David Edgar, Playwright Tony Taccone, Director William Bloodgood, Scenic & Projection Designer Deborah M. Dryden, Costume Designer Alexander V. Nichols, Lighting & Projection Designer Jeremy J. Lee, Sound Designer Todd Barton, Composer, Mothers Against Lue Morgan Douthit, Dramaturg Douglas Langworthy, Dramaturg Luan Schooler, Dramaturg Randy White, Associate Director Amy Potozkin, Casting Director Michael Suenkel *, Stage Manager Kimberley Jean Barry *, Assistant Stage Manager CAST MOTHERS AGAINST (in order of appearance) Vilma Silva, Caryl Marquez (a pollster) Michael Elich, Don D’Avanzo (Sheldon’s campaign manager) Robynn Rodriguez, Connie Vine (Sheldon’s wife) Derrick Lee Weeden, Vincent Baptiste (a political analyst) Christine Williams, Deborah Vine (Connie and Sheldon’s daughter) Tony DeBruno, Mitchell Vine (Sheldon’s brother and campaign chair) Bill Geisslinger, Sheldon Vine (the Republican gubernatorial candidate) Susannah Schulman, Lorianne Weiner (a commentator) DAUGHTERS OF THE REVOLUTION (in order of appearance) Terry Layman, Michael Bern Michelle Duffy, Abby, Beth, Branflake Christine Williams, Ryan, Pat, Snowbird Jacob Ming-Trent, Jools, J.C., Rainbow, Bob LeJeune Robynn Rodriguez, Elaine, Ash, Connie Vine Bill Geisslinger, Ted, Jimmy, Nighthawk, Sheldon Vine Tony DeBruno, Arnie, Ira, Eddie, Mitchell Michael Elich, Bill, Troy, Zee, Don D’Avanzo Vilma Silva, Kate, Therese, Yolande, Hoola Hoop Marielle Heller, Dana, Nancy, Trina, Aquarius Melissa Smith, Rebecca McKeene Lorri Holt, Blair Lowe Derrick Lee Weeden, Kwesi Ntuli Susannah Schulman, Lorianne Weiner, Firefly Craig W. Marker, Jack, Darren, Sam, No Shit DAVID EDGAR (Playwright) was born and still lives in Birmingham, England. His adaptations include Mary Barnes (premiered at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre and revived at San Francisco’s Eureka Theatre), The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs (RSC, also revived at the Eureka, directed by Tony Taccone), a play based on Gitta Sereny’s biography of Albert Speer (National Theatre), and a Tony award-winning adaptation of Dickens’ Nicholas Nickleby (London’s RSC, New York and Los Angeles). His original plays for the theatre include Death Story (Birmingham Repertory Theatre), That Summer for Hampstead Theatre and Entertaining Strangers for the National Theatre. His original plays for the RSC include Destiny, Maydays and Pentecost (revived by Tony Taccone at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Berkeley Rep in 1997). Pentecost was the second of a series of plays about Eastern Europe after the Cold War, following The Shape of the Table (National Theatre) and preceding The Prisoner’s Dilemma (RSC). David Edgar has also written for television and radio, and he wrote the screenplay for Trevor Nunn’s film Lady Jane. He founded and directed Britain’s first post-graduate course in playwriting at the University of Birmingham from 1989 to 1999; he was appointed professor in 1995. TONY TACCONE (Director) joined the staff of Berkeley Rep in 1988, serving for one year as resident director then as associate artistic director. He worked with Sharon Ott for nine years in that capacity, developing the company’s eclectic and progressive aesthetic. He was appointed to his current position after a national search in 1997. He has directed more than twenty-five plays for Berkeley Rep, including Surface Transit, Cloud Nine, Homebody/Kabul, Culture Clash in AmeriCCa, The Oresteia, The Alchemist, The First 100 Years, Ravenshead, Skylight, Pentecost, Macbeth, Slavs!, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, End Game/Act Without Words, Volpone, The Convict’s Return, Major Barbara, The Virgin Molly, Serious Money, Waiting for Godot, The Birthday Party and Execution of Justice (with Oskar Eustis). Before coming to Berkeley Rep, Mr. Taccone served as the artistic director of the Eureka Theatre in San Francisco, collaborating for seven years with Oskar Eustis, Lorri Holt, Susan Marsden, Richard Seyd, Abigail van Alyn and Sigrid Wurschmidt. His directorial highlights there included Road, Boomer!, Fen, Still Life and Accidental Death of an Anarchist. Mr. Taccone has been pleased to direct at other theatres around the country. His work has been frequently seen at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival where he directed Othello, Pentecost, Coriolanus, The Cure at Troy and the world premiere of Continental Divide. He has also worked at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Arizona Theatre Company, San Jose Rep and Yale Rep. He had the great honor of co-directing the world premiere of Angels in America at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. Mr. Taccone has served on the faculty of U.C. Berkeley, the board of Theatre Communications Group and has been a regional representative for the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. He is most proud of his sons, Jorma and Asa, whom he raised with Suellen Ehnebuske. WILLIAM BLOODGOOD (Scenic & Projection Designer) is resident scenic designer with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon, where in 27 seasons he has designed well over 100 productions. Mr. Bloodgood has designed for many regional theatres as well, including American Conservatory Theater, Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., Arizona Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, Hong Kong Repertory Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Intiman Theatre in Seattle, the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, Portland Center Stage and Syracuse Stage. In 2002, he was honored with the Oregon Governor’s Award for the Arts. Recent work for Berkeley Repertory Theatre includes Pentecost (by David Edgar), The Beauty Queen of Leenane and last season’s The House of Blue Leaves. The two plays of Continental Divide mark his tenth production for Berkeley Rep. DEBORAH M. DRYDEN (Costume Designer) has designed for numerous theatre companies, including the La Jolla Playhouse, Old Globe Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Arena Stage (Washington, D.C.), Alliance Theatre (Atlanta), Guthrie Theater (Minneapolis), Huntington Theatre (Boston), Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Minnesota Opera, San Diego Opera, Hong Kong Repertory Theatre, the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles and American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. She is currently resident costume designer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and is the author of the book Fabric Painting and Dyeing for the Theatre. Deborah is professor emeritus of design at the University of California, San Diego. ALEXANDER V. NICHOLS (Lighting & Projection Designer) Mr. Nichols’ design work spans from lighting and projections to scenery and costumes for dance, theatre and opera. For Berkeley Repertory Theatre, credits include Ravenshead, Culture Clash In AmeriCCa, Menocchio, Surface Transit (scenic and lighting), Galileo (projections), Civil Sex (lighting) and Rhinoceros (projections). Mr. Nichols has designed for companies and artists including American Conservatory Theater, Alley Theatre (Houston, TX), Arena Stage (Washington, D.C.), Oregon Shakespeare Festival, California Shakespeare Theatre, ODC/SF, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, San Francisco Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet, National Theatre of Taiwan, Paul Dresher Ensemble, Kronos Quartet and Rinde Eckert. He has served as resident lighting designer for the Margaret Jenkins Dance Co., Pennsylvania Ballet, Hartford Ballet, and as lighting director for American Ballet Theatre. Other dance credits include designs for choreographers Christopher d’Amboise, Val Caniparoli, Sonya Delwaide, Dominique Dumais, Bill T. Jones, Jean Grand Maitre, Mark Morris, Kevin O’Day, Kirk Peterson, Stephen Pet-ronio, Dwight Rhoden and Michael Smuin. JEREMY J. LEE (Sound Designer) is returning to Berkeley Rep after designing Pentecost, for which he was nominated for the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle award. Regionally, he has designed numerous productions at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, including Lorca in a Green Dress (premiere by Nilo Cruz), Continental Divide and Stop Kiss (Loretta Greco, dir.), as well as designed for the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, American Players Theatre, Cleveland Playhouse, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, Rude Mechanicals (Austin, TX) and Salvage Vanguard Theatre (Austin, TX). N.Y.C. Credits: Resident Sound Designer for Epic Repertory Theatre; Burn This at the Signature Theatre (Assistant Sound Designer). Awards: 2002 Austin Critics’ Table Award; B. Iden Payne Award Nomination (Austin, TX). LUAN SCHOOLER (Dramaturg) served on the Berkeley Rep artistic staff from 1998—2003, where she worked as literary manager and dramaturg for Antony and Cleopatra, The Magic Fire, The Life of Galileo, Let My Enemy Live Long!, The Alchemist, The Green Bird, Fall, The Oresteia, 36 Views, Much Ado About Nothing, Rhinoceros, Homebody/Kabul, The House of Blue Leaves, Menocchio and Haroun and the Sea of Stories. In the Bay Area, she has also provided dramaturgy for A Traveling Jewish Theatre, PlayGround and the California Shakespeare Theatre, for whom she most recently dramaturged Measure for Measure. She has been honored to serve as a dramaturg for Continental Divide since its inception. RANDY WHITE (Associate Director) NYC credits include Glen Berger’s Underneath the Lintel (15 months Off-Broadway), Carson Kreitzer’s Self Defense and Valerie Shoots Andy, Strindberg’s Miss Julie, George F. Walker’s End of Civilization and Howard Barker’s Judith. Regional credits include Into the Woods, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Sweeney Todd, 1776, Songs for a New World and Billy Bishop Goes to War. Canadian credits include Nothing Sacred, Romeo and Juliet, Dawns are Quiet Here and Richard III. Mr. White assisted on Disney’s The Lion King and has also directed/taught for the Yale Dramat, Penn Players, N.Y.U. Tisch School of the Arts, Fordham University and AMDA. CAST TONY DEBRUNO * (Mitchell Vine/Arnie/Ira/Eddie) is beginning his 30th year as a professional actor. In 12 seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival he has appeared in close to 30 productions, including The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, Chicago, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Our Town, Lips Together, Teeth Apart and Restoration. He has also appeared at many theatres across the country, including Seattle Rep, Arizona Theatre Company and Alabama Shakespeare Festival. MICHELLE DUFFY * (Abby/Beth/Branflake) is honored to return to Berkeley Rep following her last appearance as Catharine in Suddenly Last Summer. Previous Bay Area appearances include Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire (A.C.T.), Dot/Marie in Sunday in the Park with George (TheatreWorks) and her San Francisco Opera debut in The Merry Widow. Some other theatres at which she’s worked include the Old Globe Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse, the Goodman, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Northlight, the Colony Theatre (company member), ACT Theatre in Tokyo and Vienna’s English Theatre. Among her favorite roles: Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Hedda in Hedda Gabler, Mary in Our Country’s Good, Vet in The Boswell Sisters and Isabel in My Children! My Africa!. TV credits include Family Law (CBS), The Huntress (USA), Passions (NBC), Take My Advice (Lifetime), The Untouchables and Missing Persons. Most recently, Michelle appeared as Annie in The Real Thing at ITC in Long Beach and in television commercials for Albertson’s and Bob Evans. She has been recognized by the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, Chicago’s Joseph Jefferson Committee, Theatre LA’s Ovation Board, Back Stage West and Drama-Logue for performance excellence. MICHAEL ELICH * (Don D’Avanzo/Bill/Troy/Zee) In ten seasons with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Mr. Elich has been seen in roles as varied as Harry Van in Idiot’s Delight, The Actor in Enter the Guardsman, Hotspur and Bardolph in Henry IV, Parts One and Two, Torvald in Nora, The Conferencier in Cabaret Verboten, Moe Axelrod in Awake and Sing!, Charles Surface in The School for Scandal and Poseidon in Trojan Women. Off-Broadway, he has appeared at Playwrights Horizons, The Orpheum and the York Theatre Company. He has played regional theatres including Syracuse Stage, Dallas Theatre Center, Missouri Rep, the Coconut Grove, Capital Rep and the 30th anniversary production of Inherit the Wind at the Papermill Playhouse. Film and TV credits include One Life to Live, Ryan’s Hope, Raspberry Heaven and Earthbound. Mr. Elich is a graduate of the Juilliard Theatre Center in NYC. BILL GEISSLINGER * (Sheldon Vine /Ted/Jimmy/Nighthawk) returns to Berkeley Rep following performances in Dinner With Friends and last season’s The House of Blue Leaves. In 14 seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, he has appeared in Continental Divide, Three Sisters, Death of a Salesman, Les Blanc, Nora, Boy Meets Girl, Curse of the Starving Class, Macbeth, Strange Snow, Broadway, An Enemy of the People, Light Up the Sky, The Birthday Party, Buried Child, Twelfth Night, Romersholm, Heathen Valley, Chicago, Lips Together, Teeth Apart, Toys in the Attic, The Marriage of Bette and Boo, The Iceman Cometh, The Birthday Party, And a Nightingale Sang and An Enemy of the People. At the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego he performed in Strange Snow, Voir Dire, The Taming of the Shrew, The Miser, Sun Bearing Down, Moby Dick Rehearsed, Yankee Wives, The Sorrows of Stephen and The Skin of Our Teeth (also seen on PBS’ American Playhouse). Other credits include A Streetcar Named Desire and Bang the Drum Slowly at the Huntington Theatre in Boston, and work at Intiman Theatre, South Coast Repertory Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Virginia Stage and the Mechanic Theatre. Film and TV credits include St. Elsewhere, Cheers, News Radio, Nowhere Man, Dead by Sunset, 1,000 Heroes, Dreamer of Oz, People Like Us, Ernie Kovacs: Between Laughter and Imaginary Crimes. MARIELLE HELLER (Dana/Nancy/Trina/Aquarius) is making her Berkeley Rep debut in Continental Divide. She was last seen in L.A. playing Ophelia at 2100 Square Feet. She graduated from U.C.L.A. in theatre and has studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where she played Gower in Pericles. Other roles include Hero at Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum, a co-starring role on ABC’s Spin City and multiple performances at U.C.L.A. She also occupies her time studying West African Dance. LORRI HOLT * (Blair Lowe) appeared most recently as Olga in Carey Perloff’s production of The Three Sisters at A.C.T. this year. She was the recipient of a 2003 Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle award for her performance in The Music Lesson last fall at Marin Theatre Company. Ms. Holt was last seen at Berkeley Rep as Beth in Dinner With Friends; other productions here include Dancing at Lughnasa, Reckless, Blue Window, Serious Money, Dream of a Common Language, Tooth of Crime and Our Country’s Good. Holt has also worked at San Jose Rep, the Magic Theatre and the Aurora Theatre and for ten years was a company actress with the Eureka Theatre, where she first worked with both Tony Taccone and David Edgar. Commercial theatre credits include The Vagina Monologues, Top Girls, Cloud Nine and Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You. Ms. Holt works frequently in TV and radio voiceover, and is a published fiction writer and journalist. Her article about the development of Continental Divide can be found in the October 2003 issue of American Theatre magazine. TERRY LAYMAN * (Michael Bern) recently played Robert in Proof both at Actors Theater of Louisville and as an emergency replacement on Broadway. Other Broadway credits include The Ride Down Mount Morgan and The Rehearsal. National tours include The Royal Family (with Eva Le Gallienne) and Proof. Off-Broadway shows include Room Service, Ferocious Kisses, The Butter and Egg Man, A Murder of Crows and recently standing by for the National Actor’s Theatre production of Arturo Ui with Al Pacino and Jules Feiffer’s A Bad Friend at Lincoln Center. Regional work includes: Peck in How I Learned To Drive and Big Daddy in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (Buffalo Studio Arena); Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird (Pioneer, Salt Lake City); Long Day’s Journey (Cincinnati Play-house); All My Sons (the Alliance, Atlanta); The Royal Family (McCarter); Miracle Worker and Other People’s Money (George St. Playhouse). He also played in The Little Foxes with Geraldine Page and Trip to Bountiful with Ellen Burstyn. His Film credits include: The Patriot. TV credits include: Guest roles on: Ed, Law and Order and Special Victims Unit, in addition to most NY soaps. He has also performed and directed for many summers at the Monomoy Theatre on Cape Cod. CRAIG W. MARKER (Jack/Darren/Sam/No Shit) was most recently seen as Longaville in Love’s Labour’s Lost with the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival. Bay Area credits include Adam in The Shape of Things with the Aurora Theatre Company (Dean Goodman Choice Award), Salerio in The Merchant of Venice with Women In Time, Steve in Steven Berkoff’s Decadence with California State University, Hayward and E.K. Hornbeck in Inherit the Wind with Chanticleers Theatre. International credits include Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Orestes in Electra as part of the International Festival of Ancient Greek Drama at the ITI, Cyprus. Craig can be seen in the forthcoming independent feature film, Night of Henna (www.nightofhenna.com). He holds a B.A. in Acting from C.S.U., Hayward. JACOB MING-TRENT * (Jools/J.C./Rainbow/Bob LeJeune) received his M.F.A. in Acting from the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts program (2003). Jacob was last seen as Fedotik in Three Sisters at A.C.T. (directed by Carey Perloff) and also in A.C.T.’s A Christmas Carol as Young Scrooge. He is ecstatic to be working with Berkeley Rep. ROBYNN RODRIGUEZ * (Connie Vine/Elaine/Ash) is pleased to be back at Berkeley Rep, where she last appeared as Clytemnestra in The Oresteia. A veteran of 12 seasons with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, she has appeared in dozens of productions, including Pentecost and Othello (both directed by Tony Taccone), Uncle Vanya, Major Barbara, The Man Who Came to Dinner, The Taming of the Shrew, The Magic Fire (transferred to The Kennedy Center) and, most recently, the world premiere of Continental Divide: Mothers Against and Daughters of the Revolution. Rodriguez has also appeared at the Intiman Theatre, the Denver Center Theatre Company, Portland Center Stage, PCPA/Solvang Theaterfest, Missouri Rep, and the Guthrie Theater, where she played Barbara in the critically acclaimed production of Joan Holden’s Nickel and Dimed. SUSANNAH SCHULMAN * (Lorianne Weiner/Firefly) appeared most recently in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival production of Continental Divide. She has appeared previously at Berkeley Rep in The House of Blue Leaves, and at the California Shakespeare Theatre in The Seagull, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet. South Coast Repertory credits include The Dazzle, Nostalgia, Six Degrees of Separation, The Taming of the Shrew and A Christmas Carol. Five seasons at Shakespeare Santa Cruz included productions of Cymbeline, The Tempest, King Lear and The Merchant of Venice. Other credits include The Two Gentlemen of Verona at Geva Theatre, Picnic at the Marin Theatre Company and the national tour of Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile. VILMA SILVA * (Caryl Marquez/Yolande/Kate/Therese/Yolanda Hoola Hoop) is honored to make her Berkeley Rep debut with Continental Divide. Vilma appeared in the premiere productions of Mothers Against and Daughters of the Revolution at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival this year, where she has been a company member since 1995. Some of her credits there include Julius Caesar, As You Like It, Life is a Dream, Two Sisters and a Piano, Measure for Measure and The Magic Fire (OSF and Kennedy Center Productions). She has also appeared at A.C.T., Actors Theater of Louisville, Dallas Theater Center, San Jose Rep, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival and El Teatro Campesino. MELISSA SMITH * (Rebecca McKeene) has performed in New York and in regional theatres across the country, including Primary Stages, Soho Rep, the Hangar Theatre, Studio Arena Theatre, American Conservatory Theater and Napa Valley Rep. Past roles include Susan in Holiday; Sonia in Celebration; Sally in Lips Together, Teeth Apart; Dora in The Hyacinth Macaw; Fefu in Fefu and Her Friends; Laura in The Glass Menagerie and a solo piece entitled The Miller’s Daughter. Smith has been director of the A.C.T. Conservatory since 1995. DERRICK LEE WEEDEN * (Vincent Baptiste/Kwesi Ntuli) returns to Berkeley Rep following his appearance as Agamemnon and Pylades in The Oresteia. In 13 seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, he has performed the roles of Marcus Brutus in Julius Caesar, Aaron in Titus Andronicus, Vershinin in Three Sisters, Othello in Othello, Hedley in Seven Guitars, Tshembe Matoseh in Les Blancs, Duke in Measure for Measure, Edmond in King Lear, Antonio in Pentecost, Coriolanus in Coriolanus, Bolingbroke in Richard II, Leonardo in Blood Wedding, Herald Loomis in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Rhodes in Light in the Village, Warwick in The Conclusion of Henry VI, Pericles in Pericles Prince of Tyre, Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Vincent Baptiste and Kwesi Ntuli in the world premiere of Continental Divide. Other theatres at which Mr. Weeden has worked include the Great Lakes Theatre Festival, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Alabama Shakespeare Festival and the Shakespeare Festival of Dallas. He received the Back Stage West Garland award for his performances in Othello and Les Blancs. Mr. Weeden received his M.F.A. from Southern Methodist University. CHRISTINE WILLIAMS * (Deborah Vine/Ryan/Pat/Snowbird) most recently appreared in the premiere of Continental Divide at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Previous OSF season credits include Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Arcadia, Enter the Guardsman, Night of the Iguana, Julius Caesar, Pericles, The School for Scandal, Love’s Labour’s Lost and The Trojan Women. Other credits include How I Learned to Drive (Arizona Theatre Company), Our Town (Utah Shakespeare Festival), Spring Awakening (Open Circle Theatre Co.), EAT TV (Oregon Cabaret Theatre) and Present Laughter (TheatreWorks). Ms. Williams has also performed at the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Rogue Music Theatre, Chico City Opera, The Annex in Seattle, the Aspen Opera Theatre Center and American Opera Projects in New York City. * The Actors and Stage Managers employed in this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. BACK TO TOP