BU Stages (December 2016 - 'The Cradle Will Rock', 'The Cherry Orchard')

Marc Blitzstein’s A Play in Music

December 14 - 18

Wimberly Theatre Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts

December 14 - 18

Boston University Theatre Lane-Comely Studio 210

By Anton Chekhov Translated by

Marina Brodskaya

A WELCOME FROM THE SCHOOL OF THEATRE DIRECTOR Dear Friends, Thank you for joining us for this second quarter of work from the students of the Boston University School of Theatre. We are pleased to share with you The Cherry Orchard—the culminating thesis work of MFA Directing student Kelly Galvin—and The Cradle Will Rock, the third annual production sponsored in part by the Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie Comley Musical Theatre Fund.

I want to invite you to explore the wealth of offerings being produced by the College of Fine Arts this coming spring. Of particular note, the School will produce John Ford’s ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, directed by faculty member Mark Cohen, at the Calderwood Pavilion in February. Also in February, Boston Center for American Performance, the School of Theatre’s professional extension, will team up with New Repertory Theatre to produce Brecht on Brecht at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown. And in May, the School will bid farewell to the Boston University Theatre, home to our Design & Production programs for nearly forty years, with a production of Caridad Svich’s The Labyrinth of Desire. To view the College’s full event calendar, please visit us online at bu.edu/cfa/events.

Finally, I encourage you to take a peek at the progress we are making at the new Boston University Theatre Center, future home of both our D&P programs and a new, 250-seat performance studio. You can learn more about the project, view architectural renderings, and keep tabs on the build of the BUTC via a live webcam, all at bu.edu/facilities/project/boston-university-theatre-center.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday season!

Warmly,

Jim Petosa Director, School of Theatre Boston University College of Fine Arts

MARC BLITZSTEIN

THE CRADLE WILL ROCK A Play in Music

EMILY RANII, stage director CATHERINE STORNETTA, music director MCCAELA DONOVAN, choreographer

Scenic Designer Costume Designer Lighting Designer Sound Designer

Fiona Kearns Alyssa Korol Aja M. Jackson Nicholas Chen

Technical Director Stage Manager Production Manager

Molly J. Block Marisa Brink Danielle Taylor

THE CRADLE WILL ROCK by Marc Blitzstein is used by arrangement with European American Music Corporation, agent for Christopher Davis and agent for The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, Inc. This production of THE CRADLE WILL ROCK is sponsored in part by the Stewart F. Lane (CFA ‘73) and Bonnie Comley Musical Theatre Fund.

CAST Professor Mamie Yasha Professor Scoot Sister Mister President Prexy Mr. Mister Moll Cop Mrs. Mister Dauber Ella Hammer Harry Druggist Stevie Gus/Gent Dr. Specialist Dick/Bugs Ensemble Sadie Clerk Editor Daily Junior Mister Larry Foreman Reverend Salvation Professor Trixie

Tunde Adeyinka Klaudyna Astramowicz Taylor Beidler Anna Bortnick Jackie Bowes Joseph Boyce David J. Castillo Michelle Ciccotelli Kaitlin Cullen-Verhauz Olivia D’Amato Belén de Armero López Aaron Dowdy Emily Eldridge-Ingram Camaron Engels Tatiana Gil Cerridwyn McCaffrey Elena Morris Stephanie Occhipinti Allison Rapisardi Jesse Richardson-Bull Gabriel Stephens Kyra Tantao Lydia Utter Amy Ward

DESIGN & PRODUCTION TEAM Assistant Director Assistant Music Director Dramaturgs Assistant Choreographer Second Assistant Choreographer & Dance Captain Assistant Stage Manager Production Assistant Run Crew

Jeremy Ohringer Ece Muniroglu Kate Buttitta & Sarah Shin Elena Morris Camaron Engels Sarah Schneider Trenton Mulick Tatiana Chavez, Camden Garcia, Henry Gardner, Emma Kothari, Benjamin Murphy, VonDerrick Taylor, Alexandra Teman & Nicholas Walker

Assistant Scenic Designer Paint Charge Properties Master Assistant Properties Master Assistant Technical Director Paints/Scenic Build Crew

Paul Dufresne Emily Rosenkrantz Steven Doucette Jeffrey Petersen Lida Rubanava School of Theatre Technical Crew

Assistant Costume Designer Wardrobe Head Costume Build Crew Wardrobe Crew

AJ Jones Barbara Crowther School of Theatre Costume Shop Jolie C. Frazer-Madge, Ruth King, Andrea Sala & Lindsey T. Walko

Assistant Lighting Designer Master Electrician Assistant Master Electrician Moving Light Programmer Light Board Operator Follow Spot Operators Lighting Crew

Austin Boyle Aaron Henry Mark Fortunato Evey Connerty-Marin Zachary Sager Christian Abbes & Emma E. Cuba School of Theatre Lighting Dept.

Assistant Sound Designer Sound Board Operator Audio Assistant Sound Crew House Manager Front of House

Kirk Ruby Kaitlyn Sapp Jaqueline Collet School of Theatre Sound Dept.

Kat Alix Mariana Mondragon, Dana Depirri, Mary Healy, Robert Kellogg, Thomas Leacu & Sophie Smith

About the Writer: Marc Blitzstein Blitzstein was born in Philadelphia in 1905. He showed his musical tendencies at a young age, and went on to study composition in both the United States and Europe. After he finished his studies, he cultivated a belief that “true” art was only for the intellectual elite. He was a proud, self‐ proclaimed “snob” for a period of time. However, Bertolt Brecht inspired Blitzstein to create work that aimed to reach the wider public.

After the success of The Cradle Will Rock, Blitzstein went on to write more plays, operas, and compositions, gaining attention from other notable cultural icons like Leonard Bernstein, Blitzstein in 1929 Aaron Copland, and Brooks Atkinson. In 1958, Blitzstein was questioned before the U.S. House Committee on Un‐American Activities (HUAC). In a private hearing, Blitzstein admitted to having been a member in the Communist Party up until its end in 1949. Six years later, at the age of 58, he was murdered by three sailors in a bar in Martinique, France. The murder was presumably a hate crime in reaction to Blitzstein’s homosexuality.

The Inspiration: Brecht & Prostitution In January 1936, Bertolt Brecht was in New York to discuss translations of some of his works. Brecht was famous for his performance theories, which used theatre as a vehicle for political ideas. Brecht wanted audiences to question what they were witnessing on stage and leave the theatre inspired to go out and make political change.

One evening at a party, Blitzstein played Brecht a short song that he had written about a prostitute, called Nickel Under the Foot. After hearing it, Brecht said, “Why don’t you write a piece about all kinds of prostitution—the press, the church, the courts, the arts, the whole system?”

The idea stayed with Blitzstein, but it was not until the summer following the death of his wife that he acted on it.

Blitzstein Rehearsing with the Cast 1937 Blitzstein completed The Cradle Will Rock after five weeks of furious activity, and dedicated it “to Bert Brecht: first because I think him the most admirable theatre‐writer of our time; secondly because an extended conversation with him was partly responsible for writing the piece.”

1937 Production Poster

The Legend: Opening Night of Cradle —as adapted from the Official Website of Marc Blitzstein Less than a week before opening, the Works Progress Administration ordered that no new shows under the Federal Theatre Project would be allowed to open for at least a month. The WPA phoned newspapers and ticket holders to confirm that The Cradle Will Rock would not open, but producer John Houseman phoned the same people telling them the show would definitely take place and to wait for more information.

On the day Cradle was supposed to open, June 17, 1937, security guards blocked the Maxine Elliot Theatre, and both Actors’ Equity and the Musicians Union made statements that the cast members were not allowed to appear on stage, and that the musicians were not allowed to play in the pit.

Without sets, costumes, lights, an orchestra or cast, Houseman was still determined for the show to open that night. Houseman hired a crew member who found a battered upright piano and drove around the block looking for a theatre. At 8 o’clock they were able to book the Venice Theatre. The waiting audience that gathered in front of the Maxine Elliot was told to start walking the twenty blocks uptown. As the crowd trekked over, curious onlookers joined in along the way; by 9 o’clock every one of the Venice Theatre’s 1742 seats was filled.

The show was planned to go on, with Blitzstein playing and singing through the whole play at the piano. The front facing of the piano was ripped off to amplify the sound of the small piano so that the entire theatre could hear.

A couple of lines into the first song, Olive Stanton, an actress from the cast, stood up from the audience and began singing her song.

Eventually other actors, and an accordionist from Photograph taken on Opening Night at the the pit band, joined in and performed the whole Venice Theatre show in the house, amidst the audience. Because Actors’ Equity had only banned the cast members from the stage, performing in the audience was a loophole! Blitzstein himself played eight roles, when some cast members chose not to show up and perform.

In the end, the cast received wild applause, and the next morning Blitzstein and the cast were on the front page of newspapers across the country. They performed at the Venice 17 more times before moving their newly realized production to the Mercury Theatre months later.

‐Sarah Shin and Kate Buttitta

TIMELINE OF LABOR UNIONS

1929

1930

Stock Market Crashes Great Depression Begins

Union Chiefs Rise into National Leadership and Recognition

1933

1935

National Industrial Recovery Act

Wagner Act (National Labor Relations Act)

Protects workers' collective bargaining rights, and allows President to regulate industry prices.

Guarantees workers the right to form unions, to use collective bargaining, and to take collective action (strikes).

1936-1937

Jan/Feb 1937

Industrial Warfare on a Wider Scale

General Motors Plant Sit-Down Strikes

May/June 1937 Strikers are Struggling,

The Cradle Will Rock Opens

March 1937 "Big Steel" and "Little Steel" Companies Strike

Federal Theatre Project (FTP) NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune

Swing Dancing

Works Progress Administration (WPA) Watch Movies

Baseball Jazz

"Give Adolf a Chance" ‐‐ ignore his morals in favor of his ability to imrprove the German economy

Propaganda by major U.S. newspapers

"Mussolini Rescued Italy from Radicalism and Anarchy"

FDR's New Deal ‐‐ Relief, Reform, Recovery

Radio

1/3 of Labor Force Out of Work

1937

Profitable Business Deals with Italy and Germany

Unemployment

Nuremberg Laws ‐‐ Hitler strips Jews of their civil rights Business Leaders Engage in Secret Transactions with Nazi Gov’t, Even After US Entered the War

Vaudeville

Cartoons

Business Leaders Share Military‐ Industrial Secrets

Ford, General Motors and more produced products for enemy in foreign plants

Pastimes and Culture of 1937

Protests and Strikes, esp.

Steel Workers and WWI Veterans

Industrialization ‐‐ Mass Production and Assembly Lines

THE WORLD OF 1937

ABOUT THE COMPANY Emily Ranii (Stage Director) is an Assistant Professor of Performing Arts at Wheelock College, Academic Program Head of the Boston University Summer Theatre Institute, and Lecturer for BU’s School of Music: Opera Institute.

She has directed for New Repertory Theatre, Playmakers Repertory Theatre, Burning Coal Theatre Company (Company Member since 2002), Cornell University (Visiting Lecturer 2014-2015), and Artscenter Stage (Artistic Director 2008-2010). Emily holds an MFA in Directing from BU and a BA from Cornell University. Upcoming projects include Heisenberg for Burning Coal, Mrs. Packard for Bridge Rep and Playhouse Creatures, and Charlotte’s Web for Wheelock Family Theatre.

Catherine Stornetta (Music Director) has been a musical director for Forbidden Broadway, Forbidden Hollywood, and Forbidden Christmas for many years and has performed all over the country, all around the world, on cruise ships circumnavigating the globe, and once, after being bitten by a dog, with only her right hand and left thumb. She has orchestrated both Forbidden Broadway and Forbidden Christmas and, as a result, has conducted the Detroit, Hartford, Winnipeg, North Carolina, Rochester, Syracuse, Bartlesville (OK), and Adelaide (Australia) Symphonies. She was the Musical Director for the three-year run of Menopause, The Musical in Boston and the national tour pianist for I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. She composed the score for the Cable ACE-award winning documentary Christa McAuliffe, Teacher in Space, produced for the Arts and Entertainment Network "Biography" series, and she has arranged and written music for several shows: Intriguing People (for People Magazine), 12 Angry Reindeer, and All-of-a-Kind Family, as well as shows with the Unione Parke Singers, Reindeer Games and Seasons. She is currently a resident musical director at The Lyric Stage in Boston where she has been the Musical Director for Animal Crackers, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Avenue Q (IRNE & Elliot Norton awards), 33 Variations, and One Man, Two Guvnors, City of Angels, My Fair Lady (IRNE & Elliot Norton awards), and most recently, Company. In her salad days, she was a student of Darius Milhaud and Claude Frank, and an occasional piano soloist with the Boston Pops. She is very happy to be continuing her association with Boston University, although she is disappointed that she will not be portraying an angel in this production; hence, no wings.

McCaela Donovan (Choreographer) is an Elliot Norton and IRNE award winning actress, theatre educator, and audition coach. She serves as the Assistant Director of the School of Theatre, as well as co-head of the BU Music Theatre concentration. She has performed Off-Broadway and in various regional theatres, including Primary Stages, NYMTF, New Repertory Theatre, ArtsEmerson, Huntington Theatre Company, American Repertory Theatre, Speakeasy Stage, Gloucester Stage Company, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Lyric Stage Company, Company One, Stoneham Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Reagle Music Theatre, and the Children’s Theatre of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. A member of SAG-AFTRA, AEA and SAFD, she has worked and taught at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Boston Conservatory, Emerson College, Dean College, Emmanuel College, and Walnut Hill School for the Performing Arts. She is grateful to be a proud member of the BU School of Theatre.

Molly Block (Technical Director) is a senior Technical Production major. She is thrilled to be a part of The Cradle Will Rock team. Her past experiences at BU include Parade (Technical Director) and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (Lighting Designer). She could not be more grateful to end her time at BU working on such an important piece of art. She’d like to thank her incredible family, wonderful professors, and friends for their love and support.

Marisa Brink (Stage Manager) is a senior Stage Management major. Recent professional credits include work with Central City Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Ballet, Des Moines Metro Opera, and Commonwealth Shakespeare Company. Upcoming BU projects include ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore (Stage Manager) and Le Nozze di Figaro (Stage Manager).

Nicholas Chen (Sound Designer) is a senior Sound Design major. His work at BU includes Mad Forest, Parade, Rosmersholm, and Wit. Outside Boston University, Nicholas has worked as an intern at the Williamstown Theater Festival during their 2016 season. In his last semester, he will assist the BU sound program with various productions.

Aja M. Jackson (Lighting Designer) is an art enthusiast who has been an active participant in the arts since youth. She graduated from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln with a BFA in Lighting Design from the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film. She is currently in her second year as an MFA candidate in Lighting Design at BU. She has worked with the Nebraska Theatre Caravan’s 35th National Tour of A Christmas Carol as the Assistant Lighting Director, and for the past six seasons in production management at the Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico. She has also had the opportunity to work with The Public Theater (NYC), The Lighting Design Group (NYC), Huntington Theatre Company, and Boston Lyric Opera. As a lighting designer, some of Aja’s favorite projects include Wit at the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, a Midwest tour of the original work What The Wind Taught Me, and the Biomorphic Dance Festival in New York City.

Fiona Kearns (Scenic Designer) is a senior Theatre Arts major hailing from Queens, New York. Her thesis, a production of Trout Stanley by Claudia Dey, will be performed at Boston University in April. She sends all of her love to the team that made The Cradle Will Rock possible, and also to her family.

Alyssa Korol (Costume Designer) earned her BA at the University of Vermont, and she is now pursuing an MFA at BU. Her costume design credits include Our Town and A Hand of Bridge (UVM), and The Drowsy Chaperone (Acting Manitou). While at BU, she has also been the Assistant Costume Designer for Exposed (Boston Center for American Performance and Boston Playwrights’ Theatre) and Parade (School of Theatre).

Ece Muniroglu (Assistant Music Director) is a composer, arranger, pianist, and designer from Istanbul, Turkey, who recently graduated from Berklee College of Music with a major in Contemporary Writing and Production. She has orchestrated and conducted pieces for several shows at Berklee, including musicals, and composed orchestral pieces and ads.

Jeremy Ohringer (Assistant Director) is a first year MFA Directing student.

Favorite directing credits include Virginia Woolf’s Orlando adapted by Sarah Ruhl, Milkwhite by Anthony Donald Kochensparger, Who Rowed Across Oceans

by Danielle Littman, and an adaptation of Frank Wedekind’s Spring Awakening.

Danielle Taylor (Production Manager) is a third-year MFA Production Management student. Previous experiences include Assistant Production Manager for Des Moines Metro Opera, Resident Stage Manager at the Omaha Theatre Company, Assistant Company Manager for Sesame Street Live!, and Company Manager for the international tour of In the Mood. She originally hails from the Chicago suburbs and has an undergraduate degree in Stage Management from Purdue University.

CAST BIOGRAPHIES Tunde Adeyinka is a junior in Boston University's College of Communication. He is thrilled to be a part of this production and would like to thank his family and friends for their continuous support.

Klaudyna Astramowicz was born in Warsaw, Poland, and started her theatre practices at the young age of 10 years old. She was a part of the Youth Antidote Theatre in Larnaca, Cyprus, and then continued her studies at the American School of Warsaw and later at Aiglon College in Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland, until her move to the United States. She is now a junior Theatre Arts major in the School of Theatre and has acted in Bertolt Brecht’s Caucasian Chalk Circle, Janusz Głowacki’s Hunting Cockroaches, and the devised Identity Project. She was also the Assistant Director for the junior Acting majors’ Shakespeare Project in 2015.

Taylor Beidler is a senior Theatre Arts major focusing in playwriting and dramaturgy. You can find her work published in the literary magazines Young Scribblers as well as Northern Light in Edinburgh. Taylor is grateful for the opportunity to take part in this timeless play.

Anna Bortnick is a junior at BU pursing a BFA in Theatre Arts with a minor in Art History. She also trained at The Eugene O’Neill National Theater Institute.

In January, she is returning to the Wimberly as a directing intern for David Gammon’s production of Hand to God. Jackie Bowes is a senior at BU and an aspiring director. She has enjoyed working on The Cradle Will Rock and hopes you will leave examining the ways in which we are all complicit in capitalistic hierarchies of oppression. She also enjoys long walks, dogs, and yoga.

Joseph Boyce is a senior Acting major at BU who is thrilled to be a part of this production during such a politically charged time in our country. He hopes that you will enjoy the show and use your voice to make the change you want to see.

David J. Castillo is an actor and model native to Boston. Currently in his senior year, his BU credits include Changes of Heart, The Adding Machine, and Water by the Spoonful. Other recent credits: Baltimore (BCAP/New Repertory Theatre), The T-Party (Company One Theatre), and Blood Wedding (Apollinaire Theatre Company). You can see David next in Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s upcoming production of Edward II. davidjosecastillo.com Michelle Ciccotelli is a senior in the School of Theatre studying Acting with a concentration in Musical Theatre. Her BU credits include The Identity Project, Jean-Claude Van Itallie’s The Serpent, and Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.

Kaitlin Cullen-Verhauz is a senior in the School of Theatre who is deeply grateful to be a part of this timely production in her final year. Her BU credits include Changes of Heart, The Cripple of Inishmaan, Twelfth Night, and the new play Daddy Issues. Kaitlin would like to thank her tremendously supportive family, the SOT community, and the exceptional cast and crew of The Cradle Will Rock.

Olivia D'Amato is thrilled to be a part of this exciting and deeply relevant production. Olivia is currently a senior Acting major in the School of Theatre and an Arts Leadership minor. She would like to thank the entire cast and crew of Cradle, as well as her supportive family.

Belén de Armero López is a senior Acting major at BU. She is thrilled to be a part of this production of The Cradle Will Rock as Ella Hammer. She would like to thank the whole team for their continuous hard work and support in this process.

Aaron Dowdy is a senior Acting major at BU who is thrilled to be doing his first musical with the College of Fine Arts. Aaron has been in numerous productions throughout his time at BU and wants to thank the people that made his journey possible and supported him through it all.

Emily Eldridge-Ingram is a Boston native and senior Acting major pursuing a Music Theatre concentration at Boston University. She was most recently seen as Grace in the New Repertory Theatre/BCAP production of Kirsten Greenidge’s Baltimore. Her School of Theatre credits include The Shakespeare Project, The Serpent, The Merchant of Venice, and Mrs. Packard.

Camaron Engels is a senior Acting major at Boston University and has a diploma in Classical Acting from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Recent stage credits include roles in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and A Taste of Honey. Film credits include Cost of Heaven and G-Force. Camaron is proud to be part of this play, which is just as relevant today as when it was first produced.

Tatiana Gil is a senior Theatre Arts major. Her favorite credits include Concha in BU alumna Tanya Saracho's Kita y Fernanda, and Marie in the one-act play "Love on the B-line." She is thrilled to be part of this production. This story is important now more than ever. Many thanks to the production team and fellow cast members for the incredible journey that was the creation of this piece.

Cerridwyn McCaffrey is a senior Acting major at BU. She spent last semester in Dublin, Ireland, working with Ali Coffey Casting and adventuring in the countryside. Recent roles include Flavia/Rodica in Mad Forest and Duke Orsino in Twelfth Night. Cheers to friends and family for their support through these four years.

Elena Morris is a junior Theatre Arts major at BU. She majored in Dance at the Academy for Visual and Performing Arts in Morris County, New Jersey.

Most recently, she has enjoyed being a part of The Identity Project, Hunting Cockroaches, and The Caucasian Chalk Circle at BU. Stephanie Occhipinti is a senior at BU pursuing a BFA in Acting. Credits include Uncommon Women and Others, The Merchant of Venice, and Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde. She recently returned from a semester abroad at the Accademia dell'Arte in Arezzo, Italy. Many thanks to this generous and passionate team; what an honor is it to share the stage with you all.

Allison Rapisardi is a senior Theatre Arts major at BU. She is thrilled to be a part of The Cradle Will Rock and can’t wait to inevitably talk about politics with her family afterwards. Many thanks to the entire cast and crew.

Jesse Richardson-Bull is an actor/director in his final year at BU. Up next, he will direct his undergraduate thesis, Don Juan Comes Back from the War. He would like to thank his family and friends for supporting him in all his wacky endeavors, especially his loving father. Looking forward to more adventures, Dad! Gabriel Stephens is thrilled to be working on this revolutionary musical. Favorite roles at BU include Mr. Zero in The Adding Machine and Gabriel in Mad Forest. In Boston, he can be found recklessly riding his bicycle, or seeking spiritual solace in strangers' dogs.

Kyra Tantao is a junior Theatre Arts major at Boston University. Recent work at BU includes Chorus in The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Tessa in Ends of the Earth, and Tragedian in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, which she music directed. Her original play Pigs in My School was recently featured in The Directors’ Project. She is the frontwoman of the new punk band, WebCam Girls.

Kyra will be studying Physical Theatre at The Accademia dell’Arte in Italy next year.

Lydia Utter is a senior Theatre Arts major at BU. She is thrilled to be in this production. She would like to send her thanks to her Mother, Brother, Grandfather, and her entire family. Also to John Hogan, Trisha Brunner, and Kathy Dowd for always being fans.

Amy Ward is thrilled to be back on stage in her first musical in four years, and would like to thank the entire cast and crew of Cradle for creating such an important piece. Previously, she has appeared in the new play Memorial (Maya Lin), Twelfth Night (Maria), and Mrs. Packard (Mrs. Chapman), among others.

THE CHERRY ORCHARD

by ANTON CHEKHOV translated by MARINA BRODSKAYA directed by KELLY GALVIN Scenic Designer Costume Designer Lighting Designer Sound Designer Technical Director Stage Manager Production Manager

Lindsay Fuori Annalynn Luu Gifford Williams J. Collin Priddy-Barnum Gary Beisaw Sarah Wallace Rachael Hasse

CAST Ranyevskaya, Liubov Andreyevna: a landowner Anya: her daughter, 17 Varya: her adopted daughter, 24 Gaev, Leonid Andreyevich: Mme. Ranyevskaya’s brother Lopakhin, Ermolai Alexeyevich: a merchant Trofimov, Pyotr Sergeyevich: a student Simyonov-Pischik: a landowner Charlotta Ivanovna: a governess Epikhodov, Semyon Panteleyvich: a clerk Dunyasha: a maid Yasha: a young footman Fiers: a footman, an old man, 87 Passerby Stationmaster Post Office Official Serving Girl

Adelaide Burich Madeline Sosnowski Alejandra Mangini Cortland Nelsey John Austin Leo Blais Jessica Malone Olivia Sanabria Sam Barksdale Emma Palmer Sean McCoy Alicia Piemme Nelson Vassileia Kazee Phillip Lawson Bram Xu Danielle Giordano

DESIGN & PRODUCTION TEAM Assistant Directors Dramaturgs Fight Captain Assistant Stage Manager Associate Production Manager Production Assistant Run Crew Assistant Scenic Designer Paint Charge Assistant Paint Charge Properties Masters Assistant Technical Director Paints/Scenic Build Crew

Adam Kassim & Jillian Robertson Jack Lavey & Grace Ralbovsky Danielle Giordano Brenna Hull Emily Vaughn Sean Perreira Danielle Palmer & Matthew Salas Mary Sader & Steven Douchette Lauren White Michelle Sparks Andrew Kolifrath, Jimmy Rotondo & Kayla Williams William Balmer School of Theatre Technical Crew

Assistant Costume Designer Costume Crafts Head Costume Crafts Assistant Wardrobe Head Costume Build Crew Wardrobe Crew

Chloe Chafetz Lauren Reuter Kristyn Nolasco Samantha Garwood School of Theatre Costume Shop Ben Lenk-Walker, Sophia Ray & Jillian Tone

Assistant Lighting Designer & Master Electrician Light Board Operator Lighting Crew

Shane Cassidy Kristen Pichette School of Theatre Lighting Dept.

Sound Board Operator Sound Crew House Managers Front of House

Jonathan Beals School of Theatre Sound Dept.

Brian Dudley & Meg Ciabotti Emily Hentschel, Katherine Kyacek, Tyler McMahon & Schuyler Ross

SPECIAL THANKS Hannah Chafetz and Lela the dog S.T.A.M.P. 2016 Westport Country Playhouse Taylor Rental, Cambridge, for their generous donation of audience seating

NOTES FROM THE DRAMATURGICAL TEAM Welcome to the Boston University School of Theatre’s production of Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard. To enhance your interaction with this beloved, important piece of theatre, it is the dramaturgical team’s pleasure to present you with a few basic notes on the history of this work and its playwright.

Born in 1860 in the port city of Taganrog, Russia, Anton Chekhov encountered a great number of cultures from an early age, meeting with merchants and travelers who passed through his town. Chekhov’s father, the son of a former serf, was both abusive and pious, later the basis for much of Chekhov’s writings on hypocrisy. In 1876, his father fled to Moscow with the rest of the family to avoid debtor’s prison.

Chekhov was left in Taganrog to finish his education and earn enough money to support his family, bailing them out much like Lopakhin does for the Andreyiches in Anton Chekhov in his studious glasses. this play. In 1879 Chekhov joined his family in Moscow, studying to become a doctor, a profession which he later referred to as his “wife,” whereas playwriting was his “mistress.”

When financial times were tough, Chekhov began writing short stories to earn whatever money he could pull together, but after a short while, these stories gained recognition for their novel style and unique depictions of everyday people. Though these tales are widely studied, Chekhov’s most renowned works by far are his four major plays: The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard. Each of these works lives in the realm of Theatrical Realism, an aesthetic which he redefined, according to the Norton Anthology of Drama, “through a drama of understatement, indirection, psychological nuance…[offering] a new vision of the relationship between theatre and everyday life.” By strictly maintaining authorial objectivity, Chekhov is able to explore peculiarities of character, social class, and political circumstances with an intensity impossible in many of the melodramas and farces popular in Russia at the time.

After gaining recognition from Konstantin Stanislavski and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko’s famed Moscow Art Theatre, Chekhov became the company’s playwright in residence, allowing him to premiere several of his great works, including The Cherry Orchard. Unfortunately, at the time of this play’s premiere in 1904, Chekhov was terminally ill with tuberculosis, causing his death just six months later. Because of this, the play is often seen as his great farewell, not only to the theatre, but to life itself.

Konstantin Stanislavski as Gaev in the original production.

In terms of the circumstances in Russia at the time of The Cherry Orchard’s production, the country was in a time of great change, giving many people an uneasy feeling not dissimilar from the one many Americans are feeling today. In 1861, Tsar Alexander II issued an emancipation decree which effectively freed all of Russia’s serfs, or the enslaved people who worked the land owned by the aristocratic class. By 1904, the children of these freed serfs were pushing for massive social and political reforms throughout Russia based largely on the ideals of Karl Marx. Just thirteen years after this play’s debut, that pressure came to a Chekhov reading to the actors of the head, resulting in a massive revolution Moscow Art Theatre. which deposed the tsardom and the landowning class, a change which would later lead to the formation of the USSR. As is evident in the text, Chekhov was keenly aware of this rapidly approaching change, though he did not live to see the outcome. Throughout the play, Chekhov hints at the teetering position on which the landowning class stood, and attempts to grapple with the effects of that class’ impending downfall.

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR Marina Brodskaya was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. She is a trilingual interpreter and translator from and into Russian, English, and French. Her translation of Anton Chekhov's Five Plays has earned special praise for its accuracy, idiomatic speech, and mingling of melodic and comical intonations that are so unique to Chekhov. Her translations are widely performed in theaters and assigned in college courses on Russian literature and theater. She has taught at the University of Pennsylvania, Santa Monica College, LACC, SJSU, and Stanford University.

ABOUT THE COMPANY Kelly Galvin (Director) is completing her MFA in Directing at Boston University.

At BU she has directed The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Dancing at Lughnasa, The Duchess of Malfi, and The Tall Girls, and she recently directed Memorial at the Boston Playwright’s Theatre. Previously, she served as WAM Theatre’s Artistic Associate and was an artist in residence at Shakespeare & Company. As an assistant director, she has worked with Tina Packer on productions of All’s Well That Ends Well and Julius Caesar, with Orlando Shakespeare Festival, Bedlam, and Boston Center for American Performance, and she recently completed an observership with the Huntington Theatre Company. She received her BA from Wellesley College.

Gary Beisaw (Technical Director) is a second-year graduate student in Technical Production. Originally from Worcester, Massachusetts, he spent the last few years traveling and living in Texas, Connecticut, and California after graduating with a BA in Theatre and Dance from Keene State in Keene, New Hampshire.

Lindsay Fuori (Scenic Designer) is a current junior pursuing her BFA in Scenic Design. Her design credits at BU include In the Heart of America and Dancing at Lughnasa. Additionally, Lindsay is dedicated to healing arts programs and gun violence prevention.

Rachael Hasse (Production Manager) is a second-year graduate student in Production Management. Rachael hails from West Chicago, Illinois, and proudly holds a BFA from Ithaca College. Credits include Production Manager at Hope Summer Repertory Theatre, Scene Shop Supervisor at Illinois State University, and Shop Foreman at Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival.

Annalynn Luu (Costume Designer) is a second-year Costume Design graduate student. Her experiences include Costume Designer for the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts’ production of Hot Mikado, designer for Disguise Halloween Costumes, and various avant garde fashion collections for Exhibit Ambush. She has also worked with The Old Globe and Lamb’s Players Theatre in San Diego.

J. Collin Priddy-Barnum (Sound Designer) is a second-year graduate student in Sound Design. Collin is originally from North Carolina and came to study in Boston by way of technical work in New York City with such venues as Playwrights Horizons, Signature Theater Center, and Sleep No More. Hi, Mom and Dad. Sarah Wallace (Stage Manager) is a senior Stage Management major at BU. She is originally from Waukesha, Wisconsin, and has worked with many theaters in the Milwaukee Area. She has worked with SPACE on Ryder Farm, Huntington Theatre Company, and Boston Playwrights’ Theatre. She would like to thank her family and friends for all their support.

Gifford Williams (Lighting Designer) is a second-year MFA candidate in Lighting Design. He received his BA from Fordham University, and has designed throughout New York City. He has also worked as the Master Electrician at The Stella Adler Studio, and at New York Stage and Film.

CAST BIOGRAPHIES John Austin is from Austin, Texas. Playwright, chess player, and lover of the sea. John recently played Mark Antony in London. Boston credits: Mad Forest (CFA School of Theatre); A Taste of Honey (BCAP); Equal Writes (at Boston Playwrights’ Theatre). Austin: Zeus in Therapy (world premiere, B. Iden Payne Award, Austin’s Outstanding Young Performer). Thank you to Kelly Galvin.

Sam Barksdale is a senior Theatre Arts major focused in acting and playwriting.

He is from Portland, Maine. Previous roles at BU include Ferdinand in John Webster’s The Dutchess of Malfi and Phillip in Tom L. Wark’s new play Daddy Issues. He is proud to be a part of this production.

Leo Blais is a senior Acting major. He hails from the distant Woods of Nor (Norwood, MA). You may have seen Leo as an undead abomination in Room Escape Adventure's "Trapped In A Room With A Zombie," or as an adolescent Peter Pettigrew in The Gathering Storm: A Marauder's Fan Film.

Adelaide Burich is a senior BFA Acting candidate and recent graduate of LAMDA's Classical Acting Programme. Select BU/LAMDA: Hamlet (Gertrude), Timon of Athens (Timon), Henry V (Henry V), Delirium (Grushenka). Endless love to family, Diana, and the whole team. adelaideburich.com Danielle Giordano is a senior Theatre Arts major at BU's School of Theatre.

She is delighted to be working with the dynamic cast and crew of The Cherry Orchard. She extends her love and thanks to her family and friends who have shown endless support and enthusiasm for her work.

Vassileia Kazee is a senior Theatre Arts major. Vassileia hails from Queens, New York. Her credits include Baltimore (New Repertory Theatre/Boston Center for American Performance) and Twelfth Night (School of Theatre’s Femina Shakes.)

Much love to STAMP and the fam.

Phillip Lawson is a senior BFA Acting major from Brooklyn, New York. Phillip holds an S2 degree in Classical Acting from LAMDA. He is a proud member and former intern with the Dramatists Guild of America. Selected credits: Rosencrantz in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (BU), Alyosha in Delirium (BU), and Sir Antony Absolute in The Rivals (LAMDA). Love to Alana, Mom and Dad, Mark, Paula, and Michael, and The Cherry Orchard team.

Jessica Malone is a senior at BU pursuing a BFA in Theatre Arts. She recently completed a semester at LAMDA. Recent projects include Julius Caesar (LAMDA) and The DARE Project (Anthem). Many thanks to this incredible cast and crew, especially to Kelly for her trust, encouragement, and sense of whimsy.

Alejandra Magini is a senior Acting major. Her BU credits include Uncommon Women and Others (Leilah), Water by the Spoonful (Haikumom) and The Adding Machine (Judy O'Grady). While studying at LAMDA, she was seen in Timon of Athens (Apemantus) and The Rivals (Malaprop). She would like to thank her parents, friends, and faculty for their constant love and support.

Sean McCoy is a senior BFA Acting major. Last spring, Sean studied physical acting at the Accademia dell’arte in Arezzo, Italy. Sean’s BU credits include Roelf Visagie in Athol Fugard’s The Train Driver, Carthage Killbride in Marina Carr’s By the Bog of Cats, and Coriolanus in The Shakespeare Project. Aside from acting, Sean enjoys cracking jokes and running half marathons. seancmccoy.com Alicia Piemme Nelson is a senior Acting major at BU. She hails from San Jose, California. She recently studied physical theatre at the Accademia dell’Arte in Italy, and interned with OYL Theater Company in Greece. Her BU credits include Mad Forest, The Duchess of Malfi, and The Tall Girls.

Cortland Nesley is a senior at BU who is thrilled to be a part of this production.

Cortland would like to thank his Mom, Step-dad, and Brother for their love and support. Cortland is a proud alumnus of the National Theater Institute and will be graduating from BU this spring.

Emma Palmer is a senior Acting major. Emma hails from Minneapolis, Minnesota, and recently returned from a semester abroad studying classical acting at LAMDA. Her recent credits include Virginia in Tom L. Wark’s new play Daddy Issues and Thersites in Troilus and Cressida. Special thanks to Tsar Alexander II for freeing the serfs.

Olivia Sanabria is a senior Theatre Arts major from Wellesley, Massachusetts.

Olivia has studied comedy at The Second City in Chicago and the Upright Citizens Brigade in New York. Her BU credits include Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Gertrude) and The Duchess of Malfi (Julia). Love to STAMP/the fam.

Madeline Sosnowski is a senior Acting major, and she is very excited to be sharing this story as one of her final productions with BU. She would like to thank the whole Cherry Orchard team for an incredible process, and her parents for paying for her to be here this whole time.

Bram Xu is currently a third-year undergraduate from Indonesia pursuing a Theatre Arts: Design and Production degree with a focus on Sound Design and Acting. Performance credits include Rabbit Hole and Hunting Cockroaches.

An Opera in two acts by Tobias Picker Libretto by J.D. McClatchy based on the novel by Judith Rossner William Lumpkin, Conductor | Jim Petosa, Stage Director

E M M E L I N E February 23 - February 26 Thursday, Friday & Saturday at 7:30 pm Sunday at 2:00 pm

Boston University Theatre 264 Huntington Avenue, Boston BostonTheatreScene.com 617-933-8600

BOSTON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS Founded in 1839, Boston University is an internationally recognized institution of higher education and research. With more than 33,000 students, it is the fourth largest independent university in the United States. BU consists of 16 schools and colleges, along with a number of multi-disciplinary centers and institutes integral to the University’s research and teaching mission. In 2012, BU joined the Association of American Universities (AAU), a consortium of 62 leading research universities in the United States and Canada. Established in 1954, Boston University College of Fine Arts (CFA) is a top-tier fine arts institution. Comprised of the School of Music, School of Theatre, and School of Visual Arts, CFA offers professional training in the arts in conservatory-style environments for undergraduate and graduate students, complemented by a liberal arts curriculum for undergraduate students.

Lynne Allen Dean ad interim, College of Fine Arts Shiela Kibbe Director ad interim, School of Music Jim Petosa Director, School of Theatre Jeannette Guillemin Director ad interim, School of Visual Arts

SCHOOL OF THEATRE The School of Theatre at the College of Fine Arts at Boston University is a leading conservatory for the study of acting, stage management, design, production, and all aspects of the theatrical profession. These programs of study are enriched by the School’s access to the greater liberal arts programs at Boston University. The School of Theatre values the notion of “the new conservatory” and seeks to provide students with opportunities for artistic growth through a rigorous curriculum, professional connections, and an emphasis on collaboration and new work.

Jim Petosa McCaela Donovan Liz Mazar Phillips Johnny Kontogiannis Adam Kassim Jon Savage Mark Stanley Karen Martakos Emily Ranii Brian Dudley Renee E. Yancey

Director Assistant Director Business Manager BU Theatre Complex Production Manager 855 Production Manager BFA Design & Production Programs Head MFA Design & Production Programs Head Costume Shop Supervisor BU Summer Theatre Institute Co-Program Head Senior Staff Assistant; BUSTI Co-Program Head Senior Staff Assistant - Design & Production

DESIGN & PRODUCTION FACULTY: Joel Brandwine*, Ben Emerson*, Diane Fargo, Adam Godbout, Nancy Leary*, Michael Maso, James McCartney, Seághan McKay, Roger Meeker*, James Noone*, Penney Pinette, Jon Savage, Leslie Sears*, Mark Stanley*, Cristina Todesco, Mariann Verheyen*, Denise Wallace-Spriggs, and Jesse Washburn.

PERFORMANCE FACULTY: Judy Braha*, Ilana M. Brownstein*, Mary Buck, Yo-el Cassell, Mark Cohen, McCaela Donovan, Sidney Friedman, Kirsten Greenidge, Christine Hamel, Michael Hammond, Clay Hopper, Angie Jepson, Michael Kaye*, Paula Langton*, Georgia Lyman, Maurice Parent, Jim Petosa, Betsy Polatin, Matthew Stern, Micki Taylor-Pinney, Cassie Tunick, and Elaine Vaan Hogue*.

* Denotes Program Head

Sekou Laidlow and Andrea Syglowski

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“An undoubted MASTERPIECE.”

SPECIAL BU PRICES: STUDENT TICKETS: $20 BU FACULTY/STAFF/ALUMNI: $10 OFF

CFA Membership Become a CFA Member, and experience the next generation of theatre, music, and visual artists.

617.933.8600 bu.edu/cfa/membership