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 January 27, 2014 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Steven Padla / 203 432 1574 / [email protected] YALE REPERTORY THEATRE PRESENTS THE WORLD PREMIERE OF THESE PAPER BULLETS! A MODISH RIPOFF OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING ADAPTED BY ROLIN JONES SONGS BY BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG DIRECTED BY JACKSON GAY MARCH 14–APRIL 5 YALE REPERTORY THEATRE (James Bundy, Artistic Director; Victoria Nolan, Managing Director) presents the world premiere of THESE PAPER BULLETS!, a modish ripoff of William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, adapted by Rolin Jones, with songs by Billie Joe Armstrong, and directed by Jackson Gay, March 14–April 5 at the University Theatre (222 York Street). Opening Night is Thursday, March 20. The 19-­‐member cast of THESE PAPER BULLETS! includes David Wilson Barnes, James Barry, Jabari Brisport, Stephen DeRosa, Bryan Fenkart, Ceci Fernandez, Christopher Geary, Brad Heberlee, Anthony Manna, Brian McManamon, Andrew Musselman, Keira Naughton, Adam O’Byrne, Lucas Papaelias, James Lloyd Reynolds, Jeanine Serralles, Greg Stuhr, Ariana Venturi, and Liz Wisan. THESE PAPER BULLETS! features choreography by Monica Bill Barnes, music direction by Julie McBride, scenic design by Michael Yeargan, costumes by Jessica Ford, lighting by Paul Whitaker, sound design by Broken Chord, projections by Nicholas Hussong, orchestrations and arrangements by Tom Kitt, dialect coaching by Stephen Gabis, dramaturgy by Catherine Sheehy and Ilya Khodosh, and stage management by Robert Chikar. ABOUT THESE PAPER BULLETS! Meet the Quartos. Ben (David Wilson Barnes), Claude (Bryan Fenkart), Balth (Lucas Papaelias), and Pedro (James Barry). Their fans worship them. Scotland Yard fears them. And their former drummer will stop at nothing to destroy them. Can these fab four from Liverpool find true love in London and cut an album in seven nights? THESE PAPER BULLETS! is a modish ripoff of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing with a serious backbeat. Adapted by Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award nominated writer Rolin Jones (Friday Night Lights, Weeds) and featuring new songs by Grammy Award winning Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, who wrote the Tony Award winning musical American Idiot, THESE PAPER BULLETS! is directed by Jackson Gay, who staged Jones’s The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow at Yale Rep in 2004. THESE PAPER BULLETS! was commissioned by Yale Repertory Theatre. Development and production support are provided by Yale’s Binger Center for New Theatre and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. THESE PAPER BULLETS! is Yale Rep’s 2013-­‐14 WILL POWER! production. The run includes three 10:30AM performances available only to high school student groups. For more information about WILL POWER!, please contact Ruth M. Feldman at (203) 432-­‐8425 or [email protected]. THESE PAPER BULLETS! contains strong language and adult content. Please contact the Box Office at (203) 432-­‐1234 if you have questions about the themes or content of this production. TICKET INFORMATION AND PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE Tickets for THESE PAPER BULLETS! range from $20–98 and are available online at www.yalerep.org, by phone at (203) 432-­‐1234, and in person at the Yale Rep Box Office (1120 Chapel Street). Student, senior, and group rates are also available. Friday, March 14 8PM Saturday, March 15 8PM Monday, March 17 8PM All Tickets $20 Tuesday, March 18 8PM All Tickets $20 Wednesday, March 19 8PM All Tickets $20 Thursday, March 20 8PM Opening Night Friday, March 21 8PM Saturday, March 22 8PM Talk Back Saturday, March 22 8PM Tuesday, March 25 8PM Wednesday, March 26 2PM Senior Reception begins at 1PM Wednesday, March 26 8PM Thursday, March 27 8PM Friday, March 28 8PM Saturday, March 29 2PM Open Caption, Audio Description, Talk Back Saturday, March 29 8PM Monday, March 31 10:30AM WILL POWER! Tuesday, April 1 8PM Wednesday, April 2 10:30AM WILL POWER! Wednesday, April 2 8PM Thursday, April 3 10:30AM WILL POWER! Thursday, April 3 8PM Friday, April 4 8PM Saturday, April 5 2PM Saturday, April 5 8PM PRODUCTION SPONSORS Yale Repertory Theatre’s production of THESE PAPER BULLETS! is made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and the generosity of The Cornelius-­‐Schecter Family Fund. Yale Rep’s WILL POWER! programs are sponsored by Connecticut Humanities; Ms. Esme Usdan; Allegra Print and Imaging; The Anna Fitch Ardenghi Trust, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee; The Frederick A. DeLuca Foundation; The George A. & Grace L. Long Foundation, Bank of America, N.A. and Alan S. Parker, Esq., Co-­‐Trustees; NewAlliance Foundation; and Target. Yale Repertory Theatre is supported in part by the Connecticut Office of the Arts, Department of Economic Development. ABOUT THE CAST DAVID WILSON BARNES (BEN) is making his Yale Rep debut. His New York credits include The Lieutenant of Inishmore on Broadway and the Off-­‐Broadway productions of Don't Go Gentle (MCC Theatre, Lucille Lortel nomination); The Big Meal (Playwrights Horizons, Lucille Lortel nomination); All New People and Becky Shaw (Drama Desk nomination) at Second Stage Theatre; Lady (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater); Vengeance (stageFARM); The Square (Ma Yi Theatre Company/The Public Theater); Hamlet (The Public Theater); Jail Bait (Cherry Lane Theatre); and The Caucasian Chalk Circle (La MaMa E.T.C.). London: Becky Shaw (Almeida, Evening Standard nomination). Regional: productions at Huntington Theatre Company, American Repertory Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Geva Theatre Center, City Theatre, and Long Wharf. Film and television credits: True Story, Lily & Kat, The Bourne Legacy, You Don’t Know Jack, Love and Other Drugs, Company Men, Taking Woodstock, Seducing Charlie Barker, Capote, The Knick, Halt & Catch Fire, Elementary, Blue Bloods, The Big C, Louie, A Gifted Man, 30 Rock, The Eastmans (pilot), Sex and the City, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: SVU, and Conviction. This one is for Dad and Grandma Jackie. Wish you were here. JAMES BARRY (PEDRO) is proud to make his Yale Rep debut. Still part of the 1st national tour of Million Dollar Quartet, he will trade in the drumsticks for Carl Perkins's Les Paul guitar later this spring. James performed in all three iterations of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson in New York (both Public Theater productions and on Broadway). His other credits include the world premiere of Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik's Arms On Fire, Wittenberg (Chester Theatre Company); Next to Normal (Arden Theatre Company); Man Of La Mancha starring Terrence Mann (Connecticut Repertory Theatre); Sive (Irish Repertory Theatre); and numerous productions with The Berkshire Theatre Group, where his favorites include The Caretaker, A Thousand Clowns, and The Who's Tommy. James is a Connecticut native and received his BFA in acting from UConn. JABARI BRISPORT (MR. CAKE, ENSEMBLE) is making his Yale Rep debut. He is a third-­‐year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where he has been seen in The Visit, Romeo and Juliet, Vieux Carré, and Fox Play. His other credits include Archbishop Supreme Tartuffe (Classical Theatre of Harlem), Macbeth (New York Classical Theatre), Political Subversities (The PIT), and Funnyhouse of a Negro (Yale Cabaret). Jabari holds a BFA with honors from New York University and is also the face and voice of in-­‐room movie rental services for many national hotel chains. STEPHEN DeROSA (LEO MESSINA) was last seen at Yale Rep playing Feste in Twelfth Night while in his third year at Yale School of Drama. Most recently he performed on Broadway in Betrayal directed by Mike Nichols. Just prior, he understudied and went on for Nathan Lane in The Nance directed by Jack O'Brien. Other Broadway credits include Hairspray, Henry IV, Twentieth Century, The Man Who Came to Dinner (recorded live for PBS), and as the Baker in the revival of Into the Woods. Off-­‐Broadway he appeared in The Mystery of Irma Vep; Do Re Mi (Encores!); and Romeo and Juliet directed by James Bundy and the world premiere of Love's Fire, an evening of Shakespeare-­‐inspired one acts written by John Guare, Wendy Wasserstein, William Finn, and Tony Kushner (both for The Acting Company). Numerous regional credits include the George Street Playhouse, McCarter Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, and five seasons with the Berkshire Theater Group. He currently plays Eddie Cantor on HBO's Boardwalk Empire. BRYAN FENKART (CLAUDE) is making his Yale Rep debut. Bryan recently starred in both the Broadway production and 1st national tour of the 2010 Tony Award winning Best Musical, Memphis, and the the new musical comedy, Nobody Loves You, at Second Stage Theatre. He has been seen on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, as well as the indie films You Tell Me and Red Hook. Bryan is also an accomplished singer/songwriter, and his albums Simple & Grey and Imperfect Man are both available on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, and more. And he has his own Pandora station: Bryan Fenkart Radio. Follow him on Facebook at facebook.com/BryanFenkart, on Twitter @Steinway7, or bryanfenkart.com. CECI FERNANDEZ (FRIDA, ENSEMBLE) is making her Yale Rep debut. She is a third-­‐year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where her credits include This Fucking Commedia Project, The Visit, Sagittarius Ponderosa, Twelfth Night or What You Will, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Iphigenia Among the Stars, and Petty Harbour. Other credits include Tartuffe, Miss Julie, The Shoemaker’s Prodigious Wife, Heart’s Desire (Yale Summer Cabaret); Have I None, Ermyntrude & Esmeralda, The Fatal Eggs, Chamber Music, reWilding (Yale Cabaret); As You Like It (D.I.Y. Shakespeare); Mr. Marmalade, Mister Beast, Everything Will Be Different: A Brief History of Helen of Troy (Mad Cat Theatre Company); three seasons of Summer Shorts (City Theatre); Betrayed (GableStage); Vanity Fair and Romeo and Juliet (Bristol Old Vic Theatre Royal). Film and television credits include Tori in Squad 85 and Nancy II in The Way to a Woman’s Heart. CHRISTOPHER GEARY (BOUNCER, ENSEMBLE) is making his Yale Rep debut. He is a second-­‐year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where he was seen in Peter Pan, The Visit, and Sagittarius Ponderosa. His other credits include The Small Things, We Know Edie La Minx Had a Gun (Yale Cabaret); The Cat and the Canary (Berkshire Theatre Group); Losing Tom Pecinka (HERE Arts); and Elephant in the Room (New York International Fringe Festival). Christopher received his BA in theatre performance from Fordham College at Lincoln Center where he performed in Hamlet, Kate Crackernuts, Tales of the Lost Formicans, Mrs. Packard, and Pericles, among others. Christopher is a graduate of the Walnut Hill School for the Arts and has also studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. BRAD HEBERLEE (MR. URGES, ENSEMBLE) most recently appeared at Actors Theatre of Louisville in Noises Off. His other credits include This Beautiful City (Vineyard Theatre, Center Theatre Group, The Studio Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Civilians); Figaro, The Bald Soprano (The Pearl Theatre Company); The Thugs (Soho Rep); Dada Woof Papa Hot (Atlantic Theater Company); (I am) Nobody’s Lunch (59E59/The Civilians); The Sweetest Swing in Baseball (Denver Center Theatre Company); 36 Views (Huntington Theatre Company); Hay Fever (Center Stage); In the Next Room, or the vibrator play and The Pitmen Painters (Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre); Frost/Nixon (Arkansas Rep); I Am My Own Wife (Weston Playhouse); A Thousand Clowns (Two River Theatre Company); Amadeus (Syracuse Stage, Virginia Stage, Geva Theatre Center); Man Is Man directed by Jackson Gay (Prospect Theater Company); and Serious Money (Yale Rep). Film and television credits include Why Now?!, Person of Interest, and Unforgettable. Mr. Heberlee is a proud graduate of Yale School of Drama. ANTHONY MANNA (MR. COAL, ENSEMBLE) is making his fourth appearance at Yale Rep. He was previously seen in Black Snow directed by Evan Yionoulis, The Taming of the Shrew directed by Mark Lamos, and You Never Can Tell, directed by Stan Wojewodski, Jr. In New York, after appearing in a revival of John Patrick’s The Hasty Heart at the Keen Company, he went on to appear in classics like Timon of Athens at The Public Theater, Othello at New York Shakespeare Exchange, and Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare NYC. New works include Mangella with Project: Theatre, Fucking Ibsen Takes Time at the New York International Fringe Festival, Girls Just Wanna Have Fund$ with the Women’s Project, and Mickey Mouse Is Dead, which had its New York premiere at 59E59 Theatre before moving to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Mr. Manna is a graduate of Yale School of Drama, Class of 2004. BRIAN McMANAMON (COLIN RAWLINS, ENSEMBLE) is making his Yale Rep debut. His New York credits include the recent world premieres of The Clearing by Jake Jeppson (Theatre at St. Clements), Bodega Bay (Abingdon Theatre Company), The Boat in the Tiger Suit (The Brick Theater), and Chisa Hutchinson’s Alondra Was Here (Wild Project); It Or Her (PS122; New York Innovative Theatre Award nomination, Outstanding Solo Performance); as well as productions at terraNOVA, Target Margin, Youngblood, Ensemble Studio Theatre, the Lark, Provincetown Playhouse, Irish Repertory Theatre, among others. Regional credits include American Buffalo and Skylight (IRNE Award nomination) at the New Repertory Theater, the title role in Hamlet at Burning Coal Theatre Company, and productions at Axial Theater, Provincetown Theater, Capital Repertory Theatre, and Boston Playwright’s Theatre. International credits include the Fringe First Award winning world premiere of The Jammer (Edinburgh Festival Fringe) and Misalliance (TBTB; Croatia). Film and television: I Am a Big Ball of Sadness…, Annie and Brie, Project Beth, and Gossip Girl. Upcoming: Imagining the Imaginary Invalid at Mabou Mines. BFA: Boston University, MFA: Yale School of Drama. ANDREW MUSSELMAN (BORIS, ENSEMBLE) is making his Yale Rep debut. He has toured the one-­‐man show Catalpa to Ireland, Belgium, Atlantic Canada, and Toronto, where he was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award. His other theatre credits include two seasons at Festival Antigonish in Nova Scotia, where he played Jean in Miss Julie, Jake in Stones in His Pockets (Robert Merritt Award nomination), and the Actor in Automatic Pilot; an Irish tour of Romeo and Juliet, in which he played Romeo; and Charlie in Stones in His Pockets at The Globe Theatre (sadly, it was The Globe Theatre in Regina, Saskatchewan, not The Globe Theatre in London, England). His television credits include Hemlock Grove (Netflix), Copper (BBC America), La Femme Musketeer (Hallmark Channel), The Listener (CTV), Being Erica (CBC), Murdoch Mysteries (CityTV), and Flashpoint (CTV/CBS). Andrew recently wrote and produced the BravoFACT short film Everything Must Go. KEIRA NAUGHTON (ULCIE, ENSEMBLE) last appeared at Yale Rep in Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance. She has appeared on Broadway in The Rivals (Lincoln Center Theater), Dance of Death, and Three Sisters. Her Off-­‐Broadway credits include The Jammer, Hunting and Gathering, Indoor/Outdoor, All My Sons, Lucy, The American Clock, Tesla’s Letters, Roses in December, and Hotel Universe, among others. Regional theatre credits include The Dining Room (Westport Country Playhouse); Becky Shaw (Huntington Theatre); Proof (Arena Stage, Helen Hayes Award nomination); Company (Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration); Faith Healer, Macbeth, The Book Club Play (Berkshire Theatre Festival); Uncle Vanya, Wonder of the World (Barrington Stage); as well as productions at Shakespeare & Company, Cleveland Playhouse, and Williamstown Theatre Festival. Her film and television appearances include Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, Cradle Will Rock, The Leftovers (HBO), Body of Proof, 3 Lbs., Law & Order: SVU, Sex and the City, and All My Children. She is a singer/songwriter in the band The Petersons. She also teaches yoga and acting and received her MFA from Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. ADAM O’BYRNE (DON BEST, ENSEMBLE) is happy to return to Yale Rep, where his previous credits include A Streetcar Named Desire, The Winter’s Tale, Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella, You Never Can Tell, Iphigenia at Aulis, and The Black Monk. A native of Toronto, Adam began his professional career at the Stratford Festival of Canada where he appeared in London Assurance, Henry IV, The Brothers Karamazov, Orpheus Descending, Measure for Measure, and The Winter’s Tale. Regionally, he has appeared in the world premiere of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Center Theatre Group); The Homecoming, Arcadia (American Conservatory Theater); Love’s Labour’s Lost, Othello (Shakespeare Santa Cruz); and Antony and Cleopatra (Hudson Valley). His television and film credits include Vegas, The United States of Tara, NCIS, Cold Case, Yeti, the webseries Awkward Sunrise, the BravoFACT short Everything Must Go, and the acclaimed indie western Dead Man’s Burden. Adam is a graduate of Yale College and Yale School of Drama, where he was a part of the original cast of The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow by Rolin Jones. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter. LUCAS PAPAELIAS (BALTH) is making his Yale Rep debut. He appeared on Broadway as an original cast member of the Tony Award winning musical, Once, and in Cyrano de Bergerac with Kevin Kline, for which he also composed original music. Off-­‐Broadway credits include Once (New York Theatre Workshop); Jack's Precious Moment (Page 73); Father Comes Home, Romeo and Juliet (The Public Theater); US Drag (stageFarm); Essential Self-­‐Defense (Playwrights Horizons; Drama Desk nomination, Best Original Music in a Play); Smashing (The Play Company); and Cellini (Second Stage Theatre). Regional credits include productions at American Repertory Theater, The Vineyard Playhouse, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Geva Theatre Center, and Huntington Theatre Company. Film and television credits include School of Rock, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, How To Make It in America, Blue Bloods, What Alice Found, Brother to Brother, WTC View, four Law & Orders, and The Knick, upcoming on HBO. lpfunkrocks.com JAMES LLOYD REYNOLDS (ANTON) is making his Yale Rep debut. His New York credits include the premiere of Christopher Shinn’s On the Mountain at Playwrights Horizons, Mickey Mouse Is Dead by Justin Sherin at 59E59, and the world premiere of Beautiful Province by Clarence Coo. Regional credits include To Kill a Mockingbird (Weston Playhouse); Mame, 42nd Street (Goodspeed Musicals); The Miracle Worker (Syracuse Stage); No Wake, A Man For All Seasons, Love! Valour! Compassion! (Berkshire Theatre Festival); Dirty Business (Florida Stage); The Overwhelming (Hangar Theatre); The Misanthrope (New Repertory Theatre); The Muckle Man (Pittsburgh City Theatre Company); and Antony and Cleopatra (Hudson Valley Shakespeare). Film and television credits include The Good Shepherd, Deception, The Good Wife, Person of Interest, White Collar, In Treatment, Law & Order, and Law & Order: SVU. He is a graduate of Yale School of Drama and recipient of the 2004 Oliver Thorndike Acting Award. JEANINE SERRALLES (BEATRICE) Previous appearances at Yale Rep include The King Stag. Her New York credits include The Jammer (Atlantic Theater Company); Paris Commune (Brooklyn Academy of Music); The Maids (Red Bull Theater); Maple and Vine (Playwrights Horizons); Stunning (LCT3 at Lincoln Center Theater); The Glass Cage (Mint Theater); The Misanthrope (New York Theatre Workshop, Drama League nomination); The Black Eyed (New York Theatre Workshop, Drama League nomination); Hold Please (Working Theater; Drama Desk nomination, Featured Actress); Phoebe in Winter and Vendetta Chrome (both at Clubbed Thumb). Selected regional credits include Tartuffe (Westport Country Playhouse; Connecticut Critics Circle Award, Featured Actress); The Liar, The House of the Spirits, Dusty and the Big Bad World, 1001 (Denver Center Theatre Company); Maple and Vine (Actors Theatre of Louisville); Aunt Dan and Lemon (Merrimack Repertory Theatre); Fallen Angels (Dorset Theatre Festival); and Lucy and the Conquest (Williamstown Theatre Festival). Film and television credits include Inside Llewyn Davis, The Abolitionists, Two Lovers, Across the Universe, Sex and the City, Person of Interest, and The Good Wife. She is a graduate of Yale School of Drama. GREG STUHR (MR. BERRY) previously appeared at Yale Rep in Tom Stoppard’s Rough Crossing. His Broadway credits include The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee directed by James Lapine, David Mamet’s November opposite Nathan Lane and directed by Joe Mantello, and Elaine May’s Taller Than a Dwarf directed by Alan Arkin. Off-­‐Broadway work includes Offices and The Redeemers, both by Ethan Coen and directed by Neil Pepe; Keith Reddin’s Frame 312; Mamet’s Romance; and Rolin Jones’s The Jammer directed by Jackson Gay, all at Atlantic Theater Company. On television Greg’s had recurring roles on New Amsterdam, AMC’s Rubicon, and Comedy Central’s Onion SportsDome. His screenplays with collaborator Jenna Ricker were selected for the IFP Emerging Narrative and recognized by the Academy’s Nicholl Fellowship. Their film, The American Side, starring Camilla Belle, Robert Forster, and Matthew Broderick recently wrapped in Greg’s hometown of Buffalo, New York, and is currently in post-­‐production. He should be a big movie star soon. ARIANA VENTURI (HIGGY) previously appeared at Yale Rep in last season’s In a Year with 13 Moons. She is a second-­‐year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where her credits include Hedda Gabler and Platonov. Regional: Michael Von Siebenburg Melts Through the Floorboards (Actors Theatre Louisville, directed by Kip Fagan), The Cat and the Canary (Berkshire Theatre Festival), and Sousepaw (US Fringe Tour). New York: Alex Timbers’s Dance Dance Revolution, Vendetta Chrome (Clubbed Thumb); Recess, Classic Kitchen Timer (The Flea Theater); and the sketch comedy series Ephemerama. Ari has a certificate in Shakespeare from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and a BA in English from Vassar College. LIZ WISAN (PAULINA NOBLE, ENSEMBLE) previously appeared in Yale Rep’s productions of The Servant of Two Masters (2010) and A Woman of No Importance (2008). Her New York credits include Other Desert Cities (Lincoln Center Theater and Broadway); Bill W. & Dr. Bob (Soho Playhouse); Billy Witch (Astoria Performing Arts Center); Miss Lily Gets Boned, My Base and Scurvy Heart, and The Sporting Life (Studio 42, Resident Artist). Regional credits include The Servant of Two Masters (Shakespeare Theatre Company, Guthrie Theater, ArtsEmerson, Seattle Rep); The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare Theatre Company); Hannah (Premiere Stages); The Winter’s Tale (Chautauqua Theater Company); Anything Goes, Twelfth Night, and Cloud Tectonics (Williamstown Theatre Festival). Television and film credits include Elementary, Ready or Knot, and Bitches (short). Liz also performs long-­‐form and musical improv in NYC, and writes and performs stand-­‐up and sketch comedy. MFA, Yale School of Drama. ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM ROLIN JONES (ADAPTOR) Rolin Jones's play The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow received the 2006 OBIE Award for Excellence in Playwriting. Jenny Chow was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama and was produced at the Atlantic Theater Company (NYC), South Coast Repertory, Old Globe Theatre, Yale Rep, Studio Theatre (D.C.), Portland Center Stage, San Jose Repertory, and Collaboraction (Chicago), among others. His play The Jammer was produced Off-­‐Broadway last season at the Atlantic Theater Company. He has written several short plays for the Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival, including Sovereignty, Ron Robby Had Too Big a Heart, The Mercury and the Magic, Extremely, and Chronicles Simpkins Will Cut Your Ass. He has written for the television shows Weeds, Friday Night Lights, and Boardwalk Empire. His Friday Night Lights episode, “The Son,” received an Emmy Award Nomination for Outstanding Dramatic Writing and was named by Time magazine as the best episode of television for the year 2010. He is currently the Co-­‐Creator/Executive Producer of Knifeman, a serialized drama for the AMC television network and is writing the film adaptation of American Idiot for Universal Pictures. He resides in Los Angeles, California, apparently houses away from Major League Baseball’s immortal Fernando Valenzuela. As of January 2014, he has yet to run into Fernando. Hope reigns. BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG (SONGWRITER), frontman of the rock band Green Day, came of age in the underground punk scene in Berkeley. Green Day’s albums include 1039/Smooth Out Slappy Hours; Kerplunk; 1994’s Dookie, which sold 15 million copies and garnered their first Grammy (and inspired a raft of imitators); Insomniac; Nimrod; Warning; 2004’s landmark American Idiot, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard chart, spawned five hit singles, and won two Grammys, including Best Rock Album; 21st Century Breakdown (Grammy Award, Best Rock Album); and 2012’s consecutively released ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, and ¡Tré! (as well as the behind the scenes DVD, ¡Cuatro!). Last year, Armstrong and Norah Jones released Foreverly, a tribute to the Everly Brothers’ 1958 album, Songs Our Daddy Taught Us. The Tony and Grammy winning musical American Idiot, featuring lyrics by Armstrong, music by Green Day, and a book written by Armstrong and director Michael Mayer, debuted at Berkeley Rep in 2009 and opened on Broadway the next year. Throughout its run, he made cameo appearances in the role of St. Jimmy. The recent documentary, Broadway Idiot, chronicles his road to the Great White Way. His other film and TV credits include This is 40, Nurse Jackie, and the upcoming feature film, Like Sunday, Like Rain. greenday.com JACKSON GAY (DIRECTOR) Recent projects include 3C by David Adjmi (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater); Arlington by Victor Lodato with music by Polly Pen (San Francisco’s Magic Theatre); Lucy Thurber’s Where We’re Born (Rattlestick) and Scarcity (Atlantic Theatre Company); Rolin Jones’s The Jammer (Atlantic) and The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow (Atlantic; Yale Rep, Connecticut Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Production of a Play); Allison Moore's Collapse (Women's Project Theater); Bess Wohl's Barcelona (People's Light & Theatre); Fallow by Ken Lin (People's Light, Ojai Playwrights Conference); As You Like It (Chautauqua Theater Company); A Little Journey (Mint Theater Company; Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Revival of a Play); Other Desert Cities by Jon Robin Baitz, August: Osage County, Red, Ken Lin's Intelligence-­‐
Slave (Alley Theatre); and Len, Asleep in Vinyl by Carly Mensch (Second Stage/Juilliard). Jackson teaches directing at Columbia University and is on faculty at Primary Stages Einhorn School of Performing Arts. She is the recipient of the Jonathan Alper Directing Fellowship at Manhattan Theatre Club, the Williamstown Theatre Festival Directing Fellowship, the Drama League's New Directors/New Works Fellowship, and University of the Arts Silver Star Distinguished Alumni Award. Originally from Sugar Land, Texas, Jackson received her BFA in acting from the University of the Arts and MFA in directing from Yale School of Drama. MONICA BILL BARNES (CHOREOGRAPHER) is the Artistic Director of Monica Bill Barnes & Company, a New York City based contemporary dance company which has performed in more than fifty cities throughout the United States and in New York City venues ranging from Upright Citizen’s Brigade to Lincoln Center. Barnes has been an invited guest artist at many universities and has choreographed for various theatre productions, including her personal favorite, The Jammer. In 2012 Barnes began working with radio host Ira Glass, creating a solo for David Rakoff as a part of This American Life Live! They continued their collaboration, along with her longtime dance partner, Anna Bass, to create a new show that blends dance and radio, Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host, which they currently are touring across the country. JULIE McBRIDE (MUSIC DIRECTOR) holds degrees from the Cincinnati College-­‐Conservatory of Music and the Mannes College of Music. She has played with and/or conducted the Broadway orchestras of American Idiot, In the Heights, The Addams Family, Big Fish, and The Lion King, among others. Other New York credits include Next to Normal (Second Stage), CHIX 6, Inner Voices: Solo Musicals, The Happy Elf, Judas and Me, and Pride and Prejudice. Regional credits include Daddy Long Legs (Northlight Theatre, La Mirada Theatre, Laguna Playhouse, Arizona Theatre Company, Skylight Theatre, PCPA Theaterfest, St. Louis Rep, Royal Manitoba), Emma (Arizona Theatre Company), Suprema (OʼNeill Music Theatre Conference, Ars Nova), and LMNOP (Goodspeed Musicals). She has served on the faculties of Syracuse Universityʼs Tepper Program and The Juilliard School (Drama Division). MICHAEL YEARGAN (SCENIC DESIGNER) Among Michael Yeargan’s designs for Yale Rep are The Winter’s Tale, Hay Fever, Pentecost, Edward II, A Lesson from Aloes, The Ladies of the Camellias, and the world premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s The Frogs, which was staged in the Yale swimming pool. He has designed extensively for resident theatres across the country, including Long Wharf and Hartford Stage. A two time Tony Award winner, his Broadway credits include this season’s The Bridges of Madison Country, as well as The Light in the Piazza, South Pacific, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, and Awake and Sing. In London’s West End, he designed Becket with Derek Jacoby, Cyrano de Bergerac with Robert Lindsey, and the musical Napoleon. Internationally known for his work in opera, he has designed many productions for the Met and New York City Opera. Mr. Yeargan is the Co-­‐Chair of the Design Department at Yale School of Drama. JESSICA FORD (COSTUME DESIGNER) Recent productions with Jackson Gay and Rolin Jones include The Jammer at Atlantic Theater Company. Also with Jackson, Jessica designed Other Desert Cities and Red at Houston’s Alley Theatre; premieres of Kenneth Lin's Fallow and Bess Wohl’s Barcelona, among others, at The People's Light and Theatre; as well as productions at Center Stage, Two River Theater Company, The Play Company, and Second Stage Theatre. She works frequently at Long Wharf Theatre, where she has designed costumes for the world premiere of Athol Fugard's Coming Home, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Fantasticks, A Doll’s House, The Price, and sets for The Santaland Diaries. Other regional credits include productions at South Coast Rep, Arena Stage, Dallas Theater Center, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and Portland Center Stage, among others. In New York, she has also worked with Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Ars Nova, Page 73, and The Public Theater. Jessica was a recipient of the 2007–09 NEA/TCG fellowship for directors and designers and is currently the Visiting Artist in Residence at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. PAUL WHITAKER (LIGHTING DESIGNER) Previous Yale Rep credits include The Master Builder, Serious Money, and It Pays to Advertise. New York credits include productions at The Public Theater, MCC Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Second Stage, Atlantic Theater Company, The Play Company, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Ma-­‐Yi Theater Company, LAByrinth Theater Company, INTAR Theatre, Mint Theater Company, and others. Regional credits include the Guthrie Theater, South Coast Repertory, Long Wharf Theatre, Alley Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, Children’s Theatre Company, Center Stage, American Conservatory Theater, Hartford Stage, Dallas Theater Center, George Street Playhouse, Two River Theater Company, and others. He has a BA from Macalester College and an MFA from Yale School of Drama. Paul has taught at Cal Poly Pomona and Amherst College, and is currently a lighting designer/theatre consultant for Schuler Shook. www.paulwhitakerdesigns.com BROKEN CHORD (SOUND DESIGNER) composes, designs sound, and music directs for theatre. The sound design for These Paper Bullets! is created by Daniel Baker, Aaron Meicht, and Phillip Peglow. Credits in New York include productions at Atlantic Theater Company, Cherry Lane Theatre, Juilliard, Keen Company, La MaMa E.T.C., Primary Stages, Manhattan Theatre Club, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Second Stage Theatre, Signature Theater, The New Group, and Women’s Project. Regional credits include productions at the Alley Theatre, Arena Stage, Baltimore Center Stage, Berkeley Rep, Dallas Theater Center, Geva Theatre Center, Hartford Stage, La Jolla, Long Wharf Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Theatre Company (Washington, D.C.), Weston Playhouse, Westport Country Playhouse, Portland Center Stage, and Passage Theatre Company. brokenchordcollective.com NICHOLAS HUSSONG (PROJECTION DESIGNER) is a third-­‐year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where he designed the projections for Sunday in the Park with George and Julius Caesar. He also served as Associate Artistic Director of Yale Cabaret’s 45th anniversary season. Before arriving at Yale, Nicholas served as artistic associate of design at Triad Stage, where his credits include The Illusion, The Glass Menagerie, Providence Gap, and The America Play. nickhussong.com TOM KITT (ORCHESTRATOR/ARRANGER) received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama as well as two Tony Awards for Best Score and Best Orchestrations for Next to Normal. In addition, his work on Next to Normal received the Frederick Loewe Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best New Score. This spring, he will be represented on Broadway with If/Then, a new musical starring Idina Menzel. Tom was responsible for the music supervision, arrangements, and orchestrations for Green Day's American Idiot on Broadway, and he provided additional arrangements for their studio albums 21st Century Breakdown and ¡Uno! ¡Dos! ¡Tré!. As a composer, credits include the Broadway shows High Fidelity and Bring It On: The Musical as well as The Winter's Tale and All's Well That Ends Well for the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park. Tom has composed songs for Sesame Street and he co-­‐wrote “Bigger” with Lin-­‐Manuel Miranda, which opened the 2013 Tony Awards. As an arranger, conductor, and musical director, other credits include Pitch Perfect, Everyday Rapture, 13, Laugh Whore, and Debbie Does Dallas. STEPHEN GABIS (DIALECT COACH) Six previous Yale Rep productions include Stones in His Pockets, A Woman of No Importance, Safe in Hell, The People Next Door, The Clean House, The Ladies of the Camellias, and The Way of the World. His Broadway and Off-­‐Broadway credits include Outside Mullingar; The Winslow Boy; Transport; Loot; Juno and the Paycock; Once; The Book of Mormon; Tribes; Man and Boy; The 39 Steps; Lombardi; Lend Me a Tenor; A View from the Bridge; Tribes; Becoming Dr. Ruth; Look Back in Anger; The Weir; The Freedom of the City; Memphis; Jersey Boys; A Day in the Death of Joe Egg; Bluebird; Through a Glass Darkly; The Shaggs; Kin; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark; The Lieutenant of Inishmore; Brighton Beach Memoirs; When the Rain Stops Falling; The Emperor Jones; Doubt; Frozen; Port Authority; Dublin Carol; and Stuff Happens. Selected film and TV credits include Boardwalk Empire, Prime Suspect, Million Dollar Baby, Bernard and Doris, Salt, Across the Universe, Mildred Pierce, The Notorious Bettie Page, and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. CATHERINE S HEEHY (PRODUCTION DRAMATURG) is Resident Dramaturg at Yale Repertory Theatre and the Chair of Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism at Yale School of Drama. Her Yale Rep credits include In a Year with 13 Moons, The Winter’s Tale, Bossa Nova, POP!, Trouble in Mind, and The King Stag (which she also co-­‐adapted with Evan and Mike Yionoulis). Her adaptation of Pride and Prejudice has been produced at Asolo Repertory Theatre and Dallas Theater Center. She has worked at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Public Theater, the Signature Theater, O’Neill Playwrights Conference, Center Stage, and in New York and Ireland with the late Joseph Chaikin. For four seasons she was Festival Dramaturg at Shakespeare Santa Cruz. She is a former associate editor of American Theatre and a former editor of Theater magazine. She received her doctorate from Yale in 1999 for her dissertation: If You Care to Blast for It: Excavating the Lost Comic Masterpieces of the American Canon. ILYA KHODOSH (PRODUCTION D RAMATURG) is a third-­‐year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where his translation of Chekhov's Platonov was presented earlier this season. He also translated and co-­‐adapted Bulgakov's The Fatal Eggs for Yale Cabaret. Dramaturgy credits at the School of Drama include Charles Mee's Wintertime and The Really Big Fat Show. His writing has been published in the School of Drama’s annual magazine and The Berkshire Review for the Arts and he served as Associate Artistic Director of the United Solo Theatre Festival. He received a BA in theatre and English from Williams College, where he was awarded the Hutchinson Fellowship. ROBERT CHIKAR (STAGE MANAGER) is excited to be returning to Yale Rep, where he previously served as assistant stage manager for In a Year with 13 Moons. He is a third-­‐year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where his credits include Iphigenia Among the Stars, Julius Caesar, I'm Sorry I Brought Up God (stage manager); Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights and The Bachelors (assistant stage manager). He worked as the stage management intern for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s production of The Pirates of Penzance. Other credits include The K of D, The Secret in the Wings, Miss Julie, In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel (Yale Summer Cabaret); The Yiddish King Lear, All of What You Love and None of What You Hate, The Small Things, Dutchman, Bound To Burn (Yale Cabaret); King Lear and Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice (Southern Oregon University). He also served as the stage manager for the Windham-­‐Campbell Prize Reading Festival at Yale. Originally from Ventura, California, he holds a BFA in stage management from Southern Oregon University. Rob is a proud member of Actors’ Equity. ABOUT YALE REPERTORY THEATRE Yale Repertory Theatre has produced well over 100 premieres—including two Pulitzer Prize winners and four other nominated finalists—by emerging and established playwrights. Eleven Yale Rep productions have advanced to Broadway, garnering more than 40 Tony Award nominations and eight Tony Awards. Yale Rep is also the recipient of the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Professional assignments at Yale Repertory Theatre are integral components of the program at Yale School of Drama, the nation’s leading graduate theatre training conservatory. Established in 2008, Yale’s Binger Center for New Theatre is an artist-­‐driven initiative that devotes major resources to the commissioning, development, and production of new plays and musicals at Yale Repertory Theatre and across the country. To date, the Binger Center has supported the work of more than 40 commissioned artists as well as the world premieres and subsequent productions of 15 new American plays and musicals, including this season’s The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls by Meg Miroshnik; the Yale Rep-­‐commissioned These Papers Bullets!, adapted by Rolin Jones from William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, with songs by Billie Joe Armstrong; and Marcus Gardley’s The House that will not Stand. Other Binger Center-­‐supported productions include the world premiere of Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground, adapted by Bill Camp and Robert Woodruff, commissioned and produced by Yale Rep, and its subsequent west coast and NY premieres by La Jolla Playhouse and Theatre for a New Audience; the world premiere co-­‐production of Rinne Groff’s Compulsion at Yale Rep, Berkeley Rep, and The Public Theater; the world premiere of the Yale-­‐commissioned On the Levee by Marcus Gardley, Todd Almond, and Lear deBessonet at Lincoln Center Theater’s LCT3; the world premiere of Maggie-­‐Kate Coleman and Anna K. Jacobs’s musical POP! at Yale Rep, as well as its productions at City Theatre in Pittsburgh and Virginia’s Firehouse Theatre Project; the world premiere of Amy Herzog’s Belleville at Yale Rep and its subsequent New York Theatre Workshop production; the world premiere of The Realistic Joneses by Will Eno at Yale Rep; and the world premiere co-­‐production of David Adjmi’s Yale-­‐commissioned Marie Antoinette at the American Repertory Theater and Yale Rep and its NY premiere at Soho Rep. Belleville and The Realistic Joneses, both Yale Rep commissions, were cited among the Top Ten of 2011 and 2012, respectively, by the New York Times. Will Eno’s The Realistic Joneses will premiere on Broadway this spring. For more information about the Binger Center for New Theatre, please visit yalerep.org/center. ALSO THIS SEASON AT YALE REP World Premiere THE HOUSE THAT WILL NOT STAND By Marcus Gardley Directed by Patricia McGregor April 18–May 10, 2014 # # # # www.yalerep.org