Kurt Beattie Carlo Scandiuzzi Artistic Director Executive Director ACT – A Contemporary Theatre presents Beginning October 17, 2014 • Opening Night October 23, 2014 CAST Sydney Andrews* Nina Cynthia Jones* Cassandra Marianne Owen* Sonia William Poole Spike Pamela Reed* Masha R. Hamilton Wright* Vanya CREATIVE TEAM Kurt Beattie Director Carey Wong Scenic Designer Catherine Hunt Costume Designer Michael Wellborn Lighting Designer Brendan Patrick Hogan Sound Designer Jeffrey K. Hanson* Stage Manager Erin B. Zatloka* Rehearsal Stage Manager Ruth Eitemiller Production Assistant Evan Christian Anderson Assistant Lighting Designer Kathryn Stewart Directing Intern Running Time: This performance runs approximately two hours. There will be one 15-minute intermission. *Members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York. Originally produced on Broadway by: Joey Parnes, Larry Hirschhorn, Joan Raffe/Jhett Tolentino, Martin Platt & David Elliot, Pat Flicker Addiss, Catherine Adler, John O’Boyle, Joshua Goodman, Jamie deRoy/Richard Winkler, Cricket Hooper, Jiranek/Michael Palitz, Mark S. Golub & David S. Golub, Radio Mouse Entertainment, Shawdowcatcher Entertainment, Mary Cassette/Barbara Manocherian, Megan Savage/Meredith Lynsey Schade, Hugh Hysell/Richard Jordan, Cheryl Wiesenfeld/Ron Simons, S.D. Wagner, John Johnson in association with McCarter Theater Center and Lincoln Center Theater Originally commissioned and produced by McCarter Center Theater, Princeton, N.J. Emily Mann, Artistic Director; Timothy J. Shields, Managing Director; Mara Isaacs, Producing Director; and produced by Lincoln Center Theater, New York City under the direction of Andre Bishop and Bernard Gersten in 2012. “Here Comes The Sun” Written By George Harrison Published By Harrisongs, Ltd. (ASCAP) Used By Permission. All Rights Reserved PRODUCTION SPONSOR: THEATRE AND SEASON SPONSORS: A Contemporary Theatre Foundation Katharyn Alvord Gerlich, Eulalie M. & Gian-Carlo Scandiuzzi, Nancy Alvord, Betty Bottler, Gregory & Diane Lind, Chuck Sitkin, Chap & Eve Alvord, Brian Turner & Susan Hoffman Audience members are cordially reminded to silence all electronic devices. All forms of photography and the use of recording devices are strictly prohibited. Please do not walk on the stage before, during, or after the show. Patrons wearing Google Glass must power down the device if wearing them in the theatre. encoreartsprograms.com A-1 ACT054 Vanya.indd 1 10/9/14 2:04 PM Kurt Beattie Chekhov’s “famous four”—Uncle Vanya, The Cherry like most artists, has always had plenty of that to Orchard, The Seagull, and The Three Sisters—are feed on—particularly when it comes to the Catholic plays about the effect of historical change on people Church—but Vanya and Sonia and Masha and not prepared for it, environmental degradation, Spike unfolds with an unsuspicious affection for its spiritual isolation, the insufficiencies of families, and characters, and without a bit of the Pope in evidence. regrets over the path not taken. Many of Chekhov’s Chekhov said somewhere that one has to have faith characters are people of no exceptional distinction. in human beings, or life becomes impossible. He said Whatever stature they may or may not have in their this knowing full well what human beings are like in professions or social circles, they are people who will their most vulnerable moments, being, as he was, a not be remembered by history. And yet, the effect on doctor who confronted the daily truth of pain and the audience should be to think of ourselves like the fear and nakedness in his practice. Durang has been characters think of themselves: as participants in a confronting something of the opposite in his work: the larger reality which is a bit absurd, and in which we inability to have faith in anything to do with human are, to a greater or lesser extent, alone, yet which we beings. But in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike know it is our responsibility to endure, sometimes Durang has found a way to visit with Chekhov, and without the solace of love. All of these elements as the play reveals its heart—still mad and absurd in and themes float amiably in the whimsical ether of a recognizably Durangian way—I think we can feel Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha them, companionably and compassionately, smiling and Spike, without making themselves central to it or together. weighing down its buoyant comic energy. This is our last production of the mainstage Durang has contributed a significant body of season this year, and I hope you all will join us for our work in the last 30 years to American theatre. Some season in 2015. It will be our 50th year of producing favorites of mine are Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It exceptional theatre for Seattle, and we are planning All For You, Beyond Therapy, The Idiots Karamazov, a great celebration that both embraces our amazing Laughing Wild, The Marriage of Bette & Boo, and past list of plays, with revivals of a pair of wonderful Miss Witherspoon (the latter two both produced by shows we produced long ago by two acknowledged ACT). They are very funny, very dark, and their ironies greats of 20th-century theatre, Tom Stoppard’s spring from a heartbroken despair of human beings Travesties and Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin never being able to get it right. This play, however, Roof, and one of the greatest musical revues ever put is different. Anger drives satirical art, and Durang, together, Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living A-2 ACT THEATRE ACT054 Vanya.indd 2 10/9/14 2:04 PM In memory of Carolyn Keim The ACT family experienced a tremendous loss this past September 10, when our beloved Carolyn Keim passed away after a long battle with acute pulmonary disease. Together with her partner, Connie Rinchiuso, Carolyn arrived at ACT’s costume department in 1984, and dedicated her next thirty years to the success and vitality of this theatre. Carolyn helmed our Costume Department with great passion, ferocious wit and wisdom, a peerless attention to detail and design, and a respect and affection for her collaborators that made artists and craftspeople both colleagues and part of her family. While her leadership as Costume Director shaped and supported the to ACT work of hosts of designers over some 150 productions, she was also a talented costume designer in her own right, and shared her gifts in that role with ACT and beyond. Above all, Carolyn in Paris; and also honors our present and future was fiercely proud of this theatre and served it with tireless with three plays by some of the brightest talents dedication, in myriad ways. She seized opportunities to reach out in 21st-century theatre, Yussef El Guindi, Anne to ACT’s extended family, particularly at donor Tech Talks where she offered insight and anecdotes about the costume process. Washburn, and Jeanne Sakata. This anniversary Unforgettably, she shepherded her department and this theatre season has a special meaning for Yours Truly, through the endeavor of creating 2007’s remarkable, feast-for-the- who made his professional debut at ACT 40 eyes costume extravaganza The Women, even as she recovered years ago in Bertold Brecht’s remarkable The from a double-lung transplant in the middle of the yearlong Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui. I’m not sure I know design process. Carolyn was a force of nature and an inspiring that young guy playing the sinister gangster ambassador for her art, and we are deeply grateful for her work Givola with a lot of makeup on his face anymore. and her spirit. It was a long time ago. But ACT opened a big Carolyn and Connie observed their thirty-year ACT door for him, as it has for so many others, and as anniversary this spring, not long before they celebrated their I hope it will for many more artists and audience wedding here in April. We will gather on November 3 to celebrate members in the next 50 years. once more: to honor Carolyn’s life, and to dedicate The Carolyn So come. Be a part of this ever evolving Keim and Connie Rinchiuso Costume Shop. Carolyn was a enduring experiment in the heart of mankind champion for, and a celebrant of, many causes; and she’d invite since Thespis stepped out on the bare ground you to join in the celebration by seeing plays, becoming an organ donor, or by making a donation to ACT or to the University of and starting singing. It has been for you and by Washington Lung Transplant Program Fund. you as Seattleites. You have made it possible, because you wanted it and needed it as much as the artists themselves, as people all over the world have always needed it and will always need it, to know who they were, and are, and will be. Kurt Beattie, Artistic Director The Women, 2007 PHOTO BY CHRIS BENNION encoreartsprograms.com A-3 ACT054 Vanya.indd 3 10/9/14 2:04 PM COMING SOON TO ACT THEATRE Directed by John Langs Nov 28–Dec 28 ©Chris Bennion©Chris 5 by Beckett Fail Better: Beckett Moves UMO Oct 30–Nov 9 Nov 13–23 Sound Theatre Company presents a cycle of Using a giant teeter totter, ropes, pullies, and tin rarely-produced short plays exploring the theatrical cans, five characters balance love, life, death, and and playful evolution of silence and language. carrying on in typical Beckett fashion; with humor, Part of the Seattle Beckett Fest. Bates ©Michelle metaphor, stillness, and gross indecency. Part of the Seattle Beckett Fest. The Great Soul of Russia The Construction Zone Nov 4 Nov 18 “Favorite Stories for an Autumn Evening” features Join us for the final event of this year’s new play stories since the Great Soul of Russia series began reading series, featuring The Whole Day two seasons ago.