2017 2018 IN THIS ISSUE SEPTEMBER 2017 Title Page . 2 Cast . 3 Interview with Marsha Mason . 4 Director’s Note . 5 Letter from Artistic Director David Ivers . 6 Letter from Managing Director Billy Russo . 7 The Cast . 8 The Creative Team . 10 Executive Leadership . 14 About Arizona Theatre Company . 16 ATC Board of Trustees. 19 Donors . 20 ATC Staff . 27 Theater Information. 29 The historic Temple of Music and Art, Arizona Theatre Company’s home in downtown Tucson. Cover art by: ESSER DESIGN 1 2017 2018 David Ivers Billy Russo Artistic Director Managing Director CHAPTER TWO BY NEIL SIMON Marsha Mason.......................................................... Director Lauren Helpern................................................... Scenic Designer Kish Finnegan................................................... Costume Designer David Lee Cuthbert .............................................. .Lighting Designer Brian Jerome Peterson.............................................. Sound Designer Ava Spanier..................................................... Assistant Director Geoff Josselson, CSA ..................................................... Casting Glenn Bruner*............................................ .Production Stage Manager Bruno Ingram*............................................. .Assistant Stage Manager Timothy Toothman*......................................... .Assistant Stage Manager On this original Arizona Theatre Company production, the ATC Production Staff is responsible for scenic construction, costume construction, lighting, projections, sound, props, furniture, wigs, scene painting and special effects. Chapter Two is presented by special arrangement with SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. This project is supported in part by the Arizona Commission on the Arts which receives support from the State of Arizona and the National Endowment for the Arts. 2017/2018 SEASON SPONSORS: I. MICHAEL AND BETH KASSER 2 2017 2018 CAST (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) David Mason* ............................................ George Schneider Ben Huber* ............................................... Leo Schneider Blair Baker*............................................... Jennie Malone Diana Pappas* .............................................. Faye Medwick *Denotes members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. THERE WILL BE ONE FIFTEEN-MINUTE INTERMISSION. ADDITIONAL STAFF Emma DeVore ........................................ Assistant to the Stage Manager Arizona Theatre Company operates under agreements between the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States; Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, an independent national labor union; and United Scenic Artists Local USA-829, IATSE. The Actors and Stage Managers The Director is a member of the The Scenic, Costume, Lighting and employed in these productions are Stage Directors and Choreographers Sound Designers in LORT Theatres members of Actors’ Equity Association, Society, an independent national are represented by Union Scenic the Union of Professional Actors and labor union. Artists Local USA-829, IATSE. Stage Managers in the United States. To learn more about Chapter Two, please visit the Learning & Education page on our website at arizonatheatre.org for a comprehensive free Play Guide. The Play Guide contains historical information, cultural context, and more. Cell phones and other devices that make a noise can greatly disturb your fellow audience members and the performers. PLEASE TURN THEM OFF before the performance. 3 2017 2018 INTERVIEW WITH MARSHA MASON Q: What drew you to theatre? directed Chapter Two. I approach the work just A: It’s hard to say…the rst memory I have is like I do any other production. I don’t have as a freshman in high school, where I played a an attachment to it just because it’s based on Jack-in-the-Box at a school production. When a part of my life that is written from the man’s I popped out, the rst few rows of little kids perspective. Jennie is another character to me, went OHHHHHH! and I was hooked. I and I approached playing her the same as all remember playing and imagining myself as a my work. My advantage was that I knew her nun or some kind of made-up character when motivations very well! I was a little girl. What has kept me entranced Q: How does your past as an actor inuence and intrigued about theatre is the magical re- your process as a director? lationship that the actor has with their fellow A: Having been an actor for quite some time now, actors and the audience. I love the adventure of I know pretty well how most actors feel about nding myself in another character altogether directors. ey don’t always work or relate the and just being that character for the length of same way with a director, and I know that. I also time of the play. Another big part of why I do have worked with a lot of playwrights and done it is to help people experience their emotions a lot of plays, so nding the arc of a story and and inner thoughts. the character’s place in that arc is also familiar Q: What brought you back to ATC? to me. Karl Malden once said in an interview A: I had a wonderful experience directing An about directing, “I thought I could direct, but Act of God last year. David Ira Goldstein and when I did I realized I wanted the actors to act his entire sta were – and are – so supportive, their roles the way I would do them, and that’s positive, and helpful. e creative sta of the not good directing!” I never forgot that, and theatre was wonderful to work with, and it is I follow the rule “do unto others.” My job as so much fun to have the opportunity to work the director is to focus the work so that the arc with everyone again. David Ivers has also been of the story is clear and the audience believes terric, and I look forward to meeting him. what they are seeing and hearing while I make sure the actor is supported and cared for so Q: Chapter Two has been a big part of your that they can realize their potential in the role. life: It’s based in part on your relationship with Neil Simon, you starred in the lm, and Q: What does the future hold? now you’re directing it for the stage. What’s it A: I am scheduled to shoot another episode of like to play a ctionalized version of yourself? e Middle at ABC in late September. I just What’s it like to direct a show that’s (a) based nished playing Arlene in several episodes of on your life and (b) that you’ve acted in (albeit, Grace and Frankie for Netix, and I am work- a lm version)? ing on two new plays with a playwright and A: is production is the second time I have hopefully directing them next year! 4 2017 2018 DIRECTOR’S NOTE Most audiences think of Neil Simon as a comedy writer-playwright. After all, that’s how he began his extraordinary career. He wrote jokes and sketches with some of the television greats including Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner. He wrote his rst play, Come Blow Your Horn, on week- ends while he was working on e Red Skelton Show and Your Show of Shows. Upon completion of his rst play, he became a playwright and followed that play with many others – billed as comedies – almost all very, very successful. He understood that humor comes from pain. Be- ing hit in the head with a frozen veal chop, being let go from a job…I think Prisoner of Second Avenue is a fabulous example of that. Chapter Two is billed as a comedy but if it was written today it would be billed as a dramedy: a word coined in contemporary television to de ne both drama and comedy in a show. I feel that Chapter Two was the beginning of Neil Simon’s maturation as a playwright which culminated in his hugely successful Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound. Chapter Two deals with love and loss: grieving and replacing. A dear friend once told me that in divorce and loss of a loved one, generally, women grieve and men replace. Well, that is the context of George Schneider’s and Jennie Malone’s experience when they choose each other so soon after his wife’s death. Heavy subject matter! And yet, Simon nds the humor that makes life’s sorrows bearable. He celebrates love and loss and brings tears to our eyes through pain and laughter. He nds the joy, the absurdity, and the pain of dying and loving. Neil Simon is not only gifted, he is very brave. He writes about himself and his perspective on life as he experiences it; fortunately for his audi- ences, he has a nger on the pulse of the people in the theatre. 5 2017 2018 LETTER FROM ARTISTIC DIRECTOR DAVID IVERS We owe much to David Ira Goldstein and his tenure with Arizona eatre Company. His achieve- ments are vast and varied, and his ability to program a season that brings together top-tier artists is admirable to be sure. His most recent stroke of genius was to program Chapter Two at the top of this 51st season as we head literally and guratively into the next part of ATC’s limitless story. Neil Simon’s play about nding love after loss was written for his second wife, Marsha Mason, who happens to be with us in Arizona at the helm of the play he lovingly wrote in her honor. Full of humor and pathos, it’s a tting beginning to ATC’s season and a hopeful reminder that happiness can be just around the corner. I love the heart, the warmth, wit, and intelligence of the play. Mr. Simon’s adeptness with language and character is on full display as he literally pens from his life. It’s a great honor, as well, to have this extraordinarily talented cast and team with us, supported by a very dedicated sta of full-time and seasonal employees.