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Spring Benefit 2020 Program FINAL

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Spring Benefit 2020 Program FINAL PROGRAM/ “Still Civilians” Music and Lyrics by Nick Blaemire Performed by Jo Lampert Opening Remarks: Steve Cosson The Civilians: A Video Introduction Ethan Lipton Introduces “I Know Now” From Talent Show Music and Lyrics by Ethan Lipton Performed by Eddie Cooper Jason Butler Harner Introduces Event Chair Alexander Dodge Alexander Dodge Introduces “Earthbound Starlight” From Whisper House Music by Duncan Sheik Lyrics by Duncan Sheik and Kyle Jarrow Performed by Molly Hager and Van Hughes “America” From (I am) Nobody’s Lunch Music and Lyrics by Michael Friedman Performed by Rebecca Naomi Jones Sam Chanse Introduces “What the Books Don't Say” From Against Women and Music Music by Grace McLean Lyrics by Kate Douglas and Grace McLean Performed by Grace McLean “Song of Progressive Disenchantment” From (I am) Nobody’s Lunch Music and Lyrics by Michael Friedman Performed by Mary Testa Maria-Christina Oliveras Introduces “Beautiful Things” Music and Lyrics by Kyle Jarrow Arranged by Wiley DeWeese Performed by Nick Blaemire, Daniel Jenkins, Cindy Cheung, Harriet Harris, Lesli Margherita “A Good Life” Music & Lyrics by Jill Sobule Performed by Jill Sobule “I Don’t Believe in You” From Whisper House Music by Duncan Sheik Lyrics by Duncan Sheik and Kyle Jarrow Performed by Duncan Sheik “Still Civilians (Reprise)” Music and Lyrics by Nick Blaemire Performed by Jo Lampert “A Shining Light” Musicians: Brad Bosenbeck Spencer Cohen Wiley DeWeese Alex Eckhardt Jeff Fernandes Susan Mandel Dan Lipton Kevin Wunderlich PRODUCTION AND BENEFIT STAFF/ Terri Kohler, Production Stage Manager Alexa Spiegel, Coordinator Kelly Kerwin, Line Producer Tara Elliott, Benefit Coordinator Jason H. Thompson, Livestream/video Ken Travis, Sound John Wyszniewski, Press We wish to express our gratitude to the Performers’ Unions: ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION AMERICAN GUILD OF MUSICAL ARTISTS AMERICAN GUILD OF VARIETY ARTISTS SAG-AFTRA through Theatre Authority, Inc. for their cooperation in permitting the Artists to appear on this program. ABOUT THE CIVILIANS/ www.thecivilians.org The Civilians began in 2001 with a company of artists, led by Founding Artistic Director Steve Cosson, who were interested in making new work at the intersection of the theatrical and the real. We took our name from old vaudeville slang—a “civilian” being anyone outside of show business—and we coined the term “investigative theater” to describe our combination of a creative process with field research and in-depth residencies. This approach would yield numerous revelatory, exuberant and critically acclaimed new plays and musicals, many in collaboration with founding member Michael Friedman. After Michael’s passing in 2017, the company launched The Michael Friedman Recording Project with Ghostlight Records, creating cast albums of his unrecorded shows. Select Civilians shows include Claire Kiechel’s Paul Swan is Dead and Gone; Gone Missing, with several US and UK tours culminating in a one-year Off-Broadway run; This Beautiful City, about the politicized Evangelical movement; The Great Immensity, the first major American play about climate change; José Rivera’s Another Word for Beauty, created from a residency inside Bogotá’s national women’s prison during their annual beauty pageant; and Michael Friedman and Bess Wohl’s Pretty Filthy created from immersion in L.A.’s adult film industry. The Civilians created several original works while serving as the first theater company to be artist-in-residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The company also has a rich history of nurturing new work by some of America’s leading playwrights and composers, such as Anne Washburn’s Mr Burns, a post-electric play, which has gone on to hundreds of subsequent productions around the world and was recently named the fourth best play of the past twenty five years by The New York Times. The company sustains a number of artistic programs including new work development, a cabaret series for new musicals, the R&D Group new work lab, the online journal Extended Play, and more. The company’s recent productions were Whisper House by Duncan Sheik and Kyle Jarrow, and our On The Move collaboration with New York City Center by Modesto Flako Jimenez and multiple composers, directed by Brisa Muñoz. Both projects were postponed due to COVID-19. UPCOMING/ 2019-2020 Findings Series THE R&D GROUP is a laboratory program for artists developing new investigative theatrical projects. Writers, composers, and directors meet regularly to share creative processes, examine artistic choices, and provide a community of support. The year culminates with FINDINGS, a presentation series of each R&D project, open to the public and free of charge. The FINDINGS Series will be presented online between May 29th and June 22nd and will include works-in- progress excerpts from the following projects: DROWN MY BOOK (Matt Barbot / Kathleen Capdesuñer), which will borrow and remix words found in legal documents, public statements, interviews, and Shakespeare's plays to tell an original story of high school resistance inspired by an Arizona House Bill that banned Mexican Studies programs and subsequently found a number of books (including Shakespeare's The Tempest) confiscated from classrooms; CANDIDATE X (Rachel Dickstein, Aisha Zia, and Kamala Sankaram), which weaves interviews with American womxn to celebrate the risk-takers who challenge and defy the gendered expectations our country has about those who lead; BLACK FEMINIST VIDEO GAME, AFRIKAN•ISCH Cycle (Darrel Alejandro Holnes), which uses ethnographic interviews conducted by the writer within Black communities in Berlin, Germany, to take us on an adventure game journey exploring a rich tapestry of narratives including a biracial, neurodiverse experience; THIS SHOW IS MONEY (Gabriel "Gaby" Alter / Crystal Skillman), which is an ensemble musical written from interviews with people with a range of class backgrounds and financial experiences in order to explore how our choices with the fictional creation called “Money” affects those around us, and to expose our scary, beautiful, and disturbing relationships with the almighty dollar; and AGAINST WOMEN & MUSIC! (Kate Douglas / Grace McClean / Whitney Mosery), which is an anachronistic chamber musical that explores the notions of privilege, ambition and morality through the eyes of a female piano tuner in the 1800s, when it was widely held that music was dangerous for women to play–or even hear. RSVP HERE EXTENDED PLAY Extended Play is the Civilians' online journal exploring the many forms of investigative storytelling. We cover artists working at the intersection of art and life, taking you behind the scenes of the creative process and new innovations in theater. Recently on Extended Play, we've featured the R&D In Process Series, in which members of our R&D Group share first looks at material from their new shows and reflections about their development processes, as well as director Lee Sunday Evans' essay "The Power of Transcripts" about her work with the civic-minded theater company Waterwell. To find out more, visit extendedplay.thecivilians.org. CIVILIANS STAFF/ Steve Cosson - Artistic Director Margaret Moll - Managing Director Marie Cisco - Artistic Associate Ilana Becker - R&D Program Director Rosalind Grush - Grantwriter Patricia Taylor - Financial Manager Susan Yassky - Literary Associate Daniel Krane - Editorial and Social Media Intern Elaine Rava - Admin Intern Libby Tofig - Artistic Intern CIVILIANS BOARD OF DIRECTORS/ Suany Chough - Chair Emeritus Alisha Davis - Secretary John Wood - Treasurer Elizabeth Angell Steve Cosson - Artistic Director Rick Dean Caroline Blayney Jody Falco Michael Gruenglas Peter Friedland Jeanhee Kim Jessica Harris Julia Lazarus Daniel P. Kim Blake Morris David Singer Jennifer R. Morris Maria-Christina Oliveras Sam Pinkleton In Memoriam Aaron Stone Michael Friedman The Civilians is grateful for the support of the Howard Gilman Foundation, Shubert Foundation, A.R.T/New York, Axe-Houghton Foundation, Barbara Bell Cumming Foundation, Emma A. Sheafer Charitable Trust, Jerome Robbins Foundation, John Golden Fund, Lucille Lortel Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The New York Community Trust, The New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency and many generous individual donors. To learn more about The Civilians, and for any other questions please contact Margaret Moll at 718-230-3330 or [email protected] JOIN THE CIVILIANS BOARD/ The Civilians are accepting new board members interested and excited about our work. We seek board members who want to support artists’ efforts to interrogate our lived experience, question and test the stories that shape our world, and awaken new thinking and perceptions through their creations. We believe in theater that tests, disrupts, expands and evolves the stories that shape our world and by so doing moves us towards a more inclusive and humane society. For more info please e-mail: [email protected] or call 718-230-3330 www.thecivilians.org EVENT CHAIR/ Alexander Dodge BENEFIT COMMITTEE & TABLE HOSTS/ Elizabeth Angell and Vic Brand Nick Blaemire Caroline Blayney* and Jay Chaudhuri Kathleen and Henry Chalfant Suany Chough* and Eckart Graeve Alisha Davis* and Michael Roberts Tom de Kay Alexander Dodge Erin and Peter Friedland Marin Gazzaniga Jamie Gordon and Brad Lindenbaum Jonathan Groff Jeanhee Kim* and Luke Melia Anna Kramarsky and Jeanne Bergman Julia* and Jeff Lazarus Rachel Martin and Kurt Deutsch Jessica
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    San Jose State University SJSU ScholarWorks Master's Theses Master's Theses and Graduate Research Spring 2012 A Versatile Group of Investigative Theater Practitioners: An Examination and Analysis of "The Civilians" Kimberly Suzanne Peterson San Jose State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses Recommended Citation Peterson, Kimberly Suzanne, "A Versatile Group of Investigative Theater Practitioners: An Examination and Analysis of "The Civilians"" (2012). Master's Theses. 4158. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31979/etd.n3bg-cmnv https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/4158 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Master's Theses and Graduate Research at SJSU ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of SJSU ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A VERSATILE GROUP OF INVESTIGATIVE THEATER PRACTITIONERS: AN EXAMINATION AND ANALYSIS OF “THE CIVILIANS” A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of Theater Arts San José State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by Kimberly Peterson May 2012 © 2012 Kimberly Peterson ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The Designated Thesis Committee Approves the Thesis Titled A VERSATILE GROUP OF INVESTIGATIVE THEATER PRACTITIONERS: AN EXAMINATION AND ANALYSIS OF “THE CIVILIANS” by Kimberly Peterson APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE, RADIO-TELEVISION-FILM, ANIMATION & ILLUSTRATION SAN JOSÉ STATE UNIVERSITY May
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  • By Noah Haidle Directed by Anne Kauffman
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  • Image • Oct. 11, 2017 Michael Friedman Couldn't Make It To
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