Live Arts Bard: Elephant Room

LIVE ARTS BARD PRESENTS

ELEPHANT ROOM Starring magicians/performers Dennis Diamond, Marcus Pocus, and Daryl Hannah Created by Steve Cuiffo, Trey Lyford, and Geoff Sobelle Directed by Paul Lazar THEATER TWO FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13 AT 7:30 PM followed by a postperformance discussion with the cast and Gideon Lester, director of theater programs

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14 AT 7:30 PM SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15 AT 2 PM

Elephant Room was commissioned by Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, California, and copremiered between Arena Stage, Washington, D.C. (Molly Smith, artistic director and Edgar Dobie, managing director) and the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Elephant Room is funded in part by the Creative Capital Foundation, Pew Center for Arts and Heritage through the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative, and New England Foundation for the Arts National Theater Project, with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Additional support provided by Hunter College Department of Theatre and the Live Arts Brewery programs, which are supported by the Kresge Foundation, Independence Foundation, and PNC Foundation through PNC Arts Alive.

This presentation of Elephant Room is made possible by the generous support of the Live Arts Bard Creative Council: Harvey Berman, Steve Dawson, Jeanne Donovan Fisher, Barbara Grant, Doris Lockhart, and David Marshall; and is funded in part by the New England Foundation for the Arts National Theater Project, with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and by a grant from Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour, a program developed and funded by the Heinz Endowments; William Penn Foundation; Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency; and Pew Charitable Trusts; and administered by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation.

SPECIAL EVENT UNLEASHING YOUR INNER IDIOT A workshop in the performance of magic Saturday, December 14 Resnick Studio 2–3:30 pm Join the creators of Elephant Room for a 90-minute master class in zany magic and physical comedy, encouraging participants to submit to the goofball within.

No prior experience necessary.

Free!

Space is extremely limited.

RSVP by calling 845-758-7928

2

A Message from the Creators Hello audience member.

Hey—you came to the show! Good for you! You took the time, you figured it out, you had a meal, and walked right through that door to get your mind waxed. Phew! Now you can really just take a breath and sink deep into this slightly awkward well-loved plushy chair. You’re here. And look—other people are here too. Look around at those people. Who are they? Maybe your eyes light on someone. Maybe you know them, maybe not. And now—just stare at them. Keep doing it—it’s good—do it for longer than would be comfortable in a regular “staring situation.” Look intensely at them until they notice you, and then, why not—just keep staring. Wink if you wish. Maybe they’ll laugh and point to the program, thinking that you read this little message—no matter the case, just slowly shake your head darkly and narrow your eyes. Then, from the corners of your mouth, creep into a shady smile and cock your head to one side. Now, in a low sure tone, say simply: “You don’t know who I am, do you?” No matter what they say, just continue, “It’s a secret . . . .”

Welcome to the elephant room . . .

Creative Team Paul Lazar Director Jay Dunn Marcus Pocus’s Acting Coach Amy Rubin Set Designer Christal Weatherly Costume Designer Adam Blumenthal Lighting Designer Nick Kourtides Sound Designer David Neumann Choreographer Melissa Blanks Stage Manager

3

Creators Steve Cuiffo creates unique performance art, theater, and magic. An actor and magician, he makes solo as well as collaborative works with other artists and theater companies. His work incorporates aspects of sleight of hand, misdirection, imitation, and reeneactment. Theater credits include: Spirit Wife (with Eleanor Hutchins); Steve Cuiffo Is Lenny Bruce at “Carnegie Hall” (St. Ann’s Warehouse); North Atlantic (Wooster Group); Next Stop Amazingland (Center Theatre Group); Digital Effects (Off the Grid); Hell Meets Henry Halfway (Pig Iron Theatre); Fluke (Radiohole); Major Bang (Foundry Theatre); Steve Cuiffo Is Lenny Bruce (Joe’s Pub); Rinne Groff’s Orange Lemon Egg Canary (P.S. 122); Lypinska’s The Passion of the Crawford; Patriot Act: A Public Meditation (New York Theatre Workshop); Ghostlight—Work in Progress (NYTW Dartmouth Residency); The Amazing Russello Magic Hour (Joe’s Pub/Public Theater); The Roaring Girle (Foundry Theatre); Brace Up! (Wooster Group); Byrd-lesque (Donald Byrd/New Victory Theater, Broadway); The Filament Cycle (Tea Alagic/Stateless); Fever (New York International Fringe Festival); The Man with the Flower in His Mouth (Lo-Fi-Co); The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Street Scene (New York University). Film credits include: The Unlovable; On-line; Company K; Every Dog’s Day. Cuiffo is a two-time recipient of Princeton University’s Atelier and is on the board of directors for the Conjuring Arts Research Center in New York.

Trey Lyford is a New York–based theater artist and co-artistic director of the rainpan 43 (r43) performance group, cocreating and performing in all of their works to date. Following a world tour of r43’s inaugural work all wear bowlers, which won an Innovative Theatre Award and Drama Desk nomination, r43 has continued to concoct absurd theatrical ruminations including: Amnesia Curiosa (2006); the Obie Award–winning kinetic junk sculpture play machines machines machines machines machines machines machines; and most recently, Elephant Room. In addition to his pieces with rainpan 43, Lyford develops and produces works as an individual artist and is an associate artist with the celebrated company The Civilians (Gone Missing, Paris Commune, Nobody’s Lunch, The Great Immensity). Lyford has performed his original works on four continents as well as at the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, Los Angeles Center Theatre Group, La Jolla Playhouse, Berkeley Rep, Studio Theater, and theaters throughout New York City. He received the Princess Grace Award and Fabergé Theater Excellence Award and his work has received support from the New York State Council on the Arts, Princeton Atelier, and Creative Capital. He is a professor at SUNY Purchase Acting Conservatory and lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter. He also designed the schwag for Elephant Room.

Lyford received his master of fine arts degree from the University of California, San Diego. He dedicates this show to the immeasurable Binnie.

4

Geoff Sobelle, a theater artist dedicated to the “sublime ridiculous,” is the co-artistic director of rainpan 43, a renegade absurdist outfit devoted to creating original actor-driven performance works. Using illusion, film, and outdated mechanics, r43 creates surreal, poetic pieces that look for humanity where you least expect it and find grace where no one is looking. r43’s shows include: all wear bowlers, which received an Innovative Theatre Award and Drama Desk nomination; Amnesia Curiosa; machines machines machines machines machines machines machines, winning an Obie Award for design; and Elephant Room (commissioned by Center Theatre Group). His independent work includes Flesh and Blood & Fish and Fowl and The Object Lesson (commissioned by LCT3 at Lincoln Center). He has been a member of Philadelphia’s Pig Iron Theatre Company since 2001. As a teacher, Sobelle has led workshops all over the world in devised theater creation, physical approach to character, clown, and “jeu.” He is a core teacher at the Pig Iron School in Philadelphia (Advanced Performance Training) and is on faculty at Bard College. His work has been supported by the Independence Foundation, Philadelphia Theatre Initiative, Wyncote Foundation, U.S. Arts International, Princeton Atelier, and New England Foundation for the Arts. He is a 2006 Pew Fellow and 2009 Creative Capital grantee.

A graduate of Stanford University, he trained in physical theater at L’École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris, France.

Paul Lazar cofounded the Bessie- and Obie Award–winning Big Dance Theater in 1991 with Annie-B Parson and Molly Hickok. His work with Big Dance includes conceiving, directing, and/or performing in such works as Supernatural Wife (Brooklyn Academy of Music, 2011); Comme Toujours Here I Stand (The Kitchen, 2010); Plan B (Japan Society, 2009); and Mac Wellman’s Antigone (Classic Stage Company, 2004). Lazar also directed Young Jean Lee’s We’re Gonna Die and Mikhail Baryshnikov in Chekhov’s Man in a Case for Hartford Stage and U.S. tours. He and Parson are currently creating a new piece, Alan Smithee Directed This Play, which will open in spring in Lyon, France, and at Brooklyn Academy of Music Harvey Theater in the fall of 2014. He has performed in The Wooster Group’s North Atlantic, Brace Up, Emperor Jones, and The Hairy Ape. Other stage credits include The Three Sisters at Classic Stage, Young Jean Lee’s Lear, Marie Irene Fornes’s Mud, and Richard Maxwell’s Cowboys and Indians. Film roles include Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, The Host, and the soon-to-be-released Snow Piercer, as well as A Meaning Full Life with Wallace Shawn and Kate Valk. He teaches at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

5

Performers a tender ry since he was the art of myste g in ct rfe of fans pe s to de his life him accola d has devoted ion have won nt ve in d ing an Dennis Diamon n collaboratio ity Cruises, tour s of research, nes and Celebr ar Li Ye se ui g. in Cr gl al un iv H yo Las Vegas. e’s uror on Carn lantic City and s served as conj ni At en in D y s. el er iv pe ns and rmed exte , and his own orld, and perfo avid Letterman w D e th ith w er ov ow l al Sh Late almost President reatest Magic, past National BC’s World’s G k closely with or w to y appeared on N Magic ck lu nis was l of Fame and mal Planet. Den Magicians Hal an ic er m by A of special on Ani at Society ry, is available John Engman The Black Cana d d: an on rs am ee Di Zw is nn John ed. His book, De gmail.com. re it was flood odernwarlock@ m at Museum, befo gs in ok bo e for d he is availabl private order, an Marcus Pocus has been perfo rming magic sin first magic kit ce he was 10 from a local to years old, whe y st ore. For the pa n he got his magician at D st 15 years, Marcu azzles, Patters s ha s on be ’s en (N.J.) ONLY m the resident sleight of hand agic nightclub and close-up ill and bar. He is usions. As a m an expert in crossed the co aster of the ar untry “dazzling t of astonishm ” en th t, e M lik ar es cus has of such celebr Brady (football ities as Ellen D star). He is also egeneres and an expert mec Marcus monke Tom ha ni c, so if you’re y with a wrenc Datsun throws h under your ho a ro gambling-expo d, let od . . . Pocus penn sé book at Mag ed the numbe ic Trick Shoppe r on e se Hocus. For only lli ng Online: Take Fo five bucks, AN cus: The Marcu YONE can look s Pocus Poker sent to marcusp lik e a ga mbling expert! ocusmagic@gm All inquiries ca ail.com. n be untry es across the co lf years at venu ha a d an ier six em er g with a pr magic for ov . While tourin has been doing e) h nd na ra an G H yl iko ar D sa del Mag usly known as (Rosarito’s Ca e men. Previo in lly ic na ed io m at rn an te ic mer and in e rituals d to Native A native medicin yl was expose unique blend of a d pe and lo salsa band, Dar ve ra de s, he has treach prog m Master of Bird e Chahawe ou th r fo or on, ad Daryl Hannah: sc ss aryl is amba ) Based in Tu rary illusion. D ee brown belt. gr po de em nt ird th co a d an from Westlake d judo. (He is norary degree n in poetry an ho re an ild d ch an es at ns educ rock band Conjurer citatio e is available as o Desert Sand antroom.biz. H ph le .e he’s received tw w thank, w w e ings, visit e would lik to llege. For book ic consultant. H ag m d an , Community Co de ui al trainer/g rporate/spiritu opening act, co . n and Montana as always, Daw

6

Creative Team Originally from Philadelphia, Set Designer Amy Rubin is based in New York. She designed the opera L’elisir d’amore for Curtis/Opera Philadelphia and spent this past summer in Salzburg, Austria, working alongside directors Brian Mertes and Julian Crouch on a new production of Jedermann for the Salzburg Festival. She also collaborated with Crouch on Paola Prestini’s Aging Magician, part of HERE Arts Center’s Prototype Festival. Recent credits include Penn Dixie Productions Animal Animal Mammal Mine for the Philadelphia International Theatre Festival; Festenmacher, directed by Robert Woodruff; Glamdromeda, for UglyRhino; Dr. C (Or How I Learned to Act in 8 Steps), for Theater Mitu; and the Night of Too Many Stars Post Event at the American Museum of Natural History. She is a frequent designer for Viacom Special Events including events for MTV, Comedy Central, and Spike TV. Her design work has been at Cherry Lane Theatre, Baryshnikov Arts Center, HERE Arts Center, 3LD Art and Technology Center, and New York University. Amy received her master of fine arts degree from NYU. Costume Designer Christal Weatherly, originally from Las Cruces, New Mexico, has designed costumes for theater, dance, and visual artists nationwide. Her New York collaborations include works at Signature Theatre Company, Playwrights Horizons, The Acting Company, and Human Company. She has designed for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Old Globe, California Shakespeare Theater, Center Theatre Group (Mark Taper Forum and Kirk Douglas Theatre), Arden Theatre, American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.), Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Children’s Theatre Company, La Jolla Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, Stage One Dance Company, Deaf West Theatre, Eleanor Antin, and the beloved rainpan 43. Weatherly is the recipient of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, the Connecticut Critics Circle Award, and is an alumna of the NEA/TCG Career Development Program.

Sound Designer Nick Kourtides designs for musical theater and creates sound environments for collaborative ensemble works. His New York credits include Elephant Room (St. Ann’s Warehouse), Aeneid (Red Bull), Carson McCullers Talks About Love (Rattlestick), Jomama Jones ✭ Radiate (Soho Rep), and Chekhov Lizardbrain (Under The Radar, Soho Think Tank). His work has appeared at the Lublin Konfrontacje Teatralne, Paris quartier d’été, London Barbican, Edinburgh Festival, Wilma Theater, Center Theatre Group, Arena Stage, Folger Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Flat Rock Playhouse, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Walnut Street Theatre, Prince Music Theater, Arden Theatre, 1812 Productions, Azuka Theatre, Inis Nua Theatre, Passage Theatre; with rainpan 43, in The Object Lesson and Flesh and Blood & Fish and Fowl and with Pig Iron Theatre Company, in Cankerblossom, Isabella, Chekhov Lizardbrain, and Mission to Mercury. Kourtides was a visiting instructor in sound design at Swarthmore College in 2010 and in 2006 he won a Barrymore Award for outstanding sound design. www.nickkourtides.com

7

Based out of New York and Los Angeles, Lighting Designer Adam Blumenthal is a lighting and scenic designer and professional magician and owner of Tannen’s Magic Shop, the oldest magic shop in New York City. His work often spans these two disciplines. He is currently involved with Nothing To Hide, directed by Neil Patrick Harris at the Pershing Square Signature Center in New York City. Other New York credits include St. Ann’s Warehouse, Joe’s Pub, The Kitchen, and the Theatre at St. Clements. Regionally, Blumenthal has worked at The Kodak Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, Los Angeles Theatre Center, and East West Players, all in Los Angeles. He lit the world premiere of the musical Pazzazz! by Richard M. Sherman ’49 (composer/lyricist of Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, and many other musical scores) at the Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara. Blumenthal has served as the magic consultant on many productions, including Catch Me If You Can on Broadway.

Choreographer David Neumann’s work as artistic director of advanced beginner group (ABG) has been presented in New York at The Kitchen, P.S. 122, Dance Theater Workshop, Central Park SummerStage (where he collaborated with John Giorno), and Symphony Space (where he collaborated with Laurie Anderson). ABG has also toured the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography, and Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, among others. Neumann has been a featured dancer in the works of Susan Marshall, Big Dance Theater, Doug Varone, Doug Elkins, and the late club legend Willi Ninja. He has collaborated with Jodi Melnick and created two duets for himself and Mikhail Baryshnikov. Most recently, he was choreographer for Robert Woodruff’s adaptation of Fassbinder’s In a Year with 13 Moons at Yale Rep and directed Geoff Sobelle in The Object Lesson for the Philly Fringe Festival. He is on faculty at the theater department at Sarah Lawrence College.

Acting Coach Jay Dunn is an actor, director, and writer based in New York. His work includes Serious Money (Off Broadway at PTP/NYC at Atlantic Stage 2), L’Arbre Enchanté (Fire Island Opera Festival), Handshake Uppercut (cocreator, The Tank, Dixon Place, The Brick, Triskelion), The Pinks (cocreator/director, Gold No Trade Theater Company), all in New York; Conference of the Birds and The Game of Love and Chance (Folger Theatre), Hell Meets Henry Halfway (Pig Iron Theatre), A Man’s a Man (Arena Stage), Arcadia, Plenty, Piaf, Somewhere in the Pacific, Lovesong of the Electric Bear (PTP/NYC), Venus (Olney Theatre Center), Headsman’s Holiday (Theater Alliance), In the Boom Boom Room, Savage/Love (Project Y), Metamorphosis (Catalyst Theatre), The Blue Room (Phoenix Theatre), The Scarlet Letter (Rorschach Theatre), and Chicken (cocreator, Philadelphia Live Arts 2010); and internationally, Flesh and Blood & Fish and Fowl (Edinburgh Fringe/Traverse Theatre), the London International Mime Festival at the Barbican, Maison des Métallos in Paris, and Festival des 7 Collines in St. Étienne, France. Dunn, who is a graduate of Middlebury College and L’École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, also adapted and directed The Imaginary Invalid at Middlebury College.

8

Special Thanks from the Creators Mimi Lien, Christopher Kuhl, The Puppet Kitchen, Kristin Marting, HERE Arts Center, David Dower, Nick Stuccio, Michelle Blair, Suli Holum, Bob and Binnie Holum, Kelley Kirkpatrick, James Sugg, Pier Carlo Talenti, Teller, Johnny Thompson, Chuck Helm, John Engman, Sophie Hunter, Stefanie Sobelle, Liz and Dick Sobelle, Sarah Chandler, Pig Iron Theatre Company, Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, Joseph Silovsky, Nathan Lemoine, Kimitha Cashin, Eleanor Hutchins, Conjuring Arts Research Center, John Gaughan, Rachel Jablin, and Brendan Spieth.

About The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, an environment for world-class artistic presentation in the Hudson Valley, was designed by Frank Gehry and opened in 2003. Risktaking performances and provocative programs take place in the 800-seat Sosnoff Theater, a proscenium-arch space, and in the 220-seat Theater Two, which features a flexible seating configuration. The Center is home to Bard College’s Theater & Performance and Dance Programs, and host to the annual summer festivals: SummerScape, which offers opera, dance, theater, film, and cabaret; and the Bard Music Festival, which celebrated its 24th year in August with “Stravinsky and His World.” The 2014 festival will be devoted to Franz Schubert.

The Center bears the name of the late Richard B. Fisher, the former chair of Bard College’s Board of Trustees. This magnificent building is a tribute to his vision and leadership.

About Live Arts Bard Live Arts Bard (LAB) is Bard College’s commissioning and residency program at the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. A laboratory for new performance, LAB was launched in 2012 to create and support a community of visiting artists and students who work side by side to generate projects and new creative methodologies. Each year, LAB provides residencies for between five and eight individual artists or groups of collaborators in theater, performance, dance, and allied art forms. Visiting artists develop and present their own projects, direct productions or create performances with Bard students, teach courses and master classes at Bard, and hold open rehearsals and special events for the public.

9

The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College Jeanne Donovan Fisher, Chair Leon Botstein, President, Bard College Debra Pemstein, Vice President for Development and Alumni/ae Affairs Advisory Board Jeanne Donovan Fisher, Chair

Matthew Waldron ’07, Production Coordinator, Dance and Theater Steven Michalek, Technical Director Josh Foreman, Lighting Supervisor Moe Schell, Costume Shop Supervisor Adam Kushner, Audio/Video Supervisor

Carolyn Marks Blackwood

Communications

Leon Botstein

Mark Primoff, Director of Communications

Stefano Ferrari

Eleanor Davis, Media and Marketing Manager

Harvey Lichtenstein

Joanna Szu, Marketing Associate

Robert Martin Dimitri B. Papadimitriou Martin T. Sosnoff Toni Sosnoff Felicitas S. Thorne Administration and Programming Debra Pemstein, Vice President for Development and Alumni/ae Affairs Bob Bursey, Senior Producer Gideon Lester, Director of Theater Programs Caleb Hammons, Associate Producer Jeannie Schneider, Business Manager Marla Walker, Executive Assistant Production Vincent Roca, Production Manager Stephen Dean, Production Coordinator, Concerts and Lectures

10

Publications Mary Smith, Director of Publications Ginger Shore, Consultant to Publications Audience Services David Steffen, Audience Services Manager and Communications Coordinator Nicholas Reilingh, Box Office Manager Caitlyn DeRosa, Assistant Box Office Manager Patrick King ’12, House Manager Alec Newell ’15, Assistant House Manager Kay Schaffer ’14, Assistant House Manager Facilities Mark Crittenden, Facilities Manager Ray Stegner, Building Operations Manager Doug Pitcher, Building Operations Coordinator

UPCOMING THEATER AND DANCE PROGRAMMING AT THE FISHER CENTER TICKETS ON SALE NOW! The Fisher Center Presents An Evening with Anna Deavere Smith Sosnoff Theater February 15 Live Arts Bard Presents Romeo & Juliet Nature Theater of Oklahoma Theater Two February 21–23 Live Arts Bard Presents Pike Street A free work-in-progress showing by Nilaja Sun Theater Two March 1 The Bard College Dance Program and Live Arts Bard Present it happened it had happened it is happening it will happen Joanna Kotze Sosnoff Stage Right April 18 and 19 The Bard College Dance Program Presents Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company Residency Showing Theater Two May 17 For more information or to purchase tickets for all Fisher Center events, please visit fishercenter.bard.edu or call the box office at 845-758-7900.

Support the Fisher Center and Live Arts Bard The outstanding arts events that take place here would not be possible without the contributions made by the Friends of the Fisher Center. We are grateful for their support and welcome all donations.

Please visit fishercenter.bard.edu/support for more information.