Let me down easy.pdf - static.sandiego.com - San Diego

San Diego REPertory Theatreand La Jolla Playhouse
SAN DIEGO REPERTORYTHEATRE:
Sam Woodhouse
Artistic Director
LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE:
Christopher Ashley
Artistic Director
Larry Alldredge
Managing Director
MichaelS.
Managing
Rosenberg
Director
in association with Va ntage Th eatre
in association with Arena Stage
present
the Second Stage Theatre's production of
LET ME DOWN EASY
CONCEIVED, WRITTEN, AND PERFORMED BY ANNA DEAVERE SMITH
DIRECTED BY LEONARD FOGLIA
April 27-May 15, 2011
on the Lyceum Stage
CAST.
Anna Deavere Smith'
CREATIVE
TEAM:
Director Leonard Foglia
Scenic Designer Riccardo Hernandez
Costume Designer Ann Hould-Ward
Lighting Designers Don Ozminkowski, based on the design
by Peggy Eisenhower and Jules Fisher
Sound Designer Ryan Rumery
Projection Designer Zachary Borovay
Original Musical Elements Joshua Redman
Dramaturg Alisa Solomon
Artistic Associate Kimber Riddle
Dialect Coach Amy Stoller
Movement Coach Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish
Hair Designer Anthony Dickey
Make-Up Designer Maria Verel
Stage Manager Joseph Smelser'
Assistant Stage Manager Ronee Penol'
Assistant Director Keturah Stickann
Assistant Scenic Designer Maruti Evans
Associate Sound Designer M. Florian Staab
Associate Movement Coach Michael Thomas
Let Me Down Easy will be performed without an intermission.
" 'Members of the Actors' Equity Association,
ACTORS' the Union ?f Profes~ional Actors and Stage
~,g1mX Managers In the UnIted States.
The scenic, costume, lighting and
sound designers in this production are
represented by United Scenic Artists,
Local USA-829 of the IATSE.
the STAGE DIRECTORS AND CHOREOGRAPHERS
SOCIETY, a national theatrical labor union.
Director and Choreographer are members _The of
Support for the development of Let Me Down Easy was provided by Chula Reynolds.
The videotaping or other video or audio recording of this production is strictly prohibited.
P4 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

RUNNING ORDER
JAMES H. CONE
"Let Me Down Easy"
Author r(J Professor, Union Theological Seminary, NYC
ELIZABETH STREB "Fire Dance"
Choreographer, STREB Extreme Action Company
LANCE ARMSTRONG "Right on Time"
Tou r de Franee Victor
SALLY j EN KINS
Sports Columnist, Washington Post
EVE ENSLER
Writer, Activist
BRENTWILLIAMS
Rodeo Bull Rider, Idaho
"Ashes"
"A Raisin a Day"
"Toughness"
MICHAEL BENTT "When Boxers
Heavyweight Champion Boxer See Lights"
HAZEL MERRITT
Patient
LAUREN HUTTON
Supermodel
RUTH KATZ
Patient, Yale New Haven Hospital
"A Sheet Around
My Daughter"
"Mojo"
"That Bedrock of Care"
KIERSTA KURTZ-BURKE
"Heavy Sense of
Physician, Charity Hospital, New Orleans Resignation"
PHIL PIZZO
Dean, Stanford University School of Medicine
SUSAN YOUENS
Musicologist, University of Notre Dame
"Takes a Lot of Time"
"Passing Bells"
EDUARDO BRUERA "Existential Sadness"
Palliative Care, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
AN N RICHARDS
Former Governor, Texas
"Chi"
LORRAINE COLEMAN "Gloves"
Retired Teacher, Anna Deavere Smith's Aunt
JOEL SIEGEL
"3,000 Years of Being
Movie Critic ABC News Kicked Around Europe"
THE REV. PETER GOMES
Minister, Memorial Church, Harvard University
"Why Don't You
Stick Arou nd"
TRUDY HOWELL "Don't Leave Them
in the Dark"
Director, Chance Orphanage, johannesburg, South Africa
MATTHIEU RICARD "Tea Cup"
Buddhist Monk
THANK YOU TO THE HONORARY PRODUCERS OF LETME DOWN EASY:
Anonymous
AARP
Innovative Healthcare Consultants
The Parker Foundation
Sofia Hote l
Danah
Pure
Fayman
Fitness
A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS FOR THEIR ONGOING SUPPORTOF SAN DIEGO REP:
Larry Alldredge & Dawn Moore
Danah Fayman
Joan & Irwin Jacobs
Darlene
Shiley
THANK YOU TO THE PRODUCTION SPONSORS OF LETME DOWN EASY:
Keepsake Choices
Elizabeth Kennedy
Marti Kranzberg
Lorenz Fid uciary Services
San Diego Hospice
LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE'S 2011/2012 SEASON IS MADE POSSIBLE BY JOAN AND IRWIN JACOBS,
THE CITY OF SAN DIEGO COMMISSION FOR ARTS AND CULTURE, AUDREYS. GEISEL, QUALCOMM INCORPORATED,
SHERI L. AND STUARTW. JAMIESON, DES McANUFF AND THE RICH FAMILY FOUNDATION.
PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE P5

ANNA
DEAVERE
SMITH is an actress,
playwright, and
author. It has been
said that she created
a new form of theater.
When granted the
prestigious MacArthur Award, her work
was described as "a blend of theatrical
art, social commentary, journalism, and
intimate reverie." She has performed
in film and TV as well as on stage. She
currently plays Gloria Akalitus on
Showtime's hit series Nurse Jackie. She's
probably most recognizable in popular
culture as Nancy McNally, national
security advisor on N Be's former hit The
West Wing.
In theater, she has been looking at current
events from multiple points of view. Ms.
Smith's theater combines the journalistic
technique of interviewing her subjects
with the art of interpreting their words
through performance. These one-woman
shows are a part of a series she began in
the early 1980s called On the Road: A
Search for American Character. Her goal
has been to learn as much about America
as she can, by interviewing individual
Americans from diverse backgrounds, and
putting herself in other people's words the
way you might think of putting yourself
in another person's "shoes." A reviewer
for The New York Times, writing about
her Broadway show Twilight: Los Angeles,
which depicted the 1992 Los Angeles
riots, said of her performance that she's
"the ultimate impressionist: she does
people's souls." Jack Kroll of Newsweek
proclaimed the work "an American
masterpiece." She conducts hundreds of
interviews while creating a play. Using
verbatim excerpts of interviews, she has
performed up to as many as 46 people
in the course of an evening. Ms. Smith
performed Twilight: Los Angeles around
the U.S. and on Broadway. It received two
Tony nominations, an Obie, Drama Desk
Award, Special Citation from the New
York Drama Critics Circle, and numerous
other honors. President and Mrs. Clinton
and Vice President Al Gore attended her
Washington performance. She produced,
wrote, and performed the film version
of Twilight for PBS. Another of her plays,
Fires in the Mirror, examined a race riot
in Crown Heights, Brooklyn (1991) when
age-old racial tensions between black and
Jewish neighbors exploded. It received an
Obie Award, numerous other awards, and
was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. It too
was broadcast on PBS. Other works in the
On the Road series include House Arrest,
which deals with the American presidency,
and Hymn, a collaboration with worldfamous
choreographer and dancer Judith
Jamison, for Alvin Ailey American Dance
Theater.
Let Me Down Easy was inspired by work
she did at Yale School of Medicine,
where she was visiting professor. While
at Yale, she created a performance for
medical grand rounds called Rounding
It Out (2000). She has been featured in
several films, among them The American
President, The Human Stain, Life Support,
and Rachel Getting Married. She was
recently featured in a full-hour segment on
PBS's Bill Moyers Journal. She has written
for The New York Times, Newsweek, The
New Yorker, a Magazine, Elle, Essence,
and The Drama Review, as well as other
publications.
She has been inaugural artist in residence
at the Ford Foundation, MTV Networks,
The Aspen Institute and currently
the Center for American Progress in
Washington
DC.
She is director and founder of Anna
Deavere Smith Works, Inc, a place for
artistic excellence and social change. ADS
Works is based at New York University,
and convenes artists whose work
champions vulnerable people and social
justice.
She has received several honorary degrees
among them: Juilliard, Barnard, Bryn
Mawr, Bates, Northwestern, Wesleyan,
Radcliffe, Cooper Union, Holy Cross, John
Jay College of Criminal Justice, and will
receive one from Spelman College in 2012.
She serves on the boards of The Aspen
Institute and the Museum of Modern Art.
She is a member of the council on Foreign
Relations. She is a Professor at New York
University.
LEONARD FOGLIA (Director), Broadway:
Thurgood (also Kennedy Center, Geffen
Playhouse), On Golden Pond (also
Kennedy Center, national tour), Wait
Until Dark, Master Class (also Kennedy
Center, national tour, London's West End).
Off-Broadway: Let Me Down Easy (Second
Stage), The Stendhal Syndrome (Primary
Stages), One Touch of Venus (City Center),
If Memory Serves (Promenade, Pasadena
Playhouse), By the Sea (MTC, Bay St.),
Lonely Planet (Circle Rep). Regional:
Unusual Acts of Devotion (Philadelphia
Theater Company); Distracted (Mark
Taper); Paper Doll, The Secret Letters of
Jackie and Marilyn (Pittsburgh Public);
The Subject Was Roses (Kennedy Center);
Things Being What They Are, Seascape,
A Coffin in Egypt, The Woman in Black
(Bay St.); God's Man in Texas, Dinner with
Friends (Old Globe). Opera: Moby Dick
(Dallas), Dead Man Walking (NYC Opera,
Opera Pacific, Cincinnati, Detroit, etc.),
The End of the Affair (Houston Grand,
Seattle, Madison), Three Decembers
(Houston Grand, San Francisco, Chicago
Opera Theater), To Cross the Face of the
Moon (librettist and director: Houston
Grand). He is co-author with David
Richards of the mystery novels 1 Ragged
Ridge Road, Face Down in the Park, El
Sudario, and its sequel. La Sangre del
Sudario.
RICCARDO HERNANDEZ (Set Designer).
Broadway: Elaine Stritch at Liberty,
Topdog/Underdog, Bells Are Ringing,
Parade (Tony, Drama Desk nom), Noise/
Funk, The Tempest. Public Theater:
Macbeth, Blade to the Heat, One Flea
Spare, many others. MTC, Playwrights
Horizons, Vineyard, BAM, ART, Goodman,
Geffen, Arena Stage, Center Stage, Taper,
La Jolla, Seattle Rep, Yale Rep, Houston
Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, L.A.
Opera, Hong Kong Opera. In 2000, Mr.
Hernandez received the Princess Grace
Award. He was raised and educated in
Buenos Aires and is a 1992 graduate of
Yale School of Drama.
ANN HOULD-WARD (Costume Designer).
Broadway: Free Man of Color, A Catered
Affair (Drama Desk nom), Company,
Dance of the Vampires, Beauty and the
Beast (Tony, American Theatre Wing,
Ovation awards; Oliver nom), Into the
Woods (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics
Circle noms; L.A. Drama Critics Circle
Award), Falsettos, Sunday in the Park
with George (Tony, Drama Desk noms),
Harrigan' n' Hart, Dream, Saint Joan,
Three Men on a Horse, Timon of Athens,
Little Me, The Moliere Comedies, among
others. Off-Broadway: Wings, In the
Grand Manner, Let Me Down Easy, Road
Show, Surviving Grace, Lobster Alice,
Cymbeline. Film: Strike!, House Arrest,
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet.
Other: Peter Grimes (Metropolitan Opera);
The Most Happy Fella (NYC Opera); Big
Apple Circus, Ringling Bros. and Barnum
& Bailey Circus; Mahagonny (L.A. Opera);
Ballet Hispanico; Lar Lubovitch's White
Oak Project (SF Ballet); Othello, Artemis,
Meadow (ABT); Reminicin', Saddle Up,
Morning Star (Alvin Ailey). Recipient: FIT's
Patricia Zipprodt Award.
P6 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

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artist profiles
DAN OZMINKOWSKI (Lighting Designer).
Recent design credits include A Celebration
of Maurice Sendak with Tony Kushner
(92nd St. Y); Spirit of Uganda 2010 (North
American tour); Amanda Selwyn Dance
Theatre's Passage (Kumble Theater); Meet
Me in St. Louis and I Left My Heart (Merry­
Go-Round Playhouse); Dancin' Downtown
2010 (Joyce); To Walk in Darkness, B*tch,
rtJ Pucelandia
(Off-Off-Broadway).
Resident designer of Treehouse Shakers
and UHSPAC. Associate/assistant credits
include Impressionism and The Ritz
(Broadway); Let Me Down Easy (Second
Stage); Le Reve (Wynn, Las Vegas);
Jennifer Muller/The Works (Brazil);
Foxfire, Private Lives and Secret Garden
(Utah Shakespearean Festival); She Loves
Me (Williamstown); Anne of Green Gables
and The Giver(People's Light Theatre Co.).
Alumnus, Conservatory of Theatre Arts &
Film, Purchase College.
RYAN RUMERY'S (Sound Designer)
Broadway credits include Thurgood,
which starred Laurence Fishburne.
Off-Broadway his recent work includes
original music in Bright New Boise,
Wild Project, Emperor Jones at Irish
Rep; CSe's Orlando, Three Sisters,
and Uncle Vanya; Precious Little for
Clubbed Thumb; and End Days at EST.
His recent sound design credits include
Gruesome Playground Injuries (Second
Stage), Now Circa Then (Ars Nova),
Blind (Rattlestick), Neighbors (Public
Lab), Back Back Back and Based on a
Totally True Story (MTC), and Beauty on
the Vine (Epic Theatre Center). Regional
credits include Cincinnati Playhouse in
the Park, Actors Theatre of Louisville,
Center Stage, Dallas Theater Center,
Kennedy Center, Geffen Playhouse, Long
Wharf Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre,
PlayMakers Rep, Hartford Stage, Westport
Country Playhouse, Philadelphia Theatre
Company, Ford's Theatre, Florida Stage,
Alley Theatre, People's Light & Theatre,
Syracuse Stage, Trinity Rep, Adirondack
Theatre Festival. Hangar, Woolly
Mammoth, Alliance, and Eugene O'Neill
Theater Center. His film credits include
SyncroNYCity.
ZACHARY BOROVAY (Projection
Designer). Recent: Elf (Broadway),
Lombardi (Broadway), Limelight (La Jolla),
Rock of Ages (Broadway, national tour,
Toronto, Off-Broadway), Let Me Down
Easy (Off-Broadway), To Be or Not to Be
(Broadway), A Catered Affair (Broadway,
Drama Desk nom), Xanadu (Broadway,
national tour, Japan), Radio City Music
Hall Christmas Spectacular, Nickelodeon's
Story time Live! (national tour), Voyage de
la Vie (Sentosa, Singapore) and Peepshow
(Planet Hollywood Resort Casino,
Las Vegas). Mr. Borovay was the first
projection designer to join United Scenic
Artists Local 829. www.borovay.com
JOSHUA REDMAN (Original Music
Elements) is one of the most acclaimed and
charismatic jazz artists to have emerged
in the 1990s. Born in Berkeley, Calif., he's
the son of legendary saxophonist Dewey
Redman and dancer Renee Shedroff.
In 1991, Mr. Redman graduated from
Harvard ColI. summa cum laude and
had already been accepted by Yale Law
School but deferred entrance for what he
believed was only going to be one year.
He moved to New York and immediately
found himself immersed in the burgeoning
jazz scene. Five months later, Mr. Redman
was named the winner of the prestigious
Thelonious Monk International Saxophone
Competition. Since then, he has worked
and played with a vast array of jazz
luminaries, released 13 jazz albums
(Warner and Nonesuch), been nominated
for a Grammy three times, and has
garnered top honors in critics and readers
polls of DownBeat, Jazz Times, Village
Voice and Rolling Stone.
ALISA SOLOMON (Dramaturg) teaches
at Columbia Univ.'s Graduate School of
Journalism, where she directs the M.A.
concentration in arts and culture. Her
criticism, essays and political reporting
have appeared in a wide range of
magazines, newspapers, radio shows and
websites, including The New York Times,
GuardianAmerica.com, The Nation,
WNYC, Forward Theater and The Village
Voice (where she was on the staff for 21
years). Her book Re-Dressing the Cannon:
Essays on Theater and Genderwon the
George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic
Criticism. As a dramaturg, she has also
worked with such artists as Anne Bogart,
Lee Breuer, Peter Brosius, Liz Diamond,
Gordon Edelstein, Matthew Maguire,
Mark Russell, Jean Simpson, Gerald
Thomas, Lois Weaver and Mac Wellman.
KIMBER RIDDLE (Artistic Associate).
M.F.A. from New York Univ. Graduate
Acting Program. Off-Broadway: The Mad
Forest (Manhattan Theater Club), Zero
Church (St. Ann's Warehouse), Enrico IV
(NYU Director's Lab). Regional: Tranced
(Merrimack Rep); House Arrest (Mark
Taper Forum); Common Infractions,
Gross Injustices (ART); Piano (Harvard
Univ.); IACD Acting Company 1998-2000
(Harvard Univ., dir. Anna Deavere Smith).
Film: Guy, Thirty, Under the Bridge.
TV: ABC miniseries Stephen King's The
Langoliers, CBS miniseries The Last Mafia
Marriage. Ms. Riddle also teaches acting
and has assisted Ms. Smith on Let Me
Down Easy since its first incarnation in
2007.
AMYSTOLLER (Dialect Coach) is
delighted to rejoin Anna Deavere Smith
and Leonard Foglia on Let Me Down Easy,
for which she has been dialect coach
since its world premiere. As resident
dialect designer/coach (and occasional
dramaturg) at Off-Broadway's Mint
Theater Company since 1996, her most
recent credit is this season's Wife to James
Whelan. She has also worked with such NY
companies as Second Stage, Pearl, Keen,
Origin, and Drama League Dire-ctorFest,
among many others. Regional work
includes three world premieres at the
Long Wharf and productions at ART and
Peterborough Players. TV credits include
coaching Justin Bartha as Austrian Jack
Werner in WWII in HD and several
episodes of Dora the Explorer and Go,
Diego, Go! Amy is associate editor for
NYC of International Dialects of English
Archive, and an officer of the Voice
and Speech Trainers Association. For
more information, please visit www.
stollersystem.com.
ELIZABETH ROXAS-DOBRISH
(Movement Coach) was born in Manila
and became the youngest member of
Ballet Philippines. She danced with the
Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Ohad Naharin
and Joyce Trisler before joining Alvin Ailey
American Dance Theater, where she was
a principal dancer from 1984 to 1997. She
performed in the Emmy Award-winning
PBS specials Two by Dove and Judith
Jamison's A Hymn for Alvin Ailey, among
others, and was featured in a 1997 Dance
magazine cover article and named by
Avenue magazine as one of the 500 most
influential Asian-Americans. After leaving
Ailey as a dancer, Ms. Roxas was asked to
perform on Broadway in The King and I as
Eliza and made several guest appearances
in the U.S. and abroad before she turned
to teaching. She currently teaches Horton
Technique, as well as the Actors Studio
Class, at the Ailey School. She has worked
with Anna Deavere Smith, teaching at the
Graduate School of New York Univ. and
in 2010 taught dance for a semester at
Harvard Univ. She has choreographed in
regional theaters and Off-Broadway and
restages ballets of Alvin Ailey works.
PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE P7

artist profiles
ANTHONY DICKEY (Hair Designer),
celebrity hairstylist and founder of Hair
Rules, navigates effortlessly through
the texture spectrum. In over 20 years
working on videos, album covers, editorial
shoots and behind the chair, he's learned
all hair may not be created equally, but it
should be treated as such. Touted a "Style
Svengali" by the New York Times, Mr.
Dickey has created iconic hairstyles for
celebrities like Rihanna, Sarah Jessica
Parker, Michelle Obama and Alicia Keys
and publications like Vogue, Vanity Fair,
Essence, Vibe and Harper's Bazaar.
His stints at world-class salons Oribe,
John Frieda and Louis Licari refined
his technical wizardry, and in 2003,
he authored Hair Rules!, pioneering a
new standard of hair care and styling for
a multi-textural world. Inspired by its
success, Mr. Dickey launched a solutionsoriented
line of cleansers, conditioners
and styling aids for kinky, curly and wavy
hair. Since 2009, Hair Rules salon has
offered the healthiest hair care and styling
for all textures under one roof.
MARIA VEREL (Makeup Designer),
fulltime makeup artist for Diane Sawyer
since 1995,is honored to return to Arena
Stage since House Arrest in 1997, created
and performed by Anna Deavere Smith.
She also designed Ms. Smith's makeup
for the New York production of Let Me
Down Easy. Ms. Verel designed for Rebecca
Caine, Phantom of the Opera, Toronto,
Harold Prince directing; Side Show on
Broadway; and the current Off-Broadway
phenomenon Love, Loss, and What I Wore.
Her constant demand includes film, video,
TV, print, red-carpet appearances, and
her expert advice is featured regularly
in Allure, 0, Self, Elle, Bazaar, InStyle,
Redbook, Good Housekeeping, Shape,
Women's Health. Her extensive career
roster boasts a who's who of Hollywood
celebrities and Washington luminaries,
including President Barack and Michelle
Obama, George W. Bush, Bill and Hillary
Clinton, George H.W. and Barbara Bush.
Longstanding clients include Swoosie
Kurtz, Emmylou Harris, Diana Krall,
Nora Ephron, Delia Ephron, and Arianna
Hufflngton.
JOSEPH SMELSER (Stage Manager)
returns to DC after recently stage
managing All's Well the Ends Well at
Shakespeare Theatre Company. Regional
theater work includes long associations
with Seattle Rep (associate artistic director
and production stage manager; credits
include Play On!, Golden Child, Speech
and Debate), American Conservatory
Theatre (Vigil, The Circle, The Rivals),
Berkeley Repertory Theatre (resident
stage manager) and Aurora Theatre
(production manager). He stage managed
the regional tour of Ms. Smith's Twilight:
Los Angeles, 1992 (with a stop at Ford's
Theatre) as well as Piano at the Institute
on the Arts and Civic Dialogue at Harvard
Univ.
RONEE PENOI (Assistant Stage Manager)
is thrilled to join Let Me Down Easy
after working at Arena as Senior New
Play Producing Fellow in the American
Voices New Play Institute and as Arena's
2008/09 directing fellow (with Pam
MacKinnon on A Delicate Balance, with
Michael Greif on Next to Normal. with
Molly Smith on Legacy of Light). At
Shakespeare Theatre Company, Ms. Penoi
was artistic fellow and assistant directed
the Carter Baron production of Hamlet,
as well as On the Eve of Friday Morning.
Ms. Penoiis a Creative Communities
Fund grand recipient to write a new
musical on the Native American Indian
school experience, part of the Cultural
Development Corporation's Mead Theater
Lab program. Ms. Penoiis a 2007 graduate
of Princeton Univ.
ARENA STAGE ATTHE MEAD CENTER
FOR AMERICAN THEATER is a national
center for the production, presentation,
development and study of American
theater. Under the leadership of Artistic
Director Molly Smith and Managing
Director Edgar Dobie, Arena Stage is the
largest company in the country dedicated
to American plays and playwrights.
Founded in 1950 by Zelda Fichandler,
Thomas Fichandler and Edward Mangum,
Arena Stage is one of the nation's original
resident theaters and has a distinguished
record of leadership and advancement
in the field. Arena Stage produces huge
plays of all that is passionate, exuberant,
profound, deep and dangerous in the
American spirit, and presents diverse and
ground-breaking work from some of the
best artists around the country. Arena
Stage is committed to commissioning
and developing new plays, including the
first, second and third productions of
new works, in addition to the creation
and testing of best practices for new play
development through the American Voices
New Play Institute. Arena Stage impacts
the lives of more than 20,000 students
annually through its work in community
engagement. Now in its sixth decade,
Arena Stage serves a diverse annual
audience of more than 200,000.
www.arenastage.org.
SECOND STAGE THEATRE (Producer),
founded in 1979 under the leadership
of Artistic Director Carole Rothman,
produces a diverse range of premieres
and new interpretations of America's
best contemporary theatre, including
such productions as Coastal Disturbances,
This Is Our Youth, The Good Times Are
Killing Me, Saturday Night, Tiny Alice,
Jitney, Crowns, Living Out, The 25th
Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,
The Little Dog Laughed, Next to Normal,
Becky Shaw and Everyday Rapture. The
company's more than 125 citations include
two 2009 Tony Awards for the Pulitzer
Prize winning Next to Normal. Major
support for Let Me Down Easy at Second
Stage Theatre was provided by American
Express. For subscriptions, tickets and
more information, visit www.2ST.com.
VANTAGE THEATRE has been in
operation for 16 years as a subsidiary of
NewWorks Theatre. This site-specific
company is well known for taking big risks,
mounting productions with casts of 22+
actors with multimedia surrounding the
audience, adapting a building at Belmont
Park to bring Antenna Theatre's walkthrough
theatrical event, and garnering
multiple awards and critics' picks for their
productions. Vantage also inaugurated the
New Perspective festival highlighting local
playwrights actors and directors. Vantage
Theatre presents thought-provoking
professional theatrical productions. It
concentrates on presenting original
plays, as well as known contemporary or
classic theatre produced from a different
"vantage point." Vantage seeks to present
the "AHA" moment that may awaken and
illuminate. Anna Deavere Smith's work
transcends theatrical limitations and
connects us all soul to soul.
SAM WOODHOUSE
(Co-Founder, Artistic
Director, San Diego
REPertory Theatre)
Mr. Woodhouse
co-founded San
i'W/i"- Diego REPertory
Theatre with D.W. Jacobs in 1976, and has
since served as its producing and artistic
direc"tor. He has worked as a director,
producer and actor on more than 180
REP productions. Mr. Woodhouse has
performed as an actor on the REP stages
in The Seafarer, in the title role of King
Lear, Proof, Hamlet, and with the San
Diego Symphony Orchestra in the title
P8 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

" leadership profiles
role of Stravinsky's L' Histoire du So/dat.
His most recent directorial work with the
REP includes: In the Next Room or the
vibrator play, Superior Donuts, Hairspray,
boom, The Threepenny Opera, Water v
Power, an"d The Clean House. In 2003,
he was awarded the Patte Shiley Award
for Llfetime Achievement by KPBS and
the prestigious Alonzo Award by the
Downtown San Diego Partnership. Mr.
Woodhouse is the founder of'the REP's
Calafia Initiative, a multi-disciplinary
artistic initiative that brings together
unlikely partners to create new works
that speak to the future of our bi-national
region. In January 2006, he and Jacobs
were honored with the Craig Noel Award
by the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle for
30 years of artistic dedication to downtown
and diversity.
TODD
(Associate
SALOVEY
Artistic
Director, San Diego
REPertory Theatre) is
in his 20th season as
the REP's associate
artistic director. Mr.
Salovey has directed many acclaimed REP
shows including The Road to Mecca, A
Weekend with Pablo Picasso, Doubt, The
Blessing of a Broken Heart, which he also
adapted, Brooklyn Boy, the world premiere
of Yehuda Hyman's The Mad Dancers,
Hamlet starring Jefferson Mays, Uncle
Vanya and Death of a Salesman starring
Michael Genovese, Edward Albee's Who's
Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, King Lear, The
Illusion, Uncle Vanya, The Dybbuk, The
Imaginary Invalid, Three Hotels, and
A Christmas Carol. He is on the acting
faculty at the University of California,
San Diego, where he has directed Six
Characters in Search of an Author and
Stage Door. Mr. Salovey is the artistic
director of the Llpinsky Family San Diego
Jewish Arts Festival. which commissions
new work exploring Jewish traditions in
contemporary artistic forms. He produces
many REP Surround Events, including
Talkin' Theatre with Todd. Todd is married
to Diane Boomer and is the very proud dad
of Leah and Aryeh. tsalovey@ucsd.edu
LARRY ALLDREDGE
(Managing
Director,
San Diego REPertory
Theatre) Former
REP Board of
Trustees
member
and theatre devotee
Larry Alldredge joined the REP staff in
January 2008 as managing director. Larry
retired as vice president of technology
at QUALCOMM where he led a business
and engineering team to develop satellite
communication systems. He and his wife
Dawn have travelled extensively while
enjoying Larry's retirement. Now Larry
is excited about having a "real job" again
for a while. Larry's love of theatre began
with Community Theatre of Terre Haute,
Indiana, where he worked both on- and
offstage.
CHRISTOPHER
ASHLEY
Director,
(Artistic
La Jolla
Playhouse) has served
as La Jolla Playhouse's
Artistic Director since
October,
200]. During
his tenure, he has helmed the Playhouse's
productions of A Midsummer Night's
Dream, Restoration and the acclaimed
musicals Xanadu and Memphis, which won
four 2010 Tony Awards including Best
Musical. His next production at La Jolla
Playhouse will be the world premiere of
the play A Dram of Drummhicit by Arthur
Kopit. He also spearheads the Playhouse's
Resident Theatre program and was
instrumental in developing TH E EDG E
series. Prior to joining the Playhouse, he
directed the Broadway productions of
Xanadu (Drama Desk nomination), All
Shook Up and The Rocky Horror Show
(Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics
Circle Award nominations), as well as the
Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration
prod uctions of Sweeney Todd a nd Merrily
We Roll Along. Other New York credits
include: Blown Sideways Through Life,
jeffrey (Lucille Lortel and Obie Awards),
The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told,
Valhalla, Regrets Only, Wonder of the
World, Communicating Doors, Bunny
Bunny, The Night Hank Williams Died,
Fires in the Mirror (Lucille Lortel Award),
among others. Mr. Ashley also directed
the feature fllm jeffrey and the American
Playhouse production of Blown Sideways
Through Life for PBS. Mr. Ashley is the
recipient of the Princess Grace Award, the
Drama League Director Fellowship and an
N EA/TCG Director Fellowship.
MICHAEL S.
ROSENBERG
(Managing
La Jolla
iii,. was
Director,
Playhouse)
;: Managing appointed
Director
, 'of La Jolla Playhouse
in April, 2009. During his first two years,
he worked in partnership with Artistic
Director Christopher Ashley to produce
six world premieres, six Playhouse
commissions and the hit musicals Bonnie
v Clyde, Limelight and Little Miss
Sunshine. He was also instrumental in
bringing the Page To Stage workshop of
John Lequizamo's Diary of a Madman
to the Playhouse (now on Broadway).
Additionally, he fostered the growth of the
Playhouse's award-winning Performance
Outreach Program (PO P) tour, achieving
the most performances at local schools in
Playhouse history. Previously, Rosenberg
was Co-Founder and Executive Director
of Drama Dept., a New York non-profit
theatre company, where he produced
new works by the likes of Douglas Carter
Beane, Warren Leight, Isaac Mizrahi, Paul
Rudnick and David and Amy Sedaris. He
has been a part of the producing teams for
the Broadway productions of Grey Gardens
and American Buffalo and the national
tour of Little House on the Prairie.
DEBBY
(General
BUCHHOLZ
Manager,
La Jolla Playhouse)
has served as
general manager of
La Jolla Playhouse
since 2002. She is
a member of the Executive Committee
and of the League of Resident Theaters
(LORT). In 2009, she received a San Diego
Women Who Mean Business Award from
San Diego Business journal. Previously
she served as Counsel to the John F.
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
and the National Symphony Orchestra
in Washington, D.C. She was a faculty
member of the Smithsonian Institution's
program on Legal Problems of Museum
Administration. Prior to the Kennedy
Center, she served as a corporate attorney
in New York City and Washington, DC.
She is a graduate of UC San Diego and
Harvard Law School. Ms. Buchholz and her
husband, noted author and White House
economic policy advisor Todd Buchholz,
live in Solana Beach and are the proud
parents of Victoria, Katherine and Alexia.
PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE P9