Three Sisters-UWM

May 2-6, 2012 7:30PM ON WED-SAT & 2PM ON SUNDAY arts.uwm.edu/theatre

MAINSTAGE THEATRE

By Anton Chekhov Directed by Rebecca Holderness Adapted by Fly Steffens Original Score by Bill Barclay

Ladies and gentlemen, there can be no flash photography during the performances and no video or audio recording of the show. We thank you for remembering to turn off any personal electronic devices that might beep, buzz, ring, or vibrate.

Scenic Designer................................................................................................. Sandra J. Strawn Costume Designer.................................................................................................Jeffrey Lieder Lighting Designer..............................................................................................Alan Piotrowicz Music Supervisor................................................................................................Benjamin Davis CAST Character Actor Masha................................................................................................................... Megan Stapleton Irina.....................................................................................................................Olusola Thompson Natasha ...........................................................................................................Brianna Borouchoff Olga ..................................................................................................................................Caitlin Wolf Anfisa................................................................................................................. Brittany McDonald Fyodor Kulygin...................................................................................... Kyle Gallagher-Schmitz Andrey..................................................................................................................... Mark Puchinsky Vershinin....................................................................................................................John Glowacki Chebutykin...........................................................................................Nicholas Callan Haubner Ferapont ..........................................................................................................Warren Silbernagel Baron Tuzenbach..................................................................................................... Alex Van Abel Solyony................................................................................................................. Terrance Kingsby Fedotik........................................................................................................................Matt O’Rourke Rohde............................................................................................................McCormick Sweeney Three Sisters 1

MUSICIANS Guitar and Mandolin...........................................................................................Benjamin Davis Violin.....................................................................................................................David Rasmussen Accordion............................................................................................................. Robert Sacharski Double Bass..................................................................................................................Maggie Iken French Horn............................................................................................................ Julie Steinbach Clarinet................................................................................................................................ Jon Lovas Percussion........................................................................................................................ Bill Barclay The play will be performed with no intermission PRODUCTION PERSONNEL Stage Management Staff Stage Manager............................................................................................................ Allison Hunt Assistant Stage Manager........................................................................................Kelliann Kary Assistant Stage Manager.................................................................................Brenda Lewitzke Production Assistant..............................................................................................Nolen Bourne Technical Production Staff Assistant to the Scenic Designer..................................................................... Christine Isbell Technical Director...................................................................................................Tim Laughner Assistant Technical Director...............................................................................Eric Schallhorn Scenic Artisans...........................................................................Adam Jermain, Julia Williams,

Sarah Olsen, Theresa Ennis, Kelly Pursley Properties Director............................................................................................ Sandra J. Strawn Props Master............................................................................................................ Meredith Roat Properties Artisans................................................................................................Christine Isbell,

Ann Vollrath, Mike Gerlach Lighting Director...........................................................................................Stephen Roy White Master Electrician.......................................................................................................Ann Vollrath Scenic Charge Artists.................................................................Kelly Pursley, Christine Isbell Technical Crew................................................................................Students in 214 Stagecraft Light Board Operator............................................................. Roc Bauman, Abbey Pitchford Deck Crew.................................................................................Angel Broske, Christian Feuker,

Antonio Thompson, Andrew Beyer,

Patricia Peterson, Ian Tanudjaja Costume Production Staff Costume Director.....................................................................................................Jeffrey Lieder Costume Shop Supervisor.......................................................................... Pamela J. Rehberg Show Supervisor....................................................................................................Emily Peplinski Assistant Show Supervisor........................................................................................... Levi Miles Drapers..................................................................... Levi Miles, Emily Peplinski, Karmen Seib First Hands......................................................................................... Andrew Beyer, Lyn Kream,

Hannah Glowacki, Amy McLain,

Heather Hirvela, Olivia Herrera Stitchers......................................................... Students in 225 Costume Construction Class Costume Crafts................................................................................ Heather Hirvela, Levi Miles Wardrobe Supervisor..................................................................................................... Levi Miles Wardrobe Crew................................................................................................Hannah Glowacki,

Shelby Kaishian, Erika Kirkstein-Zastrow,

Lyndsey Smith, Pamela Seccombe Hair Stylist.............................................................................................................. Dana Rochester Hair and Make-up Assistance...................................................................................Brian Firkus 2 UW-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts

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Film May 4-6 Milwaukee Underground Film Festival May 17-18 Senior Thesis Screenings

Fine Arts Quartet June 10, 17, 24 & 28 Summer Evenings of Music Reserve your seats today!

Music May 10 & 11 UWAY & UJAY Anniversary Concerts May 12 An Evening of Opera Arias

Dance May 31-June 2 Summerdances: Destiny/ Chance & Circumstance

Inter-arts May 16 Arts + Tech Night

For full info visit

arts.uwm.edu Peck School of the Arts Box Office: 414-229-4308 Follow us on: Three Sisters 3

D I R E C TO R ’ S N O T E S This is an adaptation of a much-loved iconic play. Adapting the play allowed Ms Steffens and I to look closely at many versions of the play, to make decisions about its core communication to us. Without doubt our own dreams and desires informed our choices.

This specific adaptation was intended to be concentrated and poetic, visual and musical. At times it, examines my experience of a life where tragedy and comedy exist side by side. It was important to me that the production has the intensity and beauty that we associate with poetry. The adaptation is more ”cognac than wine,” from the same grape but of a different concentration.

This adaptation is a creature unto itself, and in part a refraction of the original. If we have woken you up, made you curious or even from time to time surprised you, then I feel we have accomplished our goal. And if you are entertained then the outcome was even better.

I am especially grateful for Fly and Bill, adaptor and composer for bringing their incredible work and great talents to this production. Thanks to you Sandy, Alan and Jeff as well as the entire staff, design and construction team and cast for this musical, poetic, adapted Three Sisters in the birch wood.

Your presence is a present. Thank you for coming!

Sincerely, Rebecca Holderness

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INFORMATION SESSIONS

Tues., Jan. 31 & Wed., April 4, 6-7:30 pm UWM Alumni House, 3230 E. Kenwood Blvd.

Milwaukee, WI 53211

FOR MORE INFORMATION: 414-229-3176 HBI.UWM.EDU 4 UW-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts

A DA P TO R ’ S N O T E S In Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters, Lieutenant Colonel Vershinin posits that future generations will look back on life at the beginning of the 20th Century and think it to be strange, complicated, and impractical. He reflects upon the idea that the future will be free of the struggles that he and the Prozorov family endure. In a way, Vershinin was right. When writing the adaptation I had a full sense of the strangeness and complexity in the play, but I didn’t feel removed from their quandaries. The only thing that seemed impractical to me, a person in the 21st century, was the length and bulk of the original text. My aesthetic as a playwright (“brevity is the soul of wit”) and my responsibility as a dramaturge (“protect the original text”) brought me to this goal: research and extract the core of the text, then condense, polish and perform.

I referred to every adaptation of the play I could get my hands on, including the original text from the Moscow Art Theatre, texts in the original Russian language, and other adaptations by contemporary playwrights and scholars. I spent hours sifting through material, considering what to highlight or pull out. I found resonance in the idea of a condensed version; it validates the conflict as it is brought forward; it relieves the weight of paragraph after paragraph of existentialism into something more accessible; the potential for humor is more easily released; the actor has more incentive to establish a physical relationship with the world. Buried inside the source texts, I found images that greatly moved me (the destruction wrought by alcoholism and adultery, for example), dug them up and replanted them in the surface of the adaptation.

My writing process was greatly informed by Rebecca’s concept of words in the text of a play existing as containers for emotion. It reminds me of song lyrics seeming trite or odd when divorced from a melody, but absolutely soaring when married to the music. In this skeletal and stripped version of the text, the words are filled by the physical and emotional content of the actors. It is by no means a piece of dramatic literature, but a new text built for a new performance. I realize this may seem strange, or complicated, or perhaps even a bit impractical to some but, Feci quod potui, faciant meliora potentes, as they say.

I cannot thank Rebecca enough for the opportunity and challenge to create and collaborate on this production. Love to all those who supported me on this journey.

Fly Steffens

SPECIAL THANKS Jim Guy, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Lisa Schlenker, Skylight Opera Theatre, Sarah Reinking, Tisch School of the Arts-NYU, George Abraham, Nancy and Dar Bicha Dale, Jennifer Bach, Rebecca Littman, The Utah Shakespeare Festival, and Holly Payne.

Three Sisters 5

LABWORKS SERIES 2012-2013 7:30pm Thurs-Sat, 2pm Sun in Kenilworth Studio 508 CONTEMPORARY CLASSIC November 2-4 & 8-11, 2012

A script will be selected from the works of Blessing, La Butte, Ball, Henley, Durang, or...

UNCOMMON WOMEN AND OTHERS November 30, December 1-2 & 6-9, 2012

By Wendy Wasserstein Directed by Raeleen McMillion

Alumnae of Mount Holyoke College (Wasserstein's alma mater) meet for lunch one day in 1978 and talk about their time together in college. The play takes us back to the 1972-1973 school year as seven seniors and one freshman try to "discover themselves" in the wake of second-wave feminism.

MARISOL March 1-3, & 7-10, 2013

By Jose Rivera Directed by Michelle Lopes-Rios

Marisol takes the audience on a journey through the psychic landscape of the title character as she comes to terms with the potential destruction of her world. When Marisol’s guardian angel tells her a war in heaven—an angelic rebellion against God—is about to spill over on Earth, Marisol must struggle not merely to survive, but to reclaim her spiritual center.

MEET ME AT THE AVANT GARDE April 26-28 & May 2-5 2013 Directed by Rebecca Holderness

A new musical collaboration between UWM’s Guitar program and Theater explores and celebrates Milwaukee’s most famous and infamous Blues and Rock Venue, performed around the corner from the site of the club itself.

NEW DIRECTIONS

Student directed plays.

October 18-21, 2012 and March 28-31, 2013

BOX OFFICE: (414) 229-4308 or arts.uwm.edu/tickets LOCATION: Helene Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts 2419 E. Kenwood Blvd.

University of Wisconsin Milwaukee arts.uwm.edu/theatre Follow us on:

MAINSTAGE SERIES 2012-2013

7:30pm Wed-Sat, 2pm Sunday in the Mainstage Theatre The Fall Season on the Mainstage continues our long tradition of presenting works by one of the greatest writers in the English language, William Shakespeare. The two plays center around one of Shakespeare’s greatest, King Lear. Opening first, is Lear’s Daughters, followed by The Tragedy of King Lear, which will be performed in collaboration with Shakespeare and Co.

LEAR’S DAUGHTERS October 24-28, 2012

By Elaine Feinstein and the Women’s Theatre Group Lear’s Daughters by Elaine Feinstein and the Women’s Theatre Group is an imaginary “prequel” to Shakespeare’s play which investigates the fictive childhood of Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia seeking to unravel the mystery of the sisters. The play unfolds in a fluid and highly theatrical environment, challenging everyone to define their story in innovative ways. Packed with strong women’s roles, this play serves as a compelling counterpoint to the production of The Tragedy of King Lear that follows.

THE TRAGEDY OF KING LEAR November 14-18, 2012

by William Shakespeare, Directed by Rebecca Holderness The crowning masterpiece of the world’s greatest dramatistDennis Krausnick plays the misguided monarch in Shakespeare's profound tale of regret. Director Rebecca Holderness sets this precisely crafted and heartbreaking tale in 1906 Russia, as the last monarchy was crumbling and the country was on the verge of revolution. As the chaos moves to war, Lear regresses into sickness and strife over his biggest mistake—unwittingly severing the unity within his family.

BLOOD WEDDING March 6-10, 2013

By Garcia Lorca, Directed by Tony Horne The story is based on a newspaper fragment, which told of a family vendetta and a bride who ran away with the son of the enemy family. Lorca uses it to investigate the subjects which fascinated him: desire, repression, ritual, and the constraints and commitments of the rural Spanish community in which the play is rooted.

RUINED April 24-28, 2013

By Lynn Nottage, Directed by Bill Watson “Ruined is the kind of new play we desperately need – a crackling thriller, with humor, plot twists and lots of humanity.” David Cote, NY1 The Milwaukee premiere of this searing 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner for Drama soars with the triumph of the human spirit. Set in a small mining town in the Democratic Republic of Congo, this powerful play follows Mama Nadi, a shrewd businesswoman in a land torn apart by civil war. Her bar provides sanctuary and redemption for the human detritus of war.

GUEST ARTISTS BIOGR APHIES BILL BARCLAY (Composer, Music Director, Percussionist) is a composer, actor, and director from Boston currently living in New York City. He has composed music for Shakespeare’s Globe in London (last season’s Much Ado About Nothing and this season’s Hamlet), and is a member of the acting company at The Mercury Theatre in Colchester, England. In the US, Bill is a company actor, director, composer, and Resident Music Director of Shakespeare & Company (10 seasons) and a director, composer, and member of the Resident Acting Company at the Actors’ Shakespeare Project (8 seasons). Bill has held artist residencies at several major universities throughout the US including Columbia, Purdue, UConn, UVA, and has been a guest lecturer at Harvard on Verdi and Shakespeare.

His original performance lecture, Muse on Fire: Shakespeare & The Music of the Spheres, has been performed multiple times in the US and abroad in the last 3 years. Bill’s original musical Call of the Wild (with late playwright Jon Lipsky) has received a national tour and a World Premiere at the Olney Theatre Center in DC. He has collaborated with such theatre luminaries as Tina Packer, Irina Brook (Parisian director and daughter of Peter Brook), Rinde Eckert (Pulitzer finalist for Orpheus X), and Stephen Warbeck (Oscar winning composer for Shakespeare In Love). Winner of a Fox Foundation Resident Actor Fellowship, the nation’s largest grant

8 UW-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts

for actors, and two Meet the Composer Grants, Bill is nominated this season for both an IRNE and Elliot Norton Award for his sound designs in Boston. Bill earned his MFA at the Boston University School of Theatre, is a graduate of the National Theatre Institute and has studied abroad in Bali, Indonesia, at the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon, and at the University of Siena, Italy.

ALAN PIOTROWICZ (Lighting Designer) is proud to have designed for several fine companies in Wisconsin, including Falls Patio Players (resident designer since 2008), Four Seasons Theatre (Miss Saigon in concert, West Side Story, Follies in concert), In Tandem Theatre (Jesus Christ Superstar in concert, Veronica’s Position), Milwaukee Chamber Theatre (Jeeves Intervenes), Milwaukee Repertory Theatre (2009 Gala), Next Act Theatre (7 Stories, Four Places, A Sleeping Country, Vigil), Sunset Playhouse (Hair, Tuesdays with Morrie, Greater Tuna, Six Degrees of Separation), T.I.M.: The Improvised Musical, Uprooted Theatre (Professional premiers of Pink Champagne and South Bridge), and Youngblood Theatre (God Bridge, Drive me to Arson, Gruesome Playground Injuries, Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom), among others. Alan received his BA from UW-Madison and studied as an electrics apprentice with the Santa Fe Opera. Much love to Eric. www.alanpiotrowicz.com

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D E PA R TM E N T O F T H E AT R E LeRoy Stoner.............................................................................................................................. Chair Administrative Staff Kristy Volbrecht.....................................................................................................Office Manager Faculty and Teaching Academic Staff Katherine Balsley............................................................................... Lecturer, Popular Culture Anne Basting, Ph.D............................................................... Associate Professor, Playwriting Jessica Berlin............................................................................... Lecturer, Stage Management Dick Chudnow...................................................................................................... Lecturer, Acting R.H. Graham......................................................... Associate Professor, Graphics and Design Christopher J. Guse...........................Associate Professor, Scenic and Audio Production Joseph Hanreddy............................................................................................ Adjunct Professor Rebecca Holderness......................................................................Associate Professor, Acting Anthony Horne.......................................... Assistant Professor, Directing, Musical Theatre Tim Laughner............................................................. Associate Instrumentation Innovator,

Scene Shop Supervisor Jeffrey Lieder.......................................Associate Professor, Head of Costume Production Michelle Lopez-Rios...................................................... Assistant Professor, Voice & Speech Raeleen McMillion.............................................Senior Lecturer, Acting, Voice and Speech Robin Mello, Ph.D....................................................Associate Professor, Theatre Education,

BA Area Head Corliss Phillabaum, Ph.D.............................................. Professor Emeritus, Theatre History Pamela J. Rehberg...................................................................Associate Professor, Costumes

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D E PA R TM E N T O F T H E AT R E ( c o n t .)

Alvaro Saar-Rios....................................................................................... Lecturer, Play Analysis Pamela Schermer..........................................................................................Associate Professor,

Visual Communication for Performing Arts Sandra J. Strawn............................................................................................Associate Professor,

Properties Production, Head of Technical Production James Tasse............................................................................................................ Lecturer, Acting Jenny Wanasek..................................................................................................... Lecturer, Acting William Watson...............................................................Associate Professor, Head of Acting Mark Weinberg, Ph.D........................................................... Senior Lecturer, Theatre History Stephen R. White..................................................................Senior Lecturer, Lighting Design Peck School of the Arts Wade Hobgood......................................................................................................................... Dean Scott Emmons.......................................................................................................Associate Dean Administrative Staff Mary McCoy................................................................................................ Assistant to the Dean Sue Thomas...............................................................................................Administrative Officer Randall Holper..................................................................................................Facilities Manager Marketing and Development Staff Ellen Schupper.................................... Director of Marketing and Community Relations Diane Grace.........................................................................................Director of Development Nicole Schanen........................................................................................... Marketing Specialist Ken Otte.............................................................. Creative Specialist/Web Content Manager Box Office Tianna Conway............................................................................................. Box Office Manager Maria Corpus, Tom Gray, Mike Gold................................................................ Box Office Staff Brianna Husman, Lauren Messner, Nick Ouchie, Clair Paul, Chelsey Porth, Bob Schaab

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