2 WESTPORT COUNTRY PLAYHOUSE | 2018 SEASON THE HOWARD J. AIBEL THEATER CENTER WHAT’S INSIDE FROM ARTISTIC DIRECTOR MARK LAMOS 7 TITLE PAGE 11 THE CAST 13 APRIL 23 – MAY 11, 2019 PROGRAM NOTES 15 SHOW #1 (TBA) WHO’S WHO 23 JUNE 4 – 22, 2019 ANNUAL CONTRIBUTORS 32 SKELETON CREW BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND STAFF 39 BY DOMINIQUE MORISSEAU “[Morisseau] has heart, along with a sense ABOUT THE PLAYHOUSE 44 of historical moments that define the lives of ordinary Americans.” THE NEW YORK TIMES JULY 16 – AUGUST 3, 2019 The use of photographic or recording HERSHEY FELDER AS IRVING BERLIN devices is strictly prohibited. MUSIC + LYRICS BY IRVING BERLIN BOOK BY HERSHEY FELDER DIRECTED BY TREVOR HAY For the enjoyment of all patrons, “Richly entertaining and touching.” please silence mobile phones, tablets, LOS ANGELES TIMES and other electronic devices. OCTOBER 1 – 19, 2019 MLIMA’S TALE BY LYNN NOTTAGE DIRECTED BY MARK LAMOS JOIN THE CONVERSATION “… beautiful, endlessly echoing portrait…” THE NEW YORK TIMES WestportCountryPlayhouse NOVEMBER 5 – 23, 2019 DON JUAN @WCPlayhouse BY MOLIÈRE DIRECTED BY DAVID KENNEDY Meet the legendary Don Juan as you’ve never seen him before in a new adaptation of this wcplayhouse classic comedy that has kept audiences laughing for centuries! WestportPlayhouse THE PLAYHOUSE SEASON THOUSAND PINES 3 WCP | FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Dear Friends, While it is my fervent belief that all plays find And I can not imagine right now, at any rate, a some sort of relevance in the moment they are play that speaks so deeply to the moment we produced, Thousand Pines was written in direct are living in, barely a half hour’s drive from response to a local tragedy of unparralled evil. Newtown, Connecticut. This play is not about This is its world premiere. You are its first audience. gun violence. It is about the effect of sudden, unimaginable loss on good people. It is about The Sandy Hook tragedy has spawned much how we cope. It is about how we are human. grief, much discussion, much pain, much more horror. But Matthew Greene’s Thousand Pines I hope this either continues a conversation or isn’t about the tragedy itself, but its direct begins one. effect on the lives of people attempting to cope with it in the most personal way. When I first read the script, in one sitting, I knew we had to MARK LAMOS invest ourselves in it. We invited Matthew to Artistic Director be a part of the Playhouse’s New Works Circle Initiative. He’d already begun collaborating on it with master director/actor Austin Pendleton, but indeed expressed interest in developing the play further. A bit over a year ago, we did a reading of it for our New Works supporters — a group of Playhouse trustees who are passionate about the development of new writing at a theater that was founded 88 years ago with the same goal. Its premiere on our stage is the beginning of a dream fulfilled for me personally, and I could not be more proud of the play and this stunning production of it. Photo by Bruce Plotkin THOUSAND PINES PRESENTS THE WORLD PREMIERE OF BY MATTHEW GREENE DIRECTED BY AUSTIN PENDLETON SCENIC DESIGN COSTUME DESIGN LIGHTING DESIGN Walt Spangler Barbara A. Bell Xavier Pierce SOUND DESIGN AND COMPOSER FIGHT DIRECTOR PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER Ryan Rumery Michael Rossmy Roxana Khan CASTING Tara Rubin Casting PRODUCTION PARTNERS STEPHEN CORMAN CAROLE HOCHMAN AND STAN GREEN MADE POSSIBLE WITH SUPPORT FROM OCTOBER 30 – NOVEMBER 17 12 WESTPORT COUNTRY PLAYHOUSE | 2018 SEASON THE CAST ACTOR 1 Kelly McAndrew * ACTOR 2 William Ragsdale * ACTOR 3 Anne Bates * ACTOR 4 Joby Earle * ACTOR 5 Katie Ailion * ACTOR 6 Andrew Veenstra * SETTING The dining room of three identical suburban tract houses, Thanksgiving day. Thousand Pines will be performed without an intermission This theatre operates under an agreement between The League of Regional Theatres and ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States. The Director is a member of the STAGE DIRECTORS AND CHOREOGRAPHERS SOCIETY, a national theatrical labor union. Westport Country Playhouse employs members of the INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCE OF THEATRICAL STAGE EMPLOYEES, Local 74. The Scenic, Costume, Lighting, and Sound Designers in LORT theatres are represented by United Scenic Artists Local USA-829, IATSE. *Member of Actors’ Equity Association THOUSAND PINES 13 14 WESTPORT COUNTRY PLAYHOUSE | 2018 SEASON from the playwright matthew greene on particularly of-the-moment, it’s true. At its heart, thousand pines though, this play is about far more than any voters’ “wedge issue.” If I’ve done my job, the piece isn’t a political polemic; rather, it’s a reminder of what binds us together, even when the world around us seems hell-bent on tearing us apart. All that being said, it honestly breaks my heart to know it’ll likely be a long time before Thousand Pines becomes a “period piece.” I’d love for us all to leave behind the pain, the division, the confusion, and the anger that so many are feeling. I’d love for us to resolve the issues that are literally destroying our friends and loved ones. But alas, I’m a realist. So I know that no play, even To be honest, I’d love for this play one as well-served by its company as this one, to stop being “relevant.” can cure what ails us as a society. Still, in an era After all, that would mean we had found a way to so marked by division, there’s something sacred overcome the scourge of public shootings. It would about the communal act of theatre. I’m still naive mean children could feel safe when the first bell rang enough to believe that miracles can happen when in the morning, that we’d stepped up as a society to a group of strangers gathers to sit quietly in the ensure that positive change truly came to pass. dark as a story unfolds, laughing together, crying together, and dreaming together of a better world. However, the constant heartbreak of breaking news keeps the subject matter of Thousand Pines ... the piece [is] a reminder of stubbornly and tragically in the zeitgeist. We’re confronted every day with senseless violence what binds us together, even from one direction or another and have grown when the world ... seems accustomed to images of mourning parents, of hell-bent on tearing us apart. frightened children, of bewildered human beings doing their best to navigate this brutal world of ours. In the meantime, though, we press on. We hold on to each other, search for answers, and fight for the Still, there’s nothing new about grief, nothing things we believe in. And we try, along with the novel about ruminations on the fragility of life characters onstage, to keep believing. and the constant human need to connect. The unending legal and moral debates swirling around us about gun control, school safety, mental health, and public responsibility feel THOUSAND PINES 15 In January 2013, playwright Caridad Project, an initiative that began as a way of Svich and NoPassport theatre alliance identifying and sharing plays dealing with initiated a “gun control theatre action” to a range of current social justice issues, coincide with the March on Washington from gun violence to immigration. for Gun Control. Drawing from direct Theatre action around gun violence has commissions and submissions received not focused solely on responding to mass through an open call, Svich and her shootings. One example, the Every 28 collaborators curated a selection of short Hours Plays Project begun in 2014 by plays tackling the influence of guns and Claudia Alick, confronts the intersection gun violence. These plays were presented of gun violence, race, and the Black Lives at events held in both Washington, D.C. Matter movement. and Pittsburgh on January 26, 2013, and many were later published in a collection Writing about the 2013 theatre actions, that was made available for similar events Caridad Svich asked, “As storytellers, do held in theaters across the country. we shrug our shoulders, sigh a little sigh, and simply say, ‘nothing can be done’? Or In early 2018, theatre artists again do we try, with a little art, in a space of organized a series of events in healing and remembrance, to be part of support of the March for Our Lives a movement or dialogue for progressive demonstrations and the National School change?” Like Matthew Greene, the Walkout that took place in March and playwrights and organizers involved in April of this year. Under the banner of these projects share a belief in the power #TheatreActionGunControl, the effort of community and the promise of theatre playwright was spearheaded this time by as a space to reflect and to craft ideas of Tiffany Antone Protest Plays and the the world as it could be. PROGRAM NOTES BY BETHANY GUGLIEMINO, ARTISTIC & MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATE. EDITED BY DAVID KENNEDY, ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR. apr 20, 1999 in Columbine High School Littleton, CO 15 KILLED, 21 INJURED memoriam march 21, 2005 october 28, 2002 Red Lake Senior University of Arizona High School Tucson, Arizona Red Lake, Minnesota 4 KILLED 4 KILLED october 2, 2006 West Nickel Mines School Nickel Mines, PA 6 KILLED, 3 INJURED april 16, 2007 Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA 33 KILLED, 23 INJURED february 14, 2008 Northern Illinois University DeKalb, IL 6 KILLED, 21 INJURED april 2, 2012 December 14, 2012 Oikos University Sandy Hook Elementary School Oakland, CA Newtown, Connecticut 7 KILLED, 3 INJURED 28 KILLED, 2 INJURED JUNE 7, 2013 Santa Monica College FEBRUARY 14, 2018 Santa Monica, California 6 KILLED, 4 INJURED Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Parkland, Florida 17 KILLED, 17 INJURED OCTOBER 24, 2014 Marysville Pilchuck High School Marysville, Washington 5 KILLED, 1 INJURED OCTOBER 1, 2015 Umpqua Community College Roseburg, Oregon 10 KILLED, 9 INJURED MAY 18, 2018 Santa Fe High School There have been over 200 school shootings Santa Fe, Texas in the United States since Columbine.