The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris Adapted by Joe Mantello

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1 PORTLANDCENTERSTAGE Presents The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris Adapted by Joe Mantello Directed by Wendy Knox November 23 December 28, 2014 Artistic Director Chris Coleman 1

2 PORTLANDCENTERSTAGE Presents The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris Adapted by Joe Mantello DIRECTED BY WENDY KNOX STARRING DARIUS PIERCE Scenic and Costume Designer Jessica Ford Sound Designer Sarah Pickett Production Assistant Olivia Todd Lighting Designer Don Crossley Stage Manager Olivia Murphy Casting Rose Riordan Originally produced in New York by David Stone and Amy Nederlander-Case on November 7, The Santaland Diaries is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York. 2

3 Videotaping or other video or audio recording of this production is strictly prohibited. Performed without intermission. The Actor and Stage Manager employed in this production are members of Actors Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. Welcome to the holidays at the Armory! What are your traditions around the holidays? Do you gather? Who do you gather with? I remember my Mom whipping up this amazing storm of activity come late December that centered around a collective march to church (we were always there anyway, but as we grew older we seemed to resist her more); presents (my favorite year was when I lived in New York and first had money to buy cool stuff for everyone, including my sister s favorite perfume and a 3

4 pink feather boa for my 4-year-old niece); and food (could a meal be prepared with more sturm und drang, really?). And I remember vividly, the first Christmas after I had started my theater company in Atlanta (I was working seven days a week non-stop), my Grandfather pulling me to the side and saying, don t put all your eggs in one basket. He wasn t saying drop this theater stuff, but rather, don t forget your family. That s the value of the gathering isn t it? In the middle of our intensely busy lives, we give ourselves an excuse to pause, to contemplate, to give thanks for each other. At this time of year, I d like to take a moment to give thanks to you, our audience, for gathering with us here in the Armory with your friends and family to enjoy our holiday offerings. - Chris Darius Pierce Crumpet Darius is thrilled to be spending his seventh holiday season with PCS after two years each of The Santaland Diaries, A Christmas Story and A Christmas Carol. Other productions at PCS include Beard of Avon (Drammy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor), Twelfth Night, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The 39 Steps, Frost/Nixon, How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found, Misalliance and the JAW Festival. Elsewhere, some of 4

5 his favorite shows have been Stupid Fucking Bird (Woolly Mammoth Theatre); The Gaming Table and Comedy of Errors (Folger Theatre); Lips Together, Teeth Apart (Profile Theatre); As You Like It (Portland Shakespeare Project); My Fair Lady and Les Misérables (Broadway Rose); Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Portland Playhouse); The Long Christmas Ride Home and A Devil Inside (Theatre Vertigo). Darius is a co-founder of the Anonymous Theatre Company, which produces the annual theatrical event Anonymous Theatre with Theatre Vertigo. He can also occasionally be seen on screen, where his credits include Leverage, Portlandia, Grimm, Mock Trials, Train Master II and Cell Count. He would like to thank you all for spending a little bit of your holiday season with us!! David Sedaris Creator David Sedaris made his comic debut recounting his strangebut-true experiences of being a Macy's elf clad in green tights, reading his Santaland Diaries on National Public Radio's Morning Edition. Sedaris' sardonic humor and incisive social critique have since made him one of NPR's most popular and humorous commentators and a best-selling author in the United States and abroad. The great skill with which Sedaris slices through euphemisms and political correctness proves that he is a master of satire. Everywhere he goes David Sedaris delights his audience with his irreverent style and great humor. In addition to his 5

6 commentaries on NPR, David Sedaris is the author of the best-sellers Barrel Fever and Naked. His collection of Christmas related stories is entitled Holiday on Ice. His book of essays Me Talk Pretty One Day was published in June 2000 and became an immediate best-seller. David and his sister, Amy Sedaris, have collaborated under the name The Talent Family and written several plays which have been produced at La Mama and at Lincoln Center in New York City. These plays include Stump the Host, Stitches, One Woman Show, which received an Obie award, Incident at Cobbler s Knob, and The Book of Liz. David is a regular contributor to Esquire magazine and his essays have also appeared in The New Yorker, Allure and Travel and Leisure. Sedaris' original radio pieces can often be heard on public radio's This American Life, distributed nationally by WBEZ in Chicago, as well as BBC radio in London. David Sedaris currently resides in Paris. Joe Mantello Adaptor Directing credits include Assassins (Tony Award); Wicked; Take Me Out (Tony Award); Frankie and Johnny in the Clair De Lune; A Man of No Importance; Design for Living; Terrence McNally and Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking for the San Francisco Opera; The Vagina Monologues; Bash; Another American: Asking and Telling; Love! Valour! Compassion!; Proposals; The Mineola Twins; Corpus Christi; Mizlansky/Zilinsky or Schmucks; Blue Window; God s Heart; The Santaland Diaries; Lillian; Snakebit; Three Hotels; Imagining Brad; and Fat Men in Skirts. Mr. Mantello also directed the film Love! Valour! Compassion!. As an actor he 6

7 appeared in Angels in America (Tony nomination) and The Baltimore Waltz. He is the recipient of the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Helen Hayes, Clarence Derwent, Obie, and Joe A. Callaway awards. He is a member of Naked Angels and an associate artist at the Roundabout Theatre Company. Wendy Knox Director Wendy is the artistic director of the Frank Theatre in Minneapolis, which is celebrating its 26th anniversary this year. Credits include: George Brant s Grounded; critically acclaimed productions of the Brecht/Weill masterpiece, The Threepenny Opera; Enda Walsh s The New Electric and Misterman (which garnered an Ivey Award); Jordan Harrison s Maple and Vine; Ellen McLaughlin s Ajax in Iraq; Kander and Ebb s Cabaret; Danai Gurira s Eclipsed; a company-developed adaptation of Kafka s Metamorphosis; an Ivey Award-winning production of Martin McDonagh s The Pillowman (presented by the Guthrie Theater); Brecht s Mother Courage; Suzan-Lori Parks Venus and her own adaptation of Euripides texts, featuring a bluesbased score by composer Marya Hart, titled The Women of Troy; the premiere of Carson Kreitzer s The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer; Shakespeare s The Taming of the Shrew; Blitzstein s The Cradle Will Rock; Caryl Churchill s Vinegar Tom and Naomi Wallace s The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek. She recently directed Berlin to Broadway for Skylark Opera. Other regional credits include: the Guthrie Theater, Syracuse Stage, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Vermont Ensemble Theatre and Intiman Theatre. She has served as a guest director at many colleges and universities, most recently 7

8 directing Brecht s The Good Person of Setzuan for Vanderbilt University in Nashville. She has also worked as a teaching artist for the Perpich Center for Arts Education and in the Children s Theatre Company s Neighborhood Bridges program. She was affiliated for ten years with Kulture Klub Collaborative, an artsbased organization that connects homeless teens with artists as role models. Knox was a Fulbright Fellow in Finland and she holds an M.F.A. in Directing from the University of Washington. Her work has been recognized by the McKnight Foundation with fellowships for outstanding work by professional artists, the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Jerome Foundation. Jessica Ford Scenic and Costume Designer Jessica is delighted to be returning to PCS for The Santaland Diaries. Other regional theatre credits include productions at The Long Wharf Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, Baltimore Center Stage, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, South Coast Repertory, The Folger, Barrington Stage, Hangar Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and the Alley Theatre in Houston. In New York she has worked with Ars Nova, The Play Company, Second Stage, P73, Rattlestick Playwright s Theatre, Pearl Theatre and The Public, to name a few. Jessica received her M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama and was a recipient of the NEA/TCG fellowship for designers. This year she won the Connecticut Critics Circle Award for These Paper Bullets at Yale Rep. She also teaches at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA. 8

9 Don Crossley Lighting Designer Don is excited to re-create his design for The Santaland Diaries. Don has served as a lighting designer for JAW: A Playwrights Festival, and was PCS s master electrician from Previous PCS lighting designs include: The People s Republic of Portland, The Receptionist, Act a Lady, The Thugs, Fully Committed, Another Fine Mess, Who s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Santaland Diaries/A Christmas Memory that earned Don one of his seven Drammy Awards for Lighting Design. Don has also designed lighting for Portland Opera Association, Oregon Children s Theatre, Artists Repertory Theatre, CoHo Productions, Broadway Rose Theatre Company and Third Rail Repertory Theatre. Sarah Pickett Sound Designer Sarah has worked with theatrical companies all over the United States including: Yale Repertory Theatre, CT; Oregon Shakespeare Festival, OR; Victory Gardens Theater, IL; Drury Lane at Oakbrook, IL; Long Wharf Theatre, CT; Portland Center Stage, OR; Theatre for a New Audience, NYC; Playmakers Repertory Company, NC; Syracuse Stage, NY; Stonington Opera House, ME; Asolo Repertory Theatre, FL; Hangar Theatre, NY; and Women s Theatre Project, NYC. Sarah holds a B.F.A. from Syracuse University, a M.A. from Cornell University and a M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama. She is a sound design and music composition instructor at Carnegie Mellon University. 9

10 Olivia Murphy Stage Manager Olivia Murphy is thrilled to join Portland Center Stage for her first show with this company. A California girl born and raised, Olivia spent two summers with Shakespeare Santa Cruz before moving to the great Pacific Northwest. While in Portland, Olivia has worked with Artists Repertory Theatre, Third Rail Repertory Theatre, Profile Theatre, Broadway Rose Theatre Company, Oregon Children's Theatre, Shaking The Tree Theatre, Portland Shakespeare Project, The Playmakers, and the Quick and Dirty Art Project. Olivia is also a proud member of Actor's Equity Association. Olivia Todd Production Assistant Olivia is thrilled to be joining Portland Center Stage for the first time. She was inspired by many of the shows she saw here once upon a time in high school, and can't wait to be on the other side of the curtain line. Previously she could be found working at The Muny, Oregon Cabaret Theatre and Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Scenic Painters Lauren Newey Props Artisans Teresa Pilar Huarte 10

11 Shawn Mallory Light Board Operator Em Douglas Sound Engineer and Programmer Em Gustason Bluehour Restaurant In September 2006, Bluehour hosted the Grand Opening Party for the Gerding Theater at the Armory with an elaborate fivecourse dinner, seating for 580, and an army of white-gloved servers. And directly or indirectly, we have provided sustenance for all the fantastic productions presented here ever since. Thank you for your support of locally-owned businesses like Bluehour, and important publicly-funded cultural agencies like PCS. -Bruce Carey, Owner of Bluehour, Saucebox, 23Hoyt and Clarklewis 11

M E D I A R E L E A S E

PRESS CONTACT: Kate Kerns 503.445.3715 katek@pcs.org M E D I A R E L E A S E Portland favorite Twist Your Dickens returns to The Armory with new Scrooge to skewer holiday traditions and bring joy to all