Dance Nation - Playbill

DECEMBER 1 - 19, 2021 DiRECTED BY HEiDi VAN

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

STAFF

President

Producing Artistic Director Cynthia Levin Director of Finance Jason Kralicek Associate Artistic Director Ian R. Crawford Director of Marketing Nathan Gwartney Production Manager Taylor Jene Sullivan Technical Director Andy Peveler Literary Manager Hannah Taylor Box Office Manager Sarah Cooper Social Media Coordinator Anna Sell Production Stage Manager Tanya Brown Photography Cynthia Levin

Kevin Gabriel

Vice President

Carol Gee

Treasurer

Sally Everhardt Secretary

Kirsty Melville Winnie Dunn Cynthia Levin Paul Milakovich Michael Nonbello Kimberly Stern Annie Swartz Meredith Webster Shannon Wooten Amy Wright

UNICORN THEATRE’S MISSION Unicorn Theatre enhances the Kansas City community by developing and producing high-quality, thought-provoking plays that have never been seen in the region. We illuminate social issues by shining a light on diversity and inclusive stories which include race, religion and gender identity. Unicorn creates opportunities for the advancement of emerging and established actors, directors, playwrights, designers, technicians and administrative staff.

VISION STATEMENT By producing provocative new plays Unicorn Theatre fosters the next generation of great American writers and artists, creating innovative and intimate theatrical experiences that transcend the ordinary. We inspire the community to think and feel deeply; to see the world in new and different ways. Unicorn strives to be one of the preeminent homes for new plays in the country.

Opening Night December 4th, 2021

UNICORN THEATRE PRESENTS

by

Clare Barron

Directed by Heidi Van THE CAST Dance Teacher Pat Amina Zuzu Connie Luke Maeve Sofia Ashlee Crumpled Sailor aka Vanessa/The Moms

Darrington Clark* Jess Andrews* Jaeda LaVonne Smith Fatima Wardak* Dee Jimenez Chelsea Rolfes Vanessa Severo* Jenise Cook Brittany DeAnn Welch

PRODUCTION TEAM Stage Manager Scenic Designer Lighting Designer Sound Designer/Composer Costume Designer Props Designer Dramaturg Scenic Painter Master Electrician Production Assistant Production Assistant Sound Board Operator

Tanya Brown* Gabby Roney Austin VanWinkle Thomas Newby Kestrel Jurkiewicz-Miles Eric Palmquist Lindsay Adams Kelli Harrod Taylor Jene Sullivan Katelyn Stanton Michael LeDesma Ja’Lyn Grayson

* Denotes member of Actors’ Equity Association DANCE NATION received its UK premiere at the Almeida Theatre, London, September 1018.

Playwrights Horizons, Inc., New York City, produced the World Premiere of DANCE NATION in 2018 with support from an award by the National Endowment of the Arts, and a generous gift from Scott M. Delman.

Special thanks to The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Trust for supporting new plays at Playwrights Horizons, and special thanks to the Time Warner foundation for its leadership support of New Works Lab at Playwrights Horizons.

DANCE NATION was developed at the Perry-Mansfield New Works Festival, June 2015, with the Atlantic Theatre Company, and presented as part of the Contemporary American Voices Festival at Long Wharf Theatre, September 2016.

DANCE NATION was written, in part, in residence at SPACE on Ryder Farm, and received extensive workshop time and space as part of New Dramatists’ Jerry A. Tishman Playwrights Creativity Fund.

DANCE NATION is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com

3828 MAIN STREET | KANSAS CITY, MO 64111 | (816) 531-7529 | UNICORNTHEATRE.ORG

THE CAST & PRODUCTION TEAM

Clare Barron Playwright

Cynthia Levin Producing Artistic Director

Heidi Van Director

Darrington Clark Dance Teacher Pat

Jess Andrews Amina

Jaeda LaVonne Smith Zuzu

Fatima Wardak Connie

Dee Jimenez Luke

Chelsea Rolfes Maeve

Vanessa Severo Sofia

Jenise Cook Ashlee

Brittany DeAnn Welch Crumpled Sailor Aka Vanessa/The Moms

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Clare Barron (PLAYWRIGHT) is a playwright and performer from Wenatchee, Washington. Her play Dance Nation recently received its world premiere at Playwrights Horizons in May 2018 and subsequently its UK premiere at the Almeida Theatre in London. It was a 2019 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama and is the recipient of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and The Relentless Award established in honor of Philip Seymour Hoffman. Other plays include: You Got Older (Page 73; Steppenwolf) which received two Obie Awards for Playwriting and Performance, a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Play, and was a Susan Smith Blackburn finalist and the #1 most-recommended play on the Kilroys’ List; I’ll Never Love Again (The Bushwick Starr); and Baby Screams Miracle (Clubbed Thumb; Woolly Mammoth). She is the recipient of a Whiting Award for Drama, the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award at The Vineyard, and the Page 73 Fellowship; and is a member of New Dramatists.

THE CAST & PRODUCTION TEAM Cynthia Levin (PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR) is in her 42st season with the Unicorn. Over the years she has served as a director, actor, designer or producer for over 300 productions. At the Unicorn, she recently directed Bernhardt/Hamlet, Bond, Vietgone, Chesapeake, Priscilla Queen Of The Desert: The Musical (codirected with Missy Koonce), Eclipsed, Hand to God, Heathers: The Musical (again, with Missy), The Oldest Boy, Women Playing Hamlet (world premiere), Bad Jews, Grounded, Venus in Fur, My Name is Asher Lev, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, The Soul Collector (world premiere), Hungry (world premiere), Red, Two Jews Walk Into A War…, Distracted, Green Whales (world premiere), Miss Witherspoon, My First Time, The Clean House, Mauritius, 9 Parts of Desire, The Great American Trailer Park Musical, Bat Boy: The Musical and additionally the world premieres of rightnextto me (both at the Unicorn and Geva Theatre Center, Rochester, NY), How His Bride Came to Abraham, Light:Damage, Mercy Killing, Innocent Thoughts and Jack and Jill. At Coterie Theatre, she has directed Number the Stars, And Then They Came for Me, Frankenstein, Gatherings in Graveyards (I and II), Valley Song and To Kill A Mockingbird. At the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., she directed readings of Occupants, In The Belly Of The Whale, The Friendship Of Her Thighs, The Last Pair Of Earlies, Tigers Be Still and White Devil and Loving Mother for the MFA Playwright’s Workshop. Cynthia is a graduate of Park University which also awarded her an Honorary Doctorate in 2002. She is a founding board member of the National New Play Network, an organization dedicated to the development and production of new works. She has been honored with the Pinnacle Award for Excellence in the Arts, the Human Rights Campaign Equality Award and most recently the Kathryn V. Lamkey Award from the Actors’ Equity Association for her ongoing commitment to inclusion and diversity. She shares her home with Zia (the beagle), Dodger (the cat) and the spirit of the big red dog, Sylvia.

THE CAST & PRODUCTION TEAM Heidi Van (DIRECTOR) is thrilled to finally be directing Dance Nation! Previous Unicorn Credits include directing The Wolves and Project Dawn and appearing in Nomad Motel, Hand to God, Next Fall, The Vibrator Play, and Bright Ideas. Heidi has directed at Musical Theatre Heritage, UMKC, The Coterie and most often for Fishtank Theatre, a theatre company she founded 10+ years ago. UPCOMING PROJECTS: directing Pete The Cat, (The Coterie) ROAR! The Musical! (Culture House), and an original Commedia Dell’ Arte play for JCCC. Heidi is also the owner and founder of The Black Box, an innovative theatre hub in the West Bottoms. Van is a Charlotte Street Generative Performing Artist Fellow and a proud recipient of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation SEED Grant. The Fishtank & Heidi were curated into Open Spaces with the TIME Magazine recognized immersive theatre production of Elegy For A Lady by Arthur Miller. Heidi is mother of three incredible ladies, Marianne, (almost 10!) Pauline, (too close to 8) and little Baby Esme (who turned 2!) Thank you Philip, Mom and Dad and The Black Box team for having my back. Find out more at www.blackboxkc.com.

Darrington Clark* (DANCE TEACHER PAT) Grateful barely describes the feeling of sharing this space with you. Kansas City: Unicorn (Who’s Your Baghdaddy, Kill Move Paradise), Starlight (Godspell, Hairspray), Coterie (Charlie Brown Christmas, Garfield, Puffs) MTH (Cats, My Fair Lady). Regional: Milwaukee Repertory Theater, First Stage, Circa 21, Children’s Theater of Madison. Thanks to Monkey, Aly, Austin, Donna & Scott, and our remarkable theatre community that includes you. @darringtune Jess Andrews* (AMINA) is thrilled to be making her Unicorn debut! A recent grad of UMKC’s MFA acting program, her local credits include Ghost Light (KCRep); Brainstorm (The Coterie); 12th Night, The Moors, An Italian Straw Hat (UMKC Theatre). Before moving to KC, Jess was an active member of Seattle’s vibrant DIY theatre scene where she devised and created original work with several local ensembles. Special thanks to the whole Unicorn team and to every vicious, stunning 13-year-old girl.

Jaeda LaVonne Smith (ZUZU) is a third year M.F.A-Acting student at University of Missouri-Kansas City. Jaeda is from California and a graduate from Azusa Pacific University with a B.F.A in Acting for the Stage and Screen. This is her Unicorn Theater debut, and she would like to thank Cynthia Levin for the opportunity to work with the Unicorn family. She would also like to thank the wonderful cast and crew for their hard work on this production and Heidi Van for her thrilling energy and directorial leadership.

Lastly, Jaeda is grateful for her family for their constant support and her loving husband for being her biggest fan.

Fatima Wardak* (CONNIE) Fatima Wardak is an Afghan-American actor, writer, and activist based in Brooklyn, NY. Unicorn Theatre debut! Fatima has previously worked at Seattle Repertory Theatre, with Optika Moderna at La Jolla Playhouse, ACT Seattle, Corrib Theatre, California Shakespeare Theatre, Western Summer Theatre, and more. A lover of physical comedy, Fatima also has training in clown and commedia dell’arte, and recently launched a web series with her husband called “The Adventures of Pudge & Bucco” @ pudgeandbucco. She loves to play and learn, and hopes to use her art to help usher in a new age of racial diversity and equity in the arts. Art is for everyone! fatimawardak.com Dee Jimenez (LUKE) is an actor in Kansas City graduating from UMKC’s MFA program this May. He last played Ferdinand in Heart of America Shakespeare Festival’s production of The Tempest. He loves The Simpsons, baseball, and Nas.

THE CAST & PRODUCTION TEAM Chelsea Rolfes (MAEVE) Chelsea moved from Chicago to Kansas City to pursue her MFA in Acting and is currently in her third year at UMKC. Most recently, she played Ariel in UMKC’s/Heart of America Shakespeare Festival’s production of The Tempest. Other UMKC credits include Dragons Love Tacos (presented by The Coterie), Constellations, and Antigonick. Chicago credits include It’s a Wonderful Life! A Live Radio Play (Oil Lamp Theater); The Winter’s Tale (First Folio Theatre); Much Ado About Nothing and Richard III (Muse of Fire Theatre); Henry V (Babes with Blades), and Quest (Women’s Theatre Alliance). Outside of Chicago she has toured with Montana Shakespeare in the Parks.

Vanessa Severo* (SOFIA) was last seen on the Unicorn Stage in The Revolutionists. She is the recipient of the TCG 11th Round of the Fox Foundation resident Actor Fellowships, 2017. She is the playwright and actor of ‘Frida...A Self Portrait’ (2020 Kilroys List) a one woman production about the tumultuous and brilliant life of Frida Kahlo. Vanessa would like to thank Cynthia Levin, Heidi Van and the entire Unicorn Team for leading the charge back onto live theater.

Jenise Cook (ASHLEE) is an Actor, Choreographer, and Intimacy Choreographer from Detroit, MI. She has spent time acting and choreographing in Georgia (Aurora Theatre, Synchronicity Theatre, Georgia Gwinnett College), South Carolina (Glow Lyric Theatre), and Kansas City (Coterie Theatre, UMKC, KU). She is also a dance educator and teaching artist (Atlanta Ballet, Performer’s Warehouse, Aurora Theatre). She is currently finishing up the 3rd year of her MFA in Acting at the University of Missouri- Kansas City.

Brittany DeAnn Welch (CRUMPLED SAILOR AKA VANESSA/THE MOMS) Brittany is thrilled to be making her Unicorn debut with this fantastic team of creative people! She is a Texas gal moved to Kansas City and currently a third-year MFA Acting candidate at Univeristy of Missouri - Kansas City. She was most recently seen in Mobile Moliere and Antigonick (UMKC). Other previous credits include Peter and the Starcatcher, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, The Women of Lockerbie, and The Crucible. Brittany is so grateful for her loved ones, Steve, and her two cats for their support.

Tanya Brown (STAGE MANAGER) is in her fifteenth season with Unicorn Theatre. Some of her all-time favorites have been The Revolutionists, Venus in Fur, Hand to God, Cock, Stupid F##king Bird, and Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

Gabby Roney (SCENIC DESIGNER) is a 3rd Year Scenic Designer, Kansas City native and grateful to be establishing this connection to The Unicorn. She graduated from Drury University with a BA in Arts Administration and Theatre. After graduation she was hired to be Drury’s Technical Director for the Theatre Department and worked there for two years before being offered the chance to attend UMKC. She has worked on Edward Gant’s Amazing Feats of Loneliness at Drury as Scenic Designer, The White Rose at the Coterie as Assistant to the Designer, La cambiale di matrimonio/ Dido and Aeneas as Scenic Charge, and The Tempest with Heart of America Shakespeare as Draftsman and painter.

She is currently in the process of designing Jane Eyre at UMKC. Follow her on Instagram @gabrielleidell to see what she’s up to next.

Austin VanWinkle (LIGHTING DESIGNER) is a young lighting designer who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has a Bachelor’s of Science in Equestrian Studies (class

THE CAST & PRODUCTION TEAM of ‘19) from William Woods University in Fulton, MO. While studying the in’s and out’s of horse husbandry, Austin also began his journey into the performing arts by getting involved with any and all productions happening on campus. In 2019, Austin moved to Kansas City to attend UMKC and pursue his Master of Fine Arts in Lighting Design. While at UMKC, Austin had the opportunity to study under the late Shane Rowse. Austin has designed mostly for Dance Performance while at UMKC, but he is looking forward to other design opportunities.

Kestrel Jurkiewicz-Miles (COSTUME DESIGNER) is a Kansas City native and is so glad to be working with the Unicorn for the first time! Having earned his BFA in Theatre and Dance with an emphasis in Costume Design from Missouri State University in 2020, Kestrel is now pursuing an MFA in Costume Design and Technology at UMKC. His previous credits include designing the costumes for Picnic and bare: A Pop Opera at Missouri State, working as a costume assistant at the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival in summer 2017 and 2018, and stitching at the Bigfork Summer Playhouse in summer 2021. He wants to thank the entire production cast and crew, and his family.

Thomas Newby (SOUND DESIGNER/COMPOSER) has been making music, film and live theatre for the past 15 years. He’s a cofounder of the Green Zoo Arts Collective and has released several albums as vocalist and songwriter for his two bands, The Green Zoo and By Fire and Sword. He’s written and produced several original plays with his theatre company Green Zoo Theatre. He’s currently a sound design MFA candidate at UMKC. He’s a gifted whistler.

Eric Palmquist (PROPS DESIGNER) is a graduate of the University of Kansas theatre program and a founding member of Terra Femina Collective. Recent work includes Pipeline, The Lifespan of a Fact, American Son, Babel, Bernhardt/Hamlet, Who’s Your Baghdaddy, The Revolutionists, The Humans (Unicorn), Caroline, or Change, Every Brilliant Thing, Billy Elliot (Spinning Tree), and A Moon for the Misbegotten (KCAT). An AEA member, he was last seen in Viper (Terra Femina) and Nomad Motel (Unicorn), and has performed with the Coterie, the Living Room, Equity Actors Reader Theatre, the MET, and the Buffalo Room.

Lindsay Adams (DRAMATURG) is a playwright, theatre educator, and dramaturg and director (focusing primarily on new work). She was the Assistant Dramaturg for Disgraced at the Unicorn, and most recently dramaturged Wicked Creatures for Confluence Theatre Company and The Taming of the Shrew for the St. Louis Shakespeare Company. Her playwriting has been honored by organizations like the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference and the Kennedy Center. She has been produced nationally, as well as intown at KC Public Theatre, Fishtank Theater, Rising Tide Productions, Midwest Dramatists Center, and Westport Center for the Arts. She is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild and LMDA. MFA: Catholic University of America. PhD Candidate: Saint Louis University.

SPECIAL THANKS Areli Gil Sophiko Tsabadze

A NOTE FROM THE DRAMATURG On the Edge of Thirteen: Dramaturging Dance Nation

By Lindsay Adams

As all responsible, well-trained researchers do, I started my dramaturgical exploration into Dance Nation on Google. I was looking up information on child development, while clips from the reality tv show that inspired Clare Barron, Dance Moms, shrieked from my phone. For those who haven’t watched it, Dance Moms has a lot of yelling and tears, even by reality show standards. Just some of the things I found that people ask Google about thirteen-year-olds include: “Is 13 years old mature?”; “Is a thirteen-year-old a child or an adult?”; “Is 13 a teenager or tween?”; and, finally, “Is 13 the worst age?”

Like many people, I would answer that last question with a resounding YES; but still, looking back as an adult, there is something quite beautiful about being thirteen. While riddled with insecurities and uncertainties about my all-tooquickly-changing body, I also felt unbreakable, climbing trees far too high, singing in public with abandon. This is part of the tension of the play, as we watch the girls (and singular boy) of this dance troupe work through the growing pains of being partly a child, and partly an adult. Dance Nation isn’t just about young dancers and the impossible pressure they are under, it’s a play about female friendship, resilience, and growing-up.

The children we once were will always be part of us. This is why the play is cast with actors often long removed from being thirteen. In her note on casting, Clare Barron writes, “Think of it as a ghost play: the actors’ older bodies are haunting these 13-year-olds characters (We’re getting to see who they grow up to be!)

And these 13-year-old characters are haunted by the specters of what they will become.” Perhaps you too will be haunted by your past self during this play.

As Barron said in an interview about Dance Nation with Steppenwolf Theatre Company, “I hope that an audience will remember things about their thirteenyear-old selves that they had forgotten.” So, as you watch this production, let it take you back, let it challenge you to find that ghost inside of the 13-year-old you once were and that childhood courage; if we can all do that for the next hour and a half, maybe, just maybe, we will make it to “NATIONALSSSSSSSSSS” together.

COMING NEXT

FEATURING

Directed by

Stephanie Roberts Vi Tran

Amy Attaway

Sophiko Tsabadze

Sunday, December 12, 2021 | 7:30 PM FREE & OPEN TO ALL - DONATIONS ENCOURAGED TALK BACK TO IMMEDIATELY FOLLOW

Sponsored by:

KC MOlière: 400 in 2022

FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR UNICORN THEATRE THIS SEASON HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY:

AFFILIATIONS & MEMBERSHIPS

Unicorn Theatre is a constituent of Actors’ Equity Association; Theatre Communications Group, Inc.; The National New Play Network; Missouri Citizens for the Arts; The Downtown Council; Main Street Development Corporation; Nonprofit Connect; Urban Core Group; and The Kansas City Convention and Visitors Bureau.