Argus Productions presents

Written by

Victor Bardack and Edward Michael Bell

A Guest Production at the Odyssey Theatre

Director Joel Zwick

Producer Leigh Fortier

Associate Producer Tiffany Thomas

Scenic Design J R Bruce

Lighting Design Adam Hunter

Costume Design Michael Mullen

Music and Sound Design Christopher Moscatiello

Property Master Lily Bartenstein

Publicity Phil Sokoloff

Assistant Stage Manager ............................ Yasamin Eskandani

Assistant to the Producer ......................................... Renee Cash

Social Media Manager ........................................... Ceebs Bailey

Scenic Painter ..................................................... Marine Walton

Graphic Design .............................................. Brandon Devaney

Program Content Design .................. Brad Steinbauer, Plays411

Set Construction ......................................................... Gary Reed

Casting Director Michael Donovan, CSA

Casting Assistant Richie Ferris

Production Stage Manager Debbie Blount

Project Coordinator Duly Gonzalez

The Cast (in order of appearance)

Ben Rose ................................................ Barry Pearl*

Tiffany Kiley ....................................... Rena Strober*

Pete Raffelo .................................. Rick Pasqualone*

Greg Goldfarb ........................................ Phil Morris*

Voice of Dragos ...................................... Brain Kale*

Ben/Pete/Greg (alternate) ............... Michael Gabiano*

* Member of Actors’ Equity Association,

The Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States

A Note from the Playwrights

“It’s impolite to use a cell phone in the house.”

That might be the first and only rule of social etiquette in Ben Rose’s Westside, New York, rent controlled, one bedroom apartment.

Ben and his writing partner, Pete are desperate for success. But for each, their success is interpreted differently. For Pete, it is money (lots of it), fame and recog-nition. For Ben its being able to pay the rent and shopping at Gristedes with out having to use coupons.

Two partners with different goals. Does that make for dramatic controversy or personal antagonisms?

Who are these characters? Don’t they really reflect the attitudes and opinions of the playwrights? Isn’t the stage the forum to vent, to rail, to express emotions probably better left unsaid in “polite” conversations?

Perhaps Edward Albee said it best, “Do you know what a playwright is? A play-wright is someone who lets his guts hang out on stage.”

So who are these guys, Ben and Pete? These sometimes quirky, opinionated char-acters willing to do whatever it takes to reach for the stars.

Well hopefully, in part, we are them and they are us.

-Victor Bardack and Edward Michael Bell (May, 2016)

Who’s Who in the Cast (in order of appearance)

Barry Pearl * (Ben Rose). Proud 55-year member of AEA, SAG and AFTRA.

Credits include: Sonny in The First National company of Grease, co-starring as Doody in Paramount’s big screen smash and recently, Stan Weaver in FOX’s Grease: Live. Other career highlights include: BROADWAY: Randolph McAfee, original production of Bye Bye Birdie, Oliver! The Producers, and Baby It’s You! NATIONAL TOURS & REGIONAL: Professor Tinker-putt in both NBC’s primetime special, Bed Time with Barney:

Imagination Island and the National and International tour and video of Barney’s Big Surprise, Arnold in Happy Days: A New Musical, Juror #7 in The Pasadena Play-house production of Twelve Angry Men, Wilbur Turnblad in 3d’s Hairspray, Jim Haller in MTW’s All Shook Up, Moonface Martin in Moonlight’s Anything Goes, and Sennex in The Norris’s Forum to name a few. TV: Criminal Minds, General Hospi-tal, House, ER etc. FILM: The Newest Pledge, My Favorite Martian, Avenging An-gel, etc. Directing credits include: Crazy Time for Vagabond Players, Grease for Gretna Theatre and Cabrillo Music Theatre, Night Hawks for Crown City Theatre, Pop! for The LA Fringe, 13 The Musical for Panic Productions and PVPA, and recently Camp Rock at NoHo Arts for Panic. Cindy and Grace, "IAY" www.barrypearl.com Rena Strober * (Tiffany Kiley). Broadway: Rena made her Broadway debut in

Les Miserables (Cosette), and continued to perform both on and Off-Broadway. Some favorites include: White’s Lies with Betty Buckely, My Life with Albertine (Playwrights Horizons), and her one-woman show Spaghetti & Matzo Balls! She toured the country with Fiddler on the Roof as the eldest daughter Tzeitel with Topol, Harvey Fierstein, and Theo Bikel. Papa Trifecta! Regional Theater favorites include Zhivago at

the La Jolla Playhouse (Outer Critics Award), Stoneface (Pasadena Playhouse) Heathers the Musical (Hudson), Beauty & The Beast (Belle), and When You’re in Love the Whole World is Jewish (Directed by Jason Alexander). On TV, most 10 year old girls know her as Becky Bickelhoff on Disney’s Liv & Maddie. Their parents might recognize her from Shameless. She has also been seen on The Big Bang Theory, Law & Order, Adult Swim, infomercials with Michael Showalter, plus lots of pilots that never went anywhere. Rena voices numerous cartoon characters for DisneyXD, Mattel, and Netflix, and is the voice of hundreds of video game characters for Nintendo, Play Station, and other platforms. She’s also a singing vegetable in the upcoming animated fea-

ture Sausage Fest by Seth Rogen. Rena has been the National Anthem singer for the NY METS, and for NASA rocket launches in Cape Canaveral and JPL. She is a voice teacher and board member for the Academy of Music for the Blind, a music school for blind children ages 4-18 years old. www.renastrober.com www.ouramb.org Rick Pasqualone * (Pete Raffelo) began his career in New York playing the

groom in the Off-Broadway hit Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding. 25 years later he returned to re-open the show in Times Square, this time as his father! In between, he has appeared in fea-ture films and the Oscar-nominated short The Dutch Master, on Broadway in Neil Simon’s Proposals, guest-starred on numerous TV shows including NCIS, Glee, CSI, One Bad Choice, Crash, Melissa and Joey, Desperate Housewives, and

Love Boat: The Next Wave with cast mate Phil Morris. He has lent his voice to hundreds of commercials and animated shows including Transformers: Robots in Disguise and Family Guy. Video game fans will recognize him as Vito Scaletta in Mafia II and its much anticipated sequel due out later this year. His producing credits include the short film Vic’s Cafe which features original music that he composed and performed. He hopes to one day be a Chopped champion. Phil Morris * (Greg Goldfarb) started his acting career as a child in the original

Star Trek episode entitled Miri. As one of the three children of Mission: Impossible star Greg Morris, Phil was brought up in and around “the business.” But it wasn’t until Phil went on location for a movie with his father that the bug hit, and it hasn’t stopped hitting him. Best known for his portrayal of Jackie Chiles the lawyer from Seinfeld, Phil has worked on many series and films including The New Mission: Impossi-

ble, CSI: Miami, Star Trek: DS9, Baby Daddy, Smallville, NCIS, Shake It Up, Blackish, and many, many more. Phil has had a long and rewarding televi-sion career. Black Dynamite, Meet The Spartans, and Clay Pigeons are just a few of the big screen titles that Phil has been a part of. Phil is very happy to be back on the LA theater scene with Hillary and Monica, and reuniting with an old friend, Joel Zwick.

Reservations for Hillary and Monica

www.plays411.com/hillary or (323) 960-7735

Michael Gabiano * (Ben/Pete/Greg, alternate). ARGUS Productions/Odyssey Theatre debut! NYC Theatre: Premieres of Awaken the Wolves (Spotlight On/New Village Productions) and The Ama-ziiing Colossal Thing (Vital Theatre Co.). LA Theatre: Premi-eres of Reunion (NoHo Arts/Blackhart Productions), Saturday Night at Grossinger’s (TheatreWest), and Naked Christmas (P6/Celebration Theatre). Regional: Raft of the Medusa, Immortal Interlude (NJ Repertory Co.), ART, and The SantaLand Diaries (Tri

-State Actors Theatre). Film: A 2nd Opinion, Never Say Macbeth. Television: Days of our Lives, and Sean Saves the World. Proud AEA member (thanks, Thea-treWorks/USA!). Michael is represented by MINC Talent. Thank you: Michael Donovan Casting, Joel Zwick, and the entire Hillary and Monica team!

the Production Team Victor Bardack (Writer) is a writer and producer with Argus Entertainment, Inc. He has worked on many successful independent and commercial feature films. The Great New Wonderful which he produced was critically acclaimed and played to standing room audiences and additional screenings at the Tribeca Film Festival. The Great New Wonderful was the Centerpiece film at the Los Angeles, Silverlake Film Festival and the Feature Presentation at the Newport Beach Film Festival. Bardack also wrote and produced Rockets Red Glare Gold Circle winner, drama, New York Film Festival. His original comedy, The Gum-shoe Kid went on to commercial success both domestically and international-ly. Bardack’s other film projects in pre-production and development, include the historical Civil Rights drama, An American Awakening, the romantic comedy The Summer Before Forever, and the tribute to the MGM aquacade spectacu-lars, The Million Dollar Mermaid. Bardack also wrote and produced the New York stage play, Franklin & Jefferson – Sex, Politics and The American Revolu-tion, and Ike. He is currently debuting the irreverent stage comedy Hillary and Monica in Los Angeles. An original project that he co-wrote and execu-tive produced thru ARGUS Entertainment, Inc. www.argusproductions.com Edward Michael Bell (Producer, Writer), Argus Entertainment, has been in the entertainment industry for the past four decades. As an actor, he has guest starred in over 80 television episodes, half a dozen feature films and has appeared on and Off Broadway. As a producer, he developed and wrote The ARCO Jesse Owens Games, a nationally televised syndicated teenage athletic competition within the framework of the 1984 Los Angles Olympic Games. He has written and produced numerous live specials for the Fortune 500 group and was one of the coordinating members for the Track and Field program for the Olympic Com-mittee. Together with Victor Bardack, he has several films in development, among

them AquaStar, inspired by Bell’s late wife, screen legend Esther Williams. He re-ceived his Doctorat es Lettres in 17th Century French Literature from the University of Paris (the Sorbonne). Joel Zwick (Director) directed My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the highest-grossing romantic comedy of all time. Recent films include Fat Albert and Elvis Has Left the Building. Mr. Zwick directed the Broadway production of George Gersh-win Alone at the Helen Hayes Theatre. Mr. Zwick began his theatrical career at La Mama E.T.C., as director of the La Mama Plexus. He has directed on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Broadway touring companies. He and Hershey Felder have collaborated on Monsieur Chopin, Beethoven as I Knew Him, and Maestro. Currently, Mr. Zwick is recognized as one of Hollywood’s most pro-lific director of episodic television, having the direction of 650 episodes to his credit. These include having directed nineteen pilots, which have gone on to become regular series. Previous New York productions have included Dance with Me (Tony nomination), Shenandoah (Broadway national tour), Oklaho-ma (national tour), and Cold Storage (American Place Theater). He acted in the original New York production of MacBird. He directed Esther (Promenade The-ater, NY), Merry-Go-Round (Chicago and Las Vegas), Last Chance Saloon, and Woycek (West End, London). Mr. Zwick has taught drama at Yale University, Brooklyn College, Queens College, Wheaton College, and the University of Southern California. He is a graduate (BA, MA) of Brooklyn College. He is cur-rently directing for the Disney Channel and has been at the helm of Suite Life on Deck, Dog with a Blog, Jessie, Shake it Up, Girl Meets World, I Didn’t Do It, and K.C. Undercover. He is also directing the Fuller House project for NetFlix. Leigh Fortier (Producer). Plays produced by Leigh have garnered over 20 LA Weekly Awards (including LA Weekly best musical, Medea, the Musical), over 10 NAACP Awards (16 Nominations), three of the five GLAAD Media Awards nominations for Best Play in one season (including award recipient Medea, the Musical), and numer-ous Backstage West Awards. Highlights include multiple award winning plays The Talented Tenth directed by Oz Scott and starring Robert Guillaume at the Hudson Avenue Theatre, Up The Mountain by Kevin Arkadie (numerous producer awards and LA Times 10-Best), and Kathy and Mo: The Dark Side starring Kathy Najimy and Mo Gaffney (co-produced with Jimmy Nederlander at the Henry Fonda Theatre). Along with Burn This (directed by Jessica Kubzansky at the Odyssey Theatre), The New Bozena (directed by Rainn Wilson), Walking the Blonde (presented by Kathy Bates and Sharon Gless), Snakebit by David Marshall Grant (nominated for GLAAD Media Award), and Pope Joan for Broadway producer Michael Butler (HAIR), Leigh produced and co-created (with multiple award-winning playwright Claudia Allen) the hit musical A Gay Christmas Carol (GLAAD Media Award nomination for Outstanding Production), and produced the award winning smash hit The Very Worst of Var-la Jean Merman, and Streamers, both at the Hudson. Leigh produced Room

105 (about Janis Joplin) starring Sophie B Hawkins and Emily’s Song (written and directed by New York Times best-selling author Chet Holmes). Other recent produc-tions include critically-acclaimed award-winning Serrano The Musical (directed by Joel Zwick with Book and Lyrics by Madeline Sunshine) at the Matrix Theatre, When Stars Align (written by Carole Eglash-Kosoff and John Henry Davis, directed by John Henry Davis) at the Odyssey theatre, and the just-opened Gruesome Playground Injuries at the Hudson Theatre. Leigh’s upcoming project is the new “Dog Opera” - Rebel (With a Cause). Tiffany Thomas (Associate Producer). Tiffany’s recent theater productions in-clude the musicals Recorded In Hollywood, Serrano, Visionary Man, Shuffle Along, Joey McIntyre’s The Kid, The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side, When Stars Align, Reunion, Dinner at Home Between Deaths, as well as the NAACP critically acclaimed The Good Negro. She has also developed a name for herself in Hollywood. As a result, she helped produce the documentary Defending the Homeland: Native American in Armed Services, for which she earned her first Emmy Award. Tiffany is extremely grateful to come on aboard to Hillary and Monica production team. J. R. Bruce (Scenic Design) is a Los Angeles-based scenic designer. Recent Pro-jects: Homefree (Road Theatre) and Failure: A Love Story (Coeurage Theatre). Selected Los Angeles projects include Trouble with Words (Coeurage Theatre), Woman of No Importance (Sacred Fools), Trying, Other Desert Cities, Master Class, and RED (International City Theatre). Selected Regional and National credits: 2015 North American Tour of Chugginton Live! Great Rescue Adventure (Lifelike Touring), Intimate Apparel (Ensemble Theatre Company, INDY Award winner), Lonely Boy’s Guide to Survival and Werewolves (La Jolla Playhouse), and The Sound of Music (San Diego Musical Theater). JR is the adjunct profes-sor of scenic design at Vanguard University of Southern California. MFA - Uni-versity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, BA - Graceland University. See his portfolio at www.JRBruceDesign.com Adam Hunter (Lighting Design) has designed lights for theater and dance for the past nine years. His work has been seen at the Elephant spaces, Highways, REDCAT, Bootleg, and many others. Recent and notable designs: Murder Ballad (1938), Five Small Fires, Brewsie and Willie for Poor Dog Group, and Daughter of a Cuban Revolutionary at Emerson Arts (Center for New Performance). Adam is also an actor and Co-founder of Poor Dog Group, a Los Angeles-based arts collective. He has been fortunate to have worked in this capacity at The Kirk Douglas, A Noise Within, Theater@Boston Court, South Coast Rep, Pasade-na Playhouse, The Getty Villa, and many more. Award wins and nominations: Ovation, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, LA Weekly, and Back Stage West Gar-land. Graduate of California Institute of the Arts.

Michael Mullen (Costume Designer) is excited to be working on this show! He has costumed such shows as Fugue (Ovation and Broadway World nomina-tions), Sweeney Todd (Stage Raw nomination), American Idiot (TicketHolder Award), When Stars Align (Broadway World nomination), Dorian’s Descent (Broadway World nomination), Moon Over Buffalo (Broadway World nomina-tion), God’s Gypsy (Broadway World nomination), and Dreamgirls (Ovation Award, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, NAACP Theatre Award, LA Weekly Theatre Award, Broadway World Award). He has received such Stage SceneLA Awards as 2014-2015 Costume Designer Extraordinaire, 2013-2014 Costume Design of the Year (Individual Production) for Dorian’s Descent, and 2012-2013 Costume Designer of the Year. He would like to thank everyone involved with Hillary and Monica, his friends and family, and you for coming to see it! :) Chris Moscatiello (Music and Sound Design). Recipient of the 2015 Stage Raw award and 2014 Ovation nomination for sound design, Christopher Moscatiello is also a composer, music director and sound editor/mixer for theater, televi-sion, and film. Recent television credits include The Walking Dead (AMC), Psych (USA), Eureka (SyFy), Caprica (SyFy), The Cape (NBC), Trauma (NBC), Human Tar-get (Fox), and he has scored full series for National Geographic and Discovery Chan-nel, as well as specials and promos for HBO, Animal Planet, MSNBC, The History Channel, The Learning Channel, BBC, and ZDF Germany. Theater credits include The Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, The Folger Shakespeare Theater, The Smithsonian Institution, Antaeus Theatre Company, Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, The Fountain Theatre, Rogue Machine Theatre, Skylight Theatre Company, Pacific Resident Thea-tre, The Road Theater, and he served as assistant conductor for the national tour of The Phantom of the Opera. An East Coast native, Chris spent several years in Boston as Associate Artistic Director and Conductor of the Boston Chamber Ensem-ble. During that period, he wrote a ballet commissioned by the Kirov Ballet Academy that had its world premiere in Washington, DC. While on the East Coast, he was the production music director for the theater program at American University, and the supervising composer for The Washington Opera’s Create and Produce program. He also served as Master Sound Engineer for the Washington Folklore Society Folk Festi-val, Staff Engineer at Wooden Nickel Sound and Recording, and as Technical Di-rector for The Stage Door theater program in Arlington, Va. Lily Bartenstein (Property Master) is a scenic, lighting, and projection designer based in Los Angeles. Recent work includes The End Times (projection design-er, Playwrights’ Arena/Skylight Theatre), Criers for Hire (props and projection designer, East West Players), Ether Dome (associate projection designer, La Jolla Playhouse, Hartford Stage, Huntington Theatre), Burial at Thebes (scenic designer, UC San Diego), and Venus (scenic designer, UC San Diego), among others. Lily received her MFA from the University of California San Diego, and BA from the University of Chicago. www.lilybartenstein.com

Debbie Blount (Production Stage Manager). Debbie has had the honor of be-ing a part of some great teams. House manager and Production Assistant in the critically acclaimed, Serrano the Musical and also in the production When Stars Align. She has also had the great opportunity to stage manage I Hate Holmes, a musical written by Madeline Sunshine and produced by Steve Sun-shine, both in Los Angeles an New York.

Michael Donovan, CSA (Casting Director) is the recipient of six Artios awards, given by the Casting Society of America for Outstanding Achievement in casting. Michael has cast shows produced at the Hollywood Bowl, Pasadena Playhouse, the Kirk Douglas Theatre, International City Theatre, La Jolla Play-house, the Falcon Theatre, the Colony Theatre, Shakespeare Festival/LA, Ebony Repertory Theatre, Ensemble Theatre of Santa Barbara, Arizona Theatre Com-pany, Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, Indiana Rep and the Alliance Theatre. Current and upcoming productions include A Chorus Line (Hollywood Bowl), I Only Have Eyes for You (Ricardo Montalban Theatre), Recorded in Hollywood (Kirk Douglas Theatre), A Walk in the Woods (I.C.T.), Sex and Education (Laguna Playhouse), Discord (Arizona Theatre Company), and Bars & Measures (The Theatre @ Boston Court). Michael’s credits include numerous films, over 1,200 commercials, and the TV series Blood Relatives.

Philip Sokoloff (Publicity) is LA’s most active theatre publicist, representing over 100 live attractions and several dozen independent feature films per year throughout Los Angeles County. Also an actor, he appears in the just-released feature film The Bandit Hound. Yasamin Eskandani (Assistant Stage Manager). “I was born in Tehran/Iran to Azeri parents, therefor I speak four languages. I was 13 years old when my family and I moved to the United States of America. Undergrad student at Cali-fornia State University of North Ridge. Studying Physical Anthropology and Biology. Theater and stage lighting is my passion and I have Santa Monica Col-lege’s theater department and Leigh Allen to thank for everything they have taught me. I’ve been credited at Santa Monica College’s plays such as Ele-phant’s Grave Yard and 25th Anniversary Putnam Spelling Bee as the second master electrician (student), board operator, and programmer. In Spring of 2015, I was teacher’s assistant for stage lighting. I was fortunate to be a part of great teams for Serrano The Musical, When Stars Align, and Dinner at Home between Deaths. And now I’m truly happy and grateful to be on this wonder-ful journey Hillary and Monica with such talented cast and an incredible pro-duction team as the assistant stage manager. So much gratitude and apprecia-tion for all the great opportunities given to me...”

Ceebs Bailey (Social Media Manager). Ceebs is the Creative Director of Co-conutMilk Creative, a marketing, branding, and social media agency based in LA. Hop on that smart phone right now and “check-in” on Facebook at When Stars Align — be sure to tag the people you came with, as well. Please also “Like” our Facebook page and tell all your friends, co-workers, and neighbors what an amazing time you had this evening and how you were so very smart to come see this theatrical event. (Word of mouth is still Queen.) If you want a savvy marketing team that walks the walk, get in touch. imthirsty@coconutmilkcreative.com

ARGUS ENTERTAINMENT is dedicated to the production of high quality, mar-ketable films outside the bloated Hollywood budget infrastructure. There is an increased need for content in the rapidly growing television, cinematic, digital markets, and independent cinema is one of the key providers. By com-bining fresh talent with seasoned film professionals, our goal is to create pro-jects that will flourish both creatively and financially. We believe the timing is excellent to get involved in the entertainment industry, and specifically, in the independent film market. With a team of bright and talented filmmakers and producers, we will deliver high quality filmed entertainment while keep-ing budgets low to maximize profits.

For information on Hillary and Monica and/or ARGUS Entertainment current inventory of film and stage projects, please contact Victor Bardack or Edward Michael Bell at (310) 274-8147, e-mail info@argusproductions.com, or www.argusproductions.com.

Special Thanks

Joel Zwick Leigh Fortier Tiffany Thomas

JR Bruce Adam Hunter Michael Mullen

Christopher Moscatiello Lily Bartenstein

Michael Donavan Richie Ferris Debbie Blount

Phil Sokoloff Ceebs Bailey Duly Gonzalez

Brad Steinbauer Yasamin Eskandani Renee Cash

Marine Walton Brandon Devaney Lounge Theatre

Steve Pope Kevin Orellana Larry Blum Kis Knelt

~ ~ ~

And Joel especially thanks: Candice, Lara, Jodi, Jamie, and Hillary;

and his grandkids, Elliott, Olive, and Aubrey.

~ ~ ~

It is with deep appreciation that we would like to extend our special thanks to Joel Zwick our superb and tireless director and our talented and dedicated cast of actors: Barry Pearl, Rena Strober, Rick Pasqualone, Phil Morris, Michael Gabiano, and Brain Kale (the voice of Dragos). A production can’t be mounted without the hard work of a talented crew of the “behind the scenes” professionals. A special thanks to Leigh Fortier, for putting this wonderful crew together. Also, thank you to Beth Hogan, Ron Sossi, and the Odyssey Theatre staff for their help and the ac-commodating way they welcomed the ARGUS Production family of HILLARY and MONICA to their beautiful theatre. It takes so many talented people in front and behind the floodlights to make it all happen. Each and everyone plays a vital part. Our sincere thanks to all our professionals for a job well done.

~ Victor Bardack and Edward Michael Bell Playwrights

ARGUS Entertainment

Reservations for Hillary and Monica

www.plays411.com/hillary or (323) 960-7735