Printer’s Ad Printer’s Ad LEARNING & EDUCATION Using theatre as a catalyst to inspire creativity. “ATC’S EDUCATION DEPARTMENT HAS BEEN EACH SEASON, OVER NOTHING SHORT OF A MIRACLE.” -Cheryl Falvo, Crossroads English Chair/ Service Learning Coordinator Theatre skills help support critical thinking, decision- across making, team work and improvisation. It can bridge the gap from imagination to reality. We inspire students to feel that anything is possible. in ARE INTRODUCED TO PROFESSIONAL THEATRE through our EDUCATION PROGRAMS FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT OUR LEARNING AND EDUCATION PROGRAMS, VISIT EDUCATION.ARIZONATHEATRE.ORG IN THIS ISSUE October 2013 Title Page ..........................4 Cast List ...........................6 About the Play ......................10 THE TRUTH About Arizona Theatre Company ..........13 Board of Trustees ....................16 IS RARELY ATC Leadership ......................20 PURE AND The Cast ..........................22 The Creative Team ...................24 NEVER Corporate and Foundation Donors .........26 Individual Donors ....................29 SIMPLE. Staff ............................38 – Algernon Theatre Information .................. 39 The Importance of Being Earnest MARCH 1895 Premiere of The Importance of Being Earnest 1 From the ARTISTIC DIRECTOR “I hope you will enjoy my ‘trivial’ play,” wrote Oscar Wilde to a friend about The Importance of Being Earnest. “It is written by a butterfly for butterflies. It has as its philosophy…that we should treat all trivial things seriously, and the serious things in life with sincere and studied triviality.” Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde had already produced three enormous hits in London’s West End within three years when on a snow-choked Valentine’s Day in 1895 his greatest success premiered at St. James’s Theatre. The opening night of The Importance of Being Earnest was a major social event. How I would have loved to have attended that glittering event! Oscar himself was the impossibly witty, exquisitely dressed dandy that he relished presenting to his audience in his successful plays. Writing for a Victorian high society where social conventions dictated all aspects of elite life, Wilde was the perfect aesthete shooting barbed darts at a society that he both eagerly embraced and ruthlessly satirized. His plays were commercial pieces written for the fashionable West End theaters, but they have never left the world’s stages since they premiered. Under Stephen Wrentmore’s inspired direction, I couldn’t be more pleased to open our season with a fresh look at a true comic masterpiece. I hope that you will find our 2013-2014 Season to be a journey of rich rewards. Many of our favorite artists will be returning to our stages along with some wonderful new voices. Lou Bellamy, who directed our memorable productions of Jitney, A Raisin in the Sun and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, returns on the 50th Anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s, “I Have a Dream” speech with the moving The Mountaintop. David Saar, Founding Artistic Director of Arizona’s beloved Childsplay, will join us once again to take us Around the World in 80 Days. Two dynamic new voices, Shana Cooper and James Still, will make their ATC directorial debuts on our stages with the Arizona premieres of the hit award-winning Broadway plays Venus in Fur and Other Desert Cities. And, of course, I couldn’t be happier that so many of ATC’s magical artisans in our set, prop, costume, sound and lighting shops will be creating beautiful productions for us again this year. See you at the theatre! David Ira Goldstein Artistic Director 2 From the INTERIM MANAGING DIRECTOR Dear Patrons: Welcome to another season of exciting and stimulating theatre at Arizona Theatre Company! It is such a pleasure to begin a new year even with the many challenges ahead. The Importance of Being Earnest is one of my favorite plays and, no matter how many times you’ve seen it, it never fails to amuse and surprise an audience with its twists and turns. As many of you may have seen in the media recently, ATC is facing a daunting time. After two years of retirement, I have been asked to return to the theatre as Interim Managing Director. I’m here because I care deeply about the future of our theatre company, as I hope you do. Although this is a difficult chapter in ATC’s long and distinguished history, I am confident that, with your help, we will weather this storm as we have weathered others over my previous sixteen years with the organization. However, the large deficit that has accumulated this last fiscal year must be dealt with if we are to see ATC become financially stable again. Therefore, the Board of Trustees, David Ira Goldstein, the staff, and I are working together to make sure that the theatre has a solid future. Internal steps have been taken. The annual operating budget for this fiscal year has been cut dramatically, although the work on stage will remain at its high level; David and I are actively working with the Board to raise $1 million in the next few months; and the community is being asked to support ATC now as never before. As Arizona Theatre Company celebrates its 47th season, we hope you will consider a generous gift. Please take home the envelope in your playbill, think about what an enjoyable evening you have just experienced in the theatre, and decide how you can help your theatre address its current situation and regain its solid financial footing. If you have questions or need more information about any of this – no matter how large or small – please don’t hesitate to call me at 520-884-8210. I will be happy to discuss it with you. Thank you. With immense gratitude, Jessica L. Andrews Interim Managing Director 3 DavID IRA GOLDSTEIN JESSICA L. ANDREWS Artistic Director Interim Managing Director STEPHEN WRENTMORE ................................................................Director YOON BAE ............................................................. Scenic & Costume Designer DavID LEE CUTHBERT ............................................................Lighting Designer BRIAN JEROME PETERSON ........................................................Sound Designer KEVIN BLACK ..................................................................... OSCAR WILDE Dialect Coach J&R CREATIVE ........................................................................Casting T. GREG SQUIRES ........................................................Resident Lighting Designer GLENN BRUNER* .........................................................Production Stage Manager TIMOTHY TOOTHMAN* ...........................................................Stage Manager *Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. SEASON SPONSORS I. Michael and Beth Kasser On this original Arizona Theatre Company production, the ATC Production Staff is responsible for costume and scenic construction, lighting, projections, sound, props, furniture, wigs, scene painting and special effects. COVER ART BY: The Oberlander Group 4 Printer’s Ad CAST LIST (in order of appearance) MIKE LawlER* .........................................................................Lane MATT LEISY* ................................................................. Algernon Moncrieff LOREN DUNN* ..............................................................John “Jack” Worthing AllyCE BEASLEY* ................................................................ Lady Bracknell ANNELIESE vaN DER POL* ......................................................Gwendolen Fairfax HEATHER MARIE COX ..............................................................Cecily Cardew JODIE LYNNE MCCLINTOCK* ..........................................................Miss Prism MIKE LawlER* ..............................................................Rev. Canon Chasuble MARCELINO QUIÑÓNEZ ...............................................................Merriman *Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. TIME Late 19th Century | PlaCE London ACT ONE .........................................................Algernon Moncrieff’s flat in London ACT TWO ......................................................... The garden at Jack’s country home ACT THREE .....................................................The conservatory at Jack’s country home THERE WIll BE ONE FIFTEEN-MINUTE INTERMISSION. UNDERSTUDIES Algernon Moncrieff Lady Bracknell Cecily Cardew HUNTER HNAT JORDAN LETSON KATHLEEN CANNON Rev. Canon Chasuble / Lane Gwendolen Fairfax Merriman MICAH BOND SIlvIA VANNOY DavID HENTZ John “Jack” Worthing Miss Prism RyaN KLEINMAN KATE EMMA NIENHAUSER Understudies never substitute for listed players unless a specific announcement for the appearance is made at the time of the performance. ADDITIONAL STAFF Assistant to the Stage Manager Assistant to the Director Music Arranged and Performed by EMMA DEVORE NATASHA SMITH CLARE BROYLES Arizona casting by ATC Artistic Staff. 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 The Importance of Being Earnest, visit the Education page on our website at www.arizonatheatre.org for a comprehensive free Play Guide. The Play Guide contains a