2019 The Belle of Amherst Playbill

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ABOUT US

LEADERSHIP

John Dias Artistic Director

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Michael Hurst Managing Director

Robert M. Rechnitz Executive Producer Joan H. Rechnitz Associate Producer

BOARD OF TRUSTEES Todd Herman President Anne Luzzatto Vice President Hon. Edward J. McKenna, Jr. Treasurer Susan Olson Secretary Stephen Becker Marilyn Broege Amanda Butterbaugh Robert Butters Carolyn Cushman DeSena Kathleen Ellis Gale Grossman Caroline Huber Mary Jane Kroon Nyire Melconian Adam Rechnitz Joan H. Rechnitz Robert M. Rechnitz Geoffrey Sadwith Maureen Silliman Mary Carol Stunkel Webster Trammell Richard B. Worley Howard P. Aronson William Marracini Kathryne Singleton Emeritus Board Members

Clockwise from left to right: Crystal A. Dickinson, Owen Tabaka, Brenda Pressley in A Raisin in the Sun. Photo by T. Charles Erickson

ARTIST ADVISORY BOARD May Adrales Barbara Andres Brandon J. Dirden Joel Grey Lisa Kron Martin Moran Brenda Pressley Ruben Santiago-Hudson Tanya Saracho Maureen Silliman Leigh Silverman Jennifer Tipton

Two River Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director John Dias and Managing Director Michael Hurst, develops and produces great American theater. Through 8 theatrical productions each year (including world premieres, musicals, classics and theater for families) and 40+ annual events happening around Monmouth County, we produce exceptional theater and cultivate engaged audiences. Two River celebrates and honors our core values of Artistic Excellence; Education and Community Engagement; Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion; and Operational Excellence.

Founded by Joan and Robert Rechnitz in 1994, Two River is recognized in the national theater community for its newplay commissioning program, which creates a pipeline for developing work that contributes to the vitality and future of the American theater. Each season, the theater hosts numerous artist residencies, workshops and readings, and presents an annual Cabaret of New Songs for the Musical Theater in association with NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing program.

The Crossing Borders (Cruzando Fronteras) festival and Nosotros program foster a closer relationship between the theater and Latino artists and audiences. Two River cultivates a new generation of theatergoers through innovative arts education programs that introduce young people to the theater and create opportunities for them to engage with renowned theater artists. For more information, visit tworivertheater.org or call 732.345.1400.

5 Title Page 7 Patron Services 9 A Note from the Managing Director, Michael Hurst 11 Cast of Characters 12 Bios 16 An Interview with Maureen Silliman 19 Leadership Bios 21 Two River 25th Anniversary: A Family of Artists 23 25th Anniversary Gala 24 Searching for Emily 27 Construction Update: Center for New Work, Education and Design 30 Coming Soon: Oo-Bla-Dee 31 Free Upcoming Inside Two River Events 35 Education Spotlight: TheaterWorks 37 Sponsor Spotlight: The Springpoint Foundation 38 Individual Donors 41 Meet our Staff and Volunteers 43 Institutional Support 46 Scene at Two River and Beyond

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4 HMIHM-Chronic-10x12.75-TRTimes-18.indd 1

3/22/18 4:01 PM

John Dias Artistic Director

THE BELLE OF AMHERST

Michael Hurst Managing Director Robert M. Rechnitz Executive Producer Joan H. Rechnitz Associate Producer

With

Maureen Silliman

SCENIC DESIGNER.................................................................Harry Feiner COSTUME DESIGNER.........................................................Andrea Hood LIGHTING DESIGNER..........................................................Andrew F. Griffin SOUND DESIGNER.................................................................Charles Coes & Nathan A. Roberts WIG DESIGNER...........................................................................Cookie Jordan PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER ......................... Larry Copeland

Directed by Robert Rechnitz

OPENING NIGHT: APRIL 18, 2019 JOAN AND ROBERT RECHNITZ THEATER

The Belle of Amherst is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York.

LEAD SPONSOR:

PRODUCTION SPONSOR:

PRODUCTION CO-SPONSOR:

SEASON SPONSOR:

Two River Theater is supported in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

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PATRON SERVICES

ACCESS

Thank you for joining us at this performance.

Two River Theater is dedicated to making your experience the best that it can possibly be. Please note the following offerings and requests to better enhance your time at the theater:

BEFORE PLAY

VIRTUAL TOUR & ACCESS

Join us 45 minutes prior to every performance in the Two River lobby for a pre-performance talk, which will give you valuable insight into the play you are about to see. Talks last 10-15 minutes and are led by a member of the company or Two River’s Artistic Department.

Two River Theater is committed to making theater accessible to all. If you would like to view our space in detail, in advance of your visit, a virtual tour is available on our website, tworivertheater.org

POST-PLAY DISCUSSIONS Post-play discussions are scheduled following select performances of every subscription series production.

During these discussions, audiences are invited to share their questions and responses to the work on stage with members of the cast and staff of the theater. Post-play discussion dates for the current season can be found in our season brochure or on our website.

INSIDE TWO RIVER EVENTS A series of mostly FREE arts & humanities events specially curated for each of our productions. Events include film screenings, book club, poetry readings, crafting nights, lectures, social events with our artists & more! To make sure you are first to hear about these events sign up for our email list, follow us on Facebook, and stay tuned to our website!

BOX OFFICE Box Office Hours: Monday through Saturday 10am-6pm, Sunday from 12-5pm and starting one hour prior to all performances.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Offered at one 1PM Wednesday matinee performance of all subscription series productions* The Belle of Amherst Wednesday, April 24 at 1PM Oo-Bla-Dee Wednesday, June 26 at 1PM OPEN CAPTIONING: Offered at one 3PM Saturday matinee performance of all subscription series productions* The Belle of Amherst Saturday, May 4 at 3PM Oo-Bla-Dee Saturday, June 29 at 3PM *Dates may vary. Please confirm on tworivertheater.org or by calling 732.345.1400.

CONCESSIONS Coffee, tea, water, soda, candy, and snacks are available at the concessions stand in the lobby. Only water will be permitted into the theater during performances.

ACCESS DATES Access programs made possible through support from New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

COURTESY Please limit food and drink, taking photographs and cell phone usage to our lobby or outside the theater. Late seating will occur at the discretion of Management.

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monmouth.edu

Monmouth University proudly supports Two River Theater

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A NOTE FROM THE

MANAGING DIRECTOR MICHAEL HURST Dear Friends, Welcome to this performance of The Belle of Amherst! As we celebrate our 25th Anniversary Season, we are delighted to bring our audiences William Luce’s much-loved play, directed by our founder Robert Rechnitz, and starring Maureen Silliman as the great American poet Emily Dickinson. In this milestone anniversary year, The Belle of Amherst embodies our mission to produce “new works and world masterpieces that most richly direct our gaze to the life of the human spirit.”

Those of you who regularly attend productions at Two River Theater know that, each season, I use this space to take our audiences behind the scenes of our work. Last year, I was pleased to announce our Center for New Work, Education and Design, an addition to our existing theater that will support our ambitious activities and operational needs. Here at the theater, we have been watching the building being constructed with great excitement, knowing that we are contributing to the growth of our theater—and the vibrancy of Red Bank and its surrounding communities.

The Center for New Work, Education and Design will be a three-floor addition with a footprint of 13,600 square feet and a total area of 36,000 sf. It will include two rehearsal spaces; scenery, props and costume shops; offices; and multiple storage areas. We anticipate that the new building will be complete in mid-August, before the beginning of next year’s season, with partial parking back in July and full parking restored in early fall. On behalf of everyone at the theater, we thank you for your patience over the past season; we know how important accessible parking is to our audiences. We feel confident in assuring you that the opportunities the new building will provide—including the audience engagement activities and community events that most directly impact you—will be worth the temporary inconvenience. (See page 27 for a construction update) As we have watched the Center literally take shape, the 2018/19 Season has been momentous for us in many ways. We are proud that Two River is receiving national recognition and fostering ambitious plays and musicals that are receiving acclaim in New York and becoming part of the national theater canon, including two works that we commissioned, developed and premiered here in Red Bank, for our audience: Hurricane Diane by Playwright-in-Residence Madeleine George (produced in the 2016/17 Season), and the worldwide sensation Be More Chill by Joe Iconis and Joe Tracz (produced in the 2014/15 Season). Earlier this year, Hurricane Diane enjoyed an acclaimed, extended run Off-Broadway in New York in a co-production between New York Theatre Workshop and WP Theater, and was called as “astonishing new play” by The New York Times. Be More Chill—our first Broadway production—opened in March, and we are proud that the Wall Street Journal raved that it is “one of the strongest new musicals of the past decade.”

From Two River’s humble beginnings 25 years ago, the theater’s goals were clear: to produce exceptional professional theater, and to inspire young people and life-long learners as a center for education. In addition to 8+ productions each season, we produce 40+ events that reflect our diverse community of Red Bank. Each year, we serve thousands of students and community members through arts and humanities programs at the theater, in schools, and throughout our region.

On May 18, we will celebrate our history with an anniversary Gala honoring our founders, Joan and Robert Rechnitz. The evening’s Honorary Chairs are Dorothea and Jon Bon Jovi (JBJ Soul Kitchen). “Joan and Bob are an amazing couple and their commitment to the arts is inspiring,” they said, when we asked them to be part of our event. “We also cherish our partnership with Two River Theater and are happy to join in the celebration of such an important part of our community.”

Our community includes you, our audiences. We thank you for being here, and we hope you will join us for the next 25 years!

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CAST OF CHARACTERS

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TIME 1845-1886 The Belle of Amherst will be performed with one intermission

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PRODUCTION CREDITS Assistant to the Director: Brian Eckert A S S OC IAT ES ,

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Award-Winning Award-Winning Full Color Full Color Printing, Printing, Digital Printing, Digital Printing, Design, Binding, Design, Binding, Distribution and Distribution and

The Actors and Stage Manager employed in this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

Promotion Promotion Direct to Direct to Plate Plate Technology Technology Utilizing Macintosh Utilizing Macintosh

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The Designers at this Theatre are Represented by

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The scenic, costume, lighting, and sound designers in LORT theatres are represented by United Scenic Artists, Local USA-829 of the IATSE

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Two River Theater Company is a member of the League of Resident Theaters (LORT), Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the New Jersey Theatre Alliance, and ArtPride New Jersey.

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Maureen Silliman (Emily Dickinson) first performed at the Two River Theater in 1998 when she was cast in The Real Thing, and went on to appear in The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, and Our Town. Also at Two River, she appeared as Sonya in Uncle Vanya and Amanda in The Glass Menagerie under the direction of Robert Rechnitz, as well as in the world premiere of his play, Lives of Reason. On Broadway, Ms. Silliman played Jenny in Shenandoah; Liv Ullman’s daughter, Katrin in I Remember Mama; and in Is There Life After High School?. She appeared in the National Tours of The Gingerbread Lady, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds starring Shelley Winters (New Jersey Drama Critics Award), and opposite Theodore Bikel in Fiddler on the Roof. Off-Broadway, her credits include Reckless, Marathon Dancing (Anne Bogart, director), The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Andrei Serban, director), Three Postcards, Voice of the Prairie, and Blue Window (also in Los Angeles—L.A. Drama Critics and Dramalogue Awards). Also in New Jersey, Maureen appeared at Paper Mill Playhouse as Rachel in Rags, and at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey in I Capture the Castle and To Kill a Mockingbird. She was in the prize-winning Angels and Ministers of Grace at New Jersey Rep in Long Branch. Other regional theater credits include: Trina in Falsettos (Pittsburgh Public), Jenny in Company (Huntington), Mabel in Pride’s Crossing (Theaterworks), Stevie in The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia? (Southern Rep), Mattie in Pure Confidence (Cincinnati Playhouse— Acclaim Award), Birdie in Little Foxes (Fulton Opera House), The Heidi Chronicles (Cleveland Play House), Gutele in The Rothschilds and Sarah in No Way to Treat a Lady (Coconut Grove), Zhivago (La Jolla), Loves and Hours (Old Globe), and at the Gulfshore Playhouse, Sonya in Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike, Mrs. Pearce in My Fair Lady and, most recently, in the world premiere of Miss Keller Has No Second Book. She appeared on television in Blue Window (PBS); Law & Order; Feds; 6 Rms Riv Vu; Dixie: Changing Habits; and Sanctuary of Fear, and played Pam Chandler for two years on Guiding Light. Also a singer, Ms. Silliman won a MAC Award for the CD Pictures in the Hall. Maureen is thrilled to be a part of Two River Theater’s 25th Anniversary season, and is especially happy to be working once again with director Robert Rechnitz, the founder of Two River Theater.

William Luce (Playwright) William Luce’s My Business Is to Love starred American soprano Renée Fleming, with Julie Harris and Claire Bloom. Its joint New York/ London world premiere at Lincoln Center and Barbican Centre was directed by Charles Nelson Reilly. Luce’s play Nijinsky premiered at Parco Theatre in Tokyo and was directed by John Tillinger. Luce’s Broadway hit Barrymore starred Christopher Plummer as John Barrymore and was directed by Gene Saks. Plummer won the Tony Award for Best Actor. Actress Judy Davis directed the Sydney Opera House production, starring Australian actor Barry Otto. Baptiste, Luce’s comedy on Molière, premiered at Hartford Stage, direction by David Warren. Luce wrote his

Broadway and London success The Belle of Amherst for Harris, who won her fifth Tony Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Emily Dickinson, with Reilly directing. The record album received a Grammy Award. IBM’s production of Belle won three Christopher Awards. Thames Television’s production of Belle, starring Claire Bloom with direction by Adrian Brown, won the International Emmy Award. For her portrayal of Isak Dinesen in Luce’s play Lucifer’s Child (directed by Tony Abatemarco), Harris received a Tony nomination. Harris also starred in Luce’s Brontë for WGBH (Elinor Stout directing) and Irish Television (Delbert Mann directing), garnering the Peabody Award and Columbia University’s Armstrong Award. Luce’s play Bravo, Caruso! celebrated the Cleveland Play House’s 75th anniversary and was directed by Peter Mark Schifter. It starred Joseph Mascolo and Joseph Sicari. Luce’s Chanel premiered at Parco Theatre in Tokyo, direction by Philip Wm. McKinley. Luce’s Off-Broadway The Divine Orlando featured The Western Wind Vocal Ensemble, direction by Paul Lazarus. Luce’s Sound Portrait of William Shakespeare for NPR starred David Warner, David Dukes, Peter Donat, Arthur Hill, Julie Harris, Joan Hackett and Marian Mercer, with direction by Charles Marowitz for Paper Mill Playhouse. Luce wrote the libretto for the musical Sayonara, choreography by Susan Stroman, direction by Robert Johanson, lyrics by Hy Gilbert, music by George Fischoff. A later production by Theatre Under the Stars featured choreography

by Tony Stevens and direction by McKinley. With composer Henry Mollicone, Luce wrote A Rat’s Tale for narrator, orchestra and children’s chorus. He was also a Writers Guild Award nominee for his two CBS movies: The Last Days of Patton, starring George C. Scott and Eva Marie Saint, direction by Delbert Mann, and The Woman He Loved, starring Jane Seymour, Anthony Andrews, Olivia de Havilland, and Julie Harris, direction by Charles Jarrott. Luce lives on the Oregon Coast.

Robert Rechnitz (Director, Executive Producer) founded Two River Theater in 1994 and serves as the theater’s Executive Producer.

In 2015/16, Two River premiered his play Lives of Reason, which he co-wrote with Kenneth Stunkel. An educator, writer, and director, he is one of New Jersey’s most esteemed theater leaders. Together with his wife, Joan, he established Two River Theater in 1994—a time when Monmouth County was the last major populated part of New Jersey without a professional regional theater.

After producing seasons at Monmouth University and the Algonquin Theater in Manasquan, Two River opened a state-of-the-art, two-theater complex in Red Bank, designed by the renowned architectural firm Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates, as the theater’s permanent home. He directed the opening production in the new building, the classic American comedy You Can’t Take It with You, in 2005. The other notable productions he has directed at Two River include Curse of the Starving Class (for which he received The Star-Ledger’s nomination for Best Director of a Comedy), True West, A View from the Bridge, The Glass Menagerie, Thieves’ Carnival, Uncle Vanya, American Buffalo, and Barefoot in the Park. He received his Bachelor’s degree in theater arts at Northwestern University and his Master’s degree at Columbia. He earned his PhD from the University of Colorado and was a Professor of American Literature at Monmouth University for 35 years, contributing scholarly articles and short stories to various academic journals. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, honors, commendations, and accolades.

Harry Feiner (Scenic Designer) is a set and lighting designer for theater, opera and dance who is returning to Two River for his 11th production. His work includes many Off-Broadway productions, as well as LORT and regional productions, including designs for the Mint Theater Company, Peccadillo Theater Company, Cherry Lane Theatre, Pearl Theatre, The Directors Company, Missouri Rep, Virginia Stage, A Red Orchid Theatre, Ensemble Theatre, People’s Light, Olney Theatre, Studio Arena, Pittsburgh Public, McCarter, Capital Rep, Delaware Theatre Company, Geva, Premier Stages, George Street, Syracuse Stage, Theatre Virginia, Philadelphia Drama Guild, Pennsylvania Stage Company, New Jersey Rep and The Actors Studio. He has designed for Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and North Carolina Shakespeare Festival. Dance designs include Rioult Dance, Germaul Barnes’ Viewsic Dance and North Carolina Dance Theatre. He has designed opera for Central City Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Lake George Opera, Florida State Opera, Pennsylvania Opera Theatre, Syracuse Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh, Fort Worth Opera, Orchestra of St. Luke’s and Manhattan School of Music. Exhibitions include several Prague Quadrennials including the upcoming PQ 2019, The World Stage Design Exhibition and USITT Design Exhibitions. Mr. Feiner has received grants from the Graham and Tobin Foundations and awards include nominations and awards received in Boston, Connecticut and Santa Barbara, and company commendations with the Pearl Theatre Company (Drama Desk and Obies). He also received a CUNY Chancellor’s Honoree for Excellence award. He teaches at Queens College, CUNY. Andrea Hood (Costume Designer) returns to Two River, where she previously designed The Lion in Winter. New York OffBroadway: Twelfth Night, As You Like It, Romeo & Juliet (The Public Theater/Shakespeare in the Park); Love and Information (New York Theatre Workshop, Lortel nomination); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Othello, The Comedy of Errors (Classic Stage Company).

Regional: Huntington Theatre Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Maltz Jupiter Theatre, PlayMakers Rep, American Players Theatre, Chautauqua Theater Company, Great Lakes Theater, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Lake Tahoe Shakespeare. Upcoming: Tommy (Kennedy Center); Hercules (The Public Theater by special arrangement with Disney Theatrical Productions). www. andreahooddesign.com Andrew F. Griffin (Lighting Designer) returns to Two River Theater where he previously designed the Little Shakespeare production of A Comedy of Errors. Recent credits include: Sweat at Asolo Rep, Nell Gwynn at the Folger Theatre, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder and A Christmas Carol at Le Petit Theatre. Regional credits also include: Yale Rep, Delaware Theatre Company, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre. He is currently the Associate Lighting Designer for A Thousand Splendid Suns, which premiered at American Conservatory Theater and has traveled to The Old Globe, Seattle Rep, Theatre Calgary, and The Grand in Canada. Andrew has two Helen Hayes Awards (DC) and a Big Easy Award (New Orleans). He is a member of USA 829, and graduated from Yale School of Drama. AFGlighting.com 13

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Charles Coes (Sound Designer) is happy to be returning to Two River where he and Nathan have designed The Electric Baby, On Borrowed Time and Third. Off-Broadway: Tales of the Washer King (Playwrights Realm), Servant of Two Masters (TFANA), Robber Bridegroom (Roundabout), For Peter Pan… (Playwrights Horizons), Natural Shocks (WP Theater), Macbeth and Julius Caesar (Acting Company). Regional: OSF, Milwaukee Rep, Yale Rep, Seattle Rep, Baltimore Center Stage, South Coast Rep, The Old Globe, Guthrie, Shakespeare Theatre Company, ArtsEmerson, Wilma Theater, Berkeley Rep, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Ford’s Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, the Huntington. He has also designed Puppet UP! at the Venetian in Las Vegas; robotic and aquatic spectaculars for Royal Caribbean; and collaborated on installations with artists Ann Hamilton, Abelardo Morell, and Luis Roldan. He teaches at the Yale School of Drama and has worked as an associate on many Broadway shows including Peter and the Starcatcher (Tony Awardwinning Sound Design), The Great Comet of 1812 and To Kill a Mockingbird.

Nathan A. Roberts (Sound Designer) is happy to be returning to Two River, where he and Charles have designed The Electric Baby, On Borrowed Time and Third. Off-Broadway—WP Theater: Natural Shocks; TFANA: The Servant of Two Masters; The Acting Company: Julius Caesar, Macbeth; The Playwrights Realm: Crane Story, Dramatis Personae; HERE: Olives and Blood. Regional—Oregon Shakespeare Festival: The Way the Mountain Moved, Sense and Sensibility; Baltimore Center Stage: Fun Home, The Christians, Les Liaisons Dangereuses; Dallas Theater Center/Guthrie Theater: Sense and Sensibility; The Old Globe: Tokyo Fish Story; Ford’s Theatre: The Widow Lincoln, Our Town; Yale Rep: Assassins, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, The Servant of Two Masters; Hartford Stage: Twelfth Night, The Tempest; Long Wharf Theatre: It’s a Wonderful Life. Other— designs and builds musical instruments, with a special emphasis on flutes and hurdy-gurdies. Education—MFA, Yale School of Drama. Teaching—Director of Undergraduate Studies, Theater Studies, Yale University.

Cookie Jordan (Wig Designer) previously designed wigs for Dancing at Lughnasa, Pericles and Absurd Person Singular at Two River Theater. Broadway: Once On This Island, Sunday in the Park with George, In Transit, Eclipsed, Side Show, After Midnight, Fela, A View from the Bridge. Off-Broadway: In the Blood, The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World (Signature Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare in the Park). Tours: Fela (National Tour), Fela (European Tour), Dirty Dancing. Television: Emmy nominated for makeup design for NBC’s The Wiz Live.

Larry Copeland (Production Stage Manager) is very happy to return to Two River Theater where he previously stage managed Lives of Reason and Henry V. Broadway: Leap of Faith. OffBroadway: Exit Strategy. In Canada: The Lion King, I Am My Own Wife, Evangeline, Anne of Green Gables, two years of touring with Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia through the US, Canada and China. Larry would like to thank Sue, Sybil and CC for all their love and support.

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O

An Interview with

MAUREEN SILLIMAN Maureen Silliman first performed at the Two River Theater in 1998 when she was cast in The Real Thing; The Belle of Amherst—which she discussed during rehearsals—is her eighth Two River production.

During rehearsals, Maureen was photographed

by Yurik L. Lozano at the Murry & Leonie Guggenheim Memorial Library at Monmouth University. Here are some of the photos from that shoot.

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I’ve worked as an actor with all the artistic directors of this theater, including Bob Rechnitz, Jonathan Fox and Aaron Posner. That’s been a really great experience for me and has really connected me to this theater. Two River has changed with whoever is running the theater, but it has always done remarkable work.

You’ve worked closely with Two River’s founder, Robert Rechnitz, appearing as Sonya in Uncle Vanya and Amanda in The Glass Menagerie under his direction, as well as in the world premiere of his play, Lives of Reason. What makes him special?

I met Bob Rechnitz 20 years ago last August when I auditioned for a play at Two River, The Real Thing. He wasn’t directing the play but he was at the audition, and then I spoke with him on opening night. I instantly recognized a person who loved the theater more than anyone I had ever met before— and I work in a world where people love the theater! I just looked forward to every conversation I had with him, and when he asked me to do Uncle Vanya and then, later, The Glass Menagerie with him, I looked forward to being in the room with him and making theater with him.

Bob has always retained a genuine excitement for what we do. His belief that theater is important to the world, and to this community—look what he’s done here with this gift to the community of incredible theater. And it’s still growing! I will always love him for that. He and Joan are the most gracious of people. They are kind and generous, but they are feisty too, and they will tell you what they think. And it’s always fun to be around them. I thank him for his gift to the theater, and his gift of friendship and belief in me.

I think every actor likes to think that they have a “home theater,” and I’ve always felt that about Two River. I walk into this theater and I know people, and they know me; we have a history together. As we know, having a history is like having family.

Tell us about playing Emily Dickinson, and how you are making her your own.

When I first read the play, I was struck by the side of it that is historical and academic: the story of a poet who, at a certain point in her life, stopped living out in the world and lived only in her own world, with her poetry. As I started to work on the play, I saw her as much more of a human being. Our Emily is very much a human being, who falls in love, who experiences loss, who dreams of the future. Audiences will see a girl, a woman, who is not so far from themselves, but with a gift of putting her feelings—indeed all our feelings— into such beautiful words.

I think that Emily has kind of invited people in to say, I want someone to know me and my work. At the same time, she’s not used to having people over for tea. (laughter) So it takes her the course of the play to gradually trust the audience, and I can tell them more and more because they seem to understand, and they seem to enjoy and forgive my eccentricities—because don’t we all have them? As you get older, you can feel yourself becoming the person that you are, and stop apologizing for it. This is who I am. This is what I bring to the world. That’s what I’m interested in showing. She was an extraordinary person, and like people I know in the theater, she had a passion and a love for something other than just her family. She had a love for work, for her poetry. Her poetry was her passion.

D

What has meant the most to you about your relationship with the theater over the past 20 years?

Have you ever performed a solo show before? What excites you about doing this one?

Oh. God. No. (laughter) Fifteen or twenty years ago, someone talked to me about doing The Belle of Amherst, and I didn’t do it. Before that, I had done three plays by Craig Lucas— Reckless, Blue Window and Three Postcards—that were all directed

by Norman Rene, who was a brilliant magician of a director. We were all out a bar one night and Craig said, ‘Norman and I want to put together a one-woman show for you.’ And I said, but who will I talk to in the dressing room? For me, theater is so much about collaboration, and it’s so much about everyone working together and caring about one goal. It’s such a magical experience. I’ve worked for a long time, decades, and there have been times I’ve thought maybe I would do something else. What keeps me in is the feeling of being in the room with people who are just so excited and gifted and wonderful.

As an actor, I’ve gone through periods of my career where I did all musicals, and people think, ‘Oh, she’s just a musicals person.’ And then I’ve done plays, and they say, ‘Oh, she can’t do musicals, she does straight plays.’ You just keep marching along in this business. When you start out, you often think, “this is the kind of theater I want to do.’ I think it’s really exciting when this door doesn’t open for you but this one does—so go down that road. It’s exciting. It’s an adventure. n

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LEADERSHIP BIOS

JOH N DIAS (ARTISTIC DIRECTOR) assumed his position as Artistic Director of Two River Theater in August 2010 after working as a producer and dramaturg in New York for 20 years. In partnership with Managing Director Michael Hurst he has brought new vitality to the 25-year-old Red Bank theater, including producing subscription shows on two stages for the first time; launching the theater’s first literary department and commissioning program for new plays; presenting annual events such as a musical theater cabaret in collaboration with New York University’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program and the Crossing Borders festival of Latino plays; and developing numerous arts-education initiatives for young people including A Little Shakespeare, an annual production of one of Shakespeare’s plays performed by highschool students. He is the co-author and was the director of Two River’s musical The Ballad of Little Jo, which he wrote with composer Mike Reid and lyricist Sarah Schlesinger. Throughout his career, John has been a leading advocate for bold new American plays and stimulating productions of the classics, including the Broadway productions of Lisa Kron’s Well and Shakespeare’s The Tempest. For 12 seasons, he worked in a variety of capacities at The Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival, including Associate Producer and Associate Artistic Director. Previously, John was dramaturg at Hartford Stage Company. He also co-founded and led Affinity Company Theater, a production company dedicated to bringing daring new works from around the world to New York, and The Playwrights Realm, an off-Broadway company that produces new plays by emerging artists. He has been a Tony Award nominator, a consultant for the National Endowment for the Arts and numerous other organizations, and he has taught at New York University and Yale University. John currently teaches in the graduate school at Columbia University. He received his BA from George Washington University and his MFA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

MICHAEL HUR ST (MANAGING DIRECTOR) has been the Managing Director of Two River Theater since 2011. During his tenure, Two River has embarked on a new Strategic Plan; began producing subscription shows on two stages for the first time; and launched the theater’s first commissioning program for original plays, as well as numerous new community and education programs. Under his joint leadership with Artistic Director John Dias, Two River has experienced ambitious growth and enjoyed new recognition in the national theater community. Prior experience includes 16 years at The Public Theater, including four years as General Manager and six as Managing Director, overseeing budgets that ranged from $16 to $20 million. Michael was responsible for all financial aspects of the productions at The Public Theater and Central Park’s Delacorte Theater. During his tenure at The Public, he oversaw the Broadway transfers of many productions, including Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama; Take Me Out, winner of the Tony Award for Best Play; and Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori’s Caroline, or Change. Michael was also part of all strategic planning including the opening of Joe’s Pub, now considered one of the country’s best small venues for music and performance. Prior to coming to Two River, Michael was Chief Operating Officer of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, which presents the New York Film Festival. At the Film Society, he oversaw the building of a new three-theater, $40-million facility that opened in June 2011, and he managed the organizational growth necessary to support the facility. Michael served as Vice President for The Off-Broadway League and was a member of The Broadway League for 14 years. He is a graduate of Rutgers University and currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the New Jersey Theatre Alliance and on the Advisory Board for the Indie Street Film Festival.

ROBERT M. RECH NITZ (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) founded Two River Theater in 1994 and serves as the theater’s Executive Producer. In 2015/16, Two River premiered his play (written with Kenneth Stunkel), Lives of Reason. An educator, writer, and director, he is one of New Jersey’s most esteemed theater leaders. He earned his PhD from the University of Colorado and was a Professor of American Literature at Monmouth University for 35 years, contributing scholarly articles and short stories to various academic journals. As Two River’s Executive Producer, he oversaw the theater’s move from Monmouth University in West Long Branch to the Algonquin Arts in Manasquan. While the company was in residence in Manasquan, he planned for and oversaw the building of Two River’s state-of-the-art, twotheater complex in Red Bank as its permanent home. He directed the opening production in the new building, the classic American comedy You Can’t Take It with You, in 2005. Among the other notable productions he has directed at Two River are Curse of the Starving Class (for which he received a nomination for Best Director of a Comedy from The Star-Ledger), True West, A View from the Bridge, The Glass Menagerie, Thieves’ Carnival, Uncle Vanya, American Buffalo, and Barefoot in the Park. Bob is an active member of a number of organizations benefiting our Monmouth County, including serving as a Board member for several local nonprofits. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, honors, commendations, and accolades.

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19

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20

TWO RIVER 25TH ANNIVERSARY:

A FAMILY OF ARTISTS

Both Bob and Jonathan worked frequently with Harry Feiner, who is returning to Two River for his 11th production as a scenic (and occasionally lighting) designer. Harry’s first play here was Thieves’ Carnival in our fifth season, 1998/99; his other designs include shows as varied as Blood Wedding in 1999/2000, American Buffalo in 2001/01 and Waiting for Godot in 2005/06.

Maureen Silliman as Maureen and Jennifer Sternberg as Mag in The Beauty Queen of Leenane by Martin McDonagh, produced at the Algonquin Theatre in the 2004/05 Season. The production was directed by Jonathan Fox, with scenic design by Harry Feiner.

A

t Two River, we make a home for actors, writers, directors, and designers— the beloved members of our ever-expanding “family” of artists who have returned to Two River for multiple productions.

At the center of the family, of course, are our founders—Joan and Robert Rechnitz, who had the dream to create a world-class professional theater in Monmouth County 25 years ago. As Artistic Director John Dias often says, they are “the mother and father of us all.” Bob’s many directorial credits here include Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya in 1999/2000; the opening production in our permanent Red Bank home, You Can’t Take It With You by George S. Kaufman & Moss Hart in 2004/05; and The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, twice, in 1997/98 and 2007/08.

Both Uncle Vanya and the most recent Glass Menagerie featured Maureen

Silliman, who is now starring in this production of The Belle of Amherst.

Maureen made her first Two River appearance in our fifth season—in Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing in 1998/99— and has “trod our boards” numerous times since then, both at the Algonquin Arts Theatre and here in Red Bank. Her most recent credit is Lives of Reason—a play written by Robert Rechnitz and Kenneth Stunkel that had its world premiere in 2015/16.

Lives of Reason is also the most recent credit here for director Jonathan Fox, a family member of longstanding. Jonathan joined Joan and Bob in establishing Two River Theater in 1994, served as managing director through 1999 and artistic director through 2006. Beginning with Tony Kushner’s adaptation of The Illusion by Pierre Corneille in our second season, 1995/96, Jonathan has directed 15 TRT productions at Monmouth University, the Algonquin, and on both the Rechnitz and Marion Huber stages.

The other designers for The Belle of Amherst are all family, too, with a wide range of credits here: costume designer Andrea Hood (The Lion in Winter, 2016/17), lighting designer Andrew F. Griffin (A Little Shakespeare: The Comedy of Errors, 2017/18), sound designers Charles Coes & Nathan A. Roberts (The Electric Baby in 2012/13, On Borrowed Time and Third in 2013/14), and wig designer Cookie Jordan (Absurd Person Singular in 2014/15, Pericles in 2015/16 and Dancing at Lughnasa in 2017/18).

Our production stage manager, Larry Copeland, is also returning to TRT, where he previously stage managed Henry V in 2012/13 and Lives of Reason. Larry is married to our longtime Lighting Supervisor Sue Patino—so in his case, we mean “family” literally!

We consider you—our audience—a part of the family too. We know that you are deeply invested in our productions; that you look to us to be ambitious and entertaining; and that you want to see great stories, performed and designed with consummate skill. Together, we celebrate these past 25 years—and look forward to the next. Thank you for being here! n 21

22

HONORING JOAN AND ROBERT RECHNITZ S AT U R D AY, M AY 1 8 , 2 0 1 9 | 6 : 3 0 P M HONORARY CHAIRS D OROTHEA AND JON BON JOVI ( JB J SOUL KITCHEN) JOIN US ON THE RECHNITZ STAGE COCKTAILS | DINNER BY IN THYME DANCING TO THE MUSIC OF DOCS OF ROCK | LIVE AUCTION VALET PARKING | COCKTAIL ATTIRE This 25th Anniversary Season marks an incredible milestone for Two River Theater and our founders, Joan and Robert Rechnitz. Join us on the Rechnitz stage as we celebrate Two River’s past, present and future, as well as the two special people who have played leading roles in the theater’s success.

All proceeds of this event will benefit the programs and services of Two River Theate r.

Fo r m o re i n fo r m at i o n o n ticke ts a nd sp onsorship p a cka g e s , ple a se c o n ta c t Kat i e B e n so n at k b e nson@ t r tc .org or 73 2 . 34 5.14 0 0 ex 1817

23

Searching for

EMILY L

B y P laywright - in -R esidence M adeleine G eorge

ike Emily Dickinson, I was born and raised in Amherst, Massachusetts. Unlike her, I moved away when I was 17 and haven’t lived in my hometown since. But I’ve always felt her life braided into mine, as many people in Amherst feel about “our” poet. Dickinson is in many ways the patron saint of Amherst—the town’s only other claim to fame is its namesake, British officer Lord Jeffrey Amherst, who made his mark on the history of biological warfare by giving smallpox-infected blankets to Native people during the French and Indian War. Naturally we want nothing to do with that guy anymore. There has even been a movement recently to change the name of the town from Amherst to Dickinson (New Englanders are stubborn and Amherst College is powerful and we’ll see whether it happens, but fingers crossed). The town now supports a lively industry of Dickinson tourism, focused around the Homestead, the recently renovated house where Emily Dickinson was born and lived, in increasing seclusion, for all her fifty-six years.

If you come through town, you have to visit the Homestead.

Just ask TripAdvisor, which gives Dickinson’s home—kept scrupulously private when she lived in it—an average rating of 4.9 stars: “Very interactive!” “Even if you slept through poetry in high school, you might enjoy the tour!” “A mustsee! And close to downtown restaurants!” It is, in fact, very close to downtown restaurants—the Homestead is right on Main Street in the center of town. But when I was growing up in the 70s and 80s, it was hidden in plain sight. It was there and open for visitors, but you had to know where to look and when to go. The hemlocks out front had been allowed to

24

grow thick and tall so they obscured the house completely— you couldn’t even see it from the sidewalk right in front of the stoop. The hours of the museum were limited and erratic.

Gothically, the caretaker lived on-site in former maid’s rooms on the first floor.

Dickinson felt more like a niche market then. Obviously her place in the pantheon of American literature was already secure, but she wasn’t a major tourist destination yet. Kids of a literary inclination in town knew different stories about her-how she had lowered gingerbread down from her bedroom window to the neighbor children in a basket on a rope from a hook attached to her window frame, how she dropped out of school and refused to go to church. How she had sewed her own writing into books because no one would publish her “in the olden days.” My friend Leah, herself a poetic prodigy, and I would sometimes walk home the long way from school through West Cemetery—tucked between the Cumberland Farms mini-mart and the Carriage Shops strip mall—to visit Emily’s grave, a simple white stone with her name and dates and the enigmatic epitaph CALLED BACK engraved on it.

Leah and I would let ourselves in through the iron gate into the Dickinson family plot (now locked to keep the public out) and lie on our backs on the grass gazing up at the clouds, communing in a pre-adolescent way with Emily’s soul, thinking of her down there safe in her alabaster chamber, untouched by morning, untouched by noon. We always left a gift behind on her gravestone—a pinecone, a penny, a feather, a flower. Sometimes other devotees had preceded us to this altar, but almost always our gifts were the only ones on her roof of stone.

In fifth grade I was writing a report on Emily, so I called the Homestead and made an appointment to come take a tour.

I remember the caretaker let me in late one afternoon and allowed me to prowl the house virtually unsupervised—at least that’s how I remember it. I know she ushered me into Emily’s room and left me there alone, closing the door gently behind her. (Why did she do that? Did I tell her I wanted to be a writer like Emily, or did she just get a phone call that took her downstairs?) I remember I sat on the narrow bed in the room, peered into her narrow closet, and looked out the window up Main Street into town, trying to imagine what the view would have looked like when Emily watched the sun set there every evening, before the Shawmut Bank was built.

It felt like a private experience, just me and Emily’s spirit, together in her room alone.

Now no kids would be left alone in the carefully restored rooms of the Homestead. Now not only can you buy “I am Nobody—Who are you?” T-shirts and coffee mugs at the museum, you can come to town for the Annual Poetry Walk, in which her acolytes gather at the Homestead and walk the path from the back door of the house to the gravesite, stopping to recite verses along the way as if they’re following the stations of the cross. The gravestone is now so showered with gifts—poems, pleas, thank you notes—that the grounds crew of West Cemetery has to clear it off regularly.

homosexual, a heretic, a homebody, an old-fashioned hermit?

That she won’t stay put for a portrait makes her all the more tantalizing—much more so than her contemporaries Emerson, Hawthorne, or Whitman. Even the structure of the poems themselves--the famous elliptical syntax, the gaps and emdashes, the neologisms—creates fissures of meaning and rifts in logic, so that the poems are endlessly subject to interpretation.

For years the mainstream critical take on her was that she was chaste and childlike, a dainty poet of birds and flowers.

In sharp riposte to this cameo-silhouette, feminist critics of the latter half of the 20th Century saw in Dickinson a deeply misunderstood, unjustly overlooked genius, maddened by Victorian mores and a world that could make nothing of her scintillating mind. Recently, some critics have fantasized that she physically consummated her love for her sister-inlaw, Sue, though there’s little evidence beyond filaments of textual analysis to support that idea.

I used to feel a powerful sense of ownership over Dickinson.

I rallied around some critical interpretations of her work and raged against others. She was my poet, from my town—I had lain on her grave and poked around in her closet! Surely I understood her in a way no one else ever could. But I see now that this passionate defensiveness is the condition of loving Dickinson—much more than being a devotee of, say, Whitman, or Marianne Moore. Reading Dickinson feels like being admitted into a delicate intimacy with her, even as she It’s funny that for an author so passionately loved by so many, whose biography is so much a component of her cult, carefully refuses to divulge her full self. For many readers, she there’s so little consensus on who, exactly, she was. The basic is “Emily,” not “Dickinson.” And once you “know” her, whether you see her as too fragile for this world or too fierce for it, facts we agree on: born, raised, lived and died in Amherst, somehow your Emily needs protecting. took to wearing all white and shunning company, tried ardently but almost completely unsuccessfully to publish during her lifetime, wrote 1,800 poems which she bound into It strikes me now that constructing this elusive persona was a brilliant way for Dickinson to build a body of work that hand-sewn fascicles and kept in a chest at the foot of her would stay in conversation with the world forever. The poet— bed. But who was she? indistinguishable for many from her poems—comes down to us as a prism; depending on how you turn her, a different Dickinson the person is a disappearing act—she tries facet of her catches the light. Thus she can be everybody’s on personas with the ease of outfits in her poems. She idol. William Luce, Julie Harris, and Charles Nelson Reilly frequently writes in the first person, but who is “I” when Dickinson writes it? The Dickinson “I” seems at times to refer found one version of her when they created The Belle of Amherst (which won the Tony the year after I was born). to herself as we know her biographically, at times to be an Bob Rechnitz and Maureen Silliman, in shaping this new anonymous villager, at times an omniscient disembodied production, will being looking out over the town, the nation, the world. The find her yet again.

“I” in Dickinson has traveled to Arabia; the “I” has never left And if you go to home. In many poems, “I” was once a “boy.” When Dickinson writes, This is my letter to the world that never wrote to me, Amherst and visit the Homestead— is she resigned? Defiant? Is she saying “just you wait,” or or even take her “never you mind”? complete works down from the shelf When we look for Emily Dickinson, we find a figure who in your own living encompasses extreme paradoxes. She is simultaneously room—you’ll find friendly and elusive, vivid and invisible, a mystic and an a Dickinson you’re atheist. Was she frigid or passionate? Schizophrenic or shy? looking for, too.

An undiagnosed epileptic, an unrequited erotomaniac, a Dickinson's Homestead.

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CONSTRUCTION UPDATE: CENTER FOR NEW WORK, EDUCATION AND DESIGN

Two River Theater is celebrating our milestone 25th Anniversary Season— and we are expanding!

In the summer of 2019, we will open our Center for New Work, Education and Design. The Center will allow us to grow the impact and reach of our education programs, newplay development activities, and many free community events we offer through our “Inside Two River” program.

The building will include two rehearsal spaces; scenery, props and costume shops; centrally located offices; and multiple storage areas. We are pleased to share photos of our progress as we build this exceptional new space, which will further the reputation of Two River, and Red Bank, as a home for world-class theater and theater artists. With the completion of the building, our parking lot will be back online. n ARCHITECT Kaplan Gaunt DeSantis OWNERS REPRESENTATION Greyhawk GENERAL CONTRACTOR CORP Hall Building ENGINEERS InSite Engineering French & Parrello Associates Lewis S. Goodfriend & Associates

Progress photos by Bernstein Associates Photographers.

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COMING SOON OO-BLA-DEE

BY REGINA TAYLOR ORIGINAL LYRICS BY REGINA TAYLOR ORIGINAL MUSIC BY DIEDRE L. MURRAY DIRECTED BY RUBEN SANTIAGO-HUDSON JOAN AND ROBERT RECHNITZ THEATER

JUNE 8 – 30 / 2019

T

wo River Theater will conclude our 25th Anniversary Season with Oo-BlaDee, written by Golden Globe Award winner Regina Taylor (Crowns, I’ll Fly Away), featuring original songs by Taylor and Obie Award winning composer Diedre L. Murray (Running Man, Eli’s Comin’), directed by Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson (August Wilson’s Jitney, Lackawanna Blues).

The play follows Evelyn Waters and the Diviners, an all-black, all-female jazz band, as they travel from St. Louis to Chicago in order to set up a record deal following the end of World War II. On this trip toward freedom the latest member of the group, sax player Gin Del Sol, must wrestle with the complex timing of the music as well as the complicated times in which she lives.

Featured in the cast are Marva Hicks (Motown the Musical; Caroline, or Change) as Evelyn Waters; Amber Iman (Hamilton First National Tour, Shuffle Along) as Luna C; Jonathan Kirkland (Hamilton original Chicago company, Cabin in the Sky) as Arthur/Soldier; Stanley Wayne Mathis (The Book of Mormon, The Lion King) as Shorty; Monica J. Palmer (The Lion King National Tour, Sistas the Musical) as Ruby; Stacey Sargeant (Two River’s Intimate Apparel, Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future) as Lulu; Allison Semmes (Motown the Musical, The Book of Mormon) as Gin Del Sol; and Chesney Snow (In Transit, The Unwritten Law ) as the Vocal Foley.

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For tickets, visit tworivertheater.org, call 732.345.1400 or stop by the box office.

FREE UPCOMING INSIDE TWO RIVER EVENTS A series of arts & humanities events— specially curated for each of our productions.

Multiple events take place each month and most are free.

Check out our series of jazz events and community gatherings celebrating our upcoming production of Oo-Bla-Dee. Throughout April at 7 PM JAZZ ARTS TALKIN’ JAZZ SERIES To celebrate National Jazz Appreciation Month, we are partnering with Jazz Arts Project to host their Talkin’ Jazz Series. Focused on Women in Jazz, this series will feature a weekly talk and Q&A panel moderated

by Jazz Arts Artistic Director, Joe Muccioli with guest speakers who are Jazz luminaries and scholars. This free community event is a great introduction to jazz for novices or a wonderful extension of knowledge for connoisseurs.

Weekly topics: Monday, April 8 – Young Women in Jazz led by Leonieke Sheuble Monday, April 15 – Mary Lou Williams, The Lady Who Swings the Band led by April Grier Tuesday, April 23 – The Music & Story of Oo-Bla-Dee led by Mimi Jones Monday April 29 – Women of Song led

by Champian Fulton Wednesday, May 8 | 7:00 PM LIVE INTERVIEW WITH WBGO JAZZ 88.3 FM Hosted by Doug Doyle Be a part of the audience as WBGO Jazz 88.3 FM tapes a radio interview about our upcoming production of Oo-Bla-Dee, broadcast from Red Bank! This event will

give you exclusive access to watch awardwinning News Director and Host Doug Doyle interview director Ruben SantiagoHudson, playwright Regina Taylor and composer Diedre L. Murray live on our stage. Get the inside scoop, then join us for dessert and coffee in the lobby. The interview will be recorded for broadcast on WBGO Jazz 88.3FM radio.

Thursday, May 23 | 6:30 PM OO-BLA-DEE TO CARDI B Ma Rainey and Missy Elliott. Josephine Baker and Janelle Monáe. Lena Horne and Lauryn Hill.

These incredible black women each revolutionized the music industry during their careers. Join Two River Theater’s literary manager for an exciting exploration into some of the Mothers of American music past and present.

Friday, May 31 | 6:30 PM WEST SIDE BLOCK PARTY at Johnny Jazz Park Join us for an outdoor block party in celebration of the kick off to summer, jazz music and our upcoming production of Oo-Bla-Dee! Enjoy live music by the Music Beyond Measure Trio, dancing in the park, and an old fashioned fish fry. Plus: get the chance to mix and mingle with our fabulous artists!

SP ONSOR ED BY:

Inside Two River is supported in part by the William T. Morris Foundation.

Monday, June 3 | 7:00 PM NOW, VOYAGER FILM SCREENING at Bow Tie Cinemas In Partnership with Monmouth Film Festival.

We invite you to join us for a special film screening of Now, Voyager, the classic 1942 melodrama starring Bette Davis and Paul Henreid. Charlotte Vale (played by Davis) captures the imagination of Oo-BlaDee's protagonist, Gin, as both characters struggle to maintain their freedom and independence.

Saturday, June 22 during the 3PM matinee of

Oo-Bla-Dee

FREE PLAY DATES PREVIEW Play Dates enable parents/guardians to attend a performance while their children ages 6-11 work with Two River Teaching Artists during the show.

For our preview Play Date, kids will experience a journey through jazz with acclaimed children’s author Carmen Rubin.

They’ll travel with 9-year-old Ashti on a whimsical tale that’s rooted in Jazz where kids have a scatting good time, exploring the sound of Be-Bop, and the magic that happens when they meet Birdman Al, who helps them keep the music alive.

For a full listing of our upcoming events, visit TwoRiverTheater.org or call the Box Office at 732.345.1400.

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IT ALL BEGINS HERE

Nursery through Grade 8

That moment when...

CONFIDENCE

Contact our Admissions Office today at admissions@rcds.org

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Made possible by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment of the Arts

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THEATERWORKS

WHAT

EDUCATION SPOTLIGHT

IS THEATERWORKS? TheaterWorks is Two River Theater's grant-funded education program that connects students from under-served communities to the profound content of each production in our season, and highlights the diverse career opportunities that go into producing a professional play.

WHO

Students from FINCC show their designs in a TheaterWorks workshop with Costume Shop Supervisor, Lesley Sorenson (Left).

IS THE PROGRAM FOR?

Any under-served school or community group with students that have an interest in a specific theatrical vocation, or in the content and themes of a show in the Two River season is welcome to apply to participate in TheaterWorks. Recent partners include Friends in Need Children’s Center, students from the Minority Males Initiative Conference, and School Based Youth Services programs from Asbury Park, Long Branch, and Red Bank Regional High Schools.

WHAT

DOES THE PROGRAM INCLUDE?

A TheaterWorks package includes a pre-show workshop, lunch, tickets to a Saturday matinee performance, and an exclusive post-show discussion with artists from the production.

Teachers and community organizers must submit applications early as space is limited for each show.

If you like to share TheaterWorks with your student group, please contact Director of Education Kate Cordaro at kate@trtc.org or 732-936-8814.

Students from FINCC show their designs in a TheaterWorks workshop.

Students from FINCC after their Pamela's First Musical TheaterWorks costume workshop.

A post-show discussion with the cast and playwright Martin Moran after Theo.

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Great Art On Screen KLIMT & SCHIELE: EROS AND PSYCHE

WATER LILIES OF MONET: THE MAGIC OF WATER AND LIGHT

Klimt & Schiele: Eros and Psyche, recounts the start of the Vienna Secession, a magical art movement formed in the late 1890’s for art, literature and music, in which new ideas are circulated, Freud discovers the drives of the psyche, and women begin to claim their independence.

APRIL 29

Voyage through the masterpieces and obsessions of the genius and founder of Impressionism, Claude Monet.

An art-world disruptor at the turn of the 20th century whose obsession with capturing light and water broke all convention, Monet revolutionized Modern Art with his timeless masterpieces.

JUNE 3

EXPERIENCE A GLOBAL REVOLUTION OF WORLD CLASS ART, HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY THROUGH THE WORKS OF THE GREATEST MASTERS OF OUR TIME All HD broadcasts are on the 30 foot screen at the Pollak Theatre

For tickets visit www.monmouth.edu/MCA or call 732.263.6889 36

THE SPRINGPOINT FOUNDATION

SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT

Visionary and Compassionate Service for Seniors

Springpoint Senior Living was founded in 1916, and is celebrating over 100 years of providing comfortable living to over 4,000 residents in eight continuing care retirement communities and 19 affordable housing communities across the state. Supporting these residential communities, The Springpoint Foundation works to make life better for older adults though visionary and compassionate service and programs. The Foundation aims to make a difference in the lives of seniors and their families, through resident and community partnerships programs.

The programs offered to residents through the Foundation include the Resident Financial Assistance Program, offering financial and housing security for community residents who have outlived their resources through no fault of their own; the Spiritual Care Program offering spiritual guidance and support in order to prepare for life’s changes and transitions; Affordable Housing Support including transportation, emergency preparedness, health and wellness, and the Community Cares program offering donations and health essentials to affordable housing residents; and Tomorrow’s Leaders Program, an internship experience for young people interested in senior living careers. n Springpoint Senior Living has partnered with Two River Theater for well over a decade. Notable productions that they have helped make possible, in addition to The Belle of Amherst, include: August Wilson's Seven Guitars, The Women of Padilla, and Dancing at Lughnasa. Through this partnership Two River is also able to make tickets available for residents, most recently for a group outing from the Atlantic Highlands location to see Noises Off this season.

For more information on Springpoint Senior Living and the Springpoint Foundation, please visit s p r in g p o in ts l.o rg

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INDIVIDUAL

DONORS

THANK YOU to the following generous individuals who made contributions to the theater!

VISIONARY CIRCLE ($25,000+) Anonymous Caroline P. Huber** Sidney and Helaine Lerner Victoria and William Marraccini** Joan and Robert Rechnitz** The Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation

Diane and Ross Millhiser JP Nicolaides and the Honorable Ed Zipprich Sean O’Connell Susan and Ty Olson** Elizabeth Tortorella and Ivan Polonsky Mary Beth and Gerald Radke Anne Marie Schultz** Kathy and Webster Trammell** Anne and Sheldon Vogel

THE INNOVATOR CIRCLE ($10,000-$24,999)

CHAMPION ($2,500-$4,999)

Anonymous Lisa and Stephen Becker** Jane Bergere Marilyn and Bob Broege** Melissa and Joseph C. Del Broccolo, III** Phyllis Kinsler Mary Jane and Rick Kroon Joanna and Brian Leddin** Anne Luzzatto and Gordon Litwin** Liz and Adam Rechnitz

Jeanne Achille Howard P. Aronson Shirely S. Boll Hall Building*** Diane and Robert Butters** Patrick Callinan Juliet Cozzi and Ronald Gumbaz The Devon Group Joan Ellis Christina Hewitt Eileen and Tim Hogan Barbara and Joseph Hollander Maureen and James Hurst* Michael Hurst Nancy Karpf and Scott Brady Kathryn Kent and Robert Patton*** Katherine Kovner Cathy Larson Sharon Falco and Doctor Jonathan Lustgarten*** Kathleen and Arthur McConnell Susan and Brett Flynn Gloria Nilson Fund Allyn and Patrick Quagliano Patricia and Vernon Ralph** Daryl and Steven Roth Foundation Linda and Andrew Safran** Mary Carol and Ken Stunkel Susan E. Whyman Cynthia and Bill Wilby Meta and Dr. Ralph Wyndrum Chryssa Yaccarino

BENEFACTOR ($5,000-$9,999) Riverview Medical Center*** Sam Chevalier Elizabeth Columbo Kelly and Brooks Cullen Carolyn DeSena** Kathleen Ellis and the Honorable Kenneth Pringle** Robert E. Evanson The Gravina Family Foundation, Inc.** Gale and Dr. Robert B. Grossman** Guttenplan Family Foundation Joan and Paul Hamelberg Lanae and Todd Herman** Barbara and Jim Hrebek Beth and Vincent Mazza* Linda McKean The Honorable Edward J. McKenna** Nyire and Gregory Melconian** 38

PATRON ($1,000-$2,499) Anonymous Jutta and George Aguilar Barbara and Andy Andres Elizabeth and Robert Barrett Kasandrea Banks The Honorable William G. Bassler Melissa and John Bonello*** Lois P. Broder Barbara and Tom Carroll Lauren and Augie Carton*** Tamara Casriel Joan and John Cleary Jennifer Colyer and Shemmy Mishaan Robert Cordrey and Bruce Sherill Lynne and Jan Dash Nancy and Michael Del Priore John Dias Gail and John Duffy Margean Gladysz The Merrill G. and Emita E. Hastings Foundation Lorraine and Bob Henry Thomas K. Hessman Herbert Paul Melissa and Paul Hurst Jean Jaslovsky and Vincent Gifford Ginny Kamin Gerri and Brett Lawrence Edward Madden Wendy and Gerald Marks Renee Maxwell Aida and Brian Murphy Jesse Muscarello*** Lauren Nicosia** Barbara and Rev. William Riker Monica and John Ryan Karen and Omar Saad*** Lori and Geoffrey Sadwith Candy and Dr. Sigmund Sattenspiel June and Mort Seligman Caryl and Charles Sills Maureen Silliman and William Parry

Cathy Sivo Rita and Arthur Steinman Laura and Gregg Wallace Warters Family Fund Cathy and Gene Weber* Catherine Weiss and Samuel Huber Joan Zakanych David Zippel

PRODUCER ($500-$999) Anonymous Jennifer and Joe Anderson Nancy and Ed Butler Patricia and Dr. E. F. Cheslock Isabella and John Chiappinelli Kathleen Anderson Culebro Philip Dorian* Judy and Richard Fuller Valerie Gordon-Johnson Eve R. Hershkowitz Sheela Jain, M.D. and Suresh Jain, M.D. Giovanna Kanu Judith Laufer Lisa McKean Lois and Robert Mortenson Barry V. Qualls The Craig and Flori Roberts Foundation, Inc. Anita and Robert Stix* The Wilder Family Gail and Stuart Van Winkle Carolyn Williams Nancy Winter*

DIRECTOR ($250-$499) Anonymous (2) Lisa and Michael Absatz Lucille and Richard Adelmann Meredyth Armitage Nancy and Frank Bellezza Alba Di Bello Peg and John Bennett Sarah and Colin Bradley*** Dr. Janice Breen Jill and Harmon Butler Amanda Butterbaugh and Michael Mulheren Ellen and Donald Byck Dr. Joseph J. Calabro Lucy Campanella Barbara and Peter Carton Donna and Michael Castellano

Marjorie and Peter Cavalier Candice Chirgotis Susan and Alan Coen Robert Connolly Karen and Joseph D’Amore Lisa and Carl Dumont Judith and William Fraser Barbara G. Fleischman Maria and Paul Galeota Susan and Roy Gelber Matthew Goldzweig Suzanne Longley and Guy Gsell Gail and Marc Harrison Barbara Boas and Stephen Hecht Phyl and Don Howard Patricia and William Jaeger Ann Roseman and Stan Lumish Bob MacKasek Linda Mitchell Jennifer and Thomas Mullins Barbara R. Nevius and Tom Curtis Marion and Michael Portnoy Karen and David Rajala Toni Rinella and Brian Compton Louis Rodriguez Barbara Sager Peggy Sansone Peter A. Schkeeper Linda Schottland William G. Shlala Kathryne and Richard Singleton Victoria Snoy* Susan Stamler Karin and Joe Stein Patrice Sullivan Nannette and Richard Tereo Stephen Thurber Jennifer Tipton Judith and Joseph Vassallo Cheryl Wild Dee and Fred Williamson Marjorie and Zeke Zaccaro Barbara and Maurice Zagha

MATCHING GIFTS The following have provided matching gifts to Two River on behalf of their employees.

C.R. Bard Foundation Goldman Sachs HSBC Matching Gifts Program** IBM Corp Johnson & Johnson Matching Gifts

JPMorgan Chase Foundation New Jersey Resources Matching Gift Microsoft Corporation Prudential Financial, Inc. (3) TE Connectivity Verisk Analytics (2) Verizon Wireless *Donation includes a matching gift **Donation includes gifts to both Special Events and the Annual Fund ***Donation to Special Event(s)

TRIBUTES AND MEMORIALS In memory of Ken Stunkel: Caroline Huber In memory of Layla Diba’s mother Leona Soudavar Magaloff: Ginny Kamin In memory of Kristi Kaepplein’s mother Jane: Ginny Kamin In memory of Art Kamin: Renee Maxwell In memory of Mary (Penny) Buchner: Barbara McCarthy In memory of Leon Yarusi: Paula Yarusi In Memory of Helen Selinger: Barbara Kenas In Memory of Kenneth Stunkel: Helen and Sam Kim In Memory of Kenneth Stunkel: Diane DeLoche In Memory of Kenneth Stunkel: Joan and Robert Rechnitz In honor of Michael Shelle: Maureen Silliman and William Parry In honor of Hannah Walker: Jodi Magee In Memory of Kenneth Stunkel: Mary Jane and Rick Kroon Listing reflects gifts made between March 1, 2018 and March 29, 2019.

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PROUDLY SUPPORTING THE ARTS Conveniently located less than two miles from Two River Theater, the Courtyard Lincroft Red Bank has everything you need to complete your theater-going experience. Lounge in our state-ofthe-art lobby and enjoy The Bistro offering fresh breakfast and dinner selections, Starbucks® coffee beverages and an evening bar featuring wine, beer and cocktails.

Other features and amenities include: - 134 spacious guest rooms & 12 luxurious suites - Free WiFi access throughout the hotel - Flat screen HDTVs with premium channels - 24-hour business center - Fitness room - The Market, a 24-hour self-serve pantry

CELEBRATING

49 YEARS IN BUSINESS

For reservations and information contact: Sales Executive Anthony Fulginiti at 973.885.6134 or email: Anthony.Fulginiti@marriott.com for groups of 10 or more rooms.

COURTYARD BY MARRIOTT® LINCROFT RED BANK 245 Half Mile Road | Red Bank, NJ 07701 732.530.5552 | RedBankCourtyard.com

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è

MEET OUR STAFF & VOLUNTEERS! ARTISTIC Stephanie Coen Associate Artistic Director Taylor Barfield Literary Manager Madeleine George Playwright in Residence Brian Eckert Artistic Assistant ADMINISTRATION Alma MalabananMcGrath General Manager Margaret Shafai Director of Finance Karen Pierce Staff Accountant AUDIENCE SERVICES, PR & MARKETING Courtney Schroeder Director of Marketing Jenna Castano Associate Director of Marketing Hannah Walker Institutional Marketing Manager Yurik L. Lozano Multimedia Manager Michele Klinsky Box Office Manager Lauren Mancuso Box Office Supervisor Kristina Marinos Box Office Supervisor/ Student Matinee Coordinator Lynn Kroll Box Officer/Group Sales Coordinator Vernette Spicer Box Officer/Access Coordinator Evan Kudish Samantha Truglio Matt Yee Box Officers Angela White House Manager & Volunteer Coordinator Carmen Balentine Doreen Fromage Melissa Javorek Julie Mullen Donna Stiles Francesca Trerotola Assistant House Managers Tess Ammerman Briana Butler Kelsey Butler Colette Dante Bobby DiGenova Thomas Dougherty John Knodel Matt Markowski Janet Pepsin

Daniel Pino Kayla Santry Gabby Scerbo Elena Zambrowski Front of House Staff DEVELOPMENT Denyse Reed, Director of Development Katie Benson Special Events Manager EDUCATION Kate Cordaro Director of Education Amanda Espinoza Education and Community Engagement Manager Lea Anello Corinda Bravo Amanda Butterbaugh Devin Fletcher Shane O’Neil Elliot Roth Teaching Artists Sara Holdren Adaptor/Director OPERATIONS Dave Hartkern Director of Facilities Wayne Van Sant Maintenance Supervisor Vinnie Gillick Lamar Hicks William Hinton Building Maintenance PRODUCTION Lauren Kurinskas Director of Production Will Cruttenden Associate Production Manager Kayla Allen Production Management Assistant Katherine Borden Company Management Assistant Colleen Dolan Scenic Charge Fiona Malone Assistant Technical Director Duane Noch Master Carpenter Christian Dilks Staff Carpenter Laura Nuneviller Shop Assistant Victoria Schilling Assistant Properties Supervisor Alison Marjean Frimmel

Props Assistant Lesley Sorenson Costume Shop Supervisor Jill DiGiuseppe Draper Maggie Barnett Wardrobe Supervisor Jaclyn Vela Costume Assistant Sue Patino Lighting Supervisor Abigail Lynn Smith Lighting Assistant Dan Montano Sound Supervisor Natalie Soto Sound Assistant Jackie Romeo Joaquin Gomez Production Assistants SPECIAL SERVICES Gilda Rogers Community Relations Social Sidekick Press & Publicity Design Army Graphic Design Suzanne Anan Graphic Design T. Charles Erickson Production Photography Michael Boylan Director, Cinematographer Gordon N. Litwin, Esq., Litwin & Provence, LLC Legal Counsel WithumSmith + Brown Auditors VOLUNTEER GUILD Arthur Aaron Ronnie Aaron Marlene Abelon Debbie Adamchak Juanita Agee Irwin Altschiller Maddy Altschiller Cecelia Ambrosio Ellen Balthazar Dennis Banks Gale Baran Paddy Barber Myriam Barthole Carl Battaglia Ellen Battaglia Joyce Becker Herb Bein Diane Bein Marla Beil Carmen Benimeli Barbara Berg Joan Blake Roza Blackwood Helena Blyskun Belinda Bohrman Kathy Boushie Marti Bookstein Charles Blake

Mercedes Brand Carmela Brady Barbara Brodzinski Arlene Brown Monica SchneiderBrewer Robert Buchbinder Loriz Burke April Bunn Suzanne Bugbee Carmen Cancel-Seaman Colleen Carroll Kathleen Castore Dora Chu Lucie Chantepie Barbara Chasser Rita Chiarini Bob Connolly Roslyn Cooper Nancy Daley Elizabeth De Carvalho Diane DeLoche Ronni Donza Florence Diller Bonnie Delaney Barbara Ely Maddie Emile Eleanor Falcichio Ellen Falvo June Farkouh Robyn Flipse Prudence Frechette Bonnie Foerst George Foerst Judy Fuller Janet Garcia Nancy Gargan Laurett Gannon Sidney Gelbein Pat George Lara Gomez Margaret Graf Marilyn Griffin Constance Gryczka Mark Guberman Alice Greenberg Nona Hammer Kathie Hari Karen Harrington Helene HelgesenMonserrate Elaine Held Cynthia Hellman Jeri Held Karen Hespe Karen Heyer Marion Holinaty Caroline Huber Cecilia Jelic Shirley Johnson Bonnie Johnson Thomas Johnson Virginia Kamin Barry Kaplan Dee Kaplan Bev Keyes Karen Kelly Barbara Kenas Valerie Kilpatrick Phyllis Kinsler Karen Kirkwood Dottie Kirschenbaum Eleanor Kitzhoffer

John Knodel Mavis Kolb Diane Kragh Diane Kuriloff Harriet Kuropatwa Betti Lane Mary Anne Lapiana Victoria Later Margaret Lelivelt Bob Levine Carol Levine Barbara Lipton Donna Lizotte Kathy Lloyd Diane Lopresti Frank Lopresti Brittany Lovely Donna Lovely Sharon Lucas Gay Lowden Lynn Marie Macy Iris MacNeil Joanne Mallon Robert Mallon Sheryle Mallen Janis Marano Phyllis Marberry Libby Markowitz Pamela Marhan Lynne Martocci Mary Mason Susan Mazur Kathryn Mazur Anne Mayer Casandra Mazzaro Vinnie Mazza Joan McCue Eileen McDermott Jo McKeon-Hutton Bill McMurray Evelyn Mendelsohn Anne Messinger Dorothy Michels Carol Migliore Joanne Mieszkowski Bernard Miller Carol Miller Susan Minehardt Roland Monserrate Linda Monti Marilynne Morley Gloria Moro Susan Moss Michele Mullin Sophia Murillo Judith Mugrace Leslie Nicholson Judith Nock Kathy Nielsen Jennifer Newton Maureen O'Connor Leach Olivia & Gerald Olson Linda Pacotti Dolores Palonetti Sophia Parola Katherine Parisi Marilyn Pennell Art & Pat Perri Tracy Peternich Claire Planchere Victoria Pater Jeanette Peterson

Terri Pinto Terri Pontecorvo Philomena Porcello Lois Priest Marion Quinn Moira Quinn Judy Rector Fran Reinhold Mary Beth Reidy Renee Ready Lorri Reines Jill Reminick Susan Richman Carl & Ruth Rosencrown Mirta San Martin Lori Sadwith Gil Saltzman Marcia Saltzman Gail Sanderson Evelyn Schneider Lorelle Shea Connie Schulman Matt Sivo Phyllis Searby Shirley Sexton Deb Sieron Judy SimmonsBradshaw Jeffrey Shepard Arlene Smelson George Smith Arthur Steinman Linda Stewart Carol Stewart Cathy & Howie Stelzner Rose Sullivan Denise Sobotka Mary Carol Stunkel Martin Sulkes Leila Sulkes Michele Susalis Dan Tagatac Eunice Taylor Steve Tepperman David Tolleth Deborah Tolleth Lauren Tolleth Marie Trezza Magdalena Tanchak Johnny Tuohy Chris Wallace Patricia Walter Mollie Warar Marvin Wasserman Deborah Wasserman Gregory White Raffaella Weiner Joy Weinstein Nina Willey Kirk Willey Joyce Wingerter Barbara Withers Rosemarie Wilkinson Marty Weinstein Mary Ellen Wirin Zina Wolin Martin Wolin Marion Wright Joan Zakanych Laura Zakanych Joe Zedeny 41

160 Route 35 South . Red Bank, NJ

732.345.9977

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INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT

THE VISIONARY CIRCLE $25,000+

THE STONE FOUNDATION

INNOVATOR CIRCLE $10,000-$24,999 The

The Philip & Tammy Murphy Foundation

Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust

JKW FOUNDATION

BENEFACTOR $5,000 - $9,999 THE HILARIA AND ALEC BALDWIN FOUNDATION

THE MAX AND BELLA SCHULMAN FOUNDATION

COMMUNITY PARTNERS

DAVID SCHWARTZ FOUNDATION

The Merrill G. & Emita E. Hastings Foundation

IN-KIND SUPPORT

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C reating our future, together.

artscouncil.nj.gov

44

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SCENE

AT TWO RIVER (AND BEYOND!)

A Salute to Women in Bebop at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

On March 11th, Two River was proud to partner with The Shomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, NY. We participated in week 2 of their Annual Women’s Jazz Festival which took place every Monday throughout the month of March.

A Salute to Women in Bebop was curated by musican, Jazz composer, and Obie Award winner Diedre L. Murray. Murray is the composer of our upcoming production of Oo-Bla-Dee created by Golden Globe-winning actor and playwright Regina Taylor.

Two River invited group leaders to join us on a field trip to the center to enjoy the performance and attend a small reception afterwards with Diedre and the musicians of the evening.

Performers were Brandon McCune (piano), Mimi Jones (bass), Eli Fountain (percussion and drums) and Benny Rubin, Jr. (Saxophone) Photos by Bob Gore for the Schomburg Center.

YOGA IN OUR LOBBY In March, over the final two Tuesdays of our recent world premiere production run of Theo, we offered free Yoga classes in our lobby inspired by the title character who meditated and practiced yoga in the play. We hosted approximately 20 people each week to relax and unwind at a free class taught

by Scott Bailey of the Red Bank Family YMCA. The class was taught in a way where movements could be progressed or regressed to allow for all skill levels to benefit fully from the instruction. We hope to host more classes in the near future to continue to promote health and wellness.

Photos by Yurik L. Lozano.

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