Death of a salesman playbill

A F O H T DEA

N A M E SAL S MARCH 30 – APRIL 22, 2018

BY ARTHUR MILLER DIRECTED BY CRAIG A. MILLER

FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

6thstreetplayhouse.com 707 523-4185 52 West 6th Street Santa Rosa, CA 95401

Death of a Salesman is the enduring and quintessential story of the American family longing for happiness and prosperity in life and the roadblocks all of us face in the endless pursuit of the American dream. Its messages are as relevant today as they were when Arthur Miller’s masterpiece first appeared on the American stage.

We’re thrilled to present this production in our intimate Studio Theatre with Charles Siebert in the American “Everyman” role of Willy Loman. I hope you enjoy this evening’s performance by this stellar, talented cast, as they tell this tale—still reflective of our society today.

Craig A. Miller Artistic Director

STAFF

FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

JARED SAKREN

As we mount this production of a cherished American classic, we thank each of our sponsors, donors, subscribers and patrons for helping us continue to bring cutting-edge new works and the greatest of modern classics to 6th Street. Your involvement is as much a part of our art as the spotlight on Willy Loman’s shoulders. It’s been a challenging year, but we’re stronger than ever, thanks to community support for excellent, critically-acclaimed productions. Our 2017-18 Season concludes with La Cage aux Folles and the comedic musical, Illyria, in the GK Hardt and The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged) here in the Studio.

Enjoy tonight’s play and come back soon!

Executive Director CRAIG A. MILLER

Artistic Director & Education Director LENNIE DEAN

Education Associate NANCY MORGAN

Business Manager ANNA HECHT

Theatre Operations Associate CAYLY TULL

Jared Sakren Executive Director

Box Office Associate CONOR WOODS

Technical Director

THANK YOU TO OUR MAJOR SUPPORTERS

GAIL REINE

Costume Shop Manager COUNTY OF SONOMA

CLAY FOUNDATION - WEST CREATIVE SONOMA NORTH BAY ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS 2

REDWOOD CREDIT UNION

CRAIG A. MILLER Artistic Director

JARED SAKREN Executive Director

PRESENTS

DEATH OF A

S A L E SM A N by ARTHUR MILLER Directed by CRAIG A. MILLER

Scenic Design CRAIG A. MILLER and CONOR WOODS Lighting Design RYAN SEVERT

Sound Design CRAIG A. MILLER Properties Masters BEN HARPER and ERIK WEISS

Costume Design TRACY HINMAN Production Stage Manager BEULAH VEGA DEATH OF A SALESMAN is presented through special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service.

The taking of photographs and recording of this performance are strictly prohibited.

Run time 2 hours 20 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS JEFF COTÉ

President

SCOTT LUMMER

Vice President BILL MORGAN

Treasurer

Craig Bainbridge Susane Byrne Joel Feldman Kathy Horan Michael Hyman Jacque Scheibel Sudha Schlesinger

SPONSORED BY

SPECIAL THANKS Rich Alpert, Cooper Esslinger, Bob Wieck and John Fineren 3

THE CAST Willy Loman..............................................................................................Charles Siebert* Linda Loman.................................................................................................. Sheila Lichirie Biff Loman................................................................................................Edward McCloud Happy Loman............................................................................................Ariel Zuckerman Charley.................................................................................................................. Al Kaplan Bernard............................................................................................................... Kevin Kieta Howard Wagner/Stanley............................................................................James Sanders The Woman...................................................................................................Brandy Noveh Miss Forsythe/Jenny....................................................................................... Julia Sakren Letta...............................................................................................................Andrea Heller Uncle Ben................................................................................................. Dwayne Stincelli Voices of Howard Wagner’s Family..................................Juliet Noonan, Mario Herrera, and Ruby Seidner

PRODUCTION STAFF Stage Director...............................................................................................Craig A. Miller Production Stage Manager..............................................................................Beulah Vega Scenic Design..............................................................Craig A. Miller and Conor Woods Lighting Designer..............................................................................................Ryan Severt Costume Designer.......................................................................................... Tracy Hinman Sound Designer.............................................................................................Craig A. Miller Properties Masters................................................................ Ben Harper and Erik Weiss Hair, Wig & Makeup Designer..................................................................... Roxie Johnson Scenic Charge Artist..................................................................................... Michael Lumb Dialect Coach..................................................................................................Kate Brickley Technical Director.......................................................................................... Conor Woods Company Photographer................................................................................ Eric Chazankin

*The Actor appears through the courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

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This Theatre operates under an agreement with Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

CAST BIOS CHARLES SIEBERT*

(Willy Loman) has had a 55-year acting and directing career on and off Broadway, and with many regional theatres around America. He was a charter member of the ACT and has appeared with many of the nation’s leading regional theatres including the American Shakespeare Festival, the New York Public Theatre, and the Guthrie in Minneapolis.

Broadway appearances include Jimmy Shine with Dustin Hoffman, Neil Simon’s The Gingerbread Lady, David Rabe’s Sticks and Bones, The Changing Room, Colette, and the first Broadway revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Best known to television audiences as Dr. Stanley Riverside on “Trapper John, MD,” he was also a regular on “Mancuso, FBI” and “One Day at a Time.” Feature films include “And Justice for All” with Al Pacino, “Coma” with Michael Douglas, and “All Night Long” with Gene Hackman. He has directed episodic TV series including “Xena, Warrior Princess,” “Hercules, The Amazing Adventures,” “Renegade,” “Silk Stalkings,” “Trapper John, MD,” and “Knots Landing.”

Previously, 6th Street audiences have seen him as Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Mark Rothko in RED, and twice as Scrooge in A Christmas Carol.

SHEILA LICHIRIE

(Linda Loman) has been active in Sonoma County theatre for some years and has appeared at The Raven, Roustabout, Sonoma Arts and 6th Street. Favorite recent roles include: Amelia Tilford (The Children’s Hour), Gabrielle York (When the Rain Stops Falling), Polly (Other Desert Cities) and Mary (Sister Cities). She is beyond thrilled to be portraying the iconic role of Linda and, as always, thanks her husband and sons for making all of this possible.

EDWARD MCCLOUD (Biff

Loman) has worked with many Bay Area theaters including Napa Valley Conservatory, Ross Valley Players, and The Shotgun Players. Favorite roles of his include R.P. McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Sharky in The Seafarer, Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire, and Austin in True West for which he earned a BATCC nomination. Most recently at 6th Street, Edward played Jack London in The House That Jack Built and appeared in Stage Kiss.

ARIEL ZUCKERMAN

(Happy Loman) is thrilled to be making his 6th Street Playhouse debut with such a stellar cast and awesome production team. Favorite past productions include Leontes in The Winter’s Tale (Worcester Shakespeare Co.) and Berowne in Love’s Labour’s Lost (Wellesley Players). Ariel is eternally grateful to his wife, Gillian, for her love and support on this crazy ride. Enjoy the show!

AL KAPLAN

(Charley) has been involved in theatre for as long as he can remember. He worked with Paul Sills in Chicago (Founder of Second City) doing Story Theatre. He moved to Santa Rosa in 1996 and has worked exclusively in the North Bay. He was last seen in Visiting Mr. Green here at 6th Street, for which he won a Marquee Theatre Award for best performance in a drama. He is excited to be working with the wonderful cast of Death of a Salesman and will be seen next at Shakespeare in the Cannery in Shakespeare in Love.

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CAST BIOS KEVIN KIETA

(Bernard) has performed at Sonoma State University, Santa Rosa’s Summer Repertory Theatre, the stages of the SRJC and Monte Rio’s Curtain Call Theatre. He’s regularly portrayed Jack Benny with Sonoma’s Silver Moon Theatre. He’s performed Horror in Oakland, and Shakespeare across the North Bay. He lends his voice to animations and he appears on movie screens, TV screens, telephone screens and Visiting Mr. Green.

JAMES SANDERS

(Howard Wagner/ Stanley) is performing in his third production with 6th Street, after last being seen in FairyWorlds! and in the role of Frank/Franz in the staged reading of Appropriate. He has also appeared in the Santa Rosa Junior College production of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, playing the parts of President Kennedy and the Doctor. James is also a professional musician of 30 years, having written, recorded and performed with many bands during that time.

BRANDY NOVEH

(The Woman) returns to 6th Street, having performed in White Christmas. Originally from New Orleans, Brandy is a classically trained soprano with a rebellious streak.

Last summer she was seen as Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes at the Raven.

Favorite roles include: Lily in The Secret Garden, Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore, and Monica in Menotti’s opera, The Medium. After a long overdue absence from theater to focus on family and career, she is elated to see what this next chapter of life has in store.

JULIA SAKREN

(Miss Forsythe/Jenny) is proud to be a part of 6th Street Playhouse’s Death of a Salesman.

Her previous credits include a stage reading at 6th street Playhouse of Appropriate as River, productions from South West Shakespeare company’s Antony and Cleopatra as Cleopatra’s lady in waiting, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed

by Don Bluth as Peasblossum. Her training includes character mask classes with Jared Sakren, Scottsdale Community College Acting Conservatory and current training at 6th Street Playhouse.

ANDREA HELLER

(Letta) is making her debut performance at 6th Street Playhouse with this production of Death of a Salesman.

Previously, she performed in Pegasus Theater’s Short Play Festival on the Russian River. She has taken classes at 6th Street and is elated to be a part of this production.

DWAYNE STINCELLI

(Uncle Ben) was one of the founders of 6th Street Playhouse, having acted and directed with both Actors Theater and Santa Rosa Players before they joined together in 2005. Since then, he has appeared in 20 productions here, as well as working with Spreckels, Cinnabar, Cloverdale, Novato and Main Stage West Theater Companies. Favorite roles include Capt. Von Trapp in The Sound of Music, Buffalo Bill in Annie Get Your Gun and Cliff in 1940’s Radio Hour (both nominated for Bay Area Awards), Lazar Wolf in Fiddler on the Roof, George in La Cage aux Folles, Mr. Laurence in Little Women, the Musical and Father Dewis in Buried Child.

WHO’S WHO ARTHUR MILLER (Playwright) was born in Harlem, New York in 1915

and attended the University of Michigan before moving back East to write dramas for the stage. His first critical and popular success was Death of a Salesman, which opened on Broadway in 1949 and won the Pulitzer Prize along with multiple Tony Awards. He received more acclaim for his next play, The Crucible, and he would go on to write various other works, including: A View From the Bridge (1955), Incident at Vichy (1964), The Price (1968), The Creation of the World and Other Business (1972), The American Clock (1980) and Broken Glass (1994). Miller’s personal life also became well known through his high-profile marriage to Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe. Miller died in 2005 at the age of 89, leaving a body of work that continues to be re-staged internationally and adapted for the screen.

CRAIG A. MILLER (Stage Director) received his B.A. in Acting at the Illinois State University School of Theatre, and his M.F.A. in Directing at the University of South Carolina.

Before 6th Street, he was the Executive Artistic Director of East Window Theatre Co. in Chicago, IL (1996-2000), served as Casting Associate for The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (2003-2005), and founded and served as the Artistic Director of The Texas Repertory Theatre Co. in Houston, TX (2005-2011). Craig has directed professional productions at regional theatres across the United States, receiving critical acclaim in publications including American Theatre Magazine, Variety, and The New York Times. His directing credits at the Playhouse include more than 25 productions. He was nominated for Best Director by the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle for August: Osage County and RED and both productions won the SFBATCC award for Best Ensemble.

LENNIE DEAN (Education Associate) has an MFA in Acting from Temple University and has been part of the Sonoma County theater scene for 40 years. 6SP directing credits: Silent Sky, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Happy, The Children’s Hour, Threshold Theatre’s John, and most recently Equus.

TRACY HINMAN (Costume Designer)

holds a BA in Theatre Arts from Cal State Hayward and an MFA in Costume Design from San Diego State. She is the soloist for the First Church of Christ Science in Santa Rosa, and works full-time for Alegre Home Care, where one of her favorite duties is leading showtune sing-alongs for seniors.

She has designed costumes for dozens of shows here since 2010.

NANCY MORGAN (Business Manager) is a transplanted Hoosier with nonartistic “credits” including an MBA degree from Indiana University Bloomington. She is an ardent volunteer and in 2003 responded to the box office needs of the Playhouse.

JARED SAKREN (Executive Director) produced and/or directed more than 33

productions in 15 years as the Producing Artistic Director of Southwest Shakespeare Company. He is a Piper Fellow, class of 2012, and member of Group 1 of the Juilliard School Drama Division.

RYAN SEVERT (Lighting Designer) studied Experimental Theatre and New Works Development at Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design and The Arts.

He has also worked for Pacific Conservatory of The Performing Arts, Childsplay Theater and American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.

BEULAH VEGA (Production Stage Manager) was previously the Artistic Director of Pegasus Theater Company in Guerneville.

Most recently at 6th Street, Beulah directed Steel Magnolias, stage managed Equus, and was the creator and producer of It’s All Relative.

CONOR WOODS (Technical Director) is a native of Massachusetts and has been with 6th Street since 2016, having a hand in each set. He has appeared in The Threepenny Opera, FairyWorlds and George M!

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A U X

F O L L E S

“Greatly affecting entertainment!”

—Ben Brantley, New York Times

APRIL 27 – MAY 20, 2018 Book by HARVEY FIERSTEIN Music & Lyrics by JERRY HERMAN Directed by RUSSELL KALTSCHMIDT Music Direction by GINGER BEAVERS Choreography by JOSEPH FAVALORA