39th Season • 377th Production JULIANNE ARGYROS STAGE / JANUARY 28 THROUGH FEBRUARY 16, 2003

David Emmes Martin Benson PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

presents the West Coast Premiere of THE CARPETBAGGER’S CHILDREN

by HORTON FOOTE

Scenic and Costume Design Lighting Design Sound Design ANGELA BALOGH CALIN PAULIE JENKINS MITCH GREENHILL

Dialect Coach Production Manager Stage Manager PHILIP THOMPSON JEFF GIFFORD *JAMIE A. TUCKER

Directed by MARTIN BENSON

Produced by Lincoln Center in 2002, New York City Commissioned and Originally Produced by Alley Theatre; Gregory Boyd, Artistic Director, Paul R. Tetreault, Managing Director, with support from AT&T. The Carpetbagger’s Children by Horton Foote is presented by arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., in New York.

The Carpetbagger’s Children • SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P1 CAST OF CHARACTERS (In order of appearance)

Cornelia ...... *Robin Pearson Rose Grace Anne ...... *Nan Martin Sissie ...... *Linda Gehringer

SETTING Harrison, Texas.

LENGTH Approximately 90 minutes with no intermission.

PRODUCTION STAFF Casting Director ...... Joanne DeNaut Dramaturg ...... Linda Sullivan Baity Production Assistant ...... Christi Vadovic Costume Design Assistant ...... Julie Keen Stage Management Intern ...... Heather McClain

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Special thanks to Alice Kors.

Cellular phones, beepers and watch alarms should be turned off or set to non-audible mode during the performance. 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.

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

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P2 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY • The Carpetbagger’s Children Lone Star Carpetbaggers

arpetbagger was the pejorative term applied Only two important carpetbagger officials were to Northerners who moved to the South after tied to public corruption. George W. Honey from the Civil War, specifically those who joined Wisconsin was charged with inappropriate use of state Republican parties formed in 1867 and funds when he loaned state funds to private individu- Cwho were elected as Republicans to public office. als. Honey was removed by the Davis administration, Southern Democrats but regained the office by order of alleged that the new- the state Supreme Court. Adjutant comers were corrupt General James Davidson, a Scots- and dishonest adven- man, defrauded the state of more turers, whose property than $37,000 by issuing fraudulent consisted only of what warrants and fled in 1872. Few in they could carry in numbers and never particularly their carpetbags, who powerful relative to the native (or seized political power scalawag) element of the Republi- and plundered the can party, carpetbaggers played helpless people of the only a minor role in Texas politics South. This late-19th after the Civil War. century assessment of the carpetbagger re- Condensed from Carl H. Money- tained its currency hon’s article “Carpetbaggers” in among some historians The Handbook of Texas Online as late as the 1990s. Since the 1950s, how- READ MORE ABOUT IT in the Playgo- er’s Guide found on our website at ever, revisionist histo- www.scr.org. rians have challenged the validity of the tra- An 1872 ‘Harper’s Weekly’ caricature by Thomas Nast of Carl ditional view and as- Schurz carrying bags labeled "Carpetbag from Wisconsin to sessed the carpetbag- Missouri" and "Carpetbagger South." Nast criticized Schurz for supporting Horace Greeley in 1872 in the presidential gers more favorably. election on a Liberal Republican ticket, as well as for his Texas carpetbag- sympathies toward ex-Confederates. gers played only a minor role in the state’s Reconstruction history. In part this was because few Northerners who arrived In The Bag after the Civil War, probably no more than 11 per- With the rapid expansion of railroads cent, held political offices. In addition to their nu- in the 1840s and ’50s, people were traveling in merical insignificance, these men generally do not greater-than-ever numbers, and there arose the need for fit the stereotypical pattern. Because most of sturdy, affordable luggage. Enter the carpetbag, them arrived in the state before black enfran- which was constructed by saddle makers from dis- chisement was mandated by the U.S. Congress in carded carpets and sold in dry goods stores across 1867, it is not possible that they were political the county for about a dollar each. By the 1860s, adventurers intending to take advantage of black carpetbags were being carried by almost ev- voters. Rather than representing the lowest or the erybody. The sight of a carpetbag in property-less class of the North, most of these men were of middle-class origin, usually possessing both hand instantly marked an individual education and property, and on the whole, they be- as an outsider. came responsible state officials.

The Carpetbagger’s Children •SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P3 The Fourth Character The fourth character in The Carpetbagger’s Children is music. — Martin Benson

I remember my father had collected sheet music for popular songs since he was a young man and he brought them all with him when he married my mother. Often in the evenings, she would play, and he would sing. There was always around us music of a kind, certainly hymns and blues and what was called then race music. We could hear this music as we sat on our porch in the evenings. The blues would be joined, sometimes, in the far dis- tance, by the sounds of a small Mexican band playing a waltz, or a neighborhood child practicing the piano. The Baptist church was just a block away and these other musical sounds would be joined by their hymns on Wednesday evenings at prayer meeting time. Sometimes all these sounds would come together at once. I think that’s why music has always meant so much to me. — Horton Foote

Sissie: . . . and finally I got so I could sing before Papa and Mama and Brother and Cornelia at the house. Papa’s favorites were “Just a Song at Twilight” and “After the Ball.” And pretty soon I got to singing around town.

Cornelia: Papa called Sissie into the parlor to sing for him. She sang five songs for him and then he said would she sing “Marching Through Georgia?” And she said she didn’t want to sing that, and he said why not? And she said because Sherman was vile and a beast and did terrible things to the South and he said who told her that? . . . She sang “Marching through Georgia” then and I felt ashamed of myself, but I was hoping none of our friends would come in just then, because I knew how all of them felt about Sherman, and Papa said when she finished that to show how broad-minded he was he would like her to sing “Dixie” and she did and we all joined in singing it with her, including Papa and Brother.

Grace Anne: Anyway, it turned out that Mama wouldn’t come, but Sissie agreed to sing “Oh, Promise Me” and Cornelia ordered flowers for the house so the living room looked real pretty and festive.

P4 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY • The Carpetbagger’s Children LINDA GEHRINGER NAN MARTIN ROBIN PEARSON ROSE Sissie Grace Anne Cornelia

Artist Biographies

*LINDA GEHRINGER (Sissie) appeared the University of Minnesota and has day’s Girls at the Coronet; Design for at SCR in Getting Frankie Married— received numerous critical awards. Living at the Ahmanson; The Man and Afterwards, Hold Please, A Deli- Her television roles include four sea- Who Came to Dinner at the Long cate Balance, All My Sons, Arcadia, sons as Fontana on “Evening Shade” Beach Theatre; and Hamlet with Nicol Good As New and as Helen Gahagan and guest appearances on “The West Williamson at the Doolittle. Ms. Mar- Douglas in But Not for Me. Appear- Wing,” “The Practice,” “Ally McBeal,” tin also appeared in The Old Boy by ances at other Southern California the- “Providence,” “Touched by An Angel,” A.R. Gurney in New York City and atres include Be Aggressive and Light “The Larry Sanders Show” and “Law Dividing the Estate by Horton Foote at Up the Sky at the La Jolla Playhouse, and Order, Criminal Intent.” This year the Great Lakes Festival. She began The Poison Tree at the Mark Taper she was seen on on “Girls Club” and her career in New York with JB, Forum and Strange Snow at the Lagu- “Boomtown,” and will recur on “The Great God Brown, The Constant Wife, na Playhouse. Ms. Gehringer has Division.” She also appeared in the Lysistrata, Henry IV, Under the Yum- worked at Washington’s Arena Stage, film As Good as It Gets. Yum Tree, The Slave, Camino Real, Boston’s Huntington Theatre, The Summer Brave, Taming of the Shrew Guthrie Theater, the Berkshire Theatre *NAN MARTIN (Grace Anne) returns and Eccentricities of a Nightingale. Festival, New York Stage and Film to SCR appearing last season in Get- She and George C. Scott opened the and spent seven seasons as a compa- ting Frankie Married—and After- Shakespeare Theatre in Central Park ny member at the Dallas Theatre Cen- wards and previously in Road to in Merchant of Venice followed by ter. Roles include Blanche in A Street- Mecca, Aunt Dan and Lemon, Once Much Ado about Nothing, Hamlet and car Named Desire, Regina in The Little in Arden, The Show-Off, Buried Child Richard III. She has appeared in nu- Foxes, Wanda in The Waiting Room, and Odd Jobs. Other California ap- merous regional theatre productions Merteuil in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, pearances include All My Sons, Sar- including Uncle Vanya, Sparks Fly Up- Bette in The Marriage of Bette and cophagus, The Sea Gull and Lady of ward, The Visit, ’night Mother, Mac- Boo, Olga in The Three Sisters, Cather- the House at LATC; Marriage of Mr. beth, Queen and the Rebels, Orpheus ine in The Heiress, Edward/Betty in Mississippi and Grown Ups at the Mark Descending and The Subject Was Cloud 9 and Ann Stanton in All the Taper Forum; Jules Feiffer’s Hold Me Roses. In London, she starred in King’s Men. She holds an MFA from at the Westwood Playhouse; Thurs- Hughie and Others and Three Sisters.

The Carpetbagger’s Children•SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P5 Ms. Martin’s film credits include Shal- the Williamstown Theatre; and Bour- Lortel Award for Outstanding low Hal, Big Eden, Cast Away, Good- geois Gentleman and Baal at Yale Achievement Off-Broadway, the Outer bye Columbus, Other Side of the Repertory. Film credits include Critics Circle Special Achievement Mountain, Doctor Detroit and All of Speechless, Fearless (directed by Peter Award for the Signature Theatre’s Se- Me to name a few. Her extensive Weir) and Last Resort and Enemy of ries of his plays and an Academy television credits include a recurring the People opposite Steve McQueen. Award in Literature from the American role on “The Drew Carey Show,” as She has appeared in several made-for- Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1996 well as appearances on “Crossing Jor- television movies including The Pack he was elected to the Theatre Hall of dan,” “ER,” “The Michael Richards (HBO), My Father’s Son (directed by Fame. In 2000, he received the New Show,” “Strong Medicine,” “Invisible Beau Bridges), A Place for Annie York State Governor’s Arts Award and Man,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” (Hallmark Hall of Fame), Lucy & Desi, was presented with the National “Gideon’s Crossing,” “The Practice,” Before the Laughter and Promised a Medal of Arts Award by President “Chicago Hope,” “Six Feet Under” and Miracle. Other television credits in- Clinton in a ceremony at the White “The Agency.” Ms. Martin won the clude “Boston Public,” “Judging Amy,” House. Helen Hayes Award at the Kennedy “ER,” “Party of Five,” “Murder One,” Center in Washington, D.C., for Road “L.A. Law,” “Paper Chase,” “Days and MARTIN BENSON (Director/Artistic to Mecca; the Joseph Jefferson Award Nights of Molly Dodd,” “Night Court,” Director) shares co-founder credit and in Chicago for Three Tall Women; and “Empty Nest” and “White Shadow.” artistic leadership of SCR with his col- the L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award league David Emmes. As one of for Odd Jobs at SCR. PLAYWRIGHT, DIRECTOR SCR’s chief directors, Mr. Benson has & DESIGNERS directed nearly one third of the plays *ROBIN PEARSON ROSE (Cornelia) produced here in the last 38 years in- returns to SCR having appeared in the HORTON FOOTE (Playwright) is an cluding last year’s world premiere of world premiere of Robert Daseler’s award-winning writer for the stage, Horton Foote’s Getting Frankie Mar- Dragon Lady. On Broadway she ap- film and television whose career ried—and Afterward. He has distin- peared as Julia in Holiday and as Ot- spans six decades. His most recent guished himself in the staging of con- tilie in The Visit and Off-Broadway as plays include Getting Frankie Mar- temporary work, most notably Paul Nellie in Summer and Smoke at the ried—and Afterwards which had its Osborn’s Morning’s at Seven, the criti- Roundabout Theatre. Her regional premiere at SCR in April 2002; The cally acclaimed California premiere of theatre credits include All My Sons, Last of the Thorntons, which had a William Nicholson’s Shadowlands, Da, Voir Dire, Dancing at Lughnasa, highly acclaimed run at New York’s Athol Fugard’s Playland, Brian Friel’s Wonderful Tennessee and Remem- Signature Theatre; and The Carpetbag- Dancing at Lughnasa, David Mamet’s brance at the Globe Theatres; King of ger’s Children. He has won Academy Oleanna, Harold Pinter’s The Home- the Moon and Dancing at Lughnasa at Awards for his adaptation of To Kill A coming, the West Coast premiere of the La Mirada Playhouse; Amy’s View Mockingbird and his screenplay Ten- Peter Hedges’ Good As New and at Center Rep of Walnut Creek; Juno der Mercies and the Pulitzer Prize for David Hare’s Skylight. He has won and the Paycock at the American Con- Drama for The Young Man from At- accolades for his direction of five servatory Theatre; Sylvia at Stage lanta. He received the William Inge major works by George Bernard West, Toronto; Joined at the Head at Lifetime Achievement Award and was Shaw, including the Los Angeles the Pasadena Playhouse; Inadmiss- presented with both the Evelyn Drama Critics Circle (LADCC) Award able Evidence at the Matrix Theatre; Burkey Award and the Screen Laurel winners Misalliance and Heartbreak The Little Foxes at Indiana Rep; Mea- Award from the Writers Guild of House. Among the numerous world sure for Measure and The Drunkard at America. He was awarded the Lucille premieres he has directed are Jon

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2002-2003 Season READING DATES March 3 • April 7 NewSCRipts 7:30 p.m. SCR Tickets $8 SCR’s Monday evening play reading series provides a forum for talented writers and is a great opportunity to participate in the play development process. (714) 708-5555 2002 PPF reading of Intimate Apparel, with (from right to left) Karole Foreman, Erica Gimpel in foreground and L. Scott Caldwell and Jeff Allin seated in back.

P6 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY • The Carpetbagger’s Children Bastian’s Noah Johnson Had a Cyrano de Bergerac, The Other Part of lanta's Alliance Theatre. She has lit Whore..., Tom Strelich’s BAFO, and the Forest (Los Angeles Drama Critics stage shows in Sweden, Australia, Margaret Edson’s Pulitzer Prize-win- Circle Award and Garland Award), Czechoslovakia and Poland, theme ning Wit, which he also directed at Little Foxes (Garland Award), The park attractions and stage shows in Seattle Repertory Theatre and the Seagull, A Winter’s Tale, The Three Japan, electrical parades in South Alley Theatre in Houston. He has di- Penny Opera (Drama-Logue Award) Korea and Germany, a royal wedding rected American classics including Ah, and Twelfth Night (Drama-Logue in Saudi Arabia, and industrial shows Wilderness!, A Streetcar Named Desire, Award). Ms. Calin has designed over in Canada, as well as theme park at- A Delicate Balance and All My Sons. 40 productions for local theatres and tractions, electrical parades, and spe- Mr. Benson has been honored with in her native Romania. Some of those cial events at Disneyland, Disney Cali- the Drama-Logue Award for his direc- productions are The Last of Mr. Lin- fornia Adventure, Tokyo DisneySea, tion of 21 productions and received coln at El Portal, Diablogues at the Lotte World Korea, Universal Studios LADCC Distinguished Achievement in Tiffany Theatre, The Sunshine Boys Hollywood, and Six Flags Magic Directing awards an unparalleled six and Harvey for the La Mirada Center Mountain. Her work has garnered times for the two Shaw productions, for the Performing Arts, Cabaret and many awards including the Angstrom John Millington Synge’s Playboy of the Company for the West Coast Ensem- Award for career achievement from Western World, Arthur Miller’s The ble, Ivona, Princess of Burgundia for the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Crucible, Sally Nemeth’s Holy Days the Odyssey Theatre, Blood Poetry in 1991. Additionally, she has been and Wit. He also directed the film (Drama-Logue Award) for Theatre 40, honored as an exemplary alum by the version of Holy Days using the origi- How to Teach the History of Commu- University of Wyoming. nal SCR cast. Along with David nism for the Open First Theatre and Emmes, he accepted SCR’s 1988 Tony Ancestral Voices for the Falcon The- MITCH GREENHILL (Original Music & Award for Outstanding Resident Pro- atre. She has worked extensively in Sound Design) returns to SCR after fessional Theatre and won the 1995 film and television in the U.S. and Ro- having just designed Proof. Other Theatre LA Ovation Award for Life- mania, having 16 credits with I.R.S. SCR designs include the world pre- time Achievement. Mr. Benson re- Media, Cannon Films, PBS, Full Moon miere of Collected Stories, Sidney ceived his BA in Theatre from Califor- Entertainment and Romanian Films. Bechet Killed a Man (Drama-Logue nia State University, San Francisco. She graduated with an MFA in set and Award), The Piano Lesson, Amy’s costume design from the Academy of View, References to Salvador Dali ANGELA BALOGH CALIN (Scenic/Cos- Arts in Bucharest. In her spare time Make Me Hot and the workshop pro- tume Designer) returns to SCR after she works at her fine arts career, hav- ductions of the 1998 and 1999 Pacific having designed Making It last season. ing now participated in two dozen ex- Playwrights Festivals. He received an- Her previous SCR credits include set hibitions. other Drama-Logue Award for The and costume design for The Lonesome Waiting Room at the Mark Taper West, design for Play Strindberg, and PAULIE JENKINS (Lighting Designer) Forum. On Broadway his work was sets and costumes for SCR’s Educa- has designed the lighting for 50 pro- heard in An Almost Holy Picture, star- tional Touring Productions Power ductions at SCR since 1981. Her work ring Kevin Bacon and directed by Play, Bad Water Blues, My Mom’s has also been seen at such theatres as Michael Mayer. His work has also Dad and The Day after Evermore. She the Mark Taper Forum, Laguna Play- been heard at Arena Stage, Berkeley is a resident designer at A Noise With- house, Pasadena Playhouse, Seattle Rep, Seattle Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, in where her designs include cos- Rep, Houston’s Alley Theatre, the Huntington Theatre Company, Mil- tumes for The Imaginary Invalid, The Denver Center, the Children's Theatre waukee Rep, McCarter Theatre, Alley Skin of Our Teeth, The Misanthrope, Company of Minneapolis, and At- Theatre and Pasadena Playhouse. On

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The Carpetbagger’s Children•SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P7 screen he has appeared in Walter was stage manager of La Posada 1990 Singapore Festival of Arts. His Hill’s The Long Riders and Todd Mágica for two seasons and SCR’s producing responsibilities involve the Haynes’ Safe. He has recorded sev- Festival Latino ’97 production of Rick overall coordination of SCR’s pro- eral CDs as an artist, most recently Najera’s Latinologues. He has grams and projects. He has served Shepherd of the City of Blues on Fan- worked as assistant stage manager as a consultant to the Orange County tasy Jazz. He also has produced one on the Mainstage productions of Performing Arts Center and as a the- Grammy winner and several nomi- New England, Our Town and Arca- atre panelist and onsite evaluator for nees. He has performed at the New- dia, and the Second Stage produc- the National Endowment for the Arts. port Folk Festival, Harvard, UCLA, tions of BAFO and Three Days of He has served on the board of the MerleFest and internationally at the Rain. Mr. Tucker has worked at the California Theatre Council, the Exec- Cambridge Folk Festival, Vancouver, Long Beach Civic Light Opera on No, utive Committee of the League of Winnipeg and tours of Italy and the No, Nanette, Can Can, A Chorus Resident Theatres, and as a panelist United Kingdom. He is president of Line, The King and I and Man of La for the California Arts Council. After Folklore Productions, a company that Mancha. If you can’t find him in the attending Orange Coast College, he has represented vernacular and cul- theatre, he is likely to be on the dia- received his BA and MA from Califor- turally specific music for 45 years. mond. nia State University, San Francisco, and his PhD in theatre and film from PHILIP THOMPSON (Dialect Coach) DAVID EMMES (Producing Artistic USC. teaches voice and speech at the Uni- Director) is co-founder and Produc- versity of California, Irvine and ing Artistic Director of SCR, one of PAULA TOMEI (Managing Director) is works as a voice and dialect coach the largest professional resident the- responsible for the overall adminis- for professional and university pro- atres in California. He has received tration of the day-to-day operations ductions. He is certified as an asso- numerous awards for productions he of SCR. A member of the staff since ciate teacher of Fitzmaurice Voice- has directed during SCR’s 38-year 1979, she has served in a number of work. This is his third show for SCR, history, including a 1999 Los Angeles administrative capacities including having coached Major Barbara and Drama Critics Circle Award for the Subscriptions Manager, Business Getting Frankie Married—and After- direction of George Bernard Shaw’s Manager and General Manager. She wards in 2002. He has coached at The Philanderer. He directed the currently serves as President of The- Madison Rep, Weathervane Play- world premieres of Amy Freed’s The atre Communications Group (TCG), house among others, including nu- Beard of Avon and Freedomland, the national service organization for merous productions at the Cincinnati Thomas Babe’s Great Day in the theatre where she also served a two- Playhouse in the Park and five sea- Morning, Keith Reddin’s Rum and year term as Treasurer, and has sons at the Utah Shakespearean Fes- Coke and But Not for Me and Neal served as the Vice President of the tival. Mr. Thompson serves as secre- Bell’s Cold Sweat; the American pre- League of Resident Theatres (LORT). tary for the Voice and Speech Train- miere of Terry Johnson’s Unsuitable In addition, she has been a member ers Association (VASTA). for Adults; the West Coast premieres of the LORT Negotiating Committee of C.P. Taylor’s Good and Harry Kon- for industry-wide union agreements *JAMIE A. TUCKER (Stage Manager) doleon’s Christmas on Mars; and the and represents SCR at national con- completed his Masters of Fine Arts in Southland premiere of Top Girls (at ferences of TCG and LORT; is a the- Dance, specializing in Stage Manage- SCR and the Westwood Playhouse). atre panelist and site visitor for the ment, at UCI in 1994. He had the Other productions include the West National Endowment for the Arts and pleasure of stage managing the Coast premieres of Three Viewings by the California Arts Council (CAC); world premiere of Richard Green- Jeffrey Hatcher, The Secret Rapture served on the Advisory Committee berg’s The Violet Hour and the open- by David Hare and New England by for the Arts Administration Certificate ing of the new Argyros Stage. He Richard Nelson; and Arcadia by Tom Program at UC Irvine; and has been worked as SCR’s stage manager for Stoppard, Six Degrees of Separation a guest lecturer in the graduate the Second Stage productions of The by John Guare, The Importance of school of business at Stanford. She Dazzle, True West, Play Strindberg, Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, Ayck- graduated from UC Irvine with a de- the world premiere of But Not for Me bourn’s Woman in Mind and You gree in Economics and pursued an and the Pacific Playwrights Festival Never Can Tell by George Bernard additional course of study in theatre production of Landlocked. He also Shaw, which he restaged for the and dance.

The Actors and Stage Managers em- The Scenic, Costume, Lighting and The Director is a member of the So- ployed in this production are mem- Sound Designers in LORT theatres ciety of Stage Directors and Chore- bers of Actors’ Equity Association, the are represented by United Scenic ographers, Inc., an independent na- Union of Professional Actors and Artists Local USA-829, IATSE. tional labor union. Stage Managers in the United States.

P8 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY • The Carpetbagger’s Children