SYRACUSE STAGE: [1] WELCOME ROBERT M. HUPP[2] STUPID F***ING BIRD[5] TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

DEPARTMENT OF DRAMA: [9] PUNK ROCK[11] THE SPITFIRE GRILL

JANUARY - MARCH 2016

KATE DEBUYS AND CODY NICKELL IN WOOLLY MAMMOTH'S PRODUCTION OF STUPID F***ING BIRD. PHOTO: STAN BAROUH

S Y R A C U S E S T A G E W E L C O M E S

ROBERT M. HUPP

1 | SYRACUSE STAGE

Dear Friends,

By now most of you have heard the news that Robert M. Hupp has been named as the new artistic director of Syracuse Stage. Hupp suc-ceeds current producing artistic director Timothy Bond who is scheduled to step down at the end of the 2015/2016 season.

Hupp has had a long and distinguished career as an artistic leader, director, and educator. He is currently producing artistic director of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre in Little Rock, AR, where he has served for 16 years. Prior to his appointment in Arkansas, he was artistic direc-tor at New York’s off-Broadway Jean Cocteau Repertory (1989 – 1999). Hupp has also been a panelist and on-site evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts and served in various capacities for the Theatre Communications Group, including a term as vice president of the Board of Directors.

Hupp was a tenured associate professor at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA, where he taught acting, directing, voice, and Shakespeare text and performance. Shortly after arriving in Arkansas, he accepted an ongoing appointment at the University of Little Rock to teach acting and directing and assisted in restructuring the theatre department’s program. He served as the interim department chair (2004 – 2005) and led the search committee for a new chair in 2005.

Hupp’s appointment, announced on January 7, followed a months-long national search conduct-ed by Greg Kandel of Management Consultants for the Arts, Inc. A search committee compris-ing members of the Syracuse Stage Board of Trustees, senior staff, and representatives from the College of Visual and Performing Arts and the Department of Drama selected Hupp.

Theatre is best served when the artistic leader rolls up his sleeves and engages in the issues that affect all aspects of life in the community,” Hupp said. “Above all, artistic leadership means bringing the creative voice of the theatre to the community. My philosophy of theatre is tied to the idea that we have the rare opportunity to create important communal experiences for our audiences.”

Hupp is married to Clea Elaine Bunch, an asso-ciate professor of history at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Hupp will assume artistic leadership of Syracuse Stage in July.

“

SYRACUSE STAGE | 2

Howard Shalwitz, artistic director of Washington DC’s Woolly Mammoth Theatre,

directed the world premiere of playwright Aaron Posner’s Stupid F***ing Bird in

2013. Inspired by Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, Stupid F***ing Bird is a decidedly

contemporary mash-up of Chekhov’s characters and themes that examines art, love,

and revolution. The premiere production of Stupid F***ing Bird earned Helen Hayes

Awards for Outstanding Resident Play and Outstanding New Play or Musical. A revival

at Woolly Mammoth played to sold out houses.

COLLABORATION & ENGAGING WITH THE AUDIENCEAN INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR HOWARD SHALWITZ

BY TIONGE JOHNSON

3 | SYRACUSE STAGE

TJ: Tionge Johnson HS: Howard Shalwitz

TJ: Tell me the history between you and Aaron Posner?

HS: It’s been 25 years since I first met him. I followed his work when he was a founder of the Arden Theatre in Philadelphia many years ago. He used to invite me to critique his productions while they were in dress rehearsal and vice-versa. In terms of his work at Woolly, that started with his directing of In the Next Room, or the vibrator play by Sara Ruhl five or six years ago. Actually, the idea for Stupid F***cking Bird grew out of that just a little bit, because I saw a run through in the rehearsal hall. And, after it was over I said to Aaron, I think we should do a Chekhov play.

TJ: What made you decide to direct Posner’s adaptation?

HS: I recognized that for him it was an important step forward as an artist because it was not just an adaptation. It was Aaron step-ping into being a playwright for the first time and really owning it as his own thing.

TJ: I can tell by the title alone that it was unique to Posner, are there still good responses overall toward the title of the show?

HS: He (Posner) says he wrote it not thinking anyone would ever do it. Yet, at the back of his mind he thought, well maybe Woolly Mammoth might do it because of our history of taking risks on pro-vocative material. But I think that freedom of thinking, “oh maybe no one will ever do this,” was very different from his feeling like “oh, I've got to be faithful to Chekhov.”

As a director it was fun to be part of a process with a writer who was not at all precious about what he had written; who kept throwing it up in the air and see-ing how it all fell together.

TJ: You mentioned some adjust-ments made to the show and a lot of artistic changes. What were some of those changes?

HS: When Emma discovers Trig kissing Nina, Nina has a long outburst that was actually writ-ten as an extended monologue. I think Aaron wanted to get all that inner stuff out which he does with these brilliant chorus scenes, where everybody comes together late in act one. Where they all say, “ I just want to be loved, I justwant to be loved, I just want this, I just want that,” and the writing is just gushingly direct.

TJ: I definitely agree with you that Stupid F***cking Bird and The Seagull are quite different. What are the differences?

HS: Now, of course, Aaron’s ver-sion of the play is completely dif-ferent from The Seagull, as Aaron and I essentially break the fourth wall down to really engage with the audience directly in the act of theatre making.

As a director it was fun, to be part of a process with a writer who was not at all precious about what he had written...

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: KATE EASTWOOD NORRIS, CODY NICKELL, KIMBERLY GILBERT AND RICK FOUCHEUX IN WOOLLY MAMMOTH'S PRODUCTION OF STUPID F***ING BIRD. PHOTO: STAN BAROUH

TJ: Since Chekhov wrote The Seagull in 19th century Russia and Stupid F***cking Bird is a modern adaptation of this, what essential qualities of The Seagull did you retain or take away from the origi-nal script?

HS: What Aaron does is sort of remove the entire social and political context from 19th century Russia. As a result, he focuses more on simple universal human relationships, or a look at young people who have these dreams of how they want their lives to go and struggle to move beyond those dreams when they don’t work out. Obviously this is what happens in The Seagull, too, but I think by freshening up the lan-guage by removing the entire context brings you directly into the struggles of the characters.

TJ: Why do you think Chekhov’s work is such a commodity lately?

HS: There are always new adap-tations of Chekhov happening, so it does seem like there is a bit of a craze the last four or five years. I think these things just tend to go in cycles and maybe one success breeds another. There are just a lot of these universal human struggles that almost everybody identifies with.

TJ: What has been the best part of working on the show so far?

HS: This is where I would come back to the collaboration with Aaron. It is always a challenge when you work with your friends because you want to be direct but at the same time you want to be respectful. I think Aaron is naturally a storyteller and quite a brilliant one. So, I got to benefit from his point of view both as a writer and director, and then he was able to accept the benefit of what my particular sensibility was as a director.

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STUPID F***ING

BIRD

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THE CAST OF WOOLLY MAMMOTH'S PRODUCTION OF STUPID F***ING BIRD. PHOTO: STAN BAROUH

SYRACUSE STAGE | 4

5 | SYRACUSE STAGE

Veteran actor Mark Murphey makes his Syracuse Stage debut in the role of Atticus Finch in the upcoming production of To Kill a Mockingbird. In 32 seasons with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) Murphey has undertaken such roles as Hamlet, Iago in Othello, Cassius in Julius Caesar, Benedick in Much Ado about Nothing, and Leontes in A Winter’s Tale, among many others. He recent-ly portrayed Lyndon B. Johnson in an episode of the PBS series, Secrets of the Dead, titled “JFK & LBJ: A Time for Greatness.” Although his time at OSF over-lapped with Tim Bond’s tenure as associate artistic director, this is the first time they will work together. Murphey says he is very much looking forward to this opportunity. He spoke by phone with Joseph Whelan from his home in Oregon.

I N C O N V E R S A T I O N W I T H M A R K M U R P H E Y , S Y R A C U S E S T A G E'S

ATTICUS FINCH

PICTURED:MARK MURPHEY (ATTICUS FINCH). PHOTO: DAVID COOPER, OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL.

PICTURED OPPOSITE:SUSANNAH FLOOD (MAYELLA EWELL), MARK MURPHEY (ATTICUS FINCH). PHOTO: JENNY GRAHAM, OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL'S 2011 PRODUCTION OF TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD.

SYRACUSE STAGE | 6

MM: I am originally from Dallas and grew up there. Texas is not exactly the deep South, but you know when I grew up, I was born in ’48, I definitely saw all kinds of ra-cial prejudice in my childhood. I saw a lot of cruelty. I left as soon as I graduated col-lege and never went back to live in Texas. I’ve been on the West Coast ever since, and one of the reasons is that mentality that was there and to some degree still is. My relatives were from down there, so every year I would go down and visit, and I see a lack of change in a lot of places, and I see a lot of change in some places.

He’s played Atticus before, 2011 at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, but . . .

MM: I’d like another shot at it. You al-ways want a chance to play a role like that more than once. I feel the same way about the great Shakespeare roles. You may have played it once, but you didn’t find every-thing. There is always something you are go-ing to find in every production. And it can just be the way somebody talks to you.

Anything in particular come to mind con-cerning Atticus?

MM: I think within the trial itself. He’s got a monologue when he is doing the summary for the jury. When we started out with that [in the OSF production], it was different than where it ended. I think what I found was more clarity, making sure that what I was saying, the major point, was getting across, rather than going off on too many tangents. When he’s doing that summation, he has a lot of points to make, and some-times when you’re first rehearsing they may be glossed over. One of them had to do with Mayella’s guilt. He says I only say guilt because guilt was what motivated her. She didn’t commit any crime. She broke a code of our society, and breaking that code, she was ignorant, but she persisted in what she believed to be an enormous offense. And she kept going, and the subsequent reac-tion was something every child has done, she tried to hide the evidence. In this case, Tom Robinson is the evidence, she had to destroy him. That can be glossed over sometimes. He makes a very clear argument

all the way along. Even so the jury doesn’t acquit [Tom]. He does prove his point. He does what he said he was going to do early in the play. He said the man might go to the chair but he’s not going until the truth is told and you know what the truth is.

On approaching the role: trying to avoid the elephant in the room.

MM: The one thing that is always going to be hanging over everybody’s head when they do Mockingbird is Gregory Peck, and there’s no way I’m going to be Gregory Peck, can’t be. So I kind of ignored all that. I had seen the movie a long time ago when I was growing up, but I determined not to see it before I did it, and then the director [Marion McClinton at OSF] wanted us all to watch it. So I didn’t really watch him much, I just listened. I know who I am and I’m a mimic, most actors are, so they tend to pick up details from people that are doing some-thing they watch even if they don’t think they are. It’s sort of sub-conscious. So I try to avoid seeing things before I do them and just approach it in my own way.

Approaching the play: the other elephant in the room.

MM: It’s pretty clear—in [To Kill a Mockingbird]—who Atticus is, I think. And the goal is to try to achieve what [Harper Lee] is getting at in the book. That’s kind of what I try to do. Tim and I had talked some about her later book (Go Set a Watchman), but in terms of Atticus at the time of this play, it’s two different stories. In the 30s, it is pretty clear that Atticus is not out marching in Civil Rights parades. He’s a lawyer who’s defending an innocent man, and the innocent guy happens to be black, which puts his life in danger as well as Atticus’ and his children. It’s a brave thing to do, but it is not necessarily march-ing for equal rights. I think that’s what she was doing in the original book where she was saying he was standing on a very firm principle that all men are equal under the law and that all men are innocent until proven guilty.

What are the benefits of having the book as a resource?

MM: Reading his whole story, knowing what past he came from, those are things you can get from the novel you can’t get from the play. So you find the past that he

has had, the relationships he has had with people before. What happened to him, why did he lose his wife, that whole story. As an actor those are things that you can use to help understand his make-up. At some point he becomes a lawyer. One of the major things about him is that he really believes in the law and in the court system, the jury system. He really believes that. And he says he does. But he also says that the court is only as good as its jury and that jury is only as good as the people that make it up. But he believes in it as an institution.

What makes Atticus tick?

MM: I think he really believes he has a chance to win this case—not necessarily in this court-room, but to eventually win this case. He’s looking at that from a very lawyerly point of view, though. What is possibly missing is the reality that some of the less enlightened people in the town live in. For example, when the sheriff says, “Why did you take this case? I don’t understand,” and he says, I’m going to tell the truth. The truth has to be told. If you look at it from the point of view of the South at that time, if Tom is found guilty, there is a large chance he isn’t going to make it to any kind of re-trial. I don’t think Atticus quite grasps that. He takes it as such a shock when it comes. So one of the things that makes Atticus tick is his concentration on “of course if I prove this, of course if I’m right, of course if I stand on the truth, eventually everything is going to come out all right,” and it doesn’t necessarily. I think these things are there. They’re in the book. They’re in the play. She [Scout] sees him as a hero from a child’s point of view. He is heroic in a lot of ways. I just think there are certain things he doesn’t see. All of us are that way. We all have our strengths and weaknesses.

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

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MARK MURPHEY (ATTICUS FINCH) AND KAYA VAN DYKE (SCOUT), PHOTO: JENNY GRAHAM, OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL.

7 | SYRACUSE STAGE

*

*PERFORMANCE TIME CHANGE: Please note the Wednesday Matinee on March 9 originally scheduled for 2 p.m. has been changed to 3 p.m. to accomodate a morning performance for local schools.

SYRACUSE STAGE EDUCATION | 8

Syracuse Stage invites Central New York high school students to write original ten-minute plays and other performance pieces for entry into our annual Young Playwrights Festival contest. Visit www.SyracuseStage.org and click on Education/Young Playwrights to download the Entry Packet. Submission deadline is February 5th. Our panel of theatrical and literary profes-sionals will evaluate each student’s play. Semifinalists will be invited to a writing workshop at Syracuse Stage, where their plays will be read and critiqued. Finalists will see their plays performed as staged readings at the annual Young Playwrights Festival on Tuesday, April 12th, 2016.

Last year marked a record number of submissions to the Young Playwrights Festival. Will 15/16 submissions set a new mark?

ABOVE:WINNERS OF THE 2015 YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL (FRONT ROW) AND THE PARTICIPATING DEPARTMENT OF DRAMA STUDENTS WITH DIRECTOROF EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH LAUREN UNBEKANT.

LEFT:CHARITY VAN TASSEL AND ADAM COY PERFORMING IN THE 2015 YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL.

PHOTOS: BRENNA MERRITT

08/09 122 plays from 10 schools

09/10 147 plays from 9 schools

10/11 117 plays from 10 schools

13/14 211 plays from 14 schools

14/15220 plays from 11 schools

9 | DEPARTMENT OF DRAMA

“WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF?”

I was in the audience of Crouse Hinds auditorium some years ago when this question was put to the novelist John Irving, who was ap-pearing as part of the Friends of the Central Library lecture series.

As I recall, Irving hesitated a moment and responded that as a writer he didn’t think his fears were really any different than those of most people. Then he added, and I paraphrase: I had my first child when I was very young. I was still in college when my son was born. On the day he was born, the world suddenly became a very frightening place.

Somewhere a chorus of parents is saying “Amen.”

British playwright Simon Stephens (2015 Tony Award-winner for The Cu-rious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time) candidly admits that he fre-quently writes out of his own sense of fear. “A lot of artists use their creativity to make sense of things they’re afraid of,” he told The Scotsman in an inter-view just prior to the opening of his play Punk Rock in Edinburgh in 2010. And specifically, a parent’s fear for his own children proved the genesis of this provocative play about a group of sixth formers (British high school students) caught up in the pressure cooker of goal oriented academic

achievement. It is an unfiltered por-trait of young lives in distress.

“A lot of the play was a juxtaposition of my imagined future of my kids’ schooling experience with a sense of terror of something [terrible happen-ing],” explained Stephens, who lives in London with his wife and three children. In becoming a father, “I suddenly became much more sensi-tive to the political and economic environment we were living in.”

To create the play though, Stephens dug back into his own youth, spe-cifically his years at an all-boys com-prehensive school in his hometown of Stockport, a very different sort of place than the pricey fee-pay-ing school depicted in Punk Rock. “There was none of the civilizing in-fluence of girls and a lot of tension and [aggression].”

Directly across the road, however, was the Stockport Grammar, an im-posing red-brick edifice that became a source of fantasy for young Stephens, an “imagined ‘other’” he never expe-rienced in a childhood marked by less advantaged circumstances. The world he imagined existing within the walls of Stockport Grammar became the

PUNK ROCK ADVISORY

The subject matter of Simon Stephens’ play Punk Rock is difficult and disturb-ing. It concerns incidents of violence among teenagers attending a fee-paying school in the north of England. While this topic is always unnerving, it is per-haps more so at the current moment, given the reported incidents of violence in recent months.

As noted in the accompanying article, Stephens says that as an artist he often draws on his own fears in creating his plays. He states: “I write not because I understand but because I don’t. I am trying to make sense of darkness.”

Art and artists have always served a special role in society in exploring the human condition. Through art we can celebrate the joy and wonder of our lives and the beauty of the world, but it is of equal importance that artists examine aspects of our collective and personal lives that are confusing, disturbing, and even inexplicable. For most artists, truth is paramount, however disconcerting it might be at times.

Our job in the Department of Drama is to nurture emerging artists and to prepare them for responsible careers in the profession. Part of our responsibility is to provide the students with experi-ences that will introduce them to the broad range of human expression found within the theatre. Punk Rock represents an opportunity for students to engage the “darkness” that is sadly part of our human story and that will surely be a part of their artistic work as they move forward in their professional lives.

DEPARTMENT OF DRAMA | 10

Department of Drama alumnus Will Pullen ’13 (seated on box) appeared in New York’s MCC Theatre production of Simon Stephens' Punk Rock with Noah Robbins. (Photo: Joan Marcus)

Presented by Syracuse University’s Department of Drama in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. Punk Rock, by Simon Stephens, directed by Robert Moss. February 19-28, 2016, opening night February 20, in the Storch Theatre at 820 East Genesee Street. Tickets are $16-$18, available at 315-443-3275 or by visiting http://vpa.syr.edu/drama.

setting for Punk Rock, a place where the bubble of privilege is no safe-guard against fear and the where the pressure to succeed can be too much to bear for some.

The seven students (four young men and three young women) in Punk Rock are preparing for their mock A-level exams. These are essentially practice runs for the real A-levels they will have to take in order to con-tinue their education at a university. The pressure to do well on the A – level exams is considerable because the exams are by far the single most important factor in students gaining acceptance into the university and program of their choice. In essence, they are a combination of AP exams and the SAT, although deemed by some to be much harder. A poor performance on A – levels guaran-tees rejection.

The parents of the students in the play have incurred the expense of a fee-paying school in order to bet-ter prepare their children for these exams. Hence the pressure on the students is layered and inescap-able. There is pressure from the school, from their parents, from each other, and from within them-selves. They are enduring what Stephens calls a “murderously difficult period in most people’s lives,” and the fractures caused by that difficulty manifest in a variety of destructive ways.

Punk Rock is indeed punctuated with punk rock music, which for Stephens is not so much about a particular time of the 1970s as it is about a spirit of middle-class defi-ance and rebellion. “It is a spirit of wanting to get out and destroy the uncreative, of wanting to be dissident and to buck the system.

When you look at the musicians who made the great punk rock music, quite often they were mid-dle-class art school boys, so there is a deliberate juxtaposition of that title and this middle-class gram-mar school.”

However, he notes that Punk Rock is also inspired by violent events that have become emblematic of the early 21st century and that cast a certain darkness over the play. As a playwright, Stephens is responding to what he calls a “schism in moral-ity” that has created a culture of fear in which horrifying transgression has become powerfully seductive.

“I write not because I understand but because I don’t,” he told The Guardian. “I am trying to make sense of darkness.” – Joseph Whelan

1

11 | DEPARTMENT OF DRAMA

Leo Tolstoy famously noted: “All great literature is one of two

stories: a man goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town.” In the first instance, we expect the “man” to undergo significant change. In the second, change usually is visited on stranger and town alike.

The musical The Spitfire Grill belongs squarely in the second category. A young woman named Percy (short for Perchance) arrives late one night in the rural Wisconsin town of Gilead.

Percy has followed the slightest of dreams. On her own and recently released from prison, Percy has been inspired to travel to Gilead by a photo of the town’s creek she found in a guidebook. She knows no one, and no one knows her. What might the town hold for her?

The Gilead of her mind, the Gilead she imagined, is not quite the Gilead she finds. The town and townspeople have been battered. The creek is still there, as are the beautiful woods, but little else thrives. The economy is weak, the population in decline, and those who remain are dispirited, calcifying reminders of a better past.

Hardly the place to find a new beginning.

But Percy has come from a harder place and personally endured harder times. She brings the outsider’s perspective. She can see what the townspeople have become blind to, and as that slight dream she arrived with begins to materialize, the gloom of Gilead begins to lighten for all. There is indeed a balm in Gilead for Percy and for others and it is found in an old diner called The Spitfire Grill.

The Spitfire Grill has its origins in a 1996 film by Lee David Zlotoff of TV’s MacGyver fame. It took the audience award at the 1996 Sundance Festival and set a Sundance record with a $10 million distribution deal. Upon release, it met with a mixed critical reception, but drew consistent praise for the “inarguably worthwhile ideas about forgiveness and generosity” it contained. It is an inspiring story, one critic wrote, a tale of “wishful decency that leaves its mark.”

In 1999, composer James Valcq and lyricist Fred Alley, Wisconsin natives and friends since high school, began

adapting the film for the stage. (The film is set in Maine.) Valcq provided a country/folk inflected score that fit perfectly with the small-town, Americana setting. A demo tape of the songs so much impressed David Saint, artistic director of New Jersey’s George Street Playhouse, that he agreed to workshop the show and then produced the world premiere in November 2000. Shortly thereafter The Spitfire Grill won The Richard Rodgers Award for New American Musical. A New York premiere was scheduled for September 2001 at Playwrights Horizons.

The show previewed on September 7, four days prior to the 9/11 attack, which temporarily closed New York theatres. When the show reopened, it clearly struck a resonant chord with audiences and critics. Even the ever-acerbic John Simon wrote in New York Magazine: “It is not often that material moves me to tears, but this was one of those occasions. What even in normal times would be a joy is, in these troubled ones, sheer nourishment.”

It is unfair, however, to attribute The Spitfire Grill’s positive reception to

DEPARTMENT OF DRAMA | 12

extraordinary circumstances alone. Since its New York premiere, it has had more than 500 productions throughout the United States and abroad including productions in England, Scotland, Australia, Germany, South Korea, and Japan. Always, it has drawn praise for its uplifting take on the human spirit and its beautifully crafted score.

“From the first notes of the opening song ‘Ring Around the Moon’ right through to the uplifting end of the show, the score is a pure delight,” BroadwayWorld.com reported.

Department of Drama chair Ralph Zito directs The Spitfire Grill. He attributes the musical’s widespread appeal to the directness of the characters and their situation.

“This play is so much about hope and home,” he explains. “The characters all have to come to understand how to define home, or redefine home, or even what it takes to create a home.”

Or, as Tolstoy might have it: A stranger comes to town and finds a home.

- Joseph Whelan

Presented by Syracuse University’s Department of Drama in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. The Spitfire Grill: Music and Book by James Valcq, Lyrics and Book by Fred Alley. Based on the film by Lee David Zlotoff. Directed by Ralph Zito, Musical direction by Brian Cimmet, Choreography by Andrea Leigh-Smith. April 1- 10, opening night April 2, in the Storch Theatre at 820 East Genesee Street. Tickets are $16-$18, available at 315-443-3275 or by visiting http://vpa.syr.edu/drama.

PHOTOS:IMAGES OF THE SET MODEL FOR THE UPCOMING PRODCUTION OF THE SPITFIRE GRILL BY DEPARTMENT OF DRAMA ALUMNA MARY OLIN GEIGER '11

Sometimes we tend to take things for grant-ed. Sometimes we do that with our spouses, our friends, and even our city. But one place we frequent keeps our attention day after day and year after year…Syracuse Stage.

Stage challenges and rewards us hand-somely for our fidelity. You can’t find better performers than those who dazzle us with their artistry right here in Syracuse. How fortunate we all are to have such a treasure in our midst.

You can count on me to stay tuned for the next production. Syracuse Stage is still the best bargain in town. Here’s to the next fifty years!

- John F.X. “Jack” Mannion

My appreciation of theatre started early! At age 4, I saw Mary Martin in The Sound of Music on Broadway. Growing up in New Jersey, my parents took me to the Paper Mill Playhouse, and I had many school trips to McCarter Theatre in Princeton. I even tried my hand at some acting in high school and college. Although the practice of law slowed down my theatre going, we continued to attend performances at Arena Stage and The Folger Shakespeare Theatre while living in Washington, D.C. So when I was asked to serve on the board of Syracuse Stage as Lockheed Martin’s representative, I knew it would be a thrill. And it has been for the past 12 years.

During that time, not only has Lockheed Martin provided corporate sponsorships, but I have given personally and increase my own donations annually. My husband, Joe Silberlicht, and I are proud members of the Producers’ Circle and, in addition to our own gift, provide a matching gift from Lockheed Martin. We go to the theatre because we love the way it brings us into other lives and other worlds that we’d never know other-wise, as well as providing a few laughs, some tears, and lots to think about! Live theatre provides an intimacy that envelops us in the experience making it so much more real.

We give so that others in the community will be able to have the same life-affirming experiences that we have had over all these years. Syracuse Stage depends on dona-tions to continue its work and to grow so that kids and adults can have the same great

theatre experiences that we have had. Give generously! See you at Stage!

- Sandy Fenske

I became involved with and give to Stage because I feel it is important for a community and its individuals to support the arts. The arts foster creativity and that is essential for a vibrant and growing population. Syracuse Stage is an important part of our community.

I look forward to donating my time to the Board of Trustees of Syracuse Stage. I feel I can give back to the organization in my own way as a thank you to the artists, performers, and staff who give their time to entertain-ing audiences. Stage’s mix of classic and contemporary productions make you think, laugh, move… The collaboration of stu-dents and actors is unique and the dedica-tion of all those involved at Stage is evident in every performance.

- Dan Lent

Twenty years ago, Syracuse Stage was date night. Simply an evening out with close friends looking for something new to do in Syracuse. Admittedly, at the time, there were activities that we found more enjoyable. However, a commitment to a season’s worth of theatre, through a subscription package, kept us returning on Opening Nights.

Twenty years later it is difficult to fully express just how much enrichment we have received from attending the Stage. Starting with a “call out” from Stacey as she directs traffic into the parking lot, to a glass of pre-show wine graciously poured by Meg, to the buzz in the lobby, to the introduction of the performance, we find the theatre’s energy palpable.

Most noteworthy, however, is the experience of live theatre. Witnessing various themes through multiple perspectives, sharing a com-munal experience with a diverse audience, and watching world class artistry, make for the perfect night out. Syracuse Stage is immensely entertaining, always enlightening, and very worthy of financial support.

-Ann and Larry Harris

13 | SYRACUSE STAGE DEVELOPMENT

Angel Appeal2015/16 Annual Giving

With donor support, Stage has achieved a balanced-budget for six years running…no small feat in today’s climate. We promise to be careful stewards of your investment while continuing to the provide Central New York with top-notch professional theatre.

Make your annual gift today.Thank you for believing in the transformative power of live theatre.

With donor support, Stage has achieved a balanced-budget for six years running…no small feat in today’s climate. We promise to be careful stewards of your investment while continuing to provide Central New York with top-notch professional theatre.

Make your annual gift today.Thank you for believing in the transformative power of live theatre.

Angel Appeal2015/16 ANNUAL GIVING

Live theatre provides an unparalleled forum for storytelling. It is an art form whose relevancy continues - even in the age of social media. We are pleased to take this opportunity to share some of our audience members’ stories. Below are just a few of the reasons Stage patrons share their time, treasure, and talents with us. Thank you for helping us keep the magic alive.

Giving Back to Stage

WHY DO YOU SUPPORT SYRACUSE STAGE?Share your story:tinamorgan@syracusestage.org

FOR MORE INFORMATION,CALL MEGGAN MADDEN AT 315-443-9848 OR GIVE ONLINEAT WWW.SYRACUSESTAGE.ORG

EVENTS JANUARY – MARCH 2016

is published by Syracuse Stage and Department of Drama throughout the season for their subscribers and alumni. Editor: Joseph Whelan (jmwhelan@syr.edu). Designer: Brenna Merritt.

Timothy Bond, Producing Artistic Director, Syracuse Stage | Ralph Zito, Chair of the Department of Drama.

SYRACUSE STAGE/ DEPARTMENT OF DRAMA | 14

SYRACUSE STAGE

Stupid F***ing BirdBy Aaron Posner Directed by Howard ShalwitzSort of adapted from: Chekhov's The SeagullCo-Produced with Portland Center StageJanuary 20 - February 7

To Kill A MockingbirdAdapted by Christopher SergelBased on the Book by Harper LeeFebruary 24 - March 26

PROLOGUEDuring the run of each show, join us for free, intimate, pre-show talks led by a member of the cast. One hour prior to curtain, three performances per show.

Stupid F***ing BirdSunday, January 24 at 1 p.m.Saturday, January 30 at 2 p.m.Thursday, February 4 at 6:30 p.m.

To Kill a MockingbirdSunday, February 28 at 1 p.m.Saturday, March 5 at 2 p.m.Thursday, March 24 at 6:30 p.m.

OPENING NIGHT PARTYJoin us for a post-show party with live music and complimentary food following each opening night performance. All performances at 8 p.m.

Stupid F***ing BirdJanuary 22: Jazz Pianist Ronnie Leigh

To Kill a MockingbirdFebruary 26: Bill Horace Trio

WEDNESDAY@1 LECTURESPre-show lecture at 1 p.m. in the Sutton Pavilion before the 2 p.m. matinee performance.Please note time change for MARCH 9.

Stupid F***ing BirdWednesday, February 3Speaker: Chris Woodsworthis an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Hobart & William Smith Colleges.

To Kill a Mockingbird *Wednesday, March 9 Lecture Starts at 2 p.m.Speaker: Kevin Noble Maillard is a Professor of Law in the SU College of Law.

*Speakers and topics subject to change

ACTOR TALKBACK SERIESA lively discussion with the actors following the 7 p.m. Sunday night performance.

Stupid F***ing BirdSunday, January 31

To Kill a MockingbirdSunday, February 28

HAPPY HOUR SERIES Warm up before the show with half-priced drinks, signature cocktails, and complimentary appetizers from fine local restaurants. Located in the Sutton Pavilion at Syracuse Stage, Happy Hours start at 6 p.m. with performances at 7:30 p.m.

Stupid F***ing BirdThursday, January 28: The Game of Life Happy HourEnjoy the good life with chair massages by SpaZend, artwork of Julie Pratt, music by Emmett Van Slyke, warm up with tasty soup and pasta from Phoebe's Restaurant and half-priced drinks including the "Lovebird".

To Kill a MockingbirdThursday, March 3:Southern Soiree Happy HourEnjoy delicious Southern small bite desserts from Sweets by Jasmin and spin the wheel with CNY Reads to win prizes at Mockingbird Trivia. Half-priced drinks including the “Tequila Mockingbird”.

OPEN CAPTIONING

Stupid F***ing BirdWednesday, February 3 at 2 p.m.Sunday, February 7 at 2 p.m.

To Kill a MockingbirdWednesday, March 9 at 3 p.m.*Sunday, March 13 at 2 p.m.

AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETED

Stupid F***ing BirdSaturday, January 30 at 3 p.m.

To Kill a Mockingbird *Saturday, March 5 at 3 p.m.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION

Stupid F***ing BirdSaturday, February 6 at 3 p.m.

To Kill a MockingbirdSaturday, March 12 at 3 p.m.

DEPARTMENT OF DRAMA

Punk RockBy Simon StephensDirected by Robert MossFebruray 19 -28

The Spitfire Grill a MusicalMusic and Book by James ValcqLyrics and Book by Fred AlleyBased on the film by Lee David ZlotoffDirected by Ralph ZitoMusical Direction by Brian CimmetChoreography by Andrea Leigh-SmithApril 1-10

WHY DO YOU SUPPORT SYRACUSE STAGE?Share your story:tinamorgan@syracusestage.org

SYRACUSE STAGE WELCOMES NEW BOARD MEMBERS:

Steve ChaseSenior Vice President

HARBRIDGE CONSULTING GROUP

Daniel D. LentVP, Sr. Relationship Manager

KEY BANK

Sara LowengardSyracuse Stage Guild President

Attorney MACHT, BRENIZER & GINGOLD, P.C.

Rocco ManganoPartner

MANGANO, LUCCHESI AND COLLINS

Sharon OwensCEO Syracuse Model Neighborhood Facility

SOUTHWEST COMMUNITY CENTER

PERFORMANCE TIME CHANGE: Please note the Wednesday Matinee on March 9 originally scheduled for 2 p.m.has been changed to 3 p.m. to accomodate a morning performance for local schools.

*

Nonprofit Organization

US POSTAGEPAID

Syracuse StageSyracuse, NY

820 East Genesee StreetSyracuse, NY 13210-1508

www.SyracuseStage.org

Syracuse Stage:

STUPID F***ING BIRD | JAN. 20 - FEB. 7TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD | FEB. 24 - MAR. 26

PUNK ROCK | FEB. 19 - 28THE SPITFIRE GRILL A MUSICAL | APR. 1 - 10

The Department of Drama:

STEPHEN GORDON (KANGAROO), KYLE PATRICK SCANLON(OSTRICH), MELISSA BEAIRD (CROCOLDILE), AND LISA GRAYE (LION) FROM PETER PAN.

COSTUME DESIGN BY SUSAN BRANCH TOWNE.

COSTUME CONSTRUCTIONBY SANDRA KNAPP, GRETCHEN DARROW-CROTTY, ALLISON FISCHER CULLEN AND JENNIFER PEET.

PHOTO: BRENNA MERRITT