‡ ‡ Playhouse village in order to get a result is a deeply empathetic play that asks us to consider the humanity we share MARY ROSE BRANICK , CHRISTINE PENN , GARRETT SCHULTE glimpse of what is about to happen with those just a few seats over from us on a train – or anywhere. in American theatre. CHRISTOPHER ASHLEY THE RICH FAMILY ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE SCENIC DESIGN ARNULFO MALDONADO COSTUME DESIGN DENITSA BLIZNAKOVA AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT EVENTS: THE COAST STARLIGHT LIGHTING DESIGN LAP CHI CHU Talkback Tuesdays Sponsored in part by The Green Room Sponsored in part by COMPOSER AND SOUND DESIGN Participate in a lively discussion with The Coast Starlight Join us before the show on the first Friday of the run to DANIEL KLUGER performers and Playhouse staff members immediately hear directly from writers, directors and designers about DRAMATURG SHIRLEY FISHMAN following these performances. their process from the page to opening night. AND Tuesday, August 27 and Tuesday, September 3 Friday, August 23 at 7:00 pm CASTING TBD CASTING; STEPHANIE YANKWITT, C.S.A. MARGARET DUNN following the 7:30 pm performances STAGE MANAGER ASHLEY R. MARTIN* Friday Fare Discovery Sunday ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER TYLER LARSON* Pre-show fun on the second and fourth Fridays of the run. Join special guest speakers post-performance as they Experience visual and performance art inspired by the show. engage audience members in a moderated discussion PROJECT PRODUCTION MANAGER BECCA DUHAIME FREE to attend (food and drinks available for purchase). exploring the themes in the play. Friday, August 30 and Friday, September 13 at 6:30 pm Sunday, September 8 following the 2:00 pm performance Developed with the support of Ojai Playwrights Conference and New York Stage and Film. ACCESS Performance Sponsored in part by The Coast Starlight was commissioned by La Jolla Playhouse and developed during the 2018 DNA New Work Series. On select performances, La Jolla Playhouse provides American Sign Language interpretation for audience members who are deaf or P2 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE hard-of-hearing and audio description for patrons who are blind or have low vision. Saturday, September 7 at 2:00 pm THE COMPANY THE CAST MIA BARRON, Liz CHRISTINE PENN, Understudy for Liz (in order of appearance) La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Broadway: The Coast of Utopia, La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. UC San Diego: The Gradient, QED. Off-Broadway: Hurricane Diane (NYTW; Obie Award The Misanthrope, A Beautiful Day in November on the TJ........................................................................................................................................... Nate Mann* for Performance), The Wolves (Lincoln Center; Drama Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes, SERE, Revolt. She Jane......................................................................................................................... Camila Canó-Flaviá* Desk, Obie Awards, Best Ensemble), shows at Manhattan Said. Revolt Again, The Green Cockatoo. CSU Long Beach: Theatre Club, Public, Lincoln Center, Atlantic and Playwrights Red Light Winter, Out of Orbit. Education: B.S. in Business Noah ....................................................................................................................................... Rhys Coiro* Horizons, including Keith Bunin’s The World Over. Select regional Marketing at CSU Long Beach, M.F.A. at UC San Diego. Liz .......................................................................................................................................... Mia Barron* includes House of Blue Leaves (Taper), Farragut North (Geffen), along with Long Wharf, Old Globe, Guthrie, Williamstown, among others. GARRETT SCHULTE, Understudy for TJ Ed...............................................................................................................................................Rob Yang* Co-created and performed Big Times Off Broadway (Leigh Silverman, La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. UC San Diego: The Gradient, Anna. ..........................................................................................................................Stephanie Weeks* director) and Joan Didion’s The White Album (Lars Jan, director; BAM Life Is a Dream, Mother Courage, How to Defend Yourself, Next Wave). Recent recurring roles: Get Shorty (Epix), Law and Order:True Othello, The Green Cockatoo. MIT: The Resistible Rise of Understudies ................................................Mary Rose Branick ‡, Christine Penn ‡, Garrett Schulte‡ Crime (NBC). Voice of Molotov on Venture Bros. M.F.A.: NYU. Arturo Ui, Pillowman, Arcadia. Education: B.S. in Engineering from MIT, M.F.A. in Acting from UC San Diego. MARY ROSE BRANICK, Understudy for Jane ROB YANG, Setting: On a train from L.A. en route to Seattle. La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. UC San Diego: Shame Spiral, Ed Life Is a Dream, Mother Courage and her Children, How to La Jolla Playhouse: Debut. Off-Broadway: A Midsummer Defend Yourself, Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again, What of the Night’s Dream, Shanghai Gesture, Bingo with the Indians. The Coast Starlight will be performed in one act without an intermission. Night?. Willamette University: Macbeth, Lear’s Daughters, Regional: Chimerica (Studio Theatre, D.C.). Television/Film: Vincent in Brixton, Helen, Top Girls, The Trojan Women, HBO’s Succession, FX’s The Americans, upcoming Living Understudies are never substituted for listed roles unless a specific announcement or notice is made at the time of the performance. Conference of the Birds. Education: B.A. from Willamette University, with Yourself on Netflix, upcoming film The Kitchen. M.F.A. from UC San Diego. KEITH BUNIN, Playwright CAMILA CANÓ-FLAVIÁ, Jane is very happy to return to La Jolla Playhouse,