DIRECT
ACTORS THEATRE DIRECT
Gallop through time at the Kentucky Horse Park’s
International Museum of the Horse
Smithsonian Affiliate
The INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE HORSE at the Kentucky Horse Park is dedicated to the history of the horse and its unique relationship with humans through time. With over 60,000 square feet to enjoy, the Museum’s permanent exhibitions highlight the history of the horse from ancient time to the many popular sporting events we participate in today.
Plan your visit at KyHorsePark.com
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 16 10
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A Christmas Carol: A Radio Play
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Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End
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Questioning the Space-Time Continuum and Reckoning with the Moment in Romeo & Juliet: Louisville 2020
Subscriber Hub
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Two New Interactive Projects
Romeo & Juliet: Louisville 2020
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Thank You!
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If You Can Laugh At It, You Can Live With it
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ANTHOLOGY SENIOR LIVING
Continue Life with...
JOY VIBRANCE
ACTIVITY Personal Care / Memory Care Schedule a tour to experience personalized, compassionate care, surrounded by contemporary accommodations, premium amenities and diverse daily activities. Private apartments start at $3,500
Call for a special offer honoring our veterans in November!
RATE LOCK through
December 2021 LIMITED TIME ONLY.
LOUISVILLE
502-438-9563 1105 Dorsey Lane Louisville, KY AnthologySeniorLiving.com/Louisville
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 2
STAFF WRITERS/EDITORS Mary Bainbridge Elizabeth Greenfield Patrick Owen Jenni Page-White Emily Tarquin Amy Wegener GRAPHIC DESIGNER Sheyenne Santiago MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR Charlotte Stephens 316 West Main Street Louisville, KY 40202-4218 EXECUTIVE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Rober t Barry Fleming TICKET SERVICES BoxOffice@ActorsTheatre.org ONLINE ActorsTheatre.org
HI ACTORS THEATRE OF LOUISVILLE FAMILY! Thank you for joining us in this moment—for flipping this page, for clicking on a link, for streaming a project, for joining in a live chat. Thank you for partnering with us on our first virtual season! I look back at the past ten months with awe. Months filled with transition, with unrest, with grief, with learning, with innovation, with confusion, with protest, and with a collective need for transformation. Actors Theatre of Louisville’s ongoing learning and revising has kept us connected with you and thousands of people online. It has created an urgency around how we program while listening and building alignment with what’s happening here in Louisville. It has expanded creative explorations that previously would have unfolded in one rehearsal room into dozens of homes. We have continued to support and collaborate with artists throughout our state and all over the country, through work ranging from our original musician series, Louisville Sessions, to live Facebook events like OKOLONA HABLA (okolona speaks), to the open process for Ali Summit as it’s being developed. We have even held a virtual field trip for a school in the Bronx to experience Where Did We Sit on the Bus?! So as we move through the winter and the weather is growing colder, the pandemic continues, and our city is still in need of justice, we will continue to connect with you and share work that upholds all of our continued transformation and resiliency. Humbly facing the unknown with you,
Emily
Emily Tarquin (they/them) Artistic Producer & Employee Advocate Actors Theatre of Louisville Casting Director, CSA
Photo Credit: Selfie, at home, behind-the-screens of our Romeo & Juliet: Louisville 2020 remote capture.
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Cover photo taken by Fejz Sadiku on Pexels.com.
ACTORS THEATRE DIRECT
A RADIO PLAY
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ACTORS THEATRE DIRECT
A CHRISTMAS CAROL A RADIO PLAY
based on the novella by Charles Dickens adapted by Amy Wegener executive producer Dan Gediman sound design by Sue Zizza
November 24 — December 31, 2020 THE CAST (in alphabetical order) Fred / Young Scrooge / Gentleman Peter Hargrave Ebenezer Scrooge / Old Joe John G. Preston Peter Cratchit / Boy Scrooge Austin Ramirez Fan / Martha Cratchit / Kid on the Corner Bailey Ramirez Tiny Tim / Young Caroler Vaughn Michael Ramirez Jacob Marley / Party Guest / Gentleman Neill Robertson Ghost of Christmas Past / Mrs. Cratchit / Laundress Christina Acosta Robinson Ghost of Christmas Present / Bob Cratchit / Fezziwig Ken Robinson Belinda Cratchit Marilyn Robinson Belle / Lizzie / Party Guest Kala Ross The Narrator Jessica Wortham
PRODUCTION / ARTISTIC TEAM Artistic Producer / Casting Director Casting Coordinator Artistic Manager Production Coordinator Sound Engineer Sound Technician Dialect Coach Project Manager Director of Production Assistant Production Manager
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Emily Tarquin, CSA Sujotta Pace, CSA Zachary Meicher-Buzzi Stephen Horton Paul Doyle Lindsay Burdsall Rachel K. Carter Ben Otten Paul Werner Bryn Weiler
ACTORS THEATRE DIRECT
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ACTORS THEATRE DIRECT
ERMA BOMBECK: At Wit’s End
by Allison Engel and Margaret Engel directed by Robert Barry Fleming
JANUARY 8 — 28, 2021 THE CAST (in order of speaking)
Erma Bombeck Jessica Wortham Female Questioner Christina Acosta Robinson Male Questioner John G. Preston PRODUCTION / ARTISTIC TEAM
Line Producer Sound Supervisor Director of Production Video Editor
Jessica Wortham Paul Doyle Paul Werner Philip Allgeier
Special thanks to Clint Newman, Linda and Clint Newman II, Frances Wortham, Michael Wortham and Juda Hellmann. Originally developed for the stage with David Esbjornson. Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com.
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Images: Jessica Wortham in Erma Bombeck: At Wit's End.
I WAS KINDA HOPING THAT OVER THE YEARS, WE'D BE
ABLE TO FIGURE OUT THE MOM THING. YOU KNOW, THE SEESAW BETWEEN WORK AND HOME. BUT ON THAT FRONT, NOTHING SEEMS TO HAVE CHANGED.
– FROM ERMA BOMBECK: AT WIT'S END 10
ACTORS THEATRE DIRECT
IF YOU CAN LAUGH AT IT, YOU CAN LIVE WITH IT
F
illed with wisecracking charm, Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End traces the iconic humorist’s journey from homemaker to popular syndicated columnist to feminist crusader and more.
Starring in the title role of this one-woman show is Louisville-based performer Jessica Wortham—and she also serves double-duty as its Line Producer. Days after filming was completed, Wortham connected with Literary Manager Jenni Page-White to chat about the process, and to share her thoughts about how Bombeck’s words resonate today.
Jenni Page-White: As a Line Producer, you’ve been doing a lot of work behind the scenes, in addition to acting in front of the camera. Could you walk me through the nuts and bolts of your role in the production process, and how you’ve collaborated remotely with director Robert Barry Fleming?
issue with the leaf blower for a couple of hours. JPW: It sounds like your planning process inherently included some lighting and scenic design. Do you feel like this process has stretched you creatively? JW: On some level, I think it forced me to think like a director. I had to pay attention to how the light behaves in my house, and I had to think about how to frame myself in the space that I live in—and you know, you never think about that kind of stuff in your own home! Of course, Robert was able to help with all that through Zoom.
Jessica Wortham: Well, it’s all filmed inside my house. By me. (She laughs.) Since the show will play out on a screen rather than on a stage, Robert’s approach has been to lean into the visual language of a documentary. There’s a formal interview space, but some of the play is also delivered through voiceover while we watch Erma go about her daily domestic routine. The real challenge has been switching back and forth between the acting and the technical Part of my job was to figure out what and where aspects, because they occupy such different we should film each day in order to minimize parts of my brain. To go from the exacting, the physical set-up: the hauling of the boom organizational side of my brain, to a place that microphone, the boom stand, the sandbags to should be more organic and more experiential support the stand, all the lights, the camera, the as an actor—that’s a hard shift to make. When props… Everything has to be moved. And I’m actors work in film and TV, they prefer to stay the one moving it! “in it,” in a character space between takes. So I’d make a plan and present it to Robert, like: But I didn’t have that luxury. I’d finish filming “I think we should do this section, this section, something, and then I’d have to turn off the and this section in the kitchen. And we need to camera, or check the exposure, or move cords... film at this time in the afternoon because that’s Sometimes, by the time we got to the acting when we get the best natural lighting on that work, I felt like, “Oh thank goodness, now I can side of the house.” And sometimes it included just act!” planning around life—like every other Sunday, JPW: What excited you about working on the lawn guy comes out and there’s a sound this material as an actor? 11
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Jessica Wortham as Erma Bombeck.
JW: Robert and I have had a lot of discussions about how differently this piece resonates now versus when it premiered five years ago. Erma says very early in the play, “I was kinda hoping that over the years, we’d be able to figure out the mom thing. You know, the seesaw between work and home. But on that front, nothing seems to have changed.” And now with the pandemic, people are working from home, they’re juggling kids, their work life is completely overlapping with home life—we’re all experiencing that now, right?
The articles I read about the pandemic—one of the effects is that women are being set back in the progress they’ve made in the workforce. More often than not, it’s women who are disrupting their jobs and staying home with the children. In the play, Erma talks about the Equal Rights Amendment, and that still hasn’t been ratified. And we don’t have universal childcare… I think women might be more vocal about inequality, but structurally, systemically, we have a long way to go.
JPW: You have two kids, right? I’m curious, as I think the play has a lot more bite than I first expected. a working mom in the 21st century—who also Robert was very interested in my take on the material— happens to be navigating a global pandemic—how and I think Erma’s right, not much has changed. Women do Erma’s words resonate with you? can have their own credit cards, I guess. (She chuckles.) JW: Well, my kids are three; I have twins. Erma was JPW: I think we have Ruth Bader Ginsburg to thank able to devote time to writing once her kids were all for a lot of that. in school. As a working parent, I have not been able to experience that yet. And who knows if I ever will! Is JW: Yeah, she passed away while we were filming, and kindergarten going to roll around in two years—when the next day was hard. We said, okay, let’s do it for they’re five—will we be back in schools? I don’t know! Ruth! 12
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This is what's happening at home, and yes you do want to kill your kids, and that's fine—that's normal! (She laughs.) So, for me…the work that I can get done yes you do want to kill your kids, and that’s fine—that’s during the day is really minimal. I’ve really missed normal! You still love them fiercely, but no one will push having a space to go to, a dedicated space for work. It’s your buttons faster. so hard to split your focus. There’s a line in the play: “The whole thing is—and I’m just young enough that Erma Bombeck wasn’t was—ridiculous. If you can’t make it better, you had really on my radar, so it’s been a real treat for me to better laugh at it. And if you can laugh at it, you can learn about her, and how quietly revolutionary it was live with it.” Sometimes that’s all you can do. Don’t for her to talk about the shit that everybody takes for take yourself so seriously, laugh at it, and get some granted. To say this is what’s happening at home, and endorphins going.
SUBSCRIBER HUB
THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT! HERE’S WHAT’S COMING UP IN YOUR VIRTUAL TICKET PACKAGE:
dsfds COVID-Classics: One-Act Plays for the Age of Quarantine AP SP Released Sept. 18, 2020
Where Did We Sit on the Bus? AP SP Nov. 13 – May 31, 2021
A Christmas Carol: A Radio Play AP
HOW DO I GET THE LINKS? The links for the projects included in your package will be sent to the email address on file with us on the release date for each show. (See left.) CHECK YOUR INBOX Add BoxOffice@actorstheatre.org and Info@actorstheatre.org to your contact list. If messages from Actors Theatre are being filtered as Spam, you can add us to your “safe sender” list.
Nov. 24 – Dec. 31, 2020
Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End AP SP Jan. 8 – 28, 2021
Romeo & Juliet: Louisville 2020 AP SP Feb. 1 – May 31, 2021
The 45TH Humana Festival of New American Plays AP Spring 2021
Ali Summit AP SP Part of the 45th Humana Festival of New American Plays Spring 2021 KEY: AP= included in the All Access Pass SP= included in the Season Pass
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ASK US Check our FAQ page on the website (ActorsTheatre.org/direct/faq), or email us at: BoxOffice@actorstheatre.org. A team member will respond within 72 hours.
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ACTORS THEATRE DIRECT
ROMEO & JULIET: LOUISVILLE 2020 by William Shakespeare directed by Robert Barry Fleming dramaturg Amy Wegener part of the Bingham Signature Shakespeare Series
FEBRUARY 1 – MAY 31, 2021 THE CAST (in order of appearance)
Reverend Laurence Mercutio Benvolio Tybalt Capulet Lady Capulet Montague Lady Montague The Prince Romeo Nurse Juliet
Devin E. Haqq Lance G. Newman II Isiah Fish Alexander Stuart Chris Henry Coffey Jennifer Mudge Ken Robinson Christina Acosta Robinson Eric Sheffer Stevens Justin Jackson Jessica Wortham Avery Deutsch
PRODUCTION / ARTISTIC TEAM Artistic Producer / Casting Director / Costume Coordinator Line Producer / Casting Associate Director of Production / Props Coordinator Video Editor Sound Editor
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Emily Tarquin, CSA Sujotta Pace, CSA Paul Werner Philip Allgeier Paul Doyle
QUESTIONING THE SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM AND RECKONING WITH THE MOMENT IN ROMEO & JULIET: LOUISVILLE 2020
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city divided by an ancient grudge. Brawls erupting in the streets. A government threatening brutal force to maintain order. And a deadly plague on the rise as tensions boil. In the midst of this unrest, Shakespeare’s young lovers, the children of sworn enemies, dare to imagine a world where hearts are not ruled by hatred. Unfolding in a vibrant alternate universe that reimagines the classic story alongside our troubled moment, Romeo & Juliet: Louisville 2020 is a resonant retelling that illuminates how history reverberates in the present. Featuring a cast working together virtually from around the country, the production combines wonderful performances with new media technologies, ranging from documentary footage to video art and animation. As rehearsals and filming got underway, Executive Artistic Director Robert Barry Fleming, the director of this adventurous undertaking, spoke with Dramaturg Amy Wegener about the ideas fueling his production—which envisions the Montagues and the Capulets as prominent families, one Black and the other White, caught in deeply rooted animosity. Amy Wegener: Could you share your thoughts about the relationship between Romeo & Juliet and Louisville 2020? How do you see Shakespeare’s story in conversation with this time and place? Robert Barry Fleming: By imagining a heightened contemporary world for the play, I’m bringing this tale from the 16th century into, perhaps, a more immediate conversation, and that’s very purposeful—not in an effort to valorize Eurocentrism, but to say, “How is our experience shaped by the history informing this moment?” In some ways it’s still 1870, after Reconstruction—where Jim Crow and Black Codes allowed wanton lynching of Black folks without protection. That’s the kind of thing we’ve seen with George Floyd and Breonna Taylor: that Black people can still be terrorized and killed without recourse. That the laws on the books are insufficient to provide justice, due to a longstanding legacy of injustice and the attendant relentless interpersonal enmity that seems so difficult to source. So when you think about this ancient grudge, that no one really remembers how it started since it’s become so normalized, the awakening because of a tragedy evidences a connection between the Shakespearean narrative and the contemporary story. The intersection of race (a social construct not 17
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biological reality), when seen through an economic, policy, and legal lens: to me, that’s all in Romeo & Juliet. This has been going on for a really long time, these resentments against other peoples, as well as the ways in which the pursuit of happiness, love and self-actualization are complicated by systems of oppression. Also the intersection of these states of affairs with pandemics throughout history, where again and again you see a tragic disconnect between public health, politics, profit, and who has been prioritized in terms of safety. There are so many layers in this Shakespearean narrative. And just as he mined many sources to tell a story that’s been around for a long time, we keep meditating on this cautionary tale because it identifies vulnerabilities in our cultural landscape that don’t seem to get a lot of humanist traction through the annals of time.
bound together in this narrative. You don’t take time to fight with somebody unless you have a very strong investment in them. When the cast first read through the play, I was struck by how funny and playful so much of it is, how delightful it was to spend time with these characters. There are big stakes, but there’s also a real window into the human comedy, and boldlydrawn, archetypal characters; our cast has wildly unique takes on who they are. And the plethora of talents that this company brings makes for a very diverse world, in every sense of that word. It’s made up of several generations, Black and White, both conservatory trained actors and spoken word performers—there’s an incredibly vibrant palette to work from, as all these artists come together to tell the story. It feels like the storyworld possesses the complex, ambiguous and dynamic relationships we see in our world.
AW: Part of what makes the loss in this story so palpable is experiencing all of the love, humor AW: You’ve used the term “new media” to and liveliness animating this world. How do you describe your experimentation with technology think about that mix? to create this experience. How are you thinking about the visual world of the production, and RBF: As big as the conflict is, so is the love. Love how the storytelling references Louisville? and hate are the two sides of a coin, intricately
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RBF: In addition to capturing the actors’ work in quarantine, we’re incorporating some closed-circuit TV recordings, as well as documentary footage I’ve filmed during the protests and around Louisville. We’re also playing with visual abstraction that’s very much like video art, and using animation for some of the heightened moments. I’m following creative impulses as I go, taking what I have and letting that tell me what it becomes, and I’m excited to see how that continues to reveal and manifest itself. A contemporary interpretation necessitates an alternate story universe. The action is happening in our time period, in this space—a world informed by a reckoning with systemic racism and a pandemic. But that world has its own rules, and Shakespeare is very clear about those, in terms of power structures and access. And yet there’s so much freedom, because of how rich the text is, and everything we have to work with. We have a super cool playground to explore this story.
Justin Jackson (Romeo) and Avery Deutsch (Juliet) during the filming process.
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Crowd of Protesters Holding Signs. Photo by Life Matters on Pexels.com.
ACTORS THEATRE DIRECT
TWO NEW INTERACTIVE PROJECTS
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thens, 430 BCE. Marseille, 1720. Philadelphia, 1918. Louisville, 2020.
Four cities, each contending with a deadly epidemic capable of unleashing profound social, political, and cosmic upheaval. Plague Doctor: Contagion 430 BCE – 2020 AD is an interactive story that invites you to explore four distinct moments in time when public health crises exposed the fragility of our social order, laying bare the inequities and insecurities hiding just below the surface. Roam the streets of Athens, recording the effects of a mysterious virus so that future generations might recognize and treat it. Inspect the merchant ship Grand-Saint-Antoine as an official of the Marseille sanitation authority, and decide whether its valuable cargo of fine silks should be unloaded. Bring an exploding influenza outbreak under control in Philadelphia, mere weeks after the superspreader Liberty Loan parade. Experience the disorienting reality of quarantine in Louisville, while protests against racial injustice rock the city. This original, interactive game can be played through a web browser. All you need is a computer—and a healthy dose of curiosity, like the Plague Doctors that raced against time to solve the great mysteries of nature for the sake of humanity.
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reated specifically for senior adults—many of whom have been uniquely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent social distancing—Now Becomes Then is an intimate, interactive experience that takes place on a Zoom video call. Each one-on-one experience involves an element of chance: participants are paired with a “guide” who will lead them through a randomly selected series of questions, prompts, poems, or mini-adventures. New York-based director and Actors Theatre of Louisville alum Jenny Koons developed Now Becomes Then in collaboration with apprentices in this year’s Professional Training Company, who also serve as the project’s guides. Connecting young adults with older generations, this project invites moments of self-reflection, conversation, and human-to-human engagement.
Images captured while creating and sharing Now Becomes Then.
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THANK YOU! ART + EMERGENT TECHNOLOGIES + SOCIOCULTURAL TRANSFORMATION + LIBERATION + YOU
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n 2020, the world has shifted in ways we never could have predicted. But for the Actors Theatre team, the drive to imagine and to tell stories that reflect the complexity of our time has never slowed down. With open-hearted curiosity, we’ve leaned into exploring how emerging technologies will shape the future of our art form—expanding the ways we can make and share work. In fact, the last ten months have been a whirlwind of creativity as we’ve worked with remarkable artists to produce storytelling experiences in service of our mission to unlock human potential, build community, and enrich the lives of our audience. At the center of all of this activity has been the question, “How can we be of service to—and alongside—our Kentuckiana communities?” Just some of the ways we have answered that calling include:
· Refocusing our work to respond to the evolving needs of our community with programs like Actors Theatre Unscripted, our public conversation series, and an interdisciplinary podcast, Borrowed Wisdom with Robert Barry Fleming.
· Garnering national attention with our first digital production, The Bengsons’ The Keep Going Song, which was named a New York Times Critic’s Pick and is now available to stream on Broadway On Demand.
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Showcasing the talents of eight exceptional teen writers through the 15th Annual New Voices Young Playwrights Festival Virtual Reading.
· Receiving the Business Impact Award from Louisville Business First for organizations who have assisted the community during COVID-19 and/or furthered racial justice and equality.
· Launching a Community Donation Partner program to generate support not only for ourselves, but for many other community-building organizations throughout Louisville. None of this would have been possible without the support of our Actors Theatre Family—including you. Your continued engagement is vital to our next chapter, and we're grateful to you for joining us in this exploration. Actors Theatre would like to thank our family of subscribers and donors, as well as the following funders: Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
The Shubert Foundation
NATIONAL PHILANTHROPY FUND
Diebold Nixdorf 502.822.5235 | Development@ActorsTheatre.org | ActorsTheatre.org/giving 22
E V GI FT OF P I I H G S E R TH MBE E M Speed Members enjoy free admission, Members-only programming, discounts in the Museum store, and much more!
Share the Speed with someone you love. Visit speedmuseum.org/belong for details
Photography: Josh Svoboda
Non-Profit Organization US Postage
316 WEST MAIN STREET LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY 40202-4218
PAID Louisville, KY Permit No. 549
Robert Barry Fleming, Executive Artistic Director
Artwork by Precious Stallings, created for Actors Theatre of Louisville's windows on Main Street. Photos by Sheyenne Santiago.
