Performing Arts at CCBC
presents

TRUE WEST

By Sam Shepard

Director
Peter Carver

Set & Lighting Designer
Technical Director
G. Maurice “Moe” Conn

Costume Designer
James J. Fasching

Stage Manager
Amanda Halcott


March 28 at 11:10am
March 29, 30 at 7pm
March 31 at 3pm
April 1 at 10 am

 

True West is produced by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.

THE COMPANY

Austin | Ja’min Williams
Lee | Aaron Allen 
Saul | Charles Lidard
Mom | Shirvita Upchurch

 

SETTING

1979. Mom’s House, the Back-End of a Cookie-cutter Neighborhood,
Southern California Suburbs, 40 miles East of Los Angeles

JA’MIN WILLIAMS (Austin) is a CCBC alumni coming back to the stage. A declared theatre major, he’s been in previous plays, such as A Raisin in the Sun as Joseph Asagai, Hamlet Lost/Found as Laertes, and Romeo and Juliet as Romeo. He’s also been in other productions, such as  Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom (Steve), Laughter on the 23rd Floor (Lucas), Once on this Island (Armand), and Les Miserables (Javert). Ja’min would like to thank all of his family and friends for their continued support as well as his cast and crew mates. He sends all his love and wishes for a great production.

AARON ALLEN (Lee) is a Psychology major at Community College of Baltimore County. Previous productions include Are you politically correct? at Morgan State University, The West Side Story at Mervo High School, and Distracted at Milford Mill Academy.

CHARLES LIDARD (Saul) makes his CCBC Catonsville Theater Department debut in True West.  Previous product credits include: Richard Hannay in 39 STEPS and Andrew Rally in I HATE HAMLET for Dundalk Community Theater, and Garry Lejeune in NOISES OFF at Dickinson College.  Charlie teaches Technology and Engineering, coaches boys soccer, and advises a robotics team at Atholton High School in Columbia.

SHIRVITA UPCHURCH (Mom) returns for her 2nd performance in a CCBC Theatre department production of True West as the role of Mom. Shirvitta was previously Gertrude in a 2016 production at CCBC. She earned an A.A in 2016 and returns this year to finish her Theatre degree.

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

If life is a search for identity, it’s funny how frustrating it is when you’re not able to find it.  “American Master” Sam Shepard’s journey to find himself began boldly when he broke away from his alcoholic father and dropped out of junior college.

He moved to New York and, with seeming ease, rocketed to fame and acclaim as a young playwright.  But it wasn’t real.  Like Austin in TRUE WEST, he shrugged off his writing career to chase his own sense of manhood.

Lee and Austin represent yin and yang, matriarchy and patriarchy, safety and risk.  These brothers abandon their own failed pursuits to chase what they think is real in the other.  Are they two people or one? Could they represent the devastating split of our own double nature?  Does this open-ended chase create the rounded wholeness of a ying-yang symbol or the violent circle of a dog fight?

Peter Carver, Director

SPECIAL THANKS

As a director, I wanted Aaron and Jay to relate their own struggles for manhood and meaning to this story.  Charlie and Shirvita brought much to the production and their respective roles with salient interpretation, excellent rehearsal technique, and bold artistic choices.  I am proud of our company’s journey as artists and craftspeople.  Our own American master, designer Moe Conn, provided us a realized set more than a month before opening – unheard of! – and it has been a real joy to rehearse in such a thoughtful space. I thank Amanda and Lauren, our capable stage managers, for their focus, friendliness, and leadership.  Once again, costumer James Fasching has captured essence with line, color, texture, and movement.  I hope you enjoy the fruits of our labor!

Peter Carver, Director

PRODUCTION STAFF

Director | Peter Carver
Scenic, Lighting, Sound Designer | G. Maurice “Moe” Conn
Costume Designer | James J. Fasching
Technical Director | G. Maurice “Moe” Conn
Stage Manager | Amanda Halcott
Assistant Stage Manager | Lauren Talbott
Vocal Coach | Jen Ring
Fight Choreographer | Zach Hartley
Sound Board Operator | Adrienne Edwards
Set Construction and Lighting Crew | Erin Johnson, Ja’min Williams
Lauren Talbott, Jwaun Ageery-Smith
Stage Crew | Erin Johnson, Broadus Nesbitt III
Box Office Manager | Lisa L. Boeren
Box Office Staff | Eva Grove, Thom Purdy
Production Photographers | Katie Simmons-Barth
www.katiesimmonsbarth.com
Production Manager | Brad Norris
Communications Assistant | Cathy Kratovil
Production Coordinator | Brad Norris

 

PRODUCTION STAFF BIOS

PETER CARVER (Director) joined the CCBC theatre faculty in the fall of 2014.  Since his arrival, he has directed the Elephant Man and Love’s Best Habit for CCBC Theatre.  He has also conceived, produced, and directed three inter-disciplinary performances: #WhatsComin2Ya (two pieces of readers’ theatre constructed from domestic violence interviews within Baltimore) and A Homelessness Happening (an event featuring two one-act plays, select videos, and an immersive homeless environment).  At CCBC, Pete teaches Communication Arts, Mass Communication, Theatre, and English.  Pete has an MA in Drama from Texas Woman’s University and an MFA in Directing from the University of New Orleans.  He has worked with such companies as NC Stage, Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre, Diana Wortham Theatre, Asheville Community Theatre, Tulane Summer Lyric Theatre, Red Noses Productions, Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival, and the South Carolina Children’s Theatre. Some of the favorite productions he has directed include The Boys Next Door, The Diviners, Miss Julie, The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, and Hamlet.
G. MAURICE “MOE” CONN (Scenic, Lighting, Sound Designer, and Technical Director) is in his eighth year as full-time Technical Director and Designer at CCBC Catonsville Center for the Arts Theatre. He has an MFA in Scene Design and Technical Theatre. Moe has been doing technical theatre since 1993, as a Designer, Technician, Technical Director, and Educator. Moe has also served as the Technical Director and Designer for Cockpit in Court Theatre, Maryland’s Oldest Summer theatre, for 4 summers. Moe has received multiple nominations for Best Scene Design from Broadway World.com and Received Best Scenic Design from the MD Theatre Guide’s Readers’ Choice Awards. When not backstage, Moe volunteers with “Behind the Scenes” which help Theeatre Technicians in crisis. He also helps coordinate the Long Reach Long Riders charity motorcycle ride, (www.LRLR.org ) to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity fights AIDS and Behind the Scenes, two theatre based charities.
JAMES J. FASCHING (Costume Designer) is the resident costumer in the Performing Arts and Humanities Department at CCBC.  His career in design has taken him from designing for the Miss America Pageant, to having his own television spot on KDKA-TV for interior design tips, to designing hundreds of productions for Cockpit-in-Court Summer Theatre, Dundalk Community Theatre, Peabody Opera Company, Theatre Hopkins, and The School for the Arts in Philadelphia, to name a few.  Mr. Fasching teaches Makeup Design for the Theatre program.
AMANDA HALCOTT (Stage Manager) is a CCBC theatre major who plans to graduate Summer 2019. Other stage management credits include Rapid Lemon Production’s Palindrome and Variations on Sacrifice. You may have also seen her in Working: A Musical, The Uprising Plays, and Everyman at CCBC or in Cabaret at Vagabond Players. Snapchat: thesalamanda Instagram: amandajhalcott

Special Thanks

Dr. Sandra Kurtinitis | CCBC President
Mr. Jack McLaughlin | Interim Vice President of Instruction
Dr. Rich Lilley | Vice President of Enrollment & Student Services
Dr. William Watson | Dean of Liberal Arts
Professor Patti Crossman | Chair of Performing Arts and Humanities
Dr. Rebecca Ocampo | Arts Pathways Coordinator
Florence Cooney | CCBC Disability Support Services
Doug Heinle | Graphic Designer
Mary Bova | A.T. Jones and Sons, costumers