first_love_program.pdf 1 3/25/19 11:01 PM C M Y CM MY CY CMY K STEEP THEATRE COMPANY ENSEMBLE MEMBERS James Allen Peter Dully Caroline Neff Julia Siple Jonathan Berry Jonathan Edwards Jim Poole Sasha Smith Lucy Carapetyan Nate Faust Egan Reich Kendra Thulin George Cederquist Alex Gillmor Joel Reitsma Robin Witt Matthew Chapman Nick Horst Melissa Riemer Brendan Melanson Brad DeFabo Akin Lauren Lassus Brandon Rivera in memoriam Maria DeFabo Akin Ashleigh LaThrop Michael Salinas Thomas Dixon Cynthia Marker Amber Sallis Patricia Donegan Peter Moore Joanie Schultz ARTISTIC ASSOCIATES Catherine Allen Jon Ravenscroft Simon Stephens Brandon Wardell Kristin Leahey Alison Siple Assoc. Playwright Chelsea M. Warren Emily McConnell Dan Stratton Ellen Willett BOARD OF DIRECTORS Doug Passmore Anne Marie Mitchell Kelly Fitzgerald President Vice President Secretary Dave Bartusek Sonya Dekhtyar Ted Lowitz Anne Puotinen David Bock Ian Galleher Cooper Melgreen Jessica Schrey Kelly Carpenter Stu Kiesow Elizabeth Moore STAFF Peter Moore Caroline Neff Lee Miller Sophiyaa Nayar Artistic Director Casting Director Photographer Program Coordinator Kate Piatt-Eckert Lucy Carapetyan Gregg Gilman Ryan Kling Executive Director Casting Associate Photographer Bar Manager Julia Siple Egan Reich Brad DeFabo Akin THE BOXCAR Managing Director Literary Manager Bartender Thomas Dixon Lisa Troi Thomas Stu Kiesow Alyssa Ratkovich Artistic Curator House Manager Graphic Designer Bartender Sasha Smith Artistic Curator FRIENDS OF STEEP Heidi Brock Sara Foster Molly Johnson Jon Putnam Reid & Jennifer Diane Galleher Katie Kett Christine Rousseau Quinn Broda Barry Grant Jennifer Collins Craig Steadman John Dunnigan Neil Jain Moore John C. White Steep Theatre Company is supported in part by the Bayless Family Foundation, a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, the Arts Work Fund, the Alphawood Foundation, the MacArthur Fund for Arts & Culture at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the Sol R. Kaufman Family Foundation, the A.L. and Jennie L. Luria Foundation, the Rothman Family Foundation, and the Jordan & Jean Nerenberg Family Fund. Steep is a member of the League of Chicago Theatres and Theatre Communications Group. STEEP THEATRE COMPANY 1115 West Berwyn, Chicago, IL 60640 www.steeptheatre.com · [email protected] · (773) 649-3186 Steep Theatre Company proudly presents the Midwest Premiere of First Love is the Revolution by Rita Kalnejais CAST Gustina, Smulan .................................................. Jin Park Rdeca.......................................................Isa Arciniegas Thoreau, Rovis ........................................Curtis Edward Jackson Cochineal, Bailey . Lucy Carapetyan* Gregor, Quentin............................................... Alex Gillmor* Simon........................................................Jose Nateras Basti.....................................................Jordan Arredondo Gemma .................................................... Destini Huston UNDERSTUDIES Gustina, Gemma, Smulan ....................................Zhanna Albertini Rdeca....................................................... Breanna Lind Simon, Thoreau, Rovis .......................................... Nick Caesar Cochineal, Bailey . Danielle Zuckerman Gregor, Quentin...........................................Bobby Wilhelmson Basti.....................................................Collin Quinn Rice PRODUCTION STAFF Director ....................................................Devon de Mayo Stage Manager .............................................Lauren Lassus* Scenic Designer ............................................ Arnel Sancianco Lighting Designer ...........................................Heather Sparling Costume Designer ......................................Mieka van der Ploeg† Sound Design & Original Music ...................................Jeffrey Levin Props Designer .............................................Emma Cullimore Intimacy Director .............................................Sasha Smith* Violence Directors ................................Rachel Flesher & Zack Payne Dramaturg ....................................................Sarah Slight Assistant Dramaturg ............................................Alisa Boland Assistant Director .......................................Am’Ber Montgomery Production Manager .......................................Catherine Allen** Technical Director ...........................................Alan Weusthoff Scenic Painter ..............................................Jamie Kreppein *Steep Theatre Ensemble Member ** Steep Theatre Artistic Associate †Member of United Scenic Artists Local 829 This production of First Love is the Revolution was sponsored by: Susan Burland & George Plumb, Cooper Melgreen, James T. O’Neill, Martha Anne & Stephen Yandle Playwright travel was made possible by: Ken Burlington First Love Is The Revolution was first performed at the Soho Theatre, London, in October 2015. The video and audio recording of this show is strictly prohibited. You may take photos of the stage before or after the show, but not when actors are present. If you post these photos online or elsewhere, please credit the production’s designers listed above. DIRECTOR’S NOTE This is a play that demands to be live theatre. It uses all of the tools that theatre artists best employ - complex language, a rich sonic world, thoughtful physicality, imaginative design, intense ensemble trust, and clever storytelling. Then, it demands of its audience that you take a leap of faith with the artists on stage to imagine humans as animals and also construct for yourself the metaphor and/or meaning that implies. Rita’s play has no easy answers. It has no easy anything. The piece is demanding on its actors and its audience. It is violent and cruel, as nature can be. It is misguided and awkward, as first love can be. It is searching and fast, as adolescence can be. It is funny and wonderful, as relationships can be. She has captured so many complicated and contradictory feelings in her writing, and she makes us feel all of those contradictions right alongside her protagonists. We remember the awkwardness and overwhelming chaos that engulfs our whole world when we first fall in love. We remember the first time we made a decision for ourselves despite what our parents told us. We remember the discovery that our parents are flawed and might not have given us all of the tools we need for adulthood. We remember realizing that there are things we might inherit from our parents that we do not want to inherit. We remember the decision to defy adults for the first time and the repercussions of that action. We remember confronting our own mortality for the first time. Coming of age feels like a revolt. And in the world of this play, it’s mixed up with questions of nature versus nurture. It’s mixed up with patterns of violence and what we hand down to our children. It’s mixed up with questions about mental illness. It’s mixed up with falling in love with someone who is not “your kind.” This play races for 90 minutes and provides no clean resolution. Basti and Rdeca are in the throes of revolution. The inner revolution that we have all faced as we realize the world may not be the way we imagined. Will that revolution lead to a new order, or will it reinforce the status quo? -Devon de Mayo DRAMATURG’S NOTE Part of the process for First Love is the Revolution included bringing playwright Rita Kalnejais in from London to continue her work on the script. Dramaturg Sarah Slight sat down with Rita to discuss the play. Sarah: I want to know more about your inspirations for the play. Why did you write it? Rita: So there was an international dispute (I won’t name it because the play isn’t an allegory of it). It made no sense to me from the outside, but I became quite obsessed with it. There was a rage and fear grounded in that dispute that I couldn’t begin to understand, but which made it possible for people to dismiss all parts of their neighbours’ humanity except their cultural heritage. To be honest, I think we do it all the time in varying degrees. Also I’d just moved to the UK and found it so hard to understand British English. I found even though we were speaking the same language, often I couldn’t work out what people meant, so I just froze up when trying to write exchanges between humans. AND I was so infatuated with the foxes that roamed the streets so brazenly dusk ‘til dawn. They were my inspirations. Also, my cat Smulan. SS: So if the play was in part a response to not understanding British English, adjusting the script to fit an American dialect must have added a whole new layer. RK: The play feels really different. I love the new energy that it has for this production with the changes in language. The anger sits in a different place for Americans than it does in Brits. But also the way Devon has cast it has lit up certain relationships and added new vulnerabilities. She’s smart. SS: One of the things that struck me when I first read the play was the animal nature of the humans. Will you talk a little bit about your thoughts on the animal in all of us and how that is characterized in the play? RK: I just think we have all these socialised ideas of what we want and why we do things, but actually we’re animals, and our drives are very basic. Humans are so beautiful but we overcomplicate what we