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2. theatre

The Pear Avenue Theatre proudly presents
Betrayal
by
Harold Pinter
Director
Ray Renati
Producer
Diane Tasca
Stage Manager
Marissa Stough
Scenic Design
Janny Coté
Lighting Design
Ed Hunter
Costume Design
Diane Tasca
Sound Design
Caroline Clark
Permission by Dramatist’s Play Service, Inc.
This program is available online at www.thepear.org
The Ensemble (in order of appearance)
William J. Brown III .............Jerry
Maryssa Wanlass* .................Emma
Andre Abrahamians .............Waiter
Bill Olson* .............................Robert
*Member, Actors’ Equity Association
Scene 1:
Scene 2:
Scene 3:
Scene 4:
Spring, 1977; a restaurant in London
A few hours later: Jerry’s home
Winter, 1975; Emma & Jerry’s flat
Autumn, 1974; Robert & Emma’s home
Intermission (10 minutes)
Scene 5:
Scene 6:
Scene 7:
Scene 8:
Scene 9:
Summer, 1973; a hotel in Venice
A few weeks later; Emma & Jerry’s flat
A few days later; a restaurant in London
Spring, 1971; Emma & Jerry’s flat
Winter, 1968; Robert & Emma’s home
The Production Team
Director....................................Ray Renati
Producer ..................................Diane Tasca
Stage Manager .........................Marissa Stough
Production Manager ..............Patricia Tyler
Scenic Design ..........................Janny Coté
Lighting Design ......................Edward Hunter
Sound Design ..........................Caroline Clark
Costume Design .....................Diane Tasca
Set Construction .....................Norm Beamer
Set Painting..............................Janny Coté & Paulino Deleal
Stagehand.................................Mia Convery
Publicity Directors..................Jeanie Smith & Shannon Stowe
Postcard Design ......................Patricia Tyler
Program Consultant ...............Susan Petit
Website Design .......................Ray Renati
About the Playwright and the Play
Harold Pinter (1930-2008), who was awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize in
Literature, was not only a prolific playwright but an actor, director,
scenarist, essayist, poet, and human rights activist. His popularity seems,
if anything, to have increased since his death. Recent Bay Area
productions of his plays include No Man’s Land at Berkeley Rep in 2013
starring Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart, The Caretaker at the Curran in
2012 with Jonathan Pryce, and The Homecoming at ACT in 2011, while
Redwood City’s Dragon mounted The Birthday Party last summer and
hosted Only Connect’s production of Betrayal in 2012. Stanford Summer
Theater, which staged four of Pinter’s short plays in 2005, included Old
Times in its 2011 season, and in recent years I have seen Moonlight and The
Hothouse in Pinter’s native London. His work is also available on video.
He wrote the screenplays for many films, including The Quiller
Memorandum, The Servant, The Go-Between, and The French Lieutenant’s
Woman, and he acted in films including Mansfield Park and The Tailor of
Panama.
Betrayal (1978) is one of Pinter’s most realistic plays. It was
inspired by his seven-year affair, from 1962 to1969, with British
television journalist Joan Bakewell (now Baroness Bakewell), who was
then the wife of Michael Bakewell, a friend of Pinter’s and an early
champion of his work. Pinter was married to the actress Vivian Merchant
at the time. However, he did not write Betrayal until the start of his affair
with the biographer and novelist Lady Antonia Fraser, who would
become his second wife. Pinter also wrote the screenplay for the film
version of Betrayal, starring Jeremy Irons, Patricia Hodge, and Ben
Kingsley, which was filmed partly in the house used by the real lovers, as
if to underscore the story’s truth to life. Yet truth is a slippery concept in
Betrayal, for the characters forget or rewrite the past and lie to each other,
often by omission and indirection, and perhaps they lie to themselves as
well.
The play shows many sorts of betrayals: not only in marriage but
of friendship, family, business responsibilities, ideals, and even, perhaps,
self. Robert tells Emma that there is “not much more to say on [the]
subject” of betrayal, but clearly there is a lot to show about it. We might
ask which relationship is central: Jerry and Emma’s affair? Robert and
Emma’s marriage? Or the friendship between Jerry and Robert? The men
once had a strong bond and shared interests, including poetry. What does
playing squash with each other, or not doing so, mean to them? Even
off-stage characters reinforce the theme of betrayal, for the novelist
Casey owes his success to both Robert, who is his publisher, and Jerry,
who is his agent. Jerry’s wife, Judith, is a busy physician who seldom
seems to be home. As the years fall away from the three principals to
reveal their earlier selves, we can see what they have lost and decide
whether they have gained anything in growing older. The polished
manners of these English intellectuals mask but cannot hide their desires,
fears, compromises, and disillusionments.
—Susan Petit
Who’s Who in This Production
Acknowledgments
William J. Brown III (Jerry) is the Founding Artistic Director
of the Arabian Shakespeare Festival
(www.arabianshakespearefestival.org). He is pleased to return
to the Pear, having appeared in Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Bach at
Leipzig, The Way of the World, and Northanger Abbey. He has
performed from California to the United Arab Emirates. Having taught
theatre to students ages 6 to 22, he is a Resident Teaching Artist with the
SF Shakespeare Festival and runs the drama program for St. Lawrence
Elementary and Middle School in Santa Clara. He earned his B.A. in
theatre, dance and history from Santa Clara University and his M.A. from
San Jose State, and he has studied at the American Shakespeare Center
and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.
We would like to thank Palo Alto Players for their assistance with this
production.
Andre Abrahamians (The Waiter) has spent the last two years
in the San Francisco theatre scene, working with emerging
playwrights on new works with Bay Area Playwrights Festival,
Golden Thread Theatre, and the Des Vois Festival, directed by
Rob Melrose(Public Theatre/Cutting Ball.) He is also a
Producer/Playwright/Actor and company member for ShotzSF at
PianoFight. He is very excited to be a part of the very talented cast and
production team of the Pear’s Betrayal.
Bill Olson* (Robert) has performed with companies
throughout the Bay Area, including San Jose Stage, 42nd
Street Moon, and San Francisco Shakespeare Company.
Some of his favorite roles include Andrew in I Hate Hamlet,
Elyot in Private Lives, and Marco the Magnificent in Carnival.
He recently starred in the independent film I Am the Edge with Wild Dogs
Productions. Bill is the founder of the video production company Two
Plush Two (2plush2.com), and he is also a certified teacher of the
Alexander Technique (learnalexander.com). *Member, Actors’ Equity
Association
Maryssa Wanlass* (Emma) was last seen at the Pear in
Hanging Georgia. Other Bay Area credits include Persuasion
(San Jose Stage); Crime and Punishment (San Jose Rep) and
Macbeth (San Francisco Shakespeare Festival); Hamlet and
The Merry Wives of Windsor (Livermore Shakespeare Festival);
Something Cloudy Something Clear, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and All About
Eve (Theatre Rhinoceros); and Enchanted April and Witness for the
Prosecution (Center Rep). She is a Resident Artist at The San Francisco
Shakespeare Festival. She studied acting at Mills College and Moscow Art
Theatre’s Stanislavsky Summer School. www.maryssa-wanlass.com
*Member, Actors’ Equity Association
Caroline Clark (Sound Designer) is enjoying her second season at the Pear.
She directed the recent Kimberly Akimbo and acted in Super Villain!! She
has worn other hats as well, including stage manager and Steering
Committee member. She moved to the Bay Area two years ago from
Southern California, where her acting credits included Heidi in [title of
show], Holly in Next Fall, and Prudence in Beyond Therapy (The Empty
Space). Directing credits include Dustin Lance Black’s 8: The Play and The
Vagina Monologues.
Mia Convery (Stagehand) is a senior at Mountain View High School who
is very active with her school’s Theatre Department. She takes on many
different roles in each show and has been a stage manager, created
costumes and props, worked backstage or in the booth, and designed
other technical aspects of the production. Mia plans to go to a four-year
university and pursue a double major in technical theatre, along with
another academic concentration. She wants to be involved as a theatre
professional, with an emphasis on social action theatre.
Janny Coté (Scenic Designer) has designed and built sets all over the Bay
Area. Betrayal is her first set design for the Pear, although she helped to
paint the set for Tell It Slant here in 2009. Recently, she has been working
at Palo Alto Players, having designed the set for the current production
of Eurydice.
Edward Hunter (Lighting Designer) has been doing theatre in the South
Bay since he moved here in 1985. He has worked with Palo Alto Players,
TheatreWorks, Lyric Theater, Teatro Visión, Sunnyvale Players, Shady
Shakespeare, the Pear, and Sunnyvale Players. Some recent designs
include Big Fish, The Heiress, and Miss Saigon (PAP); The Real Thing and Fool
for Love (Pear); and Little Shop of Horrors, Pippin, and Little Princess (SCP).
When not in the theatre Ed is a director of software at Juniper
Networks.
Ray Renati (Director) Ray’s prior directorial credits at the Pear include
Fool for Love, The Real Thing, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Death of a Salesman,
True West, The Baltimore Waltz, Speed-the-Plow, Pick Up Ax, and Pear Slices.
Ray has studied directing with Jonathan Moscone at Berkeley Rep., and
he attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where he received his
certificate in Acting Shakespeare. He is also an actor and recently played
Henry Higgins in the Pear’s production of Pygmalion. Ray is a proud
member of Actors’ Equity. Thank you to Katie and the boys for all of
your love and support.
Marissa Stough (Stage Manager) is excited to be with the Pear for this
production. She is a new alumna of San Jose State’s Theatre Department
and has worked on Emma, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Grapes of Wrath (both
theatre and opera versions). She also has worked two seasons at
California’s Great America on shows such as Aerial Ice Extreme! and On
Broadway! Marissa was fortunate enough to do her Senior Internship at
San Jose Rep on their new, original production of The Snow Queen. She
looks forward to continuing as a Stage Manager for many more shows
around the Bay Area.
Developmental Reading at the Pear
As part of our mission to nurture and support local playwrights, the Pear
offers developmental readings of new full-length scripts for members of
the Pear Playwrights Guild. We are happy to announce that our third
developmental reading for the current season will be Susan Jackson’s
Taken, at 7 p.m. on Sunday, February 1.
Taken Synopsis: Taken begins with a newspaper article about an
evicted tenant who commits suicide while living in a San Francisco
apartment. The face is familiar—is he Corrie’s brother Ben? He had been
forced out of her family’s home years before because of his drug
addiction. Corrie’s daughter, Jessie, always felt a special bond with her
uncle, despite (or perhaps because of) his problems. Against everyone’s
better judgment, Corrie decides to face the landlady who evicted him.
Tickets: Reserve guaranteed seats in advance for $10 (call 650-254-1148
or email [email protected]). Tickets can also be purchased at the
door for $10.
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NEXT UP AT THE PEAR
HAVE WE GOT A DEAL FOR YOU!
Pear Slices 2015
at 1390 Pear Avenue, Mt. View 650-254-1120
…is offering a 10% discount on your meal for any
Pear Avenue Theatre patrons who say the secret
password: “Pinter!” You will also want to try their
special cocktail in honor of the show: “The Torcello.”
And, bring your Cucina Venti stub in for a free
concessions item when you see your next Pear show—
just drop it in the ice bucket as payment.
by
The Pear Playwrights Guild
March 13 – April 5
For your viewing pleasure, we present a freshly minted
assortment of new plays from the Pear Playwrights,
who surprise us each year with their varied and often
provocative works. These delightful plays
have become a great Pear tradition.