DIFFERENT STAGES’ REPERTORY Begun as Small Potatoes ... final.pdf · In Eurydice, playwright Sarah Ruhl turns the Orpheus legend up-side down by viewing it through Eurydice’s

DIFFERENT STAGES’ REPERTORYBegun as Small Potatoes Theatrical Company

1981: August Strindberg’s Creditors and The Stronger. 1982: William Shakespeare’s The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. 1983: George Bernard Shaw’s Candida; Anton Chekhov’s The Brute, Swan Song, and Celebration. 1984: Luigi Pirandello’s Right You Are (If You Think You Are); Jane Martin’s Talking With… 1985: Caryl Churchill’s Cloud 9; William Shakespeare’s As You Like It; Carl Sternheim’s The Underpants; Michael Weller’s Moonchildren. 1986: Amlin Gray’s How I Got That Story; William Shakespeare’s The Win-ter’s Tale; Eugene O’Neill’s Beyond the Horizon. 1987: Michael Weller’s Loose Ends; Aris-tophanes’ The Wasps; Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart; Arthur Schnitzler’s Anatol. 1988: Wallace Shawn’s Aunt Dan and Lemon; Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood; Moss Hart’s Light Up the Sky; Jean Racine’s Phaedra; Jean-Baptiste Molière’s The Misanthrope. 1989: Caryl Churchill’s Fen; Charles Ludlam’s The Artificial Jungle; William Shakespeare’s The Mer-chant of Venice. 1990: Eric Overmeyer’s On the Verge; Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Jour-ney Into Night; Milan Kundera’s Jacques and His Master; Tom White’s The Trouble with Tofu; William Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus. 1991: George Kelly’s The Show-Off; George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession; Keith Reddin’s Life and Limb; Mozart/Lorenzo da Ponte’s Così fan Tutte; Jean-Baptiste Molière’s The Learnèd Ladies. 1992: Alan Ayck-bourn’s Woman in Mind; Carlo Gozzi’s The Raven; Henrik Ibsen’s The Wild Duck; Charles MacArthur’s Johnny on a Spot; George Farquhar’s The Recruiting Officer. 1993: Timber-lake Wertenbaker’s Our Country’s Good; Charles Ludlam’s The Secret Lives of the Sexists; Tennessee Williams’ Orpheus Descending. 1994: Constance Congdon’s Tales of the Lost Formicans; William Shakespeare’s Cymbeline; George M. Cohan’s The Tavern; Marlayne Meyer’s Etta Jenks. 1995: Pierre Marivaux’s The Triumph of Love; Tom Stoppard’s Traves-ties; Larry Kramer’s The Destiny of Me; Alexander Ostrovsky’s The Diary of a Scoundrel. 1996: Caryl Churchill’s Mad Forest; Agatha Christie’s Black Coffee; William Congreve’s The Way of the World. 1997: Terrence McNally’s A Perfect Ganesh; Dorothy Parker’s Here We Are; Alan Ayckbourn’s Drinking Companion; Terrence McNally’s Noon; George M. Cohan’s Seven Keys to Baldpate; Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock. 1998: Tom Stop-pard’s Arcadia; Aeschylus’ Agamemnon; Giles Havergal’s Travels with my Aunt; Arthur Miller’s All My Sons. 1999: Edit Villareal’s My Visits with MGM; Jean-Baptiste Molière’s The Hypochondriac (tr. Martin Sorrel); Edward Percy and Reginald Denham’s Ladies in Retirement; Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. 2000: Peter Parnell’s The Rise and Rise of Daniel Rocket; Ann Ciccolella’s Fruits and Vegetables; George S. Kaufman and Marc Con-nelly’s Merton of the Movies; Martin McDonagh’s The Cripple of Inishmaan. 2001: Milcha Sanchez-Scott’s Roosters; George Bernard Shaw’s The Devil’s Disciple; J. B. Priestly’s Dan-gerous Corner; Tennessee Williams’ Summer and Smoke. 2002: Ann Ciccolella’s Madame X; David Linsay-Abaire’s Fuddy Meers; Agatha Christie’s The Unexpected Guest; Federico Garcia Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba. 2003: Christopher Durang’s Betty’s Sum-mer Vacation; Horton Foote’s The Traveling Lady, William Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona; Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband. 2004: John Patrick’s The Hasty Heart; Tom White’s The Misses Overbeck; Brian Friel’s Molly Sweeney, George Bernard Shaw’s Arms and the Man. 2005:William Shakespeare’s Pericles, Prince of Tyre; Edit Villareal’s Marriage is Forever; Agatha Christie’s Appointment with Death; John Millington Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World. 2006: Two into War (The Gifts of War and The Retreating World); Amy Freed’s The Beard of Avon; Agatha Christie’s The Hollow; Christopher Durang’s Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge. 2007: Edward Albee’s The Goat or Who is Sylvia?, Peter Shaffer’s Lettice and Lovage, W. Sommerset Maugham’s The Constant Wife. 2008: Tennes-see Williams’ Garden District: Something Unspoken & Suddenly Last Summer, Diana Son’s Stop Kiss; Tom White’s What I Want Right Now; George Bernard Shaw’s Getting Married. 2009: Christopher Durang’s Miss Witherspoon; Caryle Churchill’s A Number; J.B. Priest-ley’s An Inspector Calls; Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth

Eurydiceby Sarah Ruhl

Di�erent Stages Presents

January 8–30, 2010City �eater, 3823

Airport, Suite D�ursday–Saturday at 8 p.m.

Sunday at 2 p.m.

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�is project is funded and supported in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division.

Different Stages presents

EURYDICEby Sarah Ruhl

Director .............................................................. Karen JambonStage Manager ....................................................Pedro MartinezSet Design .....................................................Ann Marie GordonLight Design ..................................................... Patrick AnthonyCostume Design................................................. Lauren MatesicOriginal Music & Sound Design ............... Content Love Knowles

CHARACTERS AND CAST

Eurydice ............................................................... Nicole SwahnOrpheus ...........................................................Bastion CarboniFather ..................................................... Norman BlumensaadtNasty Interesting Man/Lord of the Underworld .....Marc Balester

A Chorus of StonesLittle Stone ........................................................... Miriam RubinLoud Stone ..................................................Jonathan BlackwellBig Stone .............................................................Betsy McCann

The play takes place in the the upperworld and the underworld.The time is the present.

Produced by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.

This play was originally produced by Madison Repertory Theatre, Madison, Wisconsin,August 29, 2003. Richard Corley, Artistic Director, Tony Forman, Managing Director.

And subsequently produced by Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 2004.Tony Taccone, Artistic Director, Susan Medak, Managing Director.

And Yale Repertory Theatre,James Bundy, Artistic Director, Victoria Nolan, Managing Director.

Produced by Second Stage Theatre, New York, 2007Carole Rothman: Artistic Director

EURYDICE is produced by specialy arrangement with Bruce Ostler, BRET ADAMS,LTD., 448 West 44th Streeet, New York, NY 10036

FUNDING AND DONATIONS

Director Level $5000+The City of Austin

Actor Level $1000 - $5000Karen Jambon & Jennifer Underwood,

Jack Grimes, Ameriprise Financial

Stage Manager Level $500-$999Craig Kanne, Bobbie and Larry Oliver

Designer Level $250-$499Irene Dubberly, Sarah & David Seaton, Royce Gehrels, Bruce McCann, Emily and Kent Erington, Connie Mc-

Millan, Harvey Guion, Ann Bower

Stage Hand Level $100-$249Steven Kinslow, Diane Herrera, John & Betty Wood, Andy & Renee Brown, Roy & Leona Kaskin, Annette Sherman, Keith Yawn, Pamela Bates, Marla Boye, Mel-anie & Travis Dean, The Pfizer Foundation, Bonnie & Frank Cahill, Tom White, David Smith and Anonymous.

Audience Level $20-$99Mary Alice Carnes, Patricia Bennett, Cade & Al Mind-er, Gerald Moore, Paula Gilbert, Richard Collins, Kelly Slupek, Cecilia Berg, Miriam Rubin, David Smith, Re-becca Robinson, Reba Gillman, Charles Ramirez Berg,

Dianne & Donna Le Roy, Richard Collins

In-Kind DonationsMary Alice Carnes, Sarah Seaton

This project is funded and supported in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts and an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.

FROM THE DIRECTOR

In Greek mythology, Orpheus was the first son of Apollo and the muse, Calliope. Apollo gave Orpheus a lyre and the boy learned to play it with such perfection that nothing could withstand the charms of his music. Orpheus married Eurydice who, wandering with her companions shortly after the wedding, was approached by the shepherd, Aristeaus. Aristeaus made advances to Eurydice and she fled. In her haste to escape, she stepped on a snake, which gave her a fatal bite.

Orpheus was so grieved by Eurydice’s death that he sang his grief to both gods and men in the “upper world.” Still grieving, Orpheus resolved to go down to the underworld and seek his wife. He resolved to sing so that even the stones would weep and the gods of the underworld would allow Eurydice to return with him to the land of the living.

In Eurydice, playwright Sarah Ruhl turns the Orpheus legend up-side down by viewing it through Eurydice’s eyes. Ruhl’s modern retelling of the tale suggests that commemorating life -- its plea-sures and problems, its transience and pain -- is the only way to triumph over death and loss.

Using a style that is poised and crystalline, Ruhl is a fabulist who writes about things that are irrational and invisible. Eurydice, like most of her plays, celebrates what Ruhl calls “the pleasure of heightened things.” Eurydice is also one of her most personal plays, paying homage to places and people from her past, includ-ing her own father who died when she was just 20.

In Eurydice, Ruhl revels in her philosophy of visual provocation, having people “speak ordinary words in strange places or extraor-dinary words in ordinary places.” In the world she creates there is a constant interplay between the actual and the magical. Eu-rydice is a metaphor of memory and loss that inhabits a world that is both foreign and familiar.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT

Sara Ruhl was born in Wilmette, Illinois. She studied under Paula Vogel at Brown University and did graduate work at Pembroke College, Oxford.

PRODUCTION STAFF

Set Construction ...................... Ann Marie Gordon, Andy Aigne,........................Elaine Jacobs, Shanta Stevens, Patrick AnthonyProduction Crew .............................. Paul Arndt, Pedro Martinez Synthetic Orchestration, Sound/RecordingEngineer ............................................................. David DeMarisTechnical Consultant ..................................................Jeff MillerMakeup Design .......................................................Helen HutkaWeb Master .....................................................Martina OlhauserProperties ........................Norman Blumensaadt, Karen JambonGraphic Design ......................................................Matthew EngPhotography ......................................................Bret BrookshireProgram Design ..................................................Emily EringtonPublicity .. Carol Ginn, Norman Blumensaadt, Martina Olhauser

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND SPECIAL THANKSBonnie Cullum and the Vortex, Andy Berkovsky andCity Theatre, Andy Aigne, Elaine Jacobs, Jeff Miller,

Bill Peeler, Greater Austin Creative Alliance,Dougherty Arts Center, and “The Divine Ms. D.”

ABOUT DIFFERENT STAGESDifferent Stages, Inc. has been a community-based organization since its inception in 1981 and incorporation in 1984. It produces works by playwrights whom we believe to be defining forces in theatre. We seek to entertain with performances that reveal life in all its comedy, tragedy and intensity; and we hope to educate by choosing plays that provide exceptional insight into the human condition. By challenging ourselves as artists, and our audiences as participants, we endeav-or to provide the community with vigorous and exciting live theatre.

Producing Artistic DirectorNorman Blumensaadt

Board of DirectorsKaren Jambon, T.J. Moreno, Norman Blumensaadt

Operating BoardNorman Blumensaadt, Sarah Seaton,

Royce Gehrels, Paula Ruth Gilbert

Ruhl gained widespread recognition for her play The Clean House, a romantic comedy about a physician who cannot convince her depressed Brazilian maid to clean her house. It won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2004. It was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2005.

Her play Eurydice was produced off-Broadway at New York’s Sec-ond Stage Theatre in June-July 2007. Prior to that it had been staged at Yale Rep (2006), Berkeley Rep (2004), Georgetown Uni-versity, and Circle X Theatre. Ruhl is also known for her Passion Play cycle that opened at Washington’s Arena Stage in 2005, and subsequently was produced by the Goodman Theatre and Yale Rep. The Passon Play is scheduled to make its New York City premiere in Spring 2010 in a production by the Epic Theatre En-semble in Brooklyn, New York.

Her play Dead Man’s Cell Phone premiered in New York City at Playwrights Horizons in 2008 in a production starring Mary-Lou-ise Parker. It had its world premiere at Washington D.C.’s Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in 2007. It was produced at Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2009.

Other plays include Orlando, Late: A Cowboy Song and Demeter in the City.

In September 2006, she received a MacArthur Fellowship. The announcement of that award stated: “Sarah Ruhl, 32, playwright, New York City. Playwright creating vivid and adventurous theatri-cal works that poignantly juxtapose the mundane aspects of daily life with mythic themes of love and war.”

In February 2009, her play In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) premiered at Berkeley Rep. The play is currently running on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre. This marks Ruhl’s Broadway debut. (--Wikipedia)

CAST BIOGRAPHIES

MARC BALESTER (Nasty Interesting Man / Lord of the Underworld) most recently appeared as Bernard 1, Bernard 2 and Michael Black in the Different Stages production of A Num-ber. His other roles for DS include the Earl of Oxford in The Beard of Avon, Ganesha in A Perfect Ganesh, and Edmund Tyrone in

Long Day’s Journey Into Night. Other favourite roles include Garry Lejuene in Noises Off, Stanley Gardener in Run for Your Wife, Charles Condamine in Blithe Spirit, Lopakhin in The Cherry Or-chard and Prince Charming in Don B’s Snow White. He is happi-est as Nora’s husband and Bud’s dad.

JONATHAN BLACKWELL (Loud Stone) enjoys sitting and keeping still. He would like some peace and quiet. For your next chance to see him on stage go see his original collaboration Fringe piece at Hyde Park on January 20. Put it in your calender!

NORMAN BLUMENSAADT (Father) is the Producing Artis-tic Director for Different Stages. As an actor he has worked in Shakespeare Festivals in Odessa and Dallas, Texas, and Madi-son, New Jersey. For Different Stages he has recently appeared in A Number, The Miser, Arms and the Man and The Playboy of the Western World. Among the numerous shows that he has directed are The House of Bernarda Alba, An Ideal Husband, The Beard of Avon, The Hollow, The Constant Wife, Getting Married, An Inspec-tor Calls, and The Skin of Our Teeth. In celebration of his long and outstanding work in the Austin theater scene, the Austin Circle of Theaters bestowed upon Norman the 1998 Deacon Crain/John Bustin Award. His production of The Goat or Who is Sylvia? won the 2006-2007 ACOT Award for Best Production of a Drama.

BASTION CARBONI (Orpheus) is Artistic Director of Poison Apple Initiative, which recently produced his short play cycle, A Matter of Taste. Other recent credits: No One Else Will Ever Love You (Charlie), Marisol (Man With Scar Tissue), Bitten! A Zombie Rock Odyssey (Dallas)

BETSY MCCANN (Big Stone) is excited to be making her de-but with Different Stages in Eurydice. Betsy earned her BFA in theatre performance from Baylor University in 2002. She has performed in several plays at the Vortex including Vampyress, Oceana, Dragonfly Queen and Dragonfly Princess. She has been honored with B Iden Payne awards for her work with Pollyanna Theatre group and the Vortex. Betsy would like to thank her par-ents for all their support over the years, I know it has been rough :-).

ANN MARIE GORDON (Set Design) is pleased to be work-ing again with Different Stages. Her recent works with Different Stages inclue A Number, which was nominated for a Critics Table Award, and The Skin of Our Teeth. She is a member of the Vortex Repertory Company where she designed the sets for Oceanna, for The Inbetweeners, and The Dragonfly Queen, all premier works recently presented by the Vortex. PATRICK ANTHONY (Light Designer) has lit a path around Austin for an astounding seven months. A recent graduate of Loyola: New Orleans, he is a member of the Vortex Repertory com-pany and has worked in several other theatres around the city. This is his first show with Different Stages and he would like to thank his director, his design team and his beautiful Helena.

We dedicate this show to Anne Putnamin gratitude for her years of advocacy and

support of Austin theatre.

NICOLE SWAHN (Eurydice) is honored to be a part of this production of Eurydice. After taking a lengthy hiatus from the stage, she recently appeared as Sheila Birling in Different Stages’ summer production of An Inspector Calls. She has also worked on various film and television projects including the films Teeth and The Wendell Baker Story and the television series Swingtown and Friday Night Lights. She’d like to thank her mom and dad for their enduring love and support, without which she would be a different performer and person.

MIRIAM RUBIN (Little Stone) is very happy to once again be working with Karen Jambon and Different Stages. Previously she appeared in Different Stages’ Betty’s Summer Vacation (B.Iden Payne Nominee) and The Rise and Rise of Daniel Rocket. Most recently Miriam appeared as Agnes in NxNW’s The Shadow Box for which she was honored with the B.Iden Payne Award for Out-standing Featured Actress in a Drama. A few of Miriam’s other Austin credits include: NxNW’s The Nerd, Loaded Gun Theory’s The Grind and Slapdash Flimflamery III, IV , V and VI ( as a direc-tor), Lacuna for The Cohen New Works Festival at UT, Naughty Austin’s Sordid Lives and Refraction Arts’ Orange. Miriam serves on the board of Second Youth Family Theatre for whom she has performed in numerous productions including: The Mixtec Bird Tales, The Snow Queen, A Thousand Cranes, The Emperor’s New Clothes, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, The Little Mer-maid and Oz for which she won the B. Iden Payne Award for Out-standing Actress in a Play for Youth.

DIRECTION AND DESIGN BIOGRAPHIES

KAREN JAMBON (Director) has been directing and acting with Different Stages for almost ten years. Among some of the shows she’s directed for DS are Fuddy Meers, Betty’s Summer Vacation, Playboy of the Western World, Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge, and last year’s Miss Witherspoon. She has also appeared in The Cripple of Inishmann, An Ideal Husband, and The Misses Overbeck. She was last seen as the witch in the Scottish Rites Children’s Theatre production of Hansel and Gretel.

PEDRO AMADOR MARTINEZ (Stage Manager) is a senior at Garza Independent High School. This marks his 12th show over-all and his second professional production. Favorite tech cred-its include Speak: An Original Adaptation (McCallum Fine Arts Academy), The Vagina Monologues (North by Northwest Theatre Company), Beehive: The 60s Musical (McCallum Fine Arts Acad-emy) and Reckless (McCallum Fine Arts Academy). Pedro has also appeared in The Pillowman (McCallum Fine Arts Academy) The Green Bird (McCallum Fine Arts Academy), RENT (McCallum Fine Arts Academy), and A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Forum (McCallum Fine Arts Academy). He would like to thank Karen, the cast, and his mother for their support. Enjoy the show!

CONTENT LOVE KNOWLES (Original Music & Sound De-sign) is a songwriter and theatre artist and is pleased to be work-ing with Karen Jambon and Different Stages. A member of the VORTEX Rep Co since 1996, Content is a past nominee and occa-sional winner of ACOT and Austin Critic’s Table Awards, and can be found playing out with various projects including So Wrong Johnson and CLK’s Criminal Cabaret.

LAUREN MATESIC (Costume Design) a Dallas native, start-ed doodling pretty dresses when she could hold up a crayon, and started sewing at age 6. Becoming a master at a young age, she wowed teachers and her parents alike, bringing home a nation-wide Simplicity costume award in high school and making new, original costumes for every Halloween and Renaissance Faire. She interned on a few movie sets in the wardrobe department as a sophomore, including Ray, the story of Ray Charles starring Jamie Fox.

In her junior year, she was accepted to her school of choice: The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles. She spent three years in LA, graduated with an AA in Fashion Design, and continued to work on theatrical productions, at Uni-versal Studios Hollywood, and building corsets for Farthingales (a corset company in Santa Monica).

She came back to Texas in January of 2009, continuing her cor-set and costume designing. Living in Austin has treated her well so far, and hopes to continue her future in wearable art.