Student Matinee Series Study Guide For start down By Eleanor Burgess start down at Alliance Theatre Show Art Playwright Eleanor Burgess is the recipient of the 2016 Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Award. Her play start down will premiere at the Alliance Theatre in February of 2016 and have a subsequent production at Centenary Stage in April. Her previous plays have been produced by the Last Act Theatre Company, the Samuel French Off Off Broadway Festival, the Boston Theatre Marathon, Lourdes Drama Society and Everyday Inferno Theatre Company, and developed at the Huntington Theatre Company, Crashbox Theater and Luna Stage. She has been a playwriting fellow at the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston and a member of the writers’ group at the Arcola Theatre in London. Originally from Brookline Massachusetts, she holds a B.A. in history from Yale College and an M.F.A in Dramatic Writing from NYU/Tisch. start down at the Alliance Theatre Page 1 of 14 Synopsis Inspired by his girlfriend Sandy’s high school teaching career and desperate to create a cutting-edge product, software developer Will forms a company dedicated to making online tutorials tailored to individual student needs. It’s a brilliant idea until the program threatens some deeply held beliefs about the student/teacher relationship. Sandy and Will find themselves on opposite sides of the argument. Sandy believes in the life-changing impact teachers have on students in one-to-one interactions. Will sees a problem that can be solved with technology, whether it should be or not. Director Jeremy B. Cohen is in his sixth season as the Producing Artistic Director at the Playwrights’ Center, having previously served as Associate Artistic Director/Director of New Play Development at Hartford Stage from 2003 to 2010, where he also directed several premieres. Other directing credits include productions at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Alley Theatre, Alliance, Centerstage, Dorset Theatre, George Street Playhouse, Goodman, Kansas City Rep, McCarter, Mixed Blood, New Victory, Open Fist, Repertory Theatre of St Louis, Royal George, Steppenwolf Theatre, Theater J, Theatre Latte Da, Victory Gardens, and Workhaus Collective; workshops at O’Neill Playwrights’ Conference, New York Stage & Film, Pasadena Playhouse, Denver Center, New Harmony, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and Woolly Mammoth. As Founding Artistic Director of Naked Eye Theatre Company in Chicago, Cohen developed/directed more than 15 plays, including several premieres. He has received numerous directing awards, an NEA/TCG Directors Fellowship, and a Northwestern University grant for his play 12 Volt Heart. Last Season he directed the World Premiere of a new musical Off-Broadway (The Duke on 42nd Street) by singer/songwriter Jonatha Brooke called My Mother Has Four Noses, which is currently touring the US, and this season he directs four World Premieres, including Start down (Alliance), Bad Dog (Olney), Lullaby (Theatre Latte Da) and the rolling World Premiere of Le Switch (The Jungle). start down at the Alliance Theatre Page 2 of 14 Actors Tracey Bronner (Karen) picture and bio unavailable at time of printing Anthony Campbell (Jessie) picture and bio unavailable at time of printing Andrew Puckett (Matty) is thrilled to be making his Alliance Theatre debut. Favorite Atlanta credits: A Confederacy of Dunces (Theatrical Outfit), The Shape of Things, Lobby Hero (Pinch 'N' Ouch), Moby Dick (Saiah Arts International). T.V./Film credits: "Swamp Murders", and Invasion of the Undead. He holds a B.A. in Theatre and Performance Studies from KSU. He would like to thank Jeremy and Jody for this amazing opportunity, and Eleanor for creating such a stellar and important work. Finally he would like to thank his wife, Julie, for her unwavering love and support. Annie Purcell (Sandy) is delighted to make her Alliance debut. Broadway: The Coast of Utopia: Voyage, Shipwreck, and Salvage at Lincoln Center, Dividing the Estate, and Awake and Sing! Off-Broadway: Fashions for Men (The Mint) Illusions (Baryshnikov Center for the Arts), Twelfth Night (Fiasco), Cycling Past the Matterhorn (Theater Row), What May Fall (Fordham Alumni Theatre Company). Regional: Northern Lights (Hudson Valley Shakespeare) Awake and Sing! (Huntington Theatre Co.), Partners (Humana Festival, ATL), The Real Thing (Studio Theatre), Ed, Downloaded (Denver Center Theatre Co.), Scorched, A Christmas Carol, and Endgame/Play(American Conservatory Theatre), The Tosca Café (Theatre Calgary, Vancouver Playhouse), In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play (The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis), Elektra (Getty Villa), Mary's Wedding(Portland Stage Company), The House in Hydesville (Geva Theatre), and Uncle Vanya (Cal Shakes). Film and Television: "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee", "Louie" and "The Black Donnellys". B.A., Fordham University at Lincoln Center, M.F.A. NYU. Annie also writes plays, teaches, and delights in making theater in all ways. Eric Sharp (Will) is thrilled to be making his Alliance debut. An actor and playwright based in Minneapolis, he recently wrote and starred in the world premiere of Middle Brother at Mu Performing Arts and will tour the show to South Korea this summer. Other regional credits include M. Butterfly (Guthrie Theater), The Jungle Book (Children's Theatre Co.), The Miser (Theatre de la Jeune Lune), After the Quake (Walking Shadow Theatre), and Mother Courage and her Children (Frank Theatre). Eric has performed at the Minnesota, Toronto, and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals, as well as portraying the young Dalai Lama in TigerLion Arts' tour of The Buddha Prince. start down at the Alliance Theatre Page 3 of 14 Josh Tobin (Adam) is thrilled to be making his Alliance debut. New York: Gluten! (59E59 Theaters), July House (NYFringe), Scapin (Theatre Row), Until Next Time (The Brick Theater). Regional: 4000 Miles (Baltimore Center Stage), Something Intangible (Gulfshore Playhouse), The Imaginary Invalid, Cabaret, Clybourne Park, Henry IV & V, Big River (PlayMakers Repertory Company), Fifty Ways, As You Like It, Love’s Labour’s Lost (Chautauqua Theater Company). TV/Film: Ricki and the Flash, Happy Birthday Tommy. Education: M.F.A., U.N.C. - Chapel Hill/PlayMakers; B.A., Davidson College. JoshTobin.com. Characters (All ages are at the start of the play; the characters age three years) Will - Male, 28, Chinese-American, a programmer Sandy - Female, 28, secular Jewish, a history teacher Karen - Female, 28, African-American, a math teacher Adam - Male, 28, WASP, a hedge fund analyst Matty - Male, 23, a white Midwesterner, a programmer Jesse - Male, 15, African-American, a high school student start down at the Alliance Theatre Page 4 of 14 Unfamiliar Words and Phrases from start down Ulysses S. Grant – The 18th president of the United States of America and prominent Union general during the Civil War. Squaw – an abbreviation of Squaw Valley in Olympic Valley, California. It is one of the largest ski areas in the United States. Vail – a popular ski resort in Colorado that boasts over 5,000 acres of skiing trails and a Swiss-style village with shops and eateries. Sauternes – a sweet wine from the Sauternais region of the Graves section in Bordeaux. It can average $48-$51/bottle Adderall – a prescription drug in the United States used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) GRE – an abbreviation for Graduate Record Examination; a standardized exam used to measure one’s aptitude for abstract thinking in the areas of analytical writing mathematics, and vocabulary Affirmative Action – an action or policy favoring those who tend to suffer from discrimination, especially in relation to employment or education; positive discrimination Asperger’s – an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. Rosie Riveter - a cultural icon of the United States, representing the American women who worked in factories and shipyards during World War II, many of whom produced munitions and war supplies. July 16, 1945, New Mexico – the first atomic bomb test successfully exploded. Subreddits - Reddit is an entertainment, social networking, and news website where registered community members can submit content, such as text posts or direct links, making it essentially an online bulletin board system. Saving Private Ryan - a 1998 Steven Spielberg American epic war drama film set during the Invasion of Normandy in World War II. Island hopping - Leapfrogging, or island hopping, was a military strategy employed by the Allies in the Pacific War against Japan and the Axis powers during World War II. The idea was to bypass heavily fortified Japanese positions and instead concentrate the limited Allied resources on strategically important islands that were not well defended but capable of supporting the drive to the main islands of Japan. start down at the Alliance Theatre Page 5 of 14 Roosevelt - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, commonly known as FDR, was an American statesman and political leader who served as the President of the United States from 1933 to 1945. Fascist – a person who supports an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. Purple Heart - a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after April 5, 1917, with the U.S. military. 1945 Purple Hearts – The United States military expected up to 1 million casualties in the invasion of Japan, so they stocked up on Purple Hearts, but Japan surrendered after the atomic bomb was dropped. Those Purple Hearts are still being awarded today. Hiroshima – a modern city on Japan’s Honshu Island, was largely destroyed by an atomic bomb during World War II. "Lock thousands of Japanese people up in the desert like in California " – Jessie’s comment refers to the internment of Japanese Americans in the United States which was the forced relocation and incarceration during World War II of between 110,000 and 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry who lived on the Pacific coast in camps in the interior of the country.