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PORTLANDCENTERSTAGE
Presents
Three Days of Rain
By Richard Greenberg
Directed by Chris Coleman
May 17 – June 21, 2015
Artistic Director | Chris Coleman
PORTLANDCENTERSTAGE
Presents
Three Days of Rain
By Richard Greenberg
DIRECTED BY CHRIS COLEMAN
Scenic Designer
Scott Fyfe
Costume Designer
Alison Heryer
Lighting Designer
Diane Ferry Williams
Sound Designer
Casi Pacilio
Stage Manager
Liam Kaas-Lentz
Production Assistant
Kristen Mun
Casting
Rose Riordan and Brandon Woolley
CAST LIST
Silas Weir Mitchell…………..…Walker Janeway/Ned Janeway
Lisa Datz……………………………...……..Nan Janeway/Lina
Sasha Roiz…………………………….Pip Wexler/Theo Wexler
Three Days of Rain was originally produced in New York City
by the Manhattan Theatre Club on October 21, 1997.
Commissioned and first produced by South Coast Repertory.
Three Days of Rain is presented by special arrangement with
Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York.
Performed with one intermission.
Videotaping or other photo or audio recording of this production
is strictly prohibited.
The Actors 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.
FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
By Chris Coleman
In Richard Greenberg’s story, Three Days of Rain, the yearning
to understand the father also stands at the center of the action.
As the play travels through time from its starting point in 1995,
back to its end in 1960, the characters (and the audience) find
themselves yearning to place the accurate puzzle pieces together
that will illuminate what has been, fundamentally, a mysterious
relationship with a towering figure who was both a father and
one of the great architects of the 20th century.
Why this play? Why now? It’s really Sasha’s fault. I read a few
years ago in The Pearl magazine that Sasha Roiz (who plays Pip
and Theo) had purchased a condo in the Pearl District and one of
the things he enjoyed was attending Portland Center Stage.
Ahem. Interesting.
I tracked down his email address and invited him for coffee. We
hit it off and began brainstorming about projects we might work
on together. It took a while to get schedules lined up, but in the
18 months that followed, he introduced me to Silas Weir
Mitchell and we read several pieces that the two of them might
work on together. Three Days of Rain interested us all because it
is both challenging and intriguing, offers great opportunities for
each of them, and tells a completely fascinating story.
CAST BIOGRAPHIES
Lisa Datz
Nan Janeway/Lina
Lisa Datz’s theatrical roles include Madeleine Astor in the
Tony-winning production of Titanic on Broadway; Pam
Lukowski in the Tony-nominated production of The Full Monty;
Yitzhak in the Off-Broadway production of Hedwig and the
Angry Inch with John Cameron-Mitchell; and Violet in Violet
(Jeff Award nomination). Recently, Datz guest starred as
Mackenzie Solloway on Bones (FOX); as Mary Fuchs on Castle
(ABC); in the feature film Time Out of Mind, directed by Oscar
nominee Oren Moverman and starring Richard Gere; and
Sponge Bob 2 with Antonio Banderas. Other film credits include
Melody Oates in The Perfect Holiday with Gabrielle Union and
Terrence Howard. In Los Angeles, she performed with
Grammy-winning composer Frank Wildhorn in Frank Wildhorn
& Friends at the Pantages Theatre. She played leading roles in
the critically acclaimed For the Record series in Los Angeles
and at the SXSW Film Festival. In New York, she performed the
role of Rowena opposite rock legends Joe Jackson and Todd
Rundgren in the 20th anniversary concert of Up Against It at
The Public Theatre. Other film credits include Ghost Town
(Paramount), leads in the indie films Stumptown and Fractured,
and Spectropia (Lincoln Center Film Festival). Other television
credits include Law & Order, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, The
West Wing, Hope & Faith, Guiding Light, All My Children, One
Life to Live, As the World Turns and Blue’s Clues. Regional
theatre credits include Meg in Crimes of the Heart, Julia in The
Two Gentlemen of Verona, Kari in The Pavilion and Ace at The
Old Globe. Datz is an avid equestrian, former competitive figure
skater, hip hop dancer, Star Wars/Downton Abbey geek and
Chicago native who currently divides her time between Los
Angeles and New York. She attended the Boston University
Theatre Institute and received her B.F.A from The University of
Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance. She extends her
heartfelt thanks to Chris, Sasha and Silas and dedicates this to
her endlessly supportive friends and to her amazing parents.
@lisadatz, lisadatz.com
Silas Weir Mitchell
Walker Janeway/Ned Janeway
Silas Weir Mitchell currently stars in NBC’s fantastical
mystery/crime show Grimm, playing Portland's own vegan
horologist, Monroe. Prior to Grimm, Mr. Mitchell was most
widely known for his recurring role on the tautly paced FOX
drama Prison Break, starring as lead actor Wentworth Miller's
deeply unstable cellmate, Charles "Haywire" Patoshik. He is
also known for the role of Donny Jones, (another) ex-con and
friend of the title character played by Jason Lee in the NBC
comedy My Name Is Earl. Other TV includes NYPD Blue, The
X-Files, ER, Cold Case, The Mentalist, 24, Law & Order: SVU,
The Closer, CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Burn Notice, Dexter,
Monk, Six Feet Under, Boomtown, The Shield, Portlandia. Films
include: The Patriot (Steven Seagal); Inferno (Jean-Claude Van
Damme); Rat Race; The Whole Ten Yards. After graduating
from Brown University with degrees in both Theatre Arts and
Religious Studies, Silas went on to earn his M.F.A. at the
University of California, San Diego. From there, he moved to
New York and did a few plays (including Tennessee Williams'
Tiger Tail at Harold Clurman Theater and Whenever I Fall at
Your Feet at HERE Theatre). Thence to L.A., where he started
to get film and TV jobs, as well as continuing to make his own
work acting and directing in theater. L.A. directing credits: The
Water Principle by Eliza Anderson (also producer) at The
Complex; Three Sisters (also Tuzenbach and producer) at The
Stella Adler Theatre; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune at
The Hudson Theatre; Bus Stop (also producer) at The MET
Theatre, where he was artistic director from 2001-2005. Acting
includes: Hurlyburly (Eddie), Amerikafka (Kafka); Gatsby in
Hollywood (S.J. Perelman) all at the MET. Blood! Love!
Madness! and The Women of Lockerbie at The Actors' Gang;
Lascivious Something and The Chinese Massacre at Circle X.
Silas would like to express deep gratitude to his acting mentor of
many years, Harry Mastrogeorge, for imparting perennial
wisdom in such an egoless, penetrating way. He is delighted to
be back on stage, and to be making his first appearance at PCS.
silasweirmitchell.com
Sasha Roiz
Pip Wexler/Theo Wexler
Sasha Roiz is about to begin his 5th season on the Portlandbased NBC hit supernatural drama Grimm. Roiz plays the
mysterious, part-royal, part-creature Police Captain Sean
Renard. Prior to Grimm, Roiz portrayed the role of the brutal
mob enforcer Sam Adama on the acclaimed science fiction
drama Caprica (with Eric Stoltz and Polly Walker). Roiz has
worked extensively in television. Some of his credits include:
CSI, The Mentalist, House M.D., Castle, Warehouse 13, It's
Always Sunny in Philadelphia and NCIS. Last year, Roiz played
the role of the formidable Roman centurian, Marcus Proculus, in
the blockbuster film Pompeii (alongside Kit Harington and
Kiefer Sutherland). Other film credits include: The Day After
Tomorrow (with Jake Gyllenhaal), 16 Blocks (Bruce Willis),
Man of the Year (Robin Williams) and Unthinkable (Samuel L.
Jackson). Roiz's first starring film role was in the independent
science fiction thriller Extracted, which premiered at the South
by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in 2012. Roiz is delighted
to return to the theater and is grateful to Chris Coleman and PCS
for this opportunity. Select theater work includes: Past/Perfect
at Centaur Theatre Company, Montreal, Canada (Best
Supporting Actor nominee at Les Masques Awards); Vinci at
Centaur Theatre Company and Travels with My Aunt at
Knowlton Theater, Quebec. Roiz trained theatrically at Dawson
College in his home town of Montreal, Canada; as well as at the
Guildford School of Acting conservatoire in Guildford, England.
Roiz came to Portland by way of Los Angeles, where he spent
several years. Grimm brought him to Portland, which he now
proudly calls home. He is an active member of this community
and just this past year spearheaded the Grimm Gala, which
raised over $300,000 for the Grimmster Endowment at the
Doernbecher Children's Hospital. Sasha would like to thank the
Portland community for its continued support and hospitality.
FEATURE I Traveling through time with Three
Days of Rain
“Richard Greenberg may be the best, most prolific American
dramatist you've never heard of,” proclaimed The Telegraph in
2009, the year it praised his play Three Days of Rain as “one of
the finest American plays of recent years.” With over 25 plays
and many successful Broadway productions under his belt,
Greenberg certainly is prolific – he’s been known to pen plays in
just three days. One of the scripts produced in such a burst of
writing just happens to be Three Days of Rain. Prior to writing
this script, Greenberg had been focused solely on writing for
film. One day, while walking home in the rain, he ran into
playwright, novelist and film director Peter Hedges. As
Greenberg reported to American Theatre Magazine: “We started
talking, and we got excited about writing plays again - which
neither one of us had been doing at that moment. It started this
flurry of activity that has made me write like crazy.” Three Days
of Rain was one of the first plays he penned in this newly
inspired swirl of writing, and Greenberg later dedicated the play
to Hedges.
The title of the play comes from a line in W. S. Merwin's poem,
For the Anniversary of My Death:
As today writing after three days of rain
Hearing the wren sing and the falling cease
And bowing not knowing to what
In Three Days of Rain, Greenberg plays with time and
perception by setting the first act in 1995 and going backwards
to a previous generation for the second act, with the actors
playing their characters’ own parents in 1960. “The first act is
the present dreaming the past, and the second act is the past
dreaming the future. The play is really about the gulf between
those two ideas,” Greenberg said in an interview with Playbill in
1997 prior to the world premiere of Three Days of Rain. He
toys with the constructs of time in several of his other plays as
well, including his most recent Broadway hit, The Assembled
Parties, in which the second act takes place 20 years after the
first. Greenberg credits the hugely popular 1967 BBC television
adaptation of John Galsworthy’s The Forsyte Saga for his
fascination with time. "That television experience was the
foundation of my sensibilities," Greenberg told the Los Angeles
Times prior to a revival of Three Days of Rain at South Coast
Repertory where the play was first produced, "I want to get an
entire life onstage while conveying a sense of how time feels,
how unstoppable it is, and how we don't really know what's
going on because as we're trying to weave, it's weaving us."
This production marks the debut of a Richard Greenberg play at
Portland Center Stage, as well as the exciting debuts of all three
actors performing the multi-generational roles: Silas Weir
Mitchell, Sasha Roiz and Lisa Datz. Much like Greenberg, we’re
big fans of playing with time at PCS. The traversing of ages in
Greenberg’s script provides a particularly exciting opportunity
for the local artisans we’ve gathered to create the 1995 and
1960’s Manhattan worlds you’ll witness in this production. All
told, over 25 professional craftspeople have joined these actors
and the creative team to assemble this production. The scenery
and props were built in PCS’s scene shop in NW Portland; an
army of painters was assembled to hand-paint the brick walls of
the set; the costume shop located here in the Armory has been
busy whipping up the fashions of 1995 and 1960; a crew of
fifteen skilled stage hands helped bring all the technical
elements together, including props, lights and sound; and a stage
manager, wardrobe and run crew are on site right now
supporting the actors at this performance. There have been many
productions of Three Days of Rain nationally and internationally
since its world premiere in 1997, but one of the great things
about local theater is that this production has been designed and
created specifically for these actors, in this space, at this time, in
this rainy city, to be enjoyed by you, our community.
- Claudie Jean Fisher, Public Relations and Publications
Manager
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CREATIVE TEAM BIOGRAPHIES
Richard Greenberg
Playwright
Richard Greenberg is the author of Take Me Out (Drama Desk
Award; NY Drama Critics Circle Award; Outer Critics Circle
Award; Lucille Lortel Award; Tony Award for Best Play),
which moved to Broadway after successful runs at The Public
Theater in New York City and The Donmar Warehouse on
London’s West End. Other works include The Violet Hour, The
Dazzle (Outer Critics Circle Award; John Gassner, Lucille
Lortel nominations), Everett Beekin, Three Days of Rain (L.A.
Drama Critics Award; Pulitzer finalist; Olivier, Drama Desk,
Hull-Warriner nominations), Hurrah at Last, Night and her
Stars, The American Plan, Life Under Water and The Author’s
Voice, among many other plays. His adaptation of Strindberg's
Dance of Death was seen on Broadway starring Ian McKellen,
Helen Mirren and David Straithairn. Greenberg received the
Oppenheimer Award for a new playwright as well as the first
PEN/Laura Pels Award for a playwright in mid-career. He is an
associate artist at South Coast Repertory and a member of
Ensemble Studio Theater.
Chris Coleman
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. Chris recently returned to
Atlanta to direct the world premiere of Edward Foote at
Alliance Theatre. He also directed Phylicia Rashad and Kenny
Leon in Same Time Next Year at True Colors Theatre Company
in Atlanta in 2014. Favorite PCS directing assignments include
Threesome, Dreamgirls, Othello, Fiddler on the Roof,
Clybourne Park, Sweeney Todd, Shakespeare’s Amazing
Cymbeline (which he also adapted), Anna Karenina, Oklahoma!,
Snow Falling on Cedars, Ragtime, Crazy Enough, Beard of
Avon, Cabaret, King Lear, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Man and
Superman, Outrage, Flesh and Blood and The Devils. Chris has
directed at theaters across the country, including Actor’s Theater
of Louisville, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, ACT-Seattle, The
Alliance, Dallas Theatre Center, 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 is currently the board
president for the Cultural Advocacy Coalition. Chris and his
husband, Rodney, are the proud parents of an 18 lb Jack
Russell/Lab mix, and a 110 lb English Blockhead Yellow Lab.
Scenic Designer
Scott Fyfe
Scott Fyfe holds a B.F.A. in sculpture from S.U.N.Y. New Paltz.
Scenic design highlights include Portland Center Stage’s
production of Othello and Village Theatre main stage
productions of Million Dollar Quartet, Stunt Girl, Chasing
Nicolette, Anne of Green Gables (Footlight Award), Take Me
America, Big River, Les Misérables (Gypsy Rose Lee Award
nominee, Gregory Award nominee), The Tutor and Mary
Poppins. Scott is thrilled to be back working with the
exceptional production team here at PCS.
Alison Heryer
Costume Designer
Alison Heryer is a costume designer for theater, film and
print. She is thrilled to be returning to Portland Center Stage,
after recently designing costumes for Threesome. Other theater
credits include The Bluest Eye (New Victory Theater); The Fall
to Earth, A Lesson Before Dying, Orange Flower
Water and World Set Free (Steppenwolf Theatre
Company); Pippin, The Whipping Man, A Little More
Alive and The Who and The What (Kansas City Repertory
Theatre); The King and I, 33 Variations,
RENT and Doubt (ZACH Theatre), Jackie and Me at (Indiana
Repertory Theatre), Bum Philips All-American Opera (La
MaMa) and The Price at Artists Repertory Theatre. Recent
awards include the Austin Critics Table Award and the ArtsKC
Inspiration Grant. Alison is a faculty member at Portland State
University. She is a graduate of Washington University in St.
Louis and The University of Texas at Austin and a member of
United Scenic Artists.
Diane Ferry Williams
Lighting Designer
Diane Ferry Williams is pleased to be returning to Portland.
Diane has worked for many theaters around the country and
abroad. Her most recent design is a national tour of How to
Succeed beginning in Beijing, China. In the US, she has worked
for many theaters around the country, including the Marriott
Theatre in Chicago, Alliance Theatre, Theatre Under the Stars,
Goodspeed, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Goodman Theatre,
Pittsburgh Public Theater, ACT-Seattle, Alabama Shakespeare
Festival, Ford’s Theatre, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and
Regional Dance America. Other international work includes The
Harlem Gospel Singers in Paris and the European tour, and Die
Shone Und Das Biest in Berlin and the European tour. She has
also lit several national tours and premieres. Awards include a
Jeff Award, an After Dark Award, a Carbonelle Award, five
Drammy Awards (the most recent being The Whipping Man)
and seven Jeff nominations. Diane has an M.F.A in Theatrical
Design from Northwestern University.
Casi Pacilio
Sound Designer
Casi keeps busy with a variety of work and play in Portland and
around the country. PCS credits include Cyrano, The People’s
Republic of Portland (2013 and 2015), Other Desert Cities,
Threesome, Dreamgirls, The Last Five Years, Othello, A Small
Fire, Twist Your Dickens (2013 and 2014), The Mountaintop,
Fiddler on the Roof, Oklahoma!, The North Plan, Shakespeare’s
Amazing Cymbeline, Black Pearl Sings!, Opus, Ragtime
(PAMTA Award 2010), The 25th Annual Putnam County
Spelling Bee, The 39 Steps, Snow Falling on Cedars, Crazy
Enough, The Little Dog Laughed, Sometimes a Great Notion,
Cabaret, The Pillowman, I Am My Own Wife, West Side Story
and Celebrity Row; Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,
Chinglish and futura with composer Jana Losey; and eight
seasons of JAW. National shows: Holcombe Waller Surfacing
and Wayfinders; Hand2Mouth Theatre credits: Left Hand of
Darkness, My Mind is Like an Open Meadow (Drammy Award
2011), Something’s Got Ahold Of My Heart and PEP TALK.
Other theatrical credits include Squonk Opera’s
Bigsmorgasbord-WunderWerk (Broadway, PS122, national and
international touring); I Am My Own Wife, I Think I Like Girls
(La Jolla Playhouse); Playland, 10 Fingers and Lips Together,
Teeth Apart (City Theatre, PA). Film credits include Creation of
Destiny, Out of Our Time and A Powerful Thang. Recordings:
Glitterfruit’s fruit snacks.
Jana Losey Crenshaw
Composer
Jana Losey Crenshaw is a singer-songwriter originally from
rural Pennsylvania. With a history that includes Broadway,
international touring, a solo career, and a reality TV show, she
has recently resurfaced in the Portland music scene. Recent
theater projects include: Please Validate Your Identity, a devised
theater piece for Fertile Ground Festival; composing the score
for Hand2Mouth Theatre's production of Left Hand of Darkness
by Ursula K. Le Guinn; composing and arranging for Liminal's
recent production of Our Town at The Headwaters Theatre; and
composing musical transitions for Portland Center Stage's
futura, Chinglish, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike and
Other Desert Cities. See more at janacrenshaw.com.
Mary McDonald-Lewis
Dialect Coach
Mary McDonald-Lewis has been a working artist since 1979
as SAG-AFTRA voice actor and on-camera performer, and in
theater for much longer as an actor and director. MaryMac has
been a dialect coach since 1999, and is house coach for
Hallmark Hall of Fame, the series Leverage, Grimm and
others. Film, television and stage clients range from overnight
sensations to Drammy, Obie, Emmy and Oscar winners, and
include a Knight of the British Empire. She is blessed to be
resident artist, speech and text director at Artists
Repertory Theatre and house coach at Portland Center Stage,
and is just thrilled to say this is her 23rd show as coach at
PCS. MaryMac thanks Finnegan, Sullivan and Flynn for always
wagging their tails when she comes home from telling her
tales. marymac.com
Liam Kaas-Lentz
Stage Manager
Liam is a native of Bellingham, WA. He is an ensemble member
of Sojourn Theatre, having served as their stage and production
manager for the past ten years and thirteen productions. He has
also stage managed for Hand2Mouth Theatre, Portland
Playhouse, Artists Repertory Theatre, the Pacific Conservatory
for the Performing Arts, Geva Theatre Center, Oregon
Children's Theatre, Pixie Dust Productions, The Kitchen, River
to River Festival, Teatro Milagro and many others. He received
his B.F.A. in stage management from Southern Oregon
University and his M.Ed. in curriculum and instruction from
Portland State University. Liam has also taught stage and
production management with a focus on ensemble, devised, and
site-specific contexts and methodologies at Georgetown
University, Northwestern University, Portland State University,
Reed College and Lewis and Clark College. He is a proud
member of Actors’ Equity Association, and lives with his wife
and two cats in southeast Portland.
Kristen Mun
Production Assistant
Kristen Mun is originally from Hawaii and graduated from
Southern Oregon University with a B.F.A. in Stage
Management. Previous Portland Center Stage credits include
production assistant on Threesome, Lizzie and 2nd production
assistant on Fiddler on the Roof. Outside of Portland she has
worked at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Idaho Repertory
Theatre and Actors Theater of Louisville. In Portland she has
worked as a production assistant and stage manager with other
theater companies such as Artists Repertory Theatre (And So It
Goes …, Red Herring), Oregon Children’s Theatre (A Year With
Frog and Toad, Charlotte’s Web, Ivy and Bean), Northwest
Classical Theatre Company (King John, Measure for Measure,
As You Like It), and Post5 Theatre (Hamlet). Outside of stage
managing, Kristen is also a fight choreographer and stage
combat teacher.
Barbara Hort, Ph.D.
Dramaturg
Barbara Hort, Ph.D., has maintained a private practice in
Portland for over 25 years, working primarily from the
psychological perspective developed by the Swiss psychoanalyst
Carl Jung. At the invitation of Chris Coleman, Dr. Hort has
served as a dramaturg on the PCS productions of Sweeney Todd,
Clybourne Park, the 2013 JAW festival, Fiddler on the Roof,
Othello, Dreamgirls, Threesome and now Three Days of Rain,
providing material on the psychological dynamics of the play
that can be used by the artists who are creating the performance.
FOR THIS PRODUCTION
Painters
Elecia Beebe
Lauren Newey
Shawn Mallory
Kiona McAlister
Sean Casey
Props Artisans
Teresa Pilar Huarte
Shawn Mallory
Sound Programmer and Engineer
Scott Thorson
Associate Sound Designer
Em Gustason
Sound Board Operator
Molly Gardner
Additional Set Construction
OMSI
SPONSOR STATEMENTS
Argyle Winery
Argyle Winery and Portland Center Stage have a lot in common.
We both celebrate the art of storytelling, we both value being
part of the community, and we both are an enduring part of
many happy memories. Cheers to Portland Center Stage on
another successful season! Keep doing what you are doing.
Berry Wealth Strategies
It is our founder’s daughter who is responsible for Berry Wealth
Strategies’ sponsorship in this performance here at Portland
Center Stage. Her passion for theater blossomed into a love
affair with the performing arts that is now shared by the entire
family. So when Berry Wealth Strategies began looking for a
venue to express our appreciation for the trust our clients place
in us, the decision was an easy one. Enjoy the performance.
Drs. Ann Smith Sehdev & Paul Sehdev
We are pleased to continue our support of Portland Center Stage
and encourage everyone to get out and enjoy the show!
Stoel Rives LLP
We believe theater plays a critical role in stimulating creativity
and ensuring a vibrant community. For more than 25 years,
Portland Center Stage has entertained, challenged and inspired
us by bringing stories to life in unexpected ways. Stoel Rives
applauds PCS for its amazing work, and eagerly looks forward
to more.