FEEL THE MOMENT 2015/2016 SEASON IN THIS ISSUE NOVEMBER – DECEMBER 2015 Title Page. 2 Cast . 3 About the Play . 4 The Cast . 8 Musical Numbers. 10 The Creative Team . 11 Board of Trustees. 18 About Arizona Theatre Company . .19 Artistic Director. 21 Corporate and Foundation Donors. 23 Individual Donors. 24 Staff. 30 Theatre Information. 32 The Company of Arizona Theatre Company’s production of Snapshots. Photo by Mark Kitaoka. Cover art by: ESSER DESIGN 1 DAVID IRA GOLDSTEIN ARTISTIC DIRECTOR PRESENTS A CO-PRODUCTION WITH VILLAGE THEATRE Robb Hunt Executive Producer; Steve Tomkins Artistic Director SNAPSHOTS MUSIC AND LYRICS BY STEPHEN SCHWARTZ BOOK BY DAVID STERN CONCEIVED BY MICHAEL SCHEMAN AND DAVID STERN ADDITIONAL MUSIC AND LYRICS BY DAVID CRANE, SETH FRIEDMAN, MARTA KAUFFMAN, ALAN MENKEN, AND CHARLES STROUSE Daniel Goldstein .......................................................Director Steve Tomkins ...................................................Musical Staging R.J. Tancioco .....................................................Music Director David Farley ....................................................Scenic Designer David Farley & Tracy Christensen ..............................Costume Co-Designers David Lee Cuthbert ..................................Lighting and Projection Designer Abe Jacob ......................................................Sound Designer Steve Orich .......................................Orchestrations and Arrangements Jessica Spencer .................................................Casting Director Gregory W. Towle ..................................... Associate Projection Designer Brenda K. Walker* ............................................... Stage Manager Timothy Toothman* ........................................Assistant Stage Manager On this original Arizona Theatre Company and Village Theatre co-production, the ATC and Village Theatre Production Staffs are responsible for scenic construction, costume construction, lighting, projections, sound, props, furniture, wigs, scene painting and special effects. Presented in Association with Snapshots, The Musical, LLC. Produced by Goodspeed Musicals – Fall 2013. Michael P. Price, Executive Producer. 2015/2016 SEASON SPONSORS: I. MICHAEL AND BETH KASSER PRODUCTION SPONSOR: SHIRLEY ESTES 2 FEEL THE MOMENT 2015/2016 SEASON CAST (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) Beth DeVries* ............................................................Sue Hugh Hastings* ...........................................................Dan Mallory King ............................................................Susie Ben Wynant ............................................................Danny Tracy McDowell* ........................................................Susan Jim DeSelm* ...........................................................Daniel *Members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. THERE WILL BE ONE FIFTEEN-MINUTE INTERMISSION. BAND Piano / Conductor ..........R.J. Tancioco Bass ...... Jason Roederer / Kenneth Marrs Guitar ................Daniel Vildósola Percussion .............. Chris Monroe ADDITIONAL STAFF R. Elisabeth Burton. Assistant to the Stage Manager Arizona Theatre Company operates under agreements between the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States; Stage Directors and Choreographers, an independent national labor union; and United Scenic Artists Local USA-829, IATSE. To learn more about Snapshots please visit the Education page on our website at arizonatheatre.org for a comprehensive free Play Guide. The Play Guide contains information about the creators, the musicals in which the songs originally appeared, and more. Play Guides are also available in The Temple Lounge for a nominal charge to cover printing. Cell phones and other devices that make a noise can greatly disturb your fellow audience members and the performers. PLEASE TURN THEM OFF before the performance and again at intermission. 3 FEEL THE MOMENT 2015/2016 SEASON ABOUT THE PLAY AUTHOR’S NOTES Way back in 1991, Michael Scheman asked me a simple question, “Are you a fan of Stephen Schwartz’s work?” “Absolutely,” I answered. Then he asked, “Did you know there’s no official revue of his work?” I couldn’t believe it. How was it possible that the man who brought us Godspell and so many other fantastic musicals didn’t have a revue? Michael and I, being in our early twenties, decided that we were the ones to fix this glaring omission. I had just finished creating a revue that was basically a series of songs connected by light patter – and I found it somewhat unsatisfying as a writer. There was no narrative connection between songs. Each moment had to start from scratch, and there was no cumulative emotional effect by the end of the evening. I wanted to do something more. If I was going to write another revue, I wanted to string the songs together to tell a story – with characters and arcs and emotional punch. And again, being in our twenties, Michael and I thought this was a grand idea. We had no idea that no one had successfully pulled this off before. We were also naïve enough to think that we could just look up Stephen Schwartz in the phonebook (yes, there were phonebooks back then), tell him our idea, and he would say, “That’s great! Go for it!” And then a crazy thing happened: we looked up Stephen Schwartz in the phonebook, told him our idea, and he said, “That’s great! Go for it!” Only later did I learn that that’s pretty much what he says to everybody. But being naïve young men, we took him at his word and started working. Two years later, we presented the material at the Dramatists’ Guild, and Stephen decided to join us in process. Two years after that we had a production, and realized that we had much more work to do. Then, as so often happens, our careers took us in different directions, and we put the project on hold. For decades. Snapshots is a memory piece that covers a couple’s relationship from the moment they met as children, to their present empty-nest lives. At the time we began working, I was in my twenties, and Stephen was in his forties – and we brought our respective life experiences to the piece. When we picked it up again, I was in my forties, and Stephen in his sixties – and while the break wasn’t planned, it turned out to be vital. Through the passage of time, and our new life experiences, we were finally able to finish the piece. So here it is: Snapshots – a musical mosaic love story built from the songs of Stephen Schwartz. It only took twenty years to get here, but as you will hopefully discover: you can live a lifetime in a couple of hours. – David Stern 4 FEEL THE MOMENT 2015/2016 SEASON ABOUT THE PLAY THE MUSIC OF STEPHEN SCHWARTZ GODSPELL (1971) Godspell began as a college project performed by students at Carnegie Mellon University before moving to LaMaMa Experimental Theatre Club in Greenwich Village. Re-scored before it opened Off-Broadway in 1971, the show has become a long-running success with numerous productions, including a Broadway revival in 2011 and 2012. Depicting a series of parables based on the Gospels of Matthew and Luke and interspersed with lyrics from traditional hymns set to modern music, Godspell’s hit song “Day by Day” from the original cast recording reached #13 on the Billboard pop singles chart during the summer of 1972. The Company of Broadway’s 2011 revival of Godspell. PIPPIN (1972) Derived from the old Burlesque style of Faust, a mysterious performance troupe relates the story of Pippin, a young Prince, and his father Charlemagne (based loosely on real individuals from the Middle Ages) who seek a sense of meaning and significance in the world. Pippin premiered at Broadway’s Imperial Theatre in 1972, before going on to the West End and numerous other productions. The American Repertory Theatre’s 2013 Broadway revival won the Tony Award for Best Musical Revival, and is currently on National Tour. WORKING (1977) Based on the 1974 book Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do by Studs Terkel, the musical Working premiered at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre in 1977. It enjoyed a very brief stint on Broadway in 1978 before moving on to numerous developmental productions around the country, returning to Broadway in 2011 after significant revisions. The musical depicts the hopes, dreams, concerns, and joys of the average working American, told through vivid vignettes Company of Off-Broadway’s 59E59 production of Working, 2012. of people that the world often takes for granted. 5 FEEL THE MOMENT 2015/2016 SEASON ABOUT THE PLAY THE MAGIC SHOW (1978) The Magic Show, originally developed under the title Spellbound and starring master magician Doug Henning, opened at Broadway’s Cort Theatre in 1978, receiving Tony Award nominations for Henning’s performance as Best Featured Actor in a Musical and for Best Direction of a Musical by director Grover Dale. The show features the grandiose performance of aging alcoholic magician Feldman the Magnificent as the seedy nightclub venue known as the Top Hat attempts to replace him with a younger act. PERSONALS (1985) Personals premiered at Broadway’s Minetta Lane Theatre in 1985, and was revived Off-West End in 1998. The story describes the never-ending search for love in a comedic collection of monologues, scenes, and songs about the content of personal ads, and the myriad of potential responses. RAGS