October 2017 About TheatreWorks Silicon Valley Volume 49, No. 3 Welcome to TheatreWorks Silicon Valley and our 48th season of award-winning theatre! Led by Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley and Managing Director Phil Santora, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley presents a wide range of productions and programming throughout the region. Founded in 1970, we continue to celebrate the human spirit and the diversity of our community, presenting contemporary plays and musicals, revitalizing Paul Heppner Publisher great works of the past, championing arts education, and nurturing new works for the American theatre. TheatreWorks has produced 66 world premieres Susan Peterson and over 160 US and regional premieres. In the 2017/18 season, we add the Design & Production Director world premieres of The Four Immigrants: An American Musical Manga and Ana Alvira, Robin Kessler, The Prince of Egypt and four more regional premieres to our résumé. Shaun Swick, Stevie VanBronkhorst Production Artists and Graphic Design TheatreWorks’ 2016/17 season included the world premiere of Confederates, as well as regional premieres of The Life of the Party, Calligraphy, and Hershey Mike Hathaway Sales Director Felder, Beethoven, which broke all our box office records, becoming the high- est-grossing show in TheatreWorks’ history. In the course of the year, shows Amelia Heppner, Marilyn Kallins, that debuted here were produced at theatres around the world. Terri Reed San Francisco/Bay Area Account Executives With an annual operating budget of $8 million, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley Brieanna Bright, produces eight mainstage productions at the Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto Joey Chapman, Ann Manning and the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, and a special add-on Seattle Area Account Executives holiday production at the Lohman Theatre on the campus of Foothill College in Los Altos. Seventeen years ago, we launched the New Works Initiative, Carol Yip Sales Coordinator dedicating ourselves to the development of new plays and musicals. The ENCORE Initiative has since supported over 160 new works through retreats, workshops, staged readings, developmental productions, and the annual New Works Festival, inspiring The Mercury News to call us “a premiere breeding ground for new musicals, which has put the company on the national map.” TheatreWorks Silicon Valley believes in making theatre accessible to the entire Silicon Valley community. Our Education Department reaches on average 25,000 students from 70 schools in 7 counties annually. It sponsors outreach Paul Heppner programs that include the Children’s Healing Project at Lucile Packard President Children’s Hospital, the Young Playwrights Project, specially-priced student Mike Hathaway matinees, extensive school tours, post-show discussions, theatre camps, and Vice President programs for youth. Genay Genereux For more information on our 2017/18 season, New Works Festival, and Accounting & Office Manager Education programs, please visit theatreworks.org or call 650.463.1960. Sara Keats Marketing Manager AFFILIATIONS—TheatreWorks Silicon Valley is a member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and Ciara Caya operates under agreement between LORT and Actors’ Equity Association (AEA), the union of professional actors Customer Service Representative & and stage managers in the United States. TheatreWorks is a constituent member of Theatre Communications Administrative Assistant Group, Inc., the national organization for the nonprofit professional theatre. TheatreWorks is a member of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, a national service organization for musical theatre. In addition, T E N TheatreWorks is a member of Theatre Bay Area, the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce, and the Mountain View I P Chamber of Commerce. TheatreWorks’ 2017/18 Season is presented in cooperation with the City of Mountain E D View and the City of Palo Alto, Community Services Department, Division of Arts and Sciences. N Corporate Office I V E th K 425 North 85 Street Seattle, WA 98103 The director is a member of the Society Y B of Stage Directors and Choreographers, p 206.443.0445 f 206.443.1246 G Inc., an independent national labor union. N I R [email protected] The costume, lighting, scenic, projections, E D and sound designers are members of N E 800.308.2898 x105 R United Scenic Artists. This season is C supported in part by an award from the I www.encoremediagroup.com N E National Endowment for the Arts. C S : TheatreWorks Silicon Valley is a proud D N home company of the Mountain View U O R Center for the Performing Arts. G K C Garden Court is the official J. Lohr is the official wine A B Encore Arts Programs is published monthly by Encore Media hotel of TheatreWorks. of TheatreWorks. R E V Group to serve musical and theatrical events in the Puget The Mercury News is TheatreWorks’ O C 2017/18 Season Media Sponsor. Hengehold Trucks is the official trucking provider of TheatreWorks. Sound and San Francisco Bay Areas. All rights reserved. T N ©2017 Encore Media Group. Reproduction O R F without written permission is prohibited. 2 THEATREWORKS EAP full-page template.indd 1 8/28/17 11:45 AM In this Issue From the Board Chair Tonight’s show, The Prince of Egypt, is the culmination of a series of 2 About TheatreWorks “firsts” for TheatreWorks. First came our collaboration with Universal Pictures and Fredericia Teater in Denmark to create a world premiere Silicon Valley stage adaptation of the DreamWorks Animation film of the same title. We were honored to be part of the team for this challenging task, 2017/18 SEASON 6 which marks our first experience partnering with a major st udio to create a work of this scale. And the long distance collaboration with From the Artistic Director 9 Fredericia Teater on various aspects of the physical production was a challenging but rewarding first of its own. After our production here in Mountain View 10 Director’s Notes the musical will expand to play in their theatres in Fredericia and Copenhagen next At the Edge of the Desert April, where it will feature a Danish cast performing in both Danish and English. Our Moses, Diluckshan Jeyaratnam, will star in both productions. We have also been fortunate to work again with Academy Award winner Stephen Schwartz, composer and lyricist of Wicked, and his son, acclaimed Broadway and international director Scott Schwartz. Both have worked at TheatreWorks several times and we are happy to celebrate their return. As you might imagine, with the involvement of two thea tres on two continents and a major international film company, planning and creation of this world premiere has been complicated, but at the same time exciting. The scale of this effort is easily demonstrated: there are 28 cast members and 100 costumes. And we are proud to know that this stage version of The Prince of Egypt is destined for future productions in a range of theatres worldwide: profession al companies, schools and colleges, youth E troupes, religious groups, and more. N R E B N I In many ways this is a milestone for TheatreWorks, demonstrating our ability to produce V E K complex productions that engage both national and international artists. The scale of O T O planning and execution has provided us new challenges in many dimensions: logistics, H P casting, costumes, orchestrations, set, sound, and lighting design, and finances. But it Diluckshan Jeyaratnam & Jason Gotay is a testimony to the strength and capacity of TheatreWorks’ versatile staff that we have navigated successfully the path to tonight’s production. They deserve congratulations 12 The Journey of for this remarkable world premiere. THE PRINCE OF EGYPT 15 TheatreWorks Silicon Valley Mike Kahn presents THE PRINCE OF EGYPT BOARD OF TRUSTEES 17 Who’s Who Mike Kahn, Chair Jayne Booker Charlotte Jacobs Nancy Ginsburg Stern 25 Coming Next: Cabell Chinnis Roy Johnson Debra Summers Bill Coughran Derry Kabcenell Lynn Szekely-Goode Naughty or Nice? Sarah Donaldson Michael Kahn Ewart Thomas Peggy Woodward Forbes Julie Kaufman Tzipor Ulman 26 Contributors Matt Fuller Robert Kelley Kristina Vetter Ciro Giammona Ellice Papp Holly Ward Anne Hambly Phil Santora Lisa Webster 29 TWSV Staff Judy Heyboer Loren Saxe Jane Weston Larry Horton Barbara Shapiro Gayla Lorthridge Wood 30 TWSV Theatre Camps TWSV General Information BOARD EMERITUS Nancy Meyer, Founder • William F. Adler • Edward T. Anderson, MD • Doug Barry • Lauren Berman • Chuck Bernstein • Sharon Anthony Bower • Michael Braun • Polly W. Bredt • Bruce C. Cozadd Continue the conversation online! • Jeff Crowe • Peggy Dalal • Yogen Dalal • Jenny Dearborn • Susan Fairbrook • Michael R. Flicker • Peggy Woodford Forbes • Dan Garber • Doug Garland • Aaron Gershenberg • Marcia Goldman • Emeri Handler • Susan M. Huch • Perry A. Irvine • Nancy Lee Jalonen • Lisa Jones • Gina Jorasch • Roberta R. Katz • Tom Kelley • Robin Kennedy • Michael Kwatinetz • Dick Maltzman • Suzanne Martin • Patti McClung • Don McDougall • Bruce McLeod • Cynthia S. Miller • Leslie Murphy- Chutorian • Eileen Nelson • Karen Nierenberg • Carrie Perzow • Carey Pickus • Margot Mailliard @TheatreWorksSV Rawlins • John Reis • Eddie Reynolds • Sandi Risser • Lynn Wilson Roberts • Ray A. Rothrock • Adam #PrinceofEgypt Samuels • Denise Stanford • Rosina Lo Sun • James Sweeney • Cathie Thermond • Helaina Titus • Robert J. Van der Leest, MD • Mark Vershel • Ronni Watson • Elissa Wellikson 4 THEATREWORKS In this Issue From the Board Chair Tonight’s show, The Prince of Egypt, is the culmination of a series of 2 About TheatreWorks “firsts” for TheatreWorks. First came our collaboration with Universal Pictures and Fredericia Teater in Denmark to create a world premiere Silicon Valley stage adaptation of the DreamWorks Animation film of the same title. We were honored to be part of the team for this challenging task, 2017/18 SEASON 6 which marks our first experience partnering with a major studio to create a work of this scale. And the long dis tance collaboration with From the Artistic Director 9 Fredericia Teater on various aspects of the physical production was a challenging but rewarding first of its own.