07/08 main season
Haruki Murakami, Author
Frank Galati, Adaptor and Director
James Schuette, Scenic Design
Mara Blumenfeld, Costume Design
James F. Ingalls, Lighting Design
Andre Pluess & Ben Sussman, Sound Design & Original Composition
Malcolm Ewen, Stage Manager
Erica Daniels, Casting
Amy Potozkin, Casting
Marissa Wolf, Assistant Director
Keith Parham, Assistant Lighting Designer
Rick Sims, Assistant Sound Designer
Andre Pluess, Music Arranger
Jeff Wichmann, Music Arranger
Jason McDermott, Music Arranger
cast (in order of appearance)
Keong Sim, Narrator / Frog
Hanson Tse, Junpei
Gemma Megumi Fa-Kaji, Sala
Madison Logan V. Phan, Sala
Jennifer Shin, Sayoko / Nurse
Paul H. Juhn, Katagiri / Takatsuki
Jason McDermott, Cello
Jeff Wichmann, Koto
haruki murakami
(Author) was born in Kyoto in 1949 and now lives near Tokyo. His work has been translated into 34 languages, and the most recent of his many honors is the Yomiuri Literary Prize, whose previous recipients include Yukio Mishima, Kenzaburo Oe and Kobo Abe.
frank galati
(Adaptor / Director) has been a member of the Steppenwolf ensemble since 1985. He received two Tony Awards in 1990 for his adaptation and direction of Steppenwolf’s production of The Grapes of Wrath. In 1989, Frank and his collaborator Lawrence Kasdan were nominated for an Academy Award for their screenplay of The Accidental Tourist. In 1999, he was nominated for a Tony Award for his direction of the musical Ragtime. In 2002, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Frank is an emeritus professor in the department of performance studies at Northwestern University.
james schuette
(Scenic Design) last designed Mad Love for Berkeley Rep. His recent set or costume designs include The Diary of Anne Frank, directed by Tina Landau at Steppenwolf; Oedipus Complex, directed by Frank Galati at the Goodman; Radio Macbeth, directed by Anne Bogart at the Public; Un Ballo in Maschera, directed by James Robinson at Boston Lyric Opera; and The Unmentionables, directed by Anna Shapiro at Yale Rep. His work has been seen at Actors Theatre of Louisville, A.C.T., American Repertory Theatre (A.R.T.), Arena Stage, Classic Stage Company, Glimmerglass Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Long Wharf, Mark Taper Forum, the Old Globe, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Papermill Playhouse, Playwrights Horizons, Prince Music Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, New York Theatre Workshop, New York City Opera, Opera Colorado, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Santa Fe Opera and Seattle Opera. His upcoming projects include Hotel Cassiopeia at BAM Next Wave Festival, Julius Caesar at A.R.T. and Blythe Spirit at Trinity Repertory Company.
mara blumenfeld
(Costume Design) returns to Berkeley Rep where she previously designed Mary Zimmerman’s productions of The Secret in the Wings and Metamorphoses. Her New York credits include Tony Kushner’s Homebody/Kabul at BAM, Mary Zimmerman’s The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci at Second Stage Theatre, Metamorphoses with Circle in the Square and Second Stage and Measure for Measure with the New York Shakespeare Festival. Based in Chicago, she has designed numerous productions for Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Court Theatre, Goodman Theatre and Steppenwolf Theatre Company, as well as Lookingglass Theatre Company, where she is an ensemble member. Regional credits include productions for Geva Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, McCarter Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Milwaukee Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Seattle Rep and Weston Playhouse. Upcoming projects include a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor with Mary Zimmerman at the Metropolitan Opera and the new Stephen Flaherty/Lynn Ahrens musical, The Glorious Ones, for Lincoln Center.
james f. ingalls
(Lighting Design) returns to Berkeley Rep where he designed How I Learned to Drive, McTeague: A Tale of San Francisco, The Revenger and Yellowman. His other Bay Area credits include The Hard Nut; L’Allegro, Il Penseroso Ed Il Moderato; King Arthur; and Platee for Mark Morris Dance Group and I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky for Peter Sellars at CalPerformances; Buried Child, For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Invention of Love, A Mother and The Three Sisters at A.C.T.; The Nutcracker, Sylvia and Silver Ladders for San Francisco Ballet; and John Adams’ Doctor Atomic for San Francisco Opera. He often collaborates with the Saint Joseph Ballet in Santa Ana, California.
andre pluess & ben sussman
(Sound Design and Original Composition) The Chicago-based design team of Andre Pluess and Ben Sussman previously designed sound for Berkeley Rep productions of Blue Door, Honour, Metamorphoses and The Secret in the Wings. They have been associate artists for About Face, resident artists for Court Theatre, artistic associates for Lookingglass and resident designers for Victory Gardens, also designing work at the Goodman and other Chicago and regional theatres. Their Broadway credits include I Am My Own Wife and Metamorphoses. Recent projects include 33 Variations and The Passion Play Trilogy at Arena Stage, BFE at Long Wharf and Playwrights Horizons, The Clean House at Yale Rep, Lady Windemere’s Fan at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Silk for the Goodman and Pericles at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington D.C. Andre and Ben have won 11 Joseph Jefferson Awards and Citations, an L.A. Ovation Award, a Drama Critics Circle Award and a Lortel nomination for composition and sound design.
malcolm ewen *
(Stage Manager) is pleased to bring after the quake to Berkeley. He first stage-managed for Steppenwolf in 1987 with Frank Galati’s production of Born Yesterday. Since then, he has worked for Steppenwolf on four continents and has taken three Steppenwolf shows to Broadway, including the Tony Award-winning The Grapes of Wrath. In recent Steppenwolf seasons, he stage-managed Cherry Orchard, The Diary of Anne Frank, Lost Land, Man from Nebraska and Sonia Flew. On Broadway, he was the production stage manager of Paul Simon’s The Capeman. He has served Steppenwolf twice as production manager. A graduate of Amherst College, Malcolm is also a member of the National Advisory Board of the Actors’ Fund, and a board member of Season of Concern, the Chicago theatre community’s aids fundraising effort. Every summer he returns to the Green Mountains of Vermont to direct at the Weston Playhouse.
cast
gemma megumi fa-kaji
(Sala) A native of Berkeley, Gemma is thrilled to make her theatrical debut at Berkeley Rep. As a third-generation Chinese American and fourth-generation Japanese American, she is honored to act with an Asian American ensemble. Gemma has staged numerous theatrical productions in the family living room alongside her four older sisters and friends; her favorite role was that of Skadi (the snowshoe goddess) in an adaptation of a Norse myth. During her preschool years at Dandelion Nursery School, Gemma also wrote and illustrated stories for her classmates to perform. She enjoys creating artwork in any form, singing, dancing, swimming, playing soccer and jumping rope. Gemma is currently in first grade at Thousand Oaks Elementary School.
paul h. juhn *
(Katagiri / Takatsuki) is excited to make his Berkeley Rep debut with after the quake. His regional credits include The Importance of Being Earnest, directed by Les Waters at La Jolla Playhouse; League of Nations at Mixed Blood Theatre; and Mother Courage at the Guthrie Theater. New York credits include the off-Broadway hit SIDES: the Fear is Real, directed by Anne Kauffman at Mr. Miyagi’s Theatre Company; Fuente Ovejuna with National Asian American Theatre Company; wAve at Ma-Yi Theater Company; and White Chocolate, directed by David Schweizer with The Culture Project. His TV and film credits include As the World Turns, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Michael Clayton and the award-winning short film Crumple. Paul is a founding member of Mr. Miyagi’s Theatre Company, and received his M.F.A. in acting from the University of California, San Diego.
madison logan v. phan
(Sala) began training for the stage at a very young age, appearing in Berkeley Ballet Theater’s annual Nutcracker and Spring Showcase performances since she began studying with the company at age three. At seven, she became the youngest student ever accepted into Cal Shakes’ Summer Theatre Camp, where she has appeared as the Third Witch in Macbeth and as Mistress Page in Merry Wives of Windsor. A member of UC Berkeley’s Academic Talent Development Program for advanced students since kindergarten, Madison enjoys science and art, and is a gifted caricaturist. She currently attends fourth grade at St. John the Baptist School in El Cerrito.
jennifer shin *
(Sayoko / Nurse) is thrilled to make her Berkeley Rep debut with after the quake. Jennifer was last seen in Collaboraction’s long-running production of The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow, and in the Artistic Home’s production of Savage/Love. Her first feature-length film, Second Moon, was screened at the 2006 Pusan International Film Festival and at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago as part of the center’s 2007 Asian-American Showcase.
keong sim *
(Narrator / Frog) makes his Berkeley Rep debut with the role he created at Steppenwolf Theatre Company and revisited at La Jolla Playhouse and Long Wharf Theatre. His other theatrical credits include Anything Goes at Paper Mill Playhouse, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at HangarTheatre, George C. Wolfe’s Radiant Baby at the Public Theater, Rashomon with Pan Asian Repertory Theatre and the Havana International Theatre Festival and Twelfth Night with Cincinnati Playhouse and the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. Keong’s TV credits include As the World Turns, MTV’s Boiling Points, NBC’s Ed, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Rescue Me and Starved. He also appears in the upcoming indie film, Flying Scissors. To learn more, visit keongsim.com
hanson tse *
(Junpei) debuts at Berkeley Rep with the role he created at Steppenwolf and recreated at La Jolla Playhouse and Long Wharf Theatre. His other regional credits include the world premiere of Naomi Iizuka’s Strike-Slip with Actors Theatre of Louisville for the 2007 Humana Festival. His New York credits include Righteous Babes at P.S. 122, Romeo and Juliet at the Public and Zen Junior High at HERE. He is also in the films Beach Closed in Winter, The Mercy Man and Not a F%$@ing Blonde!; and has appeared on One Life to Live. Hanson’s training is from the William Esper Studio, Actors’ Movement Studio and the Public Theater Shakespeare Lab.
jason mcdermott
(Cello) was first recruited by Andre Pluess and Ben Sussman to provide live music for theatre in 2000 for the musical Whitman, directed by Eric Rosen at About Face Theatre Company. He worked with these three again at the 2003 Albeefest at the Goodman Theatre. Since then, Jason’s cello has been heard in Pluess/ Sussman productions of Alice and Hard Times at Lookingglass Theatre Company, The Clean House at Yale Rep, The Dazzle with Steppenwolf, The Father at Writers’ Theatre, The Passion Play Trilogy at Arena Stage, Pericles with the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Travesties with Court Theatre, Silk at the Goodman and the tour of The Secret in the Wings at Berkeley Rep, Lookingglass, McCarter Theatre and Seattle Rep. He has performed with various ensembles throughout the country and is a founding member of the Chicago-based Belden String Quartet. A member of the original after the quake cast, Jason collaborated on the music with Andre Pluess and Jeff Wichmann, which subsequently won a Jeff Award.
jeff wichmann
(Koto) was introduced to the koto at Augustana College by Dr. Jesse Evans. After graduating with degrees in art, Asian studies and theatre, Jeff moved to Tokyo, where he received an Advanced Koto License from the Sawai Koto Academy, under the tutelage of koto master Kazue Sawai. Over the last 20 years he’s been a performing member of Augustana College Koto Ensemble, the Chusei Koto Society Players, Group Otoko, Koto Phase and Spring Valley Koto Ensemble. He has performed at Harvard University, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center and Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art. In addition to his classical koto repertoire, Jeff has been involved with several rock and improvisational bands, thus following the Sawai Institute’s mandate for students to pursue unique musical interests involving the koto. He lives in Chicago composing, teaching and performing with the rock band TENKI.
* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
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