Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Program Detail

COCKPIT IN COURT SUMMER THEATRE
presents

By Christopher Durang

Set Designer
G. Maurice “Moe” Conn

Lighting Designer
Thomas Gardner

Costume Designer
Alyson Shirk

Sound Designer
Everett Simkins

Technical Director
Hayden Muller

Stage Manager
Miles Lawlor

Directed By
Linda Chambers

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is Produced by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

CAST

Setting: The morning room of a lovely farmhouse in Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Time: The present

ACT I

Scene 1: Early morning
Scene 2: Early that evening

ACT II

Scene 1: 2am the next morning
Scene 2: A few hours later, that same morning
Scene 3: Same morning, a little while later
Scene 4: Late afternoon

There will be one fifteen-minute intermission

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

You don’t have to know Chekhov to enjoy Christopher Durang’s Vanya, Sonia, Masha & Spike. Durang states this clearly in his Author’s Notes in the back of the script, and it’s absolutely true. He also includes a section in which he details his encounters with the works of Anton Chekhov from childhood to present day, so I thought I’d include one of my own encounters with Chekhov. (It might seem like two, but it’s just one.)

I saw a production of The Cherry Orchard directed by Andrei Serban in 1977, my first year living in New York. I bought the poster by Paul Davis. It features Irene Worth (Meryl Streep plays the maid – it’s that long ago), wearing a fur hat and fur collar. Snow is falling and two cherry tree branches with pink blossoms sweep in from the upper right and lower left hand corners. The poster was lost many years ago, somewhere between NYC and Baltimore. Sometime in the last year, as I was working on VSM&S, I popped in the DVD of Wes Craven’s 1984 masterpiece, A Nightmare on Elm Street. (This was Johnny Depp’s first film – it’s that long ago.) There’s a scene about midway through: Nancy is in English class, trying desperately to stay awake. If she falls asleep, she – well, if you’re a fan of Nightmare, you know what happens, and if you’re not – you don’t want to know. Something pink flashed by as the camera panned the classroom. I paused. I rewound. Hung on the blackboard with other literary posters was the Davis poster from The Cherry Orchard.

You don’t have to know The Cherry Orchard to appreciate how funny it is that a poster of it would appear in a shot from A Nightmare on Elm Street.

But take my word for it, it’s a particularly Durang-ish thing to happen.

Linda Chambers
Director

Who’s Who

PATRICK MARTYN (Vanya) is excited to appear in his second production at Cockpit having previously performed in Me and My Girl. He has been actively involved in the Baltimore theater scene as an actor and director for 30 years (gulp). Among the prior productions in which he has appeared are The Drowsy Chaperone, Titanic and The 39 Steps (DCT), The House of Blue Leaves, Art and Gross Indecency (FPCT), Rumors, Light Up the Sky and Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me (Vagabond Players), Chicago and The Heidi Chronicles (Theater Hopkins), Angels in America, Love! Valour! Compassion! and The Food Chain (Axis Theater). Patrick is thrilled to be reunited onstage in this production with Holly and Liz and to be directed by his great and good friend, Linda.

LIZ BOYER HUNNICUTT (Sonia) returns to Cockpit after having appeared in last season’s The Gazebo. Cockpit audiences may remember her in Thoroughly Modern Millie (Mrs. Meers), Blood Brothers (Mrs. Johnstone), Tale of the Allergist’s Wife (Marjorie), Crimes of the Heart (Lenny), Curtains (Carmen), The Inspector Calls (Mrs. Birling), The Will Roger’s Follies (Betty Blake) and The Full Monty (Georgie) to name a few. She is directing this season’s Court Jester’s production of Madagascar Jr. Liz is the Resident Director for the The Children’s Playhouse of MD in residence here at CCBC. Offstage, she likes to spend time with husband, James. Liz is delighted and honored to work with Linda again and this talented cast and crew.

LAURA WEELDREYER (Cassandra) is thrilled to be making her debut at Cockpit in Court. Laura has made a career in public education reform but her first love was theater. She has a degree in Drama from UNC Chapel Hill and has appeared locally with Phoenix Festival Theater, in The Music Man (Ethel Toffelmier) and Fiddler on the Roof, and Memorial Players, in Arcadia (Lady Croom) and Romulus (Julia). Laura is a founding ensemble member of A Work in Progress Theatre. She thanks her family for supporting her love of theater and her crazy schedule.

HOLLY PASCIULLO (Masha) was last seen at Cockpit-in-Court as Lee in Tale of the Allergist’s Wife (2014). Previous Cockpit credits include: Georgia in Curtains (2010), Agnes Gooch in Mame (2002), the Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods (2000), Susan Lawrence in Big (1999), Hedy LaRue in How to Succeed. . . (1998), Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun (1991), a member of the ensemble in Evita (1987), Val in A Chorus Line (1986), and passenger way upstage left in Anything Goes (1980). By day, Holly is an English teacher in Howard County.

TIM NEIL (Spike) is an actor and musician from Baltimore, MD. He is currently pursuing a B.F.A. in Acting at Towson University, where he has performed in The Trench and sound designed and composed music for In the Blood. Other past roles include Henry Drummond (Inherit the Wind), Dill (To Kill a Mockingbird), and Peter (The Zoo Story). This fall, he will be playing the role of Mr. Bingley in Towson University’s production of Pride and Prejudice. His music exists at timneil.bandcamp.com. Enjoy the show!

ANNA STEUERMAN (Nina) is delighted to be returning to Cockpit for another cabaret production this season. She’s recently been seen as Macbeth in Macbeth, Rosaline in Love’s Labour’s Lost, and Benvolio in Romeo & Juliet. Upcoming theatrical endeavors include: Songs for a New World with the Artscentric Summer Institute and The Glass Menagerie at Vagabonds.

LINDA CHAMBERS (Director) teaches scriptwriting at Carver Center for Arts & Technology and is an adjunct faculty member in Stevenson University’s Theatre & Media Performance Department. Her five previous productions in Cockpit’s Cabaret began with Crimes of the Heart in 2005 through last year’s The Gazebo (and Court Jester’s Dr. Dolittle). She directs frequently at SU (Trojan Women, Two Rooms and most recently The Nether) as well as other academic venues throughout the city, including CCBC Essex (The Menaechmi Twins) and University of Baltimore (The Shape of Things). She is a consultant on the transition of The Surrogate Church, an epic poem by Marianne Franzese Chasen, into a theatrical piece and working with Robert Vetter adapting his book, Big Bow: The Spiritual Life and Teachings of a Kiowa Family, for the stage. She is a directing/scriptwriting consultant with the Tiramisu Theatre of Truth and the Flight School Theatre Project, both in Long Island. In February, she directed a staged reading of Kimberley Lynne’s Last Battle of the American Revolution in UB’s Wright Theatre, benefitting the Baltimore Chapter of the League of Women Voters, and is also working on a one-woman piece about the life of Mother Jones.

MILES LAWLOR (Stage Manager) is thrilled to be back with Cockpit in Court after stage managing last season’s The Gazebo with director Linda Chambers and cast members Liz Boyer Hunnicutt and Anna Steuerman. Miles is a technical theatre major here at CCBC Essex, having previously stage managed last fall’s production of Macbeth and spring of 2016’s production of The Menaechmi Twins, both alongside Anna Steuerman, as well as [title of show] at Fells Point Corner Theatre this past April. Miles will be graduating this fall with his AA in Design and Production from CCBC and plans on continuing his studies at UMBC in the spring. He would like to thank Linda for this now third collaboration, the cast and crew, and his parents for all their love and support.

G. MAURICE “MOE” CONN (Set Designer) is the 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 had 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 the ESTA foundation’s “Behind the Scenes”. He also helps coordinate the Long Reach Long Riders charity motorcycle ride, (www.LRLR.org ) to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity fights AIDS and ESTA’s Behind the Scenes, two theatre based charities.

THOMAS GARDNER (Lighting Designer) is a CCBC alum and current lighting design major at Towson University. Credits include Samsara (Single Carrot), Anything Goes and Legally Blonde (PFT), Polaroid Stories (TU), [title of show] (Fells Point Corner Theatre) and Arsenic and Old Lace (Cockpit). Future projects include The Little Mermaid at PFT and Pride and Prejudice, playing Mr. Gardiner, at Towson.

ALYSON SHIRK (Costume Designer) enjoys costuming special projects for friends when she isn’t teaching music or performing on stage.

EVERETT SIMKINS (Sound Designer) is a first year theatre student here at CCBC Essex, going into his second year. Everett recently worked as sound designer on CCBC’s production of Love’s Fire and as sound designer/operator of Cockpit’s production of Forever Plaid. A graduate of Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts, class of 2016, Everett was awarded the 2015 Cappies of Baltimore award for Best Special Effects for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and the 2016 Baltimore Theatre Award for Best Sound Design of a Play for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He would like to thank Linda, Miles, and the cast and crew for this rewarding experience.

JORDAN SHIRK (Costume Assistant) will be attending Muhlenberg College in the fall as a theater design student.

PRODUCTION STAFF

COCKPIT IN COURT 2017 STAFF

COCKPIT IN COURT
BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Kacey Conn | President
Patty DeLisle | Vice-President
H. Ray Lawson | Recording Secretary
Terry Walter | Corresponding Secretary

Special Thanks

Dr. Sandra Kurtinitis, President, CCBC
Dr. Mark McColloch, Vice President of Instruction
Dr. William Watson, Dean of Liberal Arts
Patti Crossman, Chair, Performing Arts and Humanities
Dr. Anne Lefter, Director, Performing Arts
Jacqueline Lucy, Media Relations Coordinator
Michael Elspas, Assistant Director, Creative Services
Jackie McTear, Graphic Designer
The CCBC Essex Foundation for the donation of Wine
PepsiCo for the donation of Water and Soda
Tracy Bird, Stage Garb Costumes

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