Open Door Rep - 6 Dance Lessons_single

Presents

Producer/Artistic Director Mary Pat Sieck

Director Charlie McGrath

Stage Manager Matthew Bonaccorso

Technical Director/Sound Design Stevan Saliny

Scenic Design Josh Prisching

Lighting Design Paul Kerwin

Choreography/Costume Design Lynn Kirsch

Properties Master/Set Decoration Jacob Linne

Graphic Artist Philip Campbell

Master Electrician/Rigger Ethan Kwas

Open Door is partially funded by the Oak Park Area Arts Council, in partnership with the Villages of Oak Park, Forest Park and River Forest and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

Open Door is a member of the League of Chicago Theatres and the Oak Park Area Convention and Visitors Bureau Open Door Theater 902 S. Ridgeland; Oak Park, IL 60304 www.opendoorrep.org 708.342.0810 Like on us Facebook Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks

1

cast (in order of appear ance) LILY HARRISON........................................................................................................... MERCITA DE MONK* MICHALE MINETTI...................................................................................................................WILL NIFONG * The Actor appears through the courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States crew BOARD OPS.............................................................................................. PAUL KERWIN, STEVAN SALINY GRAPHIC ARTIST..............................................................................................................PHILIP CAMPBELL SET CONSTRUCTION.......................................................................... JOSH PRISCHING, ETHAN KWAS, STEVAN SALINY, JACOB LINNE set ting The play is set in Lily Harrison’s condo in St. Petersburg Beach, Florida in the present time. progr a m WEEK ONE...................................................................................................................................... THE SWING WEEK TWO.....................................................................................................................................THE TANGO WEEK THREE........................................................................................................... THE VINENNESE WALTZ WEEK FOUR............................................................................................................................... THE FOXTROT Intermission WEEK FIVE.................................................................................................................................THE CHA-CHA WEEK SIX.............................................................................................................. CONTEMPROARY DANCE WEEK TEN...............................................................................................................................BONUS LESSON cast Biogr aphies

2

MERCITA DE MONK (Lily Harrison) began singing and dancing at the age of three and getting paid for it! As a teen she was invited to attend WBEZ’s Radio Workshop where she acted in radio shows that were broadcast to Chicago Public Schools and where she learned all about radio including delivering the news and sound effects. She studied dance and sang with a trio at South Shore High School and then went on to De Paul Drama School.

She met her husband while singing with a band at The Glass Hat in the Congress Hotel. When the family moved to Oak Park, she became a member of The Village Players and worked in just about every capacity there thru the years.

She ‘s worked in summer stock, industrial shows and recorded many commercials and audio and on-camera, training projects, narrated for The Chicago Historical Society, The St. Louis Art Museum and The Museum of Science and Industry, to name a few.

She’s performed at The Goodman Theatre, Drury Lane and, The Human Race/Victoria Theatres in Dayton, Ohio.

She still works in radio and for the last fifteen years has been acting, producing and directing 1940’s radio shows for The SAG-AFTRA Senior Radio Players at the Cultural Center.

Open Door Repertory Company

cast Biogr aphies

c o n t.

WILL NIFONG (Michael Minetti) is thrilled to share this experience with such a talented, generous production staff and, especially, the inimitable Mercita De Monk. The story of a dancing man whose life led him down a different path is also one Will knows well. After years of studying dance in his native North Carolina and across the country, Will capped his stage career with the role of George M. Cohan at Opryland U.S.A. during his senior year of high school -- or so he thought.

Although he choreographed the musical Company as an undergraduate and later directed a few shows at Trinity High School in River Forest (Mame, Meet Me in St. Louis, Our Town) and at other suburban high schools, the better part of the two decades after college were devoted to teaching Latin and English in the Chicago area and then to practicing law as class action defense counsel, first in Washington, D.C., and then back in Chicago. Only after leaving legal practice in late 2009 and returning to teaching did Will rediscover his first love. In the last three years, he has appeared as a Baptist minister with intestinal distress (Rev. Beverly Hooker, Dearly Departed / Circle Theatre), a suave, sardonic haberdasher (Andre Bouville, The Dinner Party / Bright Side Theatre), a spritely Cockney street vendor (Tom Jenkins, Scrooge the Musical / Steel Beam Theatre), a pugnacious old coot in long underwear (Old Man Strong, Urinetown / Circle Theatre (Jeff Recommended)), a neurotic Macy’s junior executive (Marvin Shellhammer, It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas / Steel Beam Theatre), the goofy father of a 1960’s hair-hopper (Wilbur, Hairspray / Jedlicka Performing Arts Center), and a somewhat sadistic director on the hunt for a perfect cast (Zach, A Chorus Line / Village Players). A graduate of Duke University (B.A., J.D., LL.M.), the University of Michigan (M.A.), and Northwestern University (M.S.), Will also currently teaches Latin and Humanities to the remarkable students of Northside College Preparatory High School in Chicago. He thanks his darling parents for opting for those dance lessons (instead of braces) for a pigeon-toed three-year-old, and he thanks Colin and Happy for keeping him sane and always so beautifully and unfailingly cherished. Here’s to welcoming new challenges and new joys at every age!

crew biogr aphies MATT BONACCORSO (Stage Manager) is excited to be working with Open Door Rep and this wonderfully talented cast and crew. Matthew is the Company Manager of Route 66 Theatre, with whom he recently served as assistant stage manager for their off-broadway debut of Caitlin Parrish’s JeffAward winning A TWIST OF WATER at the 59E59 Theaters in New York. Matthew is also resident stage manager and performer with Chicago Kids Company, where he has spent the past five years introducing children to the magic of live theatre.

Additionally, Matthew is a Collective member with Dead Writers Theatre. In

2010, Matthew concluded a seven year run with TONY N’ TINA’S WEDDING where he performed as Tony, served as the male swing, stage managed the production, coordinated off-site tours, and did just about everything else imaginable to keep the show running smoothly. Matthew has also had the pleasure of working with Dog & Pony Theatre, Immediate Theatre, Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company, Lincoln Square Theatre, and Simple Theatre. Matthew would like to thank God for blessing him with his incredible family, and his love for theatre. Now, let’s dance!

Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks

3

crew biogr aphies

c o n t.

PHILIP CAMPBELL (Graphic Artist) is pleased to have worked on this, his third show with Open Door Rep as Graphic Designer. Past designs for Open Door include, Small, and David Copperfield.

Philip comes from a film and television background, including cinematography work with the History Channel, and ABC affiliates. His studio has produced advertising, design and editorial work for publication, cosmetics lines, and start up businesses. He is currently designing for an upcoming nationwide PBS special with WTTW. He loves the creative freedom and inspiration from Open Door’s wide range of productions and is excited to collaborate again with such a great company.

PAUL KERWIN (Lighting Designer/Light Board Op) This is Paul’s 10th season with Open Door. He came to the company to do the lighting for Just So and has stayed to do nearly 22 shows since then, doing lighting design and rigging, set construction, painting and working Front Of House. Paul is a computer specialist at Triton College during the day.

LYNN KIRSCH (Choreographer/Costume Design) has been a part of Open door for a little over 10 years. During that time she appeared in a few musical productions, choreographed, costumed and produced several shows. Her life outside theater involved dance and retail clothing. She’s had a wonderful time working with Mercita, Will, Charlie, Matt and the rest of this great crew. It’s been an honor to work with them.

ETHAN KWAS (Electrician/Assistant Technical Director) is employed full time outside the theater but theater is where he likes to spend his time. He started his hitech career in high school and has been at it ever since. With a background in electrical, stage rigging and construction, he has worked on various municipal festivals, rigging light sand sound and has been Open Door’s Technical ‘Wizard’ for the past twelve years.

4

Open Door Repertory Company

JACOB LINNE (Properties Master/set Decorator) Born in Oak Park, Jake grew up in a household with parents who greatly encouraged artistic growth. After studying Production Design in Film at Columbia College Chicago, he continues to work on independent films in and around the Chicago area while expanding his own artistic style. This is Jake’s first play as a properties master and set decorator.

CHARLIE MC GRATH (Director) is an associate member of the SDC and a graduate of AMDA and Northwestern University, where she directed All’s Well That Ends Well, I Hate Hamlet, and Taming of the Shrew. Professionally, she’s directed The Ruby Sunrise, November and Humbug as Resident Director for Proud Kate Theatre Project, Minimalistic Men for Appetite Theatre Company, Dennis Sook’s Womb of Time, Chekhov’s Anyuta, and staged readings of Land Where My Fathers Died for Polarity Ensemble Theatre and Aaron Mays’ Sticks and Stones. Recently, she has enjoyed assistant directing Griffin’s No More Dead Dogs and Letters Home, Remy Bumppo’s Chesapeake, Porchlight Music Theatre’s tick, tick…Boom! and Dead Writer’s Theater Collective’s The Vortex. A member of the Collective, she’ll be directing their workshop presentation of Loos Ends this summer. In her free time, she assesses scripts for Stage Left and coaches monologues. Next up she’ll be assistant directing Big Love at Straw Dog. See more of her work at www.charliemariemcgrath.com JOSH PRISCHING (Set Designer) is pleased to be working again with Open Door Rep. Past credits with Open Door have been Small, Train Is Comin’, Bleacher Bums, Daddy’s Home, and Crowns. When not working with Open Door his home is the CAST company at Percy Julian Middle School as technical director. A few favorites include Seussical, Peter Pan, The Wiz, Thoroughly Modern Millie and Into the Woods. A few other favorites have been Momenta dance troupe lighting designer, Proviso high school set and

crew biogr aphies

c o n t.

lighting designer for Little Shop of Horrors, plus Peter Paul and the Land of Nod with the Chicago Folks Operetta. I would like to thank my family and friends for putting up with my crazy theater life, and for you, the audience, for coming and seeing this amazing show. Enjoy!

STEVAN SALINY (Technical Director/ Sound Design) is a founding member of Open Door, and is very happy to have just completed the first season at the new Open Door Theater. As Company Technical Director (along with Paul and Ethan, his incredible original staff of two and Josh’s recent return) he over-sees sound, lights, set design and construction and is the facility manager. His theater experience began in 1989 acting in Bye-Bye Birdie, Peter Pan, The Music Man, Into The Woods, Romeo and Juliet, and West Side Story, with the CAST program, then To Kill a Mockingbird, the first CAST/Open Door production.His favorite

musical performances were the Doo-Wop quartet in Smokey Joe’s Café and various numbers in three Open Door musical reviews. Favorite sets include: The Memory of Water, Spinning Into Butter, A View From The Bridge, The Sisters Rosensweig, Bleacher Bums, Crowns and Daddy’s Home! Thanks are extended to his Open Door family and, most importantly, to his wife and family for all the years of support.

MARY PAT SIECK (Producer/Artistic Director) is a founding member of Open Door and the company’s Artistic and Managing Director. She has directed 15 productions for Open Door. Among her favorites are: Good, The Laramie Project, Of Thee I Sing, A View From The Bridge and Daddy’s Home! She loves working with the amazing people she meets through Open Door and would like to thank her wonderful family, especially Bill, for always being there.

from open door’s president Welcome to our theatre. We are very pleased and proud of our progress over this past year. We have worked hard to present diverse, interesting and enjoyable entertainment to our audiences and are looking forward to pleasing you with our new season. Thank you for your continued support - Lynn Kirsch, Board President o p e n d o o r ’ s b oa r d o f d i r e c to r s LYNN KIRSCH.................................................................................................................................. PRESIDENT LEO ZINANNI.................................................................................................................................TREASURER RICHARD WHITE............................................................................................................................SECRETARY LANCE TAYLOR............................................................................................................... MEMBER AT LARGE STEVAN SALINY................................................................................. COMPANY TECHNICAL DIRECTOR MARY PAT SIECK..................................................................................ARTISTIC/MANAGING DIRECTOR

Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks

5

a r t i s t i c d i r e c to r s n o t e s Welcome to Open Door’s 2012 – 2013 Season. It’s hard to believe we’ve been in our beautiful new home for one year! The time has flown by; the year has been amazing, awesome, unnerving and downright terrifying at times. You, the audience, are the reason we begin this new season. You were there for the plays, the music nights, our comedy/ improv evenings. You discovered what you liked and returned with others – “who just had to see this great new theater.” Thank you for your support, for your encouraging words and for spreading the word – we would not be here without you.

A few thoughts on this season. When we meet someone for the first time, what expectations do we have? How do those expectations color our relationship with them?

Does the person usually live up to our expectations? Surpass them? Disappoint us? And what about ourselves – what do others expect of us and what do we expect of ourselves?

What does it say when we stop expecting anything of others or of ourselves? Where in these expectations – of ourselves or of others – lies the truth of who we each are and of what we are capable. The five plays in our 2012 – 2013 Season explore these questions.

Some do so with humor, others with poignancy or edge; each of them with honesty.

Please join us for the challenging give and take of this season.

In addition to the theater season, we will continue with our Music Nights and with the Comedy/Improv Evenings. Our commitment is to offer as many performing arts/artists in our space as possible. Check our website for information on all offerings at the theater or, better yet, make sure you are on our email list. If you are, you will receive weekly updates on what’s happening at Open Door.

We look forward to sharing a great year with each of you.

Mary Pat Sieck

2 012 - 2 013 S e a s o n

SMALL by Paul Amandes

Comedy October 19 – November 18 (F, Sa, Su) A Play in Progress With only three months left ‘till the Illinois gubernatorial election, the current governor must drop out of the race. Doe McCarthy, exiled for a lethal electioneering error some time ago as a campaign manager, is called back to Illinois to stump for his replacement.

That replacement is one of the most brilliant minds in politics, an old friend of Doe’s, and a most unlikely candidate. Quickly regaining her former chutzpah, Doe rushes to Illinois believing that landing her guy in the governor’s mansion is a mission of historical proportions – and her shot at political redemption. But politics, prejudice, and past mistakes block her path at every turn. SMALL is a topical tale about the yearning for personal significance and the compromises one is willing to make to get it.

DAVID COPPERFIELD by Charles Dickens; adapted by Peter Baker

December 1 – December 16 (Sa Evenings and Su Matinees) In the Bicentennial year of Dicken’s birth, Open Door brings Peter Baker’s new one-man show, David Copperfield, to the stage. This is an enthralling retelling of Dicken’s powerful story of one man’s life and the memorable characters in it.

6

Open Door Repertory Company

2 012 - 2 013 S e a s o n

c o n t.

SIX DANCE LESSONS IN SIX WEEKS by Richard Alfieri

Comedy January 18 – February 24 (F, Sa, Su) Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks is a touching comedy about a formidable retired woman and her acerbic dance instructor. Lily Harrison hires Michael Minetti to give her private dance lessons —one per week for six weeks— in her gulf-front condo in St. Petersburg Beach, Florida. What begins as an antagonistic relationship blossoms into an intimate friendship as these two people from very different backgrounds reveal their secrets, fears, and joys while dancing the Swing, Tango, Waltz, Foxtrot, Cha-Cha, and Contemporary Dance. Overcoming their outward differences, Michael and Lily discover an unlikely but profound connection. By the final lesson, Lily shares her most closely guarded secret and Michael shares his greatest gifts, his loyalty and compassion. A comedy with music and dance, the play also addresses the serious issues of ageism and intolerance.

SUPERIOR DONUTS by Tracy Letts

Comedy-Drama April 12 – May 19 (F, Sa, Su) Earl Bitoy Series Production Arthur Przybyszewski owns a decrepit donut shop in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago. Franco wicks, a black teenager who is his only employee, wants to change the shop for the better. This comedy-drama by Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Letts explores the challenges of embracing the past and the redemptive power of friendship, asking the question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

CLARA by McKinley Johnson

Musical July 12 – August 18 (F, Sa, Su) This new musical by McKinley Johnson is inspired by true events in the life of Clara Ward of the famed Clara Ward Singers. Clara, driven by her mother’s reckless ambition, finds herself between her dreams and her mother’s goals. Amid this never-ending pressure, Clara becomes an icon of gospel music but finally must break the bond of mother and daughter permanently…to find her own peace. Familiar to many gospel aficionados, Clara has such favorites as, “How I Got Over” and “Surely, Surely He is Able”. In addition, are new toe-tapping musical theatre numbers entitled, “I Got A Plan”, “The Chocolate Shakes,” and “Tomorrow.” Filled with deep rich characters living in the forties, fifties and sixties, a time of great change for women and African-Americans, Clara goes directly to the heart of the struggle between family and personal ambition.

Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks

7

DONORS

THANK YOU TO THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE WHOSE SUPPORT MAKES A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE Paul/Beth Ann Amandes Dianne/John Andrews Nate Ayedott Nancy/Richard Ball Leah/Paul Beckwith J.D. Bindenagel Marguerite Bloch Bill/Shelby Boblick Roberta Borst Bruce Broerman John/Becky Brofman Ken Brucks/Chris/Frisoni Tony/Mari Burda Margaret/Don Burk Paulette Cary Jim/Marge Chesney Peter/Nancy Clark Jan Colliton Matt Cote Cucina Paradiso Mary/Dan Diezel Ed/Pam Dieschbourg Mary Kay Dodd-Lieberman Mike/Annette Donlin Mary Ann Eckstein Stuart Edwards Penelope Egerter Marcia/Bob Ellis Eyrie’s Restaurant Ted/Sharon Flint Thomas/Charlotte Floyd Katie Frankle/David Goldman Jim/Louise Gates Diane Ghertner Cindy Gilmore Dale Glanzman Marie/Ira Goodkin Mike/Joan Goodrich Doris Gruskin Ronald Heiman Alan/Lynn Hoffstadter

8

Open Door Repertory Company

Judith/Daniel Hoppe Liz Hurtig Kori Huston Ken Javor McKinley Johnson Renardo Johnson Peggy/Kevin Kell Paul Kerwin Jan Kieckhefer Rick/Cheryl King JoAnn Kirsch Lynn/Errol Kirsch Dan/Sarah Knight Tom Kochman/Jean Mavrelis LaSalle Commercial Appraisal Management Co., Inc Janet/Frank Lombardo Patricia Louderman Cynthia Maroon Mary McEnery P. R. McNally Anthony/Dietra Millard Larry/Carole Mitchner Peter/Karen Morava Miriam Morris John/Mykael Moss Don/Pam Mower Richard Murphy Richard/Priscilla Nied Cam/Jerry Niederman Sandy Noel Mary Lou Noll Lorraine Owles/Phil Wagerich Lynn Palmore Jane/Henry Pearsall William Peterson Patricia Petrick Diana Pingle Frank Pond

Joan/Bob Pope Teresa Powell Donald/Dolores Register Sherlynn Reid Amy Rising Heather Saliny Lauren Saliny Melva Saliny Stevan/Sue Saliny Bruce/Julie Samuels Linda Scannicchio James/Carol Scherrer Mary Schneider Georgeann Schulte Frank Schwerin/Marge Michalski Anne Secker Doug Severson/Mim Geraghty Susan Shapiro Erica Shorney Jamie/Lisa Sieck Bill/Mary Pat Sieck Kenneth Sinko Marion Sirefman Frances Sullivan Lance/Alene Taylor Lynn Taylor/Tom White Under the Ginkgo Tree Howie/Jeanne Visteen William Wallace Michael/Madeleine Weldon-Linne Richard White/Susan Beach Dr/Mrs. James Williams Winberie’s Restaurant & Bar Lynn Winikates Harriet Zelenke Beth Zinanni Laura Zinanni Leo/Claudia Zinanni Meredith Zinanni