CalArts Center for New Performance in association with Poor Dog Group COMING NEXT FROM CNP presents The Center for New Performance at CalArts BREWSIE AND WILLIE And UDG Cultura of the Universidad de Guadalajara Written by Gertrude Stein present Adapted by Marissa Chibas, Erik Ehn and Travis Preston a Duende CalArts production Directed by Travis Preston TIMBOCTOU MUSIC PERFORMED, COMPOSED AND IMPROVISED BY Andrew Conrad and Andrew Gilbert A new play by Alejandro Ricaño CHOREOGRAPHY Mira Kingsley Directed by Martín Acosta DRAMATURGY Juli Crockett SCENIC DESIGN Efren Delgadillo, Jr. COSTUME DESIGN E.B. Brooks March 2 - 11, 2012 LIGHTING DESIGN Efren Delgadillo, Jr. and REDCAT (the Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater) Adam Haas Hunter nd PROJECTION DESIGN Jesse Bonnell, John Kern and 2 and Hope Streets, Los Angeles Jeffrey Elias Teeter TECHNICAL DIRECTOR Oscar Arevalo PRODUCER Carol Bixler PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER Justin D. Schlegel with COMING SOON Jonney Ahmanson, Jesse Bonnell, Caitlyn Conlin, Andrew Conrad, Brad Culver, Andrew Gilbert, Matthew Goodrich, Lucy Griffin, Adam Haas Hunter, John Kern, Jesse Saler, Catherine Ventura 533 Los Angeles Art Center Performances Wednesday – Sunday June 15 through June 26, 2011 8:00 PM 533 S. Los Angeles Street, 2nd Floor, LA, CA 90013 For Leasing Information These performances are part of RADAR L.A., an international festival of contemporary theater. For more information, visit Call 310-360-7501 radarla.org. This production received significant support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. 12 1 Director’s Notes Production Team I discovered Stein‘s Brewsie and Willie many years ago in a used bookstore in New Assistant Director Itamar Stern York. I was moved by the voices of these young men – the soldiers that Stein loved so much. She had listened well. Stein had managed to capture and craft the authenticity, Associate Producer Laura Kay Swanson musicality, and plainspoken genius of these warriors with time on their hands. In reading this short novel I confess that I heard the voice of my father. He had been one of them: a Assistant Costume Designer Asta Hostetter high school kid who found himself on the European front within months of graduation. I determined immediately to do a stage adaptation. It is twenty-five years later. I worked Assistant Technical Director Yomy Lopez on a version in France and one in Germany – but both efforts seemed somehow forced and awkward, unable as they were to be in the original cadence of Stein‘s American Master Electricians Spencer Downie and English. When Poor Dog Group slowly took form as a collective, I knew that I had found Matt Mellinger the community of actors to bring this work to fruition. The fragility of their condition as emerging, idealistic artists with a mission shared something profound with the situation of these young soldiers trying to navigate a new world – one that they had brought about but might not be able to live in. Stein‘s reflections on the anxieties, vulnerability, and fragility of her soldiers seem prescient in the mouths of these dedicated young artists – mirroring in some way their own existential uncertainty in a United States that is in a continual state of crisis and challenge. What I did not anticipate was how recent economic turmoil would infuse the work with an additional sense of moment and urgency – reinvigorating basic questions about our identity as a nation and our ability to survive as a democracy. I am grateful to Poor Dog Group for their heart, anarchy, and fervent commitment to challenging the status quo – both in relation to the discourse on economy, national identity, and democracy as well as performance practice and aspiration. They are a Special Thanks skilled and gifted ensemble and have been a source of invigoration to me throughout this process. The Estate of Gertrude Stein, KASHCO and Joe and Abe Kash, REDCAT, Stockroom.com, The Elephant Theater, Carol Hove Ahmanson, Hugo Armstrong, Artemis, Travis Preston Eva Blumenfeld, Brigette Bowers, Merlin Camozzi, Brittany Carriger, Marissa Chibas, Lap-chi Chu, Douglas Clayton, Michael Darling, Jade Dornfeld, Jessica Emmanuel, Martha Ferrara, Jenny Greer, Art Horowitz, Milena Hunter, Antwon Jackson, Gary Dramaturgical Notes Kechely, Yung-Jin Kim, Lewis Klahr, Murray and Marvelle Koffler, Theo Koffler, Jenny Krusoe, Andrea Leblanc, Tanya Lee, Michael Mallinson, Ellen McCartney, Terence The American writer Gertrude Stein spent much of her life in France and much of the end McFarland, Sallie Merkel, Michael Michetti, Karen Murk, Jim O‘Quinn, Lynn Peterson, of her life preoccupied with the lives and minds of American servicemen. In 1945 Stein Jacob Prosich, Kari Rae Seekins, Jonney Stearns, Janet Sternberg, Kit Stolen, Karla began writing a series of essays in the New York Times about American GI‘s, expressing her concern for the feelings and futures of these young men. Her writings were based on Talavera, Brian Tichnell, Brady Westwater, Christy Willits, Amy Yeager, Edward Yoon the real conversations she engaged in during and immediately after WWII, when many American soldiers would gather in her Paris apartment to share their thoughts and anxieties. She listened to them. Brewsie and Willie was published in 1946, two weeks prior to her death on July 27, 1946. Juli Crockett 2 11 California Institute of the Arts From Jesse Bonnell California Institute of the Arts, CalArts, the first U.S. higher educational institution Operating as connective tissue, the major organizations that made RADAR L.A. possible provide Poor Dog Group and 14 other influential theater ensembles the opportunity to to integrate the visual and performing arts under one roof, is recognized as the present the kind of theater that not only speaks to our immediate community, but also nation‘s leading laboratory for the arts. Housing six schools—Art, Critical Studies, allows a global discourse with like-minded international artists, thinkers, and supporters. Dance, Film/Video, Music and Theater—CalArts embraces creative cross- pollination among diverse art forms and traditions, and strongly encourages each We, at Poor Dog Group, are thrilled to be a part of this vibrant moment. We would like to artist to pursue his or her vision within a broad context of social and cultural thank RADAR L.A. and CNP for their generous support. understanding. Poor Dog Group has grown rapidly over the past four years, working with CalArts, UCLA, UCSB, TCG, and The Getty Villa, as well as abroad with organizations like The Grotowski Institute and the US Embassy in Serbia. This momentum is generated by an enthusiastic commitment to the investigation of contemporary theater. Our sights are set on having a national and global presence, including our residency at EMPAC in New York this fall and a trip to The Netherlands this summer to collaborate with the exciting performance collective Wunderbaum. This accessibility to international theater positions Poor Dog Poor Dog Group Group to reach new levels of art practice and visibility. Poor Dog Group [PDG] was founded in late fall of 2007 by recent graduates of Please become a member of Poor Dog Group's expanding community by joining our California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). We celebrated the opening of our 6,100 mailing list and/or giving a tax-deductible donation. Thank you for coming to Brewsie and sq. ft. performance warehouse in downtown Los Angeles in January 2009. During Willie, and I hope to see you at all of our upcoming performances and events. our yearlong occupancy, PDG Performance Warehouse was witness to ambitious programming initiatives including visual arts exhibitions, dance shows, music Jesse Bonnell Artistic Director, Poor Dog Group concerts, and original PDG performances. In 2009, we toured throughout Eastern Europe performing in over a dozen cities in Croatia, Poland, and Serbia. Funding for this tour was provided by Theater Communications Group, The Foundation for Contemporary Arts, The Grotowski Institute, The United States Embassy in Serbia, and private donors. Last summer we co-presented the world premiere adaptation of Gertrude Stein‘s Brewsie & Willie with CalArts Center for New Performance. This project received significant support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In November 2010, we participated in a REDCAT residency with esteemed Polish director Grzegorz Jarzyna. Recently, PDG presented a work in progress titled, Satyr Atlas, as part of The Getty Villa Theater Lab Series. Satyr Atlas will be further developed and presented at The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) this November. In September, we will be traveling to The Netherlands to collaborate with Dutch performance collective Wunderbaum and participate in the annual Rotterdamse Schouwburg Festival. This three week residency is made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs. This production of BREWSIE AND WILLIE has received special permission from Stanford G. Gann, Jr., Literary Executor of the Gertrude Stein Estate. 10 3 Ensemble Laura Kay Swanson (Associate Producer) recently graduated from CalArts with an MFA in Producing in both Music and Theater. Earlier this year, she produced and directed ―Hymn to the Sun”, an opera music video that premiered at REDCAT as part of the CalArts Film/Video Brewsie Jonney Ahmanson Showcase. Also at REDCAT, she was Managing Producer for the World Premiere of Rain Coloring Forest. At CalArts, she produced Shakespeare‘s Measure for Measure, Fassbinder‘s The Bitter Willie Brad Culver Tears of Petra von Kant, and was musical director and assistant producer for Hellzapoppin‘, based on the 1941 film. Laura is Producing Director for The Industry, a new experiential opera company. The Industry‘s inaugural production of Crescent City will premiere in Los Angeles in Jo Andrew Gilbert May 2012.