written by OCTAVIO SOLISmusic by MARCOS LOYA

Scenic Design Costume Design Lighting Design Musical DirectorCLIFF FAULKNER SHIGERU YAJI LONNIE ALCARAZ MARCOS LOYA

Choreographer Production Manager Stage ManagerLINDA KOSTALIK JEFF GIFFORD *RICHARD SOTO

directed by DIANE RODRIGUEZSADIE AND BRIAN FINNEGAN, Honorary Producers

The Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund has provided major support for the commissioning, workshopand production of LA POSADA MAGICA through its New Works for Young Audiences Program.

PERFORMING ARTS NETWORK / SOUTH COAST REPERTORY SCR -1

SCSECOND STAGE • DECEMBER 7 THROUGH DECEMBER 23, 2001

David Emmes Martin BensonProducing Artistic Director Artistic Director

presents

o S o u h t eper o

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CAST OF CHARACTERS(in order of appearance)

Horacio ........................................................................... *Geoffrey RivasGracie .................................................................. *Tiffany Ellen SolanoEli, Lauro, Bones ............................................................. *Richard CocaMom, Mariluz ................................................................. *Teresa VelardePapi, Jose Cruz ............................................................... *Danny BoleroRefugio, Buzzard ................................................................. *Sol CastilloConsuelo, Widow ............................................................. *Denise BlasorCaridad, Widow ............................................................. *Carla JimenezMusicians, Ensemble ........................ Marcos Loya, Lorenzo Martinez

SETTING:Christmas Eve. The present.

LENGTH:Approximately two hours including one 15-minute intermission

PRODUCTION STAFFCasting Director ................................................................................ Joanne DeNautProduction Assistant ............................................................................. Karen CecilioAssistant to the Lighting Designer ................................................. Amber GrunwalStage Management Intern ................................................................ Barbra Pushies

Cellular phones, beepers and watch alarms should be turned off or set to non-audible mode during the performance. Please refrain from unwrapping candy or making

other noises that may disturb surrounding patrons.

The use of cameras and recorders in the theatre is prohibited.Smoking is not permitted anywhere in the theatre.

* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers.

Official Airline Media Partner

PERFORMING ARTS NETWORK / SOUTH COAST REPERTORY SCR - 3

The Historical Processionof Las Posadas

The familiar story of Joseph and Mary’s long-ago search for lodgingsis related every year at Christmastime in churches and homes theworld over. But in many Latin countries, it actually comes to lifeagain each December, reenacted for nine consecutive nights in

the festive ritual of Las Posadas, which means inns, or lodgings.The idea of commemorating the Holy Family’s journey to Bethle-

hem can be traced to St. Ignatius Loyola, in the 16th Century. He suggest-ed a Christmas novena, special prayers to be said on nine successive days.In 1850, St. John of the Cross made a religious pageant out of the proceed-ings, and seven years later the nine-day remembrance was introduced tothe Indians in Mexico by Spanish missionaries.

Solemn and deeply religious in feeling at first, the observancessoon became imbued with a spirit of fun and, eventually, left the churchand began to be celebrated in people’s homes. The posadas have becomecommunity affairs with friends, relatives and neighbors sharing in the fes-tivities and visiting a different house each evening.

The posada begins with a procession that sets off as soon as it getsdark. Often a child dressed as an angel goes first, followed by two morechildren carrying figures of Mary and Joseph on a small litter adornedwith twigs. After more boys and girls come the lead figures, then come thegrown-ups and last of all the musicians. Singing or chanting special posa-da songs, they all walk slowly along, each person carrying a lighted can-dle. When the procession reaches the house chosen for that evening, itdivides into two groups, one representing the holy pilgrims, the other theinnkeepers.

The pilgrims line up behind the angel and the children bearing thefigures of the Holy Family, and they file through the house until they ar-rive at a closed door, behind which the innkeepers have stationed them-selves. The pilgrims knock on the door and call out in song, asking forshelter. A chorus of voices on the other side asks: “Who knocks at my doorso late in the night?”

The pilgrims respond. “In the name of Heaven I beg you for lodging– my beloved wife can no longer travel, and she is weary.” But the re-sponse is a stony, hardhearted refusal. “This is no inn. Go away!” Afterrepeated requests for shelter, the pilgrims explain who they are and thatMary will soon give birth to the Son of God. The innkeepers relent andwelcome the exhausted travelers: “Enter, holy pilgrims. Come into ourhumble dwelling and into our hearts. The night is one of joy, for here be-neath our roof we shelter the Mother of God.”

Everyone enters the room and kneels in prayer, after which theparty moves out to the patio for fireworks and fun. Small baskets ofsweets, called colaciones, are offered along with sandwiches, cookies anda fruited punch – and then it’s time for the most exciting moment of all –the breaking of the fancifully decorated candy and nut-filled piñata.Sometimes there are separate parties for different age groups – one forteenagers and another for the younger children. In Mexico City, especial-ly, so many posadas are held that active partygoers can manage to attendfour or five in one evening . . . and the festivities often go on until dawn.

Over time, posadas have been tailored by their respective commu-nities, so that a remarkable variety of posada styles can be found through-out Mexico and the Southwestern United States.

‘Vamos A Pie’Vamos a pie caminandoCaminando, caminandoUna posada BuscandoBuscando para El.

Velas prendidas alumbranLa noche más santa de DiosEste camino terminaEn oración.

Vamos con fe caminandoCaminando, caminandoLos angeles saben cuandoSaben cuando llegará.

A la posada más lindaLlena de luz y amorEn esta noche veremosAl Redentor.

Vamos a pie caminandoCaminando, caminandoUna posada buscandoBuscando buscando.

‘Este Canto Mio’Este canto mío canto con pasiónPor el Niño Dios quien es mi salvaciónSi mi voz al cielo no alcanzaEs porque le falta esperanza

Chorus:Gloria gloria gloria al SeñorEschuchame y hazme el favorQuiero ver el Rey de la humanidadEn la Noche Buena de la Navidad.

Mucho gusto siento en mi corazónCada vez que canto, santa es mi canciónYa se acerca el momento deEl Nacimiento de la Nueva Fe.

(repeat Chorus)

Words by Octavio Solis; music by Marcos Loya

*DENISE BLASOR (Consuelo/Widow)returns to SCR this season for her sixthyear in La PosadaMágica. She waslast seen at theOdyssey Theatrein Koan’s newadaptation ofFaust (part oneand two) directedby Ron Sossi. Sheappeared at LosAngeles TheatreCenter as the Bride in Blood Wedding, di-rected by Margarita Galban, which theLos Angeles Times named one of theyear’s top productions. She is Artistic Di-rector of Los Angeles Diversified TheaterCompany, where she adapted and per-formed in The Three Sisters and appearedin the Ovation Award-nominated produc-tion of He Who Gets Slapped, directed byDan Shor. She also performed with theoriginal musical production of Caderas atLATC. Other stage credits include lead-ing roles in the world premiere of Houseof the Spirits at LATC; Yerma, Lorca andWomen Without Men for Bilingual Foun-dation of the Arts; Cervantes’ Interludesat Stages, directed by Florinel Fatulescu;The Good Woman of Setzuan at theOdyssey Theatre, directed by Ron Sossi;Made in Lanus, directed by Lillian Gar-rett at the Old Globe Theatre; and Ac-celerando, Puntila & Matti and The Bac-chae at the Odyssey Theatre. She playedJuana in The False Chronicle of Juana LaLoca at the Festival Cervantino De Gua-najuato in Mexico and has performed inSpain and Puerto Rico. Ms. Blasor’s filmcredits include The Disappearance ofGarcia Lorca with Andy Garcia, Univers’ldirected by Ana Nicholas, and Noriega,God’s Favorite with Bob Hoskins, directedby Roger Spottiswoode. In January shewill be performing at BFA in the new pro-duction of Loren’s Women.

*DANNY BOLERO (Papi/Jose Cruz) isa Los Angeles native and graduate of theAmerican Center for Music Theatre. Heis thrilled to be making his SCR debut. Afounding member of the Plaza de la RazaPlayers under the direction of Margo Al-

bert, he has ap-peared onstagefrom California toBroadway. Re-cently he had theprivilege of star-ring as Abrahamin the premiereof Selena, A Cele-bration of Life inLos Angeles. OnBroadway he originated the role ofNapthali in Joseph and the AmazingTechnicolor Dreamcoat starring MichaelDamien, then appeared in the first na-tional tour with Sam Harris. Other recentcredits include Man of La Mancha, Evita(Drama-Logue Award, Best Actor), TheMystery of Edwin Drood and The WorldGoes Round. Regionally he has per-formed in A Chorus Line, One Flew Overthe Cuckoo’s Nest, Broadway Sings Out,Side by Side by Sondheim, Bird of Quin-tain, Nine, West Side Story, Pacific Over-tures, Show Boat with Van Johnson aswell as Man of La Mancha with RobertGoulet. Television credits include “Judg-ing Amy,” “Down Home,” “Beverly Hills90210,” the television pilot “Los Alverez”and “JAG.” He would like to thank hisfamily, friends and his agent Eric at theBobby Ball Agency in Los Angeles. Hededicates this work to the memory of hismother and father who keep him believ-ing that impossible dreams can cometrue.

*SOL CASTILLO (Refugio/Buzzard) isproud to return to SCR for his second sea-son of La PosadaMágica. He wasseen in the SCRworld premiereThe HollowLands and thePacific Play-wrights Festivalworkshop of Ref-erences to Sal-vador Dali MakeMe Hot. At San Diego Repertory he ap-peared in Zoot Suit, The Imaginary In-valid and Barrio Hollywood. Other the-atre credits include Veteranos: A Trib-

ute,West Side Story, Bye Bye Birdie andTalking to Yellow Roses. Mr. Castillo waslast seen in Showtime’s production Resur-rection Blvd. and will be seen in ValorProductions feature film Who’s JamesCagney? He dedicates his performanceto his family, and is grateful for their loveand support.

*RICHARD COCA (Eli/Lauro/Bones)appeared in the Pacific Playwrights Festi-val’s workshopsof Cusi Cram’sLandlocked andJosé Rivera’s Ref-erences to Sal-vador Dali MakeMe Hot–both di-rected by JulietteCarrillo. He wasseen in the WestCoast premiere ofSam Shepard’s Eyes for Consuela at theMagic Theatre in San Francisco. He ap-peared in the Evelina Fernandez pennedfeature film, Luminarias, directed byJose Luis Valenzuela, and the film TheMexican, directed by Gore Verbinski. Asa writer he is currently working on hissecond full-length play, Radicals.

*CARLA JIMENEZ (Caridad, Widow) re-turns for her second season in La PosadaMágica. Her theatre credits include TheLalo Project (AMark TaperForum presenta-tion at theActor’s Gang, di-rected and writ-ten by Diane Ro-driguez), God-spell at theKnightsbridgeTheatre, BlackButterfly, Jaguar Girl, Piñata Womanand Other Super Hero Girls Like Me(Mark Taper Forum at Actor’s Gang),South Pacific at the Glendale Center The-atre and the national tour of The Mikadoamong others. Ms. Jimenez thanks amaz-ing directors like Diane Rodriguez andLuis Alfaro, as well as her family, for be-lieving in her.

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Artist Biographies

PERFORMING ARTS NETWORK / SOUTH COAST REPERTORY SCR - 5

MARCOS LOYA (Composer/Musical Di-rector/Ensemble) is an accomplished mu-sician and com-poser and a mas-ter of acousticguitar. He is alsoadept on requin-to, jarrana, cua-tro, 12-string,mandolin, elec-tric guitar andvarious indige-nous folk instru-ments. His debut CD, Love is the Reason,garnered an Independent ContemporaryJazz Album of the Year nomination. In1996 he composed the score for two filmsfor “American Playhouse”: Hostile Inten-tions starring Tia Carrera and the adapta-tion of Tomas Rivera’s and the earth didnot swallow him (y no selo trago la tier-ra). His music is featured in the filmsDeep Cover, The Waterdance, A Million toJuan, Old Gringo, Vibes, Stand and De-liver, Born in East LA, Hold Me, Kiss Me,Thrill Me and Kiss Me a Killer (for whichhe received a nomination for the Inde-pendent Spirit Award). He scored and/orcomposed music for several plays, includ-ing the Los Angeles Theater Center pro-ductions of La Victima, August 29(Drama-Logue Award, Best OriginalMusic) and Stone Wedding (Los AngelesDrama Critics Circle Award nomination).His television work includes the musicalscores for the KTLA-TV documentary“Amnesty - a Dream Fulfilled?” and thePBS productions “Dreams of Flying,” “El-ders,” “Between Friends” and “LosPinateros.” His music can be heard in the“Mangas” episode of the PBS series “FotoNovela” for which he also composed thetheme. He served as musical director forUnivision’s long-running “El Show de PaulRodriguez”; the Buenavista/Disney “Navi-dad en las Americas” special; the ABCspecial “Latin Nights”; and NBC’s “VidaAwards.” Mr. Loya has performed and/ortoured with a variety of performers in-

cluding Placido Domingo, Linda Ronstadt(with the Houston Symphony Orchestra),Celia Cruz, Tito Puente, Lalo Guerrero,Chick Corea, Chaka Khan, Gerald Al-bright, Hugh Masekela, Keiko Matsui,Phillip Bailey, Stephen Stills, Vicki Carr,Luis Enrique, and Jose Feliciano, andrecorded with Madonna. Mr. Loya’s mostrecent project is the acoustic group TrioLos 5, which offers a fascinating look atthe political/folk music of the Americas.The group, which includes current LaPosada Mágica ensemble member Loren-zo Martinez and past member MundoArmijo, looks for ways to express theirChicano heritage to contemporary audi-ences. He dedicates his performance tothe memory of his father, Arthur Loya,whose courage and love remain a con-stant source of inspiration. Mr. Loyawould like to extend his thanks to Jackfor the accordion as well as recognize thegenerous sponsorship of Tacoma Guitars,whose fine instruments are featured inthis production.

LORENZO MARTINEZ (Musician/En-semble) was raised with the rich, cultur-ally diversemusic of Los An-geles and hastraveled and per-formed through-out the South-west. Recentlyhe representedChicano music inParis with LaloGuerrero andFlaco Jimenez. His education includesMusic Theory and Instrumental Studiesat Cerritos College and UCLA’s Ethno Mu-sicology program with emphasis in Mari-achi music. His vast musical experienceincludes Tex-Mex, conjuntos, orquestastyles, mariachi, zydeco, jump blues, jazz,jarocho, huasteco, nueva cancion, trio ro-mantico, early California and Chicanomovimiento music. Other groups Mr.

Martinez has performed with includeHermanos Baca and Lil Joe y La Familia.He was part of the Mariachi concert LasTres Voces de Oro, backing Lucha Villa,Lola Beltran and Miguel Aceves Meija.He performed with the UCLA Mariachiunder the direction of Nati Cano of LosComperos, and in the Universal film WhoWill Sing the Songs starring FreddieFender and Vicki Carr. He performedand recorded with Los Perros del PuebloNuevo and Trio Los Cinco with MarcosLoya, Mundo Armijo and Ray Islas. Thegroup performed Dia de Los Muertos andLa Virgen del Tepeyac by Luis Valdez atthe Japan Theatre, the opening ceremonyof Luis Valdez’ Bandido at the MarkTaper Forum and with Culture Clash inLa Carpa at the Mark Taper Forum.

*GEOFFREY RIVAS (Horatio) is a na-tive Californian who graduated fromUCLA with aMaster of FineArts Degree witha concentrationon acting. He re-ceived a 1999Ovation nomina-tion for his roleof Martin in SamShepard’s Foolfor Love at thenewly opened Madrid Theatre in CanogaPark. He has performed at Los AngelesTheatre Center in Luminarias (the filmversion should be released on video nextyear), I Don’t Have to Show You No Stink-ing Badges for Luis Valdez and Piano byAnna Deavere-Smith; at SCR in Man ofthe Flesh by Octavio Solis; and at NewMexico Repertory in Once Removed byEduardo Machado. Film credits includeLa Bamba, Born in East L.A., Pow WowHighway, Bound by Honor, Above Suspi-cion, Notes From Underground, Eye foran Eye, The Right to Remain Silent andFoto Novelas for PBS (for which he wonan ALMA Award in 1998). Numerous

television credits include movies of theweek Little Assassin, Drug Wars-The KikiCamarena Story, Overkill, Blind Side,Ambush at Waco, Trial by Fire, The Lakeand television shows “Jake and the FatMan,” “L.A. Law,” “E.R.,” “Relativity,”“Chicago Hope,” “Brooklyn South,” “Al-right Already,” “Early Edition,” “Pensaco-la,” “Air America” and “Promised Land.”Currently he has a recurring role as Det.Vega on the CBS show “C.S.I.” He is amember of the Latino Theatre Co. createdby Jose Luis Valenzuela at LATC. He iscurrently working on a new play by Eveli-na Fernandez called Dementia. He de-rives great pleasure from his work withthe Virginia Ave. Project, an organizationthat uses the performing arts to encour-age children growing up under difficultcircumstances to achieve their full poten-tial; he is also a member of the board.

*TIFFANY ELLEN SOLANO (Gracie) ishappy to return to SCR for her third yearwith this produc-tion. Thisteenager hasspent more thanhalf her life onstage, beginningin musical the-atre, and laterprogressing toperformingstraight playsand Shakespeare. Ms. Solano portrayedGinya in Nine Armenians at the MarkTaper Forum and Denver Center Theatre,and received critical acclaim for her de-piction of Anne in The Diary of AnneFrank. Other performances include leadroles in David and Lisa, Brighton BeachMemoirs, West Side Story, Fiddler on theRoof and Under the Gaslight. Earlier thisyear the Young Artist Organization award-ed Ms. Solano the prestigious honor of“Most Outstanding Young Performer inLive Theatre” for her portrayal of Graciein last year’s La Posada Mágica. Though

her heart is truly in the theatre, thismulti-talented young artist also enjoysfilm and music work. She is a proudmember of AEA, SAG and AFTRA. Filmcredits include commercials, televisionguest spots, industrials, interactive videosand independent films. She is also cur-rently working with a music producer to-wards obtaining a record contract. Shesends her love to all of her family andfriends and encourages you to keep sup-porting the wonderful art of theatre.

*TERESA VELARDE (Mom/Mariluz) re-turns to La Posada Mágica, where sheoriginated theroles of Mom andMariluz. Shealso appeared inSCR’s SecondStage productionof Man of theFlesh and hasparticipated inmany of SCR’sHispanic Play-wrights Project readings. Ms. Velarde un-derstudied the role of Eponine in L.A.’sproduction of Les Misérables at the Shu-bert Theatre. Some of her other theatri-cal credits include leading roles in LatinsAnonymous at San Diego Repertory; B.C.Historia, produced by the Bilingual Foun-dation of the Arts at the Los Angeles The-atre Center; the award-winning A Piece ofMy Heart at the International City The-atre; and multiple roles in Happy Birth-day, Angel, an anti-gang play produced bySCR. Some of her starring televisioncredits include “General Hospital,” “HotelMalibu,” “Days of Our Lives,” “Down theShore,” “Sunset Beach,” “Empty Nest,”“Beverly Hills 90210,” “The Bad Land,”“Brother’s Keeper,” “Malcolm in the Mid-dle” and most recently “The Practice.”Ms. Velarde has also appeared in variousfilms including The Addict, Choose Me,The People Under the Stairs and Out-break, starring Dustin Hoffman. She has

leading roles in “My Indian Summer,” aCBS After School Special and Mi Casa EsSu Casa, an award-winning film producedby AFI. Ms. Velarde teaches acting andmusical theatre to children during thesummer for Long Beach's InternationalCity Theatre. She has two handsome sons,Justin, 9, and Lucas, 4, and is married todrummer David Page. She wishes tothank her family and wish everyone ablessed holiday season. Feliz Navidad!

PLAYWRIGHT,DIRECTOR

& DESIGNERS

OCTAVIO SOLIS (Playwright) is a play-wright and director living in San Francis-co. His works Man of the Flesh, Prospect(a film was completed in May), El PasoBlue, Santos & Santos, La Posada Mági-ca, El Otro and Dreamlandia have beenmounted at theatres nationwide. Burn-ing Dreams, co-written with Julie Hebertand Gina Leishman, was produced by theSan Diego Repertory, and his collabora-tive project with Erik Ehn, Shiner, wasmounted by the Undermain Theatre inDallas. Solis has received an NEA 1995-97 Playwriting Fellowship, the Roger L.Stevens Award from The Kennedy Centerand the Will Glickman Playwright Awardfor Santos & Santos, a production grantfrom The Kennedy Center Fund for NewAmerican Plays for Dreamlandia at theDallas Theater Center, the 1998 TCG/NEATheatre Artists in Residence Grant, the1998 McKnight Fellowship grant from thePlaywrights Center in Minneapolis andthe 2000-2001 National Theatre ArtistsResidency Grant from TCG. He is the re-cipient of a grant from the Pew CharitableTrust for a new project with the OregonShakespeare Festival. Solis is a memberof the Dramatists Guild and New Drama-tists.

DIANE RODRIGUEZ (Director) returnsto direct La Posada Mágica again this

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season. She also appeared at SCR inLatins Anonymous, which she co-wrote.She has participated in six HispanicPlaywrights Projects that included di-recting Nilo Cruz’ Hortensia and theMuseum of Dreams and Octavio Solis’ ElOtro. She has directed at HartfordStage in Connecticut, Mixed Blood inMinneapolis, the Mark Taper Forum andCornerstone Theatre in Los Angeles,Phoenix Theatre and Borderlands The-atre in Arizona, among others. This sea-son she will direct at the Actors' The-atre of Phoenix and the Strasburg The-atre in Los Angeles. She has been anNEA/TCG Director and in 2000 was oneof five women honored for Women’s His-tory Month in Los Angeles. Also an an-thologized writer and actor, she is onartistic staff at the Mark Taper Forumand Co-Director of the Latino TheatreInitiative, one of the largest Latino playdevelopment programs in the country.

MARCOS LOYA (Musical Director)See biography on page SCR-5.

CLIFF FAULKNER (Scenic Design) hascreated designs for more than 75 pro-ductions for South Coast Repertory, in-cluding Sunday in the Park withGeorge, Breaking the Code, Sight Unseenand Woman in Mind. His Shakespeareproductions include A MidsummerNight’s Dream, As You Like It and MuchAdo about Nothing at SCR; Timon ofAthens, Julius Caesar and Macbeth atThe Globe Theatres in San Diego; KingLear at the Oregon Shakespeare Festi-val/Portland; and Hamlet , Love’sLabour’s Lost and Henry IV, Part I atthe Grove Shakespeare Festival. Twicea recipient of the Los Angeles DramaCritics Circle Award, Mr. Faulkner hasalso been honored with their Bob Z(Robert Zentis) Award for LifetimeAchievement in Scene Design. He is amember of the Drama faculty at UCIrvine.

SHIGERU YAJI (Costume Designer)has been designing costumes on theWest Coast for over 20 years, creatingdesigns for more than 100 productions.This is Mr Yaji’s 19th season with SCR,and he is pleased to continue with the8th year of La Posada Mágica’s traditionwith the company. Mr. Yaji’s designwork has also been seen in the 1997-2000 National Tour/Broadway produc-tion of Peter Pan, and at San JoseRepertory Theatre, Shakespeare SantaCruz, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, theIntiman Theatre, ACT in Seattle, OregonShakespeare Festival/Ashland and Port-land, ACT San Francisco, the Old GlobeTheatre in San Diego, Pasadena Play-house, Ballet Pacifica in Irvine, La Mira-da Theatre, Sacramento Theatre Com-pany, Westwood Playhouse, Los AngelesTheatre Center, Taper, Too, GroveShakespeare Festival, East West Play-ers, International City Theatre, GeVATheatre in New York and the 1990 Sin-gapore Festival of Arts. He also worksas a consulting designer for such compa-nies as Disneyland, DreamWorks Anima-tion and Universal Studios. He is the re-cipient of five Los Angeles Drama CriticsCircle Awards for DistinguishedAchievement in Costume Design, in ad-dition to numerous awards and otherrecognitions. Mr. Yaji is a member ofthe United Scenic Artists Local 829 andthe UC Irvine Drama Department Facul-ty.

LONNIE ALCARAZ (Lighting Design)is a Professor at the University of Cali-fornia, Irvine and a professional Light-ing Designer. He has designed at vari-ous regional theatre houses, such asSouth Coast Repertory, Berkeley Reper-tory, Sierra Repertory, The Arena Stagein DC, and the Utah Shakespeare Festi-val. In addition to La Posada Mágica,shows at SCR include Play Strindberg,Dimly Perceived Threats to the System,Sidney Bechet Killed a Man (for which

he received a Drama-Logue Award),BAFO, Later Life and Three Viewings.Also Culture Clash's The Birds at bothSCR and Berkeley Repertory, along withtheir national touring show, RadioMambo, which has been seen in Los An-geles, San Diego, San Francisco, Ari-zona, New York, Seattle and WashingtonDC. Further selected design experienceincludes the Utah Shakespearean Festi-val for two seasons and Watsonville atthe York Theatre in San Francisco. Hismost recently completed work is on Uni-versal Studios, Japan where he designedthe live shows Terminator 2 in 3D, andMonster Makeup, the attractions Juras-sic Park the Ride and Snoopy Studios,along with various exterior architecturalfacades throughout the park. He is amember of the United ScenicArtist/IATSE - Local 829. He receivedhis MFA and BA from University of Cali-fornia, Irvine.

LINDA KOSTALIK (Choreographer) isa professor in the Theatre Arts andDance at CSULA and works for theaward-winning Los Angeles County HighSchool of the Arts as choreographer fortheir Musical Theatre Ensemble. Hercareer as dancer, choreographer and ed-ucator has spanned 38 years. She haschoreographed numerous productionsfor professional theatres such as SCR,Playwrights Horizons, the Goodman andthe International City Theatre. Thisyear she will choreograph the Bobby Ro-driguez A Latin Jazz Christmas showand is planning work with Jazz flutistJames Newton. This year it is especiallygood to be working for the SCR family.The happiest of holidays to everyone!

RICHARD SOTO (Stage Manager) hasappeared on the SCR Mainstage the past11 years as young Ebenezer in A Christ-mas Carol. He has participated in sev-eral of SCR's Hispanic Playwrights Pro-jects, most recently stage managing this

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summer's California Scenarios. He hasalso performed in or stage managednine Educational Touring productionsat SCR. Mr. Soto is a Resident Artist ofthe highly acclaimed theatre company ANoise Within, where he has appeared inover 25 productions, including Romeoand Juliet, A Midsummer Night'sDream, What the Butler Saw, and So ItIs! (Drama-Logue Award). Other the-atres include The Globe Theatres, SanDiego Rep, and the Grove ShakespeareFestival. Mr. Soto is a member of Pal-abras Writers Lab, where he has justcompleted Danny and the MaskedAvenger, a children's theatre piece. Hisfilm and television credits include Fire-birds with Nicolas Cage, Third DegreeBurn for HBO, “General Hospital,” “Daysof Our Lives,” as well as numerous com-mercials.

DAVID EMMES (Producing Artistic Di-rector) is co-founder and ProducingArtistic Director of SCR, one of thelargest professional resident theatres inCalifornia. He has received numerousawards for productions he has directedduring SCR’s 37-year history, including a1999 Los Angeles Drama Critics CircleAward for the direction of GeorgeBernard Shaw’s The Philanderer. He di-rected the world premieres of AmyFreed’s The Beard of Avon and Freedom-land, Thomas Babe’s Great Day in theMorning, Keith Reddin’s Rum and Cokeand But Not for Me and Neal Bell’s ColdSweat; the American premiere of TerryJohnson’s Unsuitable for Adults; theWest Coast premieres of C.P. Taylor’sGood and Harry Kondoleon’s Christmason Mars; and the Southland premiere ofTop Girls (at SCR and the WestwoodPlayhouse). Recent productions includethe West Coast premieres of Three View-ings by Jeffrey Hatcher, The Secret Rap-ture by David Hare and New England byRichard Nelson; and Arcadia by TomStoppard, Six Degrees of Separation byJohn Guare, The Importance of Being

Earnest by Oscar Wilde, Ayckbourn’sWoman in Mind and You Never Can Tellby George Bernard Shaw, which herestaged for the 1990 Singapore Festivalof Arts. His producing responsibilitiesinvolve the overall coordination of SCR’sprograms and projects. He has served asa consultant to the Orange County Per-forming Arts Center and as a theatrepanelist and onsite evaluator for the Na-tional Endowment for the Arts. He hasserved on the board of the CaliforniaTheatre Council, the Executive Commit-tee of the League of Resident Theatres,and as a panelist for the California ArtsCouncil. After attending Orange CoastCollege, he received his BA and MA fromCalifornia State University, San Francis-co, and his PhD in theatre and film fromUSC.

MARTIN BENSON (Artistic Director)shares co-founder credit and artisticleadership of SCR with his colleagueDavid Emmes. As one of SCR’s chief di-rectors, Mr. Benson has directed nearlyone third of the plays produced here inthe last 37 years. He has distinguishedhimself in the staging of contemporarywork, most notably Paul Osborn’s Morn-ing’s at Seven, the critically acclaimedCalifornia premiere of William Nichol-son’s Shadowlands, Athol Fugard’s Play-land, Brian Friel’s Dancing at Lughnasa,David Mamet’s Oleanna, the West Coastpremiere of Peter Hedges’ Good As Newand David Hare’s Skylight. He has wonaccolades for his direction of five majorworks by George Bernard Shaw, includ-ing the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle(LADCC) Award-winners Misallianceand Heartbreak House. Among the nu-merous world premieres he has directedare Jon Bastian’s Noah Johnson Had aWhore..., Tom Strelich’s BAFO, and Mar-garet Edson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Wit,which he also directed at Seattle Reper-tory Theatre and the Alley Theatre inHouston. He has directed American clas-sics including Ah, Wilderness!, A Street-

car Named Desire, A Delicate Balanceand All My Sons. Mr. Benson has beenhonored with the Drama-Logue Awardfor his direction of 21 productions andreceived LADCC Distinguished Achieve-ment in Directing awards an unparal-leled six times for the two Shaw produc-tions, John Millington Synge’s Playboy ofthe Western World, Arthur Miller’s TheCrucible, Sally Nemeth’s Holy Days andWit. He also directed the film version ofHoly Days using the original SCR cast.Along with David Emmes, he acceptedSCR’s 1988 Tony Award for OutstandingResident Professional Theatre and wonthe 1995 Theatre LA Ovation Award forLifetime Achievement. Mr. Benson re-ceived his BA in Theatre from CaliforniaState University, San Francisco.

PAULA TOMEI (Managing Director) isresponsible for the overall administra-tion of the day-to-day operations of SCR.A member of the staff since 1979, she hasserved in a number of administrative ca-pacities including Subscriptions Manag-er, Business Manager and, for six years,General Manager. She currently servesas President of Theatre CommunicationsGroup (TCG), the national service orga-nization for theatre where she just com-pleted a two-year term as Treasurer, andhas served as the Vice President of theLeague of Resident Theatres (LORT). Inaddition, she has been a member of theLORT Negotiating Committee for indus-try-wide union agreements and repre-sents SCR at national conferences ofTCG and LORT; is a theatre panelist forthe National Endowment for the Arts andthe California Arts Council (CAC), andsite visitor for the CAC; served on the Ad-visory Committee for the Arts Adminis-tration Certificate Program at UC Irvine;and has been a guest lecturer in thegraduate school of business at Stanford.She graduated from UC Irvine with a de-gree in Economics and pursued an addi-tional course of study in theatre anddance.

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