Ovation Volume 22, Number 4 (January/February/March 2015)

vol 22 • no 4jan/feb/mar 2015

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Message from the Artistic Director

Steven Schipper

jan/feb/mar 2015 Ovation 3

Sometimes theatre is like Cabaret, a spectacle that reminds us of our public responsi-

bilities by making the entire world seem to be one

big stage. Other times, theatre is an elevated form of

eavesdropping, a door left slightly ajar on a private

world of subtle savagery and unbridled humour.

Such wry domestic comedies are the specialty of

playwrights like Anton Chekhov, Noël Coward and

Christopher Durang.

In fact, Durang pays hilarious homage to Chekhov

with Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike: everyone

seems to have Russian names, the family estate is

imperiled, and there’s even an aging star à la The

Seagull to make everyone else feel slightly like serfs.

We in the audience have the guilty pleasure of overhearing every word: the secret regrets,

the barbed accusations and the hidden desires, all of them as serious as they are silly. The

characters’ reactions to an offstage costume party become the lemon icing on Durang’s

cake, the perfect mix of sour and sweet.

At the Tom Hendry Warehouse, any citrus fruit will take the form of a lime in someone’s

drink, for it’s a play by Noël Coward, the chronicler of the canapé-and-cocktail class. Private

Lives takes us deep into the heart of three marriages, two of them honeymoon-new and the

third long-buried but not quite dead, as it turns out. As love flirts with fury, we are tempted

to turn away, except that it’s too much fun to watch, listen and recognize ourselves in these

crazy couplings and uncouplings.

These glimpses into other homes and other hearts can be oddly reassuring. “Well, at least

we’re not that bad,” we laugh as we drive home from the theatre. “And, even if we were,

things worked out for them. Sort of.” These master playwrights help us put our own private

lives back into perspective. They remind us that, despite the occasional frustrations of

family life, we need the love, intimacy and freedom from fear that we find in our homes (and

on our stages) to help us navigate the larger world.

Yours always,

4 Ovation jan/feb/mar 2015

Theatre Abbreviation Legend

Arts Club Arts Club Theatre Company • Vancouver, BCATF Atlantic Theatre Festival • Wolfville, NSATP Alberta Theatre Projects • Calgary, ABBAM Brooklyn Academy of Music • NYCBard on the Beach Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival •

Vancouver, BCBelfry The Belfry Theatre • Victoria, BCBlyth Blyth Theatre Festival • Blyth, ONBroadway Theatre district • New York, NYCBC Canadian Broadcasting CorporationCentaur Centaur Theatre Company • Montreal, QCCitadel The Citadel Theatre • Edmonton, ABCOC Canadian Opera Company • Toronto, ONCS Canadian Stage • Toronto, ONDora Dora Mavor Moore Award • Toronto, ONDrayton Drayton Entertainment • OntarioDry Cold Dry Cold Productions • Winnipeg, MBFactory Factory Theatre • Toronto, ONGCTC The Great Canadian Theatre Company • Ottawa, ONGrand The Grand Theatre • London, ONMirvish Mirvish Productions • Toronto, ONMoving Target Moving Target Theatre Company • Winnipeg, MBMTYP Manitoba Theatre for Young People • Winnipeg, MBNAC National Arts Centre • Ottawa, ONNecessary Angel Necessary Angel Theatre Company • Toronto, ONNeptune Neptune Theatre • Halifax, NSNFB National Film Board of CanadaNTS National Theatre School of Canada • Montreal, QCPersephone Persephone Theatre • Saskatoon, SKPTAM Popular Theatre Alliance of Manitoba • Winnipeg, MB

PTE Prairie Theatre Exchange • Winnipeg, MBRainbow Rainbow Stage • Winnipeg, MBRNT Royal National Theatre • London, EnglandRoyal Alex The Royal Alexandra Theatre • Toronto, ONRSC Royal Shakespeare Company • Stratford-upon-Avon, EnglandRWB Royal Winnipeg Ballet • Winnipeg, MBSarasvàti Sarasvàti Productions • Winnipeg, MBSegal The Segal Centre for Performing Arts • Montreal, QCShaw Shaw Festival • Niagara-on-the-Lake, ONSIR Shakespeare in the Ruins • Winnipeg, MBSoulpepper Soulpepper Theatre Company • Toronto, ONStratford Stratford Festival • Stratford, ONSummerWorks SummerWorks Theatre Festival • Toronto, ONTA Theatre Aquarius • Hamilton, ONTarragon Tarragon Theatre • Toronto, ONTBTR Theatre by the River • Winnipeg, MBTC Theatre Calgary • Calgary, ABTNB Theatre New Brunswick • Fredericton, NBToronto Free Toronto Free Theatre • Toronto, ONTPM Theatre Projects Manitoba • Winnipeg, MBTSO Toronto Symphony OrchestraU of M University of ManitobaU of T University of TorontoU of W University of WinnipegVP Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company • Vancouver, BCWest End Theatre district • London, EnglandWJT Winnipeg Jewish TheatreWSO Winnipeg Symphony OrchestraYPT Young People’s Theatre • Toronto, ONzone41 zone41 theatre • Winnipeg, MB


Ushers • Royal MTC’s loyal volunteer ushers are avail-able at every performance to assist patrons.Latecomers • Latecomers will be seated at the discre-tion of the House Manager.Courtesy to others • Talking, candy wrappers and coughing are distracting to fellow patrons and actors. We ask each patron to please keep noise to a minimum during a performance. Thank you for your cooperation.Scents and Allergies • A number of Royal MTC patrons have expressed concerns regarding medical reactions caused by scented products, so much so that they can’t enjoy the show. Please consider others before using items such as colognes, perfumes and hairspray. Your thoughtfulness is appreciated.

Hearing enhancement • Sennheiser Infrared Listening Devices are available free of charge in the lobby at the John Hirsch Mainstage and Tom Hendry Warehouse, supplied by the Royal MTC Volunteer Corps of Ushers Capital Campaign donation. Please see the House Manager for details.Prohibited • The use of cameras and recording devices is strictly prohibited. Mobile devices must be turned off. To be contacted in an emergency, leave your name and seat number with the House Manager.Warnings • On occasion, Royal MTC’s productions may contain script-specific smoking of non-tobacco products, special effects and language/content warnings. For more information on specific productions, please visit royalmtc.ca.

OVATIONVOLUME 22, NUMBER 4

JANUARY/FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015

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Setting the Stage VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE

Cast of Chekhovian CharactersPlaywright Christopher Durang once described Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike as “not a Chekhov parody … I take Chekhov scenes and characters and put them into a blender.”

In the opening scene, Sonia laments that she’s in mourning for her life – which is only the first of numerous Anton Chekhov references that are scattered throughout the produc-tion. From the siblings’ names and their relationships to the blue heron that visits the pond near their property’s cherry orchard, Durang offers a contemporary mashup of Chekhov’s most famous works and characters.

VanyaIn Durang’s production, Vanya is left with his adopted sister Sonia to manage the family home after the death of their academic parents – an obvious nod to Chekhov’s 1899 play Uncle Vanya, where the majority of the drama is centred around the proposed sale of the family’s rural estate. The two Vanya share a similar sense of disappointment over the direction their lives have taken, later developing into simmering anger that threatens to erupt as both productions near their end.

SoniaLike Masha in The Seagull and Sonya in Uncle Vanya, Sonia is plain, mournful and bitter at never having found romantic fulfillment in her life or the opportunity to explore the world outside her countryside upbringing. While Durang’s Sonia isn’t embroiled in unrequited love triangles, she constantly finds herself in the shadow of someone more attractive and glamorous – like her sister Masha.

MashaIn Chekhov’s Three Sisters, Masha is a young woman who begins a clandestine affair with an idealistic soldier after her marriage becomes a disappointment. In The Seagull, she’s the brooding daughter of an estate caretaker who pines after a man in love with another woman. In Durang’s play, the egocentric sister bears little resemblance to the women in Anton

Chekhov’s work, but rather takes after Irina Arkadina from The Seagull, another aging actress who returns home after a long absence. Like Irina, Masha attempts to hide her failing career and expresses jealousy over her partner’s apparent interest in other, younger women – like Nina.

NinaLike her namesake in the first act of The Seagull, Nina is a wide-eyed, innocent “girl next door” who finds herself star-struck when a popular actress comes back to town. In Chekhov’s work, Nina’s beauty and zest for life captures the attention of Irina Arkadina’s lover Boris Trigorin, just like Durang’s character can’t help but catch the eye of Masha’s boy toy Spike.

CassandraThe cleaning lady who spends her days prophesying and spouting off nonsen-sical warnings isn’t actually a Chekhovian character, though Durang has compared her to the nanny in Uncle Vanya. In Greek mythology, Cassandra was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, and was given the power of prophecy by the god Apollo in his attempts to seduce her. When Cassandra rebuffs his advances, Apollo curses her gift of foresight so no one would believe her words or predictions.

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Curtain Calls VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE


PLAYWRIGHT CHRISTOPHER DURANG ON Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike INTERVIEW BY DANIELLE MAGES AMATO

Where did the idea behind this play come from? Why Chekhov?

I lived in New York for 22 years, and in 1996, with my partner John Augustine, I moved to Bucks County, Pennsylvania. We live on a little hill, overlooking a pond, and a blue heron does come there. My house, it’s a farmhouse, pretty and a little quaint, and it made me think of the Chekhov plays, like The Seagull and Uncle Vanya, where the people who live in the country are rather unhappy. They feel that their lives are boring; there’s no stimulation for them. Then there are characters like the glam-orous actress Madame Arkadina in The Seagull, who are wandering about living in cities and being in plays and having affairs. I suddenly realized that I was now the age of the older characters in Chekhov. I’d mostly

seen and read the plays in my 20s and 30s, and I certainly had empathy for the older characters, but they felt very distant from my experience. And now I thought, “Oh my gosh, I’m the same age as Uncle Vanya.” (Actually, I went back and looked up how old Vanya is in the play, and he’s 47! I’m a lot older than that. But aging was different back then, and most of the great actors who’ve played that role are older.)

Even though I was now the age of Chekhov’s older characters, and I lived in a place in the country, I realized that I didn’t feel bitter in the way that the Chekhov characters did – I’d been in the city, and I actually wanted to get out of the city. But I thought to myself: what if I had only gone away from home briefly, and I hadn’t pursued the things that interested me?

PHOTO © 2010 BY SUSAN JOHANNChristopher Durang



What if my fictional sister and I had ended up taking care of our parents through a very prolonged illness, and so on. I realized it was a “what if” play.

What if you, yourself, had been a character in a Chekhov play?

Yes – what if my real life had been like one of those Chekhov characters. Chekhov was a definite jumping-off point for the play, but it’s very much not a parody of Chekhov. I’ve done parodies in the past, and this is much more its own thing. And I did my very best to write it so that you don’t have to know Chekhov to respond to it. I thought I was going to have much more about unrequited love, which is a theme that comes up in Chekhov so much. But it became much more about disappointment with how your life has gone. That’s a theme that isn’t unique to Chekhov. And it doesn’t sound like a comedy at all. But it is a comedy!

Could you tell us a bit about the parodies you’ve written?

Well, I wrote For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls, which is a parody of The Glass Menagerie. It follows the original play very closely, except that Laura has become Laurence, who is a hypochondriac, which drives his mother crazy, and instead of having a glass menagerie, he has a collec-tion of glass cocktail stirrers, and he gives them all different names. There’s another one, less well known, called Desire, Desire, Desire, which was mostly about Stanley and Blanche from A Streetcar Named Desire. In that one, Stella has gone out to get a Lemon Coke and she hasn’t been back for eight years. I did a parody of A Lie of the Mind by Sam Shepard, and a very little-known parody of Aunt Dan and Lemon, but the longest of my parodies is maybe 30 minutes. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a parody that sustains for a full-length play.

With Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, I was afraid that, because of the title, people might assume it’s a parody. But the parodies I’ve written are correctly called parodies. This is inspired by Chekhov, but it’s its own thing.

Are you a person who sees the work you’ve done over the course of your career as one long trajectory, or do you see it in phases? How does Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike relate to your other plays?

I see it in phases, but that’s hindsight, because I can look back on it. In high school I wrote conventional musical come-dies, and our school performed them, and it was a fun learning experience. Shortly before I applied to college, I got more serious about reading plays and seeing foreign movies, and I was very inspired by the phrase: “Theatre of the Absurd.” So until maybe the middle of my years at Yale Drama School, I wrote absurdist plays, very non-realistic comedies.

I think Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You was my first play that included anything unabashedly serious. There’s a section where Diane (the one who tries to kill Sister) talks about the death of her mother. It was actually based on the death of my mother, which had happened maybe a year before. And I remember when I was writing it, thinking, “Oh dear, will the audience want to hear this?” When I was writing all those absurdist things, I didn’t realize I was writing about my family. But when I looked back, I saw the connections. The Marriage of Bette and Boo (1985) was based on my parents’ marriage, and the character of Matt is pretty much me. I fictionalized some of the relatives, but some of them are not entirely fictional-ized! Having written that play, I felt like I’d finished with that. It wasn’t a conscious thought – but I was able to move on.


10

When I got to Betty’s Summer Vacation, which was 1999, some kind of shift happened for me as a writer, and I think of Betty’s Summer Vacation, Miss Witherspoon, Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike as connected. I think most writers don’t ever get away from writing about families, but none of those plays were really triggered by specifics of my family – at that point I’d gotten old enough that I’d had my own experiences – and instead, they all seemed to focus around a central theme. In Betty’s Summer Vacation, the theme became this weird American interest in watching distressing things on television: Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas, the Menendez Brothers’ trial – anything on Court TV. Why Torture is Wrong was a reaction to the Bush years and the redefinition of torture that happened during that time. That might sound pretty serious, but to the audience, the plays come off as funny.

From your perspective, as someone who writes almost exclusively comedies, do you think that comedy is something that we need? As human beings? As a society?

Oh yes, absolutely. Comedies give you pleasure. And over the course of my life, when I’ve gotten down, I’ve often put on a comedy to help me get through. There’s also something about laughter that comes from things that you recognize. For instance, the bickering of the siblings in my play is funny. You could write it so it would be hellish, and that might be good, too – it would be intense, more like Edward Albee or Eugene O’Neill. But I think we need both. For two years in college, I was in a deep, deep depression – I couldn’t function well as a student or as a person. During that time, I hardly ever watched comedies. I found that I had a hard time responding

to things if they weren’t tragic, and I liked seeing very depressing movies because they made me feel less alone. But that was a short period in my life.

What are the things that make you laugh?

Oh, Monty Python. Old screwball come-dies. I like that show Little Britain with David Walliams and Matt Lucas.

Do you have advice for the young writers you mentor at Juilliard about how to make a life in the theatre today?

Don’t try to write a great play, just try to write a good one. If someone else decides it’s great later, that’s fine, but don’t try to write a great one. Write about something you feel really strongly about, even if it’s a comedy. Don’t write from a mild impulse. And tenacity: just keep going, keep writing.

Interview reprinted with permission from The Old Globe (San Diego, CA).

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PRESENTS


A CO-PRODUCTION WITH MIRVISH PRODUCTIONS

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spikeby

Christopher DurangFebruary 12 – March 7, 2015

preview February 11

Director .................................................................................... Dean Paul GibsonSet & Costume Designer ................................................................Sue LePageLighting Designer ................................................................... Scott HendersonSound Designer ............................................................................Peter McBoyleAssistant Director................................................................. CindyMarie Small*Stage Manager ............................................................................Erin FitzgeraldAssistant Stage Manager ................................................ Melissa NovecoskyApprentice Stage Manager ................................................Matthew Lagacé

THE CAST (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)

Masha ................................................................................................ Jennifer DaleNina ....................................................................................................... Ellen DennyCassandra ...................................................................................... Audrey DwyerSpike .............................................................................................. Luke HumphreySonia ........................................................................................................ Fiona ReidVanya .............................................................................................Steven Sutcliffe

SETTING

The present, a farmhouse in Bucks County.

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is performed with one intermission.

Originally produced on Broadway by: Joey Parnes, Larry Hirschhorn, Joan Raffe/Jhett Tolentino, Martin Platt & David Elliot,

Pat Flicker Addiss, Catherine Adler, John O’Boyle, Joshua Goodman, Jamie deRoy/Richard Winkler, Cricket Hooper, Jiranek/Michael Palitz,

Mark S. Golub & David S. Golub, Radio Mouse Entertainment, Shadowcatcher Entertainment, Mary Cossette/Barbara Manocherian, Megan Savage/Meredith Lynsey Schade, Hugh Hysell/Richard Jordan,

Cheryl Wiesenfeld/Ron Simons, S.D. Wagner, John Johnson in association with McCarter Theatre Center and Lincoln Center Theater.

Originally commissioned and produced by McCarter Theatre Center, Princeton, N.J. Emily Mann, Artistic Director; Timothy J. Shields, Managing Director;

Mara Isaacs, Producing Director; and produced by Lincoln Center Theater, New York City

under the direction of Andre Bishop and Bernard Gersten in 2012.“Here Comes The Sun”

Written By George Harrison Published By Harrisongs, Ltd. (ASCAP)

Used By Permission. All Rights Reserved.Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc, New York.

Artists VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE

For a complete list of theatre abbreviations, please refer to legend on page 4


Jennifer DaleMasha

ROYAL MTC First appearance.OTHER THEATRE Credits include Duse (Tarragon); Aladdin (Ross Petty Productions); The Woman I Am (Art of Time Ensemble).FILM/TV Numerous leading roles for 30 years in film and television. Recent roles include the feature films The Big Fat Stone and The Dark Stranger. Recent television credits include Lost Girl, Suits, 30th Birthday and So You Said Yes.ET CETERA Jennifer is a recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Canadian Film and Television and an Outstanding Achievement Award from Women In Film and Television.

Ellen DennyNina

ROYAL MTC First appearance.OTHER THEATRE A Christmas Carol (TNB); two seasons as Anne Shirley in Anne & Gilbert: The Musical (The Guild, Charlottetown); A Christmas Carol, Sweeney Todd (Neptune); The Penelopiad (Citadel); Funny Money, Peter Pan, Three Munschketeers (Festival Antigonish).TRAINING Citadel/Banff Centre Professional Theatre Program 2013; BA combined honours in Music and Theatre, Dalhousie University.ET CETERA Thanks to my parents, who first taught me to love Chekhov, and to everyone at TH for their support.

Audrey DwyerCassandra

ROYAL MTC Good People, Medea (with Mirvish), The Crucible.OTHER THEATRE thirsty (NAC); Clybourne Park (Studio 180/Mirvish); The Penelopiad (Nightwood Theatre); The Tempest (CS); The Tempest (Persephone); Tideline (Factory); Patty’s Cake (Carousel Players); Danny, King of the Basement (Roseneath Theatre/MTYP).FILM/TV ‘Da Kink in My Hair, The 12 Dates of Christmas, Really Me, The Ron James Show, The State Within, Where the Truth Lies, A Marriage of Convenience, Man of the Year.TRAINING Graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada.ET CETERA Audrey has been nominated for a Dora Award for Outstanding Direction of Darrah Teitel’s The Apology.

Luke HumphreySpike

ROYAL MTC First appearance.OTHER THEATRE The Graduate (Segal); The Last of Romeo and Juliet (Talk is Free Theatre); The Three Musketeers, Taking Shakespeare, Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Tempest (Stratford).FILM Cruel But Necessary (Anchor Bay Entertainment), Ronny & I (a Guy Shalem film).TRAINING Birmingham Conservatory of Classical Theatre, Stella Adler Studio, NYU Tisch School of the Arts.




Fiona ReidSonia

ROYAL MTC Calendar Girls (with Mirvish), The Constant Wife (with Citadel), Arcadia (with CS), Six Degrees of Separation (with CS), Hay Fever (with Citadel), Death and the Maiden (with CS), A Bee in Her Bonnet, She Stoops to Conquer, The Cherry Orchard, The Boy Friend.OTHER THEATRE Fiona has appeared in theatres across Canada, the US and UK. In 2014 she appeared in London Road (Canadian Stage), in The Norman Conquests (Soulpepper) and at the Shaw Festival. Favourite roles include: Violet Weston in August: Osage County – Sterling Award (Citadel); Judith Bliss in Hay Fever (Shaw, CS/Grand); Flora Humble in Humble Boy – Jessie Award (VP); Julia in Fallen Angels – Dora Award (CS); Ouisa in Six Degrees of Separation – Dora Award (MTC/CS); Claire in A Delicate Balance (Stratford, CS/Citadel); Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Neptune); Mme. Arkadina in The Seagull, title role in Hedda Gabler (Shaw).FILM/TV The Time Traveler’s Wife, My Big Fat Greek Wedding; television roles include King of Kensington and several voices for animated series.ET CETERA Fiona is President of the Actors’ Fund of Canada, a Member of the Order of Canada and has an honorary doctorate from Bishop’s University.

Steven SutcliffeVanya

ROYAL MTC Much Ado About Nothing, Hay Fever (with Citadel), You Never Can Tell (Shaw tour), Angels in America: Millennium Approaches.

OTHER THEATRE Has performed in theatres across Canada, including seasons at Soulpepper, Shaw and Stratford; regionally, in the US and on Broadway. Most recent: Mary Poppins (TA); Glenn (Soulpepper); Company (Theatre 20); The Merry Wives of Windsor, Elizabeth Rex (Chicago Shakespeare).ET CETERA As always, much gratitude to Royal MTC’s Mr. Schipper, who, years ago, gave Steven his first job out of theatre school and his Canadian Actors’ Equity card.

Christopher DurangPlaywright

Christopher Durang is an award-winning play-wright whose works include A History of the American Film, The Actor’s Nightmare, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, Beyond Therapy (on Broadway in 1982, with Dianne Wiest and John Lithgow), Baby with the Bathwater, The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Laughing Wild, Durang/Durang (an evening of six plays at Manhattan Theatre Club, 1994, including the Tennessee Williams parody For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls), Sex and Longing (Lincoln Center Theater production at the Cort Theatre, 1996, starring Sigourney Weaver) and Betty’s Summer Vacation.Also a performer, Durang acted in the New York and Los Angeles premieres of Laughing Wild. He shared in an acting ensemble Obie for The Marriage of Bette and Boo; and with John Augustine and Sherry Anderson has performed his crackpot cabaret Chris Durang and Dawne.He has a BA from Harvard College and an MFA in Playwriting from the Yale School of Drama.

CHRISTOPHER DURANG PHOTO © 2010 BY SUSAN JOHANN


Dean Paul GibsonDirector

ROYAL MTC Actor: The Drowsy Chaperone (with TC), The Overcoat (VP tour).OTHER THEATRE DPG’s selected directing credits include: One Man, Two Guvnors, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (TC); Monty Python’s Spamalot, She Stoops to Conquer, Xanadu, The 39 Steps, Black Comedy, The History Boys, It’s a Wonderful Life, The School for Scandal, A Flea in Her Ear (Arts Club); King John, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet and many more (Bard on the Beach); Toronto, Mississippi, True West, No Great Mischief, Noises Off (VP); The Boyfriend (Studio 58); Lend Me a Tenor, Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), Powerlines (Gateway Theatre). As an actor, Dean has been seen

onstage most recently in Saint Joan (Arts Club), Major Barbara (ACT/TC), Jitters (Belfry) and Tosca Cafe (TC/VP).FILM/TV As an actor, Dean can be seen in various film and TV roles.TRAINING Graduate of Studio 58.ET CETERA Dean has been honoured with Jessie Richardson Awards for his acting and directing.

Sue LePageSet & Costume Designer

ROYAL MTC Private Lives, The Seagull, The Seafarer, Death and the Maiden (with CS), Billy Bishop Goes to War (with Grand/NAC/Christopher Wootten).OTHER THEATRE Recent: Arcadia (Mirvish); The Philanderer, When We Are Married – costumes, Arcadia, Guys and

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Dolls – costumes, Ragtime, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Born Yesterday, Saint Joan and many others (Shaw); It is Solved by Walking (HomeFirst); Red (Neptune); The Glace Bay Miners’ Museum (NAC/Neptune); Death of a Salesman, August: Osage County (Citadel); Lillian Alling (Vancouver Opera/Banff Centre).ET CETERA Sue has more than 150 theatre credits to her name, including productions with Soulpepper, Factory Theatre, Blyth, Ballet Jörgen Canada, Tarragon, Canadian Stage, the Stratford Festival, the NAC, the Banff Centre, the Grand Theatre, YPT and the Charlottetown Festival. She has won two Doras and calls Toronto home.

Scott HendersonLighting Designer

ROYAL MTC Fifty productions since 1995, including Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily, Good People, A Christmas Story, Next to Normal, The 39 Steps, Doubt, A Parable (with TC), Shakespeare’s Dog (with NAC), White Christmas (Mainstage); The Seagull, Red (with Belfry), Top Girls, The Shape of Things, Closer (Warehouse).OTHER THEATRE Most recent: Vigil, Munsch Upon a Time (PTE). Scott has designed for opera, dance and theatre companies in Winnipeg and across Canada, including the Stratford and Shaw festivals.TRAINING Scott is a graduate of Ryerson Theatre School and a member of the Associated Designers of Canada.ET CETERA Special thanks to Karen, Sean and Alex for love and support.

Peter McBoyleSound Designer

ROYAL MTC Medea and Orpheus Descending (both with Mirvish).OTHER THEATRE Come Fly Away (Broadway/national tour); Sinatra Dance with Me (Las Vegas); Barrymore (Stratford, Broadway & Toronto); Sister Act, West Side Story, Catch Me if You Can, Legally Blonde (national tours); Arrabal (BASE/Mirvish); Crazy for You, Man of La Mancha, Antony and Cleopatra, Fiddler on the Roof, 42nd Street, A Word or Two, Camelot, Shakespeare’s Will, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, The Tempest, West Side Story, Krapp’s Last Tape (Stratford); Gypsy, High Society (Shaw); Fire, The House of Martin Guerre (CS); The Sound of Music, Oliver!, The Wrong Son, Mary’s Wedding (NAC); Mary Poppins, The Rocky Horror Show, Sweeney Todd, Beauty and the Beast, Cabaret (Citadel); Stagger Lee (Dallas Theatre Centre).TV Dracula: A Chamber Musical.TRAINING Bachelor of Music and a Masters in Sound Recording from McGill.ET CETERA Member of the Associated Designers of Canada (ADC).

CindyMarie SmallAssistant Director

ROYAL MTC First engagement.OTHER THEATRE Tosca Cafe (TC/VP); Cry After Midnight (Sarasvàti – FemFest); The Gravel Sifter (One Trunk Collective – StrindbergFest); Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story (Apprentice Director, Rainbow). Selected productions with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet over a 16-year career: Cinderella in A Cinderella Story, Pamina in

Sophia Lee PHOTO: Réjean Brandt Photography

2014/15SEASON

Swan LakeMAR 04-08 / 2015Centennial Concert Hall

Choreography Marius Petipa and Lev IvanovWith the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra

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The Magic Flute, Mina Murray in Dracula, Arabian in The Nutcracker.FILM/TV Film (selected): Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary (Guy Maddin), Passionflower (Shelagh Carter). TV (selected): The Tale of the Magic Flute (Barbara Willis Sweete), The Pinkertons (Gary Yates), The Gabby Douglas Story (Gregg Champion).TEACHING Guest Ballet Master (RWB); Guest Ballet Master (Les Ballets Grandiva).ET CETERA Thank you to Dean for bring-ing me aboard! I am thrilled to be working with and learning from the incredible cast and creative team! I would also like to acknowledge and thank the Manitoba Arts Council and the Winnipeg Arts Council for the support they have given me for this adventure.

Erin FitzgeraldStage Manager

ROYAL MTC The Winslow Boy (with TA).OTHER THEATRE The Wizard of Oz, The Secret Garden, The Harder They Come, Dirty Dancing (Mirvish); Arrabal (BASE Entertainment/Marquis Entertainment); The Little Mermaid, Peter Pan pantomime, Twist and Shout (Drayton).

Melissa NovecoskyAssistant Stage Manager

ROYAL MTC Stage Manager: Good People, The Secret Annex. Assistant Stage Manager: Gone With the Wind, White Christmas, Next to Normal, It’s a Wonderful Life: A Radio Play. Apprentice Stage Manager: Jitters, Our Town, The Real Thing, The Tempest.OTHER THEATRE Stage Manager: Munsch Upon a Time, Vigil, The Best Brothers, Social

Studies, The Swearing Jar (PTE); Lawrence and Holloman (PTE/Persephone); The Producers, Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story (Rainbow); Bloodless: The Trial of Burke and Hare (White Rabbit Productions). Assistant Stage Manager: The Little Mermaid, Mary Poppins, Footloose, Annie (Rainbow); White Biting Dog, The Price (Soulpepper); Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (National Ballet of Canada); Burnin’ Love (PTE).TRAINING The National Theatre School of Canada. Apprentice Stage Manager at the Shaw Festival.

Matthew LagacéApprentice Stage Manager

ROYAL MTC Apprentice Stage Manager: The Heart of Robin Hood, The Glass Menagerie, Gone With the Wind, Romeo and Juliet, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (with TC), The History of Manitoba from the Beginning of Time to the Present in 45 Minutes. Apprentice Director: Harvey.OTHER THEATRE Aida, The Daughter of the Regiment (Manitoba Opera); Altar Boyz (PTE/Winnipeg Studio Theatre); Little Women, Sweeney Todd (DryCold); A Stripped-Down Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merry Wives of Windsor (SIR); Maple Route (Theatre Incarnate).TRAINING Matthew is a graduate of the U of M Theatre Program/Black Hole Theatre Company.ET CETERA Matthew is also two-time recipient of the Jean Murray – Moray Sinclair Theatre Scholarship. “I would like to thank my friends and family for their love and support. Flameo Hotman!”

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Royal MTC’s Scholarship and Apprenticeship program is funded through audience donations. During the intermission of our next production, The Woman in Black, ushers will collect your donations to ensure this program’s continued

success. We thank you for your support of emerging Manitoban theatre artists.

2014/15 Scholarship RecipientsAnthony Ferens, University of Winnipeg

Becky Frohlinger, Elon UniversityKristen Garvie, University of Winnipeg

Kelsey Lacombe, Sheridan CollegeSofia Lukie, University of WinnipegSuzie Martin, University of Alberta

Emily Meadows, Grant MacEwan University

Erica Mitchell, University of WinnipegBrigitte Plouffe, University of Winnipeg

Alix Sobler, Columbia UniversityMarkian Tarasiuk, Studio 58

Haley Vincent, University of WinnipegMaria Zarrillo, Studio 58

2014/15 Apprenticeship RecipientsDarryl Audette, Design Apprentice, Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily

Rodrigo Beilfuss, Directing Apprentice, Private LivesKsenia Broda-Milian, Design Apprentice, Cabaret

Tatiana Carnevale, Directing Apprentice, Armstrong’s WarTeri-Lynn Friesen, Directing Apprentice, Late CompanyKendra Jones, Directing Apprentice, Clever Little Lies

Rachel Smith, Directing Apprentice, Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily

Despite persistent rumours that our theatre is haunted, ghost stories onstage have been a rarity at Royal MTC. We’re thrilled about the prospect of fright-ening audiences with this chilling tale, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary on London’s West End. The Woman in Black’s reign of terror makes it the second-longest non-musical play to run on the West End, after The Mousetrap.

More than seven million people have lived to tell the tale of a young lawyer in Edwardian England who travels from London to arrange the sale of a remote estate, only to discover the house is haunted by a malevolent spirit seeking revenge. Decades later, he hires an actor to recount the tale in an effort to exorcise past demons. Spine-chilling and heart-pumping, The Woman in Black has been lauded as one of the scariest stories to ever hit the stage.

For those of you who think a play can’t be that scary, hear this: in 2012, 10 horror bloggers were invited to watch the play and the movie while wearing heart monitors. The biggest fright? The play. Don’t believe us? Then experience The Woman in Black for yourself. We dare you.

TICKETS START AT $25 call 204 942 6537 BUY NOW! visit ROYALMTC.CA

THE woman IN BLACK

MARCH 18 – APRIL 11

NEXT AT

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and scariest – hits

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Setting the Stage PRIVATE LIVES

24

Director’s Notes BY KRISTA JACKSON

It’s mid-winter in Winnipeg. Don’t we deserve a little escape? Noël Coward wrote Private Lives for his life-long friend Gertrude Lawrence in roughly four days while suffering from a bout of influenza in Shanghai. Its success contributed to making him the highest-paid author of his time.“I first met Gertie in a play – needless to say – or at least when we were both on the train to Liverpool, on our way to appear in one. I was 13, she was 14, and her sophisti-cation absolutely floored me. She gave me an orange and told me some mildly dirty stories. I loved her from then onwards.”

Noël and Gertie played Elyot and Amanda – characters based on members of London society that inhabited The Ivy, The Savoy and The Ritz during Britain’s inter-war years – while in their early 30s at the premiere in 1930. These bright young things lived for the next party, adopting a philosophy of pleasure and flippancy to cope with the massive loss of the First World War, while immune to the politicking that suggested a second one was on the way.

Coward blows raspberries at strict moral and gender codes, and it’s here that Private Lives was ahead of its time and still seems frightfully modern. That, 85 years later, audiences the world over continue to be delighted as these newlyweds unleash their beastliness on each other, says volumes about Coward’s talent for character and our own deeply-rooted need for non-con-vention. Elyot and Amanda fight to escape themselves and the moralists that surround

them by pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable. They challenge our assump-tions of duty, fidelity and propriety, all the while wrapped in the deliciousness of Coward’s art of conversation.

For me the beauty in Coward – and particularly Private Lives – is that, sure, his characters are slightly mad and, yes, they live in a rarefied world, but their humanity always shines through in that they try and try again. They are always hopeful, and their charm pushes the boundaries of manners without overstepping them. They are allowed to escape the responsibility of their actions over and over again and I think that speaks to something funda-mental in all of us. I invite you to escape with them.

Royal MTC extends its sincere thanks to the Noël Coward Foundation for its support of CowardFest, including their sponsorship of complimentary tickets to more than 200 high school and university students to attend Private Lives.

noelcoward.org

We are proud to support the

Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre

and bring you the 2014/15 season

at the Tom Hendry Warehouse Theatre.

®Registered trade-marks of Bank of Montreal.

presented by

the company that gave Winnipeg Urinetown, The Light in the Piazza,

Sweeney Todd, Follies and A Man of No Importance

May 20 - 23, 2015

Tom Hendry Warehouse Theatre

Tickets on sale now. Adults - $35 Students - $25

drycoldproductions.ca (204) 942 6537

Book by MARSHALL BRICKMAN and RICK ELICE Music and Lyrics by ANDREW LIPPA

Based on Characters Created by Charles Addams

Steven Schipper, Artistic Director • Camilla Holland, General Manager

PRESENTS


Private Livesby Noël Coward

January 29 – February 14, 2015preview January 28

Director ........................................................................................... Krista JacksonSet & Costume Designer ................................................................Sue LePageLighting Designer ............................................................................. Bill WilliamsSound Designer .......................................................................... Michael WrightFight Director.......................................................................Jacqueline LoewenDialect & Text Coach ............................................................Shannon VickersApprentice Director ............................................................... Rodrigo Beilfuss*Stage Manager .................................................................................. Lisa NelsonApprentice Stage Manager ..................................................... Alison Fulmyk

THE CAST (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)

Victor Prynne ..........................................................................Graham AshmoreElyot Chase .............................................................................................. Eric BlaisAmanda Prynne ............................................................................Laura OlafsonSibyl Chase ....................................................................................... Tracy PennerLouise ..................................................................................................... Jane Testar

SETTING

Act I: The terrace of a hotel in France. A summer evening. Act II: Amanda’s flat in Paris. A few days later. Evening.

Act III: The same. Next morning.

Private Lives is performed with one intermission.

Special thanks: Bob Beard, Paul De Gurse, Kim Horsman, Seana McKenna

PARTOF

*Financial assistance for Rodrigo Beilfuss’ work provided by Royal MTC’s Jean Murray – Moray Sinclair Theatre Apprenticeship Program, by the Manitoba Arts Council and by the City of Winnipeg through the Winnipeg Arts Council.

Artists PRIVATE LIVES



Graham AshmoreVictor Prynne

ROYAL MTC Bleeding Hearts, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Tempest, A Christmas Carol.OTHER THEATRE Swan Song (Adhere and Deny, ChekhovFest); Duet for a Schizophrenic (Gray Goose/Adhere and Deny); Village Wooing (zone41, ShawFest); Way to Heaven (WJT); Talk (WJT/NAC); Grand Inquisitor (Adhere and Deny); North Main Gothic, The Elmwood Visitation (TPM); Company (Dry Cold); As You Like It (SIR); The Wedding (The Winnipegger Ensemble, BrechtFest).FILM/TV The Forbidden Room, The Pinkertons, Aloft, Wrath of Grapes: The Don Cherry Story II.ET CETERA Graham splits his time between Winnipeg and Oaxaca, Mexico, where he lives with his wife Lupita and two boys, Angel and Alejandro. Hi to Minnie.

Eric BlaisElyot Chase

ROYAL MTC Good People, Brief Encounter (with VP), Looking Back – West.OTHER THEATRE Angels in America: Perestroika (WJT); King’s Park (Moving Target); The Vertical Hour, Munsch Ado About Nothing (PTE); Proud, North Main Gothic, Age of Arousal, Stretching Hide (TPM); The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, The Odyssey (SIR); Kindness, Romeo and Juliet (MTYP); The Winter’s Tale, Troilus and Cressida (Tom-Tom Theatre).FILM/TV The Pinkertons, Cashing In, Keep Your Head Up, Kid: The Don Cherry Story, Men with Brooms, Zooey & Adam, Falcon Beach, Northern Town, 2030 CE, Wishmaster 4.

TRAINING/TEACHING BA Honours, U of W; MFA, York University. Taught acting at MTYP and York University.

Laura OlafsonAmanda Prynne

ROYAL MTC Ruth Kelly, RN in Harvey; The Boys in the Photograph (with Mirvish).OTHER THEATRE Sunday in the Park with George (Grant MacEwan University); Oliver! (Citadel); 9 to 5: The Musical, Nashville Outlaws, Queens of Country, Footloose (Mayfield Dinner Theatre); Mary Poppins, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Footloose (Rainbow); A Man of No Importance, Urinetown (Dry Cold); Death of a Salesman, Funny Girl (WJT); The Savannah Disputation (PTE); The Skriker (Echo (Beach) Theatre); Into the Woods (District Theatre Collective); The Comedy of Errors (SIR).FILM/TV My Awkward Sexual Adventure, House Party.TRAINING Laura holds a diploma in Theatre Arts from Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton, AB.ET CETERA Laura is filled with love and grat-itude for Mr. Coward, the staff at Royal MTC and the most extraordinary cast, crew and creative team. This is for Fiona, with love.

Tracy PennerSibyl Chase

ROYAL MTC The Seagull, Ed’s Garage, Top Girls, Camelot (with TC/Citadel).OTHER THEATRE Locally, Tracy has worked with companies including Theatre Projects Manitoba, WJT, SIR, zone41 theatre, Sarasvàti Productions and Root Sky Productions. In Edmonton, companies include Catalyst




Theatre, Shadow Theatre, Concrete Theatre and Vault: Theatre of Invention.TRAINING Tracy is a graduate of the University of Alberta.

Jane TestarLouise

ROYAL MTC First appearance.OTHER THEATRE Sunday in the Park with George (SondheimFest); De Bouche à Oreille (Théâtre du Grand Cercle); Little Munsch on the Prairie (PTE); member of Winnipeg improv troupe Outside Joke and member of Canadian Comedy Award-nominated sketch troupe Hot Thespian Action.TV Less Than Kind.TRAINING Graduate of the Department of Theatre and Film at the University of Winnipeg (Honours).ET CETERA Love to my comedy families HTA and OJ, and to my parents Brian and Nancy, for putting up with me and for putting me in the French immersion program.

Noël CowardPlaywright

Noël Coward began his theatre career as a child actor at the age of 11. His breakthrough as a playwright came in 1924 with The Vortex. Three major hits soon followed – Hay Fever, Fallen Angels and Easy Virtue – and his successes continued well into the 1930s with Bitter Sweet, Private Lives, Cavalcade, Design for Living and one of his most ambitious ventures: Tonight at 8:30. After his intelli-gence work for the British Foreign Office during the Second World War (technically, he was a spy), Coward continued to produce plays and musicals, and performed as a cameo

actor in such films as Around the World in 80 Days, Our Man in Havana and The Italian Job. In 1970, Coward finally received a long-de-served knighthood. He died peacefully in Jamaica in 1973.

Krista JacksonDirector

ROYAL MTC Director: The Seagull, The Seafarer. Actor: The Threepenny Opera (with SIR), Quills, The Good Sisters (Les Belles-Soeurs), The Sisters Rosensweig, Brighton Beach Memoirs.OTHER THEATRE Director: Dying to be Thin (MTYP); The Miser of Middlegate (zone41/TPM); Village Wooing (zone41). Assistant Director: Mother Courage and Her Children (Stratford); Hedda Gabler, His Girl Friday, Misalliance (Shaw).ET CETERA Artistic Director of zone41 theatre; Artistic Associate 2014/15 at the Grand Theatre. Upcoming: Much Ado About Nothing (Director, Grand); Love’s Labour’s Lost (Assistant Director, Stratford). Krista is the proud winner of the 2013 Gina Wilkinson Prize for female directors. I hope you’ll join me for Robert Cushman’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen on February 7 at 12pm, with Stratford Festival’s Ben Carlson playing Coward on the set of Private Lives. www.zone41.ca

Sue LePageSet & Costume Designer

ROYAL MTC Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (with Mirvish), The Seagull, The Seafarer, Death and the Maiden, Billy Bishop Goes to War (with Grand/NAC/ Christopher Wootten).OTHER THEATRE Recent: Arcadia (Mirvish); The Philanderer, When We Are Married –




costumes, Arcadia, Guys and Dolls – costumes, Ragtime, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Born Yesterday, Saint Joan and many others (Shaw); It is Solved by Walking (HomeFirst); Red (Neptune); The Glace Bay Miners’ Museum (NAC/Neptune); Death of a Salesman, August: Osage County (Citadel); Lillian Alling (Vancouver Opera/Banff Centre).ET CETERA Sue has more than 150 theatre credits to her name, including productions with Soulpepper, Factory Theatre, Blyth, Ballet Jörgen Canada, Tarragon, Canadian Stage, the Stratford Festival, the NAC, the Banff Centre, the Grand Theatre, YPT and the Charlottetown Festival. She has won two Doras and calls Toronto home.

Bill WilliamsLighting Designer

ROYAL MTC Bill is delighted to have designed the lighting for more than 70 Royal MTC productions (both Mainstage and Warehouse) since 1971.OTHER THEATRE Bill has designed more than 500 productions for theatre, opera and dance companies across Canada, Europe, Asia, South America, the UK and the US.ET CETERA Bill is also actively involved as a theatre consultant, architectural lighting designer, teacher, author and photographer.

Michael WrightSound Designer

ROYAL MTC Armstrong’s War, The Secret Annex, The Seagull, Venus in Fur, The Penelopiad, August: Osage County, The Fighting Days, Romeo and Juliet, The Seafarer, Looking Back – West, Top Girls, Rope’s End, Fully Committed, The Last Five Years, Cherry Docs.OTHER THEATRE North Main Gothic, The Monster Trilogy, The Elmwood Visitation, Age of Arousal (TPM); Everything is Coming Up Roses (Gearshifting Performance Works);

Something Drastic, Puppet Munsch (PTE); Macbeth (SIR); Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival); Hedwig and the Angry Inch Atrocity Tour 2004 (Rose Tinted Productions, UK).FILM The Last Harvest, Métis, Métis Not, Dead Mothers Kitchen Floors, Dust.ET CETERA Michael is active in the music world with over two dozen album credits and is a member of IATSE 63.

Jacqueline LoewenFight Director

ROYAL MTC Fight Director: Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily, A Christmas Story, Gone With the Wind, August: Osage County, Romeo and Juliet, The Seafarer. Actor: Top Girls. Assistant Director: Other People’s Money.OTHER THEATRE Selected fight directing: Tosca, Carmen (Manitoba Opera); Macbeth, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Taming of the Shrew (SIR); All Restaurant Fires Are Arson (PTE).TEACHING Jacqueline has taught stage combat at MTYP and PTE, and assistant taught at the U of W.ET CETERA Jacqueline is very pleased to be working with both Royal MTC and such fine performers.

Shannon VickersDialect & Text Coach

ROYAL MTC Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily, Good People, The Secret Annex, Venus in Fur, Gone With the Wind, August: Osage County, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Top Girls, Steel Magnolias.


OTHER THEATRE Voice/Text/Dialect Coaching: DAI (Enough) (WJT); Village Wooing (zone41); Bingo! (PTE); The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz (TPM); The Merry Wives of Windsor (SIR); Fen (Sarasvàti); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (CS).TRAINING/TEACHING Shannon earned an MFA in Theatre Voice Pedagogy at the University of Alberta. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Winnipeg and is a certified Associate Teacher of Knight-Thompson Speechwork.

Rodrigo BeilfussApprentice Director

ROYAL MTC First engagement.OTHER THEATRE As director (selected): Generous, Lungs, Cock and Bull (TBTR); Venus in Fur (Tristan Bates, UK); The Duck Variations, Pariah (Master Playwright Festival). Selected acting credits include The Comedy of Errors, Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice (SIR); La Belle Laide (Winnipeg Fringe 2014); About Love & Champagne (ChekhovFest); Measure for Measure (LAMDA).TRAINING MA in Classical Acting from England’s London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art; BA (Hons.) from the University of Winnipeg.ET CETERA Rod is a four-time winner of the Royal MTC Jean Murray – Moray Sinclair Scholarship (thank you for the support!). Additional thanks to the Winnipeg and Manitoba Arts Councils for funding this

21the21daychallenge21CLASSES IN 21 DAYS

204.947.9642 www.yogapublic.com204.947.9642 www.yogapublic.com

apprenticeship. Next up: Hamlet with Bravura Theatre/Snakeskin Jacket! More info at rodrigobeilfuss.com.

Lisa NelsonStage Manager

ROYAL MTC Hirsch. Apprentice Stage Manager: The Fighting Days.OTHER THEATRE Stage Manager: The Miser of Middlegate, Encore (TPM); Angels in America: Perestroika (WJT); Magical Mystery Munsch (PTE); Tough Case (MTYP); Henry V, Julius Caesar (SIR); Talk (Prairie Scene Festival & Stage One English Festival/WJT). Apprentice Stage Manager: Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, Way to Heaven, Sunday Father (WJT); The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz (TPM); Hybrid Human (Wanda Koop: On the Edge of Experience/Winnipeg Art Gallery).FILM/TV Production Manager: The Measure of a Place (NFB). Production Assistant: The Faith Project (NFB). Costume Buyer: Sunnyside (CityTV).

Alison FulmykApprentice Stage Manager

ROYAL MTC Jane Eyre, Other People’s Money.OTHER THEATRE Apprentice Stage Manager: Fidelio, La Bohème, Don Pasquale (Manitoba Opera); The Miser of Middlegate (zone41/TPM); The Little Mermaid, The Producers, Mary Poppins (Rainbow); A Man of No Importance (Dry Cold). Assistant Stage Manager: Ordinary Days (Winnipeg Studio Theatre/Angelwalk Theatre).TRAINING University of Winnipeg Department of Theatre and Film, with a Theatre honours degree in Stage Management and Production (focus on Properties).ET CETERA “Livin’ The Dream!”

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The final play of the Warehouse season comes courtesy of stage wunderkind Jordan Tannahill (right). Described by the Toronto Star as “one of Canada’s most exciting independent theatre artists,” the 20-something Tannahill has already been awarded the Governor General’s Award for Drama and the John Hirsch Director’s Award.

Filled with heartbreak and humour and loosely based on real events, Late Company takes us to the suburbs where two families sit down for dinner one year after a tragedy. In an effort to pick up the pieces of their fractured lives, they meet to find common ground and a sense of closure. But the situation is so fraught with compli-cated emotion – grief, anger, guilt – that the knives come out despite their best intentions. Will they ever be able to find their way to forgiveness?

TICKETS START AT $21 call 204 942 6537 ON SALE NOW visit ROYALMTC.CA


NEXT AT

late companyMARCH 4–21

PHOTO BY LACEY CREIGHTON

If it takes a village to raise a child, then who’s to blame when one falls by the wayside? That’s the question lurking at the heart of Jordan Tannahill’s searing, unforgettable drama. – Torontoist

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Many thanks to our donors who gave a gift between November 1, 2013 and December 31, 2014

DIRECTOR’S CIRCLE

HERO • $6,000+

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BENEFACTOR • $2,000–5,999

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Marjorie Blankstein, CM, OM, LLDJ.W. Burns, OCKerry Dangerfield*John F. (Jack) Fraser*James R. GibbsSylvia Guertin-RileyRita Gunn* & Greg MasonCamilla Holland† & Colin ViebrockInvestors Group Matching Gift ProgramMs. Maureen E. JayAndrew & Wendy JensenDerek & Mary JohannsonJohn Kearsey*Terry KlassenDr. P. Kmet & Mr. B. RoslyckyDr. Douglas MacEwanIn memory of Liam Murphy

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FRIENDS OF ROYAL MTC

ENTHUSIAST • $500–999

Robert & Joy AntenbringArchie & Jo-Anne ArnottMargaret & Jim AstwoodMrs. Phyllis Barich & Mr. Helmut EppBruce & Shelley Bertrand-MeadowsRon BlicqHelga & Gerhard BockTodd BourcierCathie & Brian BowermanJames A. BrackenIn memory of Pak-Wai Chan

– Calvin KimSaul Cherniack & Myra WolchHaderra & Mark ChisickDon & Elfie EliasLawrence & Brenda EllerbyShannon ErnstGregg & Mary HansonDr. Ted & Gail HechterGuenter & Crystal JochumHon. Justice William JohnstonFern KarlickiPat & Jim LudwigPeter & Maureen MacdonaldMr. G. MarkhamN. MarrMr. Gerry Matte &

Mrs. Lydia Surasky-MatteIrene & the late Claire MillerVivienne NickersonRichard & Bonnie OlfertLinda & Wayne PaquinDonna PlantIris ReimerCharles & Naida RubinMelanie Sexton† & Ian WalshAl* & Virginia SnyderDebbie SpracklinJames Joseph TepperLinda ThomasEric TurnerCarol & Hugo Unruh

Supporters



Margaret WikjordWinfield Developments CanadaDorothy Y. Young3 Anonymous

SUPPORTER • $150–499

France Adams & Stephen BrodovskyPat & Bob AdamsonAnthony & Marilyn AlexanderDawn AndersenJudy & Jay AndersonIan BackusKen Ball & Karen TurnerDianne J. BeavenLarry Beeston & Anna SikoraJoan BenderMr. & Mrs. Ernest BergbuschMark BernsteinTyler BirchTanys & Don BjornsonDenise BonnerDr. Elizabeth BoustchaMorva Bowman & Alan PollardDon & Cheryl BreakeyBilly Brodovsky & Libby YagerSheila & David BrodovskyMiriam BronsteinValerie BuchananDonna ByrneCarol Campbell & Andy KrentzDon & Carolyne CampbellLawrence Campbell & FamilyKen & Elizabeth CarrollLawrie & Bea CherniackAgnes & John CollinsPamela & Andrew CookeJoyce CooperMartin & Gail CorneTed & Margaret CuddyEllen CurtisJ. DaleDr. & Mrs. James DaltonDonna DamanMs. Linda DanielsJ. DawsonJohn & Heather DiamondFaye DixonPam DixonDr. Sheila Domke & Stephen RossAdam Dooley & Lynn BillardThomas DooleySally R. DowlerDavid DriedgerJohn & Ada DucasHelene DyckAl DyregrovMr. & Mrs. William EastonDr. Micheal Eleff & Chana ThauMr. & Mrs. John & Martha EnnsSelma EnnsRobert Filuk

Douglas FinkbeinerMr. & Mrs. D.C. FinnbogasonGayle FischerMarcia FleisherChris FreemanArnold FriemanMenno H. & Jolanda FriesenColleen & Dan FurlanDr. Jonathan Gabor & Tia MetaxasMr. & Mrs. R. GallantWilliam S. GardnerLynne & Lindsay GauldE. GeorgeDr. & Mrs. Ron & Denise GeorgeRick & Patti GilhulyMs. Heather GillanderDr. & Mrs. Andrew GomoriJeremy & Maureen GordonDr. & Mrs. W. GordonShawn & Bill GouldDonald GrahamKari Hagness†Heather & David HallattKathy HallickGregory & Heather HammondSylvia & Doug HannahBruce & Judy HarrisSandra & Hans HasenackAndrea Hector & Kirk DellebuurRay HenjumCathy HobdayMr. Dennis HodgkinsonJennie HoganGary Hook & Charmine LyonsFrank & Donna HruskaDan IlchynaRudy & Gail IsaakMarlis & David JacobsonRhea & Dave JenkinsonLynne JentschClaire & Gerald JewersLisa JohnstonKatherine Jordan & James TamClaudette JourneDr. Leonard KahaneDr. & Mrs. A. KatiDr. & Mrs. Philip KatzDonald & Sheila KeatchJudith KendleM.J. KingPaula KlanMyron & Marion KlyshPaul KochanMadeline KohutE. KoopGloria KoopDavid & Denise KossHolly KotowichBill & Evelyn KrahnLorraine KraichyKatarina Kupca

Teena LairdDeanne LanderDr. Patricia LandolfoRobert E. LeaskEllen & Stewart LeiblKathy & Saul LeiblTim & Kate LetkemannCarol & Clifford LeviWendell & Eleanor LindWayne LoeppkyIsrael & Maylene LudwigDr. Sora Ludwig & Dr. Brent SchacterSofia LukieDr. & Mrs. Ted LyonsBurton & Mary LyseckiMr. & Mrs. E.R. MacDonaldJohn MacDonaldSharon M. MacdonaldDennis MacKay, QC &

Annette StapenhorstCam Mackie & Doris Mae OultonWally MahPhil & Miriam Maltz Family FundElaine & Neil MargolisAgatha MasseyNicola MatthewsMarjorie & Robert McCamisPatrick & Daniella McDonaldJulia & Don McInnesMr. & Mrs. Campbell McIntyreJohn & Carolynne McLure Fund

– The Winnipeg FoundationMichael & Debra McMullenBarb MelnychukAlbert MetcalfeMel & Pippie MichenerJim & Karren MiddaghGrant Mitchell & Catherine LambethDr. Catherine Moltzan & Paul BraultMarc Monnin & Donna MillerRay MontagueBill MuirKen & Suzanne MunroeMarika NerbasEdwin & Pat NichollsRobert NickelDeborah & George NytepchukJoanne OlchoweckiMurray Palay & Ivy KopsteinHeather & Harry PanaschukTerry PanychDr. Philip PassBeverly PavlekLouise PelletierMs. Jo-Anne PelzerRon & Anita PerronB. Peterson & S. SlonoskyWayne PiettDonna PlattMaureen Prendiville & Paul JensenBob & Linda Preston

Supporters



Ms. Judith PutterVivian RachlisRudy & Audrey RamchandarAngeline RamkissoonVance RehillPat & Bill ReidMr. & Mrs. William ReynoldsJoyce RichDr. & Mrs. J. RichtikRicou-ManfredaTony RobbinsJane RobinsonMrs. Linda RobinsonMr. Robert RogersSheryl RosenbergCraig Russell & Janet Shaw-RussellElizabeth RussinMichael T. RutaCheryl Samson-Siemens &

Gordon SiemensShona ScappaticciBarbara ScheunemanHans & Gabriele SchneiderDr. Meir Serfaty & Bonnie TalbotIn memory of Sybil Shack for the

benefit of Royal MTC – Jewish Foundation of Manitoba

Dr. & Mrs. A.M. ShojaniaMargaret & Paul ShuckettShayna & Merrill ShulmanMeera SinhaJeff Sisler & Cathy Rippin-SislerJennifer Skelly† & FamilyChad SmithMrs. Lorraine SmithDeanne SpiegelFrits & Joan StevensJacqueline St. HillYvonne StierNaomi Stobbe & Paul ReimerHeidi Struck†Richard SwainMr. & Mrs. Paul SwartShayne & Kathryn TabackRoss & B.J. TaylorKaren TereckMarilyn ThompsonBruce & Anne ThomsonIan R. Thomson & Leah R. JanzenPhyllis A.C. ThomsonMary E. TibbsMitchell D. TimmermanMalcolm & Shirley TinsleyNorma ToewsW. Tretiak & B. BaydockDr. Stephen Tritt &

Dr. Sharon Goszer-TrittTerry TullySusan TurleyGrant TweedRobert Tyler

Suzanne UllyotPatricia Van DoninckFran & Bob VannevelL. Joy VibergIrv & Toby VinskyDr. & Mrs. M.B. VodreyV. Stirling WalkesSherry & Bob WardVanessa WarnePeter & Joan WashchyshynDeanna M. WatersAl & Pat WherrettFlorence & Donald WhitmoreMurray & Nancy WiegandTrevor WiensArthur WilliamsDennis & Gustine WiltonPaul & Jackie WinestockMr. C. WinstoneDr. David Wiseman & Merilyn KrautHarry & Evelyn Wray20 Anonymous

CORPORATE DIRECTOR’S CIRCLE

GUARANTOR • $5,000+

Johnston Group Inc.Qualico

BENEFACTOR • $3,000–4,999

Cambrian Credit UnionGendis Inc. & Associated CorporationsMaple Leaf Construction Ltd.,

Blake FitzpatrickTerracon Development Ltd.

PATRON • $1,200–2,999

Accutech Engineering Inc.Assiniboine Credit UnionBison Transport, Don StrueberBlüfish Japanese RestaurantBockstael Construction (1979) Ltd.Canada Safeway LimitedDeloitte & Touche Foundation CanadaGeorge Wakefield Foods Inc.,

Judy Wakefield*Maxim Truck & TrailerRuth & Ted NorthamNumber TEN Architectural Group,

Robert Eastwood*PRA Inc.Ranger Insurance Brokers Ltd.Royal Canadian Properties Limited,Sofa Logic, Suzi Bonk*Winmar Property Restoration

SPONSORS

The Asper FoundationBMO Financial GroupMartha BurnsCalm AirCanonCardinal Capital Management Inc.Carlyle Printers Service & Supplies Ltd.The Chipman Family FoundationCIBCCNDe Luca Fine WinesDycom Direct Mail ServicesEsdale Printing Co. Ltd.The Fort Garry Hotel, Spa &

Conference CentreFreeman Audio Visual CanadaDeborah GrayThe Great-West Life

Assurance CompanyInvestors GroupLawton PartnersMacDon Industries Ltd.Manitoba Liquor & LotteriesNational LeasingPlanned PerfectlyPwCRBC Royal BankRelishRound Table Steakhouse & PubStantec Consulting Ltd.Subway Franchise World HeadquartersThompson Dorfman Sweatman LLPWawanesa InsuranceWinnipeg Free Press

CORPORATE FRIENDS OF ROYAL MTC

CONTRIBUTOR • $900–1,199

The Manitoba Teachers’ SocietyMitchell Fabrics Ltd.

SUPPORTER • $600–899

Crosier Kilgour & Partners Ltd.Fillmore Riley LLPIntergroup Consultants Ltd.Manitoba’s Credit UnionsNAV CANADAThe North West CompanyPollard Banknote Ltd.Fay & Max Reich

Supporters

*Current Royal MTC Board of Trustees/Advisory Board members †Current Royal MTC staff‡If you have remembered Royal MTC in your will, please let us know


ASSOCIATE • $300–599

Cowin SteelMcKenzie Convenience Store,

Hyun Soo NohMid-West QuiltingMid West Packaging LimitedParty Stuff/U-Rent-ItPremier Printing Ltd.

DONOR • $150–299

DGH Engineering Ltd.Edward CarriereLeon A. Brown Ltd.MCW/AGE Consulting

Professional EngineersNoble Locksmith Ltd.Patill/St. James InsuranceReitmans (Canada) Limited

TRIBUTE GIFTS

Gifts received between December 1, 2014 and January 14, 2015.

In memory of Jack & Dorothy BidewellIn memory of Dr. Robert Martin

– Marina Plett-Lyle; Unitarian Church Theatre Group

In honour of Steven Schipper’s 25th anniversary as Artistic Director – Sandy & Deborah Riley

In memory of Annice Stephens – Kerry Dangerfield; the Board of the Winnipeg Philharmonic Choir

FOUNDERS’ CIRCLE

John Hirsch and Tom Hendry shared a dream of creating great professional theatre with mass appeal. With the visionary support of Founders’ Circle members – those who have made a planned gift to Royal MTC – their dream will live on for generations to come. Thank you to our Founders’ Circle members.‡

Gail Asper, OC, OM, LLD*Marjorie & Morley Blankstein*Duane & Pauline BraunTerri Cherniack &

Steven Schipper, CM†Kerry Dangerfield*Edward Fisher & Lyse RémillardJames GibbsGary Hannaford & Cathy RushtonMaureen E. JayAndrew & Wendy JensenDr. Leonard & Hope KahaneGordon C. Keatch*Laurie Lam† & Larry DesrochersLeona J. MacDonaldBarb MelnychukJeffrey Morton*Heather Power & Harold Klause

ENDOWMENT FUND

In Honour of Artistic Director Steven Schipper

Many thanks to the generos-ity of our Endowment Fund donors who gave a gift or fulfilled a pledge payment between November 1, 2013 and December 31, 2014. Amounts are cumulative.

$5,000,000+

Government of Canada/Gouvernement du Canada

Canadian Heritage/ Patrimoine canadien

$250,000–499,999

Gail Asper, OC, OM, LLD* & Michael Paterson

$100,000–249,999

Morley* & Marjorie Blankstein, CM, OM, LLD

Dick Bonnycastle

$50,000–99,999

Sandy & Deborah RileyRoyal Manitoba Theatre Centre

Volunteer Corps of Ushers

$25,000–49,999

James R. GibbsJ.K. May Investments Ltd.Donald K. Johnson, CMJohnston Group Inc.The Michael Nozick Family FoundationIn memory of Doug ShewfeltArni Thorsteinson & Susan GlassAnonymous

$10,000–24,999

The Bowles FamilyGus* & Diane CampbellJohn F. (Jack) Fraser*Bryan Klein & Susan Halprin*The Honourable Guy J. Kroft &

Hester Kroft*Cam & Carole OslerNorma Anne PadillaLawrie & Fran PollardDr. Bill Pope &

Dr. Elizabeth Tippett-PopeSteven Schipper, CM† &

Terri CherniackGeorge SigurdsonTerracon Development Ltd.Darcy & Brenda Zaporzan*

$5,000–9,999

Mr. & Mrs. Kristjan & Shirley Benidickson

Margaret CaieMerv & Jan CaversDonald Fraser & Judy LittleSusan & Keith KnoxRick Lee & Laurie ShapiroGarry MarkhamJim* & Penny McLandressL. Blair Philpott & Tom KynmanHeather Pullan & Tom FrohlingerWearing Williams Limited

– Don & Sheila KatzIn memory of Campbell Wright

– Lynne ArnasonJoan Wright

Supporters



$2,500–4999

Lee & Wayne AndersonMary CampbellEsther & Hy Dashevsky*Helene DyckGregg & Mary HansonDr. Ted & Gail HechterMargaret & Fred MooibroekCheryl OgarankoDorothy Y. YoungAnonymous

$1,000–2,499

Robert & Ina Abra Family Fund – The Winnipeg Foundation

Jack Armstrong & Doris QuinnPhilip AshdownGeorge BaldwinDoris & Burton BassArthur & Ken Blankstein-UreSheila & David BrodovskyPaul & Doreen BromleyCarol Campbell & Andy KrentzDavid* & Lianne CarefootDave & Barb ChristiePamela & Andrew CookeKerry Dangerfield*Bob & Alison DarlingDick & Joan DawsonRoberta DyckErnest EppMichael & Lynn EvansJean & Dennis Giguere*David & Ewhenia GnutelJohn & Margaret GrahamRita Gunn* & Greg MasonMarilyn & Helios HernandezGary & Maureen HunterIn memory of Irene Karasick-McMurrichJohn Kearsey*Dr. G.H. LawlerBarbara MainMark & Gloria ManciniTerri & Jim McKercharIrene & the late Claire MillerIn memory of Liam Murphy

– Leigh MurphyLillian Neaman*Jean & Lisa NeronMyron Pawlowsky & Susan BoulterMarina Plett-LyleClaude & Pat PrecourtRuth SimkinBill & Laurie Speers*Frits & Joan StevensMelinda Tallin† & Glen MitchellSuzanne UllyotFaye WarrenBarbara & Ken WebbRichard L. Yaffe* & John A. StathamDr. James & Mrs. Kim Zacharias

$500–999

Joan & Ed AlexanderPeggy Bainard AchesonBruce & Joyce BerryDonald & Edith BesantThe Bohm FamilySuzi Bonk*Ron & Joan BoydRuth & Kris BreckmanMargaret E. ClarkeKatherine Cobor & Gordon SteindelJohn K. & Agnes CollinsRobert* & Florence EastwoodMarcia Fleisher & Kelly MacDonaldChris FreemanBrent & Debbie GilbertTeresa A. HayEvelyn & Larry HechtIn memory of David Landy

– Edith LandyDon LawrenceDr. Stan & Susan LipnowskiGerry & Corinne McCallumDr. & Mrs. Donald McInnesVera MorozPaul & Elaine NeelonE.M.L. PoulterBill & Norma RennieAmy RichmondPatricia & James RichtikMarc & Sherri RittingerMichael T. RutaFaye ScottJim & Susan ShawHowie & Sue SimpsonElaine Toms5 Anonymous

UP TO $499

Jacqueline AndersonMargaret & Charles AventArmand & Judy BaccusPeggy BarkerMs. Jean BissettDr. John BondH.F. BowenBrenlee Carrington Trepel &

Brent TrepelJeanetta CasselmanArthur & Donna ChowChristine H. ColtartMaxine CristallSharon EadiePaulo Fernandes*Nelma FettermanDr. & Mrs. D.D. & B.M. FillisLee FinchElizabeth FosterCarole GiesbrechtSandy Gousseau*Karen Herd

Mrs. Audrey HildermanDorothy HodgsonCamilla Holland† & Colin ViebrockShawn Hughes* & Bruno KoehnElizabeth E. JacksonJordan Janisse & Teresa CooperL. KampeasSheila & Ken KatzMr. & Mrs. Fred KisilBrenda* & Trevor KrissBarbara LatockiMs. Nancy LatockiVi LeaneyFrances LemieuxMarilyn LindquistSylvia L. MainNick Martin & Dr. Evelyn FergusonPatrick & Clarice Matthews*Keith MayohAnthony & Joyce McWhaMarcel & Louise MollotMarlene A. MortimerPat & Sherry O’ConnorTheresa OyeRobb† & Heather PatersonCarolyn PorhownikMyrna ProtosavageHenry & Sheila RiendeauAndrea* & Michael RobertsonEvan & Audra RoitenbergJoan ShepsVern & Ann SimonsenEleanor SudermanBrenda TaylorPeter & Sharon TaylorMarilyn ThompsonMary & Gordon ToombsW. Tretiak & B. BaydockTim Valgardson*Judy* & Michael WakefieldWalter & Shirley WattsDonna Webb5 Anonymous

Supporting Partners


TMS T R O N G E R C O M M U N I T I E S T O G E T H E R

SEASON PARTNERS

REGIONAL TOUR

WORDPLAY

JOHN HIRSCH MAINSTAGE PERFORMANCE SPONSORS


TOM HENDRY WAREHOUSE PRODUCTION SPONSOR

Chipman Family Foundation

CORE FUNDERS

CalmAir

PRODUCTION SUPPORTER

JOHN HIRSCH MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION SPONSOR

BACKSTAGE PASS

THEATRE FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES CORPORATE MATCHING GIFT

BENEFACTORS

Deborah GrayMartha Burns

Supporting Partners


TMS T R O N G E R C O M M U N I T I E S T O G E T H E R

2014 WINNIPEG FRINGE THEATRE FESTIVAL

MEDIA SPONSORS

COWARDFEST 2015

CAPITAL ASSISTANCE

BLACK & WHITE BALL

EXCLUSIVE EVENT SPONSOR PLATINUM SPONSOR SILVER SPONSOR

LAWYERS PLAY DESIGN SPONSOR

Insurance Brokers and Consultants

BRONZE SPONSORS

40

Board of TrusteesHonorary MembersHis Honour, Lt. Governor Philip S. LeeThe Honourable Greg Selinger, Premier of ManitobaHis Worship, Mayor Brian BowmanExecutive OfficersJim McLandress, ChairKerry Dangerfield, Past ChairDavid Carefoot, TreasurerBrenda Zaporzan, SecretarySuzi Bonk, Chair, Community RelationsDavid Christie, Chair, Governance & Strategic PlanningPatrick Green, Chair, Organizational PerformanceAnthony C. Fletcher, Chair, Resource DevelopmentTrusteesHeather ClarkeRobert EastwoodPaulo FernandesSandy GousseauRita GunnJohn Guttormson

Shawn HughesJohn KearseyBrenda KrissEvan KuzJeff LamotheAndrea Robertson

Laurie A. SpeersTim J. ValgardsonJudy WakefieldRichard L. Yaffe

Advisory CouncilGary Hannaford,

FCA, ChairGail AsperMorley BlanksteinDoneta BrotchieAngus CampbellGerry CoutureHy DashevskyGlen Dyrda, FCAJohn F. FraserJean Giguere

Charron HamiltonYude HenteleffKen HoussinGordon KeatchColin R. MacArthur,

QCPatrick J. MatthewsJeffrey Morton,

FCAHon. Jack MurtaLillian Neaman

Shelley NimchonokJames PappasJohn PetersmeyerLawrence ProutJeff QuintonPatricia RabsonMargaret RedmondSusan SkinnerAl SnyderMaureen Watchorn

StaffAccounting/FinanceSharon Burden, Payroll AdministratorYvonne O’Connor, Accounts Payable AdministratorShelley Stroski, ControllerAdministrationBrian Adolph, IT ManagerJennifer Cheslock, Outreach ManagerDevan Graham, Director of Human ResourcesCamilla Holland, General ManagerDaphne MacMillan, Administrative AssistantJennifer Skelly, IT AdministratorArtisticJeff Kennedy, Literary CoordinatorLaurie Lam, ProducerRobb Paterson, Associate Artistic DirectorSteven Schipper, CM, Artistic DirectorCasey Shapira, Archives CoordinatorMelinda Tallin, Artistic CoordinatorBox OfficeSheena Baird, Ticketing Services ManagerLaurie Fletcher, Box Office ManagerMelanie Sexton, Director of Box Office ServicesBox Office Representatives: Katie Adamson, Laura Bergen, Gwendolyn Collins, Robyn Pooley, Tori Popp, Jessica Ross, Katie Schmidt, Caitlin Turner, Elizabeth WhitbreadCarpentryLouis Gagné, Layout CarpenterBrent Letain, Master CarpenterChris Seida, Scenic CarpenterDevelopmentMichael Joyal, Development AssistantStephanie Lambert, Special & Donor Events CoordinatorShelly Smith-Hines, Director of DevelopmentHeidi Struck, Individual Giving ManagerJohn Hirsch Mainstage Front-of-HouseDeborah Gay-de Vries, Front-of-House ManagerAssisted by: Sheena Baird

Jamie Chapman, Kim Cossette, Hunter Davis, Rylen de Vries, Caroline Graham, Jonny Hall, Elfie Harvey, Talia Kowalchuk, Tia Levine, Jessica Olson, Kayla Parke-Wilson, Amariah Peterson, Angela Rajfur, Jennifer Schmidt, April Smith, Rita Vande Vyvere, Kira Watson, Chelsea Zacharias, Derek ZorniakMaintenanceAndrew Drinnan, Building SuperintendentChris Fletcher, Assistant Building SuperintendentMarketing & CommunicationsHayley Brigg, Publicity & Communications CoordinatorSue Caughlin, Marketing & Communications ManagerKatie Inverarity, Director of Marketing & CommunicationsMark Saunders, Marketing & Communications CoordinatorThomas Urish, Sales ManagerPaintSusan Groff, Head Scenic ArtistLawrence Van Went, Scenic ArtistProductionLaura Enns, Touring & Production CoordinatorIan Kirk, Assistant Technical DirectorPaige Lewis, Assistant Production ManagerRick MacPherson, Technical Director, Tom Hendry WarehouseRussell Martin, Director of ProductionJacqueline Robertson, Interim Assistant Technical DirectorBen Ross, Technical Director, John Hirsch MainstagePropertiesLarry Demedash, Senior Properties BuilderKari Hagness, Head of PropertiesJames Sutherland, Properties BuilderStage CrewJohn Bent Jr., Head of SoundJoan Lees-Miller, Head of WardrobeClaude Robert, Head ElectricianChris Thomson, Head CarpenterJohn Tomiuk, House Stage Hand

Behind the Scenes

proudly sponsoring MTC

204-783-9463 942 Portage Ave. • R3G 0R1www.delucafinewines.comproudly sponsoring

MTC

204-783-9463 942 Portage Ave. • R3G 0R1www.delucafinewines.com







Tom Hendry WarehouseRandy Zyla Harder, Head ElectricianRick MacPherson, Technical DirectorAlison Nutt, Head CarpenterLawrence Van Went, Head Scenic ArtistMichael Wright, Head of SoundTom Hendry Warehouse Front-of-HouseKim Cossette, Front-of-House ManagerJamie Chapman, Rachael Neal, April Smith, Chelsea ZachariasWardrobeThora Lamont, Acting Head of WardrobeLorraine O’Leary, Head of WardrobeLois Powne, First HandJackie Van Winkle, Head Buyer & Accessories CoordinatorWigsBeverly Covert, Wigs & Makeup SupervisorWinnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival & Master Playwright FestivalJennifer Cheslock, Festival ManagerChuck McEwen, Executive ProducerTori Popp, Festival AssistantHonorary StaffZaz Bajon, General Manager Emeritus

Additional Production StaffVanya and Sonia and Masha and SpikeHeather Lee Brereton, Assistant Properties MakerJane Buttner, Assistant Scenic PainterChris Hadley, CarpenterKim Hamin, Assistant Scenic ArtistNorma Lachance, SewerSofia Lukie, PainterBarb Mackenzie, SewerSharon Ryman, Wig ConstructionJoy Willis, Sewer

Private LivesHeather Lee Brereton, Assistant Properties MakerNorma Lachance, SewerBarb Mackenzie, SewerPaul Moore, Stage HandSharon Ryman, Wig ConstructionBurkhard Weiss, Assistant CarpenterJoy Willis, Sewer

Additional crew provided by IATSE Local 63

Mirvish ProductionsProduction and Administrative StaffDavid Mirvish, ProducerBrian Sewell, Executive ProducerLinda Intaschi, Associate ProducerDavid Mucci, Managing DirectorSarah Sisko, Assistant ProducerScot Whitham, Director of ProductionCharles Chu, Associate General ManagerHannah Mirvish, General Management AssociateCamillo Casciato, Director of FinanceJosie DiLuzio, IT ManagerJohn Karastamatis, Director of CommunicationsMark Lavaway, Director of Labour Relations/Business DevelopmentJim Valentine, Director of SalesChris Dorscht, Senior Marketing ManagerSue Toth, Communications ManagerJ. Randy Alldread, Public Relations ManagerLaurel Purvis, Assistant to David Mirvish

Behind the Scenes

Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre and the Manitoba Bar Association present the 2015 Lawyers Play

MAY 5–9, 2015

CONCEIVED BY REBECCA FELDMAN

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL BY JAY REISS

ORIGINALLY DIRECTED ON BROADWAY BY JAMES LAPINE

ORIGINALLY PRODUCED ON BROADWAY BY DAVID STONE, JAMES L. NEDERLANDER, BARBARA WHITMAN, PATRICK CATULLO, BARRINGTON STAGE COMPANY, SECOND STAGE THEATRE

Proceeds from this fundraising play benefit Royal MTC.

THE 25th ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY

PRESENTING SPONSOR

SILVER SPONSOR

WINE SPONSOR

DESIGN SPONSOR

RECEPTION SPONSORS

TICKETS $100 (includes wine, post-show

reception & a $70 tax receipt)

ON SALE NOWCALL 204 942 6537

ROYALMTC.CA/LAWYERSPLAY

RIOTOUSLY FUNNY

– THE NEW YORK TIMES

MUSIC AND LYRICS BY WILLIAM FINN

BOOK BY RACHEL SHEINKIN

“Star quality: I don’t know what it is, but I’ve got it.”The 15th annual Master Playwright Festival shines the spotlight on the genius of Noël Coward. Known as a playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, Coward was multi-talented and the festival celebrates this diversity. Festival-goers will get the chance to enjoy some of his most famous stage plays, such as Blithe Spirit, Hay Fever, Fallen Angels and Royal MTC’s production of Private Lives. Other highlights include film screenings, readings, a music revue and the ever-popular lecture series.

Master Playwright Festival


JANUARY 28 – FEBRUARY 15

presented by

THE BEST WAY TO EXPLORE NOËL COWARD’S BODY OF WORK IS TO BUY A FESTIVAL PASS FOR $85 . SINGLE TICKETS START AT ONLY $10 . FOR PLAYWRIGHT BIO, TICKET INFORMATION AND SHOW SCHEDULES, PLEASE VISIT ROYALMTC.CA/MPF.

CELEBRATING THE LIFE AND WORK OF NOËL COWARD

“My body has certainly wandered a good deal, but I have an uneasy suspicion that my mind has not wandered enough.”

PHOTOS OF NOËL COWARD COURTESY OF THE NOËL COW

ARD FOUNDATION

HIGH SCHOOL

AT UNIVERSITY

LOVE TOCREATE?D O I T . A T T H E C O L L E G I A T E

CAROLYNPASSION FOR PHOTOGRAPHY / / GRADE 9

COLLEGIATE.uwInnIpEG.CA

Mobile on-site shredding.204-975-0505

www.jwm.mb.ca

®®

Let BygonesBe Bygones

Documents

Ovation Volume 22, Number 4 (January/February/March 2015)