2008–09 season > The Arabian Nights > Who’s who
who’s who
Mary Zimmerman, Adapter and Director
Daniel Ostling, Scenic Design
Mara Blumenfeld, Costume Design
Andre Pluess & The Lookingglass Ensemble, Original Composition & Sound Design
T.J. Gerckens, Lighting Design
Michael Suenkel *, Production Stage Manager
Cynthia Cahill *, Stage Manager
Stephanie Klapper, Casting
Amy Potozkin, Casting
Jeremy Bloom, Assistant Director
Jennifer Pardilla, New York Casting Assistant
Carrie Virginia Lee, Assistant to Ms. Klapper & Ms. Pardilla
Cast
Ryan Artzberger, King Shahryar
Allen Gilmore, Scheherezade’s Father / Ishak of Mosul / Ensemble
Sofia Jean Gomez, Scheherezade
Stacey Yen, Dunyazade / Azizah / Ensemble
Barzin Akhavan, Harun al-Rashid / Ensemble
Louis Tucci, Jafar / Sheik al-Fadl / Ensemble
Noshir Dalal, Madman / Greengrocer / Ensemble
Pranidhi Varshney, Slave GIrl / Ensemble
Melina Kalomas, Perfect Love / Ensemble
Evan Zes, Sheik al-Islam / Abu al-Hasan / Ensemble
Nicole Shalhoub, The Jester’s Wife / The Other Woman / Ensemble
Jesse J. Perez, The Pastrycook / Robber / Ensemble
Alana Arenas, Butcher / Sympathy the Learned / Ensemble
Ramiz Monsef, Clarinetist / Sage / Ensemble
Ari Brand, Poor Man / Boy / Ensemble
Mary Zimmerman
Adapter / Director
Mary is the recipient of a 1998 MacArthur Fellowship, the 2002 Tony Award for Best Director and 10 Joseph Jefferson Awards. She is a member of the Lookingglass Theatre Company, an artistic associate of the Goodman Theatre and a professor of performance studies at Northwestern University. At Berkeley Rep, she previously adapted and directed Argonautika, Journey to the West, Metamorphoses, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci and The Secret in the Wings. These plays—and other work such as The Arabian Nights, Eleven Rooms of Proust, The Odyssey, S/M and Silk—have enjoyed celebrated runs at BAM, the Goodman, Huntington Theatre Company, Lookingglass, the Taper, McCarter, Seattle Rep and Second Stage. Mary also directed All’s Well That Ends Well and Pericles for the Goodman, Henry VIII and Measure for Measure for NYSF and A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Huntington. In 2002, she created a new opera with Philip Glass called Galileo Galilei which played at BAM, the Barbican in London and the Goodman. Last fall she made her Metropolitan Opera debut with Lucia di Lammermoor; she will direct Bellini’s La Sonnambula in the spring.
Daniel Ostling
Scenic Designer
Daniel’s Berkeley Rep productions include Argonautika, Closer, Metamorphoses and The Secret in the Wings. As an ensemble member of Lookingglass, he most recently designed Brothers Karamazov and Lookingglass Alice, as well as the McCarter and New Vic productions of Alice. His longtime collaboration with Mary Zimmerman includes the 2002 Scenic Design Tony Award-nominee Metamorphoses, Lucia di Lammermor at the Metropolitan Opera and many others. Daniel’s other regional credits include Amadeus at Chicago Shakes, Brainpeople at A.C.T., Durango at the Public, Eurydice at Victory Gardens Theater, Glorious Ones at Lincoln Center, the pain and the itch at Playwrights Horizons and work at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, La Jolla Playhouse, The Mark Taper Forum, NYSF, Portland Center Stage, Seattle Rep and Steppenwolf. His work has also been seen in London and Melbourne. Daniel is an Associate Professor at Northwestern University in Chicago.
Mara Blumenfeld
Costume Designer
Mara returns to Berkeley Rep where she previously designed Frank Galati’s adaptation of after the quake and Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses and The Secret in the Wings. Based in Chicago, Mara is an ensemble member of Lookingglass, and has also designed numerous productions for Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Court Theatre, the Goodman and Steppenwolf. Her other regional credits include productions for Mark Taper Forum, McCarter, Milwaukee Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Seattle Rep and Weston Playhouse. Mara’s New York credits include Galileo Galilei and Homebody/Kabul at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Glorious Ones at Lincoln Center, Lookingglass Alice at The New Victory Theater, Measure for Measure at NYSF, Metamorphoses at Circle in the Square and Second Stage Theatre, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci at Second Stage and Mary Zimmerman’s new production of Lucia di Lammermoor for the Metropolitan Opera.
Andre Pluess
Original Composition and Sound Designer
The Chicago-based design team of Andre Pluess and Ben Sussman have designed sound for Berkeley Rep’s productions of after the quake, Argonautika, Blue Door, Honour, Metamorphoses and The Secret in the Wings. In addition to their work at numerous regional theatres, they have been associate artists for About Face, resident artists for Court Theatre, artistic associates for Lookingglass and resident designers for Victory Gardens. 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 and Lady Windermere’s Fan at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Andre and Ben have won 11 Joseph Jefferson Awards and Citations, an L.A. Ovation Award, a Drama Critics’ Circle Award and a Lucille Lortel nomination for composition and sound design.
T.J. Gerckens
Lighting Designer
T.J. is pleased to return to Berkeley Rep where he previously designed Journey to the West, Metamorphoses, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci and The Secret in the Wings. His regional theatre designs of note include Silk and the Mary Zimmerman and Philip Glass opera Galileo Galilei at the Goodman, Pericles at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, DC, and two seasons as resident lighting designer at Actors’ Theatre of Louisville. T.J.’s New York work includes Lucia di Lammermoor for the Metropolitan Opera, Measure for Measure in Central Park, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci at Second Stage and Metamorphoses on Broadway. He has received numerous awards for his lighting including Chicago’s Jefferson Awards, a Bay Area Critics Circle Award, Los Angeles Ovation and Drama Critics Circle awards, and New York’s Drama Desk Award.
Stephanie Klapper
Casting
Stephanie is pleased to continue working with Mary Zimmerman after doing the New York casting for Mirror of the Invisible World last season at The Goodman. Her work has been seen on Broadway, off-Broadway, regionally, internationally, on television and film. Klapper Casting’s current Broadway projects include Horton Foote’s Dividing the Estate; recent off-Broadway projects include Bedroom Farce, Continuous City, A Dangerous Personality, Frankenstein: A New Musical, King of Shadows and an oak tree, as well as being the in-house casting director for Primary Stages for more than a decade. Stephanie’s select regional and international credits include The Blonde, The Brunette, and the Vengeful Redhead at Cincinnati Playhouse; Old Wicked Songs for Vienna English Theatre; and the NY and tour productions of In the Continuum. She has ongoing projects with several regional theatres around the country, and numerous independent feature films. Stephanie is a member of the Casting Society of America and the League of Professional Theatre Women.
Cast
Barzin Akhavan *
Harun al-Rashid and others
Barzin is incredibly pleased to make his Berkeley Rep debut in The Arabian Nights. Previous credits include The Glass Menagerie and The Tempest with Idaho Repertory Theatre; Love’s Labour’s Lost, Macbeth and The Three Musketeers at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival; Measure for Measure with Seattle Shakespeare Company; The Poetry of Pizza at Virginia Stage Company; Twelfth Night and Romeo and Juliet at Seattle Repertory Theatre; the world premiere of Vestibular Sense with Mixed Blood Theatre Company; and four seasons with the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, where he performed in As You Like It, Comedy of Errors, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Taming of the Shrew and an award-winning production of Twelfth Night directed by the Bay Area’s own Nancy Carlin. He has also appeared on Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Barzin holds an M.F.A. from the University of Washington.
Alana Arenas *
Butcher, Sympathy the Learned and others
Alana is excited to make her Berkeley Rep debut. She has been a resident of Chicago for the past 10 years, where some of her favorite theatre credits have included Black Diamond at Lookingglass Theatre Company, Eyes at ETA Creative Arts Foundation, Hecuba at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Late Bus to Mecca at Eclipse Theatre Company, SOST at MPAACT and The Way We Were with Black Ensemble Theatre. She created the role of Pecola in Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s 2005 production of The Bluest Eye, which played off Broadway at the New Victory Theater in 2006; she became part of Steppenwolf’s ensemble in 2007. Alana’s other Steppenwolf credits include the roles of Mary Warren in The Crucible and Dolly in The Sparrow Project. Her recent on-camera credits include Baby on Board, The Beast and the role of Iyalode in Lioness of Lisabi. Alana holds a B.F.A. in theatre from The Theatre School at DePaul University.
Ryan Artzberger *
King Shahryar
Ryan has played Ray Dooley in The Beauty Queen of Leenane for the Denver Center Theatre Company, Herve Joncour in Silk and Pericles in Pericles for the Goodman Theatre, Friar Laurence in Romeo and Juliet at the Great Lakes Theater Festival, Jack Lane in The Herbal Bed and the title role in Macbeth at Indiana Repertory Theatre, Hamlet in Hamlet and Treplev in The Seagull at Shakespeare Santa Cruz, and many roles at The Shakespeare Theatre Company including Pericles in Pericles and Valvert in Cyrano de Bergerac. Ryan is a graduate of Ohio University and The Juilliard School. This is his Berkeley Rep debut.
Ari Brand *
Poor Man, Boy and others
Ari was recently named Outstanding Actor in a One Act for his role in The Claw of the Schwa at New York’s Midtown International Theatre Festival; last summer he also appeared at the New York Shakespeare Festival (NYSF) in Romeo and Juliet. Originally a musician, Ari teaches kids to play piano and bass. He was born and raised in New York City, and in 2006 received a B.A. in theatre and psychology from Wesleyan University, where he played a variety of lead roles in theatre and film.
Noshir Dalal *
Madman, Greengrocer and others
The Arabian Nights is Noshir’s first production at Berkeley Rep. His regional credits include Julius Caesar with the Hangar Theatre and Twelfth Night with the Lake George Theatre Lab. He was recently in Lincoln Center’s Broadway production of Cymbeline. His other New York credits include Caligula, King Lear and Macbeth with the Classical Theatre of Harlem; Fight Girl Battle World and Men of Steel with Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company; Romeo and Juliet at La MaMa ETC; The Sandbox at Cherry Lane Theatre; and Take Me Out with The Gallery Players.
Allen Gilmore *
Scheherezade’s Father, Ishak of Mosul and others
Allen recently portrayed Pelias in Argonautika at Berkeley Rep, as well as George Lenk in Bach at Leipzig and Parolles in All’s Well That Ends Well at Shakespeare Santa Cruz. Other past roles include Bynum in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone with Chicago’s Congo Square Theatre Company; Cyrano in a joint production of Cyrano de Bergerac by Court and Redmoon Theatres; Hamm in Endgame at Court Theatre; Iago in Othello with The Acting Company; and Othello at the Atlantic Theatre Festival in Nova Scotia, the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. He’s a frequent visitor at the Intiman Theatre, portraying Mr. Webb in Our Town; George, Duke of Clarence in Richard III; and Aaron the Moor in Titus Andronicus; among others. Allen recently received nominations from Chicago’s Black Theater Alliance and Joseph Jefferson Awards for his work in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.
Sofia Jean Gomez *
Scheherezade
Sofia returns to Berkeley, having recently played Athena in Mary Zimmerman’s Argonautika at Berkeley Rep, the McCarter Theatre Center and the Shakespeare Theatre last season. Her other recent credits include the Old Hag, Russian Princess and Sad King in the Goodman’s Mirror of the Invisible World; and Long Wharf Theatre’s workshop of Barbarian Woman. Sofia’s other credits include Abigail in the Mark Wing-Davey production of Safe in Hell, Anna in Stages Repertory Theatre’s Syncopation and Kitty Duval in The Time of Your Life at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, as well as roles in The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow at Yale Repertory Theatre and Regrets Only at Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC). She has also worked with MCC Theater’s Freshplay Festival and the New York Fringe Festival. Sofia has an M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama.
Melina Kalomas *
Perfect Love and others
Melina is thrilled to be making her Berkeley Rep debut. She performed as Nimue and the cover for Guenevere in the national tour of Camelot; for the Les Misérables national tour, she performed as Madeleine and the cover for Fantine. Melina’s regional credits include La Bohème with Opera Pacific, Ellin Berlin in The Melody Lingers On at El Portal Theatre, Evelyn in A Connecticut Yankee at the Herbst Theatre, the title role in Evita at the Norman J. Pattiz Theatre, Jenny in Shenandoah at West Virginia Public Theatre, Laurey in Oklahoma!, Louise in Gypsy at Moonlight Amphitheatre and as Olya and the cover for Lara in Des McAnuff’s production of Zhivago at La Jolla Playhouse. Melina has also appeared on As The World Turns. She holds a B.F.A. in acting from the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama.
Ramiz Monsef *
Clarinetist, Sage and others
Ramiz is happy to return to Berkeley Rep, where he has appeared in Eurydice and Fêtes de la Nuit. He reprised his role in Eurydice at Second Stage Theatre Company and Yale Rep. Other regional credits include Guantanamo at Brava Theater Center in San Francisco and the Studio Theatre in Washington, DC; One Short Sleepe at the Actor’s Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival; the Steppenwolf production of The Time of Your Life, which toured to A.C.T. and Seattle Rep; and two seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF). His New York credits include Alan Ball’s All That I Will Ever Be at New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW), Betrayed at the Culture Project and The Leopard and the Fox at the Barrow Group. On TV, he has appeared on Comedy Central’s The Watchlist. Ramiz is involved in the hip-hop community, is the creator of the clothing line Vicious Swass and is a contributing writer to Overspray Magazine, a New York-based graffiti/street-art publication.
Jesse J. Perez *
The Pastrycook, Robber and others
Jesse returns to Berkeley Rep following his role as Idmon in Mary Zimmerman’s Argonautika. His recent credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream at American Repertory Theatre (ART), Mary Stuart at Court Theatre and Pericles at both the Goodman and Shakespeare Theatres. Jesse has also been in Celebrity Row at Portland Center Stage, The Cherry Orchard and The Taming of the Shrew at Yale Rep, Hamlet at McCarter and Romeo and Juliet at the Great Lakes Theater Festival. His off-Broadway credits include In the Penal Colony with Classic Stage Company, Recent Tragic Events at Playwrights Horizons, The Triple Happiness at Second Stage and Up Against the Wind with NYTW. His television and film credits include American Splendor, The Job, Kazaam, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Life on Mars, Playing God and Third Watch.
Nicole Shalhoub *
The Jester’s Wife, The Other Woman and others
Nicole last worked with Mary Zimmerman in Mirror of the Invisible World at the Goodman. Her other regional credits include Donnie Darko, A Lie of the Mind, Six Characters in Search of an Author and Snow in June at ART. Dr. Faustus Lights the Light and A Murder of Crows at the Williamstown Theatre Festival; and Inana at Hartford Stage. Her New York credits include The Clean House at Lincoln Center, ¿De Donde? with Turtle Shell Productions, The Fifth Column at the Mint Theatre, Hell House at St. Ann’s Warehouse, Him and 100 Things That Make You Better at chashama and the 2006 New York Fringe Festival production Fear Up: Stories from Baghdad. She has appeared in the films Arranged, Casting About and The International, as well as the TV show Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Nicole has a B.A. from Columbia University and an M.F.A. from ART/Moscow Art Theatre School at Harvard University.
Louis Tucci *
Jafar, Sheik al-Fadl and others
Louis’ regional credits include American Duet at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, The Last Adam at Syracuse Stage, a Les Masque Award nomination for Paradise by the River at Centaur Theatre and Two Brothers by Felipe Santander at Theatre Plus. His off-Broadway credits include Cookie in Return to the Forbidden Planet; The Cider House Rules and The Joy of Going Somewhere Definite with Atlantic Theatre Company; Janusz Glowacki’s The Fourth Sister at Vineyard Theatre; and Woyzeck at The Public Theatre. On Broadway, Louis was in Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story. His film work includes Smiler Dodd in The Firing Squad, Leo in Flying with Keanu Reeves and State Park with Ted Nugent. Louis has co-written several songs with singer Julee Cruise of Twin Peaks fame including “Artificial World,” featured in Wes Craven’s film Scream, and “In My Other World,” released on Martin Gore’s solo album Counterfeit 2.
Pranidhi Varshney
Slave Girl and others
Pranidhi is thrilled to work at Berkeley Rep for the first time. Her past theatre credits include Eve in Kama Sutra: The Musical at Theatre Building Chicago, Pushpa in Silk Road Theatre Project’s Merchant on Venice and the title role in Lookingglass’ Sita Ram. She has also been a dock street singer at Chicago’s Navy Pier. Pranidhi recently completed filming for Foreign Body, a web-based TV adaptation of Robin Cook’s novel by the same name, and is currently working as a voice actor for Badmash’s upcoming animated sitcom, Doubtsourcing. Pranidhi is a recent graduate of Northwestern University.
Stacey Yen *
Dunyazade, Azizah and others
Stacey previously worked with Mary Zimmerman on the Goodman’s Mirror of the Invisible World, where she played the Turkish Princess. Her other regional credits include Carrie: The Musical, A Clockwork Orange, Cyrano de Bergerac, On the Razzle and Our Country’s Good at the Williamstown Theatre Festival Workshop; Haroun and the Sea of Stories and The Winter’s Tale at the Williamstown Theatre Festival; and Wind-Up with Pig Iron Theater Company and Headlong Dance Theater. In New York, she was an understudy for David Henry Hwang’s Yellowface at The Public. Stacey’s film credits include Girl in the Park and Sordid Things. She has also been in Daily Pops, a pilot for MTV, as well as Guiding Light and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Stacey has a B.A. from Brown University and an M.F.A. from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Evan Zes *
Sheik al-Islam, Abu al-Hasan and others
Evan’s credits include Around The World in 80 Days at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; The Comedy of Errors at Shakespeare on the Sound; The Comedy of Errors, Macbeth and The Winter’s Tale at The Old Globe; Full Circle, Ivanov and The Merchant of Venice at ART; Othello at Pioneer Theatre Company; and Pericles at the Goodman and Shakespeare Theatres. Off Broadway, he’s appeared in Around the World in 80 Days at the Irish Repertory Theatre, American Dreams and As You Like It at The Acting Company, The Cherry Orchard at the Beckett Theater, Romeo and Juliet at the Lucille Lortel Theatre and Time to Burn at Manhattan Ensemble Theater. He was also in Julie Taymor’s UK production of King Stag at the Barbican. He has appeared on All My Children and the films French Fries and The Street. Evan has an Acclaim Award for outstanding performance for his portrayal of Passepartout and an M.F.A. degree from ART/Moscow Art Theatre School at Harvard.
* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
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