Terrence McNally, Playwright Moisés Kaufman, Director Mark Wendland, Scenic Designer Lydia Tanji, Costume Designer David Lander, Lighting Designer Jon Gottlieb, Sound Designer Gary Sheldon, Music Director Nicole Galland, Dramaturg Lynne Soffer, Dialect Coach Michael Suenkel *, Stage Manager Nicole Dickerson *, Assistant Stage Manager Amy Potozkin, Casting Alan Filderman, Casting CAST Rita Moreno, Maria Callas Donna Lynne Champlin, First Soprano (Sophie) Sherry Boone, Second Soprano (Sharon) (May 21–July 15) Teressa Byrne, Second Soprano (Sharon) (July 16–25) Scott Scully, Tenor (Tony) Michael Wiles, Accompanist (Manny) Owen Murphy, Stagehand Cheree A. Sager, Young Maria TERRENCE MCNALLY (Playwright) won the 1996 Tony Award for best play for Master Class, in which Zoe Caldwell created the role of Maria Callas. His other Tony Awards were for Best Book of a Musical for Ragtime in 1998; the 1995 Tony (as well as the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards) for Love! Valour! Compassion!; and the 1993 Tony for his book of the musical Kiss of the Spiderwoman. His recent works include The Stendahl Syndrome at Primary Stages, the book for The Visit (score by Kander and Ebb), the libretto for Dead Man Walking (music by Jake Heggie) and book for The Full Monty. His other plays include Corpus Christi; A Perfect Ganesh; Lips Together, Teeth Apart; The Lisbon Traviata; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune and It’s Only a Play. Earlier stage works include Bad Habits, The Ritz, Where Has Tommy Flowers Gone?, And Things That Go Bump in the Night, Next and the book for the musical The Rink (music and lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb). For the Central Park Opera trilogy presented at the New York City Opera in the fall of 1999 he wrote the libretto for The Food of Love, with music by Robert Beaser. Mr. McNally has received two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller Grant, a Lucille Lortel Award and a citation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has been a member of the Dramatists Guild since 1970. MOISÉS KAUFMAN (Director) is an award-winning playwright and director whose plays Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde and The Laramie Project are among the most performed plays in America over the last decade. He also directed the film adaptation of The Laramie Project which aired on HBO. The film was the opening night selection at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, won a Special Mention for best first film at the Berlin Film Festival and earned Mr. Kaufman two Emmy nominations for Best Director and Best Writer. He made his Broadway debut in December 2003 directing the new play I Am My Own Wife by Doug Wright. The play won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and won Mr. Kaufman a Village Voice Obie award for direction in addition to nominations for the Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle awards, all of which will be announced shortly. Other directing credits include Women in Becket, Machinal, In the Winter of Cities and The Nest. Mr. Kaufman is a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship and the following awards: Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle, Joe Callaway and GLAAD Media, among others. Mr. Kaufman is Artistic Director of the Tectonic Theatre Project in New York. MARK WENDLAND (Scenic Designer) previously designed Much Ado About Nothing at Berkeley Rep. His Broadway credits include: Death of a Salesman and An Almost Holy Picture. Recent Off-Broadway credits include The Mysteries (Classic Stage Company), Iron (Manhattan Theatre Club), Eight Days Backwards (The Vineyard) and the Public Theater productions of Henry V and Fucking A. Regional venues include The Guthrie, The Goodman, Steppenwolf, Trinity Rep, The Alley, McCarter, Huntington, La Jolla Playhouse and Mark Taper Forum, among many others. LYDIA TANJI (Costume Designer) is delighted to be back at Berkeley Rep, having last designed costumes for Homebody/Kabul. Other recent productions include 36 Views (Portland Center Stage, Geva Theatre), Sun Cycles (Yerba Buena Center and Hong Kong Cultural Center) and The Wind Cries Mary (San Jose Rep). Other theatres she has worked with include: the Public Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, Pan Asian Rep, Syracuse Rep, Arena Stage, Huntington Theatre, the Mark Taper Forum, South Coast Rep, Seattle Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Indiana Rep, Aurora Theater, A.C.T. and the Childrens’ Theatre in Minneapolis. She is the recipient of five Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and two Drama-Logue awards. Ms. Tanji’s film credits include: The Joy Luck Club, Hot Summer Winds, Dim Sum, The Wash, A Thousand Pieces of Gold and Life Tastes Good. DAVID LANDER (Lighting Designer) Mr. Lander’s Broadway credits include: I Am My Own Wife directed by Moisés Kaufman (Outer Critics Circle Nomination), Dirty Blonde (Drama Desk Nomination) and Golden Child by David Henry Hwang. His Off-Broadway credits include: I Am My Own Wife (Lucille Lortel Nomination), Address Unknown, Grandma Sylvia’s Funeral and Beautiful Child by Nicky Silver. Regional credits include: Fran’s Bed starring Mia Farrow, Claudia Lazlo by Arthur Laurents and Venecia starring Chita Rivera. Other credits include: Sundance Summer Theatre, St. Louis MUNY 2002/3, Playwrights Horizons, Pasadena Playhouse, The Old Globe, Kennedy Center, Long Warf Theatre and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Internationally, he has designed opera in Japan and theatre in the U.K. and Singapore. David’s architectural lighting designs can be seen in Theme Parks in San Diego and Orlando, and Public Art installations in New York, Denver, Providence and Pittsburgh. JON GOTTLIEB (Sound Designer) Over the last 25 years Jon has designed the sound for hundreds of theatrical productions nationally and internationally. He serves as the resident sound designer for Center Theatre Group; Mark Taper Forum / Ahmanson Theatres. Jon also serves as the Acting Dean of the School of Theater at California Institute of the Arts where he also heads the Sound Design program. Local Los Angeles productions include Stones in his Pockets, Like Jazz and Big River at the Mark Taper Forum, The Royal Family at the Ahmanson, King Lear for The Center for New Theater at CalArts. Broadway designs include: QED (Lincoln Center), Master Class by Terence McNally and Neil Simon’s The Dinner Party. Mr. Gottlieb has received eight Los Angeles Drama Critic’s Circle Awards, over 60 Drama-Logue and L.A. Weekly Awards, Career Achievement awards from The Los Angeles Theatre Alliance, the L.A. Weekly and the Los Angeles Theatre Center, and was recently presented with the Distinguished Artist Award from the Los Angeles Music Center Club 100. For Disney Imagineering, he created original sound effects and design for two attractions at Walt Disney World in Florida. GARY SHELDON (Music Director) Maestro Gary Sheldon served as conductor of the Marin Symphony from 1990—2001. His innovative programming included numerous world premieres and establishing the Bay Area Composers Symposium. He was awarded the Bill Graham Memorial Prize for Distinguished Service in the Arts by the Marin Cultural Museum in 1996. Sheldon has also conducted for the Opera Theatre of Syracuse, Eugene Opera, Sarasota Opera and the Spoleto Festival in Italy. He is currently artistic director of the Lancaster Festival in Ohio and Principal Conductor at the Festival at Sandpoint in Idaho. This season he makes his San Francisco Ballet conducting debut. NICOLE DICKERSON (Assistant Stage Manager) has worked most recently with Word for Word as stage manager and production coordinator for their Tour de France 2004 in and around Paris, France. Her last three years in the Bay Area have included work on Times like These and Windows and Mirrors at Traveling Jewish Theatre, The Guys at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Colossus of Rhodes and For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again at American Conservatory Theater and Tartuffe at Napa Valley Repertory Theatre. She was stage manager and technical director for the national tour of At the Hawk’s Well with Tokyo based company Noh Gaku and San Francisco’s Theatre of Yugen. CAST RITA MORENO * (Maria Callas) is the only female performer to have won the four most prestigious show business awards—the Oscar (and the Golden Globe) for her performance as Anita in West Side Story; the Tony for her outrageous invention of the untalented but totally self-assured Puerto Rican performer in the Broadway play The Ritz; the Grammy for her performance on The Electric Company album for children and Emmys for her appearances on The Muppet Show and The Rockford Files. In 1995 she was given her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. During her long career Ms. Moreno has appeared in more than 40 feature films, most notably The Four Seasons, Carnal Knowledge and The King and I. She has made countless television appearances, most recently as one of the leads of the critically acclaimed series Oz. In 1997 she played Norma Desmond in the London production of Sunset Boulevard. Ms. Moreno is grateful to Nicole Steen for her invaluable research on Maria Callas. Tonight, thanks to the talent of Terrence McNally who wrote The Ritz and Master Class, Ms. Moreno will have played the two most divergent divas imaginable: Maria Callas and Googie Gomez. Ms. Moreno also wishes to thank Moisés Kaufman for the time of her life. DONNA LYNNE CHAMPLIN * (Sophie) Ms. Champlin’s Broadway credits include: Harold Prince/Carol Burnett’s Hollywood Arms (Older Helen), James Joyce’s The Dead (Mary Jane), Ayckbourn/Webber’s By Jeeves (Honoria) and City Center’s Bloomer Girl (Daisy). Her Off-Broadway credits include: First Lady Suite, My Life With Albertine, Reunion and Carnegie Hall’s Very Warm For May. She has also appeared in the national tour of Jolson (Ruby Keeler). Her California Regional theatre credits include 3hree and James Joyce’s The Dead at The Ahmanson and By Jeeves at The Geffen. She trained at Carnegie Mellon University (High Honors B.F.A.) and Oxford University (Balliol College—Advanced Acting Scholarship for Shakespeare and Chekhov). A recipient of the Princess Grace Award for theatre, Ms. Champlin can be heard on many cast albums and CDs. For more information please visit www.donnalynnechamplin.com. SHERRY BOONE * (Sharon, May 21–July 15) comes directly from a triumphant performance as Marian Anderson in Michael John La Chiusa’s First Lady Suite and a debut at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival. The New York Times declared her performance of Lincoln Center’s Marie Christine as “first rate.” She starred with renowned authors Gish Jen, Walter Mosely, Pulitzer Prize-winner Nilo Cruz and noted violinist Choliang Lin in Stirring the Pot before the Asian, Black and Hispanic Congressional Caucuses in Puerto Rico. Ms. Boone starred in the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s Only Heaven, lyrics by Langston Hughes. Opera credits include The Scrimshaw Violin (Band Leader)—libretto Jonathan Levine, music Bruce Saylor, direction Mel Marvin, and Marvin and Levine’s Guest from the Future (Olga). She debuted with The National Symphony Orchestra at The Kennedy Center in Robert Kapilow’s And Furthermore, They Bite!. Guest Soloist: Philadelphia Orchestra, The Celebrity Series of Boston. Broadway debut: Jelly’s Last Jam (Maman) starring Gregory Hines, director George C. Wolfe. August 2004—Ellen Craft: A New Opera, lyrics by Sherry Boone and music by Sean Jeremy Palmer, debuts in Dallas, Texas. TERESSA BYRNE * (Sharon, July 16–25) comes directly from playing Sharon in the Fountain Theatre’s long-running Master Class in Los Angeles, at the Fountain in Hollywood and the Odyssey in West L.A. Regional theatre: Kismet (Princess of Ababu/u.s. Marsinah) and On the Twentieth Century (Anita/u.s. Lily Garland)–Reprise! L.A.; My Fair Lady (Eliza)–PCPA; The Countess (title role) and Master Class (Sharon)–Ensemble Th. Santa Barbara; A Christmas Carol–GeVa, Rochester NY; Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Millie)–San Diego Starlight; Anything Goes (Hope)–AMT San Jose; The Pirates of Penzance (Mabel)–Santa Ana; The Taffetas (Cheryl)–Sierra Rep; On The Twentieth Century (Lily Garland & Ensemble)–Colony Theatre, Burbank. Opera: Un Ballo In Maschera (Oscar) and La Gioconda (Laura). Variety: Principal Entertainer, Norwegian Cruise Lines; 2004 actors’ company, Academy for New Musical Theatre. Indie film/video: “The Plague of Luna,” “Dance Hall,” “Shakespeare…In & Out,” “Molly Morgan”. Various commercial and print credits. B.A. Theater Arts, UCLA. Upcoming in August 2004: Brigadoon (Jane/u.s. Fiona) for Reprise!. Grateful thanks to Berkeley Rep and Mr. Kaufman for this incredible opportunity. Love to husband Peter (Mozart and G&S next, I promise). SCOTT SCULLY * (Tony) made his professional opera debut in La Bohème with Fort Worth Opera in 1998. He has worked with such noted conductors as Christoph Eschenbach, Roberto Abbado, Anton Guadagno, Alain Lombard, James Conlon, Julius Rudel and Patrick Summers. He is a three-time MacAllister Opera Award winner (1997, 1998 and 2001) as well as the Metropolitan Opera Encouragement Award winner in 1997 and the Metropolitan Opera’s “Pavarotti award” winner in 1999. He debuted with the Houston Grand Opera in 1999 in Aida, where he has also appeared in Tristan und Isolde, Nabucco, Pagliacci, Prince Igor, Don Carlo, The Tender Land, Carmen, Rigoletto, Abduction from the Seraglio, Of Mice and Men and Samson and Delila. Mr. Scully made his debut with the San Francisco Opera Center’s Merola Program in 2002 as Rodolfo in La Bohème and repeated the role on the Western Opera Theatre Tour. He recently made his Arizona Opera debut as Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore followed by Bizet’s Les Pecheurs de Perles in 2003. MICHAEL WILES * (Manny) was last seen at Berkeley Rep in 2001’s The Oresteia. Other West Coast stage credits include work with American Conservatory Theater (Edward II, A Christmas Carol), American Musical Theater (Big River), two seasons with California Shakespeare Theater (Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It, Scapin, Edward II), Center Repertory Company (The Glass Menagerie, A Christmas Carol), Marin Shakespeare Company (Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, 1001 Arabian Nights), San Francisco Shakespeare Festival (Love’s Labour’s Lost) and Tacoma Actor’s Guild (Twelfth Night). Mr. Wiles has served as Musical Director on over 30 productions, including Threepenny Opera, Grease!, Chicago, Guys and Dolls, Godspell, Fiddler on the Roof, Working, West Side Story, Quilters, Bye Bye Birdie, The Apple Tree, Gunmetal Blues, Barnum, Annie, Once Upon a Mattress, Anything Goes and The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Mr. Wiles studied at the Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts, and is a graduate of the Professional Actor’s Conservatory at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. OWEN MURPHY * (Stagehand) began his career in England and has worked in theatre in the United States for the last 22 years. He recently appeared as Morgan in the Drawer Boy at the B Street Theatre in Sacramento. Some of his other works in California include Therese Raquin, St. Joan, Flea in Her Ear, Dear Master, Posing for Gauguin, Split and Transcendental Wild Oats at the Aurora Theatre. He has played his favorite characters, Ebenezer Scrooge, for the Warehouse Rep, and James Connolly in The Tide Can Wait. This is his first performance at Berkeley Rep and he is inarticulately ecstatic to be a player in this cast. CHEREE A. SAGER (Young Maria) is pleased to be making her Berkeley Rep debut with such a talented director, cast and crew. Recent Bay Area credits include: The Bachhae; John Fisher’s The Barbeque Murders and Queer Theory; Daughter of the Floods; and several independent film projects. Her favorite roles include Julia in Two Gentlemen of Verona and Alain Boutros in Red Noses. Cheree received her B.A. in Dramatic Art from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. * 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