My students are my greatest instructors. Yes, I hope there is one piece of information I give them that they remember, hold on to, use. I hope. But they always inspire me to make space for everyone and, above all, to be present.
a.k. payne was indeed one of my best students and most profound teachers. Her writing continues to push against all ideas I thought I knew about play making and collective dreaming. a.k’s work blends necessary powerful poetry into a portrait of what it is to be young, gifted, and Black in America. It explores the legacy of freedom in a play about people who are incarcerated and trapped by grief. Plays must at once open our minds, delight our hearts, and teach our senses new pleasures; a.k. payne’s Furlough’s Paradise achieves all of this and more.
I leapt to program Furlough’s Paradise. With Tinashe Kajese-Bolden at the helm, I knew that our collective dreaming would be realized on stage and resonate beyond it. We need this dreaming. We need to go with Mina, with Sade as they look for Paradise, while sensing with every moment that the best the world has to offer is all around us already. We need only be present.
Tarell Alvin McCraney Artistic Director
PHOTO BY JEFF LORCH
THEATER AS A LENS FOR JUSTICE
“For many Californians the concept of justice feels deeply out of reach. According to Prison Policy Initiative, nearly 200,000 individuals are incarcerated at any given time in our state with about 35,000 incarcerated people released each year. Those numbers are sobering. They are made worse when we remember that the families connected to those individuals are not counted in those statistics. But their lives too are affected by incarceration.
—TARELL ALVIN McCRANEY
Established by playwright and Artistic Director Tarell Alvin McCraney, whose own work has been profoundly influenced by his family’s experiences with the justice system, Theater as a Lens for Justice provides access to theater at Geffen Playhouse for populations impacted by incarceration.
Through a partnership with UCLA’s Center for Justice and Prison Education Program, students explored the intersection of art and social justice through WHAT IT IZ: The Spoken Wordical—a play originally created by formerly incarcerated artists—in a 10-week hip hop workshop in the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater.
This past December, the cast of Waiting for Godot—Rainn Wilson, Aasif Mandvi, Conor Lovett, and Adam Stein—performed Act 1 of Samuel Beckett’s iconic play at the Victorville Women’s Federal Correctional Institution. This special performance continued the play’s long history of reaching incarcerated audiences, dating back to the legendary 1957 San Quentin performance.
Partering with ManifestWorks , this initiative also aims to create employment pathways into the theater industry for formerly incarcerated individuals—in all aspects of theater making including technical, artistic, and administrative— through internships, mentorships, and professional development.
Theater as a Lens for Justice is supported, in part, by Jayne Baron Sherman. OUR PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS
CARLA MALDEN
Welcome to Geffen Playhouse! I’ve had the honor of serving on the Geffen’s Board of Directors for thirteen years. There have been a lot of changes in that time—both at our theater and in the world—but the fundamental truth about theater remains the same. There’s magic to be had here.
If theater is, as Stella Adler believed, a “spiritual and social X-ray of its time,” then we need theatrical catharsis and connection now more than ever.
You may fall in love with the play you’re about to see. You may not. We hope you find it thought-provoking. You may wonder about this character’s behavior or that character’s dialogue. We come to the theater to prompt those conversations.
But we also come to the theater to share an experience. For a few hours, we are members of an audience. Audience—from audientia: to listen. We go to the theater to “see” a play, but equally as important, we come to be part of a group of listeners. Perhaps our sense of community resides in the shared listening. Certainly our humanity does.
So thank you for being a part of the audience here at the Geffen. Because you are here—in this audience— this performance will be unlike any other. Unique, ephemeral, singular.
And that’s why there’s magic to be had here.
Carla Malden Board Member
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Adi Greenberg CHAIR
Gil Cates, Jr.
Executive Director / CEO
Mary Ann Cloyd
Vice Chair
Merle Dandridge
Dr. Brad Edgerton
Bonnie E. Eskenazi
Mark Fleischer
Susan Nahley Fleishman
Dr. Julio Frenk
Brenda Garcia
Patricia L. Glaser
Noble M. Hansen III
Eric Heer
John Horn
Carla Malden
Brian Mann
Tiffany Mayberry
Tarell Alvin McCraney
Artistic Director
Mary Osako
Danny Passman
Holly Rice
Linda Bernstein Rubin
Matt Shakman
Richard Sherman
Cynthia P. Stafford
Howard Tenenbaum
Chair Emeritus
Miranda Tollman
JaHan Wang
Marc Weinstock
FOUNDING TRUSTEES
Harold A. Brown
Kirsten Combs
Robert A. Daly
David Geffen
Herbert M. Gelfand Chair Emeritus
Jeffrey Katzenberg
Glorya Kaufman
Frank G. Mancuso Chair Emeritus
Ron Meyer
Bruce M. Ramer Founding Chair
Victoria Mann Simms
Andy Spahn
Steven Spielberg
Steve Tisch IN MEMORIAM
Gilbert Cates Founder
Marcia Israel-Curley
Quincy Jones
Audrey Skirball Kenis
Charles Kenis
Karl Malden
Ginny Mancini
Jerry Moss
Jerry Perenchio
Edie Wasserman
Lew Wasserman
Dr. Charles E. Young
LEGAL COUNSEL
Nikki Kerman Venable LLP
BLACK PARTNERS APPRECIATION NIGHT
FURLOUGH ’ S PARADISE • FRIDAY, MAY 2
In the spirit of Broadway’s Black Out Nights, we welcome Black audiences and their allies to experience a.k. payne’s powerful Black drama alongside passionate community partners in a celebratory environment.
100% of single ticket proceeds for this performance benefit these five community partner organizations.
FURLOUGH’S PARADISE
WRITTEN BY A.K. PAYNE
DIRECTED BY
TINASHE KAJESE-BOLDEN
CHOREOGRAPHER DELL HOWLETT
SCENIC DESIGNER CHIKA SHIMIZU
SOUND DESIGNER CRICKET S. MYERS
COSTUME DESIGNER CELESTE JENNINGS
LIGHTING DESIGNER PABLO SANTIAGO
PROJECTION DESIGNERS YEE EUN NAM & ELIZABETH BARRETT
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR VELANI DIBBA
PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER SAM ALLEN
ASSOCIATE CHOREOGRAPHER & FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHER NAOMI C. WALLEY
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER ALEXUS JADE CONEY
OPENING NIGHT
DRAMATURGS ARIEL OSTERWEIS & ASHLEY M. THOMAS
CASTING DIRECTOR PHYLLIS SCHURINGA, CSA
THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2025
PRODUCTION SPONSOR
OPENING NIGHT SPONSOR
World Premiere Produced by Alliance Theatre, Atlanta, GA
Tinashe Kajese-Bolden, Jennings Hertz Artistic Director; Christopher Moses, Jennings Hertz Artistic Director; Mike Schleifer, Managing Director
Furlough’s Paradise is presented by special arrangement with Paradigm Talent Agency. This production is made possible, in part, by support from Cast Iron Entertainment.
Geffen Playhouse’s Theater as a Lens for Justice initiative provides access to this production and supplementary programs for populations impacted by incarceration and is supported, in part, by Jayne Baron Sherman.
Audience Engagement initiatives for Furlough’s Paradise are supported by The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation. This project is supported in part by:
FURLOUGH’S PARADISE
CAST OF CHARACTERS
(IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
Mina KACIE ROGERS
Sade D e WANDA WISE
UNDERSTUDIES
Sade m
Mina................................................................................ NAOMI C. WALLEY †
Understudies never substitute for listed players unless specified. †Movement & Fight Captain
The Actors and Stage Managers employed in this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
SETTING/TIME
A U.S. Great Migration city, late 2017.
RUNNING TIME
75 minutes, no intermission.
PLEASE NOTE
There is no photography or filming of any kind allowed during the performance. Please turn off all electronic devices, including cell phones. Thank you!
Hair Consultant
Shelia Dorn
Music Consultant
Brandon D’Lux
Casting Consultant
Jamila Webb
Mental Health Consultant
Cheráe Roberson of The Serenity Brand
Associate Lighting Designer
Nicole Jaja
Assistant Projection Designer
Jennifer Gonzalez
Production Assistant
Lanae Wilks
Automation Operator
Enrique Garcia
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Wardrobe Supervisor
Michayla Van Treeck
Light Board Operator
Jesús Cambero Elias
A1 Swing
Matt Colleran
A2
Michael Svolos
Carpenters
Dante Alanis, Oliver Brink, Enrique Garcia, Jacob Goedeke, Ryan Howard, Mason Irwin, Mady Krise, Shadow LaValley, Greg Mueller, Sam Sully, Eiden Weissblum
Scenic Painter
Vanessa Lara
Properties Artisans
Sigourney Chin, Danny Dolan, Ryan Howard
Stitcher
Sarah Lindsley
Lighting Programmer
Spencer Doughtie
Projection Programmer
Erin Teachman
Electricians
Bianca Bishop, Daniel Fernandez, Ezra Fisher, Justin Kelley-Cahill, Ezra Muthiah, James Tatsch, Gabriel Rodriguez
Sound Technician
Michael Svolos
PRODUCTION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Scenery Built & Painted By F&D Scene Changes
Lighting Equipment Provided By 4Wall Entertainment
Sound Equipment Provided By DnB Design, Jon Sound Inc., Launch
Projection Equipment Provided By PXT Studio
Production Photographer
Jeff Lorch
Media Filming
Ramon Garcia
Design + Art Direction
Base Design
Photography
Justin Bettman
SPECIAL THANKS
UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television Scene, Prop, Sound, and Costume Shops; New Harmony Project, David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, Ngozi Anyanwu, Christina Michelle, Kai Heath, Asha Basha Duniani, Kevin Lin, Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition, and all artists and technicians who have lent their labor to past productions of Furlough’s Paradise
This theater operates under agreement between the League of Resident Theaters and Actors Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.
The Stage Managers employed in this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
This theater operates under agreement between the League of Resident Theaters and Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, an independent national labor union.
The Director and Choreographer are Members of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union.
The scenic, costume, lighting, and sound designers in LORT theaters are represented by United Scenic Artists Local USA-829, IATSE.
Geffen Playhouse is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Department of Arts and Culture, and as part of Creative Recovery LA, an initiative funded by the American Rescue Plan.
Geffen Playhouse, a not-for-profit theater company, is proudly affiliated with the University of California at Los Angeles.
KACIE ROGERS (she/her)
Mina
Two-time NAACP Award–winning actor and writer Kacie Rogers received her classical training at AMDA College and Conservatory of the Performing Arts. She is the face of the board game Disparity Trap and has appeared on hit TV shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm and Grace & Frankie. Kacie has performed with prestigious Los Angeles theatres, including The Robey Theatre Company, the Getty Villa, A Noise Within, IAMA Theatre Company, Greenway Court Theatre, Skylight Theatre Company, and Geffen Playhouse. In 2021, she earned a writing fellowship that led to her acclaimed one-woman show, I Sell Windows, with successful runs in New York, Los Angeles, and Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Kacie is deeply grateful to God, her friends, family, and her agent/manager team for their unwavering support in her journey, and she’s honored to share her work with audiences everywhere.
D e WANDA WISE (she/her) Sade
DeWanda is truly thrilled to be making her Geffen Playhouse debut with Furlough’s Paradise! Other stage credits include the world premiere of Fireflies at Atlantic Theater Company, originating the role of “Nina” in Dominique Morisseau’s Sunset Baby with LAByrinth Theater Company, Flight directed by Liesl Tommy at City Theatre, Race at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, In the Continuum at PlayMakers Repertory Company, Sundown Names and Night-Gone Things with Negro Ensemble Company, and As It Is In Heaven at the Cherry Lane Theatre. Recent film credits include the Sundance hit Love, Brooklyn, Blumhouse horror film Imaginary, and Chris Pine’s directorial debut Poolman Previous credits include Jurassic World Dominion, Someone Great, The Harder They Fall, and Fatherhood, among others.
TV: Three Women, The Twilight Zone, She’s Gotta Have It, Shots Fired, and Underground. Wise graduated with honors as the B.F.A. representative from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, a recipient of the Scholar Award and the Atlantic Achievement in Studio Award. My nearest… thank you for being my Utopia.
m (they/them) u/s Sade
m is an LA-based performer and storyteller from the American South. Through pen and performance, they seek to transform the theater into a place of healing where Blackqueer psyches can unfurl. While offstage, m creates and produces original choreopoems. Original works include black girl burning, fckn loud, in the belly of the Beast, and FAM. Geffen debut! Special thanks to Innovative Artists and m’s beloved community! Theater Credits: “Opal” in Fat Ham (The Old Globe), “Desi” in Passing Strange (Long Wharf Theatre), “THEM” in fckn loud (Yale Cabaret, Hollywood Fringe Festival), “Annie” in Milk Like Sugar (Collective Consciousness Theatre), “Camae” in The Mountaintop (Collective Consciousness Theatre). Narration: Fair Play (Audible), Why Willie Mae Thornton Matters (Spotify), Gender Queer (Penguin Random House), We Are Villains (Audible). TV: While You Were Breeding. Education: M.F.A. in Acting Yale School of Drama (2022). www.themalodrama.com @pleaseaddranch
Naomi C. Walley hails from Chicago, IL. B.F.A. NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Geffen Playhouse debut! Broadway: Chicago (“Velma Kelly”), Off-Broadway: A Chorus Line (“Bebe,” New York City Center), National Tour: The Bodyguard (u/s “Rachel Maron,” “Nikki Marron”), International Tour: West Side Story (“Anita”), as well as numerous regional productions including Pasadena Playhouse’s recent production of Jelly’s Last Jam (“Hunnie”). TV/Film: The Rookie (ABC), Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (HBO), Deadly D*LF, In the Heights (Warner Bros. Studios), The Get Down (Netflix). Naomi has also had the privilege of developing various new works and Broadway productions, including the 2020 Broadway revival of West Side Story and most notably MJ the Musical. She wishes to thank God, Tinashe and especially Dell, Innovative Artists, and of course, all of her friends and family for their undying love and support! Follow @naomicwalley
a.k. payne (they/she) Playwright
a.k. payne is a playwright, artist-theorist, and theatermaker with roots in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Their plays love on and engage the interdependencies of Black pasts, presents, and futures and seek to find/ remember language that might move us towards our collective liberation(s). They hold a B.A. in English and African American Studies from Yale University and an M.F.A. in Playwriting under Tarell Alvin McCraney from fka Yale School of Drama. A 2023-2024 Van Lier New Voices Fellow, their work has been a finalist for the L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award. Her work has been a 3x finalist and the 2025 winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the oldest and largest international prize for women+ playwrights. Their work has been developed with the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, The New Harmony Project, Great Plains Theater Commons New Play Conference, and Manhattan Theatre Club’s Groundworks Lab. She is currently a resident artist/fellow with National Black Theatre’s I Am SOUL Playwright Residency and Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh (The Pittsburgh
Foundation). They are a proud graduate of Pittsburgh Public Schools; grandchild of the U.S. Great Migration; descendant of a music teacher and a carpenter, who both march every year with their unions in Pittsburgh’s Labor Day parade; an nb & genderqueer abolitionist affected in community by the “New Jim Crow;” and of a great lineage of Black women storytellers and living-room archivists; all of which deeply informs, uplifts, and amplifies their work as a playwright, community organizer, and spacemaker.
Tinashe Kajese-Bolden is a multi-award-winning artistic leader, director, and actor whose work lives at the intersection of artistic innovation, complicated human stories, and community empowerment. She is the Jennings Hertz Artistic Director of the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, a Zelda Fichandler Award finalist, a Princess Grace Award recipient for Directing, and a MAP Fund grantee for devised work centering children on the autism spectrum. Her directing credits include world premieres of the modern opera Forsyth County is Flooding (with the Joy of Lake Lanier) (Adam-
TINASHE KAJESE-BOLDEN (she/her) Director
ma Ebo and Marcus Norris); The Preacher’s Wife musical (Tituss Burgess); Furlough’s Paradise (a.k. payne); Ghost (Idris Goodwin); and Nick’s Flamingo Grill at the Alliance. She has directed regionally at Milwaukee Rep, Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre, Virginia Stage Company, and more, with Broadway and Off-Broadway credits spanning the Imperial Theatre, Primary Stages, and The Classical Theatre of Harlem. On screen, she has appeared in The Suicide Squad, Marvel’s Hawkeye, Ava DuVernay’s Cherish the Day, Dynasty, and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, among others. Driven by a passion for connection, her work explores how art can liberate us to imagine a more inclusive future. For my loves—Keith, Kingston, and Kingsley.
DELL HOWLETT (he/him) Choreographer
Dell Howlett is a New Yorkbased Virginia-born choreographer/director. Selected Choreography/Directing credits: Millions (world premiere, Alliance Theatre, GA), Furlough’s Paradise (Geffen Playhouse, CA), Jelly’s Last Jam (Pasadena Playhouse, CA), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Classical Theatre of Harlem, NY), Forsyth County is Flooding (with the Joy of Lake Lanier) (world premiere, Atlanta Opera, GA), Malvolio (world premiere, The Classical Theatre of Harlem, NY), Billy Strayhorn: Something to Live For (world premiere, Pittsburgh
Public Theater, PA), Sonnets & Soul (world premiere, Howard University, Washington DC), Toni Stone (Alliance Theatre, GA and Milwaukee Repertory Theater, WI), It Came From Outer Space (world premiere, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, IL and TheatreSquared, AK), Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Alabama Shakespeare Festival, AL), Guys and Dolls (Ford’s Theatre, Washington DC), Paradise Square (world premiere, Associate to Bill T. Jones, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, CA), Guys and Dolls (Guthrie Theater, MN), The Wiz (Ford’s Theater, Washington DC), Wig Out! (Studio Theatre, Washington DC), The C.A. Lyons Project (Suzi Bass Award winner, Alliance Theater, GA). Dell also serves as Co-Head of Dance at NYU Tisch School of the Arts in the Department of Drama’s New Studio on Broadway and he is the Faculty-in-Residence at the new eco-friendly Rubin Hall.
CHIKA SHIMIZU (she/her) Scenic Designer
Chika Shimizu is a New York based scenic designer. Regional: Soft Power, Pacific Overtures (Signature Theatre, DC), The Great Wave (Berkeley Repertory Theatre), Sanctuary City (Pasadena Playhouse), Hamlet (Denver Center for the Performing Arts), RENT (Paper Mill Playhouse), Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty (Cleveland Play House), Somewhere (Geva Theatre), The Great Leap (Portland Center Stage), Vietgone, Tiger Style! (TheatreSquared), Business Ideas, Furlough’s Paradise (Alliance Theatre), The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Yale Repertory Theatre, Connecticut Critics Circle Award nomination).
Off-Broadway: Salesman之 死 (Yangtze Rep, Henry Hewes Design Award nomination), Bite Me (WP Theater), Belfast Girls (Irish Repertory Theatre).
Installation: “Un(re)solved” AR installation (Ado Ato Pictures, SXSW Innovation Award, Emmy Award). M.F.A.: Yale School of Drama. www.chikashimizu.com
CELESTE JENNINGS (she/her)
Costume Designer
Celeste Jennings is a costume designer and playwright. Recent/upcoming costume design includes: Appropriate (The Old Globe); Oh Happy Day! and Pride and Prejudice (Baltimore Center Stage); Memnon (The Classical Theatre of Harlem at the Getty Villa and Marcus Garvey Park); Rough Crossing (Resident Ensemble Players); minor•ity (WP Theater); the 2024/2025 Resident Deigner at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre; and Fat Ham (The Huntington Theatre). Recent produced plays: Citrus and ‘Bov Water (Northern Stage). Recent play readings: Potliqka (The Public Theater) and Contentious Woman (PlayCo). Education: M.F.A. in Costume Design from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She’s a current member of the Emerging Writers Group of The Public Theater.
Pablo Santiago is a renowned live performance and digital film lighting designer, celebrated for his evocative theatrical designs. He is honored to return to Geffen Playhouse following the recent production of tiny father. Santiago has received numerous accolades, including the LA Drama Critics Circle Lighting Award, Henry Award, Richard E. Sherwood Award, and multiple Ovation Award nominations. Originally from Chiapas, Mexico, he moved to the United States as a high school student and studied film at the University of San Diego. After 15 years in major motion pictures, he shifted to stage lighting, earning his M.F.A. from UCLA. Santiago’s lighting designs seek to evoke emotional imagery that transcends the stage, sparking the audience’s imagination. His work has been showcased at prestigious venues such as The Kennedy Center, LA Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. His innovative designs continue to elevate performances at major theaters, opera houses, and symphonies nationwide.
CRICKET S. MYERS (she/her)
Sound Designer
On Broadway, Cricket earned a Tony nomination and a Drama Desk Award for her design of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. She has also designed regionally at the Geffen Playhouse (The Mountaintop, Ava:
The Secret Conversations, The Thanksgiving Play, Play Dead, Discord, Wrecks, Some Girl(s)); Mark Taper Forum (American Idiot, Bent, Steward of Christendom, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo); La Jolla Playhouse (The Squirrels, Guards at the Taj, Sideways, The Nightingale), South Coast Repertory (Sweeny Todd, A Doll’s House, Part 2, The Fantasticks); Kirk Douglas Theatre (Endgame, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo); Pasadena Playhouse (Real Women Have Curves, Stoneface); The Wallis (Invincible, Sisters in Law, Blues in the Night). Cricket has earned 24 Ovation nominations, as well as winning The Ruth Morley Award from the League of Professional Theater Women, The Kinetic Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatrical Design, an LADCC, and a Garland Award in Los Angeles. www.cricketsmyers.com
YEE EUN NAM (she/her)
Projection Designer
Yee Eun Nam is a visual artist and theater designer specializing in live performances. Her recent projects include Yellow Face at Roundabout Theatre Company (Broadway), X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X at the Metropolitan Opera, A Transparent Musical at Center Theatre Group, Once Upon a (Korean) Time at Ma-Yi Theater Company, and Long Day’s Journey into Night at Audible Theatre. Nam’s exceptional contributions to theater have earned her two nominations for the
Lucille Lortel Awards, as well as a win for Theatrical Excellence in CGI/Video from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle (LADCC). For more information, visit www.yeeeunnam.com.
ELIZABETH BARRETT (they/them)
Projection Designer
Elizabeth Barrett is a New York-based projection designer passionate about story-focused design. They love collaborating on new work. Recent credits include Frankenstein (Shakespeare Theatre Company), Drawing Lessons (Children’s Theatre Company, MN), and How to Break (Village Theatre, WA).
VELANI DIBBA (she/her)
Associate Director
Velani Dibba is an LA-based director and multidisciplinary artist. Her work focuses on the collision of cultures through design-focused and ensemble-driven pieces. Select credits include Don’t Touch My Hair (IAMA Theatre Company), Pride and Prejudice (The Dramat at Yale Repertory Theatre), we need your listening (New Ohio Theatre Ice Factory Festival), Apologies to the Bengali Lady (Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Tank NYC, The Gathering), I Pledge Allegiance (UNESCO International Theatre Festival and World Congress, TCG National Conference), Space Odyssey (Columbia School of the Arts). She is an Inaugural Fellow at the Laboratory for Global Performance & Politics in Washington D.C., a former Global Cultural Fellow at the
University of Edinburgh, and a former SITI Company Artistic Associate. Her work has been reported on by The New York Times, Vulture, The Scotsman, and various other outlets. Directing M.F.A. Columbia University, B.S.F.S. Georgetown School of Foreign Service.
ARIEL OSTERWEIS (she/they) Dramaturg
Ariel Osterweis is a scholar-practitioner of dance and performance. Osterweis has a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from UC Berkeley and is on faculty at CalArts, teaching courses in Performance Studies and Critical Dance Studies. Their book, Body Impossible: Desmond Richardson and the Politics of Virtuosity, is published with Oxford University Press (Oxford Studies in Dance Theory Series, 2024), and current book projects include Prophylactic Aesthetics: Latex, Spandex, and Sexual Anxieties Performed (University of Michigan Press, Theater: Theory/Text/Performance Series), Disavowing Virtuosity, Performing Aspiration: Dance and Performance Interviews (Routledge), and Prince Moves (Oxford). Osterweis has danced and performed professionally with Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Mia Michaels R.A.W., Heidi Latsky, and Julie Tolentino. They were also a dramaturg for John Jasperse and Narcissister, and directed evening-length performances, Jérôme Bel and Talent Show at REDCAT. Upcoming projects comprising a performance concept called
BODY SHOP include Bad Korean (LA Phil/GYOPO), curation with BOFFO, and a collaboration with Julie Mehretu.
ASHLEY M. THOMAS (she/her) Dramaturg
Ashley M. Thomas was born and raised in Harlem, New York. A writer and dramaturg— she is interested in exploring the intersections of culture, politics, and Beyoncé through a Black feminist lens. She’s dramaturged classical works, plays in development, and solo shows through organizations such as Rattlestick Theater, Utah Shakespeare Festival, and National Queer Theatre. Ashley’s writing has been in publications such as Broadway News, Jabberwock Review, and 3Views on Theater. She’s been a teaching artist for elementary and high school-aged students, and a teaching fellow for college-aged students. Ashley is a proud alumna of the First Wave Urban Arts Scholarship at the University of Wisconsin–Madison where she graduated with her Bachelor of Social Work. She also graduated with her M.F.A. in Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism from Yale School of Drama. Ashley enjoys well-designed concert merch and is a proud godmother of a fiery Aries toddler.
SAM ALLEN (they/them) Production Stage Manager
Regional Credits: Noises Off, The Brothers Size (Geffen Playhouse); La Cage aux Folles (Pasadena Playhouse); Fat
Ham, King James, Pleasant, The Merry Wives of Windsor, All Day (The Old Globe); Animals Out of Paper, Flowers of Hawaii (Chautauqua Theater Company); #SLACabaret (Salt Lake Acting Company), Cherry Wine in Paper Cups (Sackerson); The Audacity, Flora Meets a Bee, P.G. Anon (Plan-B Theatre). A recipient of the 2024 Charlie Blackwell Symposium Scholarship and the 2023 Cody Renard Richard Scholarship. Education: B.F.A. in Stage Management and Directing from Westminster University (2020), M.F.A. in Stage Management from University of California, Irvine (2024). Thank you to Tammie Allen and Jessie Marie Bender!
ALEXUS JADE CONEY (she/her) Assistant Stage Manager Alexus Jade Coney is thrilled to join the team at Geffen Playhouse for the first time while working on such a beautiful play. Credits include Radio Downtown (NYC, The Civilians); The Far Country, The Salvagers, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Between Two Knees (Yale Repertory Theatre); The Bleeding Class (Chautauqua Theater Company); Paradise Ballroom, Soft Target, This Way to the Fire (New York Stage and Film); Caravan, Night of Dreams, Night of Enchantment, Night of the Arts, Shine the Night (Celebrity Cruises).
M.F.A. Yale School of Drama. Her work on this production is dedicated to Mom & Dad.
PHYLLIS SCHURINGA, CSA (she/her)
Casting Director
Phyllis is an Artistic Associate and the Casting Director for Geffen Playhouse. Recent productions include: The Inheritance: Part 1 & Part 2 (Artios Award), Every Brilliant Thing, The Power of Sail, Witch, and Barbecue. Before joining the Geffen, she cast for Steppenwolf Theater Company in Chicago where her favorites include Frank Galati’s adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath (also La Jolla Playhouse, National Theatre in London, and Broadway, where it received the Tony Award for Best Play) and the original production of Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile Broadway transfers include One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Tony Award for Best Revival), The Song of Jacob Zulu, and The Rise and Fall of Little Voice.
TARELL ALVIN M c CRANEY (he/him)
Artistic Director
Tarell Alvin McCraney is Artistic Director of Geffen Playhouse. In this role, he is responsible for identifying, developing, and programming new works and re-envisioned classics. He sets the strategic artistic course for the Geffen’s Gil Cates and Audrey Skirball Kenis Theaters. McCraney is an award-winning
writer, producer, and educator, best known for his acclaimed trilogy, The Brother/Sister Plays His script In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue is the basis for the Oscar–winning film Moonlight directed by Barry Jenkins, for which McCraney and Jenkins also won a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. He is an ensemble member at Steppenwolf Theatre and a member of Teo Castellanos D-Projects in Miami, a graduate of New World School of the Arts, The Theatre School at DePaul University, and the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Warwick. He was recently Co-Chair of Playwriting at the David Geffen School of Drama, where he remains on faculty. He is an associate at the Royal Shakespeare Company, London, and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Writers Branch).
GIL CATES, JR. Executive Director / CEO
Gil Cates, Jr. is Executive Director / CEO of Geffen Playhouse. In this role, he is responsible for managing the Geffen’s dayto-day operations; developing new, ongoing theater partnerships and leading its mission to inform, entertain and inspire diverse audiences with live
theater of the highest caliber. Prior to being named Executive Director in 2015, Cates served as Geffen Playhouse Board Vice Chairman since 2012 and served as a producer and director in theater, film and television. His theater credits include the award-winning Names (Matrix Theatre Company) and Three Sisters and David Mamet’s A Life in the Theatre (both at Syracuse Stage). Cates’ film credits include The Surface (starring Sean Astin and Geffen Playhouse alumnus Chris Mulkey), Jobs (starring Ashton Kutcher, Josh Gad, Dermot Mulroney, as well as Geffen Playhouse alumni Matthew Modine and Ron Eldard) and the 2011 feature film Lucky (starring Colin Hanks, Ari Graynor and Ann-Margret). In addition, Cates co-produced and co-directed the critically acclaimed Life After Tomorrow, featuring Sarah Jessica Parker, which premiered on Showtime. His other films include Deal (starring Burt Reynolds, Bret Harrison and Charles Durning) and The Mesmerist (starring Jessica Capshaw and Geffen Playhouse alumnus Neil Patrick Harris). Cates’ television directorial debut was an episode of the NBC comedy Joey, starring Emmy winner Matt LeBlanc. He recently directed Displaced, a documentary short chronicling the journey of one of the first refugee families to flee Ukraine and arrive in the U.S. after escaping the Russian invasion. He studied at the National Theatre Institute in Waterford, Connecticut, and holds a B.F.A. in Drama from Syracuse University.
THE NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Supporting artists is central to the mission of the Geffen Playhouse, and play commissions are a cornerstone of that support. To commission a playwright to write a play means making a commitment to their voice, craft, and vision, with the hope of sharing the fruits of their work on our stage.
We are proud to have the following artists under commission:
LUIS ALFARO
COLMAN DOMINGO
MICHAEL GOLAMCO
MEGHAN KENNEDY
KATIE LINDSAY, TOVA KATZ & ALEXANDRA KALINOWSKI
MATTHEW LÓPEZ
MARTYNA MAJOK
Co-Commission with Atlantic Theater Company
TARELL ALVIN
M c CRANEY
QUI NGUYEN
Co-Commission with Manhattan Theatre Club
STACY OSEI-KUFFOUR
JIEHAE PARK
JOHN POLLONO
SARA PORKALOB & BRIAN QUIJADA
ROBERT SCHENKKAN
JEN SILVERMAN
N’YOMI ALLURE STEWART
Co-Commission with New York Theatre Workshop, supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation
YORK WALKER
DAVID WIENER
CRAIG WRIGHT
LAUREN YEE
For more information on this program, please visit geffenplayhouse.org/newplays.
THE WRITERS’ ROOM
A group for Los Angeles-based playwrights, The Writers’ Room is a product of the Geffen’s deep commitment to supporting new plays and specifically to fostering bold, relevant work by the vibrant artistic community of this city. During this one-year residency, playwright members gather monthly at the Geffen to share their work and receive feedback from their peers and the Geffen’s artistic staff, culminating in a play reading series.
We are proud to have the following artists in the 2024/2025 Writers’ Room:
SUNNY DRAKE
KEIKO GREEN
ANDREW ZEPEDA KLEIN
MAATIN
SAMAH MEGHJEE
JAMES ANTHONY TYLER
The Writers’ Room is made possible through the generous support of the William Randolph Hearst Foundation.
For more information on this program, please visit geffenplayhouse.org/thewritersroom.
GEFFEN AT A GLANCE
CONTACT
Geffen Playhouse 10886 Le Conte Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90024
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310.208.6500
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Tuesday–Sunday, 12:00pm–6:00pm
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Tuesday–Sunday, 12:00pm–6:00pm, as well as on performance days up until 15 minutes after curtain.
Please note: the box office window is unable to process exchanges or future sales one hour prior to curtain time on performance days.
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Geffen Playhouse is fully committed to providing access to patrons with mobility, visual and hearing impairments. Parking spaces directly outside the theater are zoned for drop off and pick up, as well as disabled parking spots for patrons with appropriate placards and plates. For more information, visit geffenplayhouse.org/access or call Audience Services.
LATE SEATING
Should you arrive late to the theater or vacate your seat during the performance, please expect to be held in the lobby until an appropriate pause in the action on stage. Some productions or circumstances may not allow for late or return seating. To minimize disturbances to other patrons, you may be seated in the first available location by the house staff even if it is different from your assigned seat.
NO PHOTOGRAPHY
There is no photography or filming of any kind allowed during the performance. Please turn off all electronic devices, including cell phones.
UCLA SCHOOL OF THEATER, FILM AND TELEVISION
Geffen Playhouse is affiliated with the University of California at Los Angeles, specifically the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Geffen Playhouse values its role as an important educational resource by providing students with master classes, workshops and internships. Students are also able to work and learn from distinguished visiting Geffen artists in areas of directing, playwriting, acting, design, dramaturgy, management and production. Geffen Playhouse also draws upon the distinguished experts in the university to enhance the theater’s programs and research.
“ WHAT IS THE WORLD WE HOPE TO SEE? ”
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE CREATIVE TEAM OF FURLOUGH’S PARADISE— PLAYWRIGHT A.K. PAYNE, DIRECTOR TINASHE KAJESE-BOLDEN & CHOREOGRAPHER DELL HOWLETT
L-R: Dell Howeltt, Tinashe Kajese-Bolden, and a.k. payne.
BY ASHLEY M. THOMAS, CO-DRAMATURG FOR FURLOUGH’S PARADISE
ASHLEY M. THOMAS: There are many creative team members involved in this process, although the play is a two-hander. Can you speak to the kind of magic embedded in the story that invites a wide range of collaborators to the table?
DELL HOWLETT: It starts with a.k., who made space in the writing for multiple ways for the piece to be animated. a.k. talks about what the characters bring and what lives in their bodies. It takes someone thinking about the sounds, colors, movement, and the fingerprints of liberation. It’s necessary we have different points of view to animate, vivify, and make that expression particular.
a.k. payne: One thing I love about theater-making is the way it invites us to expand our ways of knowing. We each bring something vital to the table. I am free to boldly declare when “I do not know” because in the most ideal theatrical room, we have nourished an environment that can prioritize our collective knowledge. I hope this play invites that kind of collaboration. Liberation can’t be made in isolation.
AMT: a.k.’s work is inherently multimedia. It evokes magic that doesn’t singularly imagine words being said, but a feeling to be had. What better way than to invite people to the table to materialize such feelings?
AMT: From Audre Lorde’s “Eye to Eye” to bell hooks’ Sister of the Yam, there are so many traceable influences of Black kinship at the heart of the play. What are some of the ways that’s being channeled both directly through Mina and Sade’s relationship, and also in the room as a creative team?
TINASHE KAJESE-BOLDEN: Telling a story about finding freedom in ourselves and each other had to be embedded in how we built this production right from the beginning, including our audition process where we wanted to be in community. There’s also how the characters call in literary references like for colored girls..., we want to bring in our artists’ influences.
akp: I’m reminded of our pre-show speech at the Alliance Theater production. It was about
PHOTO BY JEFF LORCH
existing together and asking the audience to turn to their neighbor in a Black church aesthetic, acknowledging that we were existing in the same moment. I’ve been thinking about what it means to not take for granted any chance to be with people and simply exist.
AMT: Embodiment and dialogue are often seen as separate mediums but the two are inextricably linked. Can you talk about how the text calls for an integration of both, and the work to bring that integration to life?
akp: I love when Ntozake Shange says, “I can’t count the times I viscerally wanted to attack, deform and maim the language I was taught to hate myself in,” yet she creates beautiful plays with stunning poetry. She’s using this language because it was given, but she’s aware of the limitations, and I find that moving. I often think how body can be in a dance with language, and how language can be a tool to get to a thing that the body is trying to say, and how they can exist together.
DH: Yes, I love that. I’m going to say what you said again, because it says so much to me, which is how the body can be a tool to get to what you are trying to say. How do you begin to discover how language and embodiment crash into each other? The process is about how we arrive at embodiment that’s true and self-possessed. As a choreographer, I’m interested in an aesthetic that is muscular. All these things have to be present.
TKB: The underbelly of the story is about migration. Our bodies are still holding, and when I say “ours,” I am naming the African diaspora. a.k. has given us this beautiful meditation on decolonizing our tongues—a gift we need to become truly unshackled. The first thing that enslaved us was our body. Once shackled, it wasn’t just our tongue that was colonized, it was the way that we communicate with our bodies. This opportunity to remove those boundaries is reaching for radical hope. How we express ourselves has no choice but to be a physical manifestation of our speech.
AMT: Time is a major integration of both elements because it marks a ritual of the body moving and evolving. They get new information, embody it, and act on it.
AMT: What are some of the ways you hope this story builds community amongst audiences and beyond?
TKB: As a director, what’s important is the authentic relationship between characters. I think an audience is going to come in thinking that they are going to be hearing a story about confinement, and I want them to leave with a clearer understanding of the possibility of freedom.
DH: Yes, there’s something about doing a play with two Black folk at the center that’s about abolition—abolition of the spirit; about the freedom of something that we don’t usually get to see Black folk reconcile. Even if people don’t know they’re seeing a play about freedom, they will know at the end something has been reconciled.
akp: I hope this creates space to have fertile ground for imagining what abolition can be collectively. It can’t happen without creative imagining. We have to ask, “What is the world we hope to see?”
AMT: This is the third production of Furlough’s Paradise. The number 3 represents growth, expansion, and innovation. What are some ways you hope to bring this energy to this production?
DH: I’m bringing these physical ideas and making them manifest. I’m also excited by synthesis. What sounds animate the movement, what are the visual ideas that are at the heart of those sequences?
TKB: I want to lift up a.k. because it’s a very particular artist that not just recognizes, but seeks evolution in their creative process. Having that first professional production and expanding on the visual aesthetics while scaffolding the language has set us up for innovation, where now we know the structure of the container. At Geffen Playhouse, we can invite necessary creative abrasion that interrogates ideas, allows us to fail forward, and invites everybody’s slice of genius.
akp: That means so much to me, and it’s such a gift. I’m excited to have a choreographer in the room. In this rendition, I’m curious about innovating toward specificity in what the body is doing and how the characters exist in space. I’m interested in Afro-surrealism—that’s what this play leans towards. How do we look at Black life and turn the camera so it resembles what we’re feeling? How do we allow for the surreal by centering our own gazes?
To read more about Furlough’s Paradise, visit geffenplayhouse.org/blog.
ANNUAL DONORS
Geffen Playhouse recognizes the following individuals and organizations for their generous support of our Annual Fund. Donors are listed at the Partner’s Circle level and higher for gifts made between February 1, 2024 and March 1, 2025. A full listing of our supporters can be found at geffenplayhouse.org/thankyou.
† Geffen Playhouse Board of Directors
^ Geffen Playhouse Founding Trustees
In appreciation, Annual Fund donors enjoy a host of special benefits including concierge ticketing services, complimentary drinks, receptions, and much more.
For more information, please call Anika Waco at 310.208.6500 ext. 195.
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CIRCLE
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In Honor of Phyllis Blivas
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HOSPITALITY SPONSOR
Thank you to our year-round in-kind hospitality sponsor for their incredible generosity and support of the arts:
Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey
CHAIRMAN’S CIRCLE
The Chairman’s Circle acknowledges the historical contributions of the following individuals, whose support of Geffen Playhouse made the original vision of our founder, Gil Cates, Sr., possible:
Anonymous
Annenberg Foundation
Mrs. Carol K. Block & Chancellor Gene D. Block†
City National Bank
Kirsten^ & Donald Combs
Marcia Israel-Curley & Jim Curley
Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown & Passman, Inc.
The David Geffen Foundation
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Lincy Foundation
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University of California, Los Angeles
Wasserman Foundation
Judy & Chancellor Charles^ E. Young
If your name has been misspelled or omitted from the list in error, please contact Anika Waco, Donor Relations Coordinator at 310.208.6500 ext. 195.
Tarell Alvin McCraney ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
ARTISTIC
Amy Levinson
Associate Artistic Director
Daniel Ionazzi Producer
Phyllis Schuringa
Artistic Associate / Casting Director
Bella Luna Company Manager
Olivia O’Connor
Literary Manager & Dramaturg
Lexy McAvinchey Artistic Coordinator
Dionn Richardson Assistant to the Artistic Director
PRODUCTION
Matt Sweeney Director of Production
Melissa Hartman
Technical Director
Philip Rossi
Lead Scenic Carpenter
Greg Mueller
Stage Operator
Rick Gilles
Properties Master
Audrey Lastar
Costume Supervisor
Sarah Lindsley
Costume Shop Supervisor
Spencer Doughtie
Lighting & Projection Supervisor
Jesus Cambero-Elias
Assistant Lighting Supervisor
James Grabowski
House Sound Supervisor
Bob Gilmartin
Resident A1
ADMINISTRATION
Sarah Sturdivant
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Erick R. López
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Youra Kim
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Jake Jones
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DEVELOPMENT
Sarah Weinberg
Chief Development Officer
Elizabeth Kegley
Director of Institutional Giving
Tracy Reich
Director of Individual Giving
Rachel Jacoby
Data Management Coordinator
Anika Waco
Donor Relations Coordinator
Zoila Lopez
Development Assistant
EDUCATION
Brian Allman
Director of Education & Community Engagement
Mark J. Chaitin
Manager of Education & Community Engagement
Paloma Nozicka
Education Associate
Sean Michael Boozer, Paris Clayton III, DeJuan Christopher Conner, Lyssa Deehan, Sidney Edwards, Aja Houston, Erròn Jay, BJ Lange, Tiffany Oglesby, Tara Ricasa, Ashley Robinson, Gerry Tonella
Teaching Artists
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Director of Marketing
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Zack Hamra
Director of Audience Services & Ticketing
Isaak Berliner
Social Media & Communications Manager
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Audience Services Manager
Jacob Feller, Jon-Paul Schaut
Box Office Managers
Gil Cates, Jr. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR / CEO
Tori Eriavez, Peyton Fleming, Pablo Hamlin, Miranda Heath, Gabrielle Johnsen, Jeffrey Limoncelli, Kayla Page, Sophia Stiker
Box Office Staff
Theater Direct Outbound Sales
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Director of Operations
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