The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved

THE TOWN HALL PRESENTS IN ASSOCIATION WITH STRAND BOOKS GODS & SAVAGES: A LITERARY SERIES

WITH

FRI MAY 5 TIM 2017

MUSIC COMPOSED BY

BILL ROBBINS FRISELL

& SPECIAL GUESTS

BRAD HALL & CHLOE WEBB

PERFORMED BY

RON MILES CURTIS FOWLKES GERALD CLEAVER JENNY SCHEINMAN DOUG WIESELMAN EYVIND KANG HANK ROBERTS SCRIPTED FROM THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE BY

HUNTER S. THOMPSON ARTWORK BY

RALPH STEADMAN PRODUCED BY

HAL WILLNER DIRECTED BY

CHLOE WEBB

THE TOWN HALL 123 WEST 43RD STREET. NYC

The Town Hall Presents in association with Strand Books

gods & savages: a literary series

FRIDAY MAY 5th, 2017 Hunter S.Thompson’s

The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved with

music composed by

TIM ROBBINS

BILL FRISELL

and special guests

Brad Hall & Chloe Webb performed by

Ron Miles Curtis Fowlkes Gerald Cleaver Jenny Scheinman Scripted from the original article by

Hunter S.Thompson

Doug Wieselman Eyvind Kang Hank Roberts Artwork by

Ralph Steadman

Produced by

Directed by

Hal Willner

Chloe Webb

THE TOWN HALL 123 W 43rd st nyc

LARRY ZUCKER, Executive Director M.A. PAPPER, Artistic Director CINDY BYRAM, Publicity BILL DEHLING, Technical Director CHUCK DISHIAN, Production Coordinator #TownHallPresents | @townhallnyc

ABOUT THE SHOW Only a writer as perceptive, talented and insanely fearless as Hunter S. Thompson can turn the coverage of a horse race into an incisive, and savagely funny, snapshot of a society in all its glory and miseries.

As it happened, three days before the running of the Kentucky Derby in May 1970, Thompson, a Louisville native, pitched a story on the race to the editor of Scanlan’s Monthly, a short-lived but feisty political magazine. He got the assignment and was paired not with an American photographer but with an English illustrator, Ralph Steadman.

The resulting story, headlined The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved, was Thompson’s first “gonzo journalism” piece and a warning shot announcing a powerful new voice in American journalism. He went on to write other influential works including Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ‘72, and The Rum Diary.

Hunter S. Thompson

The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved will be brought to life in all its hallucinatory splendor at The Town Hall in New York on Friday May 5 by an extraordinary production team comprising actors Tim Robbins and Brad Hall, producer Hal Willner, composer and conductor Bill Frisell and actor and director Chloe Webb. Featuring a live cast, Steadman’s original artwork and a superb music ensemble performing Frisell’s original score, all of whom performed on the original 2012 CD release -- Ron Miles (trumpet), Curtis Fowlkes (trombone), Hank Roberts (cello), Jenny Scheinman (violin), Doug Wieselman (woodwinds), Eyvind Kang (viola) and Kenny Wollesen (drums) -- the show’s East Coast premiere takes place on the eve of this year’s Kentucky Derby.

“This is such a great piece. People try to define it: Is it music? Is theater? What is it? And I tell them that it’s performance art - and entertainment,” says Webb. “It’s almost like vaudeville. The music is beautiful, the words are funny, the story is ridiculous - but it’s all very pointed in terms of what is happening now. Over 40 years later, what is different now? It’s still about the rich old white boys in their private boxes and the rest of the people raising a ruckus down on the field. It’s an exploration of ‘So, what’s your excuse for bad behavior?’”

Robbins and Hall play Thompson and Steadman, respectively, and Webb notes that “this piece is in great part about Hunter meeting Ralph and the beginning of their partnership.” An American madman, even if he’s a brilliant writer, meets an Old World gentleman with a penchant for drawing observant but horribly unflattering portraits -- an odd couple from the beginning but one that became a remarkable and fruitful collaboration.

Thompson’s description of their first encounter in The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved sets the tone:

“Steadman was already in the press box when I got there, a bearded young Englishman wearing a tweed coat and RAF sunglasses. There was nothing particularly odd about him. No facial veins or clumps of bristly warts. I told him about the motel woman’s description and he seemed puzzled. “Don’t let it bother you,” I said. “Just keep in mind for the next few days that we’re in Louisville, Kentucky. Not London. Not even New York. This is a weird place.

You’re lucky that mental defective at the motel didn’t jerk a pistol out of the cash register and blow a big hole in you.” I laughed, but he looked worried.

“Just pretend you’re visiting a huge outdoor loony bin,” I said. “If the inmates get out of control we’ll soak them down with Mace.”

Ralph Steadman | Photo: Phil Sharp

The Director Chloe Webb is best known for her performances in films including Sid and Nancy and The Belly of an Architect and TV series including China Beach and Shameless. But she is also a lifelong equestrian and equine therapist. For this

stage adaptation, she adds a peculiar sort of a Greek chorus, providing a mute running commentary while dressed in a horse head, jockey pants and riding boots.

“The horse goes from being a horse to becoming Hunter,” she offers. “By the end, it has Hunter’s cigarette holder and aviator glasses and ends up dancing to Bill Frisell’s incredible music with Hunter, who is totally toasted.”

The debauchery surrounding the horse race, not just among the gentry but also perpetrated by Thompson and Steadman themselves, is captured in text and images that are both laugh-out-loud funny and deeply disturbing.

“And we are not changing a single word Hunter wrote,” says Webb. “We don’t have to. We are going to let it stand as is, but I think his words are going to resonate. Two years ago this might have been it a period piece and now it’s truly contemporary. “

As in the original story, images of Steadman’s work will frame and accompany the text enacted by Robbins and Hall. This performance will also include more recent work by the artist.

“Ralph has done pictures of politicians and bigwigs over the years - and they are not particularly flattering portraits,” notes Webb with a chuckle. “We are adding some of those too, just to keep people aware of what exactly it is that we are going through right now. We’ve been here before.”

“When you read Hunter’s words and look at Ralph’s drawings they bring your attention to things that people usually have either blocked out, don’t want to see or just don’t discuss. This is social and political criticism done with great humor. You laugh - and that helps you look at things in a different way.”

TIM ROBBINS | Born October 16, 1958 in West Covina, California and raised in New York City’s Greenwich Village, Tim Robbins has a long list of notable credits as an actor, director, writer and producer of films and theater.

Key acting roles are in such films as A Perfect Day, The Secret Life of Words, Catch a Fire, Mystic River, The Player, Short Cuts, The Shawshank Redemption, The Hudsucker Proxy, War of the Worlds, Arlington Road, Code 46, Human Nature, Five Corners, Anchorman, Austin Powers, Jacob’s Ladder, Bull Durham and HBO’s The Brink.

Robbins has won numerous awards for his acting including an Academy Award, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor for Mystic River, Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival, the Golden Globe for Best Actor for The Player, and a Golden Globe as a member of the ensemble in Short Cuts. He was nominated by the Golden Globes for Best Actor for Bob Roberts and by the Screen Actors Guild for Best Actor for The Shawshank Redemption. He was most recently nominated for A Perfect Day as Best Supporting Actor at Spain’s Goya Awards in 2015 and in 2014 at the Golden Globes for his performance in HBO’s Cinema Verite.

Tim Robbins | Photo: Philippe Bialobos

As a film director, Robbins distinguished himself with Cradle Will Rock, which he also wrote and produced, winning the National Board of Review Award for Special Achievement in Filmmaking in the United States and Best Film and Best Director at the Sitges Film Festival in Barcelona. Dead Man Walking, which he directed, wrote and produced, won multiple awards including the Academy Award for Best Actress, the Humanitas Award, the Christopher Award, and four awards at the Berlin Film Festival, as well as 4 Oscar nominations including Best Director and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Screenplay.

His first film, Bob Roberts, won the Bronze Award at the Tokyo International Festival and Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor at the Boston Film Festival. In 2011, Robbins was honored to receive the Officier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the government of France.

For the past 35 years Robbins has served as Artistic Director for the Actors’ Gang, a theater company formed in 1982 that has over 80 productions and more than 100 awards to their credit. Robbins has directed many plays at the Actors’ Gang including Ubu the King, Violence, Carnage, Alagazam, Mephisto, Break the Whip, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1984, and Harlequino; On to Freedom. As a playwright, Robbins has been produced in New York, London, Paris, Shanghai, Beijing, Chicago, Los Angeles, the Spoleto Festival in Italy and at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. In 2016 his most recent play Harlequino: On to Freedom toured in Italy and China. His 2004 play, Embedded, played to sold out audiences for over four months at the Public Theater in New York before playing the Riverside Studios in London and embarking on a national tour in the U.S. Robbins directed the Actors’ Gang in their shockingly relevant and wildly successful adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984 which, for the past 10 years, has toured to over 40 states and to four continents, most recently at the 2016 Spoleto Festival in Italy. His production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream has toured for the last 5 years throughout the world including performances in South America, Europe, Asia and the United States.

In addition, Robbins’ stage adaptation of Dead Man Walking has been performed in over 170 universities nationwide.

Rights to perform the play are exclusive to educational institutions and in order to obtain the rights for the play, universities must involve two departments other than theater arts to offer courses on the death penalty. Throughout the country and the world for the past twelve years, symposiums, lectures and debates have been held in conjunction with the theatrical productions leading to a substantial increase in the dialogue and shared information surrounding this important issue.

Robbins is also very proud to sponsor educational programs with the Actors’ Gang that provide arts education to thousands of Elementary, Middle and High School students in underserved communities in the L.A. area. Since 2006 the Actors’ Gang’s groundbreaking Prison Project has provided theatrical workshops to incarcerated men and women in the California prison system. Recognized by the California Department of Corrections, the U.S. Department of Justice and the California governor and legislature, the program provides effective rehabilitation that significantly reduces recidivism rates for those that participate. In 2014 Robbins and Prison Project director Sabra Williams were instrumental in reinstating 3 million dollars into the California State budget for Arts in Corrections. U.S. Attorney Generals Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch have acknowledged and supported the Actors’ Gang work and in 2016 Sabra Williams was recognized by the White House for her work with the Prison Project.

Robbins lives in Los Angeles, and is the proud father of 3 mischievous young adults and two perfect grandchildren.

Chloe Webb | Chloe Webb received the Best Actress award from the National Society of Film Critics for her film debut as Nancy Spungen in the cult classic Sid and Nancy. The following year, she appeared in Peter Greenaway’s The Belly of an Architect, and many independent films followed, as well as the mainstream comedies Twins and Ghostbusters II. Her work onstage includes modern and classic plays, Shakespeare, The Singing Bone at Second City and the original cast of the long-running musical satire Forbidden Broadway. Two decades of spoken word and performance art include many Hal Willner projects, among them the Edgar Allan Poe show at St. Anne’s Church, a Marquis de Sade/William Burroughs/ Edgar Allan Poe reading at ISSUE Project Room, Lou Reed’s The Raven at St. Anne’s Warehouse and Let’s Eat! Feasting on the Firesign Theatre at Royce Hall. She is a member of the Los Angeles Writers and Poets Collective, anthologized in ONTHEBUS. Webb also directed the documentary Surfing Thru, which debuted at Cannes and won Best Documentary Short at the Santa Cruz Film Festival and The Other Venice Film Festival. Television endeavors include an Emmy nomination for her portrayal of USO singer Laurette Barber on the series China Beach. She was Mona Ramsey in the PBS adaptation of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City, and performed five seasons as Monica Gallagher in the hit Showtime series Shameless, for which she received a 2012 Critics Circle nomination. She is a current member of the improv comedy group Step-Panther Seven and is also an Equine Assisted Psychotherapist for vets and first responders at SaveAWarrior.org.

Brad Hall | Hall’s stage work includes the Practical Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Guthrie Theatre, St. Nicholas Theatre, Lincoln Center Theatre, Grange Court Theatre London, Huntington Hartford Theatre Los Angeles. He first met Chloe Webb at the Forum Theatre in Chicago. This summer Brad will appear at Gloucester Stage with Lindsay Crouse in Lucy Prebble’s The Effect. In Television Brad has written, performed, developed, composed music for, directed, created and/or produced many shows; among them SNL (where he met Hal Willner), Frasier, Brooklyn Bridge, The Single Guy, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Watching Ellie, Parks And Recreation and VEEP. Brad has also written, produced and performed in motion

pictures, often in happy partnership with Gary David Goldberg and Sam Weisman. Brad attended Northwestern University and is a co-founder of the Practical Theatre Company in Chicago. It was in Chicago that Brad first met Julia Louis-Dreyfus, to whom he is married, and with whom he has two sons.

Hal Willner | Hal Willner is a music producer working in recording, film, television, theater & live events. He is best known for his multi-artist concept albums, beginning with Amarcord Nino Rota: Various Interpretations from the Films of Federico Fellini (1981) and for providing Sketch Music Adaptations for Saturday Night Live almost since its inception.

Willner produced Bill Frisell’s Grammy-winning album Unspeakable, as well as albums for Marianne Faithfull, Lou Reed, Macy Gray, Terry Southern, Lucinda Williams, Laurie Anderson, William S. Burroughs and many others, as well as definitive box sets covering the recorded history of Lenny Bruce and Allen Ginsberg. Films on which Willner has served as a supervising music producer include Robert Altman’s Shortcuts and Kansas City, Wim Wenders’ Million Dollar Hotel, Gus Van Sant’s Finding Forrester, Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York, Julian Schnabel's Berlin, Adam McKay’s Talladega Nights and, most recently, Joseph Cedar's Norman and Oren Moverman's The Dinner.

In 1990, he began spearheading multi-artist concept live shows, beginning with Greetings From Tim Buckley for Arts at St. Ann’s in Brooklyn, Came So Far For Beauty: the music of Leonard Cohen and The Harry Smith Project - both of which toured and were the basis of documentaries. Other live events celebrated the work of Edgar Allan Poe, Lou Reed, Neil Young, Doc Pomus, Bill Withers, Shel Silverstein, Walt Disney, Allan Sherman and Allen Ginsberg, and interpretations of sea chanteys, at venues including London’s Barbican and Royal Festival Halls, the Sydney Opera House, the Adelaide and Luminato Festivals, the Vancouver Olympics, Lincoln Center Live and Royce Hall/UCLA. Willner has collaborated with theater director Robert Wilson on ten productions around the world, including The Old Woman, with Willem Dafoe and Mikhail Baryshnikov, The Odyssey, Lulu and Letter To A Man - once again with Baryshnikov. He has recently been appearing on stage himself, including performances of Allen Ginsberg's Kaddish and Howl with Chloe Webb, at UCLA, SFJAZZ Center, the Park Avenue Armory, the Ace Theater in downtown LA and Bill T. Jones' New York Live Arts. Willner is currently working on a multi-artist exploration of the music of Marc Bolan and completing his 37th year at Saturday Night Live.

Bill Frisell | Bill Frisell’s career as a guitarist and composer has spanned more than 40 years and many celebrated recordings, whose catalog has been cited by Downbeat as “the best recorded output of the decade”.

Frisell’s latest album for Okeh/Sony is When You Wish Upon a Star, a project that germinated at Lincoln Center during Bill’s two-year appointment as guest curator for the Roots of Americana series (September ’13 – May ’15). It features Frisell with vocalist Petra Haden, Eyvind Kang (viola), Thomas Morgan (bass) and Rudy Royston (drums) performing Frisell’s arrangements and interpretations of Music from Film and Television. Jazz Times described the project as follows: “unforgettable themes are the real draw here, reconfigured with ingenuity, wit and affection by Frisell and a terrific group.”

“Frisell has had a lot of practice putting high concept into a humble package. Long hailed as one of the most distinctive and original improvising guitarists of our time, he has also earned a reputation for teasing out thematic connections with his music... There’s a reason that Jazz at Lincoln Center had him program a series called Roots of Americana.” - New York Times Recognized as one of America’s 21 most vital and productive performing artists, Frisell was named an inaugural Doris Duke Artist in 2012. He is also a recipient of grants from United States Artists, and Meet the Composer, among others. Upon SFJAZZ opening their doors, he served as one of their Resident Artistic Directors. Bill is also the subject of a new documentary film by director Emma Franz, entitled Bill Frisell: A Portrait, which examines his creative process in depth.

Ralph Steadman | Born in 1936, Ralph Steadman started as a cartoonist and through the years diversified into many fields of creativity. He has illustrated such classics a Alice in Wonderland, Treasure Island and Animal Farm. His own books include the lives of Sigmund Freud and Leonardo da Vinci and The Big I Am, the story of God. With the writer Hunter S. Thompson he collaborated in the birth of GONZO journalism, the definitive book in the genre being Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He is also a printmaker. His prints include a series of etchings on writers from William Shakespeare to William Burroughs. In 1989, he wrote the libretto for an eco-oratorio called Plague and the Moonflower, which has been performed in five cathedrals in the UK and was the subject of a BBC film. He has traveled the world’s vineyards and distilleries for Oddbins, which culminated in his two prize-winning books, The Grapes of Ralph and Still Life With Bottle. He has an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Kent.

Curtis Fowlkes | Trombonist Curtis Fowlkes has performed on dozens of albums since the early ‘90s, maintaining a diverse career that spans jazz and rock music. In addition to co-founding the Jazz Passengers, he has been a member of the Lounge Lizards, Bill Frisell’s quartet, and the Kansas City All-Stars; the latter came together for Robert Altman’s film Kansas City and ended up with two CDs and a month-long tour. Fowlkes has performed with Cassandra Wilson and toured with Charlie Haden’s reunited Liberation Orchestra in 1996, the Ellington Orchestra led by Louie Bellson and, for the past several years, Butler/Bernstein & the Hot 9. Other collaborators include John Zorn, Marc Ribot and Andrew Hill; comedian Harry Shearer; and rock acts including Sheryl Crow, Jeb Loy Nichols and Cibo Matto. He toured with and recorded on Glen Hansard’s Grammy-nominated album, Didn’t He Ramble. Fowlkes’ debut as a leader came in 1999 with the release of Reflect on Knitting Factory Records.

Eyvind Kang | Eyvind Kang is a composer, violist and conductor who has has released many acclaimed albums on labels such as Tzadik, Ipecac, Abduction and Ideologic Organ, as well as worked on hundreds of recordings as an instrumentalist and arranger. His compositions have been played by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the Winnipeg Symphony, the Seattle Chamber Players, MG_INC Orchestra, Coro di Camera di Modena, Orchestra del Teatro Communale di Bologna, and the Israeli Contemporary Players, among other ensembles. As a violist he has been featured by a wide range of independent musicians including Bill Frisell, Laurie Anderson, John Zorn, the Sun City Girls, and Secret Chiefs. Kang has also performed solo pieces by Christian Wolff, Giacinto Scelsi, Ornette Coleman, Satyajit Ray, and Hanne Darboven. His ongoing, genredefying collaboration with composer and singer Jessika Kenney has been described as "serious, refined music" (The New York Times), taking the form of sound actions and installations, choral and orchestral works, and minimalist vocal and string arrangement, with two releases on the Ideologic Organ label (2011, 2013) curated by Stephen O'Malley. He has studied North Indian Classical music under Dr. N. Rajam, and is currently a long time student of Classical Persian music under Ostad Hossein Omoumi, with whom he has also performed and collaborated. His other principal teachers have been Julian Priester, Michael White, Jarrad Powell and Janice Giteck at Cornish College of the Arts, and Dr. Regula Qureshi at the University of Alberta. He was the recipient of the Artist Trust Arts Innovator Award in 2011.

Ron Miles | Denver-based trumpeter Ron Miles is much sought after for his unique sound and artistry by performers as diverse as Bill Frisell, Ginger Baker, Madeleine Peyroux, Don Byron, Matt Wilson, Myra Melford, Ben Goldberg, Wayne Horvitz, Fred Hess's Boulder Creative Music Ensemble, the Ellington Orchestra, and many others. His longstanding relationship with Bill Frisell began almost two decades ago and has resulted in countless collaborations, including Ron’s new trio album with Brian Blade, Quiver (2012, Enja Records) and their duo recording Heaven (2002, Sterling Circle). Ron has appeared on many of Frisell's recordings, from Quartet (1996, Nonesuch) to the 2012 CD project The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved (Paris/429 Records) and has toured with him extensively throughout the word. Ron is a music professor at the Denver Metropolitan State College.

Hank Roberts | Hank Roberts began playing the cello at a young age, and as a teenager expanded his focus on classical music to include improvisational forms. He studied with Gary Burton in Boston, and met Bill Frisell around that time, forging a friendship and musical collaboration that has lasted for 42 years. He tours and performs regularly with Bill’s 858 Quartet and newly formed group Harmony and appeared on Bill’s Grammy Award-winning CD Unspeakable. He has collaborated with a host of celebrated musicians recording 11 albums on the Winter & Winter label and many self-released CDs, featuring compositional/improvisational frameworks that stylistically span a broad range of musical expression from traditional to more experimental non-categorical musical constructions. Currently he is writing music for and regularly performing concerts with the Hank Roberts Sextet which includes Brian Drye, Dana Lyn, Mike McGinnis, Jacob Sacks and Vinnie Sperrazza. An active contributor to the New York City music community, recent projects have included performances with Tim Berne, Tony Malaby, Michael Formanek, Anna Weber, Tomas Fujiwara, Mark Helias, Matt Mitchell, Kate Gentile, Jon Irabagon, Jim Black, Gerald Cleaver, Sean Moran, Ches Smith, and Marty Ehrlich.

Jenny Scheinman | Jenny Scheinman is a violinist, fiddler, singer, and composer. She grew up on a homestead in Northern California, studied at Oberlin Conservatory, graduated with a degree in English literature from UC Berkeley, and has been performing since she was a teenager. She has worked extensively with Bill Frisell, Bruce Cockburn, Ani DiFranco, Jason Moran, Brian Blade, Madeleine Peyroux, Lucinda Williams, Nels Cline, Rodney Crowell, Robbie Fulks, and Marc Ribot. She has taken the #1 Rising Star Violinist title in the Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll and has been listed as one of their Top Ten Overall Violinists for over a decade. She has released nine albums of original music. Her most recent Here On Earth

(2017) is a tribute to American fiddle music and features all the instrumental music from her multi-media show Kannapolis: A Moving Portrait.

Doug Wieselman | Doug Wieselman (clarinet, saxophone) has worked and played with a variety of artists in different fields, including John Lurie, Antony and the Johnsons, Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, CocoRosie, Martha Wainwright, Anthony Coleman, Jerome Robbins, Hal Willner, Butch Morris and Robert Wilson. He has co-led Kamikaze Ground Crew for over 30 years, leads his trio - Trio S - with cellist Jane Scarpantoni and drummer Kenny Wollesen, and has released a solo clarinet record based on melodies he has heard from bodies of water.

Gerald Cleaver | Gerald Cleaver (drums) is a product of Detroit’s rich music tradition. Inspired by his father, drummer John Cleaver, he began playing the drums at an early age and, as a teenager, gained invaluable experience playing with Detroit jazz masters Ali Muhammad Jackson, Lamont Hamilton, Earl Van Riper and Pancho Hagood. While majoring in music education at the University of Michigan, he was awarded a Jazz Study Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to study with drummer Victor Lewis. After graduation, he began teaching in Detroit, where he worked with Rodney Whitaker, Marcus Belgrave, Donald Walden and with visiting musicians Hank Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Barry Harris, Kenny Burrell, Frank Foster, Ray Bryant, Eddie Harris, Diana Krall and Don Byron. In 1995 he accepted an appointment as Assistant Professor of Jazz Studies at the University of Michigan, and in 1998 also joined the jazz faculty at Michigan State University. He moved to New York in 2002. He has performed or recorded with Roscoe Mitchell, Matt Shipp, William Parker, Craig Taborn, Charles Gayle, Jeremy Pelt, Tomasz Stanko, Charles Lloyd and Miroslav Vitous, among others. Cleaver has released four recordings as a leader and leads the bands Black Host and Uncle June.

Rachel Fox | Rachel Fox started picking out tunes on the piano at age 3, began formal music training at age 5, entered college as a music major, but ended up at Harvard Law School, where she focused on the rights of women (in India), prisoners and low-income tenants facing eviction in gentrifying neighborhoods; she published a law review article arguing for a constitutional right to housing. After law school, she landed a job at a top entertainment law firm in Los Angeles, representing such clients as Jack Nicholson, the Rolling Stones and several major record companies. Ten years later, she was VP of Business Affairs at an independent film company in New York when she started working with her friend Hal Willner, whose projects were more interesting than any on which she had worked since law school. Fox has collaborated with Willner on many albums, live events, films and two scripted television shows. She has worked as a music supervisor and/or cleared music rights on dozens of feature films and documentaries, including Paranoid Park (Gus Van Sant), Killing Them Softly (Andrew Dominik), Casa de mi Padre (Matt Piedmont), and two films in theaters now, Norman (Joseph Cedar) and The Dinner (Oren Moverman). She is currently working on three documentaries, two features and a multi-artist album, while continuing to hone her considerable cat-herding skills.

Marc Urselli | Marc Urselli is a three-time Grammy Award-winning engineer, producer, mixer and sound designer who produces and records artists from all over the world. He also composes and mixes music for TV and film and designs sound for commercials. Born in Switzerland and raised in Italy, Urselli is based in New York City. His musical education began at age 12 and, at 17 he opened his first commercial recording facility in Italy. Since moving to New York, he has worked as the Chief House Engineer at EastSide Sound, in addition to his other work. Clients include Lou Reed, Nick Cave, John Zorn, Les Paul, Laurie Anderson, Gotye, Sting, Joss Stone, Macy Gray, The Beach Boys, Lila Downs, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Mike Patton, Keith Richards, Rufus Reid, Lionel Loueke, Buddy Guy, Richie Sambora, Johnny Rzeznick, ZZ Top, Sam Cooke, The Black Crowes, Joe Perry, Mick Hucknall, Luther Vandross, Børns, Jack DeJohnette, Esperanza Spalding, John Patitucci, Joan Jett, Blixa Bargeld (Einsturzende Neubauten), Lucinda Williams, Beth Orton, Todd Rundgren, Donald Fagen, Charlotte Gainsbourg, King Khan, David Johansen, Paola Prestini, The Orwells and Devendra Banhart, among others. He also runs a food blog for touring musicians and is an entrepreneur who wears many hats.

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Pamela and Richard Rubinstein Foundation Rudin Foundation Shubert Foundation The Shubert Organization, Inc. John Ben Snow Memorial Trust Theatre Refreshments Ticketmaster Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund Joyce and George Wein Foundation, Inc. Wenner Foundation West New York Restoration Project Zegar Family Foundation Susan Zohn John Ben Snow Memorial Trust Theatre Refreshments Ticketmaster Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund Joyce and George Wein Foundation, Inc. Wenner Foundation West New York Restoration Project Zegar Family Foundation Susan Zohn

Town Hall has played an integral part in the electrifying cultural fabric of New York City for more than 90 years. A group of Suffragists’ fight for the 19th Amendment led them to build a meeting space to educate people on the important issues of the day. During its construction, the 19th Amendment was passed, and on January 12, 1921 The Town Hall opened its doors and took on a double meaning: as a symbol of the victory sought by its founders, and as a spark for a new, more optimistic climate. In 1921, German composer Richard Strauss performed a series of concerts that cemented the Hall’s reputation as an ideal venue for musical performances. Since, Town Hall has been home to countless musical milestones: The US debuts of Strauss, and Isaac Stern; Marian Anderson’s first New York recital; in 1945, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker introduced bebop to the world; Bob Dylan’s first major concert in ‘63; and much much more.

Learn more. Visit thetownhall.org/tours

THE TOWN HALL FOUNDATION The Town Hall’s mission is to provide affordable world-class entertainment by new and established artists to a diverse audience; to inspire the youth of our community to appreciate and participate in the arts at The Town Hall and in schools through our Educational Outreach Program; and to preserve and enhance The Town Hall as a historic landmark venue for the enjoyment and cultural enrichment of generations to come.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES President Tom M. Wirtshafter

Treasurer Andrew T. Miltenberg

Vice President Alfred H. Horowitz

Secretary Phyllis Putter Barasch

Vice President Bruce S. Leffler Trustees Phyllis Putter Barasch Robert E. Evanson Anne Frank-Shapiro Alfred H. Horowitz Henry Johansson Ted Lambert Bruce S. Leffler Marvin Leffler Walter Melvin Andrew T. Miltenberg Honorable Milton Mollen Rita Robbins Nevin Steinberg Tom Wirtshafter Susan Zohn LIFE TRUSTEES Leona Chanin Eugene J.T. Flanagan Claire G. Miller Robert F. Wright

President Emeritus Marvin Leffler Advisory Council Kathleen Rosenberg, Chair Nancy Berman Shauna Denkensohn Sandy Horowitz Fern Hurst Elizabeth Iannizzi Claire Miller Zita Rosenthal Rhoda Rothkopf Arts in Education Advisory Council Dr. Charlotte K. Frank, Chair Michael Fram Dr. Sharon Dunn Gary Hecht Ernest Logan Dr. Lisa Mars Dr. Eloise Messineo Dr. Pola Rosen Leona Shapiro Manuel Urena George Young

THE TOWN HALL STAFF Executive Director Lawrence C. Zucker

Administrative Assistant Sara Minisquero

Artistic Director M.A. Papper

Administrative Assistant Britni Montalbano

Director of Administration, Subscriptions & Membership Helen Morris Director of Development Jacqueline Maddox Arts Education Program Director Emma Klauber Digital Media Manager Maya Shanker

Chief Engineer Steve Franqui

WARNING

The photographing or sound recording of any performance or the possession of any device for such photographing or sound recording inside the theatre without the written permission of the management is prohibited by law. Violators may be punished by ejection and violations may render the offender liable for monetary damages.

FIRE NOTICE

The exit indicated by a red light and sign nearest to the seat you occupy is the shortest route to the street. In the event of fire or other emergency please do not run, WALK TO THAT EXIT. Thoughtless persons annoy patrons and endanger the safety of others by lighting matches or smoking in prohibited areas during the performances and intermissions. This violates a city ordinance and is punishable by law.

-FIRE COMMISSIONER

DIRECTORY OF THEATRE SERVICES ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES: 212.997.1003

Mon-Fri 9:30 am to 5 pm, for rental & membership info

BOX OFFICE: 212.840.2824 Mon-Sat 12 noon to 6pm. 24/7 Recording TICKETMASTER: 800.982.2787

to charge tickets by phone.online Ticketmaster.com

LOST AND FOUND: 212.997.0113 CELL PHONE POLICY

Cell phones should be silenced prior to the performance as a courtesy to the performers and audience.

Lobby Refreshment by Theatre Refreshment Company of NY

Box Office Manager Angel Rodriguez House Manager Richard Looney Technical Director Bill Dehling Designer Leia-lee Doran

123 W 43RD ST NYC | THETOWNHALL.ORG