DIXON PLACE PRESENTS
NORTH CAST IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
Ada Lovelace………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………….ROBIN JOHNSON Jon Krakauer…………………………………..…………………………………….…………..…………………………………..WILLIAM GWYN Lord Byron……………………………………………………..………………………….……………………..…………………..……………JAKE LASSER Chris McCandless/Alexander Supertramp…………………………….ADAM FONTANA John Cam Hobhouse / Percy Bysshe Shelley………………..……….JACK UTRATA Ron Franz / Leigh Hunt……………………………..………………………………………………..……..……..ERIC HEDLUND Lady Caroline Lamb / Tracy………………………………..…………………………………………………………..LIZI MYERS Annabella Milbanke (Lady Byron) / Jan………………………………..……………….AMY HANDRA Bob / Dr. John Polidori / Wayne………..……………………………………MATTHEW ACEVEDO Mary Shelley………………………..………………………………………………..………………………………………KATIE WILLMORTH Carine McCandless……………………………..………………………………………………..……………………………..ERIKA VETTER SETTINGS: 1809 – 1824 EUROPE & 1988 – 1992 AMERICA
CREATIVE Playwright / Co-director………………………………………………………………………………..……………………………….RAN XIA Director…………………………………..…………………………………….…………..………………………………………………………….PAUL BEDARD Movement Consultant…………….………………………….……………………..…………………..……………KATIE PALMER Vocal Coach…………….…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…….LAUREN ROTH Stage Manager / Understudy……………………………………………………….………………..AMY STRINGER Casting Assistant…………………………………………………………………………………………………………JOY WHITEHURST Media Associate…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….JESSICA TAGHAP SPECIAL THANKS TO Erez Ziv, Keila Fontanez & The Horse Trade Theater Group; Dr. Ellen Spaldo (You made this possible!), and the University Players; Evelyn Chu, Ivana Sabar & Ivy Yu for your faith in this project and constant encouragement M USIC CREDIT “The Wanderer” by Peter Pringle “Rock & Roll Byron” by Gerry O’Gorman “The North” by Stars “King of the Road” by Roger Miller “She Walks in Beauty” by Sissel lyrics by Lord Byron “Lordy May” by Boy & Bear of the Road (Instrumental” by Glen Campbell “King “Lament for a Warrior Bard” by Vicente Harpantique
ROBIN JOHNSON (Ada Lovelace) is a stage
LIZI MYERS (Caroline Lamb/Tracy) is a
and screen actress. Recent credits include: Hal (Treehouse Theater), Half-Hearted (Cherry Lane Theatre), Spring Pictures of the Floating World (La MaMa ETC), The Window: 4 ALICE (PopUp Theatrics). BFA, NYU Tisch, Proud member of Barefoot Shakespeare Company and Blue Muse Dance Company. robinjohnsonactress.weebly.com
Brooklyn-based actor. Recent New York credits include Dear/Sea Monsters in A Pier Drawn in Chalk (The Secret Theater), Lucy in Pains of Youth (Access Theater), Marianne in Sense and Sensibility (BEDLAM Workshop), and Mama Ubu in Ubu the King (Barnard College). She is very excited to also be a part of Ken Schatz’s upcoming production of Paul Zindel's The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds. Lizi holds a WILLIAM GWYN (Jon Krakauer) NY: Foothills BA from Barnard College. She is grateful to the Park (Elephant Room Productions), A Grimm awesome cast and creative team and she sends a Tale (Cue Laugh Track Productions), King Lear, personal thank you to her wonderful caterpillar. Othello (Instant Shakespeare Company),Hackers & Heroes (Manhattan Repertory Theater). Regional: The lizimyers.com Tempest (Blowing Rock Stage AMY HANDRA (Annabella, Lady Byron / Jan) Company), Lobotomobile, Devour (In/Visible Theatre). Graduate of Appalachian State University. is a lover of poetry and nature. She is thrilled to be He would like to thank the creative team and the a part of this production. Amy holds a BFA in Acting cast for this experience and give a personal thank from Wright State University and an MFA in Acting you to his awesome frog. from the University of Alabama. She recently made her Off-Broadway debut in Olympics Über Alles at St. Luke’s Theatre. Other NYC acting credits JAKE LASSER (Lord Byron) is a performer, include: The Commitment Cure at the Strawberry dramaturge, and company member of the New One-Act Play Festival. Regionally, Amy has worked York-based Theater in Asylum. Recent works at The Colorado Shakespeare Festival, The Dairy include Theater in Asylum's ¡Olé! (Prague Fringe Center for the Arts, Landmark Children’s Theatre, Festival), Danaya Esperanza's Kassandra and the and Kincaid Regional Theatre. International work Wolf (Juilliard), Oscar Wilde's Vera; Or, the includes performing in Spanish at the Teatro Nihilists (Femme Fatale Theater/HERE Arts Center), Nacionale in Havana, Cuba in a production Peter Schaffer's Equus (Columbia MFA Acting of Beyond Therapy, and with members of the program), Dara Malina's Lilith (Columbia MFA Maxim Gorky Theatre from Vladivostok, Russia in a Directing program), Marc Arthur’s new play Mascot bi-lingual production of The Inspector for the Dead (at the Martha Graham Dance General. amyhandra.com Company). B.A. Columbia University 2012.
ADAM FONTANA (Chris McCandless / Alexander Supertramp) has recently been seen
in various new play readings around the city as well as the short film "Sal and the Goon" currently hitting local film festivals. His past credits include Civil War (Nat'l Tour & Off-B'way), Next to Normal (Hangar Theatre), The Shape of Things, Ragtime, Big Love. Adam loves working on new pieces, creating characters and breathing life into unfamiliar stories like that of Chris McCandless. Thank you Ran and Paul for putting everything into this passionate and thought-provoking piece of new theatre. "Happiness is only real when shared," and Adam couldn't be more excited to share this thoughtful and vibrant new work with you.
MATTHEW ACEVEDO (John Polidori / Wayne / Bob) Matthew Acevedo trained in the Meisner Technique at the Maggie Flannigan Studio. Originally from Orlando, Florida; he moved to New York to further define his artistry. He is thankful for every experience that helps him do so. "Act before you think- your instincts are more honest than your thoughts." -Sanford Meisner
KATIE WILLMORTH (Mary Shelley) Katie's first
love is the theatre, and her very-close-second love is a tie between English literature, coffee, and the smell of old books. Katie is a NYC-based actress, anglophile, and graduate of NYU:Tisch School of the Arts (Stella Adler Studio of Acting and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts). Favorite credits:The Devil's Disciple (Essie) at Shakespeare Theatre of Jack Utrata (John Cam Hobhouse / Percy NJ; Julius Ceasar (Calpurnia) and A Christmas Carol: Bysshe Shelley) NYC Debut! Regional: A Radio Play (Belle) at Smith Street Stage; An Ideal Cabaret (Playmakers Repertory Company); Recent Husband (Mrs. Marchmont) at the Idaho Tragic Events, A Tuna Christmas (Carolina Actors Shakespeare Festival; As You Like Studio Theatre of Charlotte); Educational work It (Rosalind), Dancing at Lughnasa (Chris), and various includes Three Days of Rain (GroundUP Productions, roles in Caucasian Chalk Circle (dir. John Gould Dir. Kate Middleton); Diary of a Somebody, All Shook Rubin) at Stella Adler Studio of Acting. Up, From Up Here, Eurydice (University of North katiewillmorth.com Carolina at Chapel Hill); Film: Machina; Other: Zapped: An Electrifying Experience (Discover Place Museum ERIC HEDLUND (Ron Franz / Leigh Hunt) is a in Charlotte, NC, as Nikola Tesla); Also works as a freelance events electrician, theatrical carpenter and freelance videographer, recent credits include Caridad Svich’s Upon The Fragile Shore (Dir. Gabriel actor. Eric has acted at Pioneer Playhouse, KY, Black Hills Playhouse, SD, and Old Creamery Theater, IA. Shanks) (The Drama League); BA: The University of Conducted theater workshops to K-12 youth, North Carolina Chapel Hill. www.jackutrata.com developmentally disabled adults and medium security prison inmates. He has served as a Erika Vetter (Carine McCandless) is an NYC Technical Director, Master Electrician and Director of actor from Colorado, where she attained her BA in Education and Outreach. 30-40 hours a week, he Theatre Arts from the University of Northern can be found at various locations at the top of a Colorado. Past credits include As You Like ladder installing corporate art or lighting systems for It (Celia), A Month In The Country(Vera), and Dancing financial industry events and the occasional at Lughnasa (Rose). She is beyond grateful to Ran, $100,000 Bar Mitzvah. Current goals include acting Paul and this cast for showing her a new kind of more, being a better technician, reincarnating his creativity, and to her family both near and far for the fun-at-parties college persona, and reinvesting in his extraordinary support. own art.
BYRON & HIS CONTEMPORARIES CHARACTERS CHEAT SHEET
CHRIS MCCANDLESS’ JOURNEY 1990 - 1992
RAN XIA (Playwright / Co-director) is grateful beyond words for her collaborators. THEY made this project possible! Interdisciplinary artist and storyteller based in NYC, Visual: Art Takes Times Square, Stories of the Creative, and Art Takes Miami (SEE.ME), Dacia Gallery Art Show (Times Square Arts Centre), and Spiegel Me (Installation at Fountains Foundation, Columbia College, Chicago). Theatre: The Vagina Monologues, Rumours, The Elephant Man (FDU), The Last Dance (York Theatre Company). Ran is drawn to the nature, the romantics of both arts and science, and stories with non-linear timelines. ranxia.see.me
PAUL BEDARD (Director) is a theater artist, director and writer, and is a founding artistic director of Theater in Asylum. Recent directing credits include ¡Olé! (Prague Fringe, Chicago Fringe, NYC Under St. Marks Theater), #Coriolanus (Under St. Marks Theater), Frankenstein (Looking Glass Theater), and Nijinsky in Asylum (Steps on Broadway Theater). Paul holds a BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. paulhbedard.com
KATIE PALMER (Movement Consultant). NY
Choreography: Held Momentarily (The Sheen Center, NYC Fringe ENCORES Series), Holy Crab! (workshop, NYTW) Co-Artistic Director, THEATER IN ASYLUM. Recent credits with THEATER IN ASYLUM:¡Olé!, #CORIOLANUS, Revolution in 1, FRANKENSTEIN. Upcoming Choreography: In Fields Where They Lay (The New Ohio). BFA, NYU Tisch.
LAUREN ALESSA ROTH (Vocal Coach) is a
SOURCE MATERIALS USED IN THIS PLAY (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE FROM EACH AUTHOR)
ADA LOVELACE NOTES ON ANALYTICAL ENGINE
LORD BYRON DARKNESS (I HAD A DREAM, WHICH WAS NOT ALL A DREAM.)
ON THIS DAY I COMPLETE MY 36
TH
YEAR
CHILDE HAROLD’S PILGRIMAGE MAIDEN SPEECH AT HOUSE OF LORDS ENGLISH BARDS AND SCOTTISH REVIEWERS MANFRED THE ISLES OF GREECE DON JUAN
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY MONT BLANC THE MASQUE OF ANARCHY
NYC-based voice, speech, & dialect coach. She holds a BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she also substitute teaches voice and speech classes in the New Studio on Broadway. Lauren has dialect coached many shows in the tristate area, in addition to privately coaching individual actors. Recent credits include The Mystery of Edwin Drood (NYU Tisch), A Little Princess (Mazzarella Media), and Bonnie & Clyde (NYU Tisch). Special thanks to those who have helped her find her llama.
(STAND YE CALM AND RESOLUTE)
AMY STRINGER (Stage Manager / Understudy) is an actor and theatre maker in New
“OH COME TO ME IN DREAMS MY LOVE”
York. Upcoming projects include the short film "For the Record," and the web series "We're Alright". She is a graduate of Barnard College.
JESSICA TAGHAP (Media Associate) has been writing about theater as The Resident Artist since 2006. Currently, she writes for off-off-Broadway website OffOffOnline and this past winter has contributed to NewMusicalTheatre.com's Green Room blog. She is fascinated by missed connections, subway maps (and those sandwiches, too), bars that play really bad live music, street fashion, hippies (especially the kind that sing about hair), Audrey Hepburn, Darren Criss' eyebrows, Chaos Theory and referring to herself in the third person.
ADONAIS
MARY SHELLEY PERSONAL DIARY FRANKENSTEIN
LEIGH HUNT LORD BYRON AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES
JON KRAKAUER INTO THE WILD
CHRIS MCCANDLESS JOURNAL ENTRIES EDITORIAL FOR EMORY WHEEL
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The creative team wants to thank Dixon Place for this incredible opportunity to present North, and the cast for their unfaltering dedication throughout the process. It has been truly fantastic journey.
November 2014
ADDITIONAL QUOTES, PERSONAL LETTERS AND DIARIES FROM LORD BYRON, JOHN CAM HOBHOUSE, CAROLINE LAMB, ANNABELLA MILBANKE (LADY BYRON), MARY SHELLEY, AND DR. JOHN POLIDORI
ROBIN JOHNSON
JACK UTRATA
KATIE WILLMORTH
JAKE LASSER
ADAM FONTANA
AMY HANDRA
ERIKA VETTER
ERIC HEDLUND
LIZI MYERS
WILLIAM GWYN
MATTHEW ACEVEDO
AMY STRINGER
NORTH IS A WORK-IN-DEVELOPMENT WE WELCOME ALL QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS JOIN US FOR Q&A AND DRINKS IN THE LOUNGE AFTER THE SHOW
PLEASE KEEP IN TOUCH NORTHTHEPLAY@GMAIL.COM