Download CHESAPEAKE j i director’s note

CHESAPEAKE
written by Lee Blessing
j director’s note i
Chip and I have known each other since our days in graduate school in New York. We enjoyed working together there and for several
years have been looking for a way to collaborate. In many ways it seems appropriate that we should reunite in the Loft Theatre, with a show that
requires no more than a glass of water as a prop. Both of us spent a significant part of our training making plays that rely primarily on the actor and
the text. So while this production has been beautifully supported by our team of designers, we were both excited about the chance to return to a
focus on the relationships between actor, text and audience.
Chesapeake was written and performed shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a case that was the culmination of a legal battle
between the National Endowment for the Arts and a group of performance artists who came to be known as the NEA Four. The NEA had awarded
them grants, but the head of the organization later rescinded them. This was at the height of the culture wars of the late 1980s and early ‘90s, when
the very existence of the NEA was threatened and Congress put into a place a “decency clause,” ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court.
I do not want to give too much away about the specifics of this play, except to say that Kerr has a particular, unexpected journey against
the backdrop of a similar confrontation. Yet in the midst of this decidedly political piece there is a search for meaning that I hope will not go
unnoticed. If we learn anything from Kerr’s journey, it must be that even in our most sworn enemy we may find common ground.
j cast i
Kerr
j artistic team i
Director
Assistant Director
Scenery Designer
Lighting Designer
Costume Designer
Sound Designer
Lucy Smith Conroy
Jenn Calvano
Karter Deane
Kate Boyles
Alice Matiosian
Elizabeth Jamison
Chip Persons*
j production team i
Stage Manager
Technical Assistant
Lightboard Operator
Sound Board Operator
Leigh Barnholt
Elizabeth Jamison
Sara Alamad
Keilani Fuqua
Chip Persons (Kerr) is Assistant Professor of Theatre at the University of Colorado Boulder. He earned his MFA from Columbia University and BFA
from the University of California at Santa Barbara. His CU credits include: Oedipus (complexly); The Ingenious Chambermaid; The Visit; Angelina
(director); and Marat/Sade. His regional credits include: Gross Indecency, Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company; A Man for All Seasons, Arvada
Center; Colorado Shakespeare Festival (6 seasons); Stories On Stage; Write Out Loud; Lamb’s Players Theatre; and the Old Globe Theatre. His
New York credits include: Hell: Paradise Found, 59E59; Foodstable, HERE Arts Center; Švejk and Andorra, Theatre for a New Audience; Richard
III, La MaMa E.T.C.; Godard, The Ohio; and The Song of Seven Cities. His international credits include: Divadlo Alfred ve Dvoře; Divadlo HoME;
and Divadlo v Celetné. His television credits include Law & Order and network commercials.
*Chip Persons appears in this production courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association.
Lucy Smith Conroy is a San Diego-based director. Her regional credits include Julius Caesar, Intimate Apparel, Arcadia and Fully Committed
(Portland Stage Company); La Bête, As You Like It and Les Liaisons Dangereuses (The Theater at Monmouth); Fräulein Else, Lettice and Lovage
(Court Theatre); and Hamlet (Associate Director, Court Theatre). Her New York credits include: All’s Well That Ends …Well; Lying; Life is a Dream;
Peer Gynt 1:16:19; Certain Things Which I Will Call Sacred; The Rover; Chrysothemis; tea and text for six women; The Raven; Tick; Josephine the
Songstress; and Destroy, She Said. Conroy is a graduate of Columbia University’s MFA Directing Program, where she studied with Anne Bogart and
Robert Woodruff, and was the recipient of the 1999-2001 Bingham Fellowship.
Lucy Smith Conroy is a proud member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union.
University Theatre Building, Loft Theatre www.colorado.edu/theatredance 303-492-8181
March 13-16 @ 7:30pm • March 17 @ 6:30 pm • Matinees March 16 and 17 @ 2:00pm
j special thanks i
j costume practicum/tech students i
“Quinn” the dog and Erin Wright
Nathan Blackwell
Kayla Clowes
Nellie Conboy
Annie Dahlberg
Alyssa Gallotte
Jillian Goodman
Amanda Herrera
Christie Herwig
Katherine Holvik
Jamie Holzman
Tucker Johnston
Carissa Kessel
Chris Koncilja
Yating Lu
Julie Luehring
Justin Mier
Amy Millennor
Taylor Minckley
Stephen Moreno
Alex Rausch
Jenni Skluth
Jenn Sonick
Stephanie Spector
Reba Todd
Taylor Tolibas
Jessica Troppmann
Misah Zimmerman
Willa Wilde
j scene shop assistants i
Michael Bateman
Sarah Baughman
Kate Boyles
Wayne Breyer
Megan Chaney
Austin Coffin
Karter Deane
Molly Gillard
Elizabeth Jamison
Chris Koncilja
Kassandra Kunisch
Geneva Mattoon
Kelly McDermott
Justin Mier
Melissa Neal
Alex Rausch
Dmitry Yunda
j department staff i
Department Chair
Production Coordinator
Technical Director
Scene Shop Foreman
Lighting, Sound & Projections Advisor
Costume Shop Manager
Costume Shop Foreman
Costume Storage/Rental Manager
Costume Shop Financial Coordinator
Loft Production Coordinator
Front of House Manager
House Managers
Box Office Manager
Box Office Assistants
Publicity Director
Marketing Director
Public Relations Assistants
PR Photographer/Videographer
Bud Coleman
Connie Lane
Kerry Cripe
Stephen Balgooyen
Jason Banks
Ted Stark
Brenda King
Katelyn Smolski
Katie Cross
Jenn Calvano
Hadley Kamminga-Peck
Kaitlin Barker
Kate Boyles
Heidi Schmidt
Katie DeVore
Kayleigh Marsh Davis
Michelle McLamb
Sahvanna Phelps
Kayla Pinney
Carolyn Stroud
Clay Evans
Laima Haley
Daniel Leonard
Emily Scraggs
Chris Warren
Alexis Nyeki
Daniel Leonard
j costume shop employees i
Sarah Adler
Erin Burnett
Satya Chavez
Tony Dostert
Alexa Frank
Hayley Gocha
Brittany Handler
Brendan Milove
Brianna Provda
Sonya Smith
j tech studio i
Lindsey Anderson
Michael Bernacchi
Erin Burnett
Gina Lovell
Stephen Moreno
Kayla Wall
THEATRE
DANCE
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Box Office: 303.492.8181