Download The Antipodes - Signature Theatre

STUDY GUIDE
ANNIE BAKER WILL ENO ATHOL FUGARD BRANDEN JACOBS-JENKINS SUZAN-LORI PARKS
2016-17 SEASON
THE
ANTIPODES
Annie Baker
DIRECTED BY Lila Neugebauer
BY
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Theatrical Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Interview with Annie Baker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Further Discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Cast & Creative Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Playwright Bio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Cast Bios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Creative Team Bios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Signature Spotlight Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
About Signature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
THEATRICAL CONTEXT
Annie Baker continues her Signature residency with the world premiere of
The Antipodes, which follows the extended Signature run of John. Read
excerpts from two of Baker's earlier works and the first play of her residency,
as well as an interview about her writing style to learn more about the playwright behind The Antipodes.
THE ALIENS (2010)
EVAN: Hey.
It’s Evan.
How are you.
Um.
I’m smoking a cigarette.
(pause)
I’m calling because I want to know how
your recital thing went and if they gave
you the first part of Pachelbel’s or if you
had to play the other part.
I bet you were good. Either way.
Um.
(pause)
I’m also calling because my friend died?
Um. I know that sounds really dramatic
but um. My friend died. I don’t know.
Um. He was like a genius and like a novelist and he died of a drug overdose. He
was like one of my best friends.
I’m um…
I’d like to come visit you in Boston.
Tracee Chimo, Deirdre O’Connell, and Heidi Schreck in Circle Mirror Transformation at Playwrights Horizons. Photo by Sam Gold.
He’s the only person I um…
My grandparents died when I was a
baby.
Okay. Sorry this message is ramble-y.
CIRCLE MIRROR
TRANSFORMATION (2010)
LAUREN: Hey. Um. This is kind of a weird
– but do you ever wonder how many
times your life is gonna end?
Louisa Krause and Matthew Maher in The Flick. Photo by Joan Marcus.
4
A pause.
SCHULTZ: Uh… I’m not sure I know what
you –
LAUREN: Like how many people
you’re… like how many times your life
is gonna totally change and then, like,
start all over again? And you’ll feel like
what happened before wasn’t real and
what’s happening now is actually… (she
trails off)
GENEVIEVE: Angry to be a doll! To be
a piece of plastic or glass and to be
shaped into a human form and trapped!
With one expression on your face!
Frozen! People man-handling you. And
then put in a dress. Put in an itchy little
dress!
LAUREN: Yeah.
JENNY: Yeah. Exactly. I felt like she was
mad that she was a doll and mad at
me for not doing a better job making
her life as a doll easier. Sometimes I
couldn’t sleep at night because I could
feel her thinking all these horrible
thoughts about me. So I would um...
oh my god I still feel bad about this...I
would get up in the middle of the night
and lock her in the kitchen cupboard.
So I wouldn’t feel her watching me. But
then the next morning she’d be even
more mad cuz she’d spent all night in
the cupboard! And then I’d cry and beg
her for forgiveness.
You too.
MERTIS: And would she forgive you?
SCHULTZ: Uh… I don’t know.
I guess I feel like my life is pretty real.
LAUREN: … Yeah.
Silence.
SCHULTZ: Well. Uh. It’s great seeing
you.
JENNY: Nope. She never forgave me.
JOHN (2015)
JENNY: When I was little I was always
worried about my dolls. I had this one
doll, um, Samantha, and I always felt like
she was incredibly angry at me.
GENEVIEVE: Of course she was angry.
MERTIS: What do you mean, Genevieve?
INTERVIEW WITH ANNIE BAKER FROM
SIGNATURE STORIES ISSUE 13
How did you get started as a writer?
I always wanted to be a writer. I’m not
sure why; neither of my parents are
writers. But it was something I wanted
to do all the time the second I learned
(Top to Bottom) Georgia Engel, Lois Smith, and Christopher Abbott in John.
Photos by Matthew Murphy.
5
how to do it. How I came to playwriting is a bit of a mystery to me.
I guess I did a lot of high school
theatre and I remember being part
of those after-school plays was the
happiest I ever felt as a kid. But I
knew it wasn’t the acting that was
making me happy… in fact, the
acting itself was the part I wasn’t so
crazy about. It was dealing with the
theatre text that gave me pleasure,
and the staging of the live event.
How do you generally begin writing
a play?
I usually start with the setting, which
for me is the play’s container. The
setting dictates the structure. So
I think of some intricate, specific
world that I want to see theatricalized, and then within days a character usually follows.
What do you look for when creating
your characters?
You know, I don’t feel like I “look” for
them… it feels like they slowly come
to me through a long, contemplative
process. They emerge out of research I do and conversations I have
with people. It never really feels like
I create them; they’re sort of already
there and I have to get their voices
right. Often I’m writing for a particular actor […] and that actor and their
cadences and personality lead me
to the character. Which is not to say
the characters are ever based on the
actor – in fact, I take pleasure in writing
characters that are very, very different
from the actors who play them.
Pauses almost become like additional characters in your plays. How do
you approach shaping that rhythm in
your writing?
I really just transcribe the dialogue I hear
in my head. I don’t have some sort of
rhythmic strategy or technique that I
apply to the writing.
What are five plays you think everyone should read or see?
Everything by Chekhov and most
things by Shakespeare, and then, in no
particular order: A Number by Caryl
Churchill; Antigone by Mac Wellman;
The Big Meal by Dan LeFranc; 70
Scenes of Halloween by Jeffrey Jones;
The Oresteia (okay, that’s three plays,
I’m cheating) by Aeschylus.
Peter Friedman, Deirdre O’Connell, Reed Birney, Tracee Chimo, and Heidi
Schreck in Circle Mirror Transformation at Playwrights Horizons. Photo by
Sam Gold.
6
INTERVIEW WITH THE PLAYWRIGHT
Residency Five playwright Annie Baker has a way of building worlds. In her
acclaimed “Vermont Plays” – Body Awareness, Circle Mirror Transformation, and The Aliens – Baker peopled the fictional town of Shirley, Vermont
with academics and poets, socially-awkward teenagers and amateur actors,
lovers, friends, and family. The first play of her Signature residency, 2015’s
John, brought a struggling couple to an exquisitely kitschy Bed and Breakfast in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where the proprietor slowly revealed herself to be more mysterious than she at first seemed. Throughout these plays,
Baker has found the universal in the specific, creating recognizable portraits
of individuals confronting the excruciating dilemma of being human.
At the same time, Baker’s work has been characterized by her inventive formal style. In plays like the 2014 Pulitzer Prize-winning The Flick or her 2012
Uncle Vanya adaptation, she has explored the ways our words so often fail
us. In Baker’s plays, a yoga ball rolling across the floor or a grieving character repeating the word “ladder” 127 times can be as revelatory as a soliloquy.
Annie Baker. Photo by Gregory Costanzo.
Now, Baker returns to Signature with the second play of her residency, The
Antipodes. Directed by Lila Neugebauer, this world premiere again creates a
world remarkably – and perhaps deceptively – like our own. Before rehearsals began, she spoke with Literary Associate Nathaniel French about being a
Signature resident, the role of artists in today’s America, and reading Moby
Dick, Norse mythology, and books about octopi to prepare for the play.
7
This is an exciting spring at Signature,
with world premieres by you, Will Eno,
and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, as well as
a new production of Suzan-Lori Parks’
Venus. Do you think that this larger
theatrical conversation affects the way
audiences view each play individually?
God, I hope so...I feel so lucky to be in
the season with Will and Branden, and
of course Suzan-Lori too. But yes, my
sense is that Will and Branden and I all
took some pretty scary risks with these
new plays. And it’s really nice to know
that none of the other playwrights in the
building are playing it safe. Hopefully audiences will pick up on that and not get
too freaked out.
How has being a Signature resident influenced your writing process and your
thinking about a play?
It’s influenced my process a lot. I think
I’ve spoken about this before, but ever
since Jim [Houghton, Signature’s Founder] offered me the residency, I’ve felt a
responsibility to push myself and make
more adventurous, vulnerable work. No
more excuses. In terms of this particular
play, and with John too, I was writing a
play for a particular space in the Signature Center. I requested the Linney space
because I wanted to try writing a play for
a thrust or alley staging. I’ve written all
my other plays for a proscenium stage.
So the intimacy of the Linney and the
particularity of that space definitely influenced the writing of this play. I wanted to
have the audience and the actors all huddled around something together. Being
a Signature resident also meant I knew
who my director and designers would
be far ahead of time, before finishing the
play even, and that added another exciting element to the process. But most of
all, I’ve felt so supported and held by the
Signature staff, and that support is what
allows you to do things that scare you.
This has been a tumultuous year in
American life. Has that influenced your
thinking about the role of the theatre in
our national conversation?
This past year and the election has made
me think a lot about theatre, and my responsibilities as an artist, and, you know,
the point of it all. I’ve had moments of
losing all faith in what I do for a living.
Eventually I realized that I don’t always
have to have faith in what I’m doing, and
that in fact the work itself can reflect
that loss of faith. Honestly, I’m not sure
theatre is part of the national conversation. Anyway, the national conversation
itself has just exploded and shattered
and is lying in shards everywhere so I
think we’re all still figuring out what it
means to be part of a national conversation in the first place. In November I felt
like maybe I didn’t want to make theatre
anymore. Now I want to make it more
than ever. It’s hard to figure out. The
play reflects some of this.
Can you tell us a little about your background with Lila Neugebauer? Why was
she a good fit to direct this project?
I met Lila when she was twenty-two and
I was twenty-six. So we’ve been friends
for nine, almost ten years, which is bonkers. We met in a somewhat romantic
way in San Francisco and kept in touch
ever since. She directed three productions of my plays and I saw and loved all
three of them. We’ve been in dialogue for
years about our work, and our frustrations with/love of contemporary theatre.
It was very clear from the beginning for
me that I was writing this play for Lila to
direct. I sort of can’t imagine anyone else
on the planet directing it. I don’t want to
say too much about it, but the content
of it feels related to conversations we’ve
been having for years, and the form of it
is slippery and complicated in a way that
I feel only Lila could understand and
orchestrate. She’s very special.
You’ve said before that a play’s setting is important to your approach to a
piece. What can you tell us about working with Scenic Designer Laura Jellinek
and Lila on this process?
It’s been a really fun and also fairly quick
and decisive process. When Laura presented us with this particular concept for
8
the set, I think it was immediately clear
to the three of us that she’d hit upon the
right thing. Recently the design process
has become about much smaller thinglike the color and placement of an exit
sign. Both of them are wildly smart and
open people. I’ve always wanted to work
with Laura, and between the three of us
there’s a lot of history. We all know one
another’s work very well.
We’ve put together an amazing cast for
this play. What was the casting process
like? How do you work with actors in
the rehearsal room?
It is indeed an amazing cast. I can happily
say I know all nine of them—none of them
are strangers, and every single person is
someone I’ve worked with before or have
vowed to work with in the past. I consider
them all friends. Three of them have actually been in productions of The Flick, and
two of them were in a play I was developing a couple of years ago at Sundance.
Lila has also worked closely with a number of them. I can’t believe how wonderful
they are. I’ve also never worked with a
cast this big, except for Uncle Vanya, but
that, of course, felt very different. For me
rehearsing is about always being present
and accessible and rigorous while also
giving the actors and director enough
emotional space to do what they need to
do. I trust all nine of these actors, and I
think they’re all incredible people.
You’re known as a voracious reader.
What are some of the things you’ve
been reading lately?
This week I finally let myself stop reading
stuff for the play, so I just started the second volume of Susan Sontag’s beautiful
journals. But recently, and these were all
related to the play: Moby Dick (which I’m
still in the middle of), John Durham Peters’ The Marvelous Clouds, Donna Haraway’s Staying with Trouble: Making Kin
in the Chthulucene, Snorri Sturluson’s The
Prose Edda, books about medieval monsters, many books of Hindu mythology,
books about octopi, Umberto Eco’s Six
Walks in the Fictional Woods, and then a
lot of hilarious storytelling manuals.
An octopus would hopefully be able to
watch and enjoy this play. If you feel confused, that’s okay.
You have one more play as part of
your residency. Can you tell us anything about what you might be thinking about?
I think it will either be a play about being
sick, or a play about monks, or maybe a
play about both. But right now they’re
two different plays.
You seem very interested in the ways
that the same stories get told over and
over, across cultures and centuries.
Where does that interest come from?
Aren’t we all interested in that? Hm
maybe not. I don’t know. I am interested
in that. Or maybe actually I’m interested in the fact that they’re not actually
the same stories. People say they are,
but I think they’re not. I think the stories
change, and they should change.
Is there anything you think it would be
helpful for audience members to keep in
mind heading into the play?
You don’t need to have any prior knowledge of anything to watch this play.
Hong Chau in John. Photo by Matthew Murphy.
Maria Dizzia and Michael Shannon in Annie Baker's Uncle Vanya. Photo by
Julieta Cervantes.
9
FURTHER DISCUSSION
• Annie Baker’s dialogue is often described as sounding extremely “real” or “natural.” Was this your
experience of how her characters talk? How would you describe her writing style?
• Annie Baker says her starting-out point for writing a play is choosing its setting. What did you think of
the setting of The Antipodes? Why do you think she chose this setting to tell this story?
• How is the idea of “time” played with in this production?
• This is a play about telling stories. Did any of the stories stick out to you? Why/why not? What do you
think are the elements of a good story?
• How did the design elements (lighting, sound, set, costumes) help create the world of this play?
• Had you ever seen a play staged in this kind of audience configuration? What was it like to have audiences
on both sides of the stage? Why was this choice made?
10
CAST & CREATIVE TEAM
SIGNATURE THEATRE
Artistic Director Paige Evans
Executive Director Erika Mallin Founder James Houghton THE ANTIPODES
Written by Annie Baker
Directed by Lila Neugebauer
Cast
Phillip James Brannon
Josh Charles
Josh Hamilton
Danny Mastrogiorgio
Danny McCarthy
Emily Cass McDonnell
Brian Miskell
Will Patton
Nicole Rodenburg
Scenic Design Laura Jellinek
Costume Design Kaye Voyce
Lighting Design Tyler Micoleau
Sound Design Bray Poor
Choreographer David Neumann
Production Stage Manager Laura Smith
Casting Telsey + Company, William Cantler, CSA
Press Boneau/ Bryan-Brown
Associate Artistic Director Beth Whitaker
General Manager Gilbert Medina
Director of Development Glenn Alan Stiskal
Director of Marketing & Audience Services David Hatkoff
Director of Finance Jeffrey Bledsoe
Director of Production & Facilities Paul Ziemer 11
PLAYWRIGHT BIO
ANNIE BAKER
PLAYWRIGHT
Annie Baker’s other plays include John (Signature Theatre, Obie
Award for Collaboration, Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel nominations for Best Play), The Flick (Playwrights Horizons/Barrow Street Theatre/National Theatre, Pulitzer Prize for Drama,
Hull-Warriner Award, Susan Smith Blackburn Award, Obie Award
for Playwriting, UK Critics Circle Award for Best New Play), Circle
Mirror Transformation (Playwrights Horizons, Obie Award for
Best New American Play, Drama Desk nomination for Best Play),
The Aliens (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Obie Award for Best
New American Play), Body Awareness (Atlantic Theater Company, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations for Best
Play/Emerging Playwright), and an adaptation of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya (Soho Rep, Drama Desk nomination for Best Revival),
for which she also designed the costumes. Her plays have been
produced at over 200 theaters throughout the U.S. and in over a
dozen countries. Other honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship,
Steinberg Playwriting Award, American Academy of Arts and
Letters Award, New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award, and the
Cullman Fellowship at the New York Public Library. She teaches
with Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and Brighde Mullins in the Playwriting MFA Program at Hunter College.
Photo of Annie Baker
by Gregory Costanzo.
12
CAST BIOS
PHILLIP JAMES BRANNON (ADAM)
Off-Broadway/Regional: Tiny Beautiful
Things, ToasT (The Public Theater); Nat
Turner In Jerusalem, Love and Information, Belleville (NYTW); BootyCandy
(Playwrights Horizons, Obie Award);
The City Of Conversation (Lincoln Center); We Are Proud To Present... (Soho
Rep); A Confederacy of Dunces (The
Huntington Theatre, IRNE nomination);
BootyCandy (The Wilma, Woolly Mammoth); The March, The Brother/Sister
Plays (Steppenwolf); As You Like It,
Richard III, Macbeth, Amadeus (Chicago
Shakespeare Theater); The Ballad Of
Emmett Till, The Cook, Oedipus Complex
(Goodman Theatre); Titus Andronicus
(Court Theatre). Film: Contagion. TV:
“The Plug,” “Law & Order: SVU.” B.F.A. in
Acting, DePaul University.
JOSH CHARLES (DAVE)
Off-Broadway: The Receptionist (MTC),
The Distance From Here (MCC). Regional: The Glass Menagerie (Long Wharf),
A Number (ACT), The Well-Appointed
Room (Steppenwolf), A Dance Lesson
(Long Wharf). Television: “The Good
Wife,” “Masters of Sex,” “Drunk History,”
“Wet Hot American Summer,” “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “Stella,” “Inside
Amy Schumer,” “In Treatment,” “Sports
Night.” Film: Hairspray, Dead Poets Society, Threesome, Crossing The Bridge, Pie
In The Sky, Things To Do In Denver When
You’re Dead, S.W.A.T., Four Brothers, Seeing Other People, Bird People, Freeheld, I
Smile Back, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Upcoming: Norman, The Drowning, Amateur. (all at New Group); Cider House Rules
(Atlantic); The Waverly Gallery (Promenade); Women and Wallace (YPF); Film/
TV Includes: Manchester By the Sea, Take
Me to the River, “Gracepoint,” Kicking
and Screaming, Frances Ha, Dark Skies,
Away We Go, Margaret, “Outsourced,”
Diggers, The House of Yes, Alive, “Madam Secretary,” “American Horror Story:
Coven,” “Louie,” Upcoming: “13 Reasons
Why” on Netflix and Blaze directed by
Ethan Hawke.
JOSH HAMILTON (JOSH)
Broadway: The Front Page, Golden Boy,
Lucky Guy, Rocky The Musical, Contact, Wait Until Dark and A Steady Rain.
Off-Broadway includes The Tempest
(Central Park), Burning (New Group),
Stunning (LCT3), The Hallway Trilogy
(Rattlestick), Wintertime (Second Stage)
Sailor’s Song (Labyrinth) and more. TV:
Re-cur’s on “The Affair,” “Billions,” “Gotham,” and “Show Me A Hero.” Also, “Elementary,” “Prime Suspect,” “Blue Bloods,”
“The Good Wife,” “White Collar,” “Person
Theatre includes Evening at the Talkhouse (National Theatre), The Real Thing
(Broadway); An Intervention and A Doll’s
House (Williamstown); Reasons To Be
Happy (MCC); Dead Accounts (Broadway); Medieval Play (Signature); The
Cherry Orchard and Three Sisters (CSC);
The Coast of Utopia and Suburbia (LCT);
Proof (Broadway); The Bridge Project
(BAM/Old Vic); A Lie of the Mind, Hurlyburly, Things We Want, This is Our Youth
DANNY MASTROGIORGIO (DANNY M1)
13
CAST BIOS
& Orders,” “Book of Daniel,” and more.
Films include The Cobbler, God’s Pocket,
The Mend, Fighting, Enchanted, Blackbird, The Producers the Musical and others.
DANNY MCCARTHY (DANNY M2)
Danny was last seen at Signature in
the Will Eno play, The Open House, for
which he and his cast mates received a
Special Drama Desk Award. Additional
NY credits include: Kill Floor at Lincoln
Center Theater, Grace on Broadway. A
veteran of the Chicago theatre, Danny is
a member of A Red Orchid Theatre. He
has also appeared in multiple productions at Steppenwolf, most recently in
Annie Baker’s The Flick. Film / TV Credits include Stronger with Jake Gyllenhaal (2017 release), Elvis & Nixon, Killing
Kennedy, “Chicago Fire,” “Elementary,”
and “Blue Bloods.”
EMILY CASS MCDONNELL (ELEANOR)
Recent theater credits include Mercury
Fur (The New Group) and collaborations
with Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory
on Grasses of a Thousand Colors (The
Public Theater/Royal Court) and The Master Builder. Also: Ode to the Man Who
Kneels with Richard Maxwell, True West
and American Sligo with Adam Rapp, and
Shoppers Carried by Escalators into the
Flames and Des Moines by Denis Johnson. Emily loves to be part of new work
by great writers. Recent film and TV work
includes Jonathan Demme’s film version
of The Master Builder, Ricky and the Flash,
Men Go to Battle, Mildred Pierce, Marie
and Bruce, and Blackbird. Emily is also
interested in dreams, Jung, shamanism,
Buddhism, death, and teaching work
based on these interests. Emily thanks her
mom, Kim, and Annie Baker.
BRIAN MISKELL (BRIAN)
Off-Broadway: The Flick (Barrow Street
Theatre), The Undeniable Sound of
Right Now, Afghanistan Zimbabwe America Kuwait, The Hill Town
Plays (Rattlestick). Other recent cred-
its include The Aliens (Studio Theatre
in Washington, D.C., and West Coast
Premiere at San Francisco Playhouse), Eightythree Down (Horse Trade
Theater Group; NY Innovative Theatre Nomination), Barn (Rising Phoenix Rep). Film: The Raft, Adventure
Film, Ten-One. A company member of
Rising Phoenix Rep, Brian studied at
the Lee Strasberg Institute and graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the
Arts. www.brianmiskell.com
WILL PATTON (SANDY)
Mr. Patton was in the original productions of Sam Shepard’s Fool For Love
(Obie Award) in New York and A Lie Of
The Mind in New York and London. He
worked with Richard Foreman in What
Did He See (Obie Award) and plays by
writers Len Jenkin, Don DeLillo, and Denis Johnson. Will also worked extensively with Joseph Chaikin. He has appeared
in films including Remember The Titans,
Armageddon, The Mothman Prophecies,
14
CAST BIOS
No Way Out, Desperately Seeking Susan,
The Punisher, Entrapment, Gone In 60
Seconds, Meeks Cutoff and American
Honey. Will starred for five seasons in
Steven Spielberg’s “Falling Skies.”
NICOLE RODENBURG (SARAH)
Off-Broadway: The Flick (Barrow St.)
Selected Theatre: Venus in Fur, As You
Like It (Alley Theatre), the world premieres of The Whale (Denver Center for
the Performing Arts), Slasher (Humana
Festival), and The End (Guthrie Theater);
Cherie in Bus Stop (Huntington Theatre
Company) directed by Nicholas Martin; You
Can’t Take It With You (GeVA Theatre
Center) opposite Robert Vaughn; Merchant of Venice, Taming of the Shrew, The
Tempest (Great River Shakespeare Festival). TV & Film: What Children Do, “Amish
Witches,” “Inside Amy Schumer,” “The Girl’s
Guide to Depravity.” Education: BFA, University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater Actor
Training Program.
The cast and creative team of The Antipodes. Photo by Gregory Costanzo.
15
CREATIVE TEAM BIOS
LILA NEUGEBAUER (Director)
At Signature: Signature Plays; A.R. Gurney’s The Wayside Motor Inn (Drama Desk
Nomination); and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Everybody. Recent directing: Sarah
DeLappe’s The Wolves (The Playwrights
Realm at The Duke, NY Stage and Film),
Abe Koogler’s Kill Floor (Lincoln Center), Mike Bartlett’s An Intervention (Williamstown), Amy Herzog’s After The
Revolution and 4000 Miles (Baltimore
Center Stage), Zoe Kazan’s Trudy and
Max in Love and Eliza Clark’s Future Thinking (South Coast Rep), Lucas Hnath’s Red
Speedo (Studio Theatre), Dan LeFranc’s Troublemaker (Berkeley Rep), Partners and O Guru Guru Guru (Humana
Festivals), Annie Baker’s The Aliens (SF
Playhouse, Studio Theatre), Associate Director on Karen O’s Stop The Virgens (St.
Ann’s Warehouse, Sydney Opera House).
As co-Artistic Director of The Mad Ones,
Neugebauer conceives and directs ensemble-devised work, including Miles for Mary,
Samuel & Alasdair: A Personal History of
the Robot War, and The Essential Straight
and Narrow. Drama League alum, Soho Rep
Writer/Director Lab, Lincoln Center Direc-
tors Lab, Ensemble Studio Theatre member,
New Georges Affiliated Artist, New York
Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect, and Princess Grace Award recipient.
LAURA JELLINEK (Scenic Design)
New York: Everybody (Signature Theatre);
The Wolves (Playwrights Realm); A Life
(Playwrights Horizons); The Nether (MCC,
Lortel nomination), Buzzer (The Public),
Marjorie Prime (Playwrights Horizons); Small
Mouth Sounds (Ars Nova, Signature Center);
The Village Bike (MCC); multiple projects
with The Debate Society & The Mad Ones.
Regional: Bard Summerscape, Cincinnati
Playhouse, Oregon Shakespeare Festival,
Williamstown Theatre Festival, Southcoast
Rep. Opera: Boston Lyric Opera, Opera
Philadelphia, Atlanta Opera, Juilliard. Obie
for Sustained Excellence in Design. Upcoming projects with Opera Theatre of St. Louis,
Yale Rep, and the Roundabout.
KAYE VOYCE (Costume Design)
Broadway: Significant Other, The Real
Thing, The Realistic Joneses, and Shining City. Recent work includes: Endgame
(Long Wharf), A Funny Thing Happened...
(MCC), This Day Forward (Vineyard Theatre), Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again (Soho
Rep), Signature Plays, The Wayside Motor
Inn (Signature Theatre), Indian Summer
and Detroit (Playwrights Horizons), The
Mystery of Love and Sex and 4000 Miles
(Lincoln Center Theater), Il Turco in Italia
(Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Opera Dijon, Teatro Regio Torino and Teatr Wielki,
Warsaw), Trisha Brown’s final two dances:
Rogues and Toss, and many shows with
Richard Maxwell/NYCP including The
Evening Parts 1 and 2 (Walker Arts Center, Museum of Contemporary Art Buenos
Aires, tour).
TYLER MICOLEAU (Lighting Design)
Signature Theatre: The Wayside Motor
Inn, Heartless. Recent Off-Broadway: The
Band’s Visit (Atlantic); Antlia Pneumatica
(Drama Desk nomination), Familiar (Playwrights Horizons); The Effect (Barrow
Street, Lucille Lortel and OBIE Awards).
Regional: La Jolla, Actors Theatre, Arena,
Huntington, Alley, Goodman, ART, Trinity
Rep, Old Globe, Long Wharf, among others. 2010 OBIE for Sustained Excellence.
16
CREATIVE TEAM BIOS
BRAY POOR (Sound Design)
Broadway: The Glass Menagerie, The Real
Thing, In the Next Room, The American
Plan. Recent Off-Broadway: original music
and sound for Othello at NYTW, John
Leguizamo’s Latin History for Morons at
The Public, Signature Theatre, Playwrights
Horizons, Second Stage Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company, and LTC. Regional
work at Berkeley Rep, Yale Rep, The Old
Globe (Craig Noel Nomination for The Last
Match), The Long Wharf, Arena Stage,
South Coast Rep, Hartford Stage, among
others. Awards: Obies for Sustained Excellence and Annie Baker’s John at Signature
(also Drama Desk Nomination).
DAVID NEUMANN (Choreographer)
Original work as artistic director of Advanced Beginner Group: P.S.122, New York
Live Arts, The Kitchen, Abrons Arts Center,
The Chocolate Factory, Symphony Space
and The Whitney. Performer and/or choreographer: Mikhail Baryshnikov, Big Dance
Theater, Doug Elkins, Doug Varone and
Sally Silvers. Choreography: Hadestown
(NYTW), The Total Bent (The Public Theater), An Octoroon (Soho Rep), Hagoromo
with Wendy Whelan and Jock Soto (BAM),
most recently directing Geoff Sobelle in
The Object Lesson (NYTW). Currently professor of theatre at Sarah Lawrence College. Recipient of three New York Dance
and Performance Bessie Awards, including
a 2015 Bessie Award for Outstanding Production for I Understand Everything Better.
Thrilled to be making his Signature Theatre
debut on The Antipodes.
LAURA SMITH (Production Stage Manager)
Atlantic Theater: Tell Hector I Miss Him;
Juilliard: Appropriate; Baltimore Center
Stage: Detroit ’67; As You Like It; 4000
Miles; After the Revolution; It’s a Wonderful
Life; Amadeus; Wild with Happy; Twelfth
Night; Stones in His Pockets; dance of the
holy ghosts; Clybourne Park; Bus Stop; An
Enemy of the People; The Whipping Man;
The Rivals; Cyrano; Fabulation; Who’s Afraid
of Virginia Woolf?, Shakespeare Theater
Company: Salome; CATF: World Builders;
Everyman: Pygmalion, Shipwrecked, Rabbit
Hole, Doubt, Gem of the Ocean, The School
for Scandal, A Number, Yellowman; Woolly
Mammoth: Gruesome Playground Injuries,
House of Gold, The Unmentionables, Vigils,
After Ashley; Folger: Measure for Measure.
ED HERMAN (Assistant Stage Manager)
Selected NYC credits: Porto (PSM, Bushwick Starr), One Flea Spare (PSM, Playhouse Creatures), Sojourners (ASM, Playwrights Realm), John, Particle of Dread, And
I and Silence (ASM, Signature Theatre), The
Lives of The Saints (ASM, Primary Stages),
Too Much Sun (ASM, The Vineyard), The
Happiest Song Plays Last (ASM, Second
Stage), Phoebe In Winter (ASM, Clubbed
Thumb), A Dream Play (SM, NAATCO),
These Seven Sicknesses (Co-SM, The Flea),
Nymph Errant (ASM, Prospect Theater Co).
Connecticut Theatre: Hamlet (PSM, SOS);
What The Butler Saw, The Liar, Loot, Tick,
Tick… Boom! (ASM, WCP).
MACHEL ROSS (Assistant Director)
is a creative collaborator based in NYC.
Recent credits include Sarah DeLappe’s
The Wolves (assistant director), Riot Antigone (La MaMa E.T.C., costume designer),
Hadestown (NYTW, assistant costume
designer) and Purple Lights of Joppa Illinois
(Atlantic Stage Company, assistant costume designer). Many thanks to Lila and
Annie for all of the lessons.
17
SIGNATURE SPOTLIGHT SERIES
Learn about a work’s inspiration, ask questions of its creators, and deepen your understanding
of the artistic process and the role of a theatre artist at the Center and beyond.
Our free Signature Spotlight Series includes:
TALKBACK SERIES
Learn about the process of putting on
a production, what it’s like to play the
characters, what goes on behind the
scenes, and much more in this postshow Q&A session with the cast and
creative team.
(Post-show on the Linney Stage)
Tuesday, April 11th
Thursday, April 27th
Tuesday, May 2nd
Tuesday, May 9th
PAGE TO STAGE
Hear the full story on how artists
transform an idea into a play through
a moderated discussion with members of the Artistic Team.
Tuesday, April 18th, 6PM
PARTICIPANTS:
Playwright Annie Baker and
Director Lila Neugebauer
BOOK CLUB
Delve into the context of a Signature
playwright’s work by discussing a related book or play and explore theatre’s
connection to other art forms through
a guided discussion with Signature’s
literary staff.
Thursday, June 1st, 7:30PM
BOOK:
The Aliens and Circle Mirror
Transformation by Annie Baker
The Signature Spotlight Series is sponsored by American Express.
18
ABOUT SIGNATURE
Signature Theatre celebrates playwrights and gives them an
artistic home. By producing multiple plays by each resident
writer, Signature offers an in-depth look at their bodies of
work. Founded in 1991 by James Houghton, Signature makes
an extended commitment to a playwright’s body of work, and
during this journey the writer is engaged in every aspect of the
creative process. By championing in-depth explorations of a
playwright’s body of work, Signature delivers an intimate and
immersive journey into A playwright’s singular vision. Signature
serves its mission through its permanent home at The Pershing
Square Signature Center, a three-theatre facility on West 42nd
Street designed by Frank Gehry Architects to host Signature’s
three distinct playwrights’ residencies and foster a cultural community. At the Center, opened in January 2012, Signature continues its founding Playwright-in-Residence model as Residency
One, a first-of-its-kind, intensive exploration of a single writer’s
body of work. Residency Five, the only program of its kind, was
launched at the Center to support multiple playwrights as they
build bodies of work by guaranteeing each writer three productions over a five-year period. The Legacy Program, launched
during Signature’s 10th Anniversary, invites writers from both
residencies back for productions of premiere or earlier plays.
The Pershing Square Signature Center is a major contribution
to New York City’s cultural landscape and provides a venue for
cultural organizations that supports and encourages collaboration among artists throughout the space. In addition to its
three intimate theatres, the Center features a studio theatre, a
rehearsal studio and a public café, bar and bookstore. Through
the Signature Ticket Initiative: A Generation of Access, Signature has also made an unprecedented commitment to making
its productions accessible by underwriting the cost of the initial
run tickets, currently priced at $30, through 2031. Signature
has presented entire seasons of the work of Edward Albee, Lee
Blessing, Horton Foote, María Irene Fornés, Athol Fugard, John
Guare, A. R. Gurney, David Henry Hwang, Bill Irwin, Adrienne
Kennedy, Tony Kushner, Romulus Linney, Charles Mee, Arthur
Miller, Sam Shepard, Paula Vogel, Naomi Wallace, August Wilson, Lanford Wilson and a season celebrating the historic Negro
Ensemble Company. Signature’s current Residency One playwright is Suzan-Lori Parks; current Residency Five playwrights
are Annie Baker, Martha Clarke, Will Eno, Katori Hall, Quiara
Alegría Hudes, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Kenneth Lonergan and
Regina Taylor. Signature was the recipient of the 2014 Regional
Theatre Tony Award®, and its productions and resident writers have been recognized with the Pulitzer Prize, Lucille Lortel
Awards, Obie Awards, Drama Desk Awards, AUDELCO Awards,
among many other distinctions. For more information, please
visit signaturetheatre.org.
19