Our Black Death: Plagues, Turnips & Other Romantic Gestures - Playbill

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= JANUARY 19 - FEBRUARY 6, 2022 DiRECTED BY CYNTHiA LEViN

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 Director of Development Em Swenson 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 Hannah Taylor

Kevin Gabriel

Vice President

Carol Gee

Treasurer

Kirsty Melville Secretary

Sally Everhart 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 January 22nd, 2022

UNICORN THEATRE PRESENTS

by

Lindsay Carpenter

Directed by Cynthia Levin THE CAST Frol Bit Nobelman Lovesick Lady Man

Elise Poehling* Shon Ruffin* Sam Cordes* Manon Halliburton* Justin Barron*

PRODUCTION TEAM Stage Manager Scenic Designer Lighting Designer Sound Designer Costume Designer Props Designer Fight Choreographer Dramaturg Lead Electrician Scenic Painter Production Assistant Sound Board Operator

Tanya Brown* Em Swenson Alex Perry David Kiehl Arwen White Eric Palmquist Logan Black Hannah Taylor Taylor Sullivan Kelli Harrod Michael LeDesma Eric Lugenbeel

* Denotes member of Actors’ Equity Association

Permission granted by A3 ARTISTS AGENCY, 350 Fifth Avenue, 38th Floor, New York, NY 10118.

All inquires concerning rights to the play shall be addressed above.

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

THE CAST & PRODUCTION TEAM

Lindsay Carpenter Playwright

Cynthia Levin Producing Artistic Director

Elise Poehling Frol

Shon Ruffin Bit

Sam Cordes Nobleman

Manon Halliburton Lovesick Lady

Justin Barron Man

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Lindsay Carpenter (PLAYWRIGHT) Lindsay Carpenter is a writer and director currently based in NYC. Her plays have been produced and workshopped across the country in NYC, Boston, Seattle, California, and more. In 2020, she graduated with an MFA from NYU Tisch’s Dramatic Writing Program. Her play Borders received the 2015 Kennedy Center ACTF National Undergraduate Playwriting Award, and her play Our Black Death: Plagues, Turnips, and Other Romantic Gestures was part of the 2020 Kennedy Center MFA Workshop. Our Black Death was also a semi-finalist for the 2021 Bay Area Playwrights Festival. Her play Break was a semi-finalist for the 2021 Princess Grace Award. Her short play The Game was published by Concord Theatricals. She has a background as a dramaturg, lighting designer, and electrician. She was a staff writer on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) award-winning web series Amours d’occasion and is a co-founder of Ghost Ship Murder Mysteries.

THE CAST & PRODUCTION TEAM Cynthia Levin (PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR/DIRECTOR) is in her 43rd season with the Unicorn. Over the years she has served as a director, actor, designer or producer for over 300 productions. The last in-person production she directed before Covid was Bernhardt/Hamlet.

Since then, in addition to Unicorn’s virtual productions, Zoom classes and readings, Cynthia has been working with Lindsay on the many drafts of Our Black Death getting it ready for its first production. Some of the other productions she has directed here are Bond, Vietgone, Chesapeake, Priscilla Queen Of The Desert: The Musical (co-directed 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 Our Black Death, 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

THE CAST & PRODUCTION TEAM 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.

Elise Poehling (FROL) is ecstatic to return to the Unicorn for Our Black Death. She is a Kansas City native and has most recently been seen at Unicorn Theatre in Death of a Driver (Sarah) and The Revolutionists (Charlotte), and at The Living Room in Milking Christmas (Macey), The Ballad of Lefty and Crabbe (Lolo), and the stage manager of Nocturne. She feels so lucky to be in the company of so many talented individuals, and hopes you enjoy the show!

Shon Ruffin (BIT) is ecstatic to return to Unicorn Theatre. Ruffin received her B.A. in Theater Performance from Kansas State University. Other productions in the area include Hairspray at The New Theatre Restaurant, Jitney at the MET, Rosa Parks & The Montgomery Bus Boycott at The Coterie, Heathers, Priscilla Queen of the Desert at Unicorn Theatre, Dreamgirls in Concert & Stick Fly with the Black Repetory Theater and A Christmas Carol with KC Rep. She would like to thank her supportive friends, family and Leo! You can also find her singing with her bands 2Proud2Beg and Lost Wax. Sam Cordes (NOBELMAN) was “born in a trunk” and grew up just down the street from here. Previous Unicorn appearances include Mineola Twins, Farragut North, Red, and HIR. Cordes received his B.F.A. in Theatre from Stephens College for Women in Columbia, MO and his M.F.A. in Theatre from The University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Cordes is a teacher, bike mechanic and proud member of Agile Rascal Bicycle Touring Theatre. samcordes.net Manon Halliburton (LOVESICK LADY) Manon has been at the Unicorn many times and was last seen here as Nora in A Doll’s House, Part 2.

She has worked all over the country in regional theatres such as Indiana Rep, Kansas City Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse and Utah Shakespeare Festival to name a few. She has appeared on Law and Order and The Sopranos. Manon recently appeared in Murder on the Orient Express

THE CAST & PRODUCTION TEAM and A Christmas Carol at Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre. She is also a professional headshot photographer. Her work can be seen at www. manonhalliburtonphotography.com. Manon is a proud equity member and even prouder wife to sound designer and composer Jon Robertson.

Justin Barron (MAN) always loves coming back to the Unicorn where he has previously been in Bernhardt/Hamlet, Nomad Motel, Sweat, Informed Consent, How to Use a Knife, and The Ghosts of Lote Bravo. He has worked at many other KC theaters as well, including Heart of America Shakespeare Festival and KC Repertory Theatre. When not on stage, Justin can be found running Ghostlight RPGs, a growing Twitch channel for tabletop games. Love to Deanna, Quinn, and Ivy! Tanya Brown (STAGE MANAGER) is in her sixteenth 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.

Em Swenson (SCENIC DESIGNER) Recently at Unicorn, Em was the scenic designer for The Lifespan of a Fact, Babel, Who’s Your Baghdaddy, Nomad Motel, The Effect and The Revolutionists; lighting designer for Sweat and Chesapeake; and projection designer for A Doll’s House, Part 2 and Bond. Em recently earned a Master of Public Administration degree at UMKC, and has since become the Director of Development for the Unicorn Theatre.

Alex Perry (LIGHTING DESIGNER) holds 9/10 of a Masters of Fine Arts from UMKC and is thrilled to do lighting design for the Unicorn having also worked in the areas of scenery and props. Lighting designs include: Heathers: The Musical, The Ghosts of Lote Bravo, The Brothers Size, The Oldest Boy, Cock, Hands on a Hardbody, Water by the Spoonful, Grounded, Venus in Fur, The Mountaintop, My Name is Asher Lev, Everyday Rapture, and Red. Alex has also worked as lighting and scenic designer with many other theatres in the KC area, and spends his days with A to Z Theatrical Supply and Service Inc. David Kiehl (SOUND DESIGNER) is excited to be back at the Unicorn where he has worked as sound designer for over 50 productions. Previous Unicorn designs date back to 1997 and include Sylvia, The Laramie Project, and Proof; more recently they include Pipeline, The Lifespan of a Fact, & Kill Move Paradise. You may have heard his work around town at KCAT

THE CAST & PRODUCTION TEAM (The Pests, ‘night, Mother), the Living Room (Nocturne, Milking Christmas) and over 100 productions at the Coterie (SpongeBob The Musical, Electric Poe, Puffs).

Arwen White (COSTUME DESIGNER) is a Kansas City based costume designer and founder of Juste Jaquet Designs, a creative studio for costume design and fine art. She has designed theatrically throughout the city on productions including Wicked Creatures - Confluence Theatre, Something Rotten!, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Peter Pan- The White Theatre, Lifespan of a Fact, Who’s Your Baghdaddy…, The Revolutionists, Sweat, The Mountaintop, My Name is Asher Lev- Unicorn Theatre, Chainsaw -Living Room Theatre, Gruesome Playground Injuries -Fishtank Theatre. She is an Entertainment Contractor for Norwegian Cruise Line, stitching for Burn the Floor, Paradie, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, and Band on the Run. A Teaching Artist throughout Kansas City she is loving the opportunity to help young artists grow and explore through theatre and design. arwenjwhite.com, @arwenjwhite 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 Dance Nation, 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.

Hannah Taylor (DRAMATURG) is a Kansas City based theatre artist specializing in directing and dramaturgy. She is the Literary Manager and Resident Dramaturg here at Unicorn. Recent dramaturgy credits include Babel, A Doll’s House, Part 2, The Revolutionists, Bond, and The Effect at Unicorn and A Doll’s House at Kansas City Actors Theatre. She wore her director hat for productions of Into the Woods, Little Women, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King at Trilogy Cultural Arts Centre, and for a staged reading of Paper Cut as part of Unicorn’s In-Progress New Play Reading Series. When Hannah isn’t doing the theatre thing, she is working as a photographer with epagaFOTO. All the love in the world to Coleman and Beauty.

A NOTE FROM THE DRAMATURG

By Hannah Taylor Social Distancing. Quarantine. Pandemic. These words have become an unwelcome addition to our everyday vernacular over the past couple of years.

Suddenly we find ourselves much closer to our fourteenth century predecessors who coined the word quarantine in the midst of their own public health crisis.

One would think the idea to write a play set in a pandemic arose while we were locked in our houses in 2020. But playwright Lindsay Carpenter’s journey with this piece actually began as a germ of an idea almost two years before COVID-19, when Corona was just a beer and toilet paper was a well stocked commodity. She wrote the first full draft of the script in January of 2020. Little did she know then how relevant a play set during the Black Death would soon become.

By the time Our Black Death: Plagues, Turnips, & Other Romantic Gestures crossed Artistic Director Cynthia Levin’s radar, it was the spring of 2020 and our pandemic was in full force. Cynthia directed a virtual reading of the play that summer for the Kennedy Center MFA Workshop and knew that the Unicorn was the perfect home for the premiere of Our Black Death. Lindsay worked closely with Cynthia over the next few months crafting draft after draft, each one getting closer to what the play needed to be. After another virtual reading, countless phone calls, and twenty drafts later, Our Black Death was finally ready to be shared with the world.

A play about a pandemic of old gains new meaning as we watch it from behind our masks, an empty seat separating us from our neighbors. Like us, the people of fourteenth century England were experiencing the grief, fear, and chaos that comes with widespread disease. But luckily for us, Our Black Death isn’t a gravitas reflection on an ancient plague. The play you came to see today is quirky, spirited, and irreverent.

Freedom is not a word many of us would associate with pandemic times. When reflecting on the process of writing this play, Lindsay said, “I thought I wanted to write about women living together after the plague, but the more I wrote, the more I became aware of the freedoms that were presented to women by the chaos during the plague itself. The timeline shifted and Our Black Death became a meditation on how freedom can come from unlikely places.” It is not a play about what we can’t do because of a plague, but rather what we can do. As life as we know it is thrown into chaos and we are left face to face with our own mortality, we too are given the freedom to explore what really matters and who we want to be.

Tonight, you can join the vibrant characters of Our Black Death in their journey as they search for answers, hold on to hope, and find freedom in unexpected places. I hope you can find solace in their discoveries and joy as you revel in the gift that it is to be able to sit in the dark with strangers again.

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.