FUCKING A, David Geffen School of Drama, 2023

2023–24 SEASON

OUR MISSION

David Geffen School of Drama and Yale Repertory Theatre train and advance leaders in the practice of every theatrical discipline, making art to inspire joy, empathy, and understanding in the world.

OUR CORE VALUES Artistry

We expand knowledge to nurture creativity and imaginative expression embracing the complexity of the human spirit.

Belonging

We put people first, centering well-being, inclusion, and equity for theatermakers and audiences through anti-racist and anti-oppressive practices.

Collaboration We build our collective work on a foundation of mutual respect, prizing the contributions and accomplishments of the individual and of the team.

Discovery

We wrestle with compelling issues of our time.

Energized by curiosity, invention, bravery, and humor, we challenge ourselves to risk and learn from failure and vulnerability.

drama.yale.edu ABOVE: Abigail C. Onwunali ’23, Rebeca Robles ’24, Tyler Cruz ’23, Karen Killeen ’24, Giovanna Drummond ’24, and Whitney Andrews ’24 in Marys Seacole by Jackie Sibblies Drury, directed by Leyla Levi ’23. Photo © T. Charles Erickson.

Yale acknowledges that indigenous peoples

Contents Title Page............................................... 4

and nations, including

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Mohegan, Mashantucket

Setting.................................................... 5

Pequot, Eastern Pequot,

Content Guidance............................... 5

Schaghticoke, Golden Hill Paugussett, Niantic, and the Quinnipiac and other

From Our Dramaturg.......................... 6 Cast Bios................................................ 8

Algonquian speaking peoples,

Creative Team Bios............................. 9

have stewarded through

For This Production......................... 14

generations the lands and waterways of what is now

David Geffen School of Drama Staff................................ 15

the state of Connecticut.

We honor and respect the enduring relationship that exists between these peoples and nations and this land.

We also acknowledge the legacy of slavery in our region and the enslaved African people whose labor was exploited for generations to help establish the business of Yale University as well as the economy of Connecticut and the United States.

MASKING

Masks are not required at David Geffen School of Drama. Of course, audience members who wish to mask up during their attendance are welcome to do so.

FIRE NOTICE

Illuminated signs above each door indicate emergency exits. Please check for the nearest exit. In the event of emergency, you will be notified by theater personnel and assisted in the evacuation of the building.

RESTROOMS

Please visit the lower level of the venue for restrooms.

OCTOBER 21–27, 2023 DAVID GEFFEN SCHOOL OF DRAMA AT YALE James Bundy, Elizabeth Parker Ware Dean Florie Seery, Associate Dean Chantal Rodriguez, Associate Dean Carla L. Jackson, Assistant Dean Liz Diamond, Chair, Directing Program PRESENTS

SUZAN-LORI PARKS DIRECTED BY BOBBIN RAMSEY BY

Music Direction, Orchestration, and Additional Music

Liam Bellman-Sharpe Scenic Designer

Patti Panyakaew Costume Designer

Caroline Tyson

Lighting Designer

Ankit Pandey

Sound Designer

Joe Krempetz Projection Designer

Doaa Ouf

Production Dramaturg

Gabrielle Hoyt

Technical Director

Fucking A is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. concordtheatricals.com SEASON SPONSOR

Alex Theisen

Fight and Intimacy Directors

Kelsey Rainwater Michael Rossmy Stage Manager

Aura Michelle 4

This production is supported by the Benjamin Mordecai III Production Fund.

cast

in alphabetical order: Third Hunter/Freedom Fund Lady/ Waiting Woman #1............................................................................ Mariah Copeland The Mayor/Scribe/Freshly Freed Prisoner.................... Michael Allyn Crawford Hester............................................................................................ Giovanna Drummond Second Hunter/Guard/Waiting Woman #2/ Freshly Freed Prisoner............................................................................ Sufiyan Farmer Butcher....................................................................................................... Ariyan Kassam Canary Mary/Freshly Freed Prisoner............................................. Augustine Lorrie First Hunter/Jailbait................................................................................ Jahsiah Mussig The First Lady................................................................................................ Anna Roman Boy/Monster............................................................................................... (Vin) Tré Scott

swing............................................................................................................ Karen Canary Mary, First Lady, Third Hunter............................................. Karen Killeen

setting A small town in a small country in the middle of nowhere There will be a 10-minute intermission.

content guidance This production includes explicit language; simulated violence; brief and partial nudity; simulated sexual assault; descriptions of torture; use of stage blood; and themes surrounding death, incarceration, unwanted pregnancy, abortion, sex work, infertility, and class oppression.

recording and photo policy

The videotaping or making of electronic or other audio and/or visual recordings of this production and distributing recordings or streams in any medium, including the internet, is strictly prohibited, a violation of the author(s)’s rights and actionable under United States states copyright law. For more information, please visit: concordtheatricals.com/resources/protecting-artists

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This production of Fucking A is rooted in the inspiration and generosity of its crew, creative team, and cast. Their work has created and defined tonight’s production—and provided the material for this note. What you’ll read below represents a tiny portion of their collective wisdom. I am grateful to them, for all that they shared…and to you, for reading.

—Gabrielle Hoyt, Production Dramaturg

An otherworldly tale…

Fucking A is a pro-abortion play set in an anti-abortion world. It is a prison-abolitionist play that depicts the perverse logic of incarceration.

Intermingling violence and care, optimism and despair, this staggering piece asks: at a time when hope feels like delusion, how can hope thrive? And in a place where love leads inevitably to pain, how can love make a difference?

…involving a noble Mother…

Conceived by Suzan-Lori Parks in the late 1990s and first produced in 2000, this loose Scarlet Letter adaptation originated at an unwitting halfway point: 27 years after Roe v. Wade and 22 years before Dobbs v. Jackson. The first Supreme Court ruling affirmed the constitutional right to an abortion. The second invalidated that right.

The dystopian Fucking A (which exists, like many of Parks’s theatrical worlds, in the past, or the present, or some other place-time altogether) imagines a town where every street has become a back alley. The topic of reproductive health, now reviled, is siloed to a stigmatized language called Talk. While abortion still exists in a semi-legal form, its practitioners, including protagonist Hester Smith, bear (and bare) branded 6

skin that announces their profession.

Ostracized yet needed, Hester is a woman divided. She works continually— obsessed with earning money to free her incarcerated son—but lacks the tools to interrogate what she does, why she does it, or the systems that marginalize her. In her strongest moments, Hester resists, enabling those around her to assert their bodily autonomy. But at her lowest point, she capitulates to her own shame, robbing others of choice and enacting misogynistic violence.

…her wayward Son…

Parks wrote her play at a tipping point for reproductive justice and from the center of a half-century (from the 1970s to the 2020s) of U.S. mass incarceration.

In Fucking A, the playwright sees the oppression of anti-abortion and proimprisonment policies as inextricably linked, and depicts, as she so often does, the unimaginable choices that her characters must make to survive within these systems.

Fucking A’s unsparing gaze extends from Hester Smith to her son, Boy, who has spent thirty years imprisoned for a childhood infraction. Now a man, Boy still carries the internal marks of his felony conviction, what Ava DuVernay’s authoritative documentary 13th calls “the scarlet letter that follows you for

the rest of your life.” Though Boy strives for autonomy, his very body exists at odds with the labyrinthine system of laws that entrap him.

Like his mother, Boy carries irreconcilable contradictions. He struggles to separate his own identity from how he is perceived. He proves, within the play, an agent of both tenderness and cruelty. And like Hester, Boy resists both approval and condemnation. To label him—or Hester—as either wholly bad or good is to uphold the very moral absolutes that Fucking A rejects. But in a world

of brutality and extremes, no middle ground exists.

It is not comfortable, in 2023, for a character or a play to exist in these in-between spaces. But by crafting a narrative that refuses easy answers, Parks has made her underlying message clear. Within a society built of moral compromises, all are compromised.

And in a community founded on oppression, no one’s really free. It’s a mark of her skill that in constructing a not-so-warped version of our own world, Suzan-Lori Parks galvanizes us to imagine something better. Fucking A, however, demands nothing less.

…and others.

As our first week of rehearsals ended, director Bobbin Ramsey asked the cast of Fucking A what they hoped to convey to the audience. Here is what they said:

I want you…

…to realize that this story isn’t as far from reality as it may seem; it inches closer every day. …to walk away thinking about whether the scarcities of our world force us into choices—and to ask where we can still find autonomy, connection, and hope. …to actively choose love. To fight against structures. To realize that radical love is the answer, and to find the humans behind the masks. …to understand that in a society that continues to dehumanize us, love is our greatest weapon—but it costs something. …to ask how your duties oppress you. …to understand motherhood as both a treacherous job and precious gift, and to realize that you are not defined by what’s been done to you. …to leave here and call your home, or the people you consider home. …to become a radical leftist. …to identify systems that benefit off disconnection and the disposability of real people; to practice radical love as an act of abolitionism.

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cast

in alphabetical order Mariah Copeland she/her (Third Hunter/Freedom Fund Lady/Waiting Woman #1/Music Captain) is a second-year actor at David Geffen School of Drama, where she has worked on furlough’s paradise by a.k. payne as well as play at Yale Summer Cabaret. Mariah has acted in productions at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Northlight Theatre, About Face Theatre, BoHo Theatre, and others in her hometown of Chicago. She graduated from Northwestern University, where she received a B.A. in theater. If this story moves you, find National and state specific bail funds at communityjusticeexchange.org.

Michael Allyn Crawford (The

Mayor/Scribe/Freshly Freed Prisoner) is a fourth-year actor at David Geffen School of Drama, where credits include Julius Caesar directed by Garrett Allen, Rent Free by Danielle Stagger, and Bodas de sangre/Blood Wedding.

Michael was also seen in soft apples at Yale Cabaret.

Giovanna Drummond (Hester) is a Brazilian-American M.F.A. candidate in her fourth year at David Geffen School of Drama, where her credits include The Winter’s Tale, Marys Seacole, Affinity, and Blood Wedding.

She debuted at Yale Rep last season, understudying and performing the role of Martha in Edward Albee’s 8

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.

She holds a B.F.A. in theater and journalism from NYU, where she studied at the Experimental Theater Wing. Eterna gratidão a minha família. abortionfunds.org abortionfinder.org

Sufiyan Farmer he/him (Second Hunter/Guard/Waiting Woman #2/ Musician/ Freshly Freed Prisoner) is a fourth year M.F.A. acting candidate at David Geffen School of Drama, where his credits include The Cherry Orchard, Esme by Doug Robinson, and How to Live on Earth. Other credits include Ser Humano by Rudi Goblin (Yale Summer Cabaret) and Daybreak (Netflix).

Sufiyan would like to thank God, his Mama, John, his professors, and the cast and crew of Fucking A. Ariyan Kassam (Butcher) is a second-year M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama. Ariyan is a British-born actor raised in Nairobi, Kenya, as well as Johannesburg, South Africa. In the States, he has appeared in Roger Guenveur Smith’s The Hendrix Project (Under the Radar Festival, The Public Theater), A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by Mary Lou Rosato, and Jackie directed by Blake Harris (CalArts). He has also been featured in television series such as Fuller House (Netflix), Legion (FX), and The Great Pretender (Netflix). He also holds a B.F.A. in acting from CalArts. This is his first production at the Geffen School, and he’s grateful to be a part of it.

Augustine Lorrie she/they (Canary Mary/Freshly Freed Prisoner) is a Trans & Queer artist, and final-year actor at David Geffen School of Drama, where she appeared in Julius Caesar, Next to Normal, and Hedda Gabler.

Other credits include Four Meddling Kids, The Hedgehog’s Dilemma (Yale Cabaret); Love’s Labour’s Lost (Prague Shakespeare Company); and The Hands That Feed Me (Sicily Theatre). B.F.A. in acting, University of California, Santa Barbara. XX, XY, XXY, XYY, XO, XXX, XXXY, XXXXY, PCOS, Menopause, Fa’afafine, Hijra, Two-Spirit, Enheduanna + Innana + Pilipili. Trans Liberation Now. Black Lives Matter.

Pro Black Women. augustinelorrie@gmail.com Jahsiah Mussig (First Hunter/Jailbait) is a second-year actor at David Geffen School of Drama. He made his debut at the School in Color Boy during The Carlotta Festival, spring 2023. He received his B.F.A. at The Mason Gross School of the Arts. He wants to thank the director for their care and their love.

Anna Roman she/her (The First Lady) is a second-year M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama, where she has been seen in How to Live on Earth. Other credits include comfort katchy’s stray dogs and The Lighthouse Keepers (Yale Cabaret); The Dreamer Examines His Pillow (Tampa Repertory Theatre), Sofya-Levitsky Weitz’s Cannabis Passover and Pride and Prejudice (Chautauqua Theater

Company). She has a B.F.A. in theater performance from the University of Florida. She is honored to have worked with this inspiring and intentional team and dedicates her performance to her sister. Love to Mom, Dad, and E. @a.rom

(Vin)/Tré Scott he/him (Boy/ Monster) is a multi-hyphenate artist from West Oakland, California, in his second year of the acting program at David Geffen School of Drama. Tré is very blessed to be supporting this story for the community. Tré dedicates this exploration to his collective Young Hot Thespian, all his brothers, and those affected by the prison industrial complex both directly and indirectly (that’s all of you).

swing Karen Killeen (swing for Canary

Mary, First Lady, Third Hunter) is feeling very privileged to support the company of Fucking A and sincerely hopes you will never see her.

creative team

in alphabetical order Liam Bellman-Sharpe (Music

Direction, Orchestration, and Additional Music) feels like a seventhyear student, but actually graduated from David Geffen School of Drama’s sound design program in 2020. Liam received a Bachelor of Music from Melbourne University, majoring in

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creative team composition and voice. Recent music direction and orchestration credits include The Winter’s Tale (Hartford Stage, 2023), The Winter’s Tale (Geffen School, 2023), and Which Way to the Stage (MCC Theater, 2022). As a sound designer, composer, orchestrator, and music director, Liam’s work has been heard in the U.S., the U.K., Europe, Hong Kong, and Australia.

Gabrielle Hoyt she/her (Production Dramaturg) is a fourth-year M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama. Her past curricular productions at the School include Macbeth (directed by Bobbin Ramsey), rent free by Danielle Stagger, and 中

by Stefani Kuo. She’s also worked at Yale Cabaret. Gabrielle researches and writes about topics at the nexus of Jewishness and musical theater.

She has published with Hey Alma and American Theatre, and this coming year, her articles will appear in Theater magazine and a special issue of Studies in Musical Theatre. Gabrielle is the recipient of the 2023 John W. Gassner Memorial Prize for her essay “Reviving Jewishness.” A graduate of Yale College, she previously worked as a literary manager at Round House Theatre.

Joe Krempetz (Sound Designer) is a sound designer and composer from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Recent credits include Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Yale

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Rep), Julius Caesar (David Geffen School of Drama), Transpositions (Yale Schwarzman Center), and Upwelling (multiple Bay Area venues).

As an engineer, Joe has worked with Microsoft, Stanford University, Berkeley Rep, Theaterworks Silicon Valley, IFAI, and many others. Recently, Joe designed sound for Voices of the New Belarus, an installation for the Oslo Freedom Forum. He is easily Google-able.

Aura Michelle (Stage Manager)

is a second-year M.F.A. candidate from Canada. Her recent stage management credits include The Winter’s Tale, Macbeth, rent free (David Geffen School of Drama); Romeo et Juliette and Kiss Me, Kate (Central City Opera); Shakespeare’s Women, Love and Information, and Dead Man’s Cell Phone (University of Victoria, Phoenix Theatre, her alma mater). Aura feels deeply honoured to work with the talented and generous production company of Fucking A, and in particular wishes to thank her teammate, Thomas Nagata.

Doaa Ouf (Projection Designer)

is the Co-Artistic Director of Yale Cabaret Season 56: Sandbox and a second-year M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama.

Before starting her M.F.A., Doaa worked as a director, producer, and projection designer for both theater and film. Select credits include

the betrayal project (Yale Summer Cabaret, projection designer), the Dwight/Edgewood Project (director), the ripple, the wave that carried me home (Yale Rep, assistant projection designer), Gypsy (Yale Arts Coalition, associate projections designer), Dragaret (Yale Cabaret, projections designer), Popcorn Falls (Walnut Street Theatre, associate director), The 5 Stages (producer/director), Murder by Midnight (Rutgers, director), The Spitfire Grill (Rutgers, associate director), Summer Play Fest (producer).

She is a graduate of Rutgers University and is originally from Cairo, Egypt. doaaouf.com

Ankit Pandey (Lighting Designer) is a

second-year M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama. They cofounded Tech Quartet, a New Delhibased lighting, visuals, and design firm. Their portfolio includes work with Dastan Live, The Winter’s Tale (the Geffen School), The International Collaboration’s Festival, and 6x10 New Play Festival at Yale Cabaret.

“Enjoy the blue lights.” @pandey0506

Patti Panyakaew (Scenic Designer) is a second-year M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama.

She received her bachelor’s degree in architecture from Chulalongkorn University in her hometown, Bangkok, Thailand. Her credits include The Rasa Jar and Every Brilliant Thing (assistant) at Yale Cabaret, Constellations with Yale College, and The Brightest

Thing in the World at Yale Repertory Theatre (assistant). She is also a costume illustrator with a recent credit on The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical at La Jolla Playhouse. Prior to Yale, she worked as an interior architect and has designed workspace, retail, and residential projects around Bangkok. pattipanyakaew.com

Kelsey Rainwater (Fight and Intimacy Director) is an intimacy coach, fight director, and actress based out of the ancestral lands of the Quinnipiac people. Kelsey’s work was recently seen in the premiere of Sally & Tom at the Guthrie. Some of her other credits include In the Southern Breeze at Rattlestick, The Public Theater’s Measure for Measure and White Noise

by Suzan-Lori Parks, directed by Oskar Eustis; the ripple, the wave that carried me home, A Raisin in the Sun (canceled due to COVID-19), Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles at Yale Rep; Blues for an Alabama Sky with the Keen Company; and Bess Wohl’s film, Baby Ruby. She is a Lecturer in Acting at David Geffen School of Drama, co-teaching stage combat and intimacy, and is a Resident Fight and Intimacy Director for Yale Rep. Bobbin Ramsey (Director) is a fourth-year M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama dedicated to telling complex stories about the beautiful messiness of 11

creative team human existence. Through visceral theatricality, the creation of communal experiences, and complex stories Bobbin aims to create a more just, connected, and compassionate world through art. Recent work includes The Betrayal Project at Yale Summer Cabaret; UDO at Yale Cabaret; and Macbeth and Wake at David Geffen School of Drama. Other notable productions include Charise Castro Smith’s Feathers and Teeth; Clare Barron’s Dance Nation; Jennifer Haley’s The Nether; Alice Birch’s Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again.; BrechtFest, an original mash-up of Brecht plays served over a three-course brunch; and a site-specific Waiting for Godot performed on a Seattle pier. Bobbin would like to thank the incredible team of Fucking A for all of their work in telling this urgent story.

Michael Rossmy (Fight and Intimacy Director) is a Resident Fight and Intimacy Director for Yale Rep, a lecturer in acting at David Geffen School of Drama, and the Stage Combat and Intimacy Advisor for Yale College. Broadway credits include A Tale of Two Cities, Cymbeline, and Superior Donuts.

Regional theater credits include The Public Theater, Westport Country Playhouse, Goodspeed Musicals, Paper Mill Playhouse, Asolo Rep, The Old Globe, TheaterWorks Hartford, Princeton University, The Acting Company, Soho Rep, 12

the Geffen Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, McCarter Theatre, Kansas City Rep, People’s Light & Theatre, and others. He was nominated for a 2017 Drama Desk Award for his work on Troilus and Cressida for The Public Theater’s production in Central Park. Recent credits include Cyrano De Bergerac at Kansas City Rep directed by Nelson T. Eusebio III and the world premiere of Bonez written and directed by Steve Broadnax III. Upcoming is the New York premiere of Sally & Tom by Suzan-Lori Parks.

Alex Theisen (Technical Director) is a technical manager from New York, currently based in New Haven.

She is pursuing an M.F.A. in technical design and production at David Geffen School of Drama. She is very excited about the opportunity to collaborate and create with like-minded people and make art.

Caroline Tyson (Costume Designer)

is a second-year M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama.

Recent costume design credits include Bat Boy: The Musical (Weston Drama Workshop), Marry Me A Little (Yale Cabaret), and Twelfth Night (The Public Theater Children’s Shakespeare Ensemble). Assistant/associate design credits include productions at The Juilliard School, Cincinnati Opera, Barrington Stage, Berkeley Rep, and Lincoln Center Theater. B.A., University of Maryland, Baltimore County. carolinetyson.com

Suzan-Lori Parks (Playwright) is one of the most acclaimed playwrights in American drama today. She is the first African-American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize in Drama, is a MacArthur “Genius” Award recipient, and in 2015 was awarded the prestigious Gish Prize for Excellence in the Arts, among numerous other grants and awards. Parks’s project 365 Days/365 Plays was produced in over 700 theaters worldwide. Her adaptation of The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess won the 2012 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. Her other plays include Topdog/Underdog (2002 Pulitzer Prize winner); The Book of Grace; Unchain My Heart: The Ray Charles Musical; In the Blood (2000 Pulitzer Prize finalist); Venus (1996 OBIE Award); The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World; Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom (1990 OBIE Award, Best New American Play); The America Play; and Father Comes Home From The Wars, Parts 1, 2 & 3 (Horton Foote Price, Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama, and 2015 Pulitzer Prize Finalist).

Concord Theatricals is the world’s most significant theatrical company, comprising the catalogs of R&H Theatricals, Samuel French, TamsWitmark and The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection, plus dozens of new signings each year. Our unparalleled roster includes the work of Irving Berlin, Agatha Christie,

George & Ira Gershwin, Marvin Hamlisch, Lorraine Hansberry, Kander & Ebb, Tom Kitt, Ken Ludwig, Marlow & Moss, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Anaïs Mitchell, Dominique Morisseau, Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Thornton Wilder, and August Wilson.

We are the only firm providing truly comprehensive services to the creators and producers of plays and musicals, including theatrical licensing, music publishing, script publishing, cast recording, and firstclass production. @concordshows The Benjamin Mordecai III Production Fund, established by a graduate of the School, honors the memory of the Tony Award-winning producer who served as Associate Dean and Chair of the Theater Management program at David Geffen School of Drama from 1993 until his death in 2005. During his tenure as Yale Rep’s Managing Director alongside Dean/ Artistic Director Lloyd Richards, 1982–1993, he developed a model of professional producing that changed the course of new play development in the American theater.

His 25 Broadway credits included Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, as well as work by Anna Deavere Smith, Athol Fugard, David Henry Hwang, Terrence McNally, Robert Schenkkan, and perhaps most significantly August Wilson, with whom he collaborated on each of the ten plays in the epic 20th-Century Cycle.

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FOR THIS PRODUCTION ARTISTIC

Lightboard Programmer

Anthony Robles

Projection Content Creator

Assistant Scenic Designer

Assistant Costume Designer

Laize Qin

Assistant Lighting Designer

Gib Gibney

Assistant Projection Designer

Wiktor Freifeld

Assistant Sound Designer and Engineer

Minjae Kim

Sound Assistant

Joyce Ciesil

Yung-Hung Sung Ke Xu

Projection Programmer

John Horzen

Projection Engineer

Yun Wu

Properties Manager

Matthew Phillips Stage Carpenter

Caileigh Potter Run Crew

Assistant Stage Manager

Theo Sung, David Anthony-Ken DeCarolis, Robert Salerno, Kavya Shetty, Micah Ohno, Elliot Valentine, Joy Chen, Max Monnig, Lara Sachdeva

PRODUCTION

ADMINISTRATION

Music Captain

Mariah Copeland Thomas Nagata

Production Manager

Associate Managing Director

Luanne Jubsee

A.J. Roy

Associate Production Manager

Assistant Managing Director

Leo Surach

Ramona Li

Assistant Technical Directors

Management Assistants

Cathy Ho T Morris-Thompson Production Electrician

Kino Dick Alvarez

Associate Production Electrician

Timothy “TJ” Wildow

Associate Safety Manager

Steph Burke

Joy Chen Sarah Saifi

House Manager

Maya Louise Shed

SPECIAL THANKS

Garrett Allen, Nissy Aya, Sarah Benson, Valerie Curtis-Newton, Awoye Timpo, Samantha Van Der Merwe, Sammy Zeisel

drama.yale.edu 14

David Geffen School of Drama Staff Elizabeth Parker Ware Dean James Bundy Associate Dean Florie Seery Associate Dean Chantal Rodriguez Assistant Dean Carla L. Jackson

academic programs Chair, Acting Program Tamilla Woodard

Co-Chairs, Design Program Riccardo Hernández Toni-Leslie James Chair, Directing Program Liz Diamond Chair, Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism Program Catherine Sheehy Co-Chairs, Playwriting Program Anne Erbe Marcus Gardley Chair, Stage Management Program Narda E. Alcorn Chair, Technical Design and Production Program Shaminda Amarakoon Chair, Theater Management Program Joan Channick

Senior Administrative Assistant to the Dean and Associate Dean Josie Brown Senior Administrative Assistant for Directing, Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism, Playwriting, and Stage Management Laurie Coppola Senior Administrative Assistant for Design Kate Begley Baker Senior Administrative Assistant for the Acting Program Krista DeVellis

Lead Carpenters Ryan Gardner Doug Kester Kat McCarthey Sharon Reinhart Carpentry Intern Isaac Lau

Painting

Paint Shop Supervisor Ru-Jun Wang Scenic Artists Lia Akkerhuis Nathan Jasunas Paint Interns Nicole Goldstein Laam Tsang

Library Services Erin Carney

Properties

production

Properties Craftsperson David P. Schrader

Production Management

Properties Supervisor Jennifer McClure

Director of Production Shaminda Amarakoon

Properties Associate Zach Faber

Production Manager Jonathan Reed Production Manager for Studio Projects and Special Events C. Nikki Mills

Properties Stock Manager Mark Dionne

Scenery

Costume Shop Manager Christine Szczepanski

Technical Director for Yale Rep Neil Mulligan

Properties Intern Destany Langfield

Costumes

Senior Drapers Clarissa Wylie Youngberg Mary Zihal

artistic management

Production Stage Manager James Mountcastle

Technical Directors for David Geffen School of Drama Latiana “LT” Gourzong Matt Welander

Senior Artistic Producer, Yale Repertory Theatre Amy Boratko

Electro Mechanical Laboratory Supervisor Eric Lin

Associate Producer, Yale Repertory Theatre Kay Perdue Meadows

Scene Shop Supervisor Eric Sparks

Costume Project Coordinator Linda Kelley-Dodd

Senior Lead Carpenter Matt Gaffney

Costume Stock Manager Jamie Farkas

Artistic Fellows Jisun Kim Madeline Pages

Interim Senior Draper Susan Aziz Senior First Hands Deborah Bloch Patricia Van Horn

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David Geffen School of Drama Staff Additional Costume Staff Monique Fazzone

administration

Costume Interns Amani Jaramoga Annie Wang

Associate Managing Directors Jake Hurwitz Chloe Knight A.J. Roy

Electrics

Lighting Supervisor Donald W. Titus

Assistant Managing Director Ramona Li

Senior House Electricians Jennifer Carlson Linda-Cristal Young

Interim Senior Administrative Assistant to the Managing Director and General Manager Sarah Masotta

Electricians Katie Brown Alary Sutherland Ryan White

Sound

Management Assistants Joy Chen Sarah Saifi

Sound Supervisor Mike Backhaus

Company Manager Fanny Abib-Rozenberg

Senior Lead Sound Engineer Stephanie Smith

Assistant Company Managers Iyanna Huffington Whitney Taylor Ybarra

Sound Intern Robert Salerno

Projections

Projection Supervisor Anja Powell

Development and Alumni Affairs

Stage Operations

Senior Director of Development and Alumni Affairs Deborah S. Berman

Lead Wardrobe Supervisor Elizabeth Bolster

Deputy Director of Operations for Development and Alumni Affairs Susan C. Clark

Stage Carpenter Janet Cunningham

Lead Properties Runner William Ordynowicz Lead Light Board Programmer Sabrina Idom Front of House Mix Engineer Abe Joyner-Meyers

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General Management

Senior Associate Director of Development Casey Grambo Associate Director of Development and Alumni Affairs Jacob Santos Assistant Director of Development and Alumni Affairs Maya Louise Shed

Senior Writer and Development and Alumni Affairs Officer Robert DiGioia Senior Administrative Assistant to Development and Alumni Affairs Jennifer E. Alzona Development Associate Delaney Kelley Development Assistant Iyanna Huffington Whitney

Finance, Human Resources, and Digital Technology Director of Finance and Business Administration/ Lead Administrator Nicola Blake Finance Consultants Regina Bejnerowicz Katherine D. Burgueño Denise Zaczek Director of Human Resources Trinh DiNoto Director, Yale Tessitura Consortium, and Web Technology Janna J. Ellis Manager, Business Operations Martha Boateng Business Office Analyst Shainn Reaves Digital Communications Associate George Tinari Business Office Specialists Moriah Clarke Karem Orellana-Flores Business Office Assistant Asberry Thomas

Digital Technology Associates Edison Dule Garry Heyward

Interim Senior Administrative Assistant for Marketing and Communications Rachel Zwick

Database Application Consultants Ben Silvert Erich Bolton Bo Du

Marketing and Communications Assistant Mithra Seyedi

Financial Aid and Admissions

Financial Aid Officer Andre Messiah Registrar/Admissions Administrator Ariel Yan Assistant to Financial Aid and Admissions Laura Torino

Marketing, Communications, and Audience Services Director of Marketing Daniel Cress

Director of Communications Steven Padla Senior Associate Director of Marketing and Communications Caitlin Griffin Associate Director of Marketing and Communications Samanta Cubias Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications Andrew Aaron Valdez Senior Administrative Assistant for Marketing and Communications Mishelle Raza—on leave

Publications Manager Marguerite Elliott Production Photographer T. Charles Erickson Videographer David Kane Director of Audience Services Laura Kirk Assistant Director of Audience Services Shane Quinn Subscriptions Coordinator Tracy Baldini Audience Services Associate Molly Leona Customer Service and Safety Officers Ralph Black, Jr. Kevin Delaney Ed Jooss Box Office Assistants Pilar Bylinsky Jordi Bertrán Ramírez Emma Fusco Sydney Raine Garick Jordan Graf Kenneth Murray a.k. payne Accessibility Assistant Prentiss Patrick-Carter

theater safety and occupational health Director of Theater Safety and Occupational Health Anna Glover Assistant Director of Theater Safety Kelly O’Loughlin Associate Safety Advisors Victoria McNaughton Steph Burke

operations

Director of Facility Operations Nadir Balan Operations Associate Brandon Fuller Operations Assistant Kelvin Essilfie Arts and Graduate Studies Superintendents Jennifer Draughn Francisco Eduardo Pimentel Custodial Team Leaders Andrew Mastriano Sherry Stanley Facility Stewards Ronald Douglas Marcia Riley Custodians Tylon Frost Willia Grant Cassandra Hobby Melloney Lucas Shanna Ramos Jerome Sonia

Fucking A, October 21–27, 2023.

University Theatre, 222 York Street, New Haven, Connecticut.

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D AV I D G E F F E N S C H O O L O F D R A M A

ALSO THIS SEASON DECEMBER 9–15

UNCLE VANYA

by Anton Chekhov adapted by Annie Baker working with a literal translation by Margarita Shalina and the original Russian text directed by Sammy Zeisel

JANUARY 20–26

CLEANSED

by Sarah Kane directed by Garrett Allen

TICKETS: drama.yale.edu/productions

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