Leigh Fondakowski, Playwright and Director Denice Stephenson, Researcher and Archivist Sarah Lambert, Scenic Designer Gabriel Berry, Costume Designer Betsy Adams, Lighting Designer Jake Rodriguez, Sound Designer Martha Swetzoff, Video Designer Jean Isaacs, Movement Michael Suenkel, Stage Manager Greg Pierotti, Head Writer Margo Hall, Collaborating Writer Stephen Wangh, Collaborating Writer Kelli Simpkins, Dramaturg Miche Braden, Musical Director Alan Filderman, Casting Amy Potozkin, Casting Eddie Kurtz, Assistant Director Angela Nostrand, Assistant to the Director Carole Deutch, Ancillary Events Coordinator Leslie M. Radin, Production Assistant CAST Miche Braden, Hyacinth Thrash—former Peoples Temple member, Jonestown survivor / Woman in White / Deanna Wilkinson—Peoples Temple member, died in Jonestown / Ensemble Velina Brown, Elsie Bell—Peoples Temple member, died in Jonestown / Nell Smart—former Peoples Temple member, survived in Los Angeles / Ollie Smith—Peoples Temple member, died in Jonestown / Ensemble James Carpenter, Tim Carter—former Peoples Temple member, Jonestown survivor / Rev. Jim Jones—founder of Peoples Temple, died in Jonestown / Rev. John Moore—father of two Peoples Temple members who died in Jonestown / Ensemble Colman Domingo, Jim Jones, Jr.—adopted son of Rev. Jim Jones, survived in Georgetown, Guyana / Eugene Smith—former Peoples Temple member, survived in Georgetown, Guyana / Ensemble Robert Ernst, Phil Tracy—journalist, former reporter for New West Magazine / Leo J. Ryan—member of Congress, died at Port Kaituma airstrip / Ensemble Margo Hall, Zipporah Edwards—Peoples Temple member, died in Jonestown / Shanette Oliver—former Peoples Temple member, survived in Los Angeles / Janet Williamson—Peoples Temple member until 1977 / Marthea Hicks—Peoples Temple member, died in Jonestown / Donetter Lane—San Francisco community activist / Ensemble Lauren Klein, Liz Forman Schwartz—Peoples Temple member until 1976 / Claire Janaro—former Peoples Temple member, survived in Georgetown, Guyana / Barbara Moore—mother of two Peoples Temple members who died in Jonestown / Neva Sly—Peoples Temple member until 1976 / Ensemble John McAdams, Jack Beam—Peoples Temple founding member, died in Jonestown / Stephan Jones—son of Rev. Jim Jones, survived in Georgetown, Guyana / Rev. Jim Jones—founder of Peoples Temple, died in Jonestown / Ensemble Greg Pierotti, Garry Lambrev—Peoples Temple member until 1976 / Dick Tropp—Peoples Temple member, died in Jonestown / Vernon Gosney—former Peoples Temple member, survived at Port Kaituma airstrip / Mike Touchette—former Peoples Temple member, survived in Georgetown, Guyana / Ensemble Barbara Pitts, Meredith Reese—former Peoples Temple member, survived in San Francisco / Mickey Touchette—Peoples Temple member until 1973 / Julie Smith—author, former reporter for San Francisco Chronicle / Ensemble Kelli Simpkins, Juanita Bogue—former Peoples Temple member, survived at Port Kaituma airstrip / Annie Moore—Peoples Temple member, died in Jonestown / Grace (Stoen) Jones—Peoples Temple member until 1976 / Laura Kohl—former Peoples Temple member, survived in Georgetown, Guyana / Ensemble Adam Wade, Hue Fortson—former Peoples Temple member, survived in San Francisco / Odell Rhodes—former Peoples Temple member, Jonestown survivor / Mervyn Dymally—California State Assembly member / “Pop” Jackson—Peoples Temple member, died in Jonestown / Rod Hicks—brother of two Peoples Temple members who died in Jonestown / Ensemble LEIGH FONDAKOWSI (Playwright/Director) was the head writer of The Laramie Project and has been a member of Tectonic Theatre Project since 1995. She is an Emmy-nominated co-screenwriter for the adaptation of The Laramie Project for HBO. Another original play, I Think I Like Girls, played to sold-out audiences in San Francisco and at La Jolla Playhouse, was nominated for a Bay Area Critics Circle Award for best original script and was voted one of the top 10 plays of 2002 by The Advocate. Directing credits include: I Think I Like Girls (La Jolla Playhouse, Encore Theatre), La Voix Humaine by Jean Cocteau (Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh), Agatha by Marguerite Duras (French Alliance, NYC), Gwen John adapted from the novel by Jane Warrick (HERE, NYC) and workshops of new plays by Stephen Belber, Julia Jordan and Anne Marie Cummings. Leigh has spent the last three years developing The People’s Temple. She is the first recipient of the Emerging Writer/Director Project, a grant to fund the development of new and original work for the stage. STEPHEN WANGH (Collaborating Writer) is a playwright, director and teacher of acting. He is the author of An Acrobat of the Heart: A Physical Approach to Acting Inspired by the Work of Jerzy Grotowski (Vintage Books). He was dramaturg for Moisés Kaufman’s Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde and associate writer for The Laramie Project (HBO Emmy nomination). His other plays include Class! (with Jon Lipsky), Calamity! (with Suzanne Baxtresser), The Dragon and Goin’ Downtown. His recent directing credits include Troilus and Cressida (New York) and The Taming of the Shrew (Vienna, Austria). He teaches acting at NYU and at Naropa University. SARAH LAMBERT (Scenic Designer) is based in NYC. Her designs include: Gross Indecency (NYC, London West End, Toronto, LA and San Francisco’s Theater on the Square); Spectators at an Event (BAM’s Next Wave and tour) and regional productions at Seattle Rep, George Street Playhouse, PlayMakers’ Rep, Barrington Stage, Yale Rep, Penguin Rep and numerous small theaters in NYC. She is Artistic Associate for Theater of Necessity (Mephisto and Stunt Man) and resident designer for the National Asian-American Theatre Co. (including Air Raid, Fuenteovejuna, The House of Bernarda Alba, Othello, Falsettoland, Long Day’s Journey into Night and The Cherry Orchard). As a dramaturg, she has worked most notably on The Laramie Project (NYC, Denver and HBO) and most recently on India Dreaming (Immediate Vision). She has a B.A. from Cornell and a M.F.A. from Yale. GABRIEL BERRY (Costume Designer) designed costumes for Volpone, The Alchemist and MacBeth at Berkeley Rep. Recent credits: Caryl Churchill’s A Number and Kia Corthran’s Light Raise the Roof (New York Theater Workshop), Naomi Wallace’s Things of Dry Hours and The Tempest starring Brian Murray (Pittsburgh Public Theater) and Mark Wing-Davey’s production The Provoked Wife and JoAnne Akalaitis’s production of The Birthday Party (American Repertory Theatre). She is currently working on Peter Sellers’ production of Aínadamar for the Santa Fe Opera. Awards include an OBIE, a Bessie and a Michael Merritt award for collaboration along with a silver medal from the Prague Design Quadrennial for her contribution to experimental theater. BETSY ADAMS (Lighting Designer) designed The Laramie Project for Berkeley Rep (SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award nomination), the play’s world premiere in Denver and the subsequent productions in NYC (Lucille Lortel Award nomination), La Jolla and Laramie, Wyoming. She also designed Leigh Fondakowski’s production, I Think I Like Girls, in NYC. Additional designs include Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Paper Mill Playhouse, Arena Stage, Baltimore Center Stage); Smokey Joe’s Café (Alabama Shakespeare Festival); God’s Man in Texas, Honky Tonk Angels and Spunk (Cincinnati Playhouse); Magna Carta and The Killings Tale (NYS Theatre Institute); Hello Herman (Back House Productions) and Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde in NYC, London, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto and Plymouth, England. Ms. Adams’ company, Blue Hill Design, provides design and production services for special events. Clients have included Pfizer, Canon, Kodak and the Armenian Church. JAKE RODRIGUEZ (Sound Designer) has recently carved out sound and music for Berkeley Repertory Theatre, A.C.T., California Shakespeare Theater, Shotgun Players and Art Street Theatre. Recent credits include music and design for California Shakespeare Theatre’s 2004 productions of The Comedy of Errors and Henry IV, sound design for Berkeley Rep’s productions of Fêtes de la Nuit and Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts, Shotgun Players’ production of The Death of Meyerhold, CalShakes’ 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 Critics Circle Award for Sound Design for his work on The Death of Meyerhold and a 2004 Princess Grace Award for Design. JEAN ISAACS (Movement) returns to Berkeley Rep after having been the movement consultant on Fêtes de la Nuit. She 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 theatre, she recently won the Bay Area Theatre Critics 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-border 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. MARTHA SWETZOFF (Video Designer) is a filmmaker, media designer and educator. Her most recent film, Theme: Murder, showed at a range of festivals from the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival to the San Franscico Gay and Lesbian festival, picking up some awards in the process. Her designs for theatrical projects include Urban Zulu Mambo, presented at the Signature Theater in New York, and The Laramie Project, for which she was nominated for a Lortel Award. She is on the faculty of The Rhode Island School of Design. DENICE STEPHENSON (Researcher/Archivist) is a special project archivist for the Peoples Temple Collection at the California Historical Society in San Francisco. She has provided assistance to researchers for family, scholarly and media projects related to Jonestown and Peoples Temple since 2000, and has served as the play’s archivist and researcher since the beginning of the project. She edited Dear People: Remembering Jonestown, a new book based on papers and photographs from the collection. CAST MICHE BRADEN (Ensemble/Musical Director) is a singer, actor, musician, songwriter, arranger and musical director. The musical heritage of her hometown, Detroit, Michigan helped her hone her talent as a protegé of Motown musicians Earl Van Dyke and Thomas “Beans” Bowles. She was a partner of Jazz Master Composer Harold McKinney and has worked with Regina Carter, Milt Hinton and Lionel Hampton. Ms. Braden is the first vocalist to appear on a James Carter CD, Gardenia’s For Lady. Miche was Musical Director, arranger and portrayed the lead in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, Hot Snow: The Story of Valaida Snow, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and The Devil’s Music: The Life & Blues of Bessie Smith. Miche was recently the winner of “Big Shot on Broadway,” and her prize was playing and singing the finale of Broadway’s Movin’ Out. VELINA BROWN (Ensemble) is pleased to make her Berkeley Rep debut in this amazing piece. Other credits include A.C.T., Denver Center Theatre, TheatreWorks, The Magic Theatre, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Oregon Cabaret Theatre, Thick Description and Word for Word. Velina’s artistic home is the Tony and Obie Award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe. She is a collective member, has performed in every summer show since 1994 and tours with the company nationally and internationally including to Korea, Belgium and Berlin. Velina also does film, television, voice-overs and print. Her most recent film, Bee Season with Richard Gere, is due out this fall. JAMES CARPENTER (Ensemble) was last seen at Berkeley Rep in this season’s Fêtes de la Nuit. He has appeared in over 30 productions on Berkeley Rep’s stage, among them Ghosts, 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! 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. COLMAN DOMINGO (Ensemble) was last seen at Berkeley Rep in Haroun and the Sea of Stories and Journey to the West. Mr. Domingo was recently seen as Lavatche the Clown in All’s Well That Ends Well (California Shakespeare Theater). Recent Off Broadway credits include Henry V (NYSF/Public), Bright Ideas (MCC), Wet (Summer Play Festival) and American Maul (Culture Project). Regionally he has worked at A.C.T., Huntington Theatre Company, Indiana Rep, San Jose Rep, TheaterWorks, S.F. Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Geva, Thick Description and Campo Santo. Film and television work includes Law and Order: Trial by Jury, Law & Order, True Crime, King of the Bingo Game, Around the Fire, Kung Phooey and Nash Bridges among others. ROBERT ERNST (Ensemble) has performed on every major, and small, theatre stage in the Bay Area as well as on television and in the movies. He recently performed in a critically acclaimed production of William Saroyoan’s Time Of Your Life, which was a tri-production sponsored by The Steppenwolf Theatre of Chicago, Seattle Repertory Theatre and A.C.T. Some of Ernst’s stage credits include Proof (Theatreworks), The Hairy Ape (Marin Theatre Company), The Late Henry Moss (understudy for Nick Nolte, Theatre On The Square, Magic Theatre) and Glengarry Glen Ross (Arizona Theatre Company). As a writer and director he and his works have received multiple Dramalogue Awards and a Dean Goodman Award. Ernst has participated in the M.F.A. program at University of Iowa’s Writer’s Workshop and is a co-founder of The Iowa Theatre Lab. Film: At Play in the Fields of the Lord, Jumpin’ Jack Flash and The Sunflower Boy. Television: Nash Brides, Every Knee Shall Bow, Midnight Caller and Hill Street Blues. MARGO HALL (Ensemble/Collaborating Writer) has performed locally at A.C.T. in A Streetcar Named Desire and Hecuba, and as an actor and director for Word for Word. She is a founding member of Campo Santo, the resident theater company at Intersection for the Arts, where she was recently seen in Stairway to Heaven (world premiere by Jessica Hagedorn). Margo has had the pleasure of acting in and directing several world premieres with Campo Santo with such writers as Naomi Iizuka, Phillip Kan Gotanda, Luis Saguar, Greg Sarris, Octavio Solis and Erin Cressida Wilson. She received her M.F.A. from Catholic University in Washington DC, and as an Arena Stage company member performed in The Man Who Came to Dinner, A Midsummer Nights Dream, Our Town, Playboy of the West Indies and Oak and Ivy. She is the proud mom of Brandon and wife of L. Peter Callender. She is delighted that the world premiere is here at Berkeley Rep, and would like to thank the interviewees for their stories. LAUREN KLEIN (Ensemble) has appeared on Broadway in the original casts of Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers and Arthur Miller’s Broken Glass. She has toured with several Broadway-based national tours and played extensively at regional theatres across the country. Favorites include Chuck Mee’s Big Love and Peter Sagal’s Denial, both performances bringing her Critics Circle awards. She recently appeared Off-Broadway in Mr. Goldwyn opposite Alan King. Film and television credits include a recurring role as Judge Soloman on Law & Order, 100 Center Street and A Price Above Rubies. She can be seen dancing and having great fun in a currently running Carnival Cruise Line television spot. JOHN McADAMS (Ensemble) has appeared in The Laramie Project (Union Square Theatre); Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde (Minetta Lane); Everything That Rises Must Converge (NYTW); Mud, River, Stone (Playwrights Horizons); Romola & Nijinsky (Primary Stages); Learning Curve (The Beckett Theater); 93 Acres (HERE) and The Red Death (Ohio Theatre). Regional: One Arm (Steppenwolf), The Laramie Project (Denver Center, Berkeley Rep, La Jolla Playhouse) and How I Learned to Drive (ATL). NY credits include: A Devil Inside and Wally’s Ghost (SoHo Rep), The Memory of Love’s Refrain and Jail Bait (Women’s InterArt Annex) and Downwinders & Vortex du Plasir (Ohio Theatre). Film: The Laramie Project. TV: Law & Order. He is a native of San Diego and holds an M.F.A. from UCSD. GREG PIEROTTI (Ensemble/Head Writer) has spent the last three years collaborating on The People’s Temple both as head writer and actor. He is delighted the world premiere is here at Berkeley Rep where he was also seen in The Laramie Project in the roles of Rulon Stacey, Father Roger and others. An associate writer on that project, he and his collaborators were nominated for a NY Drama Desk Award and for an Emmy for the Teleplay. He also performed the play at the Union Square Theatre in NY, the Denver Center and La Jolla Playhouse. Other performances include Present Laughter at Hartford Stage and George Bernard Shaw in the world premiere of Gross Indecency. Film and TV: The Laramie Project and Law & Order. He would like to thank all the interviewees who have spoken with the writers and have been so generous with their time and their stories. BARBARA PITTS (Ensemble) was last seen at Berkeley Rep in The Laramie Project, with which she appeared Off-Broadway, at La Jolla Playhouse, Denver Center and Sundance Theatre Lab. She most recently performed in Adam Bock’s The Typographer’s Dream (Encore Theatre) and in the world premieres of Rebecca Gilman’s The Sweetest Swing in Baseball and Steve Belber’s Drifting Elegant (Magic Theatre). With writer/director Leigh Fondakowski she performed in I Think I Like Girls (New York, San Francisco, La Jolla Playhouse). Other roles include Mary in Alva Rogers’ belly (New Georges), Gerte in Lynn Nottage’s Crumbs From the Table of Joy (Triad Stage) and most of Shakespeare in Linda Ames Key’s Clowning the Bard. She appeared in the HBO film of The Laramie Project and shares an Emmy Nomination for “Outstanding Writing” of the screenplay. Barbara has been involved (as an actor, writer, director and administrator) in the creation of new plays in New York City since 1993 when she was active in the Circle Rep Lab. She is an affiliated artist of New Georges, an Obie-winning off-off-Broadway theater company, where she has appeared in numerous new plays by women and serves as external affairs coordinator. Film and TV: The Laramie Project, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU and Comedy Central’s Pulp Comics. KELLI SIMPKINS (Ensemble/Dramaturg) has been working with Leigh Fondakowski since 1999, when they collaborated on the multi-media, verbatim theatre piece I Think I Like Girls. She performed the role of the transgender artist Daphne Scholinski at HERE, Cherry Lane Theatre and La Jolla Playhouse. She has been collaborating on The People’s Temple for two years, both as dramaturg and actor, and is honored to be part of this premiere. She is a member of Tectonic Theatre Project and co-created The Laramie Project, along with Moises Kaufman, Fondakowski and the ensemble. She performed her Laramie roles at Denver Center, Berkeley Rep, La Jolla Playhouse and Off-Broadway at Union Square Theatre. She last worked at Steppenwolf Theatre on a Tennessee Williams piece called One Arm which was adapted/directed by Moises Kaufman. Kelli has worked extensively in NYC and regionally. Film/TV credits include: A League of Their Own, Chasing Amy, HBO’s The Laramie Project (Emmy nominated as ensemble writer), Law & Order: CI and most recently, a short film with Power UP entitled The Nearly Unadventurous Life of Zoe Cadwaulder, co-starring Melanie Lynskey. ADAM WADE (Ensemble) makes his Berkeley Rep debut with The People’s Temple. His previous theatre credits include Same Time Next Year with Della Reese, a Las Vegas production of Guys and Dolls with Leslie Uggams, Hamlet and A Lesson Before Dying. His numerous television appearances include Hill Street Blues, Sanford and Son, The Jefferson’s and Good Times. On film he can be seen in The Education of Sonny Carson, Come Back Charleston Blue and Shaft among many others. As a recording artist he released the albums Ruby, Take Good Care of Her, Tell Her For Me and Writing on the Wall. Mr. Wade is a speech and theatre adjunct at LIU and Bloomfield College. 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