UIC Theatre - Passage

2021–2022 THEATRE AND MUSIC FALL THEATRE SEASON

Passage

By Christopher Chen Directed by Bonnie Metzgar and Ashley O’Neill SCENIC DESIGN COSTUME DESIGN

Collette Pollard*

Myron Elliot*

LIGHTING DESIGN

Jackie Fox

SOUND DESIGN

PROPERTIES MASTER VOICE AND DIALECTS DIRECTOR MOVEMENT DIRECTOR STAGE MANAGER

Nathan LaBranche Nina D’Agier Jason Martin Rachelle Tsachor Cecilia Aguirre

Run time: 2 hours including a 5-10 minute intermission

*Denotes U.S.A. Member

CAST G

Q B

H

Lauren Littlejohn

F

Rose Mozier Jack Welshons

Mosquito/Gecko/J/D

Sol Fuller Vibyana Sacluti

R O

Melody Lou

Tyler Sherrod Francisco Rodriguez

UNDERSTUDIES

H and Q

Subira Mitchell

O and F

Townes Genovese

R

B G

Mosquito/Gecko/J/D

Stephen Decker

Aileen Moreno

Ashley O’Neill Francisco Rodriguez

ARTISTIC & DESIGN STAFF DANCE & MOVEMENT CAPTAINS HOOP-OGRAPHY

Rose Mozier & Tyler Sherrod

Ashley O’Neill

PRODUCTION STAFF PRODUCTION MANAGER TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

Erin Freeman* Hannah Holmes-Robbins

COSTUME SHOP MANAGER

Stephanie Cluggish*

MASTER ELECTRICIAN

Michael Trudeau

AUDIO SUPERVISOR

Ryan Ingebritsen

SCENIC CHARGE ARTIST

Rebecca Thompson

ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER LIGHTING PROGRAMMER & BOARD OPERATOR

Isa Pardilla

Molly Garrison

AUDIO ENGINEER Jared Ortega A2 & BOARD OPERATOR DECK & PROPERTIES CREW WARDROBE CREW

Anna Marek Angelina Davila, Paloma Lozanzo, Alyssa Morales, Jordan Montgomery Lace Burwell, Chastity Garland, Elizabeth Nahulak, Britany Pearson

DECK ELECTRICIANS

Reagan Stevenson, Abigail Stott

*Denotes U.S.A. Member

PRODUCTION STAFF (Cont.)

CARPENTER Bobby Noe

STUDENT CARPENTERS & PAINTERS Maddie Abelson, Jacob Clinkscales, Danny Dobrowolski, Jeff Donnan, Rachel Hawkins, Bryan Martinez, Subira Mitchell, Tyler Sherrod, Tseela Sokolin-Maimon, Fernando Rosales PRODUCTION ELECTRICIANS

Michael Barahura, Molly Garrison, Jonah White, Duncan Hon

FIRST HAND

Colleen Taylor

MILLINERY & E-WIRE SCULPTING COSTUME SHOP ASSISTANTS STUDENT STITCHERS

Hannah Bledstein Eabha Dunne, Jocelyn Garcia

Jocelyn Arrieta, Jin Bai, Youjin Chun, Jackie McBride, Jesse Wiesenthal

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF COORDINATOR OF THEATRE OPERATIONS BOX OFFICE ASST. MANAGERS HOUSE MANAGERS

Neal J. McCollam

Olivia MacGowan, Teri Lopez Michael Fletcher, Jeff Donnan

BOX OFFICE AND FOH STAFF Anna Bernhardsgruetter, Jeff Donnan, Izareza Rodriguez, Emma Sheffey, Mila Sweeny

Jocelyn Arrieta,

PLEASE JOIN US FOR A POST-SHOW TALK PANEL DISCUSSIONS Join us for free post-show panel discussions with the artists and special guests curated by UIC faculty member Richard Corley.

Discussions will be held on our east courtyard, near Morgan street and Harrison. See post show topics and dates below.

Hunchback of Seville Date 10/10 Topics Colonialism, Comedy, and the Madcap

Nightmare of History.

Passage Date 10/17 Topics Journeys Across Borders, Meditations on Power and Xenophobia.

PASSAGE is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York.

PASSAGE had its New York Premiere at Soho Rep (Sarah Benson, Artistic Director; Cynthia Flowers, Executive Director) Originally produced by the Wilma Theater, Philadelphia, PA (Blanka Zizka, Artistic Director) PASSAGE was presented as part of the Contemporary American Voices Festival at Long Wharf Theatre, 2017 Developed with support from The Ground Floor at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Berkeley, CA

Directors’ Note The history of humans on Planet Earth reveals the lust for power over one another. Since the dawn of time, humans have attacked and conquered their neighbors, stolen their land, their food, their children, their dignity. The attackers take over and force the original inhabitants to bend to their rule.

This is called colonization.

We can tell American history through the lens of colonization.

The United States started as colonies – lands stolen from Native Americans by monarchies in Europe, then settled by white Europeans, many of them commoners. What we call “the American Revolution” is really first, second and third generation European commoners throwing off their European monarchs – but are the Native Americans free of their colonizers?

Colonization is complicated.

In the play PASSAGE, Country X has been colonized by Country Y for years. There are safe, Y-gentrified “mainstream” neighborhoods where many Y tourists choose to stay, but inevitably, X-ers and Y-ers have to mix – at work, in restaurants, in chance encounters. But can two people from different cultures ever really be friends? With different biases and levels of privilege, can we ever truly trust each other, or love one another?

And what about on your worst day, confronted by your worst fears? Would you stay with me? And what if you had to risk your own body, your own safety, when I was threatened? Would you stay with me still?

Why the hula hoop, you might ask? The eternal circle? There’s the earthly landscape and then there’s the inner topography.

How does it feel to be colonized? And what does it do to your relationships beyond other humans, to the cosmos and to the spirit? When the Greeks would watch a play outside at night, they were surrounded by what they understood to be “the Cosmos”. The harmonious workings of the universe. They believed that first there was chaos, and then the cosmos was born. So no matter what terrible tragedy would befall the

humans onstage, the universe would continue, the plan-

ets would spin, the cycles would persist, forever giving all bodies, heavenly and human, the chance to begin anew.

Ashley O’Neill and Bonnie Metzgar

Land Acknowledgment The UIC School of Theatre and Music sits on the traditional homeland of the original peoples of the area: the Three Fires Confederacy - the Potawatomi, Odawa, and Ojibwe Nations as well as the Menominee and Ho-Chunk who—along with many Indigenous people—were among its first inhabitants.

With respect and gratitude, The School of Theatre and Music honors the many Native Americans who have, do, and will call this land their home.

STM acknowledges that we have benefited from the repeated attacks on Native Americans that forced tribal representatives to sign the 1816 Treaty of St Louis, relinquishing to the U.S. all claims of the land from Lake Michigan to the Illinois River. This land seizure led to the era of economic development and rapid growth that made Chicago the metropolis that it is today. We have an obligation to our students and the nearly 65,000 Native Americans now living in Chicago to do no further harm, to amplify Native voices, and to fight for equity and inclusion by engaging in anti-racism policies and practices. For us, this work begins with this statement, and must be followed by actions that immediately affect our work and life on campus.

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Don’t Miss The Hunchback of Seville

By Charise Castro Smith Directed by Yasen Peyankov and David Hernandez

Colonialism, Comedy, and a Madcap Nightmare 10/8

10/10

10/14

10/16

10/20

10/22

7pm

7pm

7pm

7pm

7pm

7pm

Charise Castro Smith is a Cuban-American writer from Miami, Florida. She has written for theatre, television and film, and is known for her unique style of thriller-comedy, or as she calls it “Thrillody.”

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