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Martin McDonagh, Playwright
Les Waters, Director
Antje Ellermann, Scenic Design
Anna R. Oliver, Costume Design
Russell H. Champa, Lighting Design
Obadiah Eaves, Original Music and Sound Design
Michael Suenkel *, Stage Manager
Dave Maier, Fight Director
Madeleine Oldham, Dramaturg
Amy Potozkin, Casting
Janet Foster, New York Casting
Tony Amendola, Tupolski
Erik Lochtefeld, Katurian
Andy Murray, Ariel
Nancy Carlin, Mother
Howard Swain, Father
Brendan Reilly, Little Boy
Gabriel Vergez, Little Boy
Matthew Maher, Michal
Brigette Lundy-Paine, Little Girl
Madeline Silverman, Little Girl
(Playwright) became, in 1997, the first playwright since Shakespeare to have four works playing in London’s West End in the same season. Three of his works—The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Pillowman and The Lonesome West—have been nominated for Tony Awards; The Pillowman won the 2004 Olivier Award for Best Play. Martin’s other plays include The Banshees of Inisheer, The Cripple of Inishmaan, Dead Day at Coney and A Skull in Connemara. He also wrote the films Barney Nenagh’s Shotgun Circus, Suicide on Sixth Street, Seven Psychopaths and Six Shooter, for which he won a 2006 Academy Award for Best Short Film. Martin is currently filming his directorial debut, In Bruges, and promises someday to write “a romantic comedy where hardly anyone gets murdered at all.”
(Director) is in his fourth year as associate artistic director of Berkeley Rep, where he has staged Eurydice, Fêtes de la Nuit, Finn in the Underworld, The Glass Menagerie, The Mystery of Irma Vep, Suddenly Last Summer and Yellowman. He won an Obie Award for Big Love, directing its premiere at the Humana Festival and subsequent runs at Berkeley Rep, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), the Classic Stage Company, Goodman Theatre and Long Wharf Theater. Elsewhere in America, he has staged work at A.C.T., Connelly Theatre, the Guthrie Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC), The Public Theater, Signature Theatre, Steppenwolf and Yale Rep. In his native England, Les has directed for the Bristol Old Vic, Hampstead Theatre Club, Joint Stock Theatre Group, National Theatre, Royal Court Theatre and Traverse Theatre Club. He often works with prominent playwrights like Caryl Churchill and Charles Mee, and champions important new voices, such as Jordan Harrison and Sarah Ruhl. He is also an associate artist of The Civilians. The former head of the M.F.A. directing program at U.C. San Diego, Les’ many honors include a Drama-Logue Award, an Edinburgh Fringe First Award, a KPBS Patte and several awards from critics’ circles in the Bay Area, Connecticut and Tokyo.
(Scenic Design) designed the set for last season’s production of 9 Parts of Desire. This past summer she was in residence at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center to develop designs for three new plays. In New York her work has been seen at Cherry Lane Theatre, INTAR , Juilliard, Ma-Yi Theatre Company, The Naked Angels and The Play Company. Her scenic designs for opera include The Tender Land at the Fisher Center, The Medium at Kaye Playhouse and Xerxes at Pittsburgh Opera Center. Antje’s TV design credits include a documentary series about the history of the Supreme Court for PBS and Becoming American—The Chinese Experience, for which she received an Emmy nomination She is a recipient of the NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Designers and has been nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award and an Ovation Award. For more information about Antje, please visit www.antjeellermann.com.
(Costume Design) has designed costumes for Berkeley Rep’s productions of Fräulein Else, The Magic Fire and Missing Persons. She also designed costumes for The Constant Wife, The House of Mirth and The Guardsman at A.C.T.; Dear Master, Ice Glen, Saint Joan and others at the Aurora; Nicholas Nickleby, Restoration Comedy and The Skin of Our Teeth at Cal Shakes; Iphigenia at Aulis and Major Barbara at San Jose Rep; and The Puppet Master of Lodz at Marin Theatre Company. Anna’s work has also been seen at Brava Theater Center, BAM, Canadian Opera Company, Dallas Opera, Dallas Theater Center, Houston Grand Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Los Angeles Opera, New York City Opera, The Old Globe, San Francisco Opera and Seattle Rep.
(Lighting Design) is excited to return to Berkeley Rep after creating the lighting design for Les Waters’ productions of Eurydice here, at Yale Rep and at Second Stage Theatre in New York. His most recent credits include The Little Foxes at A.C.T; The Tricky Part at the Intiman Theatre and at San Jose Rep; Another Golden Rome and Morbidity and Morality at the Magic Theatre; The Other Side at Manhattan Theatre Club; iWitness at the Mark Taper Forum; A Safe Harbor for Elizabeth Bishop and The Right Kind of People at Primary Stages; and I Am My Own Wife at The Wilma Theater. Other regional credits include work with The Actors’ Gang, Cal Shakes, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Long Wharf Theatre, McCarter Theatre, Seattle Rep, Trinity Repertory Company and the Williamstown Theatre Festival. On Broadway, Russell designed Julia Sweeney’s God Said “Ha!” at the Lyceum Theatre. His other New York credits include productions at the Classic Stage Company, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, Promenade Theatre, New York Stage & Film and the Union Square Theatre.
(Original Music and Sound Design) created the sound design for last season’s 9 Parts of Desire, and received the 2005 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Sound Design for his work on the show’s New York production. He recently designed sound for Martin McDonagh’s The Lieutenant of Inishmore and Conor McPherson’s Shining City on Broadway, and has created music and sound for the original productions of David Mamet’s Romance, Woody Allen’s A Second-Hand Memory, Suzan-Lori Parks’ Fucking A and many more. His other recent work includes Birdie Blue at Second Stage Theatre, The American Pilot at Manhattan Theatre Club, Stopping Traffic at Vineyard Theatre, Birth and After Birth at Atlantic Theater Company and Pen at Playwrights Horizons, as well as the national tour and Radio City production of Blues Clues Live. Obadiah’s music for television can be heard on Discovery, HBO, Nickelodeon and TLC, and he has appeared as a violinist and mandolinist in numerous film and television scores. His band, Big Hair, has released two CDs.
(Tupolski) is pleased to return to Berkeley Rep, where he was a resident actor, associate artist and director from 1980 to 1990. His Berkeley Rep credits include American Buffalo, Belly of the Beast, Twelfth Night and A View from the Bridge. He has also appeared in Glengarry Glen Ross, Learned Ladies, Othello and Uncle Vanya at A.C.T.; Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring at Disney Hall; Phaedra at the Getty Villa; the world premiere of Lewis and Clark and the American premiere of Our Country’s Good (directed by Les Waters) at the Mark Taper Forum; Mad Forest and Waiting for Godot at Matrix Theatre Company; the long-running Los Angeles production of Tamara; and Filumenia at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, which later moved off Broadway. Tony has appeared in the films Blow, The Legend of Zorro, Lone Star, The Mask of Zorro and Read You Like a Book, which was filmed in Berkeley. His TV credits include appearances in Alias, CSI, Seinfeld, The West Wing and a recurring role in Stargate SG-1 as the Jaffa warrior Bra’tac. Tony lives in Los Angeles with his wife, long-time Berkeley Rep company member Judith Marx. He is a proud member of Actors’ Equity, SAG, AFTRA and the Antaeus Company.
(Mother) last appeared at Berkeley Rep in Hedda Gabler and Kabuki Medea. She is an associate artist at Cal Shakes and an affiliate artist of the Foothill Theatre Company. A former company member of A.C.T., Nancy has also performed with the Aurora Theatre Company, Marin Theatre Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, San Jose Rep, the San Francisco Playhouse, Shakespeare Santa Cruz and TheatreWorks. She has directed productions for A.C.T.’s M.F.A. program, the Aurora, PlayGround and the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, where last summer she directed Twelfth Night. Her film credits include featured roles in Jon Jost’s Frameup and Night of Henna, and she co-produced Josh Kornbluth’s Haiku Tunnel. Nancy has a B.A. in comparative literature from Brown University and an M.F.A. in acting from A.C.T.
(Katurian) returns to Berkeley Rep after appearing as Tom Wingfield in last season’s The Glass Menagerie with Rita Moreno. He also appeared in Mary Zimmerman’s productions of The Secret in the Wings and Metamorphoses. Erik’s New York credits include Metamorphoses (on and off Broadway), The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci with Second Stage and the New York Music Theatre Festival’s But I’m a Cheerleader. Regionally he has appeared in Amy Freed’s Safe in Hell at Yale Repertory Theatre, and has worked at About Face Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Court Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Lookingglass Theatre Company, Mark Taper Forum, McCarter Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre and three seasons at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. His television credits include All My Children, Law & Order and Third Watch.
(Girl) returns to Berkeley Rep for this production after portraying a street kid in Brundibar. Brigette’s credits include Wendy in Peter Pan, Madame Zeroni in Holes, Feste in Twelfth Night and Lucy in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at Alameda Children’s Musical Theatre. Other roles include the lead in the workshop production of the original musical Wink, by Maureen Bogues, and Martha/Fan in An Original Christmas Carol at Altarena Playhouse. She plays a student in the upcoming film, The Darwin Awards. Brigette is a pianist and drummer, and is currently enrolled in the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre’s Performance Ensemble class. She attends Wood Middle School in Alameda.
(Michal) New York credits include Richard III at The Public Theater, Coriolanus with Theatre For A New Audience, The World Over at Playwrights Horizons and Molly’s Dream at Soho Rep, as well as work with Clubbed Thumb, Target Margin Theater, Synapse Productions and many others. He’s an associate artist of The Civilians and Salt Theater, working extensively with both, and he received an Obie Award for the Foundry Theatre production of The Race of the Ark Tattoo. Matthew’s regional credits include work at Actors Theatre of Louisville, McCarter Theatre, Portland Stage Company, New Harmony Theatre, CT20 Ensemble (where he received a Joseph Jefferson Nomination for The Fair Maid of the West) and elsewhere. His film credits include the upcoming film Gone Baby Gone, Jersey Girl, Dogma, Bringing Out The Dead, Vulgar, The Third Wheel and others. He has also appeared on the television shows Deadline, The Jury, Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: CSI.
(Ariel) has appeared at Berkeley Rep in The Fall, Macbeth and Much Ado About Nothing. Locally, he’s also appeared at A.C.T. in Edward II, The Gamester, The Rivals, The Time of Your Life and The Voysey Inheritance; San Jose Rep in Humpty Dumpty, Iphigenia, The Matchmaker and Twelfth Night; more than 20 productions at Cal Shakes, including As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, The Importance of Being Earnest, Nicholas Nickleby and The Winter’s Tale; and productions at CenterStage, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Magic Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Seattle Repertory Theatre and Shakespeare Santa Cruz. Andy teaches acting at Cal Shakes and at the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre.
(Boy) is very happy to be back at Berkeley Rep. He was last seen in Brundibar, which is his favorite show of everything he has done so far. He has also appeared in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Seussical the Musical and many other productions with Alameda Children’s Musical Theatre. Brendan is 13 years old and a seventh grader at St. Theresa School in Oakland. He takes singing lessons from Carl Danielsen and drama from Linda Dean. When not acting, Brendan enjoys creating his own cartoons. He is excited to be in The Pillowman and to renew his friendships at Berkeley Rep.
(Girl) made her Berkeley Rep debut last season in Brundibar. Her stage credits include several productions with Alameda Children’s Musical Theatre, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Alameda Civic Light Opera, A Christmas Carol at Contra Costa College, The Sound of Music at Encinal High School and the world premiere of The Night of the Hunter at the Willows Theatre Company. She can be seen in the film Generation Now, which is scheduled for release in 2007. Madeline is 11 years old and is in sixth grade.
(Father) has appeared in several Berkeley Rep productions including Execution of Justice, Fuente Ovejuna, Our Country’s Good, Pentecost and The Tooth of Crime. Most recently he has appeared in A Christmas Story at San Jose Rep; Love, Janis at the Marines Memorial Theatre; Killer Joe at Marin Theatre Company; and an East Coast tour of Horizon by Rinde Eckert. He has also worked at A.C.T., the Aurora, the Eureka Theatre, Magic Theater, Post Street Theatre, San Jose Stage Company and TheatreWorks; as well as Cal Shakes and the Oregon, Berkeley, Santa Cruz and Marin Shakespeare Festivals. Howard’s film and television credits include Cherry 2000, Frameup, Golden Gate, Hill St. Blues, Just One Night, Kiss Shot, Nash Bridges, Night of The Scarecrow, Metro, Midnight Caller, Miracle Mile, Teknolust and The Valley of Hearts Delight.
(Boy) made his stage debut in Berkeley Rep’s Brundibar, where his work in the children’s chorus left him smitten with theatre. At age five, he began singing with the San Francisco Boy’s Chorus, later singing with Kairos Youth Choir in Berkeley. A sixth grader at École Bilingue de Berkeley, Gabriel loves studying dance, piano and theatre. He lives in Berkeley with his mom and two cats, Panda and Rascal.
* 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.