MARCH 10 to APRIL 5 By Rick Cleveland Directed by Mark Clements Executive Producers Carol & Rob Manegold www.MilwaukeeRep.com | 414-224-9490 MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER The Quadracci Powerhouse Season is Sponsored by H. Richard Quadracci Ewens & Emilio Cabrera MARK CLEMENTS CHAD BAUMAN In Memory Of Harry And Betty Quadracci Artistic Director Managing Director • Presents... PLAY GUIDE WRITTEN BY Lindsey Hoel-Neds Education Associate MARCH 10 – APRIL 5, 2015 Deanie Vallone QUADRACCI POWERHOUSE Education Intern With additional content from Arizona Theatre Company • PLAY GUIDE EDITED BY Jenny Toutant Education Director Leda Hoffmann Literary Coordinator Lisa Fulton Director of Marketing and Communications • By Rick Cleveland GRAPHIC DESIGN BY Eric Reda Directed by Mark Clements Executive Producers Carol & Rob Manegold A Co-Production With Arizona Theatre Company About the Play........................................................3 Cast and Creative Team............................................3 Profiles of the Presidents.........................................4 Presidential Codenames..........................................5 People Referenced in the Play.................................6 Historical Events Map..............................................8 Other Terms and Allusions in the Play................... 10 Patty & Jay Baker Theater Complex An Interview with Playwright Rick Cleveland........ 12 108 E Wells Street, Milwaukee WI 53202 Featured Artists: Josiah Laubenstein, www.MilwaukeeRep.com Administration: 414-224-1761 Nick Narcisi, and Chris O’Reilly, Artistic Interns Ticket Office: 414-224-9490 and Five Presidents Understudies .......................... 13 2 About the Play Five Presidents brings us to the Executive Board Room at the Nixon Library on April 27, 1994. It is the day of Richard Nixon’s funeral: a historic occasion at which the five living U.S. Presidents—four exes and one current—gather together to mourn, honor, and criticize It’s impossible to be in this one of our history’s most controversial political figures. As each of job without feeling a special the five presidents arrives, he shares insights into being a member bond with the people who of “the most exclusive club in the world.” Some are old friends, have gone before. others are new acquaintances, and all are still stinging from pasts as -President Bill Clinton, political adversaries. As they bring up old grievances and political Speech announcing the death differences, they test their tenuous relationships. The presidents not of Richard Nixon, 1994 only banter with and challenge each other, but they also question Nixon’s legacy as the afternoon unfurls. As good-natured ribbing leads to rising tension, the presidents struggle with the legacy they all share, and the choices they have made. Cast and Creative Team Mark Jacoby Martin L’Herault Reese Madigan Steve Sheridan George H.W. Bush Jimmy Carter Special Agent Michael Kirby Ronald Reagan Jeff Steitzer Brit Whittle Rick Cleveland Mark Clements Gerald R. Ford Bill Clinton Playwright Director Todd Edward Ivins Mary Folino Jesse Klug Scenic Designer Costume Designer Lighting Designer Brian Jerome Peterson Lauren Wilde Jill Walmsley Zager Sound Designer Makeup Designer Dialect Coach Brent Hazelton Hannah Greene Richelle Harrington Calin Production Dramaturg Assistant Director Stage Manager Rebecca Lindsey Kimberly Carolus Assistant Stage Manager Stage Management Apprentice 3 PROFILES OF THE PRESIDENTS Number 37 Number 38 RICHARD NIXON GERALD FORD (1969-1974) (1974-1977) Political Party: Republican Political Party: Republican With a degree in law, Nixon started his political career as a California After Nixon’s Vice President, Spiro Agnew, resigned during the start of the Congressional representative, then won a seat in the Senate before becoming president’s second term, Ford took over as Nixon’s VP. With Nixon’s Vice President to Eisenhower. Though he lost a very close election in the 1960 resignation, he became president under the Twenty-fifth Amendment. On presidential run to John F. Kennedy, he secured his own presidency in 1968. top of dealing with the repercussions of Nixon’s scandal and resignation, While in office he pursued revenue sharing, the end of the draft, anticrime Ford found himself faced with problems of inflation, energy shortages, and laws, and a broader environmental program. His global accomplishments a suffering economy. He started his term by pardoning Nixon, an act that included creating a treaty with the U.S.S.R. to limit strategic nuclear weapons raised much controversy. A major concern during his presidency was and establishing a relationship with China. The Watergate Scandal stimulating the economy while still managing inflation issues. Maintaining dominated the start of his second term in 1972, and eventually led to his Nixon’s international policies, Ford dealt with the aftermath of the collapse resignation in 1974. of Cambodia and South Vietnam, and expanded aid to Israel and Egypt in an attempt to promote peace between the countries. Number 40 Number 41 RONALD REAGAN GEORGE H. W. BUSH (1981-1989) (1989-1993) Political Party: Republican Political Party: Republican Reagan started his career as a Hollywood actor, appearing in 53 films over the Before becoming president, Bush held a number of high-ranking positions, course of two decades. As president of the Screen Actors Guild he got including Congressional Representative, UN Ambassador, Chairman of the involved in the debate over Communism in the film industry, his views Republican National Committee, and Director of the CIA. He served two becoming more conservative. He served as Governor of California before terms as VP to Reagan before becoming president in 1989. Immediately running for president in 1980. After a failed assassination attempt on him Bush faced the end of the Cold War and Communism, the fall of the Berlin within his first few months in office, his approval ratings soared. His Wall, the breakdown of the Soviet Union, and the resignation of reformist immediate focus was on increasing employment, curbing inflation, and President Mikhail Gorbachev with whom Bush and prior presidents had cutting taxes. In 1986 Reagan and Congress worked together to simplify the worked. Other international issues included sending American troops into tax system that exempted millions of low income households from income Panama to overthrow the regime of Governor Manuel Noriega, and taxes. He worked with the Soviet Union on arms reductions, declared war reversing Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait during Desert Storm. against international terrorism, gave support to anti-terrorist insurgencies, and maintained a free flow of oil during the Iran-Iraq war by ordering Naval escorts in the Persian Gulf. FOR FULL VERSIONS OF THE PRESIDENTS’ BIOGRAPHIES, VISIT: www.whitehouse.gov/1600/presidents 4 PRESIDENTIAL CODENAMES Every President and Vice President of the United States, as well as presidential candidates, some high level staff, and presidential family members, get a Secret Service codename. Often, the president is presented with a list of options or a letter the codename must start with. Number 39 After the name is chosen, all members of the president’s JAMES CARTER family will receive or choose codenames beginning with (1977-1981) the same letter. Political Party: Democrat See below for codenames of the six presidents in Starting his career as the Governor of Georgia, Carter eventually won a tough the play and their First Ladies: presidential campaign against Ford in 1977. During his presidency eight million new jobs for American citizens were created, he expanded the national park Richard Nixon: Searchlight system, and promoted civil service reform. He also created the Department of Pat Nixon: Starlight Education, and appointed a record number of members of unrepresented citizen groups to government jobs. Internationally, he established an agreement Gerald Ford: Pass Key between Israel and Egypt through the Camp David Accords in 1978. The Iran Betty Ford: Pinafore Hostage Crisis overshadowed the last fourteen months of his administration and he lost his second campaign for the Presidency. Jimmy Carter: Deacon Rosalyn Carter: Dancer Ronald Reagan: Rawhide Nancy Reagan: Rainbow George H.W. Bush: Timberwolf Number 42 Barbara Bush: Tranquility WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1993-2001) Bill Clinton: Eagle Political Party: Democrat Hillary Clinton: Evergreen Clinton gained his passion for politics after meeting JFK as a delegate to Boys Nation while in high school. In 1976 he was elected Arkansas Attorney General Interesting codename fact: Maureen Reagan shares a and won the governorship in 1978. After losing a bid for a second term, he codename with current presidential daughter Sasha Obama, regained the office four years later and he held that post until 1992 when he was Rosebud, while her sister Doria’s codename, Radiant, is very elected president. In 1998, he became the second president to be impeached for close to Malia Obama’s codename, Radiance. lying under oath about personal indiscretions with a White House intern. He was tried in the Senate and found not guilty of the charges against him. Though infamous for this event, Clinton’s two terms in office marked the country’s lowest unemployment rate in modern times, the lowest inflation rate in 30 years, and a drop in crime rates across many cities. Internationally, he aided Bosnia during the Yugoslav Wars, became a global proponent for an expanded NATO, and pursued a worldwide