Charles L. Mee, Playwright Les Waters, Director Annie Smart, Scenic Designer Christal Weatherly, Costume Designer Alexander V. Nichols, Lighting Designer Jake Rodriguez, Sound Designer Amy Utstein, Dramaturg Jean Isaacs, Movement Consultant Dawn-Elin Fraser, Dialect Coach Michael Suenkel *, Stage Manager Amy Potozkin, Casting Paul Fouquet, New York Casting Eddie Kurtz, Assistant Director T. Edward Webster, Assistant Director Karen Szpaller, Production Assistant Kristi Johnson, Costume Designer Assistant CAST (in order of speaking) Dileep Rao, Henry Maria Dizzia, Yvette James Carpenter, Lartigue Joseph Kamal, Barbesco Bruce McKenzie, Jean Francois Maria Elena Ramirez, Nanette Michi Barall, Sumiko Lorri Holt, Catherine Danny Scheie, Georges Ramiz Monsef, Roland Joe Mandragona, Ensemble Sally Clawson, Ensemble Jeffery Lynn McCann, Ensemble Corinne Blum, Ensemble Odile Lavault, Pre-performance and Intermission Accordionist (select performances) CHARLES L. MEE (Playwright) has written bobrauschenbergamerica, Wintertime, Belle Epoque, Vienna: Lusthaus, Snow in June, A Perfect Wedding, Limonade tous les Jours and a number of other plays, in addition to his work inspired by Greek plays: Big Love, True Love, Orestes 2.0, Trojan Women A Love Story and others. His plays have been performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, American Repertory Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, the Public Theater, Lincoln Center, the Humana Festival, Steppenwolf as well as other places across the United States and internationally in Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Vienna, Istanbul and elsewhere. Mee’s work is made possible by the support of Jeanne Donovan Fisher and Richard B. Fisher. His complete works are available on the internet at www.charlesmee.org. LES WATERS (Director) For Berkeley Rep: Eurydice, The Mystery of Irma Vep, Yellowman, Suddenly Last Summer and Big Love. Regional theatre credits: Buried Child, Glengarry Glen Ross (A.C.T.); Wintertime, Nebraska, Life During Wartime, The Importance of Being Earnest and Nora (La Jolla Playhouse); Big Love (Humana Festival, Long Wharf, Goodman Theatre); Ghost On Fire, Spinning Into Butter (Goodman); The Designated Mourner, The Memory of Water (Steppenwolf); The House of Bernarda Alba (Guthrie). New York credits: Fen, Ice Cream With Hot Fudge, Rum and Coke, Romeo and Juliet (New York Shakespeare Festival); Life During Wartime (Manhattan Theatre Club); Big Love (Next Wave Festival at BAM); Savannah Bay (Classic Stage Company). His U.K. credits include productions at the National Theatre, Royal Court Theatre, Hampstead Theatre Club, Bristol Old Vic, Traverse Theatre Club and Joint Stock Theatre Group. Awards include: Edinburgh Fringe First, Tokyo Theatre Critics, Dramalogue, KPBS Patte, Connecticut Critics Circle, Dean Goodman, Bay Area Critics Circle and an OBIE for directing Big Love. He is an associate artist of The Civilians, the New York based theatre group. ANNIE SMART (Scenic Designer) As a set and costume designer in the U.K. Annie premiered many new plays, including Caryl Churchill’s Fen and A Mouthful of Birds for Joint Stock Theatre Co. and several productions for The Royal Court. For the National Theatre: The Father, Say It with Flowers, Black Snow, The Mountain Giants and The Skriker. In the U.S., she has designed for The Public Theater, Arena Stage, The Guthrie, San Diego Rep, ACT/Seattle, Long Wharf, The Goodman, Steppenwolf, La Jolla Playhouse, A.C.T./ San Francisco, Theater for a New Audience and BAM. Of the classics, her work includes Othello, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The School for Scandal, Miss Julie, The Father, Medea, The Threepenny Opera, Woyzeck, Waiting for Godot, A Doll’s House and La Traviata, designing both sets and costumes for these. Annie was chair of the M.A. in Theatre Design/Scenography at Wimbledon School of Art, Adjunct Professor for M.F.A. theatre design at U.C. San Diego and is currently teaching costume design at U.C. Berkeley. At Berkeley Rep, Annie designed the sets for Suddenly Last Summer and Big Love, and the sets and costumes for Yellowman and The Mystery of Irma Vep. CHRISTAL WEATHERLY (Costume Designer) is pleased to be designing at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and once again working with Les Waters on a Charles Mee play, having previously collaborated on Wintertime at La Jolla Playhouse and Long Wharf Theater. Her most recent work includes A Perfect Wedding (also by Charles Mee) at Center Theatre Group’s new Kirk Douglas Theatre. Her costume designs have also been seen at the Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, the Humana Festival, Madison Repertory Theatre, Deaf West Theatre, Actors’ Gang, Strasberg Institute, Open Fist Theatre Company, We Tell Stories (L.A.) and Sledgehammer Theatre. Print and film work includes a collaboration with Eleanor Antin on The Last Days of Pompeii and The Man Who Invented the Moon (Normandie County Films). Christal is a recent recipient of the NEA/TCG Career Development Award for Designers. ALEXANDER V. NICHOLS (Lighting Designer) Berkeley Rep credits include Ravenshead (scenic and lighting), Galileo (projections), Civil Sex (lighting), Rhinoceros (projections), Culture Clash in AmeriCCa (scenic and lighting), Mennochio (scenic/lighting/projection), The Guys (video) and Surface Transit (scenic and lighting). Other credits include Oregon Shakespeare Festival, A.C.T., Arena Stage, Alley Theatre, National Theater of Taiwan, California Shakespeare Theater, S.F. Ballet, Margaret Jenkins Dance Co., Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Hong Kong Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, ODC/S.F., Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Paul Dresher Ensemble and Rinde Eckert, as well as designs for choreographers Christopher d’Amboise, Val Caniparoli, Ann Carlson, Sonya Delwaide, Bill T. Jones, Jean Grand Maitre, Mark Morris, Kevin O’Day, Kirk Peterson, Stephen Petronio, Dwight Rhoden and Michael Smuin. JAKE RODRIGUEZ (Sound Designer) has recently carved out sound and music for Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, California Shakespeare Theater, Shotgun Players and Art Street Theatre. Recent credits include music and design for California Shakespeare Theater’s 2004 productions of The Comedy of Errors and Henry IV, sound design for Berkeley Rep’s production of Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts, Shotgun Players’ production of The Death of Meyerhold, California Shakespeare Theater’s 2003 productions of Julius Caesar and Arms and the Man and Art Street Theatre’s I Am Hamlet and IO-Princess of Argos! Jake recently won the 2003 Bay Area Theatre Critic’s Circle Award for Sound Design for his work on The Death of Meyerhold and a 2004 Princess Grace Award for Design. AMY UTSTEIN (Dramaturg) is thrilled to be back at Berkeley Rep. She last worked at the Theatre in 1992 as assistant dramaturg on Mark Wing-Davey’s production of Mad Forest. Amy holds degrees in Theatre from Brandeis University and the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, and has taught at U.H. Manoa, Roosevelt University and U.C. Berkeley (where she also had the pleasure of studying with Tony Taccone). Her directorial work has been seen in theatres across the country. She would like to thank Nicole Galland for making this possible, and a special thanks to her husband, Steve, for his never-ending support and encouragment. JEAN ISAACS (Movement Consultant) is a critically acclaimed award-winning choreographer whose work has been presented in Switzerland, Germany, China, Mexico, Guatemala, Canada and on both coasts of the U.S. In 2002 the Village Voice called her “a warm, witty and wise choreographer.” She is the Artistic Director of the San Diego Dance Theater, originator of Trolley Dances and annually creates Cabaret Dances for the San Diego Museum of Art. A prize-winning choreographer for theater, she recently won the Bay Area Theatre Critic1s Award, the San Diego Dance Alliance “Tommy” Award, the Craig Noel Award for Theater and two California Arts Council Choreography Fellowships. Isaacs is known for her cross-boarder dance projects and for her distinguished career as an educator in modern dance. Her critically acclaimed work with Charles Mee and Les Waters on Big Love was seen in theatres across the country. CAST MICHI BARALL * (Sumiko) Her theatre credits include the premieres of Charles Mee’s Wintertime (La Jolla), John Guare’s A Few Stout Individuals (Signature), Harry Kondoleon’s Saved or Destroyed (Rattlestick), Sung Rno’s WAve (Ohio), Diana Son’s Boy (La Jolla), Anna Deavere Smith’s A House Arrest and Doug Wright’s Unwrap Your Candy (Vineyard). She has worked at Arena, Brava!, Hartford Stage, Intiman, La Jolla Playhouse, Long Wharf, Ma-Yi, MCC, McCarter, NAATCO, N.Y.S.F., Seattle Rep, Sundance, The Women’s Project and Williamstown. Film and television credits include independent features I Will Avenge You, Iago (opposite Giancarlo Esposito and Larry Pine), Personal Velocity, Pursuit of Happiness and Welcome to Purgatory; and appearances on As the World Turns, Cosby, Law and Order, Third Watch and One Life to Live. Michi holds an A.B. from Stanford and an M.F.A. from N.Y.U. Fox Fellow 1999. Love and thanks to her family, and to Les. CORINNE BLUM (Ensemble) is a professional dancer and emerging choreographer. She performed with San Francisco Ballet from 1998 to 2002. She won top honors in several ballet competitions, including the NFAA and the USA IBC, both in 1998. Corinne began choreographing in the summer of 2002 and has created three works to date. Currently, she is creating a new work for a production which will premiere at San Francisco’s Cowell Theatre in June 2005. As an actress, she most recently appeared in the theatre production of Tape by Stephen Belber and Duende, a short film by Michael Locicero. JAMES CARPENTER * (Lartigue) was last seen at Berkeley Rep as Pastor Manders in last year’s production of Ghosts. He has appeared in over 30 productions on Berkeley Rep’s stage, among them The Life of Galileo, The Normal Heart, the Rivals, Serious Money, Our Country’s Good, Mad Forest, The Importance of Being Earnest and Love!Valour!Compassion! James was most recently seen as Dr. Rank in A Doll’s House in A.C.T.’s recent production and as Linc in Les Waters’ production of Glengarry Glen Ross. He has performed for San Jose Repertory Theater, Marin Theater Company, Word for Word, Campo Santos and Shakespeare Santa Cruz. His credits also include Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Old Globe Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, the Intiman Theatre and Huntington Theatres. James is currently an Associate Artist with the California Shakespeare Theater. Television: Nash Bridges. Film: Metro, The Rainmaker. Independents: Singing, The Sunflower Boy. SALLY CLAWSON * (Ensemble) A professional dancer and actor, Sally Clawson received an M.F.A. from Mills College and toured internationally with the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, performing ‘Fault’ and ‘The Gates.’ She is a recipient of the Philanthropic Ventures Foundation Performing Arts Fellowship, and was nominated for an Isadora Duncan Award for Outstanding Performance. Recent theatre roles include Maryann in The Miser with Shotgun Players School Tour and Actor #4 in Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol with Bus Barn Stage Company. Ms. Clawson regularly performs commercial voice over, and is a principal dancer with Stephen Pelton Dance Theater. MARIA DIZZIA * (Yvette) returns to Berkeley Rep after recently appearing in the title role in this season’s Eurydice. New York credits include: Pullman Car Hiawatha (Keen Company), Match (Lincoln Center Directors’ Lab), Cause for Alarm (FringeNYC, 2002), Gone Missing (Belt Theatre), The Ladies (Public Theatre: New Work Now!, HERE, Dixon Place) and Canard, Canard, Goose? (Joe’s Pub) all with The Civilians. Regional credits include: Kid-Simple (Humana Festival—ATL), Agnes of God (George Street Playhouse), Proof (GeVa Theatre), Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Two Gentlemen of Verona (Alabama Shakespeare Festival), Iphigenia at Aulis (Yale Rep), She Stoops to Conquer and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare Santa Cruz). Maria is an artistic associate of The Civilians. She holds a B.A. from Cornell University and an M.F.A. from U.C. San Diego. LORRI HOLT * (Catherine) returns to Berkeley Rep after playing Blair Lowe in last season’s Continental Divide, which she also toured with the company to Birmingham Rep, London’s Barbican Theatre and La Jolla Playhouse. Other Berkeley Rep favorites include Dinner with Friends, Reckless, Blue Window, Dancing at Lughnasa and Serious Money. Lorri is well-known to Bay Area audiences for award-winning performances with the region’s leading theatres, including 10 years as a company member of San Francisco’s groundbreaking Eureka Theatre. For A.C.T.: Olga in Three Sisters, The House of Mirth, The Invention of Love, The Learned Ladies and Taking Steps. For Marin Theatre Company: Irena in The Music Lesson and title roles in Molly Sweeney and Keeley & Du. For San Jose Rep: Three Days of Rain, Icarus and Blithe Spirit. For Magic Theatre: Hillary & Soon-Yi Shop for Ties and Three Hotels. She has appeared in numerous S.F. productions including The Vagina Monologues at Theatre-On-The-Square. Film and T.V. credits include Patch Adams, the title role in the short feature Mary Came Back, Spirit of '76, Back to the Streets of San Francisco and the upcoming Bee Season with Juliette Binoche and Richard Gere. Lorri is a published writer of fiction and feature articles, and the mother of a teenage son. JOSEPH KAMAL * (Barbesco) Broadway: Dinner at Eight, Lincoln Center Theater. Off-Broadway: Guantanamo, The Culture Project; Roar, The New Group; Homebody/Kabul, New York Theatre Workshop; Ecco Porco, Mabou Mines; The Brave, Atlantic Theater Company; Two Little Indians, HERE. Regional: Omnium-Gatherum, ACT/ Seattle; Anthems: Culture Clash, Arena Stage; Gum, Baltimore Center Stage; Coriolanus, St. Joan, Much Ado About Nothing, Measure For Measure, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Shakespeare Theatre, Washington, DC. Film: David and Layla; On the One. Television: Law and Order; Law and Order: SVU; Blind Justice; the voice of Desi Arnaz in Finding Lucy (Emmy Award for Best Documentary, 2001). ODILE LAVAULT (Pre-performance and Intermission Accordionist, select performances) Accordionist Odile LaVault leads the Baguette Quartet, the only Ensemble in North America exclusively devoted to the tradition of Parisian Café Music from 1920 to 1950. Born in the heart of Paris, Odile played for many years in the cafés and streets of the capital, before moving to Berkeley in 1992. Here, she gathered around her wonderful musicians attracted by her amazing knowledge of this music, its style and its original performers. Odile plays chromatic button accordion and bandoneon. The other members of the Baguette Quartette are violinist Rachel Durling, guitar luminaries Will Bernard and John Schott (sharing the guitar chair) and bass player Rich Trevor. Baguette Quartette’s wide repertoire includes all the popular dances of the time: valse musette, java, tango, fox trot, paso doble and marche plus French chansons. Baguette Quartette has earned an enthusiastic following seduced by the authentic flavor as well as the charm and musicality of the arrangements. The band can be heard in concerts, in period dance events, and at society functions. Baguette Quartette has four compacts discs available: “L’air de Paris” (1995), “Rendez-vous” (1998), “Chez-moi” (2001) and “Toujours” (2004). Selected tracks from these recordings are featured on numerous compilations including the widely distributed “Bon Apétit” CD. Visit Baguette Quartette online at www.baguettequartette.org. JOE MANDRAGONA * (Ensemble) is overjoyed to be making his Berkeley Rep debut in Fêtes de la Nuit. He was most recently seen in the premiere of the musical The Opposite of Sex at the Magic Theatre, where he was also seen as a trashy, downtown drag queen in The 13 Hallucinations of Julio Rivera. Other regional credits include California Shakespeare Theatre: Julius Caesar, Arms and the Man, Measure for Measure, Much Ado About Nothing; Napa Rep: Peter and the Wolf; Center for Theatre Arts: Orestes, Caucasian Chalk Circle, Escape from Happiness. He holds a B.A. from U.C. Berkeley. Thanks and love to my family and to Donna. JEFFERY LYNN McCANN (Ensemble) a.k.a. B-Boy Machine, now 22 years old, started dancing at the age of nine in Sacramento, California. His dancing influences came from being on the streets, watching Martial Arts movies and being part of Hip Hop in the early ‘90s. His dancing styles vary from old forms of rocking to acrobatic tricks. He has performed with Show Biz Productions in half-time shows at Sacramento Kings and Sacramento Monarchs games. McCann dances as a professional B-Boy around the world in places such as Toronto, Rotterdam, Grenoble, Geneva, Chelsea and Barcelona. His recent accomplishments include winning first place B-Boy at the Hip Hop Olympics in San Francisco in 2004 and second place B-Boy at the American Street Dance Championships in Los Angeles in 2003. When not dancing, McCann teaches youth with Sisterz of the Underground, an organization that teaches young people the elements of Hip Hop, as well as the Hip Hop values of acceptance, non-violence, creative self-expression and physical fitness. Currently, he teaches at Galileo High School, Horizons Unlimited and Mission Urban Arts. BRUCE McKENZIE * (Jean Francois) Berkeley Rep: Big Love, Homebody/Kabul. Regional credits include: La Jolla Playhouse (The Tempest, Wintertime, Paris Commune), Goodman Theatre (Big Love), Dallas Theater Center (Skin, Krapp’s Last Tape), California Shakespeare Theater (Measure for Measure), Actor’s Theatre of Louisville (Othello, Noises Off, the title role in Hamlet, the Humana Festival premieres of Polaroid Stories, Aloha Say the Pretty Girls, At the Vanishing Point and The Blue Room). Selected New York credits: New York Theatre Workshop (A Streetcar Named Desire, True Love) and Theatre at St. Clements/Tectonic Theatre (Marlowe’s Eye). Bruce has also performed at the BAM Next Wave Festival, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. He was a company member of the Sundance Theatre Lab (2000) and at Actors Theatre (1998–99). His band, Maquiladora, just completed their second tour of Japan and will release their fifth record in spring 2005. RAMIZ MONSEF * (Roland) is honored to be returning to Berkeley Rep, where he has been seen in Eurydice. Other credits include The Time of Your Life (Seattle Rep, A.C.T.), Romeo and Juliet, Richard II, Wild Oats, Titus Andronicus and As You Like It (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). When Ramiz is not in a production, he tours as the M.C. with his Hip Hop group, The Subliminal Twinkeez (www.subtwink.com), who are currently putting the finishing touches on their second album. Ramiz holds a B.F.A. in Theatre from Cornish College of the Arts. MARIA ELENA RAMIREZ * (Nanette) recently appeared at Seattle Repertory Theatre and the Maltz Jupiter Theatre in Florida in Anna in the Tropics under the direction of Sharon Ott. Other theatre credits include the New York premiere of Living Out directed by Jo Bonney (Second Stage Theatre), the world premiere of Jose Cruz Gonzalez’ play September Shoes directed by Michael John Garcés (Geva Theatre Center), Blood Wedding (Guthrie Theater, Missouri Repertory Theatre), Living Out directed by Sharon Ott (Seattle Rep, Missouri Rep), Princess Turandot directed by Darko Tresnjak (Blue Light Theatre Company, Westport Country Playhouse), The Skin of Our Teeth (New York Shakespeare Festival) and Zibaldone (HERE, The Present Company Theatorium). Her television and film credits include: Law & Order, The Sopranos, Third Watch, Now and Again, Guiding Light and Personal Velocity (2001 Sundance Grand Jury Prize). She has taught and performed with the Public Theater’s “Shakespeare in the Boroughs” program and has participated in the Lincoln Center Director’s Lab. She received her M.F.A. from New York University’s Graduate Acting Program. DILEEP RAO * (Henry) has appeared in numerous productions throughout the country, including the world premiere of Charles Mee’s Perfect Wedding to inaugurate the Kirk Douglas Theater, Indian Ink by Tom Stoppard (American premiere) at the American Conservatory Theater and Making It by Joe Hortua (world premiere) at the South Coast Repertory. He also toured the United States with the Manhattan Theatre Club’s production of The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife. Films include Heroes Always Die, Catfish Blues and Broken Promise. Dileep is a graduate of U.C. San Diego and holds an M.F.A. from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. DANNY SCHEIE * (Georges) last appeared at Berkeley Rep as Betty and Jerry in Cloud Nine. He played Apollo and Tapemouth Man in Chuck Mee’s Orestes 2.0 at the Nourse Auditorium in San Francisco. Other Bay Area credits include Theatre Rhinoceros, California Shakespeare Theatre, TheatreWorks, Marin Theatre Co., The Marsh, S.F. Shakes and twelve seasons with Shakespeare Santa Cruz. He was in The Mystery of Irma Vep at both Aurora and the Magic Theatre, where he also appeared in Pieces of the Quilt. In Los Angeles, Danny has acted at South Coast Rep, Pasadena Playhouse, A Noise Within, the Zephyr and the Los Angeles Theatre Center, and in New England at Yale Rep and Trinity Rep. He has received several Bay Area Critics Circle, Dramalogue, Backstage West Garland and Dean Goodman Awards for acting and directing, as well as GLAAD Media and Robby nominations from L.A. He holds a Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley in Dramatic Art. * 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