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Home , Daniel Beaty, David Lander, Derek McLane, I Am My Own Wife, Liev Schreiber, Linda Lavin

BAM 2015 Winter/Spring Season #TallestTree

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Alan H. Fishman, Chairman of the Board

William I. Campbell, Vice Chairman of the Board

Adam E. Max, Vice Chairman of the Board

Karen Brooks Hopkins, President

Joseph V. Melillo, Executive Producer The Tallest Tree in the Forest

Tectonic Theater Project Written and performed by Directed by

BAM Theater Mar 22, 24—28 at 7:30pm Mar 22 & 28 at 2pm Season Sponsor: Running time: two hours, including intermission

Incidental music and arrangements by Kenny J. Seymour Music direction Shelton Becton BAM 2015 Theater Sponsor Set design by Derek McLane Major support for theater at BAM provided by: Costume design by Clint Ramos The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation Lighting design by David Lander The Francena T. Harrison Foundation Trust Sound design by Lindsay Jones Stephanie & Timothy Ingrassia Donald R. Mullen Jr. Projection design by John Narun The Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc. Dramaturgy by Carlyn Aquiline The Morris and Alma Schapiro Fund The Shubert Foundation, Inc. The SHS Foundation

The Tallest Tree in the Forest

CAST Daniel Beaty

MUSICIANS Music Director/Conductor/ Piano/Contractor Shelton Becton Woodwinds Ralph Olsen Cello Mairi Dorman-Phaneuf

ADDITIONAL PRODUCTION CREDITS Production Stage Manager Craig Campbell* Stage Manager Zach Kennedy* Production Manager Don Gilmore Assistant Director Timothy Koch Dialect Coach Julie Foh Assistant Set Designer Shoko Kambara Associate Lighting Designer Greg Solomon Assistant Sound Designer Daniel Lundberg Costume Design Assistant Dede Ayite Projection Design Assistant Shawn Duan

The Tallest Tree in the Forest was originally commissioned and developed by Tectonic Theater Project: Moisés Kaufman, Artistic Director; Tiffany Redmon, Interim Executive Director.

Sponsored by The Ford Foundation.

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

ABOUT PAUL ROBESON Paul Robeson is best known for his iconic baritone (he performed two recitals at BAM) and lead- ing roles in , , and —a remarkable accomplishment despite the fact that his star rose at a time when segregation was legal. But his life trajectory took twists and turns and Robeson wore many hats as a public figure and outspoken champion of peace and justice.

Robeson was a scholarship student—and the third black student ever—at , where he played varsity football and was a two-time All-American. He graduated from in 1923, though worked only briefly as a lawyer, citing intolerable racism. As an activist, among the causes he most ardently supported were antilynching legislation in America, Indian independence from Britain, anticolonialism in Africa, and organized labor.

Robeson, who was blacklisted, was a lifelong supporter of Stalin and the Soviet project, perform- ing concerts in Moscow and receiving the International Stalin Prize in 1952. In a professional resurgence, in 1958 Robeson released Here I Stand, part manifesto, part autobiography. He also played the title role in the RSC’s 1959 production of Othello. After a series of mental and physical illnesses, he returned to the US and lived for the next 13 years in seclusion. Robeson died in in 1976. The Tallest Tree in the Forest

AUTHOR’S PROGRAM NOTE

In writing this play, I used research from a multitude of books, films and other sources. In the end, though, the play is my original writing, since the research has been filtered through my imagination and personal understanding of this complicated man. I have taken some poetic license, when necessary, to meet the unique conventions of theatrical storytelling. Still, I hope The Tallest Tree in the Forest honors the spirit and truth of Paul Robeson’s life and character.

—Daniel Beaty

MUSIC SELECTIONS

“Ol’ Man River” “Great Day” “Steal Away” “Ballad for the Americans” “The Joint is Jumpin” “ Are Here Again” “Get on Board Lil’ Chillun” “Battle of Jericho” “Shortnin’ Bread” “Zog Nit Kaynmal” “Ol’ Man River” (Reprise) “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel” “Go Down Moses “Scandalize My Name”

MUSIC CREDITS

“Ballad for America” was written by John LaTouche and and is used by arrangement with Music Sales Corporation and Sony/ATV Music Pub.

“Happy Days Are Here Again” was written by Milton Yeager and Jack Yellen and is used by arrange- ment with Warner/Chappell Music.

“The Joint is Jumpin’” was written by Thomas Fats Waller, Andy Razaf, and JC Johnson and is used by arrangement with Warner/Chappell Music, MPL Communications, The Songwriters Guild of America, and Razaf Music c/o Wixen.

“Ol’ Man River” was written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II and is used by arrangement with the Estate of Betty Kern Miller and Hammerstein Properties LLC.

PROJECTION CREDITS

Video and stock footage and imagery supplied and used by permission of the following: Getty Images/Archive Films: Editorial · Corbisimages · efootage ·Framepool · Historic films Retriklips/ Pond5.com · Shutterstock, Inc · The WPA Film Library Ali Batwin, Image Research

Photo: Daniel Beaty by Don Ipock Who’s Who

DANIEL BEATY (author; Paul Robeson) is an Film Festival and won a Special Mention for Best award-winning actor, singer, writer, and moti- First Film at the Berlin Film Festival. Kaufman vational speaker. His critically acclaimed plays received two Emmy Award nominations for Best Through the Night, Emergency, Mr. Joy, and The Director and Best Writer. He is a Guggenheim Tallest Tree in the Forest—Paul Robeson have Fellow and the artistic director of Tectonic The- been performed at venues ranging from Lincoln ater Project. Center to the White House, and garnered numer- ous awards including an for writing KENNY J. SEYMOUR (incidental music, ar- and performance and two NAACP Theater rangements) has Broadway and off-Broadway Awards. A highly requested keynote speaker and credits including Memphis (music director/con- thought leader, Beaty has worked throughout the ductor; Tony Award, Best Musical), First Wives US, Europe, and Africa speaking and performing Club: The Musical (music director), Amazing on programs with luminaries such as , Grace (orchestrator), The Strangely Beautiful Deepak Chopra, Hill Harper, Jill Scott, Donnie Tale of Miss Percy Parker (co-composer, lyricist, McClurkin, and . An adjunct profes- orchestrations), Marley: A World Premiere sor at , diversity trainer, and Musical (music supervisor, orchestrator), Scary youth development specialist, Beaty has spoken Musical (orchestrator), The Wiz (dance music ar- at all-staff retreats and led leadership training ranger). Film/TV: The Fringe (composer), Talking for a myriad non-profits and corporations. In fall with the Taxman About Poetry (composer and 2013, Beaty launched a nationwide initiative, I recipient of the 2013 Global Music Award for DREAM, funded by W.K. Kellogg, Ford, Barr, and Best Original Score. Music arranger and orches- Sherwood Foundations among others, to use the trator for shows on Fox, BET, and NBC, and the tools of storytelling to help individuals and com- Inauguration Ball for President . munities heal from the trauma of race and class Seymour has performed around the world, from inequity. He holds a BA with honors in English the Apollo Theater and to the and music from and an MFA in Montreux Jazz Festival. He studied at Manhattan acting from the American Conservatory Theater. School of Music and Berklee College of Music. His poem Knock Knock became an Internet sen- kennyseymour.com sation receiving millions of views, and has been transformed into a children’s book, also titled SHELTON BECTON (music director) is a pianist, Knock Knock, published by Little Brown Books. vocalist, composer, arranger, conductor, and Penguin-Random House published his empower- vocal coach. He has served as music director ment book Transforming Pain to Power this past for Judy Collins, Phylicia Rashad, Roz Ryan, March. Follow Beaty’s work at DanielBeaty.com Patti Austin, and . His composi- and on : @DanielBBeaty tions were featured on The Cosby Show and Roberta Flack’s Christmas Album, and have MOISÉS KAUFMAN (director) is delighted to re- been sung by the Tabernacle Choir and turn to BAM after debuting Broadway Inspirational Voices. His Broadway Cycle here in 2013. On Broadway, he directed credits include The Wiz, Ain’t Misbehavin’, The Rajiv Joseph’s Pulitzer Prize finalist Bengal Tiger Color Purple, Memphis, Baby, It’s You, and most at the Baghdad Zoo with Robin Williams and he recently Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill with wrote and directed 33 Variations, starring Jane Tony winner Audra McDonald. His vocals can be Fonda for which he received a Tony nomination. heard on radio and television commercials, duets Additionally, Kaufman directed the Pulitzer and with Patti Austin, and vocals for Celine Dion, Tony Award-winning play , Vanessa Williams, and Anita Baker. His debut earning him an Obie award for his direction, as CD is entitled Where Is God? as Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and nominations. His plays Gross DEREK McLANE’s (set design) Broadway credits Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde and include Beautiful: the Musical, The The Laramie Project have been among the most Heiress, Nice Work if You Can Get It, The Best performed plays in America over the last decade. Man, , , How to Succeed in Kaufman also directed the film adaptation of The Business…, Bengal Tiger in the Baghdad Zoo, Laramie Project, which aired on HBO. It was the Million Dollar Quartet, , 33 Variations opening night selection at the 2002 Sundance (Tony Award, Best ), Grease, Little Who’s Who

Women, The Pajama Game, The Threepenny Langella, Dirty Blond (Drama Desk nom.), and Opera, I Am My Own Wife, The Women, Pres- Golden Child. Off-Broadway: Fran’s Bed with ent Laughter, London Assurance, Holiday, and Mia Farrow, King Lear with Kevin Klein, The Three Sisters. Off-Broadway creidts: Stick with and , and Mod- and Bones, , Lie of the Mind, Marie and ern Orthodox with Molly Ringwald and Jason Bruce, Starry Messenger, The Voysey Inheri- Biggs, among others. Regional venues for which tance, Two Trains Running, Macbeth (Shake- he has designed: Ahmanson Theatre, Berkeley speare in the Park), , and Abigail’s Rep, , George Street Play- Party. He recently designed the 2013, 2014, house, Huntington Theatre, Kennedy Center, La 2015 Academy Awards and Peter Pan Live, and Jolla Playhouse, Mark Taper Forum, Old Globe, created opera and theater designs in London, and the Wallis, and internationally in London, Paris, Dublin, Glasgow, Moscow, Krakow, Cara- Caracas, Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney, Melbourne, cas, Sydney, and Warsaw. Awards: 1997 and among others. 2004 Obie Awards; 2004, 2005, 2007 ; 2009 Tony Award; 2011 Drama LINDSAY JONES (sound design) on Broadway Desk Award; and a 2014 Emmy Award. has worked on Bronx Bombers and A Time to Kill. Off-Broadway credits: Bootycandy (Play- CLINT RAMOS (costume design) has designed wrights Horizons); Mr. Joy (LCT3); Through the for Broadway productions of Night (Union Square/Westside Theaters); Wild wtih Bradley Cooper (also West End) and with Happy (Public Theater); Top Secret (New with . With Moisés Kaufman: Into York Theater Workshop); Rx (Primary Stages), the Woods (Kansas City Rep), One Arm (New and many others. Regional venues include Guth- Group), El Gato con Botas (Gotham/Tectonic), rie Theater, Hartford Stage, Alliance, Goodman, and The Tallest Tree (KCR, Arena, Taper). Recent , Chicago Shakespeare, La Jolla work include sets and/or costumes for Here Lies Playhouse, Steppenwolf, Mark Taper Forum, Love (NY and London), Kid Victory (Signature), Lookingglass, and many others. International: Appropriate (Signature), and Bootycandy (Play- Stratford Shakespeare Festival (Canada), Royal wrights Horizons). He has been the principal Shakespeare Company (England), as well as costume designer for the last two seasons of City productions in Austria, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Center Encores! Off-Center, designing for Cradle and Scotland. Awards include seven Joseph Jef- Will Rock; Violet; I’m Getting My Act Together…; ferson Awards and 21 nominations, two Ovation Tick, Tick BOOM!; Randy Newman’s Faust; and Awards and three nominations, LA Drama Critics Pump Boys and Dinettes. He has more than 100 Circle Award, two ASCAP Plus Awards, three regional and international design credits. Honors nominations, and two Helen include the 2013 Obie Award for Sustained Hayes nominations, as well as nominations for Excellence, three Lucille Lortel Awards, TDF Henry Hewes Design and Barrymore Awards, Irene Sharaff Young Master Award, two American and many others. Film scoring: The Brass Teapot Theater Wing Henry Hewes Awards, and Helen (Magnolia Pictures) and A Note of Triumph (HBO Hayes Awards. Upcoming: The Colored Museum Films, 2006 Academy Award, Best Documen- (Huntington), Buzzer (Public), Power of Duff tary). lindsayjones.com (Geffen), Melancholy Play (Trinity Rep), and the third season on Encores! Off-Center. JOHN NARUN (projection design) has cre- ated designs for The Darrell Hammond Project DAVID LANDER (lighting design) on Broadway (La Jolla Playhouse); The Radio City Spring has designed for The Winslow Boy with Roger Spectacular (video content); The Laramie Project Rees and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, The Cycle (BAM); Radio City Christmas Spectacular Heiress with Jessica Chastain and Dan Stevens, (video content); Cirque du Soleil’s The Immortal with , Bengal Tiger at the Tour (video content), and for concerts includ- Baghdad Zoo with Robin Williams (Drama Desk ing Madonna’s Sticky and Sweet Tour, The Award; Tony and Outer Critics Nominations), Spice Girls’ Reunion Tour, Celine Dion’s Taking 33 Variations with Jane Fonda (Tony and Outer Chances Tour, Britney Spears’ The Femme Fatale Critics nominations), I Am My Own Wife (Drama Tour, Ricky Martin’s The Black and White Tour, Desk and Outer Critics noms.), with and Christina Aguilera’s Back to Basics Tour. , with Frank Broadcast designs include the NBC Beijing Photo: Daniel Beaty by Don Ipock Who’s Who

Summer Olympics Teaser Campaign; ABC News, Shizuoka, Japan); Facing Goya (Spoleto Festival main title (2004); The Dr. Phil Show main USA and Singapore International Festival of title (2006); CBS’ Wolf Lake main title (Emmy Arts); The Cherry Orchard Sequel (La MaMa nomination); HBO’s Genre Opens (2002); and ETC, NYC); The Darrell Hammond Project (La The Show main title (1999). He Jolla Playhouse); ; 2013 studied theatrical design and radio, TV, and film Shakespeare Festival (The Old Globe); The Rocky at . johnnarun.com Horror Picture Show; and Somewhere. He spent two seasons as production stage manager at the CARLYN AQUILINE (dramaturgy) has been Lost Colony, America’s largest outdoor theater. dramaturg on many new works, as well as Kennedy is a freelance producer and stage production dramaturg on contemporary and manager for corporate theater and has managed classical works at City Theatre Company in events for multiple companies including Google (literary manager and dramaturg), and Palantir. He holds his MFA in stage manage- Syracuse Stage (artistic associate), Goodspeed ment from UC San Diego. Musicals (literary and producing associate), Hartford Stage, Lark Play Development Center, TECTONIC THEATER PROJECT (TTP), founded Yale Repertory Theatre, Arden Theatre, Florida in 1991 by Artistic Director Moisés Kaufman Stage, TheatreWorks (Palo Alto), American and Jeffrey LaHoste, is an award-winning theater Theater Company, Microscopic Opera Company, company dedicated to developing innovative and Actor’s Express, among others. She received works that explore theatrical language and an LMDA Residency Grant for her collaboration form, fostering an artistic dialogue with our with the Microscopic Opera Company, an Alcoa audiences on the social, political, and human Foundation Leadership Grant, and an Education issues that affect us all. Tectonic Theater Project Foundation of America Fellowship for her work is best known for creating plays which have with Syracuse Stage. She was managing editor sparked national discourse and inspired artists of the international journal Theater for two years, and audiences worldwide. They include: Gross teaches at Carnegie Mellon University, and is a Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, The graduate of the Yale School of Drama. Laramie Project, The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, I Am My Own Wife, ’ CRAIG CAMPBELL (production stage manager) unproduced screenplay One Arm, and 33 Varia- has worked on off-Broadway productions of tions starring Jane Fonda. Moisés Kaufman and I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change; The Tectonic Theater Project have developed a wholly Vagina Monologues; De La Guarda; Fame; unique methodology for creating theater, Moment Oedipus; The Pitchfork Disney; Amazing Grace; Work. Participants in Moment Work Trainings and The Seagull. National Tours: Forever Plaid, actively engage with the elements of the stage— All Shook Up, Fame, and Dirty Blonde. Regional: exploring lights, sound, costumes, movement, (San Pedro Playhouse); The Haunted text, architecture, and others elements—to dis- Hotel, Personals, Vanities (Cazenovia Theatre cover their full theatrical potential and the poetry Company) and The Tallest Tree in the Forest (KC inherent in each element. Our first, Moment Rep, La Jolla Playhouse), and three seasons with Work Book, will be published by Random House the Santa Fe Opera Company. TV credits include in 2016. Training and workshop information is The Amandas, Clean House, So You Think You available at tectonictheaterproject.org. Can Dance, Over Your Head, Comic Relief, and many award shows on television. Campbell is The Tallest Tree in the Forest has been in devel- an Emmy Award winner with three nominations. opment for two years and would not have been He is a proud graduate of Rollins College, with possible without the generous support of the an emphasis in theater. Love to MKD. Ford Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, ZACH KENNEDY (stage manager) previously Jeanne Sullivan, Guggenheim’s Works & Process, collaborated with Tectonic Theater Project on City Department of Cultural Affairs in The Tallest Tree in the Forest at Center Theatre Partnership with the City Council, First Republic Group, La Jolla Playhouse, and Arena Stage. His Bank, Axe-Houghton Foundation, and numerous credits include Continuum: Beyond the Killing Tectonic Theater Project supporters including Fields (TheatreWorks Singapore, presented in our Board of Directors: Ted Trimpa, Chair; Alan Tectonic Theater Project

Kornberg, Vice-Chair; Tim Wu, Vice-Chair; John Tectonic Theater Project Staff Hadity, Treasurer; Amy Stursberg, Secretary; and Moisés Kaufman, Artistic Director Ralph Bryan, Michael Graziano, Andrew Hind- Tiffany Redmon, Interim Executive Director man, Allen Lamb, Krysti Keener, Jeffrey LaHoste, Liz Olson, General Manager Cathy Renna, Paul Sekhri, Richard Sheehan, Matthew Freeman, Education Director Deborah Taylor, Aaron Walton, Barbara Whitman, Darren Johnston, Administrative Coordinator and Kevin Jennings, Founding Chair. Mara Isaacs, Octopus Theatricals, Producing Advisor Also in development: Square Peg Round Hole Jeffrey P. LaHoste, Tectonic Co-founder (working title) about life on the autism spectrum David Lieberman Artists Representatives, and an adaptation of Bizet’s classic opera Jay Alan Quantrill, Touring Management Carmen set in post-revolution Cuba with Afro- Interns: Cassidy Nogueira, Maria Mukuka & Cuban jazz arrangements by Arturo O’Farrill. Sasha Restrepo

Tectonic Theater Project 520 Eighth Ave, #313 New York, NY 10018 212.579.6111 tectonictheaterproject.org

TECTONIC THEATER PROJECT Barbara Whitman ARTISTIC DIRECTOR’S CIRCLE Autism Speaks Blackstone Charitable Foundation $25,000 and above Department of Cultural Affairs Richard Feldman / SHS Foundation New York State Council on the Arts with the support of John Heimann & Maria Cristina Anzola Gov Andrew Cuomo & the NY State Legislature Steve & Rosemarie Johnson The Small Change Foundation Jim & Lori Steinberg Jon Stryker Jeanne Sullivan $5,000-$9,999 Ted Trimpa Anonymous Ford Foundation Ron Ansin Hearst Foundation Erik Batt & Dan Marsili Knight Foundation Jacques & Wendy Bouthillier National Endowment for the Arts Ralph & Gail Bryan New York Community Trust Bruce Carter Steinberg Charitable Trust Frederick Doner & Michele Oka Doner Margery Feldberg & Jeremy Levin $10,000-$24,999 John Hadity Shawn Donnelley Ruth & Stephen Hendel Steven Feder Ricardo Hornos & Lisa Kohl Jeanne Donovan Fisher Stephanie & Carter McClelland James Hormel & Michael Ngyuen Steven & Marianne Mills Alan Kornberg & Harold Koda Deborah Taylor John & Maggie Langley Henry Van Ameringen Stacey & Eric Mindich Aaron Walton Pritzker Shelby White Heather Randall / Tony Randall Theatrical Fund Lois Whitman Vivien & Jeffrey Ressler / Jordan Ressler Charitble Axe Houghton Foundation Foundation First Republic Bank Amy Stursberg