The American Century Theater presents The American Century Theater presents About The American Century Theater The American Century Theater was founded in 1994. We are a professional nonprofit theater company dedicated to presenting great, important, and worthy American plays of the twentieth century—what Henry Luce called “the American Century.” The company’s mission is one of rediscovery, enlightenment, and perspective, not nostalgia or preservation. Americans must not lose the extraordinary vision and wisdom of past playwrights, nor can we afford to surrender the moorings to our shared cultural heritage. July 23–August 21, 2010 Our mission is also driven by a conviction that communities need theater, and theater needs audiences. To those ends, this company is Gunston Theater II committed to producing plays that challenge and move all Americans, 2700 South Lang Street, Arlington VA of all ages, origins, and points of view. In particular, we strive to create theatrical experiences that entire families can watch, enjoy, and discuss Director Producer Stage Manager long afterward. Steven Scott Mazzola Sherri L. Perper Elena Maria Lower Scenic Design Lighting Design Sound Design Deborah Wheatley Andrew Griffin Matt Otto Board of Directors Costume Design Properties Design Technical Director/ Chair Wendy Kenney Frank Labovitz Suzanne Maloney Master Carpenter Vice-Chair Ann Marie Plubell Jason M. Beagle Treasurer Kimberly Ginn Board David T. Austern, Richard Barton, Scene synopsis Elizabeth Borgen, Rebecca Christy, Vivian Kallen, Jack Marshall, Kim-Scott Miller The setting is a suburb in Chicago in the 1970s. Staff Act 1 Scene 1—Afternoon in Carl and Mary’s home Jack Marshall CEO and Artistic Director Scene 2—Early evening of the same day in Gabby and Alex’s home Sherri L. Perper Producing Director Scene 3—Evening of the same day in Carl and Mary’s home Jason M. Beagle Rhonda Hill Scene 4—Later that same day in Carl and Mary’s home Rip Claassen Steven Scott Mazzola Scene 5—After midnight in Gabby and Alex’s home Brian Crane David Olmsted Act 2 The night after Halloween in Carl and Mary and Gabby and Alex’s homes Ellen Dempsey Ginny Tarris Kate Dorrell Emma Wolfarth, Intern There will be a 15-minute intermission. Tom Fuller There will be cigarette smoking onstage. Please—Silence and stow cell phones and other distracting devices. Become a fan of The American Century Theater on Facebook. The use of recording equipment and taking of photographs Keep up with shows, auditions, volunteer opportunities, podcasts, during the performance are strictly prohibited. videos, and more. www.AmericanCentury.org Produced by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc. Cast, in order of appearance Mary . Vanessa Bradchulis Carl . Hans Dettmar Alex . Theodore M. Snead Serenading Louie (1970) by Lanford Wilson Gabrielle . Robin Covington* As birth order often is remarkably (and unfairly) determinative of success in life, play order has a bizarrely powerful effect on the success and legacy Production staff of playwrights. Director . Steven Scott Mazzola Producer . .. Sherri L. Perper Those who, like Paul Zindel, have a huge critical and financial hit with Stage Manager . Elena Maria Lower their first play (in Zindel’s case, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the- Assistant Stage Manager . Ian Jordan Moon Marigolds), often find that the rest of their careers are stifled by the Scenic Design . Deborah Wheatley burden of high expectations, with critics and audiences unable to appreciate Lighting Design . Andrew Griffin subsequent works on their own merits and aspirations. But even more Sound Design . Matt Otto perplexing is the fate of playwrights who produce impressive, even brilliant Costume Design . Frank Labovitz works before they are fully appreciated. That appreciation usually comes Properties Design . Suzanne Maloney by way of the box office, not the critics, and then is projected only forward Technical Director/Master Carpenter . Jason M. Beagle . after all, it would not reflect well on our judgment to presume that we Sound Board Operator . Darlene Richardson hadn’t noticed a masterful artist in our midst. No, the playwright must have Master Electrician . Sarah MacKowski just become great, after wandering in the creative wilderness. Carpenter . Noel Greer Program Design and Cover Art . Michael Sherman In fact, it is not uncommon for playwrights to be producing superb works Production Photography . Dennis Deloria before their first commercial success, and this was certainly the case with Archivist . Kim-Scott Miller Lanford Wilson, born in 1937 and today recognized as one of America’s greatest living (or dead) playwrights. He had been writing plays for small playhouses since 1964, not reaching a major one until his Off-Broadway Special thanks to— debut, The Gingham Dog. Critics called it promising, well done; audiences Anacostia Community Boathouse Association went elsewhere. In 1970 he had two moderately well-received dramas: Jeffrey Akman Michael Kahn Lemon Sky, about a deteriorating father-son relationship, and Serenading David Alosi J.P. Matier Louie. Neither received sufficient attention to put Wilson on a Jeopardy! Karen Currie Andrew Schmadel board, but Hot L Baltimore, his 1973 portrait of life in a dingy New York Caitlin Jones Our great TACT volunteers hotel took the city by storm. It ran 1,166 performances, an Off-Broadway record for an American-written non-musical. *Equity Membership Candidate Now Wilson was, by definition, a major playwright. Recent studies have shown the remarkable power of “framing” on our judgment and Download the podcast consciousness: sophisticated wine experts will often judge a cheap wine Listen in as Artistic Director Jack Marshall discusses the TACT production in an expensive bottle superior to a great wine in a Gallo jug. With his of Serenading Louie with director Steven Scott Mazzola and actors creative wine under an appropriate label at last, Wilson was awarded two Vanessa Bradchulis, Robin Covington, Hans Dettmar, and Theodore M. Snead. Podcast available for listening or download at Pulitzer Prizes in rapid succession, for Talley’s Folly and The Fifth of July. http://www.americancentury.org/podcasts/TACT_LOUIE.mp3 continued It takes a while for the earlier works of great writers to be discovered, but often they find themselves evaluated with new respect. Novelists in recent years made millions reissuing works that pre-dated their first entry onto the New York Times Best Seller List: All of Dan Brown’s previously ignored Vanessa Bradchulis (Mary) is returning to theatre after a year-and-a- thrillers before The Da Vinci Code became best sellers the second time half hiatus working on her master’s degree. Theatrical credits include The Eccentricities of a Nightingale (The American Century Theater), Running around, as did John Grisham’s largely ignored first novel, A Time to Kill, in Circles Screaming (Source Festival), and All the Light in the World once he hit the jackpot with The Firm. and Sirens (Rorschach Theatre’s Myth Appropriation). She was recently seen in the following films: Red Light Music Video Project, Stagefright, It takes longer with plays, but forty years or more after they premiered, the Boxes, RADIO (which screened at the Venice Biennale Film Festival), pre-Hot L Baltimore works of Lanford Wilson have been finding their way and Fracture, which she wrote and directed. Vanessa is a graduate of The to more stages, and critics who initially neglected them have been forced National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts and US Army Basic Combat Medic Training, and is completing her MFA in Film and Electronic Media to admit that Wilson was a master before his masterpieces. The Rimers of at American University. Eldritch (1967) is being included in more theatrical seasons, and thanks Robin Covington* (Gabrielle) is glad to be back at TACT after her debut to an excellent 1980s Off-Broadway revival directed by John Malkovich, here early in the season as Sissy in A Piece of My Heart. Most recently, so is Wilson’s first full-length play, Balm in Gilead. Serenading Louie Robin stage managed for Taffety Punk’s Burn Your Bookes. Up next: she has recently begun to gather new admirers as well, and The American will be onstage with The Punks in Bootleg Shakespeare: The Two Noble Century Theater is proud to do its part to give audiences another chance to Kinsmen. She earned her BFA at Shenandoah Conservatory. appreciate one of the marvelous works that Lanford Wilson produced when Hans Dettmar (Carl) was last seen at TACT as Shultz in Stalag 17. Other nobody was paying attention. roles include Ludie in The Trip to Bountiful, Irwin in The History Boys, John Merrick in The Elephant Man (which earned a 2008 WATCH Award nomination for outstanding lead actor in a play), Cradeau in No Exit, Cohen —Jack Marshall, Artistic Director in The Underpants, and Chris in All My Sons. Musical theatre roles include John Dickinson (1776), Barber/Quixote u/s (Man of La Mancha), Emile DeBeque (South Pacific), and Harold Hill (The Music Man). Thanks to best friend, Marianne. Theodore M. Snead (Alex) was last seen at TACT in MacBird. Other Washington area credits include The Fall of the House of Usher (Synetic Theater), Breath, Boom (Studio Theatre Secondstage), Hapgood (Washington Shakespeare Company), The School for Scandal (Folger Theatre), The Sandstorm (MetroStage), Richard III (Shakespeare Theatre Company), Urban Legend (Source Festival), 4.48 Psychosis (Factory 449), Bartleby (Journeymen Theater Ensemble), and LA 8 AM, directed by Steven Scott Mazzola (Madcap Players). Credits also include Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train (Theater IV), The Wire (HBO), and Prince Among Slaves (PBS). Steven Scott Mazzola (Director) has directed numerous productions for The American Century Theater, including Edward Albee’s Seascape, Thicker than Water (2008 Capitol Fringe Festival), The Eccentricities of a Nightingale, Drama Under the Influence: Celebrating Women *Equity Membership Candidate Playwrights of the Prohibition Era, The Autumn Garden, Tea and Frank Labovitz (Costume Design) has designed costumes for a number of Sympathy, A Flag is Born, The Second Man, Picnic, and Hotel Universe.