Winter 2016 newsletter

Stephen McFarland, Miles Duffield & Shane Fahy. Photo: Lois Tema.

Thank You You’re receiving this newsletter for two reasons: First, because you’re one of our top supporters. Our donors at the Playwright Level ($1,000+) and up provide significant support to New Conservatory Theatre Center.

We can’t thank you enough!—which leads us to reason two: When we surveyed you last summer, you said you wanted more behindthe-scenes info. So here it is! Let us know what you think! And thanks as always for your support of New Conservatory Theatre Center!

Yours,

Laura Poppiti Lily Janiak Development Director Development Manager

DONOR NEWSLETTER JANUARY 2016

Table of Contents Newsflash……………………………………....5 TBA Awards News…………………………..7 Talking Real with Megan Cohen about Real Talk…………………………………………9 Interview with Kuo-Hao Lo.……….....13 Stephen McFarland: Artist & Administrator……………………………….17

Redesigning NCTC’s lobby…………….21

Erin Ashe, Sam Jackson and Chris Morrell in Avenue Q. Photo: Lois Tema

Desiree Rogers, Sarah Coykendall, Jaq Nguyen Victor and Kimberly Ridgeway in The Kid Thing, the first lesbian-centered drama to perform in NCTC’s main stage season. Photo: Lois Tema.

Newsflash THE SKINNY ON ALL WE’RE CELEBRATING

NCTC recently hired two new employees: Virginia Herbert is our new Master Electrician/Audio Technician, and Nicole Meñez is our new YouthAware Associate. Welcome!

Devin Kasper has been promoted! Having served for almost three years as NCTC’s Technical Director, he is now our Production Manager/Technical Director, meaning he ensures our directors and designers work together cohesively, on time and on budget. Congrats, Devin!

NCTC’s popular Perks Card program is pleased to announce a new partner: KitTea, San Francisco’s first cat café and tea lounge! Use your perks card to get a 20% discount on visits! (Note: only available for walk-in appointments.)

YouthAware Program Director Sara Staley was awarded a prestigious TCG Leadership U: Continuing Education grant. With this opportunity, Sara will explore the ways in which theatres in Chicago, Washington D.C., and New York are using traditional storytelling, Theatre of the Oppressed techniques, applied theatre methods, and civic practices (dialogue, engagement, collaboration) to promote societal growth and change in their communities. Congrats, Sara!

NCTC’s new five-year strategic plan is now available online! Read it here.

We’ve got new technology to match our cutting edge theatre! Hope you’re enjoying the new electronic displays at our building’s entrance, as well as the iPads in our lobby that feature show-themed quizzes and other activities for you to enjoy before performances and during intermissions.

• • • • WINNER!

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• WINNER!

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WINNER!

• • • •

WINNER!

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Outstanding Production of a Musical (Avenue Q) Outstanding Production of a Solo Play (Maura Halloran, Pussy) Outstanding Direction of a Musical (Dennis Lickteig, Avenue Q) Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Principal Role in a Play (J. Conrad Frank, Die Mommie Die!) Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical (Teresa Attridge, Avenue Q) Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical (Hayley Nystrom, Avenue Q) Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Featured Role in a Play (Cheryl Smith, Other Desert Cities) Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Featured Role (Chris Morrell, Avenue Q) Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Featured Role (Zac Schuman, Avenue Q) Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Featured Role in a Play (Patrick Ross, Compleat Female Stage Beauty) Outstanding Performance by the Ensemble of a Musical (Avenue Q) Outstanding Scenic Design (Kuo-Hao Lo, Die Mommie Die!) Outstanding Scenic Design (Kuo-Hao Lo, Other Desert Cities) Outstanding Costume Design (Mr. David & Jorge R. Hernandez, Die Mommie Die!) Outstanding Lighting Design (Christian Mejia, Die Mommie Die!) Outstanding Lighting Design (Christian Mejia, Other Desert Cities)

On Monday, November 16, at a star-studded ceremony at ACT, NCTC learned that of our 16 finalists in the 2014-15 Season TBA Awards— Theatre Bay Area’s new awards program to recognize theatrical excellence throughout the region—four are winners!

Congrats to Teresa Attridge, Chris Morrell (both Avenue Q actors who are returning this year!), KuoHao Lo and Christian Mejia!

We are so proud of you!

Local playwright Megan Cohen and NCTC’s YouthAware program might not seem a natural match—at first.

Cohen, whose work regularly appears at the Exit Theatre and PianoFight (among many other venues), is known for her boundary pushing, her dizzying wordplay and her tireless experimentation in SF’s indie theatre scene. By contrast, the primary audience for YouthAware’s touring educational theatre program is grade school students.

TALKING REAL WITH MEGAN COHEN ABOUT

Real Talk!

But shortly after the playwright met YouthAware Director Sara Staley, Cohen approached her “begging” to write a YouthAware play.

A big part of what attracted the Stanford-educated playwright to YouthAware is that “it’s such a trailblazing project,” she says. Created during the height of the AIDS crisis, YouthAware was one of the first programs in the country to use theatre to educate about HIV/AIDS. (It has since expanded its reach to also educate about bullying, homophobia and other health and wellness issues.)

Cohen also saw a unique artistic opportunity in YouthAware. “For a lot of the kids who come to YouthAware shows, it’s the first theatrical event they ever experience. There aren’t a lot of theatres for youth that have the aesthetic depth NCTC has.”

The opportunity for a collaboration with Cohen finally arose two years ago, when Staley was looking for a playwright to reboot Get Real!, a flagship YouthAware play, by Doug Holsclaw, about HIV/AIDS prevention and destigmatization. NCTC had been touring it for almost 20 years, and the script requires continual updates, not just because both the stigma surrounding and knowledge about HIV/AIDS has shifted over time. It’s also vital, Cohen says, “to meet kids where they are, to use slang the kids use, references they use.

They’re so hungry for that, to be recognized in the words they hear.”

After reviewing both the original script and more recent drafts, Cohen and Staley also surveyed teachers for whose classes the show would perform, asking them, “What problems are you seeing in your classroom today that you wish students had more tools to address?” Overwhelmingly, teachers’ responses centered on nutrition, conflict-resolution and self-esteem.

Taj Campbell, J Jha and Laura Espino in Real Talk!

Fast Facts:

• All YouthAware shows are performed for free for SFUSD students.

• # of schools that saw Real Talk! last year: 28 • # of Real Talk! student audience members last year: 2032 • Year two of Real Talk! will premiere January 13-28, 2016

Cohen’s script, Real Talk! (the title changed to reflect the new playwright and the new emphases), covers much ground in 30 minutes (which is followed by a 30-minute talkback with the actors). The show uses as a framing device Lindsay, a sixth grader who’s posting her favorite videos and creative work to her own “FaceTube” channel. These shorts include Shaun Hawktony, an extreme skateboarder who advises fighting kids, “Fights are like junk food for your emotions,” and a video game called Bloodstream Sailor that pits the bloodstream against viruses to explain the difference between HIV and AIDS. Cleverly, white blood cells are represented by white balloons (which get popped), and then, once fortified by medicine, volleyballs.

Real Talk! is very fast-paced, which is partly a response to the attention spans of fourth and fifth graders. Cohen doesn’t see that as a drawback to writing for youth, though. “In totality, this age group is more available than an adult audience. They’re immediately available to emotion, without needing to be warmed up first, but that means they’re also more available to boredom.

They’re so curious, so hungry, that they want the show to move fast. That’s a source of warmth for me as a writer.”

One of the major challenges in writing a YouthAware script is to educate without being didactic. Cohen says she tackled that issue as she would handle conveying exposition in a play for adults. “The information landed best when characters had a real reason to tell one another,” she says. “In one scene, there are two step-siblings, one who’s HIV-positive, one not. They tell each other about the disease because they’re trying to understand each other, how to live together as family.”

Cohen’s witty voice is so well suited to educational theatre that YouthAware has just recruited her to revamp another long-running script: Dos Rappers Two, which also educates about HIV/AIDS, but for a younger age group. The new version will premiere in the 2016-17 school year.

Playwright Megan Cohen. Learn more about her work at megancohen.com.

•••

INTERVIEW WITH KUO-HAO LO

SET DESIGNER FOR

The Nance

Kuo-Hao Lo is our go-to set designer in the Decker Theatre. A former on-staff Technical Director, he knows the idiosyncrasies of the Decker as few others do. The Nance, which ran October 2-November 1, might have been his greatest feat yet. A stagehand character, played

by Marco Simental, performed the show’s umpteen scene changes almost singlehandedly, using three different curtains and a pivoting set piece. We talked to Kuo-Hao about how he approached the design given both considerable demands and considerable constraints.

P. A. Cooley, Brian Herndon, Marco Simental and Mia Romero. Photo: Lois Tema.

What first drew you to designing The Nance?

I like period pieces. There’s a charm to them—I like to use modern eyes to bring old-fashioned things to life. But at first I didn’t see how our stage could support the show.

Why not?

The Decker Theatre is always a challenge; there’s no wing space, and it has low ceilings. The Nance has three very specific main locations: a New York apartment, backstage and onstage.

How do you make all that work when there’s no space?

The Broadway production used a revolving turntable set to convey those different places, but clearly that wasn’t an option here.

The key challenge was how I was going to connect the three, to find the key word to tie those elements together, because on this stage they couldn’t be separate.

Obviously, you thought the challenge could be overcome.

I’m always up to the challenge. As a designer, you have to have an ego. You use the challenge to feed your ego and thrive.

How did you end up uniting The Nance’s multiple locations?

In this show, the key word is color—a red, warm color. Backstage, there’s a brick wall, and of course onstage, there’s the big red curtain. So I realized the color has to also have a warm feeling inside the apartment.

How did you make the scene changes work?

This play is a puzzle, and set design is all about fitting the puzzle together. I brought the “wow” factor. You couldn’t figure out how all those transitions happened!

What are you proudest of in your design for the show?

I’m proud the set works. That’s probably how I feel about all my designs! I see a lot of designs that are beautiful, but not practical. I’m proud of mine because it functions well with actors.

•••

Clockwise from left: Kuo-Hao Lo; Kuo-Hao’s set model for The Nance; Nathanael Card & P. A. Cooley in the apartment (note the warm tone!).

Stephen McFarland is possibly the person who’s spent the most time at NCTC over the past few months—after Ed Decker, of course. He started working here just last year, and already he’s played three major roles: John in Cock, Kynaston in Compleat Female Stage Beauty and Gene in For the Love of Comrades (all of which have required him to cry). Then, this summer Stephen joined us on staff as Conservatory Programs Manager! We talked to him about his dual role as NCTC artist and administrator—and balancing the two.

With Radhika Rao in Cock. Photo: Lois Tema.

What’s special about NCTC to you?

It’s definitely a home. I felt that from the first show. It smells like home. The warmth of Ed makes it a home. The staff makes it a home. The intimacy of the theatres has a nostalgic feel. Additionally, the emphasis on plays that deal with LGBT themes lights a fire for me, as a gay man. The “as if”s you have as an actor—“This character is as if I were…”—come easier.

The characters you’ve played are all very complex and very different from one another. Tell us about how you’ve grown as an actor over the past year.

I have grown more as an actor than I’ve grown in any other time period in my life. The roles I’ve gotten aren’t fluffy. They’re dark, bringing out more of the humanity, the struggles and strife of life. NCTC gives you opportunities that you don’t think you’re able to accomplish, but Ed sees the ability in you. You think, “If he believes I can do this, I can do this.”

Which of your roles was the biggest leap for you?

Kynaston in Stage Beauty. His arc of being a star, then complete loss of identity, then getting his way back to “I can do this”—it happens so quickly. Transitioning from one to the next was very difficult, especially with all the costume changes and the Restoration language!

What in NCTC’s rehearsal process helped you overcome the challenge?

You have more time. I’m used to a summer stock rehearsal schedule—two weeks, and you’re up! There was a lot more table work, sitting face-to-face and doing the Meisner Technique. And what Ed said about subtext was liberating for me—“Let go of want and objective; find what your character is really saying.”

Recently, you’ve taken on a wholly different kind of role at NCTC: a full-time position as Conservatory Programs Manager. What does your new job entail?

I do the administrative work for NCTC’s Conservatory—registration, enrollment, hiring teachers. For NCTC’s Satellite Schools Program, where we send teaching artists to San Francisco after-school programs, I serve as a liaison between teachers and schools.

You started as Conservatory Programs Manager at the same time as For the Love of Comrades was in rehearsals. During that time, did you ever actually leave the basement of 25 Van Ness Ave.?

Well yes, I did. But there were times when I just slept in the dressing room of Theatre 3. Late in the afternoon, [Conservatory Director] Stephanie Temple would be like, “Turn your computer off. You’re going to be here till 10:30 tonight.”

That’s a demanding schedule! What kept you going?

I like running the Conservatory because it just feels meaningful. It’s not just for a paycheck, and I have had many jobs that were just for a paycheck. I most enjoy watching parents light up when they see that their kids are growing and having fun. In one class, we have an autistic child, and her mom glows knowing that her special-needs child is succeeding and maybe finding a niche. I think parents worry about their kids fitting in and being okay in what can be a tough world, and when they see their child just having a great time here it rests their hearts. That always feels nice. When you see kids engage, it’s pretty magical. When you see that little lightbulb go off and they trust their creative selves, it’s like, “Wow!” What’s been the most important thing you’ve learned so far in your new role?

To trust your intuition about the potential you see in people. When someone sees that potential in you, and then you rise to the occasion, you can then rise to other occasions.

••• Curious about who’s cast in the rest of the shows this season?

Sagittarius Ponderosa • Director: Ben Randle; Actors: SK Kerastas, Andy Collins, Janis DeLucia, Michaela Greeley, Matthew Hannon

Mothers & Sons Buyer & Cellar

• Director: Arturo Catricala; Actors: Velina Brown, Andrew Nance, Daniel Redmond-Davies, Ian DeVaynes, Aviv Drobey • Director: Rebecca Longworth; Actors: J. Conrad Frank, Robert Rushin (understudy)

Ed Decker; Actors: Will Giammona, Chris Morrell, Melissa On a Clear Day You • Director: O’Keefe, Jessica Coker Mohr, Kevin Singer, Ali Haas, Zac Schuman, Javi Can See Forever Harnly, Megan Bartlett, Caitlin Papp, Christine Macomber, Scott Ayres

In Compleat Female Stage Beauty. Photo: Lois Tema.

Redesigning the Lobby: OUR ARCHITECTS’ PERSPECTIVE

For NCTC’s lobby redesign, which was announced at our annual Pride Party, we met our architects in an unusual manner: through the Foundation Center’s nonprofit resource fair. There, development director Laura Poppiti found out about the 1% Architecture Program (it’s now called 1+), which connects nonprofits with architecture firms willing to work pro bono. (The program’s name is meant to encourage architects and designers to dedicate at least one percent of their time to pro bono work.) We eventually got matched with Fog Studio, the El Cerrito-based architecture firm of Brandon Marshall and Tiffany Redding. We’ve loved working with them and are thrilled with their vision for our lobby, so we decided to speak with Tiffany to learn a little more about her process.

Tell us about the kinds of projects Fog Studio takes on.

We are most interested in community-based projects. We love landing libraries, community centers, senior centers, education buildings, visitor centers—any kind of school-related work or something that impacts a lot of people at once. We also love projects that have a lot of community input. Many architects shy away from that because it can be a pain, but it makes the project so specific to that place as opposed to the ego of the architect!

lines of sight, acoustics, visual excitement, easy flow of people. Your space was a little challenging because it’s not very large, and it’s a little bendy; it’s got hallways, which you don’t usually find in a theatre lobby. It’s also in a basement, so there’s a total lack of natural light and a little difficulty wayfinding. We were thinking, “We want to capitalize on that basement aspect— Let’s embrace it!” Our original concept was much more “speakeasy” than what we ended up with. We kept the banquette seating from that, but now it’s brighter, with more lighting, fewer booths, more open space.

What drew you to work on NCTC’s lobby?

A theatre lobby is fun! We were really drawn to the NCTC project because of the pro bono aspect. We have quite a few of those projects under our belt.

For many years, we did high-tech campuses and projects that don’t have long shelf-lives, for a high-end crowd or a corporation, and it wasn’t that satisfying in the heart.

We decided that now we want to make a positive impact. It’s in our mission statement to do as much volunteering and pro bono work as we can.

Which aspects of your design are you most excited about?

I’m excited about moving the bar down the hallway and having a “grown-up” area back there— especially as we get some cool lighting fixtures and red banquettes—and enlarging the donor lounge to look down over the bar crowd and have a little more room, comfort and glitz. I also really like this carpet because it allows you to find your way; generally it’s gray, but as you get closer to the theatres it turns red.

It doesn’t take an architect to see that NCTC’s current lobby layout is—unique. How did you approach that?

It’s a space that gets heavy, heavy use—intermittently. Of course, we think about bottlenecks,

Have you attended any NCTC shows to get a better feel for the lobby in action?

Rock ‘n Roll Cinderella. My little girl and I sat in the front row!

•••

Brandon Marshall & Tiffany Redding.