2013–2014 SEASON - Asolo Repertory...

2013–2014 SEASONNovember 12–December 29, 2013

Music by JEROME KERNBook and Lyrics by OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II

PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR MICHAEL DONALD EDWARDS MANAGING DIRECTOR LINDA DIGABRIELEPROUDLY PRESENT

Directed by ROB RuggIERO

JOEL BLUM*.........................................................................................Captain Andy HawksELISA VAN DUYNE*.....................................................................................Ellie May ChipleyDENIS LAMBERT*.............................................................................................Frank SchultzDOROTHY STANLEY*.................................................................................Parthy Ann HawksDANIELLA DALLI*............................................................................................Julie LaVerneDAVID SATTLER*................................................................................................Steve Baker GRIffETH WHITEHURST.......................................................................................Pete GavinE. fAYE BUTLER*......................................................................................................QueenieBRUCE SABATH*...........................................................................................Windy, the pilotBEN DAVIS*.................................................................................................Gaylord RavenalDAN KENNETT............................................................................................Sheriff Ike VallonMARISSA MCGOWAN*................................................................................Magnolia HawksMICHAEL JAMES LESLIE*...............................................................................................Joe DERECK D. SEAY......................................................................................Willy, a stagehandDAN KENNETT, DERECK D. SEAY.................................................................BackwoodsmenBRIGID KEGEL, BRITTANY PROIA*, KATIE WEIDMAIER........................................Town GirlsBRIGID KEGEL....................................................................................................A GovernessLILLY MAE STEWART...........................................................................................Young KimBRIGID KEGEL, KATIE WEIDMAIER...............................................................................NunsDENISE LUTE*.....................................................................................................Mrs.O’Brien BRUCE SABATH*.................................................................Jim Greene, director of floor show JEff M. SMITH .....................................................................................Jake, a piano player NICHOLAS WARD*...................................................................................Charlie, a doormanKATIE WEIDMAIER.................................................................................Lottie, a young ladyBRITTANY PROIA*...................................................................................Dottie, a young ladyDENISE LUTE*.........................................................................................................Old Lady BRITTANY PROIA*............................................................................................Kim, an adultDANIEL BELNAVIS, CANDACE C. CULCLEASURE, TROY JACKSON, JOHNATHAN SHEPHERD, BRIGID KEGEL, DAN KENNETT, DENISE LUTE*, BRITTANY PROIA*, BRUCE SABATH*, DAVID SATTLER*, DERECK D. SEAY, JEff M. SMITH, NICHOLAS WARD*, GRIffETH WHITEHURST, KATIE WEIDMAIER..................................................................................................Ensemble

CASTi n o r d e r o f a p p e a r a n c e

2 SHOW BOAT ASOLOREP.ORG

OrchestrationsDAN DELANGE

ChoreographerNOAH RACEY

Music DirectionF. WADE RUSSO

Additional Musical ArrangementsMICHAEL O’FLAHERTY

Set Design MICHAEL SCHWEIKARDT

Costume DesignAMY CLARK

Sound DesignKEVIN KENNEDY

Fight Director

BRUCE LECURE

Lighting DesignJOHN LASITER

Hair/Wig & Make-up Design

MICHELLE HART Sound Effects provided by

JAY HILTONNew York Casting

STUART HOWARD & ASSOCIATES

Assistant Music Director

RODNEY BUSH Stage Management Apprentice

MORIA SUTHERLAND Stage Management Apprentice

MARY MCELROY Associate Lighting Designer

JEFFREY SMALL Assistant to Choreographer

GRIFFETH WHITEHURSTLiterary Apprentice

AUSTEN ANDERSON

Production Stage Manager

KELLY A. BORGIA* Dramaturg

LAURYN E. SASSO Assistant Stage Manager

REBECCA GOLDSTEIN-GLAzE* Assistant Director

NICHOLAS WARD

ASOLOREP.ORG SHOW BOAT 3

MUSICIANSi n a l p h a b e t i c a l o r d e r

TERI BOOTH...................................................................................................................ReedsRODNEY BUSH........................................................................................................Keyboard 2CARLANN EVANS....................................................................................................Violin/ViolaTJ GLOWACKI.......................................................................................................Upright BassVIC MONGILLO............................................................................................................TrumpetDON PARKER............................................................................................................Trombonef. WADE RUSSO.....................................................................................Conductor/Keyboard 1TOM SUTA...............................................................................................................PercussionDAN PARDO.........................................................................................Keyboard Programming JIM STENBORG..................................................................................................Music CopyistWILLIAM THOMAS..............................................................................Keyboard Programming

THANK YOU TO OUR GENEROUS 13-14 SEASON SUPPORTERSMAJOR SEASON SUPPORTERS

Margie and Chuck Barancik • Robert and Beverly Bartner • David and Betty-Jean Bavar • Doug Bradbury Carole Crosby, Ruby E. and Carole Crosby Family Foundation • Christine and John Currie • Nona Macdonald Heaslip

The Huisking Foundation, Charlie Huisking • Stanley Kane in honor of Janet• Kane • Carolyn Keystone and Jim Meekison • Lee and Bob• Peterson Mary Ann Robinson • Charles O. Wood, III and Miriam M. Wood Foundation • William A. Yandow • Jeanne and Bob zabelle • Judy zuckerberg and George Kole

•in memoriam

SEASON SPONSORSVIRGINIA B. TOULMIN

FOUNDATION

Based on the novel Show Boat by EDNA FERBER

This Production originally produced by Goodspeed Musicals, MICHAEL P. PRICE, Executive Director Directed by ROB RUGGIERO

*Members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. Directors are members of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society; Designers are members of the United Scenic Artists Local USA-829;

Backstage and Scene Shop Crew are members of IATSE Local 412.

The video and/or audio recording of this performance by any means whatsoever is strictly prohibited. Show Boat is presented through special arrangement with R & H Theatricals: www.rnh.com.

SPONSORED BY

CO-PRODUCERS

Gerri Aaron • Howard and Diana Armbrust • Robert and Beverly Bartner • David and Betty-Jean Bavar • William Evans • Rita and Ron GreenbaumKatherine Harris and Anders Ebbeson • The Huisking Foundation, Charlie Huisking • Elenor and John Maxheim

Mrs. Carol Phillips, in loving memory of Howard Phillips • Richard and Gail Rubin • Marty and Paulette Samowitz, Samowitz Foundation • Joyce and Robert• Tate•in memoriam

Show Boat will be performed with one intermission.

Special thanks to Rex Willis for the use of a guitar.

4 SHOW BOAT ASOLOREP.ORG ASOLOREP.ORG SHOW BOAT 5

SCENE 1 - Various Locations on the River & in Chicago, 1892-1899‘Til Good Luck Comes My Way.................................................................Ravenal & Gamblers

Why Do I Love You?..................................................................................Magnolia & Ravenal

Mis’ry’s Comin’ Aroun’ (Reprise)................................................................................Queenie

‘Til Good Luck Comes My Way (Reprise)...................................................Ravenal & Gamblers

Why Do I Love You? (Reprise)...................................................................Magnolia & Ravenal

SCENE 2 - A Chicago Boardinghouse

SCENE 3 - St. Agatha’s Convent, the same timeAlma Redemptoris Mater................................................................................................Nuns

Only Make Believe (Reprise)......................................................................................Ravenal

SCENE 4 - The Trocadero Nightclub, a Rehearsal two weeks laterBill.................................................................................................................Julie

Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man (Reprise).........................................................................Magnolia

SCENE 5 - A Chicago Street

SCENE 6 - The Trocadero Nightclub, New Year’s Eve, 1899Goodbye My Lady Love........................................................................................Ellie & Frank

After the Ball.......................................................................................Magnolia & Partygoers

SCENE 7 - Kitchen Pantry of the Cotton Blossom, 1927Ol’ Man River (Reprise)......................................................................................................Joe

I Still Suits Me..................................................................................................Joe & Queenie

SCENE 8 - The Deck of the Cotton BlossomYou Are Love (Reprise)...............................................................................................Ravenal

Finale...........................................................................................................Company

WHO’S WHO IN THE CREATIVE TEAM

KELLY A. BORGIA* SIXTH SEASON (Production Stage Manager) Other Asolo Rep credits include: 1776; The Heidi Chronicles; The Games Afoot; Noah Racey’s Pulse; My Fair Lady; Yentl; Hamlet, Prince of Cuba; Bonnie & Clyde; Boeing, Boeing; Las Meninas; The Life of Galileo; The Perfume Shop. Regional theatre credits include: 1776 (ACT); The Whipping Man; Boeing, Boeing; Deathtrap; Superior Donuts; Noises Off!; The Pavilion (Dorset Theatre Festival); Hedwig and the Angry Inch; Once on this Island; Betrayal (Hangar Theatre); Beauty and the Beast; The Full Monty (Northern Stage); The Miser; Picnic; am Sunday; Speed-the-Plow (CenterStage, Baltimore). Off-Broadway: Hurricane: A New Musical (2009 New York Musical Theatre Festival), Cato (The Flea Theatre). Proud Member of Actor’s Equity Association.

RODNEY BUSH FIRST SEASON (Assistant Music Director/Keyboard) is thrilled to be working on his first production at Asolo Repertory Theatre. Since graduating from Berklee College of Music he has worked at The Boston Conservatory as a music director and accompanist. Some credits: Urinetown; I Love You Because; Kiss of the Spiderwoman; Zombie Prom; The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Berklee: Ragtime; Songs for a New World. Rodney resides in New York City, where he works as a music director, vocal coach, and pianist.

AMY CLARK FIRST SEASON (Costume Designer) A Night with Janis Joplin (Lyceum Theatre); The Mountaintop (Actors Theatre of Louisville); Chaplin (St. Petersburg, Russia and The Barrymore Theatre). Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Hewes Nominations. On Your Toes (City Center Encores!); The Little Mermaid (Paper Mill Playhouse); Other Desert Cities (The Pittsburgh Public Theatre); Unlock’d (The Duke); Muckrakers (Barrington Stage Co.); The Mountaintop (TheatreWorks); Lord of the Flies (Barrington Stage Co.); Show Boat (Goodspeed Musicals); Monster At The Door (The Alley Theatre); The Thirty Nine Steps (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival); Comedy of Errors and Taming of the Shrew (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival). Currently designing Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus. Holds MFA from NYU Tisch School for the Arts. Awarded 2012 Theatre Hall of Fame Emerging Artist Fellowship.

DAN DELANGE FIRST SEASON (Orchestrations) has scored for songwriter Paul Williams, The Jim Henson Company, Julie Andrews, Rosie O’Donnell, composers Jerry Herman, Harvey Schmitt, Charles Strouse, and Mark Hollman. His work has been heard on Broadway, National Tours, and at regional theaters from coast to coast including 36 productions at Goodspeed Musicals. Graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy and Oberlin Conservatory of Music. DanDeLangeOrchestrations.com.

REBECCA GOLDSTEIN-GLAZE* SECOND SEASON (Assistant Stage Manager) last worked at Asolo Rep on Venus in Fur. Off-Broadway work includes: The Piano Lesson, Angels in America (Signature Theatre Company); No Place to Go, Measure for Measure, Tales of an Urban Indian, Yellow Face, Stuff Happens (The Public/NYSF); The Foreigner (Roundabout); The Sacrifices (SPF); Almost an Evening (Atlantic); Sixty Miles to Silver Lake (Page 73); The Duchess of Malfi (Red Bull); Mrs. Warren’s Profession and Beowulf (Irish Rep); Cactus Flower (Westside Theater); Regional work with Steppenwolf, Goodman, Pasadena Playhouse, Emelin Theater, Colorado Shakespeare Festival. She has also worked numerous large-scale events both in NYC and on the road. Graduate of Illinois State University. Proud member of AEA.

OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II (Book & Lyrics) started writing lyrics for the Columbia University Varsity shows while studying law. He withdrew from school after his second year to pursue a career in theatre. He breathed new life into operetta with such classics as Rose-Marie, The Desert Song, The New Moon, and Song of the Flame. With Jerome Kern, Hammerstein wrote eight musicals including Sweet Adeline, Music in the Air and their masterwork, Show Boat. The Rodgers & Hammerstein partnership began with Oklahoma! (1943) followed by Carousel, Allegro, South Pacific, The King and I, Me and Juliet, Pipe Dream, Flower Drum Song, and his last musical, The Sound of Music featuring his song Edelweiss. Hammerstein II died at his farm in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, in August of 1960.

MICHELLE HART ELEVENTH SEASON (Hair/Wig & Make-up Designer) is a licensed cosmetologist and certified professional make-up artist. Hart designs for Asolo Rep and FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training productions. Other credits: Sarasota Ballet, Florida Studio Theatre, West Coast Black Theater Troupe, Banyan Theater, Ruth Eckerd Hall, Venice Theatre, Dorset Theatre, and Open Stage Theatre (where she won the Award for Best Hair). She has also done hair and make-up for Joan Rivers, Doris Roberts, Martin Short, Jane Russell, Arlene Dahl, Soledad Villamil, and Jane Pauley. Music video and short film credits are Second Chance by Shinedown, Reverse Cowgirl by T-Pain, and Grief Splattered Canvas. Her work has also been exhibited at SCF Fine Art Gallery in 2009 & 2013.

STUART HOWARD & ASSOCIATES (Casting) Stuart Howard and Paul Hardt are very happy to continue their casting work for Rob Ruggiero, and to return to Asolo Rep with Show Boat. Along with casting for Broadway, Off Broadway, National/International Tours and Regional Theatres their favorite projects have been Gypsy with Tyne Daly, West Side Story and the upcoming The Nutty Professor directed by Jerry Lewis.

KEVIN KENNEDY SEVENTH SEASON (Sound Designer) recent credits include Darwin in Malibu, Glengarry Glen Ross, Deathtrap, 1776, Pulse, and Bonnie & Clyde (Pre-Broadway) at Asolo Rep; This Wonderful Life at Asolo Rep, Syracuse Stage, The Cleveland Play House, and The Laguna Playhouse; Nilo Cruz’s Hurricane for the Ringling International Arts Festival; Tales of The City and 1776 at ACT; The Rocky Horror Show at The Old Globe; Hugh Jackman In Performance, The Nutty Professor, and Kinky Boots Pre-Broadway; and Sister Act, Bonnie & Clyde, Leap of Faith, Soul Doctor, and Kinky Boots (2013 Tony for Sound) on Broadway. Kevin is also the Assistant Designer with the North American Tour of Mamma Mia and toured as the Sound Engineer with the Alan Parsons Project.

JEROME KERN (Music) Between 1915 and 1919 Kern worked in collaboration on Very Good Eddie; Oh Boy!; Oh, Lady! Lady!; Leave it to Jane; and Zip Goes a Million, which are credited with laying the foundation of the modern American musical comedy. In the 1920’s his works included Sally, Sitting Pretty, Dear Sir, Sunny and The City Chap, culminating in the 1927 American operetta masterpiece Show Boat (written with Oscar Hammerstein II.) This led to more operatic works including Sweet Adeline, The Cat and the Fiddle, Music in the Air, and Roberta. Kern’s final stage musical, again with Hammerstein, was Very Warm For May (1939) and included his masterpiece All the Things You Are. Kern died in New York City in 1945, while preparing to begin work on Annie Oakley.

SCENES & MUSICAL NUMBERSB e t w e e n 1 8 8 7 a n d 1 9 2 7 a l o n g t h e M i s s i s s i p p i R i v e r a n d C h i c a g o

ACT ONESCENE 1 - The Levee at Natchez on the Mississippi, 1887Cotton Blossom............................................................Stevedores, Gals, & Show Boat Troupe

Captain Andy’s Ballyhoo............................................Cap’n Andy, Parthy & Show Boat Troupe

Where’s the Mate for Me............................................................................................Ravenal

Only Make Believe...................................................................................Ravenal & Magnolia

Ol’ Man River...............................................................................................Joe & Stevedores

SCENE 2 - The Kitchen Pantry on the Cotton BlossomCan’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man.......................................Julie, Queenie, Magnolia, Joe & Ensemble

SCENE 3 - The Auditorium & Stage on the Cotton BlossomMis’ry’s Comin’ Aroun’..............................................................................................Queenie

Ol’ Man River (Reprise)......................................................................................................Joe

SCENE 4 - The Fore-deck of the Cotton Blossom, three weeks laterLife Upon the Wicked Stage...................................................................................Ellie & Girls

SCENE 5 - The Upper Deck of the Cotton Blossom, that nightYou Are Love...........................................................................................Ravenal & Magnolia

SCENE 6 - The Levee at Greenville, the next morningFinale...............................................................................................................The Company

ACT TWO


WHO’S WHO IN THE CREATIVE TEAM

JOHN LASITER SECOND SEASON (Lighting Designer) returns to Asolo Rep after designing Ella. He designed High for Broadway and its national tour last year. His Off-Broadway credits include Make Me A Song: The Music of William Finn, Alarm Dog Repertory Company, Blue Light Theater Company, and Music Theatre Group. Regional work includes Actors Theatre of Louisville, Arena Stage, Arizona Repertory Theatre, Centerstage, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Cleveland Play House, Dallas Theater Center, Florida Stage, George Street Playhouse, Geva Theatre Center, Guthrie Theater, Goodspeed Musicals, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, The Muny, and more. His opera and dance credits include Eos Orchestra, The Curtis Institute of Music, Glimmerglass Opera, Manhattan School of Music, Opera Delaware, Opera Carolina, Ballet Memphis, Danzantes LA and New Mexico, among others. www.johnlasiter.com

BRUCE LECURE FOURTH SEASON (Fight Director) Past Asolo Rep credits include: Hamlet, Prince of Cuba; Deathtrap; You Can’t Take It With You; Macbeth; Hamlet Redux. Bruce has directed fights in productions at The Shakespeare Theatre, The Paper Mill Playhouse, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Caldwell Theatre Company, Florida Grand Opera, GableStage, Stage West, Opera of Omaha, and many others. Mr. Lecure holds the title of Professor and Head of Movement Training in the Department of Theatre Arts at the University of Miami. He is a Certified Teacher and Fight Director in the Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD) and a past President of the Association of Theatre Movement Educators (ATME).

VICTOR MEYRICH FORTY-FIFTH SEASON (Production Manager) is a graduate of Carnegie Tech and worked at New York Shakespeare Festival, Brandeis, University of California Institute of Repertory, APA, American Conservatory Theater, and again in New York. As head of production and technical staffs, he is responsible for the overall technical operation of Asolo Rep and serves as consultant for the FSU Center for the Performing Arts. He has been a member of the Asolo Rep family since 1969.

NOAH RACEY SECOND SEASON (Choreographer) Last seen at Asolo Rep as lead/creator of Noah Racey’s Pulse. Noah debuted on Broadway in the 2001 revival of Follies, Thoroughly Modern Millie (Associate Choreographer), Never Gonna Dance, and Curtains. Choreographer of Town Hall’s Broadway By the Year series; Brooklyn to Hollywood; All Singin’, All Dancin’. Musical premieres: It Shoulda Been You (George Street Playhouse) and Turn of the Century (Goodman Theatre). Associate Director for High School Musical and High School Musical 2 and Assistant Director/Choreographer: Shenandoah (Ford’s Theatre). Choreographer of 2008-09 White Christmas national tour, Cinderella and Guys and Dolls at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre; Show Boat, and Annie Get Your Gun at Goodspeed Musicals (Connecticut Critics Circle Outstanding Choreography Awards). Boston Conservatory graduate and strong proponent for arts funding in public schools.

ROB RUGGIERO SECOND SEASON (Director) directed Ella at Asolo Rep in 2007. On Broadway Rob directed Looped (starring Valerie Harper in a Tony nominated performance) and High (starring Kathleen Turner). Off-Broadway he directed All Under Heaven (also starring Ms. Harper), as well as conceiving and directing the original musical revue Make Me a Song: The Music of William Finn (Drama Desk/Outer Critics Circle Nominations). Rob’s work has been seen at major regional theaters around the country, including Actors Theater of Louisville, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Cleveland Play

House, The Guthrie Theater, Hartford Stage, The Muny, The Pittsburgh Public Theater, and The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, among others. Mr. Ruggiero has directed numerous musicals at Goodspeed where originated this adaptation of Show Boat, and he recently returned to direct a critically acclaimed revival The Most Happy Fella. This new adaptation of Show Boat is now available to be licensed through the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization. Rob recently was named Producing Artistic Director of TheaterWorks where he has directed almost 50 shows. www.robruggiero.com

f. WADE RUSSO FIRST SEASON (Musical Director/Conductor/Keyboard) conducted Show Boat (directed by Rob Ruggerio) at Goodspeed Musicals where he most recently conducted Hello Dolly! Other conducting credits include on Broadway: assistant conductor, By Jeeves (Sir Alan Ackbourn, director). National Tour: The Boyfriend (Julie Andrews, director). Regional Theatre: Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Goodspeed Musicals, Huntington Theatre, Barrington Stage, Lyric Theatre of Boston, Weston Playhouse, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Juilliard School, and the O’Neill Theatre Center. Recipient of St. Louis Critics Award, Best Conductor for Sunday in the Park with George, Rob Ruggerio director. He has taught at Circle in the Square Theatre School, the National Theatre Institute (O’Neill Theatre Center), the Juilliard School, and is currently at the Boston Conservatory.

LAURYN E. SASSO EIGHTH SEASON (Dramaturg) received her BA in Theatre Studies from Wellesley College and her MFA in Dramaturgy at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She has studied with Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts and the National Theater Institute at the O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut. Previously she has worked at Perishable Theatre in Providence, Rhode Island, and with the SPF Summer Play Festival in New York City. This season she is the co-adapter for Romeo & Juliet and is serving as dramaturg for Romeo & Juliet, Show Boat, and all rep season productions.

MICHAEL SCHWEIKARDT FOURTH SEASON (Set Designer) Past Asolo Rep credits include: Deathtrap, Barnum and Ella. Recent credits include the world premiere of the new Duncan Sheik/Kyle Jarrow musical Whishper House at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre and Ella, a musical about jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald, which is appearing in cities all across the country. Critically acclaimed productions of Carousel, The Most Happy Fella, 1776, Big River, Camelot and Annie Get Your Gun for Goodspeed Musicals; American premiere of Frank McGuiness’ Gates of Gold, The Bird Sanctuary, Oklahoma! starring Kelli O’Hara and Will Chase celebrating the Oklahoma State centennial; and national and international tours of James Taylor’s One Man Band. Upcoming productions include Il Trovatore for Sarasota Opera. Online portfolio: www.msportfolio.com

JEffREY SMALL FIRST SEASON (Associate Lighting Designer) Off Broadway: Herman Kline’s Midlife Crisis, Love in the Time of Hanukah, and TapeFAces (Ars Nova NYC). Regional: The Westport Country Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Goodspeed Musicals, Long Wharf Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Pittsburgh Opera, City Theatre Company, Bloomington Playwright’s Project. Events: US Open’s Arthur Ashe Kid’s Day, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, New Year’s Eve in Times Square. www.jeffreylsmall.com


WHO’S WHO IN THE CAST

DANIEL BELNAVIS FIRST SEASON (Ensemble/Understudy Charlie) is so excited to be making his Asolo Rep debut, especially with this historic and important show. Daniel is a proud graduate of the University of Michigan’s Musical Theatre Department. His recent credits include Curtis Taylor Jr.

in the Japanese tour of Dreamgirls and Big Moe in a regional production of Five Guys Named Moe. Many thanks to family and friends for their constant support and to Asolo Rep for this opportunity.

JOEL BLUM* FIRST SEASON (Captain Andy Hawks) is thrilled to be making his Asolo Rep debut. He played Frank in Show Boat on Broadway (and in London) receiving a Tony nomination. Other Broadway credits: 42nd Street, The Debbie Reynolds Show, Steel Pier (Tony Nomination), A Christmas

Carol, The Music Man, among others. He’s won a Barrymore Award in The Tin Pan Alley Rag; a Helen Hayes nomination for Meet John Doe; a Drama Desk nomination for Golf, The Musical; and a Broadway World Award for Billy Elliot. On television Joel has appeared in Law & Order, The Sopranos, Ed, The Tonight Show, Bob Hope Specials, Liberace Special and The Sonny & Cher Show.

E. fAYE BUTLER* FIRST SEASON (Queenie) recently completed a successful run of Pullman Porter Blues at the Goodman Theatre, Arena Stage, and Seattle Repertory Theatre. National and Regional Tours: Mamma Mia, Dinah Was, Nunsense, Nunsense 2, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Cope….

Regional Theatres: Arena Stage, Signature Theatre, Centerstage, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Dallas Theatre Center, Northlight Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Court Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, Sacramento Theatre, Marriott’s Lincolnshire Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, Paper Mill Playhouse. Recipient of six Joseph Jefferson Awards, two Helen Hayes Awards, three Black Theatre Alliance Awards, Barrymore Award, Ovation Award, RAMI Award, After Dark Award, Excellence in the Arts, Sarah Siddons Society Leading Lady Award, Lunt-Fontaine Fellowship. Inducted into the Women in the Arts Museum in Washington DC. www.efayebutler.com

CANDACE C. CULCLEASURE FIRST SEASON (Ensemble/Understudy Both Nuns) This is Candace’s first performance with Asolo Rep. Ms. Culcleasure worked on the crew for the Off-Broadway production, Sleep No More. Thank you Show Boat cast, family, and friends. God is good! www.culcleasure.com

DANIELLA DALLI* FIRST SEASON (Julie LaVerne) has most recently appeared in The Denver Center’s world premiere production of Sense & Sensibility. Other credits include Mrs. Anderssen, A Little Night Music at Indiana Rep; Eponine, Les Misérables at The Fulton Theatre;

Irene Molloy, Hello, Dolly! at The Maltz Jupiter Theatre; Lady of the Lake, Spamalot at Maine State Music Theatre; The King and I with Kansas City Starlight and A Cappella Humana at Delaware Theatre Company. Thanks and love to God, and my husband Franklin. www.danielladalli.com

BEN DAVIS* FIRST SEASON (Gaylord Ravenal) recently seen as Billy in Anna Nicole the Opera (BAM, NY City Opera); Brom Broeck, Knickerbocker Holiday (Lincoln Center). Broadway credits include Mr. Lidquist, u/s Carl Magnus; Fredrik, A Little Night Music; Javert & Enjolras, Les Misérables; Trevor Graydon,

Thoroughly Modern Millie; Marcello, Baz Luhrmann’s La Boheme (2003 Tony Honor). Tour: Galahad in Spamalot. Regional: Emile de Becque, South Pacific (The MUNY); Captain von Trapp, The Sound of Music (Paper Mill Playhouse); Antipholus of Ephesus, Boys From Syracuse (DC Shakespeare); and Ravenal, Show Boat (Goodspeed Musicals). Film/TV: Mozart’s The Magic Flute directed by Kenneth Branagh, 30Rock, and Numb3rs. For Dad. Visit www.benjaminjaydavis.com

TROY A. JACKSON FIRST SEASON (Ensemble/Understudy Queenie/Understudy Old Lady/Understudy Mrs. O’Brien) is excited to take part in her first production at Asolo Rep. Regional theatre credits include Motormouth Maybelle, Hairspray; Bloody Mary, Big River; Effie, Dreamgirls; and Ronnie, Hair, among

others. She is also a part of the legendary Blues Brothers Show at Universal Studios Florida where she appears as Mabel. She would like to dedicate her performance to her late grandfather, who was a man of many talents. www.TroyAJackson.com

BRIGID KEGEL FIRST SEASON (Ensemble/Understudy Mother Superior/Understudy Dottie/Understudy Lottie) is delighted to make her Asolo Rep debut. Recent credits include Philia, A Funny Thing…Forum; Olive Ostrovsky, 25th Annual…Spelling Bee; Celeste #1/Elaine, Sunday in the Park with George; Bet, Oliver!;

Zerlina, Don Giovanni; and Sally Brown, Snoopy! The Musical. Brigid has also appeared in both Carousel and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying with the Orlando Philharmonic. She holds a BM in Vocal Performance from Ithaca College. Brigidkegel.weebly.com

DAN KENNETT FIRST SEASON (Sheriff Ike Vallon/Ensemble/Understudy Windy/Understudy Steve Baker/Understudy Jim Greene) is thrilled to be making his professional theater debut at Asolo Rep. He recently graduated from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and

is excited to now find himself in sunny Sarasota. Dan would like to thank the teachers at UNCSA, everyone at Harden- Curtis Associates, and all of his friends and family for their everlasting love and support. www.DanwKennett.com

DENIS LAMBERT* FIRST SEASON (Frank Schultz) New York credits include the Broadway revival of A Chorus Line, the City Center Encores! productions of Pipe Dream, Finian’s Rainbow and Yank! at the York Theatre. Denis’ work at regional theatres includes roles at the Kennedy Center, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Dallas

Theater Center, Paper Mill Playhouse, Syracuse Stage, Walnut Street Theatre, Forestburgh Playhouse, Detroit’s Gem Theatre, the Charlottetown Festival and Music Theatre of Wichita. He has toured the country three times with White Christmas, A Chorus Line, and The Producers. He is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). www.denislambertonline.com



MICHAEL JAMES LESLIE* FIRST SEASON (Joe) is a Cornell Law graduate who made his theatrical debut in the first Broadway revival of Hair. He was the last Lion in the original Broadway production of The Wiz, repeating that role on tour. Michael originated the role of The Voice of the Plant in Little Shop

of Horrors in Los Angeles, London (Olivier Award for Best Musical) and the recent Broadway production and National Tour. He was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for the Denver Post Ovation Awards in 2005 and in 2010 for Best Featured Actor in a Musical or Revue for Marriott Lincolnshire (Once on this Island).

DENISE LUTE* FIRST SEASON (Mrs. O’Brien/ Old Lady/Ensemble/Understudy Parthy Ann Hawks) apprenticed at Asolo Rep in 1971! Bill Shroder, of the Siesta Key Actors Theatre, cast Denise in her first professional job, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Lee Strasberg made Denise a member of

the Actors Studio, and she has been honored to work with many of its prestigious members. Recent NY theatre: Bug, Anna Christie. Regional: Tennessee Playboy, Show Boat (Rob Ruggiero), Mame, The Big Knife, The Constant Wife, Communicating Doors, Doubt, Copenhagen. Recurring television roles include Judge Metzger on Ed and Katie on The Guiding Light. She has also appeared on all three Law & Order series.

MARISSA McGOWAN* FIRST SEASON (Magnolia Hawks) Asolo Rep debut! Marissa recently originated the role of Stella Purdy in the Marvin Hamlisch/Rupert Holmes musical The Nutty Professor directed by Jerry Lewis. Broadway credits include A Little Night Music revival with

Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury (Original Cast Recording), Bonnie & Clyde (Original Cast Recording), Les Misérables (Revival and National Tour) where she performed both the roles of Eponine and Cosette. Favorite regional roles include Maria (The Sound of Music), Guinevere (Camelot), Philia (...Forum), and Johanna (Sweeney Todd). Television: Major Crimes (TNT). BFA Syracuse University. Thanks to Rob and love to Jon and my incredible family. www.marissamcgowan.com @blondemcg

BRITTANY PROIA* SECOND SEASON (Adult Kim/Ensemble/Understudy Magnolia Hawks/Understudy Julie LaVerne) Asolo Rep credits include: Alice Sycamore (You Can’t Take it With You), Fran/April (The Heidi Chronicles), and Aggie Wheeler in The Game’s Afoot. Brittany received her MFA

from the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training (April 2013). Conservatory credits include Amalia (The Robbers), Madame Khokhlakov (The Brothers Karamazov), and Dawn (Lobby Hero.) Recently she has performed with Nebraska Shakespeare in Twelfth Night and Titus Anronicus and with The Ozark Actors Theatre (Into the Woods.) She holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from NYU. Sincere thanks to my family, my inspiring professors, Michael and Rob for this incredible opportunity. www.brittanyproia.com

BRUCE SABATH* FIRST SEASON (Windy/Jim Green/Ensemble/Understudy Captain Andy Hawks) played Larry in the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of Company. Other New York performances include Hello Again (Drama Desk & Outer Critics Circle award nominations-Best Revival), Platinum,

The Sphinx Winx, Jerusalem Syndrome, Prince Hal and Fleet Week. Regionally Bruce has been featured at Cincinnati Playhouse (Merrily We Roll Along and Company), Caldwell Theatre as Nixon (Frost/Nixon), Geva Theatre, Florida Studio Theatre, Human Race Theatre, Depot Theatre, Schoolhouse Theater, Arts Center of Costal Carolina, Forestburgh Playhouse, and West Virginia Public. On TV you’ve seen Bruce on Boardwalk Empire, Onion Sports Dome, and PBS Great Performances – Company. www.BruceSabath.com

DAVID SATTLER* FIRST SEASON (Steve Baker/Ensemble/Understudy Gaylord Ravenal) is pleased to make his debut with Asolo Rep. Credits include Danny (European Tour of Grease), Billy (Chicago), Chad (All Shook Up), Bobby (Urinetown), Tony (West Side Story), Billy (Carousel),

Beast (Beauty and the Beast), Sid (Pajama Game), Tommy (The Who’s Tommy), Frank (Annie Get Your Gun), Stone (City of Angels), Gabey (On The Town), Conrad (Bye Bye Birdie), Joe Hardy (Damn Yankees), John (Miss Saigon), Narrator (Blood Brothers), Pharaoh (Joseph…) and Cinderella’s Prince/Wolf (Into The Woods). Other credits include Fulton Theatre, Ogunquit Playhouse, Pioneer Theatre, and Paper Mill Playhouse. Thanks to family and friends for their love and support.

DERECK SEAY FIRST SEASON (Ensemble/Understudy Pete/Understudy Jake) starred in Footloose (Ren) and Cats (Munkustrap) at The Little Theatre on the Square, The Wedding Singer (George) at Wagon Wheel Theatre, as well as Joseph...Dreamcoat (Joseph), and

Rent (Roger) at Theatre Winter Haven in Winter Haven, FL; Brigadoon (Charlie) and Aida (Radames). Proud graduate of The University of Michigan.

JOHNATHAN SHEPHERD FIRST SEASON (Ensemble) is excited to be making his first appearance at Asolo Rep. He recently made his professional debut as John Thomas in the Western Playhouse production on Miss Saigon.

JEff M. SMITH FIRST SEASON (Ensemble/Understudy Frank/Understudy Both Backwooodsman) has always wanted to be a performer at sea! He was born and raised in West Texas and graduated from Texas Tech University (Music-Theatre). Jeff recently wrapped up touring the nation

with West Side Story. Some regional favorites include Cats (Gateway Playhouse), Damn Yankees (Ogunquit Playhouse), Man of La Mancha (The Arts Center of Coastal Carolina), West Side Story (Ogunquit Playhouse). A big thanks to CLA and to Asolo Rep for having him in this wonderful production. www.jeffmsmith.net


DOROTHY STANLEY* FIRST SEASON (Parthy Ann Hawks) is excited to make her Asolo Rep debut in Show Boat, and thrilled to return to Sarasota where she appeared at the Sarasota Opera House in Dames At Sea and the tours of Cabaret and Billy Elliot at the Van Wezel. Her regional credits

include the Syracuse and Arena Stages, St. Louis and Connecticut Repertory Theatres, Paper Mill, Weston, Cape Playhouses, the Denver Center, and Goodspeed Musicals. She and Joel Blum were Frank and Ellie in Hal Prince’s revival of Show Boat 20 years ago. Now we’re the old folks! Thanks to Rob Ruggiero for bringing us back together.

LILLY MAE STEWART FIRST SEASON (Young Kim) is eight years old, and is a third grade gifted student. Performances include Fiddler on the Roof, Les Misérables, Annie and How to Eat Like a Child. She loves ballroom dancing, cartwheeling, hula hooping, reading, rock climbing and violin. She is

pictured on national Tervis displays. She is a funny girl, who easily laughs at herself! www.LillyMaeStewart.com and www.backstage.com/kathryndutton-mitchell/

ELISA VAN DUYNE* FIRST SEASON (Ellie May Chipley) is honored to perform at Asolo Rep. Her Broadway credits include 42nd Street, Beauty and the Beast, 110 In the Shade, and Finian’s Rainbow. Favorite roles include Irene Roth, Crazy for You; Velma, Chicago; Milly, Seven Brides…;

Young Little Edie, Grey Gardens; and Elsa Schraeder, The Sound of Music. Other regional theatre works include shows at Paper Mill Playhouse, Kennedy Center, and Walnut Street Theatre. She has appeared on TV in Celebrity Ghost Stories, As The World Turns, The Late Show with David Letterman and Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. She is a Boston Conservatory graduate. Love to my family.

NICHOLAS WARD* FIRST SEASON (Charlie/Ensemble, Assistant Director/Understudy Joe) is so thrilled to be joining the Asolo Rep family in this beautiful production of Show Boat. Nicholas grew up in a small town called Niceville, FL and currently resides in NYC. Some of his favorite roles

include New York City Center’s Encores!, Pipe Dream, National tour of Show Boat, European tour of Porgy and Bess, Booker T. Washington in Ragtime, the Voice of the Plant in Little Shop of Horrors, Judah in Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Tenorio in Man of La Mancha and Fred in Smokey Joe’s Café’. Sending love and thanks to friends and family for their endless support.

KATIE WEIDMAIER FIRST SEASON (Ensemble/Understudy Ellie/Understudy Ethel) is excited to be a part of her first season at Asolo Rep. Some of her recent credits include Roxie in Chicago, Kate/Chutney in Legally Blonde and the Ghost of Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol at the historic

Woodstock Playhouse. She is a proud graduate from the University of Michigan and would like to thank her family, friends, and Ben for all of their love and support. KatieWeidmaier.com

GRIffETH WHITEHURST SECOND SEASON (Ensemble/Assistant to Choreographer/Understudy Sherriff Vallon/Understudy Willy) was last seen performing the role of George in Freefall Theatre’s production of Spring Awakening. Regional: S’Wonderful (Straz Center as Harold), 1776 (Asolo Rep as the

Leather Apron) He graduated from the University of Tampa in 2012 with a degree in Performing Arts. University credits include Black (Wild Party); George Gibbs (Our Town); Lance (Die Mommie, Die!); Songs For A New World; Pippin and Candide. Griffeth also performed as Lance in Die Mommie, Die! at the Orlando Fringe Festival in 2010. This is his second production with Asolo Rep, and he is thrilled to be back.

*Members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

MARISSA MCGOWAN & BEN DAVIS, PHOTO BY DANIEL KELLY


WHO’S WHO IN THE MUSICIANS

TERRI BOOTH SEVENTH SEASON (Reed Doubler) is happy to be back here at Asolo Rep after playing 1776 and the world premiere production of Noah Racey’s Pulse last season. She has recorded background/scene change music for straight shows as well as played in the pit for other Asolo Rep Productions such as Fanny Brice, America’s Funny Girl; Barnum and Backwards in High Heels.

CARLANN EVANS FOURTH SEASON (Violinist) This will be Carlann’s fourth show with Asolo Rep. She performed in Bonnie & Clyde (2010), Yentl (2011) in which she collab-orated with the composer Jill Sobule, and last year she played in 1776. Carlann is a member of the Sarasota Orchestra, Musicians Out of the Box, teaches extensively, and loves performing other genres of music. She is happy to be back with Asolo Rep.

TJ GLOWACKI THIRD SEASON (Upright Bass) has played bass with several National tours including Thoroughly Modern Millie, Grease, Wicked, West Side Story, Anything Goes, A Chorus Line, Mary Poppins, Barry Manilow and Andrea Bocelli. His previous work at Asolo Rep includes Noah Racey’s Pulse and Stephen Schwartz’ Working The Musical. He is a member of the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra and currently teaches at The Patel Conservatory, Hillsborough Community College, and St. Petersburg College.

VICTOR MONGILLO FIFTH SEASON (Trumpet) has been a music educator for the past 25 years and is currently Director of Bands at Pine View School for the Gifted. Past Asolo Rep credits include Biff in 1940’s Radio Hour, Palace Trumpeter in Plexiglass Slipper and pit musician for 1776, Barnum, Beehive, A Tale of Two Cities, Swingtime Canteen, Guys and Dolls and The Music Man.

DON PARKER THIRD SEASON (Trombone) a Sarasota native, was awarded a BM degree in trombone performance from the Swinney Conservatory of Music at CMU. He toured with many shows, including the famous RBBB circus Blue Unit as Trombonist and Assoc. Conductor. This is Don’s third show with Asolo Rep, past credits being 1776 and Barnum. Don performs freelance with groups including the Sarasota Jazz project Big Band, The Jazz Legacy BB, and The First Brass Choir.

THOMAS E. SUTA SEVENTH SEASON (Percussion) BM, MM The New England Conservatory of Music; Timpanist with the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra. Performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Show work: Asolo Rep, Tampa Bay Performing Arts, Sarasota Players, Manatee Players, Florida Studio Theatre. Commissioned to compose The Eye of Ra for the Sarasota Youth Opera. Faculty State College of Florida since 1985.

E. FAYE BUTLER, MICHAEL JAMES LESLIE, JOEL BLUM, DANIELLA DALLI, MARISSA MCGOWAN & BEN DAVIS, PHOTO BY DANIEL KELLY

fROM DIRECTOR ROB RUGGIERO

Show BoatrEviviNg thE grEAt AmEricAN muSicAlShow Boat has moved and entertained audiences since it was first produced back in 1927. The musical is based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber and has seen many productions for close to a century. It is a powerful story spanning nearly four decades, and takes us on a journey into the lives of those living and working on the Cotton Blossom, a Mississippi River show boat. The play’s dominant themes of racial prejudice, family struggles, and enduring love have touched the lives of many audiences over the years, and the show itself helped redefine the musical in its time.

It is certainly a daunting task to take on this monumental classic. When Goodspeed Musicals first approached me to direct Show Boat in 2011, I – at the time – actually knew very little about it. Preparing for that production, I soon became totally consumed and moved by this powerful story and extraordinary piece of musical theatre. Now, as I prepare to re-stage the show here at Asolo Rep, I continue to be humbled and impressed at how this show affects all of us and how “not old” it feels.

What interests me most is telling the story of this intimate show business family, a family that reaches beyond any biological connection to a place that represents a very deep connection and love. This family crosses lines of race and class, which in its time was even more provocative and dangerous than it is now. I was particularly surprised to encounter how assertively Show Boat deals with race issues. For me, these relate back to the family issues of the play and are not some huge political statement. It’s very personal.

Our version of Show Boat is based on the 1946 published script, but we have made (with the support and approval of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization) a number of adjustments, edits, and changes. Show Boat has never been performed the same way twice – it’s a piece of repertoire that has always invited interpretation and choice. I really wanted to focus our production on the story of this show business family. I found particular inspiration in both the novel and 1936 movie as I searched for authenticity. This Show Boat is more intimate and story-centric, possibly one of the most intimate versions to date.

The support of the R&H Organization was instrumental as I searched for solutions that both served the story and honored the history of the show. They provided access to rare archival materials, offered suggestions, advice, guidance, and most importantly trusted and encouraged my vision for Show Boat.

So… what is distinct about this Show Boat? Here are a few highlights to watch for:

First, this will be a more concise and streamlined production – one that is very focused on story and relationships, while maintaining its entertainment value. I hope audiences will leave with a very personal connection to this extended family, these characters and how life on the Cotton Blossom (and away from it) changes them.

Yes, there will be a boat. One thing we all felt was imperative was “you can’t do Show Boat without a boat” and we’ve worked hard to meet that challenge. Working with my long-time collaborator, set designer Michael Schweikardt, solving the design has been both an inspiring and epic undertaking. We had two major tasks: how to articulate the boat onstage, and then how to articulate the change to Chicago and the Trocadero. Michael has worked tirelessly to design a beautiful set that has been skillfully brought to life. At times, using the theater itself as the interior of the boat was also key.

One of the most exciting and original changes will be found in how we are approaching the top of Act Two. With the support and approval of R&H, Alice Hammerstein, and the Ferber estate, I was invited to present an alternative solution to this section in particular. Our Show Boat combines and re-structures existing materials in a new and original way to move the story forward.

Finally, casting is something that is critical in producing a successful Show Boat. I wanted a great acting company as well as a great company of singers. Though the music must be served, of course, I didn’t want the show to be just “sung,” but rather lived. Asolo Rep searched very diligently with our casting director to find the right actors to support this particular vision.

Captain Andy is the heart of any Show Boat, and the entertaining and funny Joel Blum will fill those shoes. His other half, the strong and protective Parthy will be played by the uniquely amusing Dottie Stanley. The key roles of Magnolia and Ravenal are being brought to life by the quirky and wonderfully talented Marissa McGowan matched with the authentically charming Ben Davis. Naturally, the choice of Joe is very important as well. We chose the powerful and sublime Michael James Leslie. His (and our) Queenie will be experienced through the maternal strength and humor of E. Faye Butler. The song and dance team of Frank and Ellie will be played by the delightful “triple threat” couple, Denis Lambert and Elisa van Duyne, and the pivotal role of Julie by the beautiful and layered Daniella Dalli.

I feel very fortunate to be able to collaborate with this level of talent here at Asolo Rep – and this cast is exceptional. The entire company of 25 actors will certainly bring a very special passion to our version of Show Boat.

Come aboard for this unique and intimate journey! *Adapted with permission from materials originally appearing on www.goodspeed.org.

ASOLOREP.ORG SHOW BOAT 1312 SHOW BOAT ASOLOREP.ORG

1887The Cotton Blossom docks at The Levee at Natchez, MS.There are now 121 Edison Power stations in the United States supplying electricity to their customers.

MARCH 3 Anne Sullivan begins teaching six-year-old Helen Keller, who was rendered both deaf and blind at the age of 19 months, how to communicate.

OCTOBER 3 Florida A&M University opens its doors in Tallahassee, Florida. It opens with two teachers and 15 students as the State Normal College for Colored Students.

1889Construction on the Rand-McNally building is finished in Chicago, IL. At 10 stories tall it is the first steel framed skyscraper in the world.

1890The 1890 census shows the U.S. population to be approximately 62 million.

1892Kim Ravenal is born aboard the Cotton Blossom.

1893fEBRUARY The financial collapse of railroad companies causes the “Panic of 1893” – an economic depression in America that lasts until the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897.

MAY Thomas Edison displays his motion picture device, the Kinescope. The first public movie theatre opens the following April. SEPTEMBER The Duryea Motor Wagon Company demonstrates the first gasoline powered automobile built in America, the “Lady Phaeton.”

Show Boat the currents of timeShow Boat’s action spans forty years, ranging from 1887 to 1927. Although the story itself is a fiction, the characters and motifs reflect the changing times of the real historical periods the piece occupies.

Events in plain text are part of historical record. Events in bold take place in the play only.

ABOUT THE LEGEND

EDNA fErbEr, icONic AuthOr

Though Edna Ferber’s writing career spanned more than 50 years and propelled her to fame before her death in 1968 at age 82, she sprang from humble beginnings. The daughter of Hungarian-born Jewish shopkeeper Jacob Ferber and his American wife Julia, Edna was born in August 1885 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The family – consisting of Edna, her parents, and older sister Fannie – moved at least three times during Edna’s youth, living in Chicago and Iowa before settling in Appleton, Wisconsin when Edna was a teenager. As a high school senior, Edna briefly entertained the idea of becoming an actress, but that dream was discarded after graduation. She got a job as a reporter for the Appleton Daily Crescent shortly after finishing high school, and spent the next two years working for the paper. She enjoyed the work and soon found she had a way with words.

It was impressive that Ferber got the job with the Crescent as female reporters in the early 1900s were rare. Her biographer, great-niece Julie Gilbert, relates the circumstances of her hiring in Ferber: Edna Ferber and Her Circle, A Biography. “She’d known that it was unheard of for a girl to be a reporter. ‘Never been done before,’ they told her – unanimous heads shaking. But she’d been hired…” Even in those early days, it was apparent that Ferber’s natural bent tended towards fiction rather than journalism. She was eventually fired from the Crescent for blurring fact and fiction in some of her stories. Gilbert notes, “Edna had been told that her services were no longer required…Appleton rumor still has it today that the chief reason was because she wrote fiction in lieu of journalism – that she bent the facts to suit herself. It was a most fortuitous firing, although she didn’t know it at the time.”

Her dismissal from the Crescent was soon to be forgotten, for in 1905 at the age of 20, Ferber left Appleton for Milwaukee and a better job at the Milwaukee Journal. She spent her years on the Journal honing her writing skills and building connections that would serve her later in life. She’d begun to dabble with fiction writing while she was still working in journalism, but had difficulty believing she could abandon her steady job to become a

full time novelist. She recounted her internal struggle in her 1938 autobiography, A Peculiar Treasure. “Though I had sold all the short stories I had written I was still afraid that this golden gift would be snatched from me. It didn’t seem possible that one could earn a living just by sitting home cozily in front of a typewriter and bringing people to life on paper.”

Stability was key to Ferber, and seeking it had become habitual early on. Jacob was chronically ill in Edna’s youth, and the Ferber women – particularly Julia and Edna – had been thrust into roles that were atypical for women in the early years of the 20th century. This had a profound effect on Edna, imbuing her with a sense of determination and drive that never left her. Gilbert recounts the development of the family’s dynamics. “Since [Edna’s] graduation…she had been working to support a family whose father could eventually barely eat bread no less win it. The roles had been defined early. Jacob was the invalid – sweet, soft, and needy. Julia was the man of the family – productive, seemingly tireless, and emotionally muscular. Fan was goody-domestic-shoes – tame, pretty, a household genius. Edna was goody-work-shoes – smart, industrious, adventurous. Hers was the most complicated role. She was never allowed, nor permitted herself, to be a daughter. With Julia as head of the household, she suffered a reversal, and became the ‘No. 1 son’ to her mother’s masculine stance. ‘Ed can do it.’ ‘Ed will do it.’ ‘Good for Ed!’ was the hum all around her. They even called her Ed, as though she were a tough little guy.”

While Ferber always had great affection for her father, and spent a significant amount of time caring for him while her mother ran the family business, his illness created a strain between Edna’s parents. Gilbert notes that Julia “had terrible contempt for her albatross husband; a contempt which both Edna and Fan caught and carried with them…Women were potent; men not so much.” This seed, planted early, would grow into a recurring theme in Ferber’s works, which almost always featured strong female protagonists and at least one weaker or subordinate male character. Her first novel, Dawn O’Hara, was published in 1911 and was written during Ferber’s own bout with illness. She’d returned to Appleton from Milwaukee in 1909, suffering from severe anemia. Fannie and Julia were simultaneously caring for Edna and Jacob, who by this point was blind and near death – he passed away that September. While Edna was recovering from her illness, and later from the emotional loss of her father, she began to work on Dawn O’Hara.

The novel, which follows a young woman embarking on a career as a journalist, was published by Frederick A. Stokes. He’d received it from the agent that Ferber had sent it to, Flora May Holly. Ferber had heard of Holly from other female reporters at the Journal, and knew that she had successfully represented the work of fellow female journalist turned novelist Zona Gale several years earlier. She did equally well by Ferber, and it seemed as though before Edna knew it, her career path had shifted yet again – though she would still continue her journalistic pursuits by covering the 1920 Democratic and Republican conventions for the United Press Association, her focus was now primarily on fiction.

A string of novels and short stories followed Dawn O’Hara, many of which were quite successful. She became well known for her popular heroine, Emma McChesney, who featured in several of her works. But her first notable critical success as a novelist was 1924’s So Big, which told the story of a woman who becomes a teacher in a rural farm community. The heroine marries a farmer who falls ill and dies, leaving her to run their farm and raise their son alone. The piece won the Pulitzer Prize in 1925 and has been adapted for the screen multiple times. Several more well-known novels followed over the subsequent decades, including 1929’s Cimarron, 1952’s Giant, and 1958’s Ice Palace, all of which have been adapted into films.

Shortly before writing Show Boat, which was published in 1926, Ferber embarked on yet another phase of her career – that of playwright. Her introduction to writing for the stage came via none other than one of the most celebrated playwrights in the history of American theatre – George S. Kaufman. In his biography of Kaufman, George S. Kaufman: An Intimate Portrait, Howard Teichmann relates how the iconic collaboration began. “It was Beatrice [Kaufman’s wife] who brought them together. Bea had bought a volume containing ‘Old Man Minick,’ one of Miss Ferber’s better short stories, and had recommended it to George to read. He did. When he was convinced it could be made into a play, she urged him to write the author.” The play, simply called Minick, was a success in 1924 and it kicked off a collaboration that would last nearly twenty five years and give rise to half a dozen plays, including the hits The Royal Family, Stage Door, and Dinner at Eight.

Ferber had begun laying the groundwork for Show Boat while she and Kaufman were working on Minick. But her original concept had nothing to do with itinerant actors on the Mississippi River. She related the novel’s origins to Gilbert. “…Show Boat wasn’t meant to be called Show Boat at all, for the excellent reason that when I first contemplated writing it I had

never heard of a show boat. It was to have been a novel entirely laid around the old Chicago Clark Street gambling days.” It was Ferber and Kaufman’s producer on Minick, Winthrop Ames, who first mentioned the idea of show boats to her – jokingly suggesting running away and joining a show boat troupe as an alternative to working on Minick in New York’s sweltering August heat.

The idea of the boats, once presented, captivated Ferber. A child of the Midwest, she had seen the Mississippi River just once in her youth, but it had left a deep impression, and now Ames had called it to the forefront of her mind. She began work on the novel in 1924, visiting a show boat called the James Adams Floating Theatre to conduct research. The man who played the juvenile leads on that boat, Charles Hunter, proved an invaluable resource. She interviewed him for a full day during her visit to the boat, and corresponded with him for much of the following year and half during her writing process. The hard work and attention to detail paid off for Ferber – the novel was a best-seller.

The book’s journey to the stage began shortly after it was released. Composer Jerome Kern had become fascinated with the novel almost immediately, but it took him and book writer/lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II some time to convince Ferber to allow them to adapt it into a musical. Familiar with the then-traditional frivolous revue-style shows that dotted Broadway in the 1920s, Ferber felt that the more serious subject matter of Show Boat wouldn’t be a good fit for the stage. In the end it was Alexander Woollcott, a fellow writer and member of the Algonquin Round Table with whom Ferber had an often-contentious relationship, who got the ball rolling. Woollcott and Ferber were attending an opening night and Kern approached Woollcott in the lobby at intermission, asking if Woollcott might introduce him to Ferber. Woollcott obliged, and the connection was forged.

Despite any initial reservations she had about turning her novel into a musical, Ferber grew to love the piece that Kern and Hammerstein created, and the score became some of her favorite music. She told Gilbert that, “I must break down and confess to being one of those whose eyes grow dreamy and whose mouth is wreathed in wistful smiles whenever the orchestra – any orchestra – plays ‘Ol’ Man River.’…I never have tired of it. I just happen to think that when Jerome Kern wrote the Show Boat score he achieved the most beautiful and important light-opera music that has ever been written in America.”

Edna Ferber was successful as a journalist, novelist, and playwright, and her work was both critically acclaimed and achieved popular success. Though Show Boat may be one of her better remembered pieces, the impact of Edna Ferber’s legacy on the American literary landscape is as indelible as it is undeniable. -LS


1895fEBRUARY 14 The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde premieres at the St. James Theatre in London to immense acclaim.

NOVEMBER 25 Oscar Hammerstein I opens the Olympia Theatre, the first theatre in Times Square New York. He is the grandfather of Show Boat writer and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II.

1896APRIL 6 The first Modern Olympic Games begin in Athens, Greece.

MAY 18 The Supreme Court rules on Plessy v. Ferguson, a landmark Supreme Court case that allows states to segregate African-Americans and create “separate but equal” facilities. This practice would remain standard until the law was repealed in 1954 in the case of Brown v. The Board of Education.

1899NOVEMBER 6 Famous American actor William Gillette’s adaptation of Sherlock Holmes – A Drama in Four Acts debuts on Broadway at the Garrick Theatre.

DECEMBER 31 Magnolia debuts at Chicago’s Trocadero Nightclub on New Year’s Eve.

1900The 1900 census shows the population of the United States is approximately 76 million.

fEBRUARY The Brownie camera is introduced by the Eastman Kodak company. It is cheap, portable, and popularizes home photography.

1901U.S. Steel becomes the first billion dollar company in America. It is headed by J.P. Morgan.

OCTOBER President Theodore Roosevelt invites African-American leader Booker T. Washington to the White House. Many in the South react angrily to the visit, and racial violence increases in the region.

1903W.E.B. DuBois’ The Souls of Black Folk is published. It is a powerful argument for the right of African-Americans to be able to vote, be educated, and be treated with tolerance and justice. It will become a cornerstone of American literature.

DECEMBER 17 Wilbur and Orville Wright successfully fly their first powered airplane a distance of 120 feet.

THEATRICAL INNOVATION

Show BoatiN thEAtrE hiStOryIn 1927, Show Boat hit the stages of New York City like a thunderbolt. Here was a never before seen style of musical play where plot, character, and song all combined into one cohesive storytelling experience. In contrast to the light comedies and variety shows that came before it, Show Boat’s realistic portrayal of social issues such as racial status and miscegenation showed how powerful musical theatre could be. However, to our modern sensibilities the structure of Show Boat seems familiar and recognizable. While its themes may still challenge us, and its music still move us, understanding its explosive impact on the culture of 1927 requires examining the theatre of the time, and what came before it.

In 1866, The Black Crook opened at the 3,200 seat theatre at Niblo’s Garden in New York. This five-hour-long spectacle based musical entertainment was created when an unfortunate event occurred at the New York Academy of Music, resulting in a timely pairing of artists. A Parisian ballet troupe had recently been hired to perform at the Academy, but the day they arrived in New York a fire ravaged the building, burning it to the ground. Desperate for work they approached William Wheatley, the actor-manager of Niblo’s, to see if he had anything for them. Thrilled at the prospect of having an entire troupe of dancers to complement his actors and singers, Wheatley produced an entertainment where song and dance numbers were interwoven with a unified plot. Prior to this production, there were two primary methods of incorporating music into theatrical pieces. Light comedies consisted of a series of songs and sketches, sometimes loosely connected, but with no real through-line. Opera had been combining music and story for many years, but were more frequently dramatic than comedic, and at the time were almost exclusively written in languages other than English. The success of The Black Crook in “stealing” from both forms and combining song, dance, story, music, and comedy is why it is often considered to

be the forerunner of the American musical. It was extremely successful, running for a then-unheard of 474 performances. Many shows tried to imitate it in the following years, attempting to capitalize on its success.

For the next two decades the form of these “musical entertainments” would be refined in New York, and their popularity would continue to grow. Modern conveniences such as street lamps and advances in transportation allowed an increasing number of patrons to attend performances in the evenings, and helped theatre companies bring their shows to new audiences around the country. But while America was refining, London was innovating, and the next big advancement in musical theatre was brewing in the minds of the writing team of W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. Although their works are usually classified as comic opera, Gilbert and Sullivan’s creations would have a profound effect on the future of musical theatre. Many of the modern conventions we consider to be staples of musical theatre were pioneered by the creative duo, including the use of lyrics and music to advance a coherent story, pairing a tenor and soprano as the love interests and using their love story as the backbone of a show, quickly spoken patter songs sung by a comedic character, and satirical commentary on current social issues. In 1878, H.M.S. Pinafore opened in London. Though not their first collaboration, it was their first international hit, beginning a string of commercial and artistic successes for the pair that would last for over twenty years.

In the beginning of the 20th century, musicals were still following the form set by Gilbert and Sullivan, emulating their style in order to capitalize on their popularity. However, the music in these subsequent shows was modernized as popular songs and the musical style of ragtime began to increasingly influence Broadway productions. Racial boundaries were also beginning to change, and 1898’s A Trip To Coontown became the first Broadway show to be produced and performed by an entirely African-American troupe. This show, however, was still in the style of the then-popular “Minstrel Shows,” which often portrayed African-Americans as dull, lazy, superstitious buffoons. A more positive portrayal of African-Americans, and their integration into shows with Whites, was still decades away.

With the outbreak of World War I large numbers of Americans sought out theatrical entertainment, as the horrors in the newspaper headlines rapidly increased the appeal of light, witty, and upbeat musical comedies. The popular appeal of these shows, the eagerness of audiences to attend them, and the commercial viability of the productions created an explosion of theatre during the war years that allowed America to become the leading innovator of the western theatrical world. After twenty years of following the British rule of Gilbert and Sullivan, American theatre was now being brought into London and changing the landscape of drama. A new crop of American writers and musicians began to dominate both cities, and enduring favorites like George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and Rodgers and Hart first made a name for themselves through the 1910s and 20s.

At the same time another shift began that would eventually split the theatrical world into two distinct factions. The earlier musical comedies continued to draw strong audiences, but a new form of entertainment known as a revue show began to gain popularity. Drawing from influences of vaudeville, burlesque, jazz, and circuses, revue shows were a series of acts – usually sketches, songs and demonstrations of talent – that soared in popularity in the 1920s. The most popular of these revues was an annual variety show known as The Ziegfeld Follies. Founded by Florenz Ziegfeld in 1907, the show grew to become a yearly spectacular. Huge casts, enormous sets, lavish costumes, and rows of dancing girls drew audiences to the Follies every year on Broadway. The show also drew performers from famous names of the time – stars such as Josephine Baker, Fanny Brice, Will Rogers, and W.C. Fields all took part in various editions. As different as the revue shows were from the musical comedies of the previous decades, the common theme they shared was lightness. They were both comedic, and never ventured

[Show Boat] discarded the old model of allowing songs to lead while the story

followed, and gave a compelling narrative the music it needed to express itself..

“”

- continued on page 16

Original hand-drawn program and production photo from the Ziegfeld Theatre’s 1927 production of Show Boat.

DECEMBER 30 Chicago’s Iroquois Theatre is consumed by a fire during a matinee performance. Over 605 people die. To this day it is still the deadliest building fire in the history of America.

1907Florenz ziegfeld premiers the first of his yearly Ziegfeld Follies revue shows at the Jardin de Paris.

1908OCTOBER 1 Henry Ford introduces the Model T automobile to the American public. It is the first “affordable” automobile, and helps to make car travel common for middle class Americans.

1910The 1910 census shows the population of the United States is approximately 92 million.

1911MAY 30 The first Indianapolis 500 is held, with the winning racer averaging 75 miles per hour.

1912APRIL 16 The Titanic sinks, taking the lives of over 1,500 of its passengers.

1914fEBRUARY 2 Charlie Chaplin makes his film debut in the comedy short Making a Living.

JULY 28 Austria-Hungry declares war on Serbia and begins World War I.

1915JANUARY 12 The United States House of Representatives rejects a proposal to give women the right to vote.


Clockwise from bottom left: Paul Robeson, Irene Dunne, Hattie McDaniel, and Helen Morgan in the 1936 film of Show Boat; Helen Morgan as Julie in the 1936 film; and Edna Ferber’s original masterpiece.

Top: The traditional American paddle steamer, one of many inspirations for the Show Boat setting. Bottom: The James Adams Floating Theatre, at home on the waters of the Chesapeake Bay from 1914-1941.

LIfE AfLOAT

whAt lifE wAS likE ON A rEAl rivEr bOAt“Decent folks as you’d ever want to see. Married couples, most of ‘em…What do you think I’m running? A bawdy-boat?” – Capt. Andy Hawks, Show Boat

When Edna Ferber began writing Show Boat she had never experienced what life aboard one of these unusual vessels was like. In order to get an accurate feel for the daily life on board, she visited the James Adams Floating Theatre, a show boat that sailed the Chesapeake Bay and its surrounding tributaries from 1914–1941. She observed the routines of the cast and crew, and spent the better part of an entire day interviewing the juvenile lead Charles Hunter, who also served as director and sometimes as playwright. She related the conversation to her biographer, great-niece Julie Gilbert. “He talked for hours…tales of the river. Stories of show boat life. Characterizations. Romance. Adventure. River history. Stage superstition. I had a chunk of yellow copy paper in my hand. On this I scribbled without looking down; afraid to glance away for fear of breaking the spell.”

One of the aspects of life on board that quickly became clear to Ferber was that – despite the reputations these boats sometimes had in the river towns as magnets for lewd behavior, the troupes on board were usually quite wholesome. On the James Adams, there was a strict moral code in force and the enterprise was a family affair. The captain – the James Adams who lent his name to the boat – was a former circus performer who decided that in his retirement he would take up a second career as a showman on the water. His sister, Beulah, starred in most of the productions and was married to her co-star, Hunter. Adams’ brother, Selba, was also involved, serving as business manager for the boat for over 15 years of its run.

Ferber managed to capture and reflect this family dynamic in Show Boat, centering her novel around the Hawks family – Captain Andy, the irrepressible showman who oversees the

Cotton Blossom, his wife Parthy whose strictness and sharp business sense ensures that the boat actually turns a profit, and their daughter Magnolia who becomes the star attraction in all of their productions. But beyond the Hawks family, Ferber also wrote of the extended family of the show boat, and caught something of the indefinable bond that grows between performers who have played long runs together. In this passage, from early in the novel, she encapsulates the essence of that life in a few short sentences. “Julie was cooking a pot of coffee over a little spirit lamp. They used the stage as a common gathering place. Bare of scenery now, in readiness for next night’s set, it was their living room. Stark and shadowy as it was, there was about it an air of coziness, of domesticity…Sometimes George at the piano tried out a new song for Elly or Schultzy or Ralph, in prep-aration for to-morrow night’s concert. The tinkle of the piano, the sound of the singer’s voice drifted across the river. Up in the little town in a drab cottage near the waterfront a restless soul would turn in his sleep…wondering about these strange people singing on their boat at midnight; envying them their fantastic vagabond life.” -LS

into more dramatic material. All of this changed with the opening of Show Boat in 1927.

Show Boat began as a novel in 1926, written by Edna Ferber. It was adapted into a musical by composer Jerome Kern and writer and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II. After writing the music for the first act, Kern and Hammerstein took their show to Florenz Ziegfeld. Wowed by the power of the show, and the seriousness of its themes, Ziegfeld agreed to produce the show and considered it the opportunity of a lifetime. Perhaps even more shocking at the time than the seriousness of its plot – a first for the musical theatre format – audiences were introduced to the first racially integrated cast on Broadway. The show possessed a then-unheard of frankness in its portrayal of relationships between the races. It even featured the first serious instance of interracial marriage ever portrayed on Broadway. Wildly innovative for its time, Show Boat was also a critical and commercial success from its opening night. It would go on to run for a substantial 572 performances. It would be adapted into four different movies and seven different radio programs, and it is continually produced by theatres around the world to this day.

The arrival of Show Boat forever changed the texture of the American musical. It discarded the old model of allowing songs to lead while the story followed, and gave a compelling narrative the music it needed to express itself. It is a show featuring characters in situations of such heightened energy and emotion that they have no option but to sing. Show Boat added immediacy to the musical, and its effects are not only still felt, but celebrated. As much as the modern musical has evolved since 1927, it is still very much a part of Show Boat’s continuing legacy. -AA All dramaturgical information in this playbill written, edited,

and compiled by Lauryn E. Sasso and Austen Anderson.

- continued from page 16

frOm cOStumE DESigNEr Amy clArk

“

“

“

“


fEBRUARY 8 Controversial silent film, The Birth of a Nation, premieres. The film portrays African-Americans as violent and dangerous, and dramatizes the Ku Klux Klan as heroes against black oppression. It was the highest grossing film in America for over twenty-five years.

fEBRUARY 12 The first stone of the Lincoln Memorial is put into place.

1917APRIL 6 U.S. Congress declares war on Germany and America enters World War I.

1918A worldwide outbreak of the Spanish Flu begins. It will kill over 50 million people, 6% of the world’s population, by 1920.

1919JANUARY 16 The eighteenth amendment is ratified making alcohol illegal in the United States and beginning the era known as Prohibition.

JUNE 28 The Treaty of Versailles is signed, officially ending World War I.

DECEMBER 26 Babe Ruth’s contract is sold to the New York Yankees for a sum of $125,000, the largest amount ever paid for a baseball player at the time.

1920The 1920 census shows the U.S. population to be approximately 106 million.

AUGUST 18 The nineteenth amendment is ratified, giving women the right to vote.

AUGUST 27 The first commercial radio station in the United States begins airing.

1922JANUARY 11 The first successful insulin treatment of diabetes is made by Frederick Banting.

MAY 30 The Lincoln Memorial is dedi- cated and presented to President Warren G. Harding on behalf of the American people.

CREATING THE LOOK

Show Boat:hOw thE cOStumES & SEtS cOmE tOgEthEr

frOm SEt DESigNEr michAEl SchwEikArDt

Florence Klotz (October 28, 1920 – November 1, 2006) was a Broadway costume designer for over 60 years. By the end of her life she had won six Tony Awards for costume design, as well as countless other accolades for her work.

The costumes in our production of Show Boat are based on her

Tony and Drama Desk Award winning costumes for the Broadway revival of 1994. Prior to winning a Tony for that production she had won the Tony Award for her costumes in Follies (1972), A Little Night Music (1973), Pacific Overtures (1976), Grind (1985), and Kiss of the Spider Woman (1993).

She also designed Elizabeth Taylor’s dress for her sixth wedding (to John Warner) in 1976, after Taylor and Klotz had become close friends while working on the film version of A Little Night Music. -AA

Designing Show Boat has been the job of a lifetime – so far. It’s the most interesting, most challenging, and most satisfying thing I’ve done in a very long time. It’s a lot of show and that comes with more than a little pressure. The show is named Show Boat, after all, so the design of the title piece needs to be impressive.

When I first began designing the boat, I had to answer all sorts of questions. What should the boat be? How much room could it take up? How could it move out of the way when the scene shifts to another location in the show? What angle of the boat should the audience see – should they be looking at the stern, the side, the bow? It was just a laundry list of questions that I answered one at a time. Then I studied the source material, Edna Ferber’s novel, Show Boat, and that Early set sketches and models from the

pre-production phase of Show Boat.

Members of the cast of the 2011 rendition of Show Boat at Goodspeed Musicals.

was a revelation. It became immediately clear to me that the boat itself was a home, a character, and a member of the family. I took Ferber’s description of the boat to heart and ultimately rich, layered detail became my focus.

The challenge of Show Boat is that it is literally based on Florence Klotz’s original design for the 1994 Broadway revival. My approach really started by trying to establish a color palette and graphic energy to support the different groups of people we interact with as the story unfolds. I felt it was important that the troubadours, the family, the show people, and the pedestrians had a specificity to them that was trackable because we cover so much ground in this show rather quickly.

Show Boat is really a designer’s dream because we have the opportunity to support the history of a family over 40 years. We live with them through love, sorrow, wealth, poverty, and three major historical silhouettes. The opportunity to really establish a passage of time and the psychological development of a character is a real gift in this story.


1923MARCH 3 The first issue of Time magazine is published.

1924fEBRUARY 2 Calvin Coolidge delivers the first radio broadcast by a President of the United States from the White House.

MAY 26 The Immigration Act of 1924 is passed. The act limits the amount of annual immigration from foreign countries to 2% of that country’s current immigrant population in America.

SEPTEMBER 28 John Harding and Erik Nelson complete the first round-the-world flight. It takes them 175 days and 74 stops to complete the journey. Their craft was part of a team of four separate planes that took off at the same time. They were the first to finish, and one of only two crews that made it back to their origin point of Seattle.

1925JUNE 13 Charles Francis Jenkins achieves the first synchronized trans-mission of pictures and sound. A 10-minute film of a miniature windmill in motion is broadcast across 5 miles from Anacostia, VA to Washington D.C.


JULY 21 John Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution in a Tennessee school. His trial had gained national attention, and become one of the most publicized events in history under the name of The Scopes Monkey Trial.

AUGUST 8 The Ku Klux Klan holds a parade in Washington D.C. with 40,000 members in attendance. At an estimated 5 million members, the Klan is at this point the largest fraternal organization in the United States.

1926AUGUST 6 Don Juan premiers as the first feature length motion picture with synchronized sound effects and music.

1927Ravenal and Magnolia reunite at the Cotton Blossom.

MAY 20 Charles Lindbergh pilots the Spirit of St. Louis on the first non-stop flight between New York and Paris.

OCTOBER 6 The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, opens as the first feature length movie with synchronized dialogue and songs.

DECEMBER 27 Show Boat opens at the ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway.

PUTTING IT IN PERSPECTIVE

thE OrigiN & hiStOry OfmiScEgENAtiONEarly in the action of Show Boat an accusation of miscegenation is brought against two of the members of the Cotton Blossom’s acting troupe. This is a term that might not be very familiar to our ears. A combination of two Latin words, miscere “to mix” and genus “kind,” miscegenation was a word coined to describe the mixing of races through marriage or intercourse. It has almost always been used in a negative context, and often in conjunction with laws that prohibit marriages between races. In 1863, when the word was first used, it squarely targeted the fears of many Civil War-era Americans – namely that the White population would begin to mingle with and marry the newly freed Black slaves. Twenty four years separate the birth of the word and 1887 – the year the accusation is made in the play. It is in the context of those years, the period immediately after the Civil War, that we can come to better understand the gravity and seriousness with which the charge of miscegenation is leveled at the characters in Show Boat.

After the Civil War ended in 1865, a period known as Reconstruction began in the American South. Reconstruction was a politically fractured endeavor, with many sides having differing opinions as to what should be done with the South at the end of the war. The general focus was on re-integrating Confederate states into the Union and the assimilation of freed slaves – colloquially known as “Freedmen” – into Southern society. The passing of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments to the Constitution had granted Freedmen their freedom, their citizenship, and their right to vote, but getting the former Confederate states to recognize and enforce these new amendments proved to be difficult. Violent paramilitary and vigilante groups based on a philosophy of White supremacy, such as the Ku Klux Klan, began secret campaigns to terrorize – and on many occasions kill – any Freedmen who attempted to exercise their new rights. In response to these groups, the federal government supplied the newly reconstructed Southern state governments with large contingents of national army troops, and began

an aggressive process of capturing and prosecuting the members of White supremacist groups in order to quell the violence. Under these policies African-American voter turnout flourished, as did the rates of Black elected officials, in the election of 1867. In many states these levels would not be surpassed, or even met, until the 1990s. Anti-miscegenation laws went largely unenforced during this time, as the majority of Southern state governments were controlled by Northern progressives who were waging an aggressive campaign to secure newfound rights for the Freedmen.

Unfortunately, the strength of protection offered to the newly freed slaves during the aftermath of the Civil War would not last long. In 1867 Ulysses S. Grant was elected as the eighteenth president of the United States. Grant was a Northern war hero, and strongly progressive in his views towards Reconstruction and the rights of the Freedmen. In his first term he was successful in stopping Southern violence against African-Americans, stabilizing the newly formed Southern state governments, and galvanizing the progressive Republican Party. [It should be noted that the Republican and Democrat parties of this era were entirely different entities than their modern incarnations. The Republicans were considered Northern Progressives, while the Democrats were Conservative Southerners.] As he began his second term, Grant was strongly criticized by both parties for the corruption of his administration. He continually allowed the close friends he appointed into his cabinet to abuse their powers for personal gain. His willingness to turn a blind eye to the crimes around him began to break the Republican Party down into competing factions. Then in 1873 a depression hit the economy of the Southern states, and public support began to shift away from Grant and the Republicans and towards the Democrats, who loudly blamed Grant for the crisis. These two blows against his administration allowed the Democrats to regain much of the ground they had lost in the South. With this resurgence, they renewed their determination to block African-American progress. Small revolutions began at the state government level, and many of the newly elected Freedmen were ousted from their positions and replaced by White appointees. White supremacist groups also began new campaigns of violence, after several years of inactivity during the early part of the Grant administration.

The renewed Conservative uprising in 1873 culminated in one of the most horrific incidents of the Reconstruction period on April 13 in Colfax, Louisiana. What came to be known as the Colfax Massacre started as one of a series of attacks

by Democrats and White supremacist groups against the Louisiana Freedmen who had won elections in 1872. The entire election had been contentious, and there were multiple attacks and riots in response to the large number of Freedmen and Republicans that had been elected. In order to defend against these attacks, the Freedmen of Grant Parish, Louisiana began to fortify the courthouse at Colfax. There were several weeks of unrest leading up to the incident, with a few casualties on both sides of the conflict. Then, on April 13, a group of over 300 Democrats, Klan members, and former Confederate officers began their onslaught on the courthouse with rifles and cannons. Their numbers had been bolstered by a salacious news story about the unrest in the preceding weeks, printed in the anti-Republican paper the Daily Picayune. The incendiary headline read:

“THE RIOT IN GRANT PARISH. FEARFUL ATROCITIES BY THE NEGROS. NO RESPECT SHOWN FOR THE DEAD.”

The assault was short, and the men inside the courthouse soon began to fly white flags of surrender. Afterwards, the attacking Southern Conservatives began to systematically kill all of the captured Black Freedmen, while sparing the captured Whites. The final death count of African-Americans was reckoned at 105, over forty times the amount of dead White men. Equally troubling was the political fallout of the massacre. The trial of the men accused of instigating the attack was

eventually elevated to the Supreme Court, in a case known as United States v. Cruikshank. The ruling from the court was that the U.S. did not have the authority to prosecute such an attack as a violation of the fourteenth amendment, because the mob wasn’t a force of the American government, but a group of private citizens. This ruling would severely reduce the power of the Grant administration to apprehend and prosecute White supremacist groups, and such groups were able to gain a great deal of power in the South in the years that followed.

The final nail in the coffin for the Reconstruction movement in America came about during the controversy surrounding the presidential election of 1876. Democrat Samuel J. Tilden and Republican Rutherford B. Hayes fought in one of the most contentious elections the country had ever seen. When the votes were cast, discrepancies came up in four separate states, and both parties declared their candidate to be the winner of the election. Several political backroom deals were struck, and a series of compromises were made by the Republicans and the Democrats. Most notably, Hayes agreed that if Tilden conceded the election to him, he would remove all federal troops from the Southern states. This agreement effectively ended the Reconstruction movement, and is often called “The Great Betrayal” by African-American historians.

It is through the lens of the failed Reconstruction period in America that the case of miscegenation in Show Boat must be viewed. 1877 was a year of renewed oppression for African-Americans in the South, and began what would become a legacy of intolerance and harmful legislation. In the following years Jim Crow laws, statues dictating “separate but equal” treatment of Blacks, would become the rule of the land. By 1887 most Southern states had imposed methods of disenfranchising Black voters such as literacy tests and poll taxes, and the number of Black elected officials plummeted. Nearly a hundred years would pass before the civil rights movement of the 1960s, and the eventual ruling of all laws against miscegenation as unconstitutional in the 1967 Supreme Court case of Loving v. Virginia. However, long after the laws were stripped from the books, strong sentiments still linger. In 2009, Keith Bardwell, a Louisiana Justice of the Peace, recused himself from marrying an interracial couple based on his personal opinion that their future children would suffer because of their different races. Upon hearing this, President Barack Obama (himself the product of a mixed race marriage) had his press secretary release a statement that his administration, “…had reason to believe that a biracial child could do well.” -AA

Racist propaganda pamphlet from 1864 designed to incite fear of African-American integration into White culture.


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Get your own private theatre box, available all season long. Makes a great holiday gift! Four tickets • Private ante-room • Personal attendant • Red & white wine • Cheese, fruit & desert tray

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SHOW BOAT PUBLIC PROGRAMMING“CAREfULLY TAUGHT” CABARET

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 7PM

Oscar Hammerstein II helped to create many of America’s best-loved musicals, and while his work as a humanitarian and political activist is less well-known, his candid lyrics speak for themselves. In 1949 South Pacific sang to a still-segregated country,

“You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear; you’ve got to be taught from year to year.” Join us for an evening of performances of Hammerstein’s songs as we examine the serious social issues embedded in his creative work.

fAMILY DAY: SHOW BOATSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2PM PERfORMANCE, PRE-SHOW ACTIVITIES BEGIN AT 1PM

This special celebration of the American Family features pre-show activities for audiences of all ages to enjoy together, special ticket offers for family groups, and a post-show discussion with members of the cast.

MEET THE ACTORSSUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2PM

This matinee will be followed by a moderated post-show discussion with the cast.

Please contact the box office for tickets to these performances. Call (941) 351-8000.

SHOW BOAT READING LISTIf you love what you’ve seen on stage in Asolo Rep’s production of Show Boat, and want to learn more, these books will enrich your experience immeasurably!

Jerome Kern by Stephen Banfield and Geoffrey Holden BlockShow Boat: Performing Race in an American Musical by Todd DeckerThe Souls of Black folk by W.E.B. DuBoisShow Boat by Edna FerberGetting to Know Him: A Biography of Oscar Hammerstein II by Hugh Fordinferber: Edna ferber and Her Circle by Julie GilbertLife on the Mississippi by Mark Twain

For Public Programs surrounding upcoming productions, please see page 32-33 in this program book. Additional events may be added throughout the season. Stay up to date at asolorep.org/public-programs.

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