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Transcript of media.aadl.orgmedia.aadl.org/documents/pdf/a2ct/a2ct_programs_20000601.pdf2000/06/01 · Susie...
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Ann Arbor Civic Theatre Opening night June 1, 2000 at the Playhouse
THE Heidi Uhroniules
Written by
Wendy Wasserstein
Producer Jan Koengeter
Assistant Director
Sharon Sheldon
Stage Manager Deb Huntley
Set Designer Slide Projectionist
Art Exhibit Coordinator Pax Bobrow
Set Builder Jim Barnes
Set Crew John Alexander Heidi Buchele Andrew Goss Deb Huntley Pat Huntley
Angela Hurlbut Roberta P~tersen Josephine Rood
Glen Ulrich
Directed by
Jan Koengeter
Special Thanks to
Assistant Stage Manager Michele Leshan
Sound Designer Jeff Zupan
Sound Operator Neil Clennan
Lighting Designer & Operator Amanda Diaz
Props & Set Dressing Barbara Wells
Costumes
Cast Susie Berneis
Make-Up & Hair Cast
Costume Running Crew Heidi's Dresser Alix Berneis
Carol Powloski of the Eastern Michigan University Slide Library for providing us with the slides for the play, Ann Arbor Community Education and Recreation, and
Kathi Genik for filling in as Heidi's Dresser on the night Alix was unavailable.
Cast (in order of appearance)
Heidi Holland · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Mori Richner
Susan Johnston · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Debra Steele Chris Boxer, Hippie, Mark, Steve The TV Technician, Waiter & Ray · · · · · · · · · · · · · R.J. White
Peter Patrone · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Michael A. LaFlamme
Scoop Rosenbaum · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Carl Hanna Jill · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Sharon Sheldon Fran & April Lambert··············································· Susie Bemeis
Becky Groves················································ Melissa 'Misty' Mills
Debbie· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Michele Leshan
Molly & Betsy · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Jennifer Nardine Lisa Freidlander Rosenbaum· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Rebecca Kleinheksel
Denise Friedlander · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Cherie Kifer
Synopsis of S~enes Act I Prologue: Columbia University Lecture Hall, New York, 1989
Scene 1: High School Dance, Chicago, 1965 Scene 2: Eugene McCarthy Fundraiser Dance, Manchester, New Hampshire, 1968 Scene 3: Huron Street Ann Arbor Consciousness Raising Rap Group, 1970
Scene 4: Protest outside the Chicago Art Institute, 1974
Scene 5: Outside the Pierre Hotel Ballroom (Wedding Reception), New York, 1977
Act II Prologue: Columbia University Lecture Hall, New York, 1989
Scene 1: Scoop & Lisa's New York Apartment (Baby Shower), 1980
Scene 2: "Hello New York" TV Studio, 1982
Scene 3: Trendy New York Restaurant, 1984
Scene 4: "Women-Where Are We Going?" Luncheon, Plaza Hotel, New York, 1986
Scene 5: Pediatrics Ward Lounge, New York, 1987
Scene 6: Heidi's New York Apartment, 1989
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About the Cast and Crew Jim Barnes (Set Builder) One of Jim's retire
ment hobbies is set building. He has been on
many AACT set crews, and both designed and
built some of them, Candide, Blood Wedding,
Brighton Beach Memoirs, that he can remem
ber. He also is a regular set crew member for
the University of Michigan Gilbert and Sulli
van Society. Besides all that he fiddles with
the innards of computers and with other elec
tronic stuff.
Susie Berneis (Fran and April) After playing
the wonderfully poisonous Stella in AACT's
Light Up the Sky, Susie was going to take a
little rest but who can resist The Heidi Chron
icles? She is also delighted to be plumbing her
own history in order to help with costuming.
What a long, strange trip it's been!" Thanks to
old friends and new!
Pax Bobrow (Set Design) Pax is a student of
fine arts at Eastern Michigan University. She
has been involved with theater since she was
nine years old. This is her first attempt at set
design. Pax can do anything because Andrew believes in her.
Neil Clennan (Sound Operator) has worked
backstage several times before but this is his
first experience running sound. Jan and the
cast greatly appreciate that he stepped in at
the very last minute when a replacement was
needed! Neil is more often seen onstage at
AACT-most recently as the Mute in The
F antasticks earlier this season. Neil was glad
' to be our "midnight hour" savior, especially
since Jan is a friend who has directed him as
an actor twice before, and hopefully will direct
him again someday soon!
Amanda Diaz (Lighting) I'm glad to be working lighting for this show. Other shows I have
worked on are Angels In America, The Fan
tasticks, and was crew in The Crucible. Most
recently I was spotlight coordinator for A Chorus Line. I'm glad to be in this show with
this cast. I hope you enjoy the show.
Carl Hanna (Scoop Rosenbaum) Carl's AACT
credits include Ezekiel Cheever in The Cruci
ble, John in A Life In The Theater and Eugene Gant in Look Homeward, Angel. His previous
roles for Huron High School are Rubin Flood
in The Dark At the Top of the Stairs, Inspector
Belsize in Night Must Fall and numerous
small roles in Feijfer's People. His interests are
chess, soccer, computers, movies and music.
He has been employed as a rural letter carrier
for the Dexter Post Office for twelve years. He
has been married to his lovely wife Mary for
seventeen years and they have one sixteen
year-old son, Luke. Carl would like to thank
Jan for this marvelous opportunity and express
his gratitude toward the rest of the cast and
crew for their high level of commitment.
Deb Huntley (Stage Manager) This is Deb's
first experience with the AACT. She has previ
ously participated in many aspects of the the
ater. Deb currently works at Washtenaw Engi
neering as a Civil Engineer.
Cherie Kifer (Denise Friedlander) A new
comer to the Civic stage, Cherie is grateful to
be playing the witty part of Denise. Almost
a junior at EMU, past favorite roles include
Marta in Company, Sandy in Grease and var
ious roles in Joseph and the Amazing Tech
nicolor Dreamcoat and Oliver! plus many many
more. Thanks to all her family and friends who
pay money to see this stuff. Pirouz and Terry
for the inspiration to go on and all the cast and
crew for making this show such a blast! Rock
on to all of you!
Jan Koengeter (Director & Producer) has
directed several AACT shows, including Burn
This, Mame, The Music Man and Damn Yan
kees-ali of which won the AACT award for
best of season. She also directed last season's
The Snow Queen as well as The Musical
Comedy Murders Of 1940, the Farnsdale spoof
of A Christmas Carol and several shows for
other area theater groups. Although less and
less frequently in recent years, Jan also occa
sionally acts and, in fact, won AACT's Best
Actress award as Betty in The Foreigner.
Although it's hard to believe in miracles, Jan
sincerely hopes that AACT's financial future
improves "dramatically," and that we can con
tinue to have use of a theater/playhouse plus
rehearsal space and storage space for cos
tumes, props and set pieces in a set-up at least
remotely similar to what we've enjoyed these
last several years.
Rebecca Kleinheksel (Lisa) Rebecca returns
to the AACT stage for the second time (previ
ously seen in The Snow Queen, winter 1998).
She spent her four years of high school as a
student in the Creative and Performing Arts
program in Livonia and working backstage for
the Jewish Ensemble Theatre in Bloomfield
Hills. She is re-dedicating herself to the per
forming arts after four years of establishing
her massage therapy practice and one year of
establishing her marriage. She wishes to thank
her family for their love and support ( espe
cially her husband, Chuck) and the powers
that be for bringing balance into life once
again.
Michael A. LaFlamme (Peter Patrone) Mike
once sang at the Hollywood Bowl (his tour
group didn't see him slip away) and he was
on stage at the Fisher Theatre for Equus (the
college audience). He has been involved with
theater for some 27 odd years (obviously). He
was last seen as Thomas Putnam in The Cru
cible.
Michele Leshan (Debbie) From the Elizabe
than Age to modem times ... this is Michele's
fourth show at AACT. The first was The Mer
chant of Venice. Still wearing black, but speak
ing more lines, Michele is grateful for this
opportunity to emerge from backstage. Thanks
to Steve for his constant encouragement.
Melissa 'Misty' Mills (Becky Groves) Misty is happy to be returning to the AACT stage,
having recently appeared in last year's produc
tion of Romeo & Juliet. She would like to give
a special thank you to her mom Barbara, her
husband Christopher and (of course) Angie for
II
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Paesano's is offering V.I.P. (Very Important Punctuality) treatment to AACT patrons
who dine before the show. You'll receive guaranteed
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Bring your ticket stub in after the show for coffee and
dessert is on us.
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all their support. Oh yeah, and the hair? It's
real.
Jennifer Nardine (Molly & Betsy) The Heidi
Chronicles marks Jennifer's third appearance
in an AACT production. She landed in Ann
Arbor after a stint as a lounge singer in Chi
cago, and now spends her days at local software development company. She's also a pub
lished poet, and looks forward to the day when
she can "stop being responsible and run away
to sing on cruise ships and write stories."
Mori Richner (Heidi Holland) Heidi marks
Mori's second show with AACT (her last time
on stage was as Alaura in City of Angels). Past
favorite performances include Luisa in The
Fantasticks and a stint with the Young Ameri
cans. She spent three years as an actor and
writer for Griffin's Tale Repertory Company, a
touring children's theater troupe in Chicago, as well as three years as the voice of Lauralai
Olivier in Virtue in the Storm, a radio soap opera spoof. Love and gratitude to Cedric and
Sorbie for your support, love, and patience.
Sharon Sheldon (Assistant Director, Jill),
Sharon was most recently see in AAC1"s The
Snow Queen. She's thankful to Jan for this
delightful diversion and grateful for the four
terrific men in her life.
Debra Steele (Susan Johnston) Debra was
born and raised in the Ypsilanti/ Ann Arbor
area. She attended Ypsilanti High School, and
graduated from EMU, where she majored in
telecommunications & film and minored in
journalism. She has worked as a TV news
anchor/reporter in California and Ohio. Debra
is a divorced single mother of a five-year-old
daughter.
R.J. White (Chris Boxer, Hippie, Mark, Steve
The TV Technician, Waiter & Ray) What the
critics are saying:
"Mr. White's bios have been lacking ever since
January's Light Up the Sky. Who cares?"
-Carl Bonroy, Sacramento Bee
"He usually ends by thanking his parents and Sara. How trite!"
-A. Vardo, Cleveland Plain Dealer
Jeff Zupan (Sound Designer) Jeff has been around so long and done so many shows that he's getting tired of writing these little blurbs.
He's been everything from stagehand to stage
manager, apprentice builder to award-winning set designer, actor to director, (most recently
of last year's "Best Play", On Golden Pond),
as well as designing lighting and sound. He'll
be directing Saline Area Players' Harvey in
August.
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From the Director I think The Heidi Chronicles is a wonderful
play. Since it won the 1989 Tony Award for
Best Play as well as the 1989 Pulitzer Prize, I guess I'm not the only one who thinks so.
Here's what a few N.Y. critics said: "an enlight
ening portrait of a generation" (Mel Gussow,
The New York Times), "perceptive and very
funny" (Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press),
"with splendid humor, clear-headedness and
a healthy compassion for absurdity ... This is
not just a funny play, but a wise one." (Howard
Kissel, New York Daily News), "Smart, compas
sionate, witty, courageous ... gloriously well
written" (Linda Winer, New York Newsday),
and "Delightfully amusing ... emotionally pen
etrating" (William A. Raidy, The Star-Ledger).
So, are you excited now or what? I saw the
Broadway production and agree with all those
critics!
Heidi is only a few years older than me. That
probably has something to do with why this play appeals so much to me. I experienced
some of the same things, listened to the same
music, met some of the same kinds of people,
and have some of the same kinds of friendships
as Heidi. But although this play may have
the most resonance for members of the baby
boom generation, I think the basic essence of humanity reflected in the play is relevant for
people of all ages. Most of the actors in our
production were born after the boomers, but
they seem to feel a close connection to and
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have a deep understanding of these charac
ters. Hopefully, you will also enjoy these char
acters and the changes they go through from
1965 to 1989.
To those of you who may not agree with the choices Heidi makes, please remember the
title is The Heidi (not "every woman') Chroni
cles. Wendy Wasserstein is not trying to tell you
that all women should make the same choices
as Heidi to end up feeling happy and fulfilled.
Heidi chooses what she thinks is best for her.
Heidi's friends choose various life paths. As
Sly & The Family Stone sang to us, "Different
strokes for different folks". And for those of
you men who might try to dismiss this play
by comparing it to what some of you like to
refer to as "chick flicks", then, as Heidi, her
self, might retort, "Suffer!" Or her more oft
said "Oh, please!" would also suffice. I hope
you take the time to peruse the artwork in the
gallery. It wasn't hard to find some fantastic
local women artists. I'm glad they were willing
to exhibit their work and share their art with us
during the run of performances.
Lastly, yes, Wendy Wasserstein really did set
Act I, Scene 3 in Ann Arbor. We did not local
ize it just for fun. I heard that she really did
visit a college friend here, herself, which made
her think of "immortalizing" our town (and
Ypsilanti, too!) in her play. It sounds likely, but I can't guarantee its veracity. We hope
you enjoy our production as much as we have
enjoyed preparing it for you.
-JK
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be part of our Music Director Search!
Czars and Commissars w/Arthur Post Musical Gifts w/Markand Thakar Copland Centenary w/Susan Davenny Wyner Midwinter's Breath of Spring wNictoria Bond Continental Harmony w/Samuel Wong Season Finale & passing of baton w/Sam Wong
Sep 25 Oct 16 Nov 13
Jan22 Mar 11 Apr29
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