06/07 season
Charles Dickens, Author
Neil Bartlett, Adaptor and Director
Gerard McBurney, Composer
Rae Smith, Scenic and Costume Design
Simon Deacon, Music Adaptor and Director
Struan Leslie, Movement Director
Scott Zielinski, Lighting Design
David Remedios, Sound Design
Chris De Camillis, Production Stage Manager
Laura Hitt, Dialect Coach
Deborah Brown Casting, Casting
cast (in order of appearance)
Carson Elrod, John Dawkins / The Artful Dodger
Michael Wartella, Oliver Twist
Remo Airaldi, Mr. Bumble
Karen MacDonald, Mrs. Bumble
Thomas Derrah, Mr. Sowerberry / Mr. Grimwig / Mr. Fang
Gregory Derelian, Bill Sykes / Mrs. Sowerberry
Jennifer Ikeda, Nancy
Ned Eisenberg, Fagin
Steven Boyer, Noah Claypole / Tom Chitling
Craig Pattison, Charley Bates
Lucas Steele, Toby Crackit
Will LeBow, Mr. Brownlow
Elizabeth Jasicki, Rose Brownlow / Charlotte Sowerberry
charles dickens
(Author, source material) (1812–1870) was born into a moderately wealthy family in Hampshire, England. When he was 12, his father was imprisoned for debt and Dickens began working 10-hour days in a factory. Dickens began his literary career in journalism, which led to the 1836 publication of his collected news stories, Sketches by Boz (his pen-name). Shortly after, he published his first serial novel, The Pickwick Papers, followed by Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge, in the next four years. His popular success continued with A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, Bleak House, A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations. In 1867, Dickens began a tour of public readings of his novels, with tremendous passion for his presentations, using different voices for each character. He died in 1870, shortly after his second readings tour in England. To this day, no Dickens novel or short story has ever gone out of print.
neil bartlett
(Adaptor and Director) was an early member of Complicité and a founding member of Gloria Theatre Company, which created 13 new works over ten years, including Night After Night, Sarrasine, The Seven Sacraments of Nicolas Poussin and A Vision of Love Revealed in Sleep. From 1994 to 2004 he was artistic director of the Lyric Hammersmith in London. His 24 productions there included collaborations with Robert Lepage, Improbable Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company; and stagings of Balzac, Britten, Dickens, Dumas, Genet, Labiche, Kleist, Marivaux, Maugham, Molière, Rattigan, Shakespeare and Wilde, plus five Christmas shows. His plays, adaptations, performance pieces and translations have been performed at theatres across Britain and America, including at the Arena Stage, The Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, the Goodman Theatre and the National Theatre and Royal Court Theatre, both in London. His third novel, published in the US as The House on Brooke Street, was nominated for the Whitbread Prize; his Lyric production of Shakespeare’s Pericles was nominated for an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement. In 2006 he staged his first opera, Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress for Aldeburgh Festival. Neil’s future plans include Genet’s The Maids with Katherine Hunter for the Brighton Festival, Twelfth Night for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the publication of his fourth novel, Skin Lane.
gerard mcburney
(Composer) studied composition and orchestration at the Moscow Conservatory in the 1980s. He lives in London and is a frequent radio broadcaster, especially for BBC Radio 3. In addition to several TV documentaries about composers, Gerard has written theatrical compositions for the English National Ballet, Lyric Hammersmith and the National Youth Music Theatre. Many of his concert works are inspired by Russian themes, including A Winter’s Walk Round The Park at Troitse-Lykovo for the Spitalfields Festival and Letter to Paradise for the 1998 Proms. Gerard’s other projects include projects with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester (intended to introduce young schoolchildren to the pleasures of music for a symphony orchestra), the Kronos Quartet and Sage Centre in Newcastle-on-Tyne. Gerard teaches musical history and analysis at the Royal Academy of Music in London, is currently distinguished visiting fellow in Russian and Soviet music within the School of Music and Drama at Manchester University and was recently appointed artistic programming advisor and creative director of “Beyond the Score” at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
rae smith
(Scenic and Costume Designer) is pleased to create the sets and costumes for Oliver Twist, her 11th collaboration with Neil Bartlett. Her wide range of theatre work ranges from classical (including As You Like It, Pedro the Great Pretender, The Phoenician Women, Henry IV and Cymbeline with the Royal Shakespeare Company); to modern (such as Conor McPherson’s Shining City and Dublin Carol and Joe Penall’s Some Voices and Presence with The Royal Court); to experimental (Silence Silence Silence at Mladinsko Theatre in Slovenia and Fiat Medea with the Kosmokinetical Theatre of Red Pilot in the former Yugoslavia). Rae’s work previously seen in the US includes the Broadway production of Conor McPherson’s The Weir, Juno and the Paycock with Roundabout Theatre Company; Complicité’s production of The Street of Crocodiles at the Lincoln Center Festival; as well as their The Visit at Spoleto Festival and Dinner (Ralph, Ralph/Jacobs Pillow), also at Spoleto. Currently, Rae is working on Wagner’s Ring Cycle at Opera du Rhin in Strausbourg and St. Joan and Warhorse at The National Theatre in London. She will be opening Conor McPherson’s The Seafarer at the Booth Theatre in New York this December.
simon deacon
(Music Adaptor and Director) composed original music for the world premiere of Giovanni’s Room with The Drill Hall in London, and for productions at Complicité, the Royal National Theatre, Salisbury Playhouse, the Sheffield Theatre, the Theatre Centre and Theatre Royal Stratford East. Simon served as music director for Neil Bartlett’s Christmas Carol, Pericles and Oliver Twist at the Lyric Hammersmith, also providing music direction in New York for Jackie: An American Life at the Belasco Theater, Jayson: The Musical at 45th Street Theatre, Taming of the Shrew with Shakespeare in the Park and The Miser with Teatro Ornintorrinco in Sao Paulo. Simon’s other credits include work with Heart’s Content as an Artist-in-Residence and Jazz Dance America, as well as performances with Bloolips, Bloo Review, Dark Pocket, Justin Bond and The Freudian Slippers, Jerriese Johnson East Village Gospel Choir, Unfinished Symphony, Sweet Metal Choir in Liverpool (with Neo Muyanga) and the Los Angeles, New York and European tours with Yoshiko Chuma & The School of Hard Knocks. Simon has also worked with the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts and the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore. Along with Struan Leslie, he is the co-artistic director of Next Generation Theatre. Simon was a Fulbright Scholar at the Manhattan School of Music from 1995 to 1997.
struan leslie
(Movement Director) trained at London Contemporary Dance School and at The Naropa Institute, Colorado, where he worked with Trisha Brown, Ann Carlson, Meredith Monk, Steve Paxton, Nancy Stark-Smith and Ruth Zaporah. His recent work includes the 2007 tour of Long Time Dead with Theatre Royal Plymouth; Les Negres at Theatre Freiburg, Germany; George Enescu’s opera Oedipe at Theatre Bielefeld, Germany; and The Seagull, No (Sea) No (Gull) at the National Theatre in London. Struan has also worked at the Aldeburgh Almeida Opera, Donmar Warehouse in London, the English National Opera, Piccolo Teatro di Milano, Regent’s Park, Royal Court Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Welsh National Opera. Struan’s directing credits include Carmen at the Welsh National Opera, Mourning Becomes Elektra at Arts Ed in London and Song of Songs at the University of Illinois. For film and television, Struan directed Casanova, the BBC production of Our Mutual Friend and the soon-to-be-released remake of Sleuth.
scott zielinski
(Lighting Designer) has worked extensively at regional theatres throughout the U.S., including four productions at Berkeley Rep. In New York, his work includes the Broadway production of Topdog/Underdog, as well as work at Lincoln Center, New York Theater Workshop, The Public and Theatre for a New Audience among others. Internationally his work includes productions in Adelaide, Berlin, Edinburgh, Fukuoka, Goteborg, Hamburg, Hong Kong, London, Luang Prabang, Oslo, Ottawa, Paris, Rotterdam, Singapore, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Tokyo, Toronto, Vienna and Zurich. Dance highlights include work with Twyla Tharp at American Dance Festival, The Joyce and the Kennedy Center as well as productions at American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, Centre National de la Danse, National Ballet of Canada and San Francisco Ballet. His opera designs include work for Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), The English National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, New York City Opera, Minnesota Opera, Opera Colorado, Pittsburgh Opera, Spoleto USA and Toronto Opera.
david remedios
(Sound Designer) created the soundscape for last season’s production of The Miser. He is resident sound designer at A.R.T., where his work has been heard in 36 productions including Absolution; Amerika; Antigone; Britannicus; Dido, Queen of Carthage; Enrico IV; Highway Ulysses; Island of Slaves; Man and Superman; No Man’s Land; Oedipus; Olly’s Prison; No Exit; Nocturne; The Onion Cellar; Orpheus X; Snow in June; Stone Cold Dead Serious; and original compositions for Mother Courage and Her Children and The Provok’d Wife. He has toured regionally and internationally for A.R.T. His other regional credits include work at 92nd St. Y, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, Boston Theatre Works, CenterStage, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Emerson Stage, La Jolla Playhouse, New Repertory Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop and Vineyard Playhouse. David has created dance soundscapes for Lorraine Chapman as well as for Concord Academy and Snappy Dance Theatre Company. He is the recipient of five IRNE Award nominations and the 2001 Elliot Norton Award for sound design.
chris de camillis
(Stage Manager) is A.R.T.’s production stage manager and artistic coordinator, having shepherded 25 productions on their stages. His off-Broadway credits include The Boys in the Band at Lucille Lortel Theatre, Pride’s Crossing at the Lincoln Center, Raised in Captivity at the Vineyard Theatre, Slavs! with the New York Theatre Workshop and ‘Till the Rapture Comes with the W.P.A. Theatre. Chris’ regional credits include three seasons at the Berkshire Theatre Festival and work at the Fiesta San Antonio, George Street Playhouse, the Guthrie, San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre, Shakespeare & Company and 15 productions over five seasons at The Acting Company (including Liviu Ciulei’s As You Like It, Joe Dowling’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Zelda Fichlandler’s production of A Doll’s House).
laura hitt
(Dialect Coach) has coached, performed in and collaboratively created new theatre, musicals and opera for the past 25 years in Chicago, New York and Providence as well as in the Bay Area with Project Artaud Theater and Whoopi Goldberg Productions. Her original work includes national and international perfomances of her one-woman music theatre piece, Dust Singing into Light: A Vision of Hildegard of Bingen. Laura has also worked as a dialect, voice/text and performance coach with theatre and business professionals, and in numerous theatre and music productions in New York and Boston, including And Then We Go On, Blue/Orange and Homebody/Kabul. She has been a faculty lecturer about the voice, body and creative vision at several universities including the Boston Conservatory and Brown University. She is currently an associate professor of voice and speech at West Virginia University.
cast
remo airaldi
(Mr. Bumble) makes his Berkeley Rep debut with this production. Remo has appeared in over 50 productions at American Repertory Theatre (A.R.T.) including Amerika; The Birthday Party; Buried Child; Dido, Queen of Carthage; La Dispute; Enrico IV; Henry IV and V; Island of Slaves; The King Stag; Marat/Sade; A Midsummer Night’s Dream; The Miser; No Exit; The Onion Cellar; Pericles; The Provok’d Wife; Romeo and Juliet; Shlemiel the First; Six Characters in Search of an Author; Tartuffe; Uncle Vanya; Waiting for Godot; The Winter’s Tale; and The Wild Duck. His other regional credits include work at Actors Theatre of Louisville, American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.), Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, the Geffen Playhouse, Hartford Stage, La Jolla Playhouse, Moscow Art Theatre, Prince Music Theater, Serious Fun Festival, Taipei International Arts Festival and Walnut Street Theatre.
steven boyer
(Noah Claypole / Tom Chitling) appeared on Broadway in I’m Not Rappaport, directed by Dan Sullivan, which also played at Coconut Grove Playhouse, Ford’s Theatre and Paper Mill Playhouse. New York credits include Michael John Garces’ Audio/Video with The Drama League, I Heart Kant at the Committee Theatre Company, The Mooncalf at Abingdon Theatre Company and Which Wolf is Which at Partial Comfort Productions among others. Regionally, Steven’s credits include Neil Bartlett’s adaptation of Camille at Bard SummerScape, Jordan Harrison’s Act a Lady at the Humana Festival, Comedy of Errors and Hamlet with Shakespeare Santa Cruz and work at the McCarter Theatre Center, Capital Repertory Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Festival and Merrimack Repertory Theatre. His television work includes Ed, Law & Order and the pilot House of Detention, with voiceover work in video games and audiobooks. An accomplished standup comedian and comedy writer, Steven has a B.F.A. from The Juilliard School and was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year 2006.
gregory derelian
(Bill Sykes / Mrs. Sowerberry) made his Broadway debut with Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses at Circle in the Square. Off Broadway, Gregory’s credits include As You Like It, Henry V and Othello at the New York Shakespeare Festival and The Hairy Ape at Irish Repertory Theatre. Gregory was a resident actor with The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey for several seasons, appearing as Pyotr in The Forest, Mark Antony in Julius Caesar, Macduff in Macbeth, Cassio in Othello, Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew and Caliban in The Tempest. His other regional credits include work at the Fulton Opera House, Huntington Theatre Company, Yale Repertory Theatre and What Exit? Theatre Company. His film and television credits include All My Children, As the World Turns, Blur of Insanity, Cinco de Mayo, Guiding Light, Order of the Serpentine and The Pizza Boy. Gregory has an M.F.A. in acting from Yale School of Drama.
thomas derrah
(Mr. Sowerberry / Mr. Grimwig / Mr. Fang) appeared in Jackie: An American Life on Broadway, and in Big Time and Johan Padan and the Discovery of the Americas off Broadway. He is a company member of A.R.T., and has worked at numerous theatres around the world, including the Alley Theatre, A.C.T., Battersea Arts Center in London, the Goodman Theatre and Prince Music Theater. In addition, Thomas has toured with A.R.T. nationally and internationally, including residencies in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco as well as Canada, Israel, Japan, Taiwan, Russia and elsewhere in Europe. His television and film credits include A&E’s Del and Alex, where he played Alex, Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River, Julie Taymor’s Fool’s Fire with PBS American Playhouse and Unsolved Mysteries. Thomas is the recipient of a 1997 Drama-Logue Award for the title role in Shlemiel the First, the 1994 Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence and IRNE Awards for Best Actor in 2000 and 2004. He is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.
ned eisenberg
(Fagin) appeared in the Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning play Awake and Sing and The Green Bird on Broadway. His off-Broadway credits include Antigone in New York and Moving Targets at Vineyard Theatre; Bloomer Girl and Pal Joey at City Center Theatre; Hesh and Meshugah with Naked Angels Theater Company; King John and Titus Andronicus at Theatre for a New Audience; and Red Address at Second Stage Theatre. Ned’s regional work includes Guys and Dolls at Long Wharf, Middle of Nowhere at the Prince Music Center and Street Scene at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, plus the Lost in Yonkers national tour. He has also appeared in numerous films including Celebrity, Cheaters, A Civil Action, Dash and Lily, Flags of Our Fathers, Head of State, Let it Snow, Last Man Standing, Million Dollar Baby, Path to Paradise, Primary Colors, Winchell and World Trade Center. His television credits include The Black Donnellys, Cheaters, Dragnet, Law & Order, Law & Order: CI, Law & Order: SVU, Rescue Me, The Sopranos and Whoopi. Ned is a Fox Fellowship recipient and a member of Naked Angels, Ensemble Studio Theatre and the Actors Workshop Company.
carson elrod
(John Dawkins / The Artful Dodger) has appeared on Broadway in Reckless and Noises Off, and off Broadway in the East River Amphitheatre production of Waiting for Godot; Based on a Totally True Story (for which he received a Drama League nomination), Comic Potential and House/Garden with Manhattan Theatre Club; and in Cavedweller with New York Theatre Workshop. Regionally, his credits include work at Center Stage, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Hangar Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Shakespeare & Company, Westport Country Playhouse and Yale Rep. Carson’s film roles include work in Kissing Jessica Stein, Wedding Crashers and When A Stranger Calls, and he’s appeared on The Andy Dick Show, HBO’s Carnivale, Lifegame, Law & Order: CI, Medium and Out of Practice. The founder of two improv troupes, God Squad and Hypothetical 7, Carson has a B.A. from Kansas University, an M.F.A. from NYU and is both a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect and the recipient of a 1999 Princess Grace Foundation Award.
jennifer ikeda
(Nancy) made her Broadway debut as Sarah in Edward Albee’s Seascape. She has appeared regionally with The Shakespeare Theaters in both Washington DC and New Jersey, with the Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis and at the Chautauqua Conservatory Theater. Jennifer’s New York credits include As You Like It with the NYSF/Public Theater at the Delacorte in Central Park; Two Noble Kinsmen and another As You Like It with The Public; Coriolanus with TFNA; Jordan Harrison’s Kid Simple with the Summer Play Festival; The Square with Ma-Yi Theatre Company; and Neil Bartlett’s translation of The Dispute with the National Asian American Theatre Company. Jennifer’s television and film credits include Guiding Light, Heavy Petting and the voice of Kimi on Nate the Great for PBS (Fall 2007). Her voice can also be heard on NPR’s “Selected Shorts”, as well as various audiobooks, one of which earned a 2005 Audie Award. Jennifer holds a B.F.A. from Juilliard.
elizabeth jasicki
(Rose / Charlotte) made her debut on the New York stage last year with Jennifer Jason Leigh in Abigail’s Party for The New Group. Her UK credits include the West End production of When Harry Met Sally with Alison Hannigan, Luke Perry and Molly Ringwald; the UK and US tour of As You Like It with the Peter Hall Company for Theatre Royal Bath; as well as Beauty and the Beast, Cancer Tales, David Copperfield, Jane Eyre, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Man and Superman, They’re Playing Our Song, Relatively Speaking, The Talented Mr. Ripley and The Wizard of Oz. Elizabeth also played in numerous tours in the US of The Canterbury Tales, Dracula and The Hunchback of Notre Dame for New Vic Theatre of London. Her television and film credits include Buddha of Suburbia and Watching the Detectives both for BBC, The Vanishing Man, Christie Malry’s Own Double Entry, Room for Uncertainty, Summer Rain, Dinner in Purgatory and La Belle Dame Sans Merci.
will lebow
(Mr. Brownlow) has appeared in 46 productions at A.R.T., earning a Drama Desk nomination for his work as the Father in Nocturne and an Elliot Norton Award for best actor when he portrayed Heiner Müller in Full Circle. Will has appeared as Shylock in Andrei Serban’s production of Merchant of Venice with A.R.T. and toured Taiwan with the company’s production of The King Stag. He has also appeared at numerous regional companies including Boston Pops Orchestra, the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company and Gloucester Stage Company. He can be seen in the film Next Stop Wonderland and was heard for six seasons on Cable Ace Award-winning animated series Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist as the voice of Stanley.
karen macdonald
(Mrs. Bumble) is a founding member of A.R.T., where she has been in 60 productions, including Island of Slaves, No Exit, Olly’s Prison, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Othello, The Birthday Party and Mother Courage. Her New England appearances include The Beauty Queen of Leenane at Vineyard Playhouse, Hamlet and Twelfth Night at Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, The Misanthrope at Berkshire Theatre Festival, Shirley Valentine at Charles Playhouse and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at Merrimack Repertory Theatre. She has been the recipient of numerous Eliot Norton and IRNE Awards for her performances. In New York, Karen has worked at Theatre for a New Audience, The Roundabout, Playwrights Horizons and Second Stage. Nationally, she’s worked at many resident theatres including The Alley (where she was a company member), Cinncinnati Playhouse, the Goodman, Hartford Stage and the Wilma Theatre. She has directed Dressed Up! Wigged Out! and Surly Girl at the Boston Playwrights Theatre. She’s delighted to be at Berkeley Rep.
craig pattison
(Charley Bates) most recently appeared in Jesus Hates Me with Denver Center Theatre Company. His other regional credits include As You Like It, The Real Thing and Taming of the Shrew with Alabama Shakespeare Festival and Camino Real, Glimmer Brothers and ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore with Williamstown Theatre Festival. In New York, Craig has appeared in Moonchildren and Pains of Youth with HERE Arts Center, Three Birds at Gale Gates Et Al, The Maids at the Linhart Theater and Twenty Gorilla Killer at the Red Room. His film credits include The Franklin Abraham and The Thing About My Folks with Peter Falk and Paul Reiser.
lucas steele
(Toby Crackit) made his Broadway debut in last year’s production of The Threepenny Opera with Alan Cumming and Cyndi Lauper. Other New York credits include All American Boy at the New York International Fringe Festival, Cheri at The Actors Studio, Corpus Christie at the Bouwerie Lane Theatre and Dalliance in Vienna at the American Theatre of Actors. Regional credits include A Chorus Line, The Human Comedy and My Fair Lady. Off-stage, Lucas is an accomplished musician and vocalist who writes and performs his own material. He is also a violinist and lead vocalist for the Infinite Orchestra and a member of The Broadway Boys. For more information visit lucassteele.com, infiniteorchestra.com and broadwayboys.com.
michael wartella
(Oliver Twist) recently completed the tour of Seussical: The Musical, in which he played JoJo. His other credits include several productions with Barrington Stage Company, including Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors; four productions with Shakespeare & Company including Laertes in Hamlet and Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing; and Ren McCormick in Footloose with Monument Mount Theater. In New York, he portrayed Fleance in Macbeth and Quintessential White in Clown Shorts. Michael is a graduate of Circle on the Square’s two-year training program and is thrilled to be a part of this production.
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.
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