Portland Center Stage presents Black Pearl Sings! Artistic Director Chris Coleman (April 24 June 17, 2012) 1
PORTLANDCENTERSTAGE Presents Black Pearl Sings! By Frank Higgins Directed by Bill Fennelly Scenic Designer Costume Designer Lighting Designer Andrew Boyce Jeff Cone Thomas Weaver Sound Designer Music Director Casting Casi Pacilio Rick Lewis Harriet Bass Stage Manager Mark Tynan* Production Assistant Lydia Comer Originally developed at the Barter Theater, Richard Rose, Artistic Director. Premiered at Stages Repertory Theater, Kenn McLoughlin, Artistic Director. *Member of Actors Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. 2
CAST Anna Karenina Chavez Ravine*. Alberta Pearl Johnson Lena Kaminsky* Susannah Mullally * Member of Actors Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. Cover art by Cynthia Warren. Art Direction by Michael Buchino. Portland Center Stage operates under an agreement among the League of Resident Theatres (LORT), Actors Equity Association, The Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States, and the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. PCS is a member of LORT, Theatre Communications Group, Portland Business Alliance, the Portland Oregon Visitors Association and the Oregon Natural Step Network. 3
DIRECTOR S NOTES There is no issue in America more explosive than race. I have really struggled with what to say to you in this director s note: WHAT should I say? HOW should I say it? Am I going to offend you? Am I not going to offend you enough? And while I don t know exactly what to say to you and I don t know exactly how to say it; I know I believe deeply that WE (no matter what the color of one s skin, or what god one might worship or what one s sexual orientation might be) are ALL created equal with the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -Do no harm - And Love thy neighbor as thyself. It s a pretty simple philosophy but it works for me. I learned an important lesson about myself as an artist and human being fifteen years ago when I was directing a radical reconception of Fiddler on the Roof. A very progressive rabbi warned me that I should be careful because the Jewish community (in that particular area) did not welcome the universalization of their story. That warning blew my mind! That was EXACTLY what I was trying to do. I was passionate about the universal approach. I wanted us all to be able to see ourselves in that community of Russian Jews who had been evicted from their homes. I came to understand, through that particular experience, the real power of creating and going to the theater. It became clear to me, in that moment, that every time we set foot in a rehearsal room as an artist or purchase a ticket as an audience member we are presented with a potentially transformational experience, one where, if we are brave enough 4
to look for it, we can miraculously see the best and the worst of ourselves in the faces of people who don t look, talk or act exactly like us. My hope for you tonight is that you will all be brave enough to look for and hopefully see yourselves and the great promise of America in the stories of Pearl and Susannah: we all are but human and we all have to die and six feet of earth will make us all of one size. I would like to leave you with two quotes that I came across during my preparation for this production that have made a big impression on me: The great abolitionist Frederick Douglass said, A battle lost or won is easily described, understood and appreciated, but the moral growth of a great nation requires reflection, as well as observation to appreciate it. And America s most famous coal miner s daughter, Loretta Lynn, said If you forget where you come from, how you gonna know where you are going? The Black Pearl Sings provides us an opportunity to reflect on where we have come from so we can work together to build a better future for ALL of us. - Bill Fennelly 5
INSPRIING A FRIENDSHIP AND A PLAY The story of Black Pearl Sings! is based on the real-life partnership of American Music Legend Huddie William Ledbetter, better known as Lead Belly, and John Lomax, famed folk musicologist. Having been in and out of prison from about 1915 to the early 1930s, Lead Belly had made a name for himself among inmates and guards alike for his treasure trove of early folk and blues music, sung with his vibrant voice and played on his trademark 12-string guitar. In 1933, Harvard Musicologist John Lomax convinced the Library of Congress to fund a prison tour aiming to find songs that dated back to earlier American culture. There were a significant number of African-Americans in prison, some for extended periods of time, and their isolation from the jazz and blues of the time period led them to have an outdated repertoire of classic folk songs. Lomax was interested in archiving these songs before they were lost to history, and considered Lead Belly one of his most significant finds. In July 1934, Lomax went on another prison tour, again visiting Lead Belly and recording several more of his songs, including his signature song Goodnight Irene, and a song Lead Belly had written titled Governor O.K. Allen. Both recordings were given to the governor of the same name by Lomax at Lead Belly's request, along with a petition for his release. While the governor's office claims that the petition didn't affect his sentence, both Lead Belly and Lomax believed that the letter was a deciding factor. 6
Lead Belly asked to accompany Lomax on his tour as a driver, and during this time recorded many more songs. After performances at some of Lomax's lectures, Lead Belly was written up in the New York Herald Tribune, establishing his name as a musician. Lead Belly signed Lomax as his manager, but after several performances and work on a book detailing their story, the two men had a falling out over earnings, and the partnership was dissolved in late 1935. Though frequent publicity came over the years, Lead Belly earned a small amount of notoriety but little monetary compensation. He went on a European tour in 1948, capitalizing on a burgeoning European interest in folk and blues. While in Paris, he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. He performed his final concert in June of 1949, in honor of John Lomax, who had passed away the previous year. A cover of his song Goodnight, Irene by The Weevers became a smash hit shortly after his death, and the general public finally became aware of his talent as a musician. Tragically, he wasn't around to experience his fame. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, and his reputation as a performer remains strong to this day. While Black Pearl Sings! is a dramatic reinterpretation of this story, it does reflect the essence of a relationship developing between two people from different worlds, and the intricate interplay between them which straddles the line between exploitation and friendship. - Frank Ciavarello 7
CAST & CREATIVE TEAM BIOGRAPHIES Lena Kaminsky Susannah Mullally Lena Kaminsky is thrilled to be making her PCS debut. She was most recently seen in the world premiere of Love and Communication at The Passage Theater. New York credits include Morning Star (Peccadillo Theater Company). Regional Theater credits include Love, Janis (The Kansas City Repertory Theatre), Trying (Hartford TheaterWorks), The Pillowman (George Street Playhouse), Doubt and The Taming of the Shrew (Northern Stage), The Weir (Palm Beach Dramaworks), as well as work with the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, The Adirondack Theatre Festival, and others. TV credits include Law & Order. She trained at Emerson College. Love to M. Chavez Ravine Alberta Pearl Johnson Chavez Ravine is honored to be in the beautiful city of Portland working at Portland Center Stage with Bill Fennelly. A native Chicagoan, Chavez studied at Northwestern University. But she got her start at the Piven Theatre Workshop where she was mentored by the late Byrne Piven. She came to New York for the Off-Broadway premiere of The Bluest Eye with Steppenwolf Theatre and made New Jersey her home. She quickly moved up in the theatre community with regional appearances in Yellowman, Spunk, The Winter s Tale, Civil War Voices, Crowns and American Voices. She also earned two Black Theatre Alliance Award nominations and one Black Theatre Alliance Award for the lead in The Congo Square Theatre 8
production of Daughters of the Mock. She also appeared in the films Barbershop II, Tapioca, April Fools, Southern Comfort and the television series Prison Break. Chavez played a substantial role in the critically acclaimed film Death of a President, which won the International Critics FIPESCI prize at the Toronto Film Festival. She is the founder of Ravine Arts Enrichment Group. Rae-group.org. Frank Higgins Playwright Frank Higgins is the author of The Country of the Blind, a play about disability, which received a National Endowment for the Arts grant to support its production and later toured through the Midwest. He is also the author of The Sweet By n By, which was produced with Blythe Danner and Gwyneth Paltrow. Gunplay has been produced across the country and had several scenes read on Capitol Hill prior to Congress' passage of the Brady Bill. Miracles has been produced at major regional theaters, including Jack O'Brien's Old Globe Theater in San Diego and later played in New York. His musical WMKS: Where Music Kills Sorrow has also been produced at major regional theaters. Lovers Leap was commissioned and produced at the Fulton Opera House and was also part of New York University's HotInk new play series. The Taste Test began as a reading at the Ashland New Plays Festival in Oregon, then received a reading at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York with Tony-winner Judith Ivey, and then debuted at Virginia Stage Company. Never Say Die was a finalist for the Eugene O'Neill New Play Festival. His plays for young audiences include The Slave Dancer s Choice, which debuted at the Omaha Theatre for Young People and was subsequently published by Dramatic 9
Publishing. He was later commissioned by the same theater to write Anansi the Spider and The Middle Passage, which toured nationally. Higgins lives in Kansas City, Missouri, and teaches at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Bill Fennelly Director Mr. Fennelly is thrilled to return to PCS after directing Gypsy here in 2001. His work has been seen on Broadway, Off- Broadway and regionally. He was director of the new musical Fly By Night (Bay Area Critics Circle Award nomination for Best Direction), Frankenstein The Musical (Off-Broadway), A Christmas Carol featuring F. Murray Abraham and Lynn Redgrave, and the original assistant director for Jersey Boys. Resident director for The Lion King and associate director for The Gershwins' Fascinating Rhythm, he also spent four seasons as a staff director with New York City Opera at Lincoln Center. He was a Phil Killian Directing Fellow at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and directed projects at Hartford Stage Company, Goodspeed Opera House and Manhattan Theatre Club. Mr. Fennelly served as producing artistic director at Actor's Express, associate producing artistic director of The Acting Company and assistant artistic director at Cirque du Soleil. Bill holds a B.M. from the Hartt School and a M.F.A. in directing from University of California San Diego. Bill is an assistant professor of theatre at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Andrew Boyce Scenic Designer Andrew Boyce is a scenic and production designer based in Brooklyn, who works in theatre, opera and film. Recent credits 10
include: Now Circa Then (Theatreworks, CA); Annapurna and The Lily s Revenge (The Magic Theatre, CA); The Robbers (Asolo Rep); Twelfth Night (Westport Country Playhouse); and Dreams of Flying, Dreams of Falling (Atlantic Theatre Company, NYC). Other credits at: The Wilma Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Yale Repertory Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, American Players Theatre, Des Moines Metro Opera, Curtis Institute of Music, University of Rochester, Hamptons Shakespeare Festival, and others. As an assistant/associate designer, Andrew has worked on projects seen on Broadway, Off-Broadway, at most major regional theatres, and at many national and international opera companies. Andrew is a member of the Wingspace Design Collective and is a graduate of Yale School of Drama, where he is currently on faculty in the design department. Jeff Cone Costume Designer This is Jeff s thirteenth season at PCS. In that time he has designed costumes for fifty-two productions. Of those shows, thirty-one have been in the last five seasons at the Armory. Favorite productions include West Side Story, Cabaret, Alfred Hitchcock s The 39 Steps, One Flew Over the Cuckoo s Nest, Sometimes a Great Notion, Snow Falling on Cedars and The Imaginary Invalid. Jeff received Drammy awards for his costume designs for Dirty Blonde and Act A Lady. In addition to his resident costume designer duties, Jeff is happy to manage the costume shop here at Portland Center Stage. 11
Thomas Weaver Lighting Designer Off-Broadway credits include Play Dead, Thrill Me, Two Rooms, King Hedley II, Frankenstein, Masked and projects at Lincoln Center Festival, Vital, Summer Play Festival, New York Musical Theater Festival and Lincoln Center Institute. In Philadelphia, he has worked with the Arden Theater Co., Wilma Theater, People s Light & Theater, Walnut Street Theatre, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Theatre Exile, 1812 Productions, Azuka Theatre,New Paradise Laboratories, Curtis Opera and Flashpoint Theatre Company, where he is artistic director. Regionally his work has been seen at CenterStage, Syracuse Stage, Shakespeare Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse, Cleveland Playhouse, Virginia Stage, Cal Shakes, Asolo Rep, Theatre J, Berkshire Theatre Festival, The Hangar Theatre, Children s Theatre Company, Folger, Roundhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Spoleto Festival, City Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, and Yale Rep. His awards include the AUDELCO, nine Barrymore nominations (winning for In the Next Room) and two Helen Hayes nominations. Education: Carnegie Mellon and Yale. Casi Pacilio Sound Designer Here we go again with another season at the Armory. Music, comedy, suspense, history and some fun. Casi's credits with PCS include A Christmas Story (2009 & 2010), Oklahoma!, The Real Americans, futura with composer Jana Losey, Ragtime (PAMTA Award), Opus, One Night with Janis Joplin, The 25 th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Chosen, Alfred Hitchcock s The 39 Steps, Snow Falling on Cedars, Grey 12
Gardens, The Little Dog Laughed, Sometimes a Great Notion, The Beard of Avon, Twelfth Night, Cabaret, The Pillowman, Act a Lady, I Am My Own Wife, West Side Story, Celebrity Row and six seasons of JAW. Other credits include Hand2Mouth Theatre's My Mind is Like an Open Meadow (Drammy Award), Squonk Operaís Bigsmorgasbord-WunderWerk (Broadway, Off- Broadway, regional, touring, PGH Awards), I Am My Own Wife, I Think I Like Girls, Burning Deck (La Jolla Playhouse, CA), Playland, 10 Fingers and Lips Together, Teeth Apart (City Theatre, PA). Film: Creation of Destiny, Out of Our Time and A Powerful Thang. Recordings: Glitterfruit, "fruit snacks." Rick Lewis Music Director Previous PCS shows: Oklahoma!, The Huntsmen (JAW), The Imaginary Invalid, Sunset Boulevard, The 25 th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Ragtime (Drammy Award, Musical Director), Grey Gardens, A Christmas Carol (Composer), Guys and Dolls (Drammy Award), Cabaret, West Side Story (Drammy Award), The Fantasticks and Bat Boy. He is the creator of the hit Off-Broadway musicals The Taffetas, Have a Nice Day!, The Cardigans (NYC Bistro Award, Outstanding Musical Review ), and most recently A Taffeta Wedding. He was assistant conductor/vocal director for the pre-broadway workshop of Cy Coleman s The Life. He has musical directed for Alyssa Milano, Susan Egan, Michael Maguire, Jodi Benson and Debbie Gravitte, and the late Allan Jones. Rick has written for Disney Live Family Entertainment, American Hawaii Cruises, American West Steamboat Company and American Classic Voyages, and the Portland Spirit (Cinnamon Bear 13
Cruise). Rick is a private vocal coach, concentrating on musical theatre audition and performance. rlewismusic.com. Mark Tynan Stage Manager Imagine being in a room full of artists, watching the birth of an idea, a movement given purpose, a sentence, phrase, scene, act given life. Then imagine that room translating to the stage with lighting, sound, costumes, scenery and props, then you can imagine what Mark s job is like. Special thanks to the phenomenal PCS production assistants, Kailyn McCord, Kelsey Daye and Lydia Comer, who help keep the vision attainable. Prior to PCS, Mark toured nationally and internationally with musicals including Dreamgirls, The King and I with Rudolf Nureyev, How to Succeed, Grand Hotel, The Phantom of the Opera and Rent. Other Portland credits include several summers with The Broadway Rose Theatre Company in Tigard. Regional credits include The Alley Theatre (Houston, TX) and La Jolla Playhouse (La Jolla, CA). Remember to take time to smell the roses. Lydia Comer Production Assistant Black Pearl Sings! is Lydia s seventh show as a production assistant at PCS. Previously, Lydia was a production assistant for Red, The Santaland Diaries, An Iliad, Opus, The Imaginary Invalid and The Real Americans. Lydia started at PCS as the audience recruiter for The 25 th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. A recent graduate, Lydia received her B.F.A. in Theatre, specializing in production and management, from the University of Victoria. University credits include stage managing La Ronde 14
and Romeo & Juliet. For the last two years of university, she also served as the assistant technical director and master electrician for her program. Lydia would like to thank all the amazing people she gets to work with every day. Chris Coleman Portland Center Stage Artistic Director Chris joined Portland Center Stage as artistic director in May 2000. Before coming to Portland, he was artistic director at Actor s Express in Atlanta, a company he co-founded in the basement of an old church in 1988. In the 12 years of his leadership, the Express grew from a shoestring operation to one of the most highly regarded small theaters in the country. At PCS recent direction includes Anna Karenina, Shakespeare s Amazing Cymbeline, Oklahoma!, The Imaginary Invalid, Sunset Boulevard, The Chosen, Snow Falling on Cedars, Ragtime, Grey Gardens, Crazy Enough, The Importance of Being Earnest, Guys and Dolls, Cabaret, The Beard of Avon and The Little Dog Laughed. He also made his Portland acting debut last season in Opus. Chris has directed at major theaters across the country, including Actor s Theater of Louisville, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, ACT Theatre, The Alliance Theatre, Dallas Theatre Center, Asolo Center for the Performing Arts, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop and Center Stage in Baltimore. A native Atlantan, Chris holds a B.F.A. from Baylor University and an M.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon. He has long been a public advocate for the arts, both locally and nationally. From 1998 2004 he served on the board of directors of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national service organization for professional theaters, and he currently chairs the Creative Advocacy Network 15
board. Since moving to Oregon, Chris has skied down Mt. Hood, rappelled in The Dalles, climbed a ropes course in Eastern Washington, biked through most neighborhoods of the city and hiked all over the state. Chris s favorite things about Portland: farmer s markets, Timbers games, Ruby Jewel ice cream, zoo concerts, chamber music, food carts, and cars that stop for pedestrians. SETTING THE STAGE FOR 25 Costume Maven, Jeff Cone The work of a costume designer is no easy task. Costumes must define their characters and the world that they inhabit. Simply put, they are the visual translation of a playwright s work, from the page to the stage. Luckily PCS has been fortunate enough to have costume designer Jeff Cone on hand for the past decade. In 2006 Jeff took on his current title of Resident Costume Designer & Costume Shop Manager. Today, he designs and oversees the creation of the majority of costumes seen onstage at PCS. The most challenging aspect of his position is finding the perfect balance between being a manager and being creative. There s a constant internal battle between being a designer with no limits and a manager with concrete limits, he explains. Designers are taught to design without regard to limits, especially in terms of what they can do or create, but as Costume Shop Manager I must also learn to approach my designing from a more realistic standpoint. 16
As for the costume design process, it begins quite early. I first read the script several times to get a sense of what and how many costumes the show will require. I also talk to the show s director to get a sense of his general vision for the show. Then he begins his research, combing through images on the internet to begin to get ideas about what he ll want each character to look like, based on the time period as well as class and personality of each character. I try to look at everything possible that I can find that relates in some way to the show or the time period in which the show takes place. Then I take it all in and let everything sit for awhile. Ironically, after spending so much time crafting such intricate costumes, Jeff prefers for them to not be noticed by audiences. When the actors become their characters, their dress becomes a part of them and their performance. A great costume shouldn t draw attention away from that performance. If the costumes aren t noticed, we ve done our job. Before each season begins, the productions that Jeff will be responsible for designing are assigned to him. Guest costume designers are brought in to design for the remaining productions. Sometimes there are exceptions. Originally, a guest costume designer was supposed to design The Imaginary Invalid in 2011. But Jeff wanted this show. Period costumes, while more intricate and time-intensive, are also much more fun and interesting to design! he explains. So he requested to take on the production. The added work was well worth it, however, as Jeff considers The Imaginary Invalid to be one of his greatest accomplishments as a designer. I had the luxury of being able to design every single piece seen on stage even the shoes! 17
In the end, does Jeff yearn for a little more downtime? Not a chance. This is the hardest I ve ever had to work in my life. But at the same time, I feel lucky. My artistic urges are satisfied, and I get to make a living doing what I love. What more could you ask for? 18