"The Completely Fictional--Utterly True--Final Strange Tale of Edgar Allan Poe" Program

Oct 17–Nov 25

By Stephen ThorneDirected by Curt Columbus

An Enemy of the People

The Completely Fictional— Utterly True—Final Strange Tale of Edgar Allan Poe

Bus Stop

The Mountaintop

Mud Blue Sky

Clybourne Park

Beneatha’s Place

2012–13 season

The Raisin Cyclethorn

e

Many years ago, my mother and father came home from a vacation and were eagerly greeted by my brother and sister and myself. We hugged our parents madly and immediately began to circle their suitcases like sharks, trying to guess at what treasures they might have brought home for us. My parents looked at each other—a little weary and also very happy—happy to be home again. They opened their bags and indeed there was treasure. One item given to me was a record called Famous Ghost Stories with Scary Sounds. On it were—yes, it’s true—lots of scary stories performed by vigorously animated readers. One of the stories was The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe.

Many years later I find myself having written a play about him. I began that process by recalling, in vivid detail, that story from that record.

What is it about Poe that sticks so firmly into one’s consciousness? Is it simply the nature of his work—its darkness—its hypnotic effect upon the reader? Is it his preoccupation with death? Or is it his role as the tortured artist? Certainly, all this and more is part of Poe’s legacy.

Poe’s ability to mix fact and fiction, imagination and science, gives his work a kind of documentary feel at times, and (because it is fiction after all) a disorienting sensation of truth. So many of his narrators begin their tales by saying, “I am simply going to tell you the facts of what happened to me. The facts of this extraordinary experience.” Often the reader is left musing, “This feels true, but is it?”

It is this spell—this trick of perception—that I most admire in Poe. It is a device that he applied to his own life, altering and revising his own narrative as he struggled with success and failure, rising again and again after falling so far.

And then he was gone, the circumstances of his death an actual mystery. What remains is an incomplete and oftentimes contradictory portrait that entices us to fill in the missing details. Our participation is necessary in making his story—and his stories—animate.

As for the story I told you about my parents? To be honest, the details are fuzzy. I remember the record. I remember being very young. I remember it as a gift from my parents. And I remember listening to it over and over. The rest was filled in by me. But I assure you, it is completely true.

Stephen Thorne, Playwright

Letter from the Playwright

Curt Columbus Director

Eugene Lee Scenic Designer

David Burdick Costume Designer

Josh Epstein Lighting Designer

Zachary Williamson Sound Designer

Gavin Witt Production Dramaturg

Sharon Jenkins Choreographer

Nancy Krebs Dialect Consultant

Stephanie Klapper Casting Director

Time: October 7, 1849—and outward.

Place: Initially, Washington College Hospital, Baltimore.

Naomi Jacobson* Eliza/Others

Caroline Kaplan* Virginia/Others

Jimmy Kieffer* Dickens/John Allan/Others

Kenneth Lee* Kindly Doctor/Others

Bruce Randolph Nelson* Edgar Allan Poe

Erick Pinnick* Moran/Others

Libya Pugh* Valdemar/Others

Charlie Thurston* Young Edgar/Others

Captain Kate Murphy* Stage Manager

Laura Smith* Assistant Stage Manager

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association

The CasT

The seTTing

The arTisTiC Team

World Premiere produced by Trinity Repertory Company Curt Columbus Artistic Director, Michael Gennaro Executive Director, May 2011

There will be Two 10-minuTe inTermissions. PLEASE turn Off Or SiLEnCE ALL ELECtrOniC DEViCES.

in CASE Of EMErgEnCY (during performances only) 410.986.4080

…Poe iS MADE POSSibLE bY SuPPOrt frOM

PrESEnting PArtnEr

SEASOn SPOnSOrSEllen and Ed BernardStephanie and Ashton CarterJames and Janet ClausonLynn and Tony Deering and

The Charlesmead FoundationJane and Larry DroppaTerry H. Morgenthaler and Patrick KerinsJudy and Scott PharesPhil and Lynn RauchJay and Sharon SmithBarbara Voss and Charles E. Noell, III

ASSOCiAtE SEASOn SPOnSOrKathleen HyleKenneth C. and Elizabeth M. Lundeen

SEASOn PArtnErS

The Rouse Company Foundation

T. Rowe Price Foundation

MEDiA PArtnErS

The Completely Fictional— Utterly True—Final Strange Tale of

Edgar Allan PoeBy Stephen Thorne• Directed by Curt Columbus

Oct 17–Nov 25, 2012

CENTERSTAGE is funded by an operating grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive.

James and Janet Clauson

2 | CENTERSTAGE

The MANY FACES of The sheer range of his literary output would surely offer

enough diversity for most writers. Not for Edgar Allan Poe. Unwilling (or perhaps unable) to content himself as merely a poet,

dramatist, novelist, and creator of landmark short fiction, Poe took on more identities in his brief four decades of life than any fractured protagonist in

his signature tales of madness or mystery. Sometimes driven by necessity (or fiscal desperation), sometimes by what appears to be a mix of curiosity, ambition, and

compulsion, the peripatetic Poe varied his time as a leading literary light with stints as a cadet, soldier, scholar, critic, editor, publisher, and more. In keeping with this mutability, there are countless towns up and down the eastern seaboard with legitimate claims to Poe as some form or other of native son.

Boston has the honor of his birth, albeit by accident of timing. On January 19, 1809, a couple of itinerant actors, David and Elizabeth (Arnold) Poe welcomed son Edgar. Dad hailed from a prominent

Baltimore family with honored service in the Revolutionary War; Mum arrived from England in 1796 and was on her second marriage. Neither was around long: David scampered off a year later, and Elizabeth soon

succumbed to consumption, leaving two-year-old Edgar and his two siblings to be farmed out to various foster families. Edgar ended up with wealthy Virginia merchant John Allan and his family, but by 1815 was taken off to master Latin, French, history, and literature at an English school.

In 1826, Poe enrolled at the then-new University of Virginia, where his chief distinction was as a drinking, gambling rake. After a year, with little more than massive debts to his name and the curses of his foster

father in his ears, Poe returned to Boston long enough to enlist in the Army under an assumed name (Perry). He advanced rapidly to sergeant major in an artillery regiment, serving in and around Charleston. But he shortly arranged for a substitute and quit, moving to Baltimore to live with his grandmother, an aunt, his

sickly brother, and their young cousin, Virginia—whom he would later marry before her 14th birthday.

Giving up on his military career, Poe tried his hand at writing. Moving to New York, he published some poems but found his stories rejected everywhere. Nearly

starving, he pleaded for support from John Allan, to no avail. By 1835, still nearly destitute, Poe landed a

job as a newspaper editor. This off-and-on career in journalism would ebb and flow over the next decade, taking Poe serially from New York to

Philadelphia to Richmond with various stops in between for Providence, Baltimore, and even The Bronx.

He achieved some notoriety as a literary and dramatic critic, won plaudits for a few poems, and even made an international

splash with short tales of mystery and the macabre—but could not make any of it pay, or last. He could barely support his little household of cousin-wife and

mother-in-law-aunt, and struggled with drink and other demons. When Virginia died of consumption in 1845, a shattered Poe joined a temperance league and poured himself into

writing.

On September 27, 1849, Poe left Richmond for New York. Stopping in Philadelphia on the way, he then vanished for a week—reappearing on October 3 in Baltimore. Barely conscious and bedraggled, he was taken to Washington College

Hospital for what proved to be his last role, as a patient. Never fully recovering, Poe died in the hospital on Sunday, October 7, 1849 and was buried in Baltimore.

EDGAR ALLAN POEBy Gavin Witt, Production Dramaturg

The Completely Fictional—utterly True—Final strange Tale of edgar Allan Poe | 3

Gothic Poetry“Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!—Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore, Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted—

On this home by Horror haunted—tell me truly, I implore— Is there—is there balm in Gilead?—tell me— tell me, I implore!”

Quoth the raven, "Nevermore.”—“The Raven”

Science Fiction It is now rendered necessary that I give the

facts—as far as I comprehend them myself….

My attention, for the last three years, had been

repeatedly drawn to the subject of Mesmerism;

and, about nine months ago, it occurred

to me, quite suddenly, that in the series of

experiments made hitherto, there had been

a very remarkable and most unaccountable

omission:—no person had as yet been

mesmerized in articulo mortis. It remained to

be seen, first, whether, in such condition, there

existed in the patient any susceptibility to the

magnetic influence; secondly, whether, if any

existed, it was impaired or increased by the

condition; thirdly, to what extent, or for how

long a period, the encroachments of Death

might be arrested by the process.

—"The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar"

Literary CriticismThose who know us will not, from what is

here premised, suppose it our intention,

to enter into any wholesale laudation of

“Barnaby Rudge.” […] We are not sure that

the limit of critical duty is not very generally

misapprehended. Excellence may be

considered an axiom, or a proposition which

becomes self-evident just in proportion

to the clearness or precision with which

it is put. [...] It is not excellence if it need

to be demonstrated as such. To point out

too particularly the beauties of a work, is

to admit, tacitly, that these beauties are

not wholly admirable. […] In teaching what

perfection is, how, in fact, shall we more

rationally proceed than in specifying what

it is not? —Review of Dickens’ Barnaby Rudge

Romantic PoetryIT was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden there lived whom you may know By the name of ANNABEL LEE; And this maiden she lived with no other thought Than to love and be loved by me.I was a child and she was a child, In this kingdom by the sea; But we loved with a love that was more than love—

I and my ANNABEL LEE— With a love that the wingéd seraphs of heaven Coveted her and me. —"Annabel Lee"

Th e M a n yMulti-faceted Mr. Poe, man of many homes and even more careers, appropriately produced many forms of literary output—more than one of them spawning new genres. He wrote in many voices and many guises, from non-fiction literary theory to abstruse philosophical colloquy, from landmark detective fiction to haunting gothic horror. He could appear as a dry analyst in prose, or a lush sentimentalist in verse. He gripped readers with thrilling fear, captured their imaginations with scientific speculation, and skewered his fellow writers for perceived lapses.

Hailed as the progenitor of science fiction and mystery novels alike, and the inspiration for volumes of verse and thousands of feet of film, Poe drew on a classical education and voracious reading for a wide array of sources and influences of his own. These included classical literature from Greek tragedies and Platonic dialogues to the epics of Homer

Gustav DoreArthur Rackham Aubrey Beardsley

Charles Addams

Edward Gorey Jean Corot

Gustave Courbet

Odilon RedonEdvard Munch

Rene Magritte

D.W. Griffith

Alfred HitchcockRoger Corman

Stanley Kubrick

David Cronenberg

Tim Burton Wilkie CollinsArthur Conan Doyle

Dashiell Hammett

Raymond Chandler

James Ellroy Ambrose BierceRobert L. Stevenson

M.R. James

Oscar Wilde Franz Kafka

VerlaineSpawn o f Po e

4 | CENTERSTAGE

Gothic Poetry“Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!—Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore, Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted—

On this home by Horror haunted—tell me truly, I implore— Is there—is there balm in Gilead?—tell me— tell me, I implore!”

Quoth the raven, "Nevermore.”—“The Raven”

MysteryIt may readily be supposed that the part played by my friend, in the drama at the Rue Morgue, had not failed of its impression upon the fancies of the Parisian police. With its emissaries, the name of Dupin had grown into a household word. The simple character of those inductions by which he had disentangled the mystery never having been explained even to the Prefect… it is not surprising that the affair was regarded as little less than miraculous, or that the Chevalier’s analytical abilities acquired for him the credit of intuition. [A]nd the cases were not few in which attempt was made to engage his services at the Prefecture. One of the most remarkable instances was that of the murder of a young girl named Marie Rogêt.

—"The Mystery of Marie Rogêt"

Gothic/HorrorThe greater part of the fearful night had worn away, and she who had been dead, once again stirred—and now more vigorously than hitherto…The corpse, I repeat, stirred, and now more vigorously than before. The hues of life flushed up with unwonted energy into the countenance—the limbs relaxed—and, save that the eyelids were yet pressed heavily together, and that the bandages and draperies of the grave still imparted their charnel character

to the figure, I might have dreamed that Rowena had indeed shaken off, utterly, the fetters of Death. But if this idea was not, even then, altogether adopted, I could at least doubt no longer, when, arising from the bed, tottering, with feeble steps, with closed eyes, and with the manner of one bewildered in a dream, the thing that was enshrouded advanced bodily and palpably into the middle of the apartment. —"Ligeia"

PhilosophyYou will remember that one or two of the wise

among our forefathers…had ventured to doubt

the propriety of the term “improvement,” as

applied to the progress of our civilization. There

were periods in each of the five or six centuries

immediately preceding our dissolution, when

arose some vigorous intellect, boldly contending

for those principles whose truth appears now, to

our disenfranchised reason, so utterly obvious—

principles which should have taught our race to

submit to the guidance of the natural laws, rather

than attempt their control. At long intervals

some master-minds appeared, looking upon each

advance in practical science as a retro-gradation in

the true utility. […] Yet these noble exceptions from

the general misrule served but to strengthen it by

opposition.

—“The Colloquy of Monos and Una”

and Virgil. The metaphysics of Dante, Donne, and Milton shaped his content and his form. Romantic poets Keats, Shelley, Byron, Blake, Coleridge, Goethe, and Schiller spun their spell, as did acerbic satirists Defoe and Swift. Dickens was a contemporary and a correspondent, and Polidori’s The Vampyre and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein occupy spots of honor in his literary lineage.

A highly visual and atmospheric writer, with family roots in theater and a reputed fondness for music, Poe also exhibits the influence of artists like Bosch, Brueghel, Goya, da Vinci, Pontormo, El Greco, and Tintoretto; of the Jacobean tragedies by such macabre maestros as Shakespeare, Webster, Middleton, Dekker, and Ford; and of musical sources like German lieder and French chansons as well as fantastical settings by Berlioz.

Voices of Poe

Edouard Manet

Richard Matheson

James M. Cain

Sheridan Le FanuHenry James

H.P. Lovecraft

Daphne du Maurier

Jorge Luis Borges

Robert BlochShirley Jackson

Stephen King

Claude DebussyMaurice Ravel Lou ReedWalt Whitman

Charles Baudelaire Mallarme Rimbaud

Wallace Stevens

Sigmund Freud

Carl Gustave JungH.G. Wells

Jules Verne

Ray Bradbury

Spawn o f Po e

By Gavin Witt, Production Dramaturg


6 | CENTERSTAGE

Edgar Allan Poe was a theater baby.

For better or for worse, he was born on the road to travelling actors, and—arguably—a highly theatrical sense

of spectacle, suspense, and atmosphere pervades much of his fiction. Appropriately, in translating elements

of his life and work to the stage, …Poe employs elements of the 19th-century stage of Poe’s day that might not

be immediately apparent. If his parents had lived long enough for Poe to see them perform, what might he

have witnessed?

In the decades between the War of 1812 and the Civil War, a shift towards industrial manufacturing and concurrent urban growth matched a rise in popular mass

entertainment. In towns and cities aspiring to consequence, the curious and the cultured could choose from an

array of entertainment options. Music, lectures, and classical theater occupied the high end of the scale. At the

other end were touring circuses, freak shows and dime museums, or rowdy tent shows and medicine shows.

Spanning the vast middle, in a hybrid that drew on both, blared the several forms of variety shows.

These forms included concert-saloons,

minstrel shows, burlesques, pastiches, music halls, revues, spectacles, extravaganzas, and spectacular

extravaganzas. Some were actually known as variety shows, and the whole panoply gradually evolved into what

became known as Vaudeville. But by whatever name, certain elements held true. Variety shows comprised a series

of distinct, brief scenes or vignettes known as “turns,” of widely different styles. Often with no evident scenario to

unify them, they had a loose but certain structure, designed to provide rhythm, pace, and an underlying sense of

unity. The turns showcased singers, acrobats and contortionists, magic routines, dance numbers, comic sketches,

short plays, and anything from classical recitations to celebrity cameos. Typically, variety shows might feature

about a dozen turns, each of them from five to 15 minutes long. True to their name, variety was the key, providing

not only the spice of success but protection from often rowdy, even surly, audiences.

F r o m m i n s t r e l s h o w s a n d b u r l e s q u e s came a more cohesive, three-part structure for the evening: first, a “walk-around” and exchange of banter

between comedians and an interlocutor; then, an “olio,” or variety section of diverse turns; and finally, a one-act

skit to conclude. To this three-act structure with variety sketches, the musical revue added a final component

of thematic and structural unity. Where the traditional variety show boasted turns that had little connection to

one another—with different performers and different acts featured in each—musical revues used a single cast

throughout performing sketches, songs, and dances interwoven with dialogue and story.

Ou t o f t hese hybr id innovat ions came they heyday of Vaudeville, lasting through the 1930s. But also came a host of veterans who shaped early

film and television, from the Marx Brothers to The Honeymooners and I Love Lucy, right through to the present.

Were Poe to stumble on a re-run of Seinfeld, or the latest episode of America’s Got Talent, he might not bat an eye.

INFINITE VARIETY, or the Happy Parade of 19th-Century American

Theater from Burlesque to Vaudevi lle

by gav in w it t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Production dr a m at u rg

Naomi Jacobson*— Eliza/Others. CENTERSTAGE—debut. New York—Atlantic Theatre: Scenes From An Execution (Galactia). Regional— Arena Stage: A View from

the Bridge (Beatrice); The Goodman: Mary Zimmerman’s Pericles (Bawd/Lychorida); Shakespeare Theatre Company: Richard ll (Duchess of York, Helen Hayes Award), Julius Caesar (Calpurnia); Woolly Mammoth Theatre: 20 year Company Member, Dead Man’s Cell Phone (Hermia, premiere), The Unmentionables (Nancy); Signature Theatre: God Of Carnage (Veronica); Arizona Theatre Company: Ten Chimneys (Louise, premiere); Folger Theatre: The Winter’s Tale (Paulina), Henry VIII (Katherine); Wolf Trap Opera: The Inspector (The Inspector, premiere); Ford’s Theatre: State Of The Union (Norah/Grace Draper); Kennedy Center; Berkshire Theatre Festival; Milwaukee Rep; Round House Theatre, Olney Theatre Center; Delaware Theatre Company. Film/TV—I Fall To Pieces, Her Father’s Eyes, Homicide: Life on the Street. Awards—2009 Lunt Fontanne Fellowship through Arena Stage (with Lynn Redgrave), 2 Helen Hayes Awards, 12 Helen Hayes nominations, DC Arts Commission Individual Artist Grant.

Caroline Kaplan*—Virginia/Others. CENTERSTAGE—debut. New York—Player’s Club: What Are We Doing (Eve). Regional—Trinity Rep: The Merchant of Venice (Jessica);

Guthrie Theater: Going Live! (Amber/etc.); Williamstown: Three Sisters; Riverside Theatre: The Threepenny Opera (Polly), Camino Real; Playwrights Rep: Baz and Me (Kat), Principle, Principal (Kay); College Light Opera: Candide (Cunegonde), The Merry Widow (Valencienne), Anything Goes (Hope). Education—MFA Brown University/ Trinity Rep, Vassar College.

Jimmy Kieffer*— Dickens/John Allan/Others. CENTERSTAGE: The Rivals. Regional — Shakespeare Theatre Co: Merry Wives of Windsor; Playmakers Repertory: Big

River, As You Like It, Opus, All My Sons, Pride and Prejudice, Nicholas Nickleby Parts 1 & 2, Shipwrecked!, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Little Prince, Pericles; Chautauqua Theater: Amadeus, Macbeth; Alliance Theatre: A Christmas Carol, Livin’ in the Garden, To Kill a Mockingbird, Twelfth Night. Other credits—99 Ways to F@#k a Swan, The Flu Season, Autobahn. Film/TV—Criminal Minds, A Place Apart, A Reason to Believe. Education—MFA, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Awards—Independent Weekly Best Supporting Performances 2010.

Kenneth Lee*— Kindly Doctor/Others. CENTERSTAGE: Snow Falling on Cedars. Off Broadway—The Pearl: Hamlet; Mabou Mines: Li, The Last King; Ma-Yi Theatre: The Suitcase

Trilogy. International— Singapore Repertory Theatre: Death of a Salesman, The Cherry Orchard. Regional—Arena Stage: M. Butterfly; Shakespeare Theatre: Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, Hamlet; NJ Shakespeare Fest: Pericles; People’s Light & Theatre: Trying to Find Chinatown, How We Talk in South Boston; Arkansas Rep: Hamlet; Magic Theatre: Leonce and Lena, Woyceck, The Beaux’ Stratagem; American Players’ Theatre: Two Gentlemen of Verona, Hamlet, The Tempest. Film/TV—Delocated, Deception, Children of Invention (Sundance), Across the Universe, L&O: CI, One Life to Live, Love & Adventure in NY. Director—Colored Exposures (La Mama). Education—BFA, NYU Tisch School of the Arts (Cinema, Theatre, English); Public Theatre Shakespeare Lab; MFA, American Conservatory Theater. Gratitude to friends & family for their incredible support; and to CENTERSTAGE for the opportunity. www.ikennethlee.com

Biographies The Cast


8 | CENTERSTAGE

Bruce Randolph Nelson*—Poe. CENTERSTAGE: Galileo (Professor), Arms and the Man (Soldier/Bear). Regional—Rep Stage: The Goat (Martin), Hysteria (Dalí),

The Violet Hour (Gidger, Helen Hayes Award), The Dazzle (Langley, Helen Hayes Award), Irma Vep (Lady Enid, Helen Hayes nom), Faith Healer (Teddy, Helen Hayes nom); Everyman Theatre: Company Member, You Can’t Take It with You (Kolenkhov), Private Lives (Elyot), Shipwrecked! (Louis/Best Actor City Paper), I Am My Own Wife (Charlotte), The Pavilion (Narrator/Best Actor City Paper); Folger Theatre: The Comedy of Errors (Antipholus of Ephesus), She Stoops to Conquer (Tony); Olney Theatre Center: Farragut North (Paul), The Underpants (Cohen); Woolly Mammoth Theatre: Company Member, Dead Man’s Cell Phone (Dwight, Originated Role), Fuddy Meers (Limping Man, Helen Hayes nom); The Shakespeare Theatre: The Taming of the Shrew (Tranio); Signature Theatre: Never the Sinner (White). Tour—National Players. Facilitation— McCormick Spice, Johns Hopkins University. Teaching—Howard Community College, Everyman Theatre, Stevenson University. Education— Towson University.

Erick Pinnick*—Moran/Others. CENTERSTAGE—Once on This Island. Broadway—A Christmas Carol (Mr. Smythe, w/ Frank Langella). Off Broadway—The Tin Pan Alley Rag (Walter

Payton). Touring—Sunset Boulevard (John, w/ Petula Clark), Jesus Christ Superstar (Pilate). Regional—Theater Raleigh: RACE (Henry); Florida Studio Theatre: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Mitch); Prince Theater: Dreamgirls (Curtis); Pioneer Theatre: Paint Your Wagon (Ulyssess Wilson), Five Guys Named Moe (No Moe); Trinity Repertory Company: Annie (Bert Healy); Ritz Theatre: Kiss of the Spiderwoman (Valentin); Papermill Playhouse: Baby (Dean Webber, u/s Nick), Follies (Ensemble, cast recording); Westchester Broadway Theatre: Smokey Joe’s Café (Adrian); Gorilla Theatre: Side Show (Jake); Hangar Theatre: The Wiz

Biographies The Cast [cont]

(Tinman); Open Stages: Yellowman (Eugene); Actors Theatre of Louisville: Once on This Island (Daniel); Goodspeed Opera House: Swinging on a Star (Standby); Education—James Madison University.

Libya Pugh*—Valdemar/ Others. CENTERSTAGE— The Rivals; Caroline, or Change. Off Broadway/Tour—New Victory: The Bluest Eye (Claudia); Classical Theatre of Harlem: Romeo

and Juliet (Lady Capulet, NY, FL, NC, PA), Ain’t Suppose to Die a Natural Death (Scavenger Lady). Off Off Broadway—Lookingglass: Odyssey. Regional—Baltimore Shakespeare Festival: Hamlet (Gertrude); Peterborough Players: Doubt (Mrs. Muller); Shakespeare on the Sound: Julius Caesar (Portia); Goodman: Dreams of Sara Breedlove (dir. Regina Taylor); Steppenwolf: The Bluest Eye, Wedding Band (Julia); Congo Square: From the Mississippi Delta, The Piano Lesson (Berniece); Chicago Shakespeare: Macbeth; Milwaukee Rep: A Christmas Carol; Milwaukee Shakespeare: As You Like It (Rosalind); First Stage Milwaukee: Smoldering Fires; St. Louis Black Rep: Train Is Comin’. Film/TV—Platinum Wings (TV Pilot), Law & Order: SVU, One Life To Live, Jack’s Big Music Show. Education—UIUC (MFA). Professional—Co-founding Ensemble Member of Congo Square. Teaching Artist—Harlem School of The Arts.

Charlie Thurston*—Young Edgar/Others. CENTERSTAGE—debut. New York—Cherry Lane: Pictures and Dreams; Columbia Stages: Moon for the Misbegotten. Regional—

Trinity Rep: The Completely Fictional […] Tale of Edgar Allan Poe (World Premiere); Chautauqua Theater Company: Three Sisters, Love’s Labour’s Lost, You Can’t Take It with You, Macbeth, Carve; Breadloaf Acting Ensemble: Hamlet; Creede Repertory Company: To Fool the Eye, A Wonderful Noise, Swiss Family Robinson, Urinetown, Sweeney Todd, Crazy For You, Drood, Fools, Life is a Dream; Riverside: Big Love, Prosperity, Long Christmas Ride Home. Education— MFA Brown/Trinity Rep. For Becky.


For more than 20 years, audienceshave been thrilling to the sound of

Poe’s works brought to life by actorDavid Keltz, from the masterpiece“The Raven” to the terrifying “TheTell-Tale Heart,” and many others.

410-669-6582www.davidkeltz.com

DAVID KELTZ AS

POE

Hear the Peabody Concert Orchestra, Peabody Singers, and Peabody-Hopkins Chorus perform Schubert’s Mass No. 6 in E-flat major on Thursday, Dec. 6, at 8:00 pm in Miriam A. Friedberg Hall

To purchase tickets, call the Peabody Box Office at 410-234-4800

Visit www.peabody.jhu.edu/events for Audio Program Notes and the complete 2012-2013 Peabody Concert Calendar

AUDIOPROGRAM

Approval or blame will follow

in the world to come.


TAKES THE STAGE

PNC supports those who make the world a more beautiful place. That’s why we’re proud to sponsor CENTERSTAGE. Because we know that achievement is an art form all its own.

COMMSERV AD FEB 2011 009

Visit pnc.com

©2012 The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. All rights reserved. PNC Bank, National Association. Member FDIC.

ACHIEVEMENT is a registered mark of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

10 | CENTERSTAGE

Stephen Thorne—Playwright—is a member of the resident acting company at Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island, where he has played Hamlet, Homer Wells in The Cider House Rules, John Proctor in The Crucible, Arthur in Camelot, and Robert in Boeing-Boeing, among others. As an actor, Stephen has appeared at Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, The Long Wharf Theatre, and the Riverside Shakespeare Festival. He has been a member of the Breadloaf School of English Acting Ensemble since 1999. The Completely Fictional—Utterly True—Final Strange Tale of Edgar Allan Poe was developed at Trinity Repertory Company with Curt Columbus and the resident acting company.

Curt Columbus—Director/Trinity Repertory Artistic Director— joined Trinity Rep as Artistic Director in January 2006. His directing credits for Trinity include His Girl Friday, The Merchant of Venice, Camelot, Cabaret, The Odd Couple, The Secret Rapture, The Receptionist, A Christmas Carol, Memory House, Blithe Spirit, Cherry Orchard, and the world premiere of Stephen Thorne’s ...Poe. Three of his plays—Paris by Night, The Dreams of Antigone, and Sparrow Grass—premiered at Trinity. His adaptation of Crime and Punishment (with Marilyn Campbell) is published by Dramatists’ Play Service. Curt’s translations of Chekhov’s plays are published by Ivan R. Dee, including a collection, Chekhov: The Four Major Plays. Sparrow Grass is being published by DPS. Curt lives in Pawtucket with his partner, Nathan Watson.

Eugene Lee—Scenic Design. CENTERSTAGE—debut. Broadway— Wicked, Glengarry Glen Ross. Off Broadway—Signature: Heartless; Westside Theatre: My Name Is Asher Lev; MCC: The Other Place. Regional—Hartford Stage: Hedda Gabler; Long Wharf: My Name Is Asher Lev; Arena Stage: The Music Man; Trinity Rep: His Girl Friday, Clybourne Park. Film/TV—Production designer for NBC’s Saturday Night Live (1974-Present). Professional—Resident scenic designer at Trinity Rep. Education—

BFA, The Art Institute of Chicago and Carnegie Mellon; MFA, The Yale School of Drama; three honorary doctorates. Awards—Tony Award, American Theatre Wing’s Design Award, Outer Critics’ Circle Award, Drama Desk Award, Lucille Lortel Award, Elliot Norton Award for Sustained Achievement, the Pell Award, and was recently induced into the New York Theatre Hall of Fame. He lives with his wife, Brooke, in Providence.

David Burdick—Costume Designer. CENTERSTAGE: An Enemy of the People; The Whipping Man; A Skull in Connemara; The Rivals; Snow Falling on Cedars; Working it Out; Cyrano; Caroline, or Change; Hearts; Things of Dry Hours; Crumbs from the Table of Joy; Elmina’s Kitchen; Picnic; a.m. Sunday; The Rainmaker; Blithe Spirit; many others. Regional—Everyman Theatre: You Can’t Take It with You, Private Lives, All My Sons, The Mystery of Irma Vep; Walnut Street/Totem Pole: The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Moon Over Buffalo. Opera—Cincinnati: Don Giovanni; Boston Lyric: I Puritani; Tulsa: Tosca, The Barber of Seville, Carmen, Fidelio. Dance—BAM: FLY: Five First Ladies of Dance; Dayton Contemporary: Lyric Fire (world premiere, dir./choreographer Dianne McIntyre). Miscellaneous—Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: Holiday Spectacular.

Josh Epstein—Lighting Designer. CENTERSTAGE: debut. Regional—Mark Taper Forum, The Guthrie, The Goodman, Long Wharf Theatre, Paper Mill Playhouse, Alliance Theater, Actor’s Theater of Louisville, Playmaker’s Rep., Lyric Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Off Broadway—New Georges Theater Company, Julliard School of Drama, Clubbed Thumb, Target Margin Theater, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, La MaMa, Naked Angels, Macy’s 2006–08 New York City Holiday Windows. Opera—Minnesota Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, Wolf Trap Opera Company, Berkshire Opera, Manhattan School of Music. Education—Received MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Awards—Recipient of the NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Designers. www.joshepsteindesign.com.

Biographies The Artistic Team

Fine

Indian Cuisine

Baltimore’s Premier

Indian Restaurant

Chicken, Lamb, Seafood,

Vegetarian & Tandoori Specialties

Soups, Appetizers, Indian Breads,

Desserts & More

Catering Services Available

All Major Credit Cards Accepted

Top 50 Restaurants

in Baltimore 2010

—Baltimore Sun

www.akbar-restaurant.com

823 N. Charles Street

410-539-0944

Offering an eclectic menu in a fun

atmosphere for both pre- and post-show dining.

❖❖ Mon–Thur❖til❖Midnight.❖❖ Fri❖&❖Sat❖til❖1❖am.❖❖ Sun❖til❖Midnight.❖❖ Saturday❖&❖Sunday❖Brunch❖❖10❖am–3❖pm.❖❖ Featuring❖imported❖❖Danish❖BBQ❖babyback❖ribs!

909❖North❖Charles❖Street❖410.685.RIBS❖

www.mvstable.com


Zachary Williamson—Sound Designer. CENTERSTAGE: Into the Woods, ReEntry. Broadway— Lysistrata Jones; Roundabout: The Ritz, Pal Joey (Associate). Off Broadway— Irish Rep: New Girl In Town, Molly Sweeney, White Woman Street, Candida, The Hairy Ape, and others; Second Stage: Vanities; Urban Stages: ReEntry. Regional— Kansas City Rep: Pippin, Cabaret; Clarence Brown: Amadeus; 5th Avenue Theatre: On the Town; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; Dallas Theater Center: Give It Up!; Two River Theater: Carry It On, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, 26 Miles, ReEntry, and others; Long Wharf; Westport Country Playhouse; Pasadena Playhouse; Round House Theatre; Virginia Stage; Asolo; Actors Theater of Louisville; St. Louis Rep; Vermont Stage; Syracuse Stage.

Gavin Witt—Production Dramaturg. See page 17.

Captain Kate Murphy*—Stage Manager. CENTERSTAGE: Stage Manager for A Skull in Connemara, American Buffalo, Crime & Punishment, Let There Be Love, The Santaland Diaries; Assistant Stage Manager for An Enemy of the People, The Importance of Being Earnest, Things of Dry Hours, Trouble in Mind, Three Sisters, Radio Golf, The Murder of Isaac, Once on this Island, King Lear, Assistant Production Manager 2008–09. Regional—Trinity Rep: Boeing-Boeing; Actors Theatre of Louisville: All Hail Hurricane Gordo*, The Clean House, Moot the Messenger*, Dracula, The Ruby Sunrise*, Tall Grass Gothic*, The Drawer Boy, Amadeus, As You Like It (*premieres at the Humana Festival of New American Plays); Contemporary American Theater Festival: The Overwhelming, Pig Farm; Totem Pole Playhouse: Over 70 productions through 12 summer stock seasons. Film/TV—Route 30, Route 30 Too!, Next Food Network Star. Proud Actors Equity and ASCAP Member.

Biographies The Artistic Team [cont]

Your noteworthy performance

deserves one word:Bravo

KPMG congratulates CENTERSTAGE on its

50th Anniversary Season

kpmg.com© 2012 KPMG LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership and the U.S. member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved. The KPMG name, logo and “cutting through complexity” are registered trademarks or trademarks of KPMG International. NDPPS 105976

By William IngeDirected by David Schweizer

Nov 21–Dec 23

3 Pa c k MembershipsThree Plays, Your way!It’s not too late to become a Member! For a limited time only, select any three shows remaining in our 2012–13 Season and save up to 37% off the full price!

$79 Previews$99 Weekdays$129 WeekendsbuY YOurS tODAY—in person, call, or go online!410.332.0033 • centerstage.org

Next Up

12 | CENTERSTAGE

Laura Smith*—Assistant Stage Manager. CENTERSTAGE: Resident Stage Manager; An Enemy of the People; The Whipping Man, Gleam; The Rivals; Snow Falling on Cedars; Cyrano; Working it Out; Fabulation or, The Re-Education of Undine; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. Regional—Everyman: Pygmalion, Shipwrecked!, The Exonerated, Rabbit Hole, Doubt, Gem of the Ocean, And a Nightingale Sang, The School for Scandal, A Number, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, Yellowman; Woolly Mammoth: Gruesome Playground Injuries, House of Gold, The Unmentionables, Vigils, After Ashley; Folger: Measure for Measure, The Comedy of Errors (ASM); Olney Theatre: Stuff Happens; Theater Alliance: Headsman’s Holiday, Pangea, [sic]; Catalyst: Cloud 9; Longacre Lea: Man with Bags.

Sharon Jenkins—Choreographer. CENTERSTAGE: debut. Ms. Jenkins has been a choreographer and director at Trinity Rep for over 40 years, where she has worked with Artistic Directors Adrian Hall, Richard Jenkins, Amanda Dehnert, Oskar Eustis, and Curt Columbus. Ms. Jenkins spent 20 years as the dance director at Hope Arts Magnet School in Providence, RI, 15 years as a dance specialist with the RI State Council on the Arts, 10 years as a dancer with RI Dance Rep, and 10 years as a choreographer for the Arabella Project. In addition to her work at Trinity Rep, Ms. Jenkins has choreographed at Long Wharf Theatre, Arena Stage, and Hartford Stage. She was choreographer for Paramount Pictures feature School Ties, and is married to Academy Award-nominated actor Richard Jenkins.

Nancy Krebs—Dialect Consultant. CENTERSTAGE: debut. Regional—Studio Theatre: The Habit of Art (American Premiere), The Enda Walsh Festival: The Walworth Farce & The New Electric Ballroom; Rep Stage: The Temperamentals, Yellowman, Or, Barrymore, Two by Barrie; Olney Theatre Center: Witness for the Prosecution, Charlie’s Aunt, Blithe Spirit, Carousel, Lend Me a Tenor, Morning’s at Seven, Oliver!, Doubt, Of Mice and Men; The Theatre Alliance: The Woman

A place where Edgar Allan Poe and Baltimore are celebrated on a daily basis.

Reservations suggested

601 South Clinton Street, Baltimore, MD 21224 410.522.2929 | www.annabelleetavern.com


Who Amuses Herself; Everyman Theatre: The Crucible, Red Herring, My Children! My Africa!, Blues for an Alabama Sky, Watch on the Rhine, Cripple of Inishmaan, Candida, Betrayal, Sight Unseen, Turn of the Screw, I Am My Own Wife; Bay Theatre: Master Harold and the Boys, The Norman Conquests. She is Voice Instructor in the Theatre Department of the Baltimore School for the Arts and is a member of AFTRA, AEA, and SAG. Nancy is thrilled to be a part of this production.

Stephanie Klapper—Casting Director. CENTERSTAGE: The Whipping Man, A Skull in Connemara. Her work has been seen on Broadway, Off Broadway, regionally, internationally, on television, internet, and film. Selected credits include: Broadway—A Christmas Story, The Musical; Dividing the Estate; Bells Are Ringing, It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues. Off Broadway—Emotional Creature (Linney Theatre at the Signature); Daisy Foote’s HIM; Horton Foote’s Harrison, Texas; The Morini Strad (Primary Stages); Twelfth Night (New York Classical Theatre); Karen O’s Stop the Virgens! (St. Anne’s Warehouse); Cactus Flower (Westside Theatre); The Temperamentals (New World Stages). Regional—A Christmas Story, The Musical (National Tour); Emotional Creature (NY Casting/Berkeley Rep); White Snake (New York Casting/Oregon Shakespeare Company); Nobody Loves You (Old Globe, San Diego); Three Musketeers (Cincinnati Playhouse); Venice (KC Rep/Kirk Douglas Theatre); God of Carnage (Capital Rep); Assassins (Milwaukee Rep); The Cherry Sisters (NY Casting/Actor’s Theatre of Louisville). Film/TV—Alice Jacobs is Dead, Roberta, Feast of the Goat; Lazytown. Member—Casting Society of America and The League of Professional Theatre Women.


Biographies The Artistic Team [cont]

Planned gifts offer you creative ways to share your passion for the theater with generations to come. Fifty percent of Americans are living without a will. Their life savings may be spent in ways they never intended. Make sure that does not happen to you. Live smart. When you name CENTERSTAGE as a benefi ciary, you can trust that your money will be spent wisely by a non-profi t organization you already know and trust.

Your foresight is our future… and your peace of mind.

Master Your Own Legacy… Join the Heritage Circle at CENTERSTAGE

“What you leave behind

is not what is engraved

in stone monuments,

but what is woven into

the lives of others.”

Pericles (c. 495-429 BCE)

To learn more about opportunities to include CENTERSTAGE in your estate plans, please contact the

Director of Development, Cindi Monahan at 410.986.4020.

14 | CENTERSTAGE

CENTERSTAGE offers its

congratulations to Pumpkin Theatre, Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre, and Arena Players

on their milestone anniversary seasons!

Celebrating 50 yearsCelebrating 45 years

Celebrating 60 years


Applause.As we mark our 75th year in Baltimore, we join CENTERSTAGE in

celebrating its own milestone anniversary—50 years of artistic excellence

provided through thought-provoking theater for this great community.

That’s no small act.

We’re proud to be a long-time supporter of this remarkable cultural

institution, which truly enriches our city’s quality of life.

As loyal fans, we say, Bravo!

CENTERSTAGE

16 | CENTERSTAGE

Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah OBE, an award-winning British playwright, director, actor, and broadcaster, is in his second season as Artistic

Director. Last season he directed The Whipping Man, and previously Naomi Wallace’s Things of Dry Hours. Among his works as playwright are Elmina’s Kitchen and Let There Be Love—which had their American debuts at CENTERSTAGE—as well as A Bitter Herb, Statement of Regret, and Seize the Day. Kwame has served on the boards of The National Theatre and The Tricycle Theatre, both in London. He served as Artistic Director for the World Arts Festival in Senegal, a month-long World Festival of Black Arts and Culture, which featured more than two thousand artists from 52 countries participating in 16 different arts disciplines. He was named the Chancellor of the University of the Arts London, and in 2012 was named an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

Managing Director Stephen Richard, a leader on the national arts scene for more than 30 years, joined CENTERSTAGE in January

2012. Stephen comes most recently from a position as Vice President, External Relations, for the new National Children’s Museum. Previously, he served 18 years as Executive Director of Arena Stage, where he planned and managed the theater’s $125 million capital campaign for the Mead Center for American Theater. Also a professor of Arts Management at Georgetown University, he has served on the boards and committees of some of the nation’s most prestigious arts organizations, including the National Endowment for the Arts, American Arts Alliance, League of Resident Theatres, and Theatre Communications Group. twitter: @sjrcenterstage

FYi Audience ServicesPrE-ShOw Dining Visit Sascha’s Express, our pre-performance dinner service located just up the lobby stairs in our Mezzanine Café. Featuring delicious prix fixe dining, service begins two hours before each performance. You’ll find the current menu at www.centerstage.org/saschas.

ACCESSibiLitY PrOgrAMSWheelchair-accessible seating is available for every performance. For patrons who are hearing impaired, we offer assistive listening devices at no charge. An Open Captioned performance is available for one Sunday performance of each Classic Series production for deaf and hearing impaired patrons. Several performances also feature Audio Description, and Braille programs or magnifying glasses are available upon request.

On-StAgE SMOKingWhen a play requires on-stage smoking, we use tobacco-free herbal imitations and do everything possible to minimize the amount of smoke that drifts into the audience. If you’re smoke-sensitive, be sure to let our Box Office know.

PhOtOgrAPhY & rECOrDing PrOhibitEDBecause of copyright and union regulations, photography or recording of performances—both audio and video—is strictly forbidden.

bE COurtEOuSPlease silence your cell phone, pager, or other electronic devices both before the show starts and after intermission. And, while you’re welcome to take beverages with lids to your seat, eating is never allowed inside the theater.

AnYthing ELSE wE CAn DO?CENTERSTAGE wants every patron to have an enjoyable, stress-free experience. Your feedback and suggestions are always welcomed: [email protected].

Associate Artistic Director/Director of Dramaturgy Gavin Witt, came to CENTERSTAGE in 2003 as Resident Dramaturg, having served in

that role previously at several Chicago theaters. As a dramaturg, he has worked on well over 60 plays, from classics to new commissions—including play development workshops and freelance dramaturgy for TCG, The Playwrights Center, The New Harmony Project, The Old Globe, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, CATF, The Kennedy Center, and others. A graduate of Yale and the University of Chicago, he was active in Chicago theater for more than a decade as an actor, director, dramaturg, translator, and teacher, not to mention co-founder of greasy joan & co. theater, while serving as a regional Vice President of LMDA, the national association of dramaturgs. He has been on the faculty of the University of Chicago and DePaul University, and locally at Towson University.

Biographies The Staff


The Completely Fictional—Utterly True—Final Strange Tale of Edgar Allan Poe

poe-tograph contest#CSPoetograph

Baltimore, fall, Halloween, Football—it’s hard not to spot hometown hero Edgar Allan Poe in his many forms around town this time of year! Find your Poe (whatever that means to you), snap a “Poe-tograph,” and post it to Twitter using the hashtag #CSPoetograph.

get creative! The cleverest Poe discoveries will win Poe-tastic prizes, like tickets to The Completely Fictional—Utterly True—Final Strange Tale of Edgar Allan Poe and swag from Poe partner Baltimore Washington Beer Works (creator of The Raven Lager)!

Plus, all submissions will be entered into a drawing to win a pair of 3Pack Memberships to the 2012–13 Season at CENTERSTAGE!

18 | CENTERSTAGE

After 10 months together, how has the working relationship between you two been going?

Kwame Kwei-Armah, Artistic Director • Absolutely wonderful. Stephen has been in the business since the mid-’80s, and he never once pulls rank. He never says, “Well we did this at so-and-so and when we did this, you’ll find, dear boy…” He’s never done that with me, someone who is a novice to this business. And that’s not only filled with integrity, it makes me listen to everything he says with three ears, not two. I really scrutinize and listen. Stephen is both advisor and partner. When the board was going through the selection process, I said, “I want someone who I can place 100% trust in their judgment.” And that’s how I feel about the relationship, thus far. I feel very comfortable and very looked after, yet not in a condescending way.

Stephen Richard, Managing Director • One thing that I believe passionately is that every organization is different and, to fulfill its finest potential, it needs to be unique. One of the many great things about working with Kwame is that he does not come with a set of expectations. He’s exploring this thing, and it’s almost as if I’m starting over again. I get to rethink CENTERSTAGE through Kwame’s vision.

That is really remarkable. I had sort of finished my theater career; I was off doing something else. I had been in theater for 30-plus years, and had figured I was done with that. It took, frankly, Kwame’s passion and intelligence and artistry—but also his fresh vision of what a theater can be, in a community and a country—to get me excited again.

Is there a day-to-day moment, something that makes you say, “Thank goodness Kwame/Stephen is here for that!”?

KKA • Yes. And it’s more than “Thank goodness Stephen’s here.” From the moment he arrived, I thought, “Thank God Stephen’s here.” It meant that there is a whole part of the organization that I can just hand over to him. The comfort, when I wake up most mornings, of never having to worry about that side of the business… Every day I say thank God, because I know I don’t have to think about it. I just kind of go, “Great, it’s being looked after.”

SR • I had the opposite reaction. This is rare, it’s weird; I wake up thinking, “What’s Kwame going to come up with today?” [Kwame laughs] And can we do it, or is this one of those things where I have to say,

“Gosh, it is a great idea, we’ll get to that, eventually, won’t we?”

KKA • In 2020!

SR • I can’t tell you how exciting that is. It’s marvelously energizing and absolutely wonderful. But far from relaxing…I am running to keep up.

KKA • We both are.

Last time you talked about being new to Baltimore. Is there anything that you are craving to go out and explore, something you’ve heard about that you want to do?

SR • I’ve been here six months, and while I have seen a fair amount of the art in Baltimore, and attended several other theaters—Everyman, Single Carrot—I look forward to continually getting out and seeing more of the museums and other arts organizations.

KKA • I feel very strongly about really understanding all parts of Baltimore—I’ve gotten out to some of the deprived areas, but not enough of it for my own personal satisfaction. How else can I fully develop a mission to link the work we do here with all of the communities of Baltimore and Maryland? I want to reach not just those who come now, but those who might later aspire to come.

Each program this season will include a short conversation between CENTERSTAGE’s fearless leaders.

conversations with Kwame and Stephen

We encourage you to join the conversation!You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, or just email [email protected] with your questions for Kwame and Stephen.

centerstagemd @centerstage_md


On a blustery winter evening, a bus en route from Kansas City to Montana

stops at Grace’s Diner to wait out a snowstorm that has blocked the roads. Passengers

come inside to escape the cold and refresh themselves with hot coffee, homemade pies,

and ham sandwiches (hold the cheese). As they wait for the dawn and clear skies, this busload of strangers discovers that sometimes love, friendship, and family come when you least expect them.

Set in the heartland of 1950s America, Bus Stop is small in scale but offers an expansive vision of the beauty and heartache of human longing. Extremes of quiet conversation and raucous celebration, gentle introspection and boisterous merriment (including a show-stopping song-and-dance routine in the second act!) join to create a story of isolated individuals finding connection with one another as the sun breaks through the storm. The play is a true ensemble piece that brings together a colorful assortment of American characters—Bo, the lovelorn rodeo star; Cherie, a chanteuse yearning for romance; Carl, the bus-driver content with simple pleasures; Alma, a schoolgirl dreaming of

a bigger world—who come together to form a “family of lost souls,” in the words of director David Schweizer.

William Inge wrote Bus Stop in 1955 while he was living it up in New York City, taking lunch with Tennessee Williams at the Algonquin Hotel ,and hanging out with the likes of James Dean and Barbara Baxley. Born and raised in

Kansas, Inge would later say that “it was the nature of New York” that made him discover the quiet beauty of the Midwest. This urbane playwright who won the Pulitzer Prize (for Picnic) had plays on Broadway and movie-stars bringing his characters to life in Hollywood, never abandoned the potent image of the wholesome heartland where he grew up. He offers up a piece of Americana with that slice of apple pie.

Bus Stop begins previews on November 21, just in time for Thanksgiving and the winter holidays. You won’t find a prize turkey in this play and there are no dancing mice. There are, however, stories of love lost and found—and of people growing into a new sense of who they are and what the world has to offer if you let yourself see what’s beneath the surface. This winter, we invite you to do just that.

By Susanna Gellert, Artistic Producer

preview: Bus StopBy William Inge • Directed by David Schweizer • Nov 21–Dec 23, 2012

“Virge. I hate to sound like some pitiable weaklin’ of a man, but there’s been times the last few months, I been so lonesome, I…I jest didn’t know what t’do with m’self. How ’bout you, Virge? Don’t you ever get lonesome too?”

“It takes strong men and women to love…People strong enough inside themselves to love without humiliation. People big enough to grow with their love and live inside a whole, wide new dimension. People brave enough to bear the responsibility of being loved and not fear it as a burden.” —Bus Stop

20 | CENTERSTAGE

As we move through our landmark anniversary season, we invite you to help us celebrate our past. For videos, audio interviews, and memories of our history, visit www.centerstage.org/anniversary.

JanuarY 10, 1974Eleven years after CENTERSTAGE’s debut, disaster struck the growing company. Just past midnight, after the opening night performance of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, a fire was reported at the theater’s North Avenue location. An hour later, the blaze had grown to a six-alarm event, summoning 120 firefighters to the scene. The fire eviscerated the interior of the theater, damaged the structure beyond repair, and cast CENTERSTAGE’s future in grave doubt.

Undeterred by the enormity of the loss, the theater’s resilient leadership and dedicated company vowed to continue with the season. Then CENTERSTAGE Board President Donald Rothman described the public’s reaction: “No sooner had the news of this disaster spread than arose an outpouring of response…the hearts of the people of this community seemed to have been genuinely touched, and offers of auditoriums came from everywhere.”

The very next evening the curtain rose at the Baltimore Museum of Art’s auditorium and the run of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? continued without missing a single scheduled performance. Addressing the large, supportive crowd gathered in the unfamiliar space, Rothman declared, “The words of the author are here. And you, the audience, are here. And that is what theater is all about.”

In the months that followed, an inspiring capital campaign led to the acquisition and renovation of a new home for CENTERSTAGE in the historic former Loyola College building. Thanks to the generosity of the Jesuits, enormous philanthropic support from the city and community members, and substantial grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Ford Foundation, CENTERSTAGE opened its 1975–76 Season in the unique Calvert Street home where the theater thrives to this day.

Visit www.centerstage.org/anniversary for a more in-depth look at our history— and keep an eye on the programs throughout the season as we chronicle each era of CENTERSTAGE’s growth in the Baltimore community.

50th anniversarY From the Fire: Rebirth

Go online to hear Peter Culman and former Board President Murray Kappelman (above) share first-hand accounts of the fire and how the show went on. And don't miss personal video interviews with founding company members such as Rhea Feikin, and early patrons recounting historical events at CENTERSTAGE.


supporting the Annual Fund @ centerstageJuly 1, 2011– August 30, 2012

The following list includes gifts of $250 or more—individual, corporate, foundation, and government contributions—made to the CENTERSTAGE Annual Fund between July 1, 2011 and August 30, 2012. Although space limitations make it impossible for us to list everyone who helps fund our artistic, education, and community programs, we are enormously grateful to each person who contributes to CENTERSTAGE.

We couldn’t do it without you!

the CEntErStAgE Society represents donors who, with their annual contributions of $2,500 or more, provide special opportunities for our artists and audiences. Society members are actively involved through special events, theater-related travel, and behind-the-scenes conversations with theater artists.

ArtiStS CirCLE ($25,000+)

The William L. and Victorine Q. Adams Foundation and The Rodgers Family Fund

The Miriam and Jay Wurtz Andrus TrustEllen and Ed BernardStephanie and Ashton CarterThe Charlesmead FoundationJames and Janet ClausonLynn and Tony DeeringKathleen HyleKenneth C. and Elizabeth M. LundeenMarilyn MeyerhoffTerry H. Morgenthaler and Patrick KerinsJudy and Scott PharesGeorge RochePhil and Lynn RauchMr. and Mrs. George M. ShermanThe Shubert Foundation, Inc.Mr. and Mrs. Robert W. Smith, Jr.Harold and Mimi Steinberg

Charitable Trust

PrODuCErS CirCLE ($10,000–$24,999)

The William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial FundPenny BankThe Jacob and Hilda Blaustein

Foundation, Inc.The Bunting Family FoundationMr. and Mrs. George L. BuntingThe Helen P. Denit Charitable Trust

Ms. Nancy Dorman and Mr. Stanley Mazaroff

Jane and Larry DroppaJohn Gerdy and E. Follin SmithThe Goldsmith Family FoundationThe Laverna Hahn Charitable TrustMartha HeadJ.I. FoundationMr. and Mrs. E. Robert Kent, Jr.Mr. and Mrs. Samuel G. MacfarlaneMr. and Mrs. J. William MurrayMs. Barbara Voss and Charles E. Noell, IIIMr. Louis B. Thalheimer and

Ms. Juliet A. EurichMs. Katherine L. Vaughns

PLAYwrightS CirCLE ($5,000–$9,999)

AnonymousPeter and Millicent BainMs. Katharine C. BlakesleeJames T. and Francine G. BradySylvia and Eddie BrownThe Nathan & Suzanne Cohen

FoundationThe Cordish FamilyThe Jane and Worth B. Daniels, Jr.

Fund of the Baltimore Community Foundation

Brian and Denise EakesFascitelli Family FoundationDr. and Mrs. Neil D. GoldbergMs. Lara HallDonald and Sybil Hebb

Mr. and Mrs. Martin HillMurray and Joan KappelmanFrancie and John KeenanKwame and Michelle Kwei-ArmahThe John J. Leidy Foundation, Inc.The Macht Philanthropic FundRobert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda BeckerJohn and Susan NehraStephen Richard and Mame HuntThe Jim & Patty Rouse

Charitable FoundationDr. Edgar and Betty Sweren,

in honor of Kwame Kwei-Armah and his OBE Award recognition

Ms. Linda Woolf

DirECtOrS CirCLE ($2,500–$4,999)

AnonymousThe Lois and Irving Blum Foundation, Inc.Drs. Joanna and Harry BrandtMary Catherine BuntingThe Annie E. Casey FoundationAugust and Melissa ChiaseraThe Mary & Dan Dent Fund of the

Baltimore Community FoundationMr. and Mrs. Walter B. Doggett, IIIMr. and Mrs. Michael FalconeDick and Maria GamperMs. Suzan GarabedianThe Harry L. Gladding Foundation/

Winnie and Neal BordenFredye and Adam GrossRobert and Cheryl Guth

F. Barton Harvey, III and Janet Marie Smith, in honor of Peter Culman

The Hecht-Levi Foundation, Inc.Dr. and Mrs. J. Woodford HowardThe Harley W. Howell

Charitable FoundationMs. Sherrilyn A. IfillMr. and Mrs. Stephen ImmeltFrancine and Allan KrumholzMr. and Mrs. Herschel L. LangenthalJonna and Fred LazarusMrs. Diane MarkmanLinda and John McClearyMr. and Mrs. John L. MessmoreJim and Mary MillerJeannie MurphyDr. and Mrs. Lawrence C. PakulaMarjorie Rodgers Cheshire and

Mark CheshireMonica and Arnold SagnerScot T. SpencerMr. Michael StyerMr. and Mrs. Donald and Mariana ThomsTrexler Foundation, Inc. - Jeff Abarbanel

and David GoldnerKathryn and Mark VaselkivMr. and Mrs. J.W. Thompson WebbMr. and Mrs. Loren and Judy WesternScott and Mary WielerTed and Mary Jo WieseCheryl Hudgins Williams and

Alonza WilliamsSydney and Ron Wilner

INDIVIDUALS & FOUNDATIONS

50 th ANNIVERSARy SEASONPrESEnting SPOnSOr

SEASOn SPOnSOrSEllen and Ed BernardStephanie and Ashton CarterJames and Janet ClausonLynn and Tony Deering and

The Charlesmead FoundationJane and Larry DroppaTerry H. Morgenthaler and Patrick KerinsJudy and Scott PharesPhil and Lynn RauchJay and Sharon SmithBarbara Voss and Charles E. Noell, III

ASSOCiAtE SEASOn SPOnSOrSKathleen HyleKenneth C. and Elizabeth M. Lundeen

COrPOrAtE SPOnSOrS

T. Rowe Price Foundation

MEDiA PArtnErS

22 | CENTERSTAGE

INDIVIDUALS & FOUNDATIONS (continued)ASSOCiAtES ($1,000–$2,499)AnonymousMr. and Mrs. Raymond Bank

Family Fund of the Baltimore Community Foundation

Ms. Taunya BanksDonald BartlingMr. and Mrs. Marc BlumJohn and Carolyn BoitnottDr. and Mrs. Donald D. BrownSandra and Thomas BrushartMaureen and Kevin ByrnesMeredith and Joseph CallananThe Campbell Foundation, Inc.Caplan Family Foundation, Inc.Sally and Jerry CaseyJohn ChesterAnn K. ClappDr. Joan Develin Coley and Mr.

Lee RiceConstantinides Family

FoundationRobert and Janice DavisThe Richard & Rosalee C.

Davison FoundationMr. James H. DeGraffenreidt, Jr.

and Dr. Mychelle Y. FarmerAlbert F. DeLoskey and Lawrie

DeeringRosetta and Matt DeVitoMr. Jed Dietz and Dr. Julia

McMillanMr. and Mrs. Eric DottMs. Lynne Durbin and John-

Francis MergenJack and Nancy DwyerPatricia Yevics-Eisenberg and

Stewart EisenbergBuddy and Sue Emerson, in

appreciation of Ken and Elizabeth Lundeen

Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Freedman

Frank and Jane GaborJose and Ginger GalvezJonathan and Pamela Genn, in

honor of Cindi Monahan and Beth Falcone

Ms. Sandra Levi GerstungJanet and John GilbertMs. Ana GoldsekerStuart and Linda GrossmanH.R. LaBar Family Foundation

Fund of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation

Bill and Scootsie HatterSandra and Thomas HessDrs. Dahlia Hirsch and Barry

Wohl, in honor of Carole Goldberg

Mr. and Mrs. Leonard HomerMr. and Mrs. James HormuthThe A. C. and Penney Hubbard

FoundationMr. and Mrs. Theodore ImesJoseph J. JaffaMr. and Mrs. Mark JosephSandy and Mark LakenJoseph M. and Judy K.

LangmeadDr. and Mrs. George Lentz, Jr.Marty Lidston and Jill

LeukhardtMr. and Mrs. Earl & Darielle

Linehan/Linehan Family Foundation

Maryland Charity CampaignMs. Michelle McKenna-DoyleJoseph and Jane MeyerTom and Cindi MonahanMs. Stacey Morrison and Mr.

Brian MoralesMr. and Mrs. Lee Ogburn

Ms. Jo-Ann Mayer OrlinskyMr. and Mrs. Stanley Panitz

Fund of the Baltimore Community Foundation, in honor of Peter Culman

Ms. Beth PerlmanRonald and Carol RecklingMs. Kathleen C. Ridder, in

honor of Peter CulmanThe James and Gail Riepe

Family FoundationNathan and Michelle

RobertsonDr. David A. RobinsonMr. Grant RochThe Rollins-Luetkemeyer

FoundationMr. and Mrs. Todd SchubertMrs. Gail SchulhoffCharles & Leslie SchwabeThe Tim and Barbara Schweizer

Foundation, Inc.Bayinnah Shabazz, M.D.Barbara and Sig ShapiroThe Ida & Joseph Shapiro

FoundationThe Earle & Annette Shawe

Family FoundationDr. Barbara SheltonDana and Matthew SlaterMr. and Mrs. Robert N.

SmelkinsonJudith R. and Turner B. SmithMr. and Mrs. Scott SmithScott and Mimi SomervilleMr. Gilbert H. Stewart and Ms.

Joyce UlrichDr. and Mrs. John StrahanSusan and Brian SullamMr. and Mrs. Ronald W. TaylorSanford and Karen TeplitzkyJohn A. UlatowskiUnited Way of Central

Maryland CampaignMr. and Mrs. George and Beth

Van DykeCarolyn and Robert WallaceNanny and Jack Warren, in

honor of Lynn DeeringJanna P. WehrleAnn Wolfe and Dick MeadJohn W. WoodDr. Laurie S. ZabinMr. Calman Zamoiski, Jr., in

honor of Terry MorgenthalerDrs. Nadia and Elias ZerhouniZiger/Snead ArchitectsMr. E. Zuspan

COLLEAguES ($500–$999)AnonymousLindsay and Bradley AlgerThe Alsop Family FoundationMrs. Alexander ArmstrongArt Seminar GroupMr. Robert and Dorothy BairMayer and Will Baker, in honor

of Terry MorgenthalerAmy and Bruce BarnettMr. and Mrs. Charles C. and

Patti BaumMs. Jane Baum RodbellJaye and Dr. Ted Bayless FundMr. and Mrs. S. Woods and

Catherine L. BennettMr. and Mrs. Bruce Blum, in

memory of Shirley Feinstein Blum

Rose CarpenterMr. and Mrs. Carl F. ChristCombined Charity Campaign

The Deering Family FoundationGene DeJackome and Kim

GingrasThe Honorable and Mrs. E.

Stephen DerbyDave and Joyce EdingtonPatricia Egan and Peter

Hegeman, in honor of Peter Culman

The Eliasberg Family Foundation, Inc.

Donald and Margaret EngvallMr. and Mrs. Edgar and Faith

Feingold, in memory of Sally W. Feingold

Sandra and John FerriterAndrea and Samuel FineDennis and Patty FlynnMs. Nancy FreymanDr. Joseph Gall and Dr. Diane

DwyerHal & Pat GilreathMary and Richard GormanLouise A. HagerTerry Halle and Wendy

McAllisterMelanie and Donald HeacockLee M. Hendler, in honor of

Peter CulmanRebecca Henry and Harry

GrunerBetsy and George HessMrs. Heidi HoffmanMr. James HughesMr. Edward HuntMs. Harriet F. IglehartRichard Jacobs and Patricia

LasherMs. Mary Claire JeskeBJ and Candy JonesMax JordanDr. and Mrs. Juan M. JuanteguyPeter and Kay KaplanMs. Shirley KaufmanMr. and Mrs. Padraic Kennedy,

in honor of Ken LundeenRoland and Judy Phair KingStewart KoehlerMr. John Lanasa, in honor of

Peter CulmanMr. Claus Leitherer and Mrs.

Irina FedorovaDr. and Mrs. Ronald LesserMarilyn LeutholdDr. and Mrs. John LionKenneth and Christine LoboThe Dr. Frank C. Marino

Foundation, Inc.Dr. Carole MillerMr. Jeston I. MillerStephanie F. Miller, in honor of

The Lee S. Miller Jr. FamilyThe Montag Family Fund of The

Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, in honor of Beth Falcone

George and Beth MurnaghanLettie MyersJudith Needham and Warren

KilmerRoger F. Nordquist and Joyce

WardMr. and Mrs. James and Mimi

Piper Fund of the Baltimore Community Foundation

Bonnie PittMr. Mike Plaisted and Ms.

Maggie WebbertDave and Chris PowellMs. Jill PrattRobert E. and Anne L. PrinceMr. and Mrs. Richard RadmerMrs. Peggy L. Rice

Mr. and Mrs. Harold RojasDorothy L. and Henry A.

Rosenberg, Jr.Kevin and Judy RossiterMrs. Bette RothmanMr. Al RussellSheila and Steve SachsMs. Renee C. SamuelsMs. Sherry SchnepfeMr. and Mrs. Eugene H.

SchreiberScott Sherman and Julie

RothmanThe Sinksy-Kresser-Racusin

Memorial FoundationSusan Somerville-Hawes, in

honor of EncounterGeorgia and George StamasMr. Ben StoneRobert and Patricia TarolaDiana and Ken TroutSharon and David TufaroIn memory of Sally WessnerMr. Michael T. WhartonDr. and Mrs. Frank R. WitterEric and Pam Young

ADVOCAtES ($250–$499)AnonymousMr. Alan M. Arrowsmith, IIMr. and Mrs. Jon Baker, in

honor of Terry MorgenthalerMichael BakerDrs. Lewis and Diane BeckerJudge Robert BellRachel and Steven Bloom, in

honor of Beth FalconeMr. Chad Bolton, in honor of

Peter CulmanPerry and Aurelia BoltonChiChi and Peter BosworthBetty Jo BowmanJan BoyceBeth and Dale BradyMr. and Mrs. Charles BryanMr. David BundyMs. Deborah W. CallardCindy CandeloriThe Jim and Anne Cantler

Memorial Fund of the Baltimore Community Foundation

Mr. and Mrs. David CarterMr. Andrew J. CaryMr. and Mrs. James CaseDonna and Tony ClareStanton CollinsDavid and Sara CookeMr. and Mrs. Richard D. CraftonMs. Barbara CrainMr. Thomas Crusse and Mr.

David Imre, in honor of Stephanie and Ash Carter

Richard and Lynda DavisSally Digges and James ArnoldMr. and Mrs. Ivor EdmondsDeborah and Philip EnglishMr. Dennis EppsMs. Rhea FeikinMs. Jeannette E. FestaBob and Susie FetterDr. and Mrs. Robert P.

FleishmanMr. and Mrs. George FlickingerJoan and David ForesterDr. Neal M. Friedlander and Dr.

Virginia K. AdamsConstance A. GetzovMark and Patti GillenHerbert and Harriet Goldman

Robert W. Smith, Jr., PresidentEdward C. Bernard, Vice PresidentJuliet Eurich, Vice PresidentTerry H. Morgenthaler, Vice PresidentE. Follin Smith, TreasurerKatherine L. Vaughns, Secretary

Katharine C. Blakeslee+James T. Brady+C. Sylvia Brown+Stephanie CarterAugust J. ChiaseraMarjorie Rodgers CheshireJanet ClausonLynn DeeringJed DietzWalter B. Doggett, IIIJane W.I. DroppaBrian EakesBeth W. FalconeC. Richard Gamper, Jr.Suzan GarabedianCarole GoldbergAna GoldsekerAdam GrossCheryl O’Donnell GuthMartha HeadKathleen W. HyleTed E. ImesMurray M. Kappelman, MD+John J. KeenanE. Robert Kent, Jr.Joseph M. Langmead+Jonna Gane LazarusKenneth C. LundeenMichelle McKenna-DoyleMarilyn Meyerhoff+J. William MurrayCharles E. NoellEsther Pearlstone+Judy M. PharesJill PrattPhilip J. RauchHarold RojasMonica Sagner+Renee C. SamuelsTodd SchubertGeorge M. Sherman+Scott SomervilleScot T. SpencerMichael B. StyerRonald W. TaylorDonald ThomsJ.W. Thompson WebbRonald M. WilnerCheryl Hudgins WilliamsLinda S. Woolf

+ Trustees Emeriti

BOARD OF TRUSTEES


Mr. Howard GradetRon and Andrea GriesmarThomas and Barbara GuarnieriMs. Doris M. GugelMr. David GuyJane Halpern and James PettitMs. Paulette HammondDr. and Dr. James and Vicki

HandaMr. and Mrs. Richard HawesIn Memory of Eric R. HeadSue HessMr. Donald H. Hooker, Jr.Mr. Jonathan HornbeckMs. Irene HornickMr. and Mrs. Martin HorowitzMs. Deborah HyltonMs. Sarah IssacsMr. William JacobJames S. and Hillary Aidus

JacobsA.H. Janoski, M.D., in honor of

Jane JanoskiJames and Julie JohnstoneRichard and Judith KatzB. KellerDr. & Mrs. Myron KellnerMr. and Mrs. Stephen J. KellyDonald Knox and Mary Towery,

in memory of Carolyn Knox and Gene Towery

David and Ann KochDr. and Mrs. Randi L. KohnGina KotowskiMr. and Mrs. Robert A. LagasDrs. Don and Pat LangenbergMr. Richard M. LansburghMr. and Mrs. William LarsonDrs. Ronald and Mary LeachSara W. LeviTerry Lorch and Tom LiebelPaul and Anne MaddenNancy Magnuson and Jay

Harrell, in honor of Betty and Edgar Sweren

Mr. Elvis MarksDon MartinMs. Michael McMullanMary and Barry MenneCarolyn and Michael MeredithPeniel and Julia S. MoedMr. and Mrs. James and Shirley

MooreThe Honorable Diana and Fred

Motz, in memory of Nancy Roche

Mr. and Mrs. William H. MullinDr. Patrick Murphy and Dr.

Genevieve A. LosonskyStephen and Terry NeedelIn memory of Nelson NeumanNina NobleMs. Irene Norton and Heather

MillarThe P.R.F.B. Charitable

Foundation, in memory of Shirley Feinstein Blum

Michael and Phyllis PanopoulosJustine and Ken ParezoFred and Grazina PearsonLinda and Gordon PeltzChris and Deborah PenningtonMr. William PhillipsRonald and Patricia PillingMrs. Kathy PivenLeslie and Gary PlotnickDr. Albert J. Polito and Dr.

Redonda G. MillerConnie and Roger PumphreyCyndy Renoff and George TalerDr. Michael Repka and Dr. Mary

Anne FaccioloNatasha and Keenan RiceAlison and Arnold Richman

Richard and Sheila RiggsRichard and Mary RimkunasMs. Elizabeth Ritter and Mr.

Lawrence KoppelmanIda and Jack RoadhouseMr. and Mrs. Domingo and

Karen Rodriguez, in honor of Emma Grace Barnes

Mr. and Mrs. Jerry RoeslerLouis and Luanne RuskFrank and Michelle SampleMs. Gloria SavadowFrederica and William Saxon, Jr.Mr. Steve SchwartzmanMs. Minnie ShorterMr. and Mrs. L. SiemsDr. and Mrs. Donald J. SlowinskiRosie and Jim SmithSolomon and Elaine SnyderJoseph SterneMrs. Clare H. Stewart, in honor

of Peter CulmanBrenda and Dan StoneMs. Joann StricklandMr. and Mrs. James R.and Gail

SwanbeckTed and Lynda ThillyFredrick and Cindy ThompsonRobin and Harold TuckerComprehensive Car Care/

Robert WagnerDonald and Darlene WakefieldMs. Magda WesterhoustMs. Camille Wheeler and Mr.

William MarshallHarold and Joan YoungMr. Norman YouskauskasMr. Paul Zugates

SPECiAL grAntS & giftSThe Leading National Theatres Program, a joint initiative of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

gOVErnMEnt grAntSCENTERSTAGE is funded by an operating grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive. Funding for the Maryland State Arts Council is also provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

CENTERSTAGE’s catalog of Education Programs has been selected by the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities as a 2011 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award Finalist.

CENTERSTAGE participates annually in Free Fall Baltimore, a program of the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts.

Baltimore County Executive, County Council, & Commission on Arts and Sciences

Carroll County Government

Howard County Arts Council through a grant from Howard County Government

giftS in-KinDThe Afro AmericanAkbar RestaurantDean AlexanderArt LithoAu Bon PainThe Baltimore SunBlimpie

The Brewer’s ArtCalvert Wine & SpiritsCasa di PastaCharcoal GrillCima Model ManagementThe Classic Catering People ChipotleThe City PaperEggspectationsFisherman’s Friend/PEZ Candy,

Inc.Gertrude’s RestaurantGreg’s BagelsGT PizzaGutierrez Studios Haute DogHoneyBaked Ham Co.The HelmandHotel MonacoIggie’sThe Jewish TimesMarriott Minato Mitchell Kurtz Architect, PCMount Vernon Stable and

SaloonNew System BakeryNo Worries CosmeticsOriole’s Pizza and SubPazoPizza Boli’sPizza HutPromoWorksRepublic National Distributing

CompanyRoly Poly Romano’s Macaroni GrillSabatino’sSenovvaShugoll ResearchThe SignmanStyle MagazineSunlight LLC, in honor of Kacy

ArmstrongUrbaniteA Vintner’s SelectionWawaWegman’sWhitmore Print & ImagingWYPR Radiowww.thecheckshop.us

MAtChing gift COMPAniES The Abell Foundation, Inc.Bank of AmericaThe Annie E. Casey

FoundationConstellation EnergyThe Deering Family

FoundationExxon CorporationFrance-Merrick FoundationGE FoundationGoldseker FoundationIBM CorporationMcCormick & Co. Inc.Norfolk Southern FoundationOpen Society Institute PNC BankStanley Black & Decker SunTrust BankT. Rowe Price Group

We make every effort to provide accurate acknowledgement of our contributors. We appreciate your patience and assistance in keeping our lists current. To advise us of corrections, please call 410.986.4026.

PLAYwrightS CirCLEAnonymousAccentureAmerican Trading &

Production CorporationThe Baltimore Life

CompaniesBaxter, Baker, Sidle, Conn

& Jones, P.A.Brown AdvisoryEnvironmental

Reclamation CompanyFTI ConsultingHoward BankLord Baltimore Capital

CorporationMcGuireWoods LLPPNC Financial Services

GroupProcter & GambleStifel NicolausTransamerica Financial

Solutions GroupVenable, LLPWhiteford, Taylor &

Preston LLPWhiting-Turner

Contracting Co.

DirECtOrS CirCLEAlexander Design StudioBay ImageryE*Trade Financial

CorporationFunk & Bolton, P.A.Offit | Kurman, Attorneys

at LawPessin Katz Law P.A.PricewaterhouseCoopers

LLPSchoenfeld Insurance

AssociatesStevenson UniversityThe Zolet Lenet Group at

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney

ASSOCiAtESAyers Saint Gross,

IncorporatedChesapeake Plywood, LLCCorporate Office

Properties TrustErnst & young LLP

CORPORATIONS

PrODuCErS CirCLE

ArtiStS CirCLE

ADVOCAtES continued

T. Rowe Price Foundation, Inc.

24 | CENTERSTAGE

Now Live!To celebrate its 50th anniversary CENTERSTAGE asked 50 of the country’s leading playwrights to answer a simple question: What is my America?

The responses, captured in 50 new monologues fi lmed by award-winning director Hal Hartley, range from the political to the personal, and form a snapshot of our nation through the eyes of its playwrights.

New videos online every Tuesday through Election Day on November 6, 2012. Go online to watch the videos, see the release schedule, and sign up to receive updates. www.centerstage.org/myamerica.

Or stop by the Media Wall in our lobby to see all of the videos NOW.

Above: Terry O’Quinn in A Brand New Man by Rinde Eckert.

MY AMERICA iS SUPPORTed BYLynn and Tony Deering and The Charlesmead Foundation


CENTERSTAGE and the Enoch Pratt Free Library present their participation in The Big Read, a month-long series of events, performances, and educational outreach focused on the life and works of Edgar Allan Poe. The program kicked off in September with live performances, free books, and more as part of CENTERSTAGE’s 50 Fest and the Baltimore Book Festival. The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. Stay tuned for more events being added to the schedule, which will be updated at www.centerstage.org/poe.

thursday, October 25 Single Carrot Theatre’s The Poe Project 6:30 pm • Light Street Branch An interactive new work derived from the writings of Edgar Allan Poe by Genevieve de Mahy. This is a unique performance opportunity for the audience to interact with artists and each other, while exploring the reaches of Poe’s indelible poetry and prose.

tuesday, October 30 Single Carrot Theatre’s The Poe Project (see above) 6:30 pm • Central Library

Sunday, november 4 Single Carrot Theatre’s The Poe Project (see above) 7 pm • Liam Flynn’s Ale House

wednesday, november 14 6 pm • Reisterstown Branch CENTERSTAGE’s Encounter program performs the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Teens retell Poe’s writings and muse on his impact on their lives today.

Afterthoughts • CENTERSTAGE Post-show conversation with artistic staff and Poe-related experts: Thursday, November 1 Thursday, November 8 Sunday, November 11 Thursday, November 15

The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.

Attendees at Poe's gravesite ceremony on October 7 at Westminster Burying Grounds.26 | CENTERSTAGE

Baltimore Community Foundation Web: www.bcf.org Phone: 410.332.4171


Kwame Kwei-Armah OBE–Artistic Director Stephen Richard–Managing Director

AdministrationAssociate Managing Director–Del W. RisbergExecutive Assistant–Kacy ArmstrongThe Ellen and Ed Bernard Management Intern–

Batya FeldmanYale Fellow–Alyssa Simmons

ArtisticAssociate Artistic Director–Gavin WittArtistic Producer–Susanna GellertArtistic Senior Fellow–Kellie MeclearyThe Lynn and Tony Deering Artistic Intern–

Samantha Godfrey

Audience relationsBox Office Manager–Mandy BenedixAssistant Manager/Subscriptions Manager–

Jerrilyn KeeneAssistant Manager–Blane WycheFull-time Assistants–Lindsey Barr, Ashley Fain,

Rachel Holmes, Alana Kolb, Christopher LewisPart-Time Assistant–Froilan MateBar Manager–Sean Van CleveHouse Manager & Volunteer Coordinator–

Bertinarea CramptonAssistant House Managers–Linda Cavell,

Faith SavillAudience Relations Intern–Quincy PriceAudio Description–Ralph Welsh &

Maryland Arts Access

AudioSupervisor–Amy WedelEngineer–Eric LottThe Jane and Larry Droppa Audio Intern–

Andrew Graves

Community Programs & EducationDirector–Julianne FranzEducation Coordinator–Rosiland CauthenCommunity Programs & Education Intern–

Dustin MorrisThe James and Janet Clauson Education Intern–

Kristina SzilagyiTeaching Artists–The 5th L; Oran Bandel; Jerry Miles,

Jr.; CJay Philip; Wambui Richardson; Joan Weber

CostumesCostumer–David BurdickTailor–Edward DawsonCraftsperson–William E. CrowtherStitcher–Jessica RietzlerThe Terry H. Morgenthaler and Patrick Kerins

Costumes Intern– Elizabeth ChapmanThe Judy and Scott Phares Costumes Intern–

Anna Tringali

DevelopmentDirector–Cindi MonahanGrants Manager–Sean BeattieAnnual Fund Manager–Katelyn WhiteEvents Coordinator–Brad NorrisDevelopment Assistant–Julia OstroffAssistant–Christopher Lewis

Auction Coordinator–Sydney WilnerAuction Assistant–Norma CohenDramaturgyDirector–Gavin WittDramaturgy Senior Fellow–Kellie MeclearyApprentices–Roisin Dowling, Christine Prevas,

Kate Ramsdell, Bennett Remsberg, Matthew Buckley Smith, Lucy Walker

financeDirector–Susan RoseberyBusiness Manager–Kathy NolanAssociate–Carla Moose

graphicsArt Director–Bill GeenenSenior Designer–Jason GembickiProduction Photographer–Richard AndersonGraphics Intern–Michelle FlemingDigital Media Intern–Leslie Datsis

information technologiesDirector–Joe LongSystems Administrator–Mark Slaughter

LightingLighting Director–Lesley BoeckmanMaster Electrician–Lily BradfordMultimedia Coordinator–Stew IvesStaff Electrician–Bevin MiyakeThe Barbara Capalbo Electrics Intern–Scot Gianelli

Marketing & CommunicationsDirector–Tony Heaphy Public Relations Manager–Heather C. JacksonMarketing Manager–Timmy MetznerDigital Media Associate–Timothy GellesMarketing Associate–Tia AbnerThe Jay and Sharon Smith Marketing and

Public Relations Fellow–Kiirstn PaganMedia Services–Planit

OperationsDirector–Harry DeLairOperations Assistant–Len DozierHousekeeper–Kali Keeney, Jacqueline StewartSecurity Guards–Crown Security

Production ManagementProduction Manager–Mike SchleiferAssistant Production Manager– Caitlin PowersCompany Manager–Sara GroveProduction/Stage Management Intern–Ashley RiesterCompany Management Intern–Matt Shea

PropertiesManager–Jennifer StearnsAssistant Manager– Nathan ScheifeleArtisan–Jeanne-Marie BurdetteThe Kenneth C. and Elizabeth M. Lundeen Properties

Intern–Kimberly Townsend

SceneryTechnical Director–Tom RuppAssistant Technical Director–Laura P. Merola

Shop Supervisor–Trevor GohrCarpenters–Joey Bromfield, Mike Kulha,

Scott RichardsonScene Shop Intern–Ryan ColeScenic ArtScenic Artist–Stephanie NimickIntern–Lauren Crabtree

Stage ManagementResident Stage Managers–Captain Kate Murphy,

Laura SmithThe Peter and Millicent Bain

Stage Management Interns–Brent Beavers, Lindsay Eberly

Stage OperationsStage Carpenter–Eric BurtonWardrobe Supervisor–Linda Cavell

The following designers, artisans, and assistants contributed to this production of

The Completely Fictional— utterly True—Final strange Tale of edgar Allan Poe—Assistant Lighting Designer–Scot GianelliLighting–Cartland Berge, Zach Dalton, John Elder,

Jake Epp, Aaron Haag, Michael Sperber, Joey Walls Carpenters–Bernard Bender, Mark Eisendrath, Seth

Foster, J.R. FritschDraper–Ginny McKeeverWigs & Hair–Denise O'Brien

CENTERSTAGE operates under an agreement between LORT and Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.

The Director and Choreographer are members of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, Inc., an independent national labor union.

The scenic, costume, lighting, and sound designers in LORT theaters are represented by United Scenic Artists, Local USA-829 of the IATSE.

Musicians engaged by CENTERSTAGE perform under the terms of an agreement between CENTERSTAGE and Local 40-543, American Federation of Musicians.

CENTERSTAGE is a constituent of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the nonprofit professional theater, and is a member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT), the national collective bargaining organization of professional regional theaters.

the CEntErStAgE Program is published by:Center Stage Associates, Inc. 700 North Calvert Street Baltimore, Maryland 21202

Editor Heather C. JacksonAssistant Editor Kiirstn PaganArt Direction/Design Bill Geenen Design Jason Gembicki

Advertising Sales [email protected]

COntACt infOrMAtiOnbox Office Phone 410.332.0033 box Office fax 410.727.2522 Administration 410.986.4000www.centerstage.org [email protected]

Material in the CENTERSTAGE performance program is made available free of charge for legitimate educational and research purposes only. Selective use has been made of previously published information and images whose inclusion here does not constitute license for any further re-use of any kind. All other material is the property of CENTERSTAGE, and no copies or reproductions of this material should be made for further distribution, other than for educational purposes, without express permission from the authors and CENTERSTAGE.

staff

28 | CENTERSTAGE

410-243-5700TDD: 1-800-735-2258

www.rolandparkplace.org

830 West 40th StreetBaltimore, MD 21211

Life is Simply Better Here!Roland Park Place is a unique continuing care retirement

community in the heart of northern Baltimore City.

mtb.com ©2012 M&T Bank. Member FDIC.

At M&T Bank, we know how important it is to support artists of all kinds. To

enhance the quality of life in our communities. That’s why we offer both our time

and resources, and encourage others to do the same.

When the arts succeed, we all succeed.

M&T is proud to support CENTERSTAGE.

"The Completely Fictional--Utterly True--Final Strange Tale of Edgar Allan Poe" Program

Documents

Transcript of "The Completely Fictional--Utterly True--Final Strange Tale of Edgar Allan Poe" Program