By CHARLES DICKENS adapted by LAVINA JADHWANI - Wurtele Thrust Stage / Nov 11 - Dec 27, 2021
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Wurtele Thrust Stage / Nov 11 – Dec 27, 2021
by CHARLES DICKENS
adapted by LAVINA JADHWANI
Creating vibrant communities When we come together to build stronger communities, we give our time, energy, and ideas to help influence positive change. And as we watch progress take root, we grow as well. Guthrie Theater, it’s an honor to recognize your commitment and service to the community. wellsfargo.com/donations © 2021 Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. All rights reserved. 6998750-2 MOD: 994
Inside
IN PICTURES
A Joyous Return • 4
WELCOME
From Artistic Director Joseph Haj • 7
GUTHRIE SPOTLIGHT
GUTHRIE SPOTLIGHT A Performance for Essential Workers • 9
The Craft of Carpentry • 10
Meet Madi Scott Smith • 10
From Start to Stage • 12
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Cast and Creative Team • 14
Biographies • 16
PLAY FEATURES
The Business of Directing and Adapting • 24
Technically Speaking • 26
Present Company: Thoughts From the Cast • 29
PLAY FEATURE
Joseph Haj and Lavina Jadhwani • 24 Backstory • 30
SUPPORTERS
Annual Fund Contributors • 32
Corporate, Foundation and Public Support • 40
A Historic Grant, Thanks to Two Senators • 42
WHO WE ARE
Board of Directors and Guthrie Staff • 44
GOOD TO KNOW
SUPPORTERS Theater Information and Policies • 46
Amy Klobuchar Visits the Guthrie • 42
Guthrie Theater Program
Volume 59, Issue 2 • Copyright 2021
818 South 2nd Street, Minneapolis, MN 55415 EDITOR Johanna Buch
ADMINISTRATION 612.225.6000 GRAPHIC DESIGNER Brian Bressler
BOX OFFICE 612.377.2224 or 1.877.447.8243 (toll-free) CONTRIBUTORS Sarah Gullickson, Joseph Haj,
guthrietheater.org • Joseph Haj, Artistic Director Lavina Jadhwani, Sara L’Heureux, Jennifer Liestman,
Mercy Hospital, Christopher Sibilia, Madi Scott Smith,
The Guthrie creates transformative theater experiences that ignite the Carla Steen
imagination, stir the heart, open the mind and build community through
The Guthrie program is published by the Guthrie Theater.
the illumination of our common humanity.
To advertise in the program, call 612.225.6193.
GUTHRIE THEATER \ 3
IN PICTURES
A Joyous Return
Ask anyone who was at the Guthrie on September 30: The enthusiasm was contagious. Hours before
the first preview performance of What the Constitution Means to Me, patrons were eagerly entering
the building, riding the escalator to the performance check-in area and telling us how thrilled they
were to finally take their seats, masks and all.
The first line actor Cassie Beck delivered onstage summed up our sentiments perfectly: “It’s so good
to see you.” And the heartfelt applause that followed told us the audience felt the same way.
PHOTOS: MATT BLEWETT
4 \ GUTHRIE THEATER
Help Us Fight Hunger
Together with The Food Group, the Guthrie is proud to
collect healthy, nonperishable food items for Minnesotans
in need this holiday season.
In 2020, we hosted our first curbside food drive, and you helped us collect an astounding 8,269
pounds of food — nearly 15 times more than we collected in 2019! Your generosity provided 6,890
meals, gave 191 families a three-day supply of food and supported more than 250 local hunger relief
partners. Let’s come together again in 2021 and make an impact in our community.
Food Drive for
The Food Group
December 10–12
2–6 p.m.
Curbside drop-off at the Guthrie
Theater — just drive up and donate!
THE FOOD GROUP’S WISH LIST
• Vegetables (low-sodium canned veggies,
pasta sauce, salsa, mushrooms)
• Dairy (powdered/shelf-stable milk, milk
alternatives like rice, soy, almond)
• Fruits (canned fruit, sugar-free
applesauce, dried fruit, 100% fruit juices)
• Grains (brown/wild rice, whole-
grain pastas, low-sugar oatmeal,
gluten-free options)
• Proteins (canned tuna/salmon/chicken,
canned/dried beans, unsalted nuts, FIGHTING HUNGER.
peanut butter) NOURISHING OUR COMMUNITY.
• Oils and spices (olive/canola oil, onion/ The Food Group works to provide
garlic powder, dried spices like basil, good foods to those who need it most,
focusing on local food access, equity
PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE FOOD GROUP
oregano, thyme)
and nutrition issues related to food
• Household items (can openers, toilet and hunger in more than 32 counties in
paper, baby wipes, dish soap, hand Minnesota and Wisconsin. Learn more
sanitizer, face masks) at www.thefoodgroupmn.org.
WELCOME
From Artistic Director
Joseph Haj
Sept 30 – Oct 24, 2021
Dear Friends,
McGuire Proscenium Stage
Charles Dickens makes something abundantly clear in the subtitle of his
novella: A Christmas Carol is “A Ghost Story of Christmas.” Like all good
ghost stories, it intends to send a chill up the spine. But Dickens uses
the four spirits to do a great deal more than just frighten Scrooge. The
ghosts act as mentors and guides, showing him a clear pathway back to
Nov 11 – Dec 27, 2021
Wurtele Thrust Stage joy, family, community and, ultimately, himself.
Last winter, while my friend E.G. Bailey and I were preparing to co-direct
Dickens’ Holiday Classic, the Guthrie’s film of A Christmas Carol, I had an
epiphany: Scrooge is most often depicted as a reluctant participant in
his own redemption, but that’s not the story Dickens tells. By the time
Jan 8 – Feb 12, 2022
McGuire Proscenium Stage
the Ghost of Christmas Present appears, Scrooge says, “Spirit, conduct
me where you will,” demonstrating a deep desire to participate in his
own transformation.
I was drawn to Lavina Jadhwani’s beautiful adaptation because it
Feb 26 – April 16, 2022 carefully follows a willing (if ill-equipped) Scrooge on his journey from
Wurtele Thrust Stage isolation to community. He’s fooled himself into believing that he’s safest
when alone and living solely for himself. In the end, it is sharing life with
others that finally unlocks his heart and overwhelms him with joy.
Franz Kafka said that “a book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside
April 30 – June 5, 2022 us.” While this may be the only time Kafka has been quoted in relation
McGuire Proscenium Stage
to A Christmas Carol, perhaps his assertion can be said of plays as well.
It is certainly true of this ghost story of Christmas, which reminds us
each holiday season that we are not just responsible for ourselves but
also for our neighbors.
June 18 – Aug 21, 2022
Wurtele Thrust Stage
As we gather for the Guthrie’s 47th production of this timeless tale,
may we be open to what Scrooge and the spirits have to teach us and
become willing participants as we journey toward our better selves.
PHOTO: JOSEPH HAJ (T CHARLES ERICKSON)
July 16 – Aug 21, 2022
Happy holidays,
McGuire Proscenium Stage
For tickets and information, call
the Box Office at 612.377.2224
or 1.877.447.8243 (toll-free) or
visit guthrietheater.org.
GUTHRIE THEATER \ 7
“A BEAUTIFUL MUSICAL RECOUNTING OF A WORLD WAR I CEASE-FIRE
OF GIFTS, POETRY, AND MELODY.”
- The New York Times
By Peter Rothstein
Vocal Arrangements by Erick Lichte
and Timothy C. Takach
Directed by Peter Rothstein
Music Direction by Erick Lichte
SEASON TICKETS ON SALE
NOW!
NOV 26 - JAN 2 • TICKETS ON SALE NOW • VISIT LATTEDA.ORG
GUTHRIE SPOTLIGHT
A Performance for Essential Workers
On December 8, the staff of Mercy Hospital will be our special guests for a performance
of A Christmas Carol. This unique partnership began with a desire to give back to health
care workers who served our community during the COVID-19 crisis, and Mercy Hospital
has cared for more COVID-19 patients than any other hospital in Minnesota. We are
exceedingly grateful for their service and honored to host them at the Guthrie.
ABOUT MERCY HOSPITAL THE IMPACT OF COVID-19
The nationally recognized hospital The staff at Mercy Hospital are
is located on two campuses in committed to being with patients
The resiliency and humanity I
Coon Rapids and Fridley, and they have witnessed, despite how and their loved ones through
have provided exceptional care to fatigued and challenged our their health challenges. During
North Metro communities for 50+ teams have felt, is nothing the pandemic, they served
years. Mercy Hospital is currently short of remarkable. The more COVID-19 patients than
ranked the second best hospital staff have given so much of any other hospital in Minnesota
in the Twin Cities by U.S. News & themselves to protect and and experienced more death
World Report. care for our communities. I and mortality than ever before.
can’t think of a group more Watching so many people suffer or
deserving of a night out to
A DEDICATED STAFF even die had a profound effect on
enjoy some holiday cheer.
The teams at Mercy Hospital their teams.
are 100% committed to caring Sara Criger
for the communities they serve Mercy Hospital President HOW YOU CAN HELP
and constantly strive to be the Take care of your health! The
best at what they do. In addition staff at Mercy Hospital truly care
to providing high-quality, about their patients, and it is
compassionate care to patients, difficult for them to see illness or
the staff is also deeply dedicated top priority. Whole Person Care — injury. They encourage everyone
to each other. mind, body, spirit and connection to get the COVID-19 vaccine and
PHOTO: EMILY KOIVISTO
to community — defines their continue to wear masks and wash
HOLISTIC CARE approach, which seeks to improve hands, which have been shown
The safety of patients, employees the whole health of a patient rather to reduce the spread of the
and visitors is Mercy Hospital’s than just treat their illness. COVID-19 virus.
GUTHRIE THEATER \ 9
GUTHRIE SPOTLIGHT
Meet Madi Scott Smith:
Lead Carpenter for A Christmas Carol
10 \ GUTHRIE THEATERPipe clamps. Vice grips. Screws. Awls. These are Madi
Scott Smith’s office supplies, and she couldn’t be happier.
She joined the Guthrie’s talented crew of staff carpenters
in 2019 after spending a decade working in theater and
trades, and it became the perfect merge of her two
passions. But carpentry isn’t her only talent. Find out what
else Madi enjoys doing when she’s not in the scene shop.
How and when did you learn a rigger. Along with my fellow
your craft? I’ve worked as a stage staff carpenters, I rotate as lead
hand for 11 years and in theater carpenter or rigger on our shows.
and trades for nine years. My
North Dakota theater and trades What are your workspace
career spanned eight years. In the essentials? Each staff carpenter
summers, I was deck manager has a tool cart that acts like their
(run crew) for 15+ stage hands and own mobile desk. My cart typically
horseback riders for the Medora has an assortment of screws and
Musical. In the winters, a wonderful fasteners, pencils and awls, various
man named Doug Johnson hand tools, welding gear, PPE and
mentored me as a carpenter in a tiny Santa Claus with a Canadian see it under the stage lighting. Few
various historic buildings and the flag. I’m usually surrounded by a things are more satisfying to see as
Burning Hills Amphitheatre (the healthy array of pipe clamps. a laborer.
Medora Musical venue). I went to
welding school in Bismarck, North What skill or tool do you use most What is your proudest achievement?
Dakota, and earned a 2G GMAW in the shop? Clamps are essential, Building a life I love and can be
welding certification. but I’m a particular weirdo for proud of with my fiancee, Keara.
finding new ways of using clamps.
What drew you to work at Pipe clamps are my favorite, but How do you spend your time away
the Guthrie? When I moved to I’m also a massive fan of vice grips. from work? Going to northern or
Minneapolis in 2018, I hoped southern Minnesota as much as
to combine my experiences in What does a typical workday possible. Hiking with my partner
craftsmanship and theater. Working involve? Cleaning and cutting and our dog, reading, doing hobby
in Twin Cities scene shops was a steel, metal inert gas (MIG) projects in my garage shop and
natural transition, although working welding, building flats or platforms, working on my little house in
at the Guthrie was a dream I did operating the forklift, unloading Lauderdale, Minnesota. I’m also
not expect to achieve. It’s a dream deliveries, hanging chain motors a singer-songwriter, so I play
to work in a scene shop that is so onstage and shuffling scenery drums, guitar, mandolin and banjo
PHOTOS: MATT BLEWETT; COURTESY OF MADI SCOTT SMITH
well outfitted. around the shop. at home.
Describe your role in a few What do you enjoy most about What advice would you give
sentences. I work as a fabricator your job? Working with my hands to an aspiring theatermaker?
and carpenter, creating scenery is one of my greatest joys. I love Pursue the crafts that tug at your
and rigging components. I also seeing the physical fruits of labor, interests. Work isn’t always fun,
occasionally work as an automation especially after the scenic artists but if you can move toward a
hand (think: lifts, turntables and have polished it up to its final career that fulfills you, it makes a
automated onstage effects) or designer-envisioned state and you big difference.
GUTHRIE THEATER \ 11GUTHRIE SPOTLIGHT
From Start to Stage
Nearly every show at the Guthrie is built onsite and takes
months to create. This season’s all-new A Christmas Carol
is a fine example: We landed on a script in January and
have been working on the production ever since. From play
selection to opening night, follow the timeline to discover
how a Guthrie play is made.
PLAY SELECTION CREATIVE TEAM SELECTION DESIGN PROCESS
11–12 months before opening AND IDEATION 2–4 months before opening
After final titles are chosen, 5–6 months before opening Preliminary scenic, costume,
rights are secured to produce The scenic, costume, lighting lighting and sound designs are
each play, directors are and sound designers (plus submitted to their respective
selected and the show’s any additional creative team production directors. After
production schedule is members) are selected, and they several rounds of revisions,
determined. Then the season begin meeting with the director the designs are finalized
is announced to the public. to review design concepts. and technical drawings are
When the concepts are final, the created. The costume and
creative team shares their vision prop shops determine what
for the show with the Guthrie’s needs to be built, pulled from
production staff. stock or purchased.
12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
LOCAL CASTING OUT-OF-TOWN CASTING
7–10 months before opening 4 months before opening
Depending on the size of the show, anywhere Auditions are held with our New York
from 30 to 80 local actors are invited to City casting consultant for any roles
audition with excerpts from the script, known not filled through local auditions.
as “sides.” After a round of callbacks, casting is This is especially common for
decided and formal offers are extended. musicals or plays with many roles.
12 \ GUTHRIE THEATERLOAD-IN
3 weeks before opening
The world of the play begins
to take shape onstage. Set
pieces are assembled, lighting
equipment is rigged and the
stage is tuned for sound.
Meanwhile in the rehearsal
room, the creative team, stage PREVIEWS
crew and Guthrie staff take 1 week before opening
notes during a final “designer The cast and creative
SHOW BUILD run” of the entire play. team continue to
3–8 weeks before opening rehearse and incorporate
Guthrie artists start building their work into preview
the production in our onsite performances for
shops. Scenic elements are a paying audience.
fabricated and painted, This is the director’s
costumes are draped and final opportunity to
sewn, and custom props tweak anything before
are created. opening night.
2 1
REHEARSAL TECH REHEARSAL OPENING NIGHT
6 weeks before opening 2 weeks before opening The production is
Guided by the director, the actors dive into Rehearsals move to the frozen, which means
the text (tablework) before getting on their stage. Understudies arrive, there are no more
feet (blocking) and rehearsing each scene. and the cast acclimates to changes and the stage
The stage manager runs each rehearsal, the space, which includes manager calls the
which may include music, vocal coaching, scenery, costumes, show as is for the rest
choreography, stage combat, costume lighting and sound. At of the run. Actors are
fittings or a “stumble-through” of the show. a final dress rehearsal, encouraged to break a
the show is performed leg, and the audience
for an audience of is invited to sit back
invited guests. and enjoy the show.
GUTHRIE THEATER \ 13A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens
adapted by Lavina Jadhwani
Scenic design sponsored by
Cast
in alphabetical order
BELLE’S HUSBAND/ Rush Benson*
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS FUTURE
THIRD FEZZIWIG DAUGHTER/ China Brickey*
FRED’S WIFE
The Guthrie gratefully recognizes
Bill Lurton as Leading Producer; SECOND FEZZIWIG DAUGHTER/ Cat Brindisi*
Timothy A. Huebsch and John CHARWOMAN
& Maureen Knapp as Producers;
and ReBecca & Mark Roloff as BOB CRATCHIT John Catron*
Associate Producers.
MR. FEZZIWIG/TOWNSPERSON 1 Paul de Cordova*
Setting
London, December 24–25, 1843 OLD JOE Nathaniel Fuller*
MRS. CRATCHIT Emjoy Gavino*
Londoners, Carolers and
Party Guests BELLE Isa Guitian
Idman Adan, Garrett Hildebrandt,
Kendall Kent, Sisloob Lo, Xan Mattek, FIRST FEZZIWIG DAUGHTER/ Summer Hagen*
Dayna “Dane” Neidich
LAUNDRESS
Young Actors JACOB MARLEY/TOWNSPERSON 2 Charity Jones*
Two casts will alternate performances.
FAN Rajané Katurah*
Figgy Pudding Cast: Mollie Allen,
Bella Glancy, Jeffrey Keenan,
Sadie Maguire, Ellie Nelson,
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST/FATHER Kurt Kwan*
John Soneral
YOUNG SCROOGE Clay Man Soo
Mistletoe Cast: Annie Birkholz,
Lily Birkholz, Keira Guevara,
COLLECTOR 1/DICK WILKINS Tyler Michaels King*
Mila Huber, Ines Rose Mojica,
Carter Monahan
EBENEZER SCROOGE Matthew Saldivar*
FRED Eric Sharp*
MRS. FEZZIWIG/ Regina Marie Williams*
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT
COLLECTOR 2/MOTHER Olivia Wilusz
Members of the acting ensemble also appear as
Londoners, Carolers and Party Guests.
14 \ GUTHRIE THEATERUnderstudies
Sarah Jane Agnew* (C. Brindisi, S. Hagen,
C. Jones); Stephanie Anne Bertumen*
(C. Brickey, I. Guitian, R. Katurah);
Aimee K. Bryant* (E. Gavino, R. Williams,
O. Wilusz); Nathaniel Fuller* (M. Saldivar);
Alex Galick* (J. Catron, K. Kwan);
Michael Hanna* (C. Man Soo, E. Sharp);
Jon Andrew Hegge* (P. de Cordova,
N. Fuller); Joey Miller* (R. Benson,
T. Michaels King); Olivia Wilusz
(C. Brindisi, S. Hagen)
IMAGE: WOOD ENGRAVING OF PEOPLE BUYING TICKETS FOR DICKENS’ READING OF A CHRISTMAS CAROL AT STEINWAY HALL IN NEW YORK CITY, HARPER’S WEEKLY, DECEMBER 28, 1867 (LIBRARY OF CONGRESS)
Understudies never substitute for performers
Creative Team unless announced prior to the performance.
DIRECTOR Joseph Haj Young Actor Supervisors
Tracy Folkerts, Alex Hagen,
CHOREOGRAPHER Regina Peluso Madeline Jacobs, Gabrielle Jones,
Clara Marsh, Anna Matthes
COMPOSER Jane Shaw
Acknowledgments
MUSIC DIRECTOR Mark Hartman
The Guthrie would like to acknowledge
that we gather on the traditional land
SCENIC DESIGNER Matt Saunders of the Dakota People and honor with
gratitude the land itself and the people
COSTUME DESIGNER Toni-Leslie James who have stewarded it throughout the
generations, including the Ojibwe and
LIGHTING DESIGNER Yi Zhao other Indigenous nations.
SOUND DESIGNER Mikaal Sulaiman The music in this production features
traditional carols and hymns, including
“God Bless You, Merry Gentleman,”
RESIDENT DRAMATURG Carla Steen
“Past Three O’Clock,” “Drive the Cold
Winter Away” and “We Wish You a Merry
VOICE AND DIALECT COACH Jill Walmsley Zager Christmas”; the traditional carols “Wassail,
Wassail,” “Here We Come A-Caroling,”
INTIMACY COACH Doug Scholz-Carlson “I Saw Three Ships” and “Bring a Torch,
Jeanette, Isabella” with new lyrics; a few
RESIDENT CASTING DIRECTOR Jennifer Liestman broadside ballads put to music, including
“Come (Come) My Roaring Ranting Boys”
STAGE MANAGER Megan Winters* and “Heigh-Ho, Sleigh-Ho”; and several
original songs, including “Ding, Dong,
Oyez, Oyez,” “All Through This Hour” and
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGERS Lyndsey R. Harter*
“Ring Out the Old,” the second verse of
Nate Stanger* which is a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Addie Gorlin-Han Lavina Jadhwani would like to thank the
online space affectionately known as
NYC CASTING CONSULTANT McCorkle Casting, Ltd. “The ShakesZoom” for helping develop
this adaptation.
DANCE CAPTAIN Rush Benson*
Toni-Leslie James would like to thank
Associate Costume Designer Emily
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association Tappan for her work on this production.
GUTHRIE THEATER \ 15Biographies John Catron
Bob Cratchit
GUTHRIE A Christmas Carol, Romeo and
Juliet, Sense and Sensibility, Trouble
in Mind, The Critic/The Real Inspector
Hound, The Crucible, Othello, Uncle
Vanya, Long Day’s Journey Into Night,
Cast
Hay Fever, The Winter’s Tale, The Master
Butchers Singing Club. THEATER Pillsbury
House Theatre (Artistic Associate);
Jungle Theater; Frank Theatre; Park Square Theatre; Theater Latté
Rush Benson Da; Illusion Theater; Torch Theater; Dark and Stormy Productions;
Belle’s Husband/Ghost of Christmas Future TigerLion Arts; Theater Mu; Shakespeare Theatre Company; Actors
Theatre of Louisville. AWARDS Ivey Award for Best Ensemble (Trouble
GUTHRIE Debut. THEATER Theater Latté in Mind); 2014 City Pages Best Actor. TRAINING Grinnell College;
Da: The Ghostlight Series; Chanhassen St. Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy; National Theater Institute
Dinner Theatres: Newsies, Mamma Mia!, at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center
Holiday Inn; Ordway: 42nd Street, In the
Heights, Jesus Christ Superstar, West Side
Story, A Chorus Line; Old Log Theatre: Paul de Cordova
The Wedding Singer; Collide Theatrical Mr. Fezziwig/Townsperson 1
Dance Company: Dracula, Romeo
and Juliet; Park Square Theatre: The Rocky Horror Show; Artistry; GUTHRIE The Cocoanuts; Ah, Wilderness!;
Numerous productions with Flying Foot Forum. CHOREOGRAPHY Once in a Lifetime; Julius Caesar;
Guthrie Theater; Ordway; SteppingStone Theatre; Minnesota Fringe A Christmas Carol; Much Ado About
Festival. FILM/TELEVISION “Lady Dynamite” on Netflix. TEACHING Nothing; You Can’t Take It With You;
Guthrie Education classes; Cowles Center Teaching Artist. TRAINING A Midsummer Night’s Dream; She Stoops
Gustavus Adolphus College. @shutuprush (IG, TW) To Conquer; The Cherry Orchard. THEATER
Pillsbury House Theatre: ≈ [Almost Equal
To], The Pride, [sic], Angels in America;
China Brickey TigerLion Arts: Nature: A Walking Play; Red Bird Theatre: Buried
Third Fezziwig Daughter/Fred’s Wife Child, A Bright Room Called Day, Time To Burn; Theatre Novi Most:
The Seagull; Old Log Theatre: The Velocity of Autumn; Almost, Maine;
GUTHRIE A Christmas Carol. THEATER Theatre Pro Rata: The Illusion; Penumbra Theatre: By the Way, Meet
Theater Mu: Today Is My Birthday; Jungle Vera Stark; Playwrights’ Center: The Cherry Orchard; Dark and Stormy
Theater: Redwood; Park Square Theatre: Productions: The Drunken City; Workhaus Collective; Park Square
Pride and Prejudice, Romeo and Juliet; Theatre; History Theatre; Jungle Theater; Children’s Theatre Company;
Ordway: Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Mamma Illusion Theater. UPCOMING Yellow Tree Theatre: In the Next Room;
Mia!; Children’s Theatre Company: Matilda Park Square Theatre: Romeo and Juliet, Holmes and Watson. TRAINING
the Musical, The Wiz, The Snowy Day, M.F.A., University of Minnesota; B.F.A., The University of Texas at Austin
Cinderella, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The
Wizard of Oz; Penumbra Theatre: Girl Shakes Loose. FILM/TELEVISION
Various commercials. UPCOMING Jungle Theater: Redwood. AWARDS Nathaniel Fuller
2020 City Pages Best Actor. TRAINING B.F.A., Acting, Music minor, Old Joe
Millikin University. @china.brickey (IG), www.chinabrickey.com
GUTHRIE More than 90 productions since
1987, including King Lear; Trouble in
Cat Brindisi Mind; The Crucible; A Christmas Carol
Second Fezziwig Daughter/Charwoman (31 seasons); Othello; The Primrose
Path; Embers; Much Ado About Nothing;
GUTHRIE Sunday in the Park With George, M. Butterfly; A View From the Bridge;
The Parchman Hour, South Pacific, The A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1997
Cocoanuts, Stage Kiss, My Fair Lady, and 2008); Jane Eyre; Boats on a
A Christmas Carol (1998). THEATER River; Hamlet; As You Like It (1994, 2005 and 2019); Six Degrees
Repertory Theatre of St. Louis: Wind- of Separation; Amadeus; Ah, Wilderness!; The Magic Fire. THEATER
Up Girl; Alabama Shakespeare Festival: Los Angeles Free Shakespeare Festival; Great Lakes Shakespeare
Annie; New World Stages: NAMT Festival; Jungle Theater; Cricket Theatre; Chanhassen Dinner Theatres.
2017; Signature Theatre: NYMF 2019 TRAINING University of Southern California; B.A., Dartmouth College
Intersecting Chords; Ordway: Annie; Theater Latté Da: Gypsy, Spring
Awakening, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Aida;
Mixed Blood Theatre: The Chronicles of Kalki, Cloudlands (workshop
with Adam Gwon); Chanhassen Dinner Theatres; Illusion Theater;
Children’s Theatre Company. OTHER Founding member of 7th House
Theater (Jonah and the Whale, The Passage and The Great Work in
the Dowling Studio). AWARDS 2014 Lavender Best Musical Supporting
Actress (Hello, Dolly!); 2013 City Pages Best Emerging Female Actress;
2012 Ivey Award for Outstanding Production (Spring Awakening).
TRAINING B.F.A., Musical Theater, Dance minor, University of Minnesota
Duluth. UPCOMING Guthrie Theater: The Tempest. www.catbrindisi.com
16 \ GUTHRIE THEATEREmjoy Gavino Charity Jones
Mrs. Cratchit Jacob Marley/Townsperson 2
GUTHRIE Debut. THEATER Steppenwolf GUTHRIE More than 20 productions,
Theatre: Animal Farm, You Got Older, including Dickens’ Holiday Classic,
The Drunken City; A Red Orchid Theatre: Cyrano de Bergerac, A Christmas Carol,
Do You Feel Anger?; The Gift Theatre: Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Hay Fever,
Kentucky; Writers Theatre: Vietgone; The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide … ,
AboutFace Theatre: Bull in a China Shop; A Delicate Balance, Shadowlands. THEATER
The Hypocrites: You on the Moors Now; History Theatre: Gloria: A Life, Teen Idol;
The Second City: Realish Housewives; Jungle Theater: You Can’t Take It With
Victory Gardens Theater: Failure: A Love Story; Goodman Theatre: You, The Heiress, The Dazzle, Hapgood; Park Square Theatre: Calendar
A Christmas Carol; Paramount Theatre: Hair; Court Theatre: The Girls, Sexy Laundry, The Sisters Rosensweig; Children’s Theatre
Good Book, Electra, Wait Until Dark; Broadway Playhouse: Working; Company: More than 60 productions; Shakespeare Theatre Company;
Lookingglass Theatre Company: Act(s) of God, The Arabian Nights; A.C.T.; Mixed Blood Theatre; Eye of the Storm; Theatre de la Jeune
The Neo-Futurists: A Very Neo-Futurist Christmas Carol; ReAct Lune; Kansas City Repertory Theatre; The Acting Company
Theatre: The Violet Hour; A.C.T.: A Christmas Carol; Village Theatre:
Searching 4 Y; Studio Theatre: Cry It Out. FILM/TELEVISION “The
Exorcist,” “Mob Doctor,” “Chicago Fire,” “Chicago Med.” OTHER Rajané Katurah
Founder and Producer of The Chicago Inclusion Project. AWARDS Fan
2020 3Arts Make a Wave Inaugural Grant; EEO Spirit Award. TRAINING
School at Steppenwolf; B.A., Theatre, Seattle Pacific University. GUTHRIE Debut. THEATER Children’s
www.emjoygavino.com Theatre Company: Cinderella (Cinderella),
Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax (Von Goo/Granny
Once-ler); The Old Globe: Dr. Seuss’
Isa Guitian The Lorax (Von Goo/Granny Once-ler);
Belle Ordway: Smokey Joe’s Cafe (Herself);
Ten Thousand Things: Into the Woods
GUTHRIE Debut. THEATER Illinois (Little Red/Rapunzel), Thunder Knocking
Shakespeare Festival: Measure for on the Door (Glory Dupree); Park Square Theatre: Marie and Rosetta
Measure, The Winter’s Tale, Pride (Marie Knight); Pillsbury House Theatre: What To Send Up When It
and Prejudice, As You Like It, Caesar; Goes Down (Made); Alliance Theatre: Born for This (Whitney Houston
TigerLion Arts: Nature: A Walking Play; u/s). OTHER “Nine Twin Cities artists primed for greatness in 2019” by
Rep Stage: Technicolor Life; University of the Star Tribune. UPCOMING Children’s Theatre Company: Something
Minnesota/Guthrie Theater B.F.A. Acting Happened in Our Town; Ten Thousand Things: Thunder Knocking on
Program: The Heresy of Love, Dear God, the Door. TRAINING B.A., Drama, Spelman College; British American
The Oresteia, Love’s Labour’s Lost. TRAINING University of Minnesota/ Drama Academy, Shakespeare in London. @rajanekaturah (IG),
Guthrie Theater B.F.A. Acting Program www.rajanekaturah.com
Summer Hagen Kurt Kwan
First Fezziwig Daughter/Laundress Ghost of Christmas Past/Father
GUTHRIE A Christmas Carol, Tales From GUTHRIE The Great Leap, Othello. THEATER
Hollywood, The Birds, Arms and the Olney Theatre Center: Tiger Style!; Actors
Man, The Master Butchers Singing Club, Theatre of Louisville: we, the invisibles;
Boston Marriage, The Night of the Iguana, Ten Thousand Things: The Changelings,
Pride and Prejudice, Amadeus. THEATER A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo
History Theatre: God Girl; Torch Theater and Juliet, A Streetcar Named Desire;
Company: Prints; Old Log Theatre: Blithe Theater Mu: You for Me for You, Yellow
Spirit, Cowgirls; Jungle Theater: Noises Fever, Cowboy Versus Samurai, Yellow
Off; Theatre Three: Metamorphoses; Emelin Theatre: Murder on the Face, Ching Chong Chinaman, The Romance of Magno Rubio; Pillsbury
Nile; Theater Ten Ten: Northanger Abbey; Eye of the Storm: Fair Game; House Theatre: The Children; Yellow Tree Theatre: Grace; Walking
Minnesota Repertory Theatre: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Shadow Theatre Company: after the quake; Walker Art Center:
the Forum. TRAINING B.A., Hamline University Permanence Collection; Park Square Theatre; Children’s Theatre
Company; Illusion Theater; History Theatre. AWARDS 2020 McKnight
Theater Artist Fellowship at the Playwrights’ Center
GUTHRIE THEATER \ 17Clay Man Soo Eric Sharp
Young Scrooge Fred
GUTHRIE Debut. THEATER Great River GUTHRIE A Christmas Carol, As You Like
Shakespeare Festival: Macbeth (u/s), It, BAD NEWS! i was there… , M. Butterfly.
The Servant of Two Masters (u/s), Love’s THEATER Jungle Theater: Is Edward
Labour’s Lost; New Arab American Snowden Single?, Small Mouth Sounds,
Theater Works: Zafira and the Resistance; Hand to God; Theater Mu: Today Is My
Theater Mu: A Korean Drama Addict’s Birthday, Hot Asian Doctor Husband, Two
Guide to Losing Your Virginity, Inside Mile Hollow, Charles Francis Chan Jr.’s … ,
Out and Back Again (canceled due to Middle Brother; Ten Thousand Things:
COVID-19); Pangea World Theater/The Lab Theater: Mother Courage Fiddler on the Roof, The Unsinkable Molly Brown; Nautilus Music-
and Her Children; South Dakota Shakespeare Festival: The Comedy of Theater: Man of La Mancha; Alliance Theatre: Start Down; Children’s
Errors; Theatre Coup d’Etat: The Tempest; Artistry: Mame (canceled Theatre Company: The Jungle Book; Theatre de la Jeune Lune: The
due to COVID-19). UPCOMING Children’s Theatre Company: Bina’s Miser; Frank Theatre: Mother Courage and Her Children; TigerLion
Six Apples; Park Square Theatre: Romeo and Juliet; TigerLion Arts: Arts: The Buddha Prince; Minnesota and Toronto Fringe Festivals:
The Buddha Prince. TRAINING B.A., Gustavus Adolphus College; The Depth of the Ocean; Walking Shadow Theatre Company: after
Great River Shakespeare Festival actor apprenticeship; Theater Mu the quake, Mr. Marmalade. AUDIO Penguin Random House: What Was
Training Institute; Encompass Collective at Yale School of Drama. the Titanic?; Theater Mu: You Shall Hear Me: Stories From Beyond.
www.claymansoo.com UPCOMING Theater Mu/Jungle Theater: Cambodian Rock Band.
TRAINING B.F.A., Millikin University; Studio 206. www.worksharp.org
Tyler Michaels King
Collector 1/Dick Wilkins Regina Marie Williams
Mrs. Fezziwig/Ghost of Christmas Present
GUTHRIE West Side Story, A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, A Christmas Carol, My GUTHRIE Dining With the Ancestors;
Fair Lady. THEATER Theater Latté Da: Guys and Dolls; Guess Who’s Coming
Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Assassins, to Dinner; The Bluest Eye; A Christmas
Gypsy, Sweeney Todd, Cabaret, Spring Carol; To Kill a Mockingbird; Othello; The
Awakening; History Theatre: Teen Idol: Burial at Thebes; A Streetcar Named
The Bobby Vee Story; Ordway: 42nd Desire; Caroline, or Change; The Falls;
Street, West Side Story; Children’s The People’s Temple; She Loves Me;
Theatre Company: Peter Pan the Musical; Chanhassen Dinner Theatres: Oedipus; Crowns. THEATER Mixed Blood
Hello, Dolly!, Fiddler on the Roof, Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Bye Theatre: ANIMATE, Barbecue, Ruined, Pure Confidence; Theater
Bye Birdie, Joseph … ; Illusion Theater; Flying Foot Forum; Live Latté Da: The House of Bernarda Alba, Chicago; Penumbra Theatre/
Action Set; Artistry; Minneapolis Musical Theatre; HUGE Improv Theater Mu: Brothers Paranormal; People’s Light: Nina Simone: Four
Theater. OTHER Founder and Artistic Director of Trademark Theater; Women; Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company: Nina Simone:
Improv: The Bearded Company; Podcast: “Break the Dice: The Four Women; Chanhassen Dinner Theatres: Sister Act; Ten Thousand
Improvised Campaign.” AWARDS 2014 Ivey Award for Emerging Artist. Things: Romeo and Juliet, Doubt, Man of La Mancha, Once on This
UPCOMING Guthrie Theater: The Tempest. @tylermichaelsking (IG), Island; Pillsbury House Theatre: Fannie Lou Hamer: Speak On It!,
www.tylermichaelsking.com Scapegoat, Death Tax; Ordway: Damn Yankees; Round House Theatre:
Redshirts; Milwaukee Repertory Theater: Lady Day … ; Penumbra
Theatre: Dinah Was; Park Square Theatre: Nina Simone: Four Women,
Matthew Saldivar The Color Purple. AWARDS Ivey Award; Helen Hayes Award nomination;
Ebenezer Scrooge McKnight Theater Artist Fellowship at the Playwrights’ Center; 2016
City Pages Best Actor; 2015 Star Tribune Best Dramatic Performer
GUTHRIE The Royal Family (Rachel
Chavkin, director), The Canterbury
Tales (Michael Bogdonov). THEATER Olivia Wilusz
Broadway: Bernhardt/Hamlet (Moritz von Collector 2/Mother
Stuelpnagel), Junk (Doug Hughes), Act
One (James Lapine), Saint Joan (Daniel GUTHRIE Sense and Sensibility. THEATER
Sullivan), Black Stache in Peter and Six Points Theater: Significant Other;
the Starcatcher (Roger Rees and Alex Gremlin Theatre: Becky Shaw, The
Timbers), A Streetcar Named Desire (Emily Mann), Grease (Kathleen Father; Illusion Theater: My Antonia;
Marshall), The Wedding Singer (John Rando), Honeymoon in Vegas Pillsbury House Theatre: West of Central.
(Gary Griffin); Off-Broadway: Frank Butler in Annie Get Your Gun; Kate TRAINING University of Minnesota/Guthrie
Hamill’s Dracula (Sarna Lapine); Our Dear Dead Drug Lord; A Human Theater B.F.A. Acting Program; South
Being, of a Sort (Whitney White); Hamlet; The Cradle Will Rock (Sam Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts
Gold); Hermes in Hadestown (Rachel Chavkin); Quiara Alegría Hudes’ and Humanities
Daphne’s Dive (Thomas Kail); All in the Timing (John Rando); Randy
Newman’s Harps and Angels (Jerry Zaks); The Architecture of Loss
(Chay Yew); Luther Billis in Lincoln Center Theater’s first national tour
of South Pacific (Bartlett Sher); Working (Christopher Ashley); “Rent:
Live” on Fox (Michael Greif). TRAINING B.A./M.A., Middlebury College;
M.F.A., NYU
18 \ GUTHRIE THEATERCreative Team Jane Shaw
Composer
Lavina Jadhwani GUTHRIE Steel Magnolias. THEATER
Adapter New York: Playwrights Horizons;
Manhattan Theatre Club; Theatre for a
GUTHRIE Director: As You Like It. New Audience; Mint Theater Company;
THEATER East West Players/Hypokrit National Black Theatre; Repertorio
Productions/EnActe Arts: The Sitayana; Español; NYTW; Cherry Lane Theatre; The
Rasaka Theatre Company: VANYA or COOP; Bedlam; Regional: Hartford Stage;
“That’s Life!”; Goodman Theatre’s Future Cleveland Play House; The Old Globe;
Labs: Shakuntala. AWARDS 2021 3Arts Mark Taper Forum; Philadelphia Theatre Company; Two River Theater;
Make a Wave Award; Phil Killian Directing Asolo Repertory Theatre; Dorset Theatre Festival; A.C.T.; A.R.T.;
Fellowship (Oregon Shakespeare Northern Stage. AWARDS Drama Desk Award; Connecticut Critics
Festival); National Directors Fellowship (National New Play Network/ Circle Award; Henry Award; Bessie Award; Meet the Composer Grant;
Eugene O’Neill Theater Center); Classical Directing Fellowship NEA/TCG Career Development Grant; Nominations: Lucille Lortel
(The Drama League/Shakespeare & Company); Time Out Chicago’s Award, Elliot Norton Award, Henry Hewes Award. TRAINING Harvard
Best Next Generation Stage Director. TRAINING M.F.A., The Theatre University; Yale School of Drama
School, DePaul University; B.F.A./M.A., Carnegie Mellon University.
@lavinajadhwani (IG, TW), www.lavinajadhwani.com
Mark Hartman
Music Director
Joseph Haj
Director GUTHRIE West Side Story, Sunday in the
Park With George. THEATER Broadway:
GUTHRIE Dickens’ Holiday Classic, Sondheim on Sondheim, Avenue Q; Off-
The Glass Menagerie, Cyrano de Broadway: Pageant, Silence! the Musical,
Bergerac (Adapter/Director), West Side Dear Edwina, Finian’s Rainbow (Irish
Story, Romeo and Juliet, Sunday in the Repertory Theatre), The Fantasticks,
Park With George, King Lear, South Avenue Q (Vineyard Theatre); Tours: Guys
Pacific, Pericles; Artistic Director since and Dolls, Pippin (Goodspeed Musicals),
2015. THEATER Folger Theatre: Hamlet The Irish … ; Regional: Funny Girl (IRNE Award nomination), Waterfall,
(Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Working (new version), Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life, Magic to Do (a
Production); Oregon Shakespeare Festival: A Midsummer Night’s new Stephen Schwartz revue for Princess Cruises). CONCERTS Camelot
Dream, Henry V, Pericles; PlayMakers Repertory Company: The (Jeremy Irons), Brigadoon (Danieley/Errico), Rags (20th anniversary),
Tempest, Metamorphoses, Cabaret, Henry IV, Henry V, Nicholas Pippin (Ben Vereen), Children of Eden (NYC premiere). RECORDINGS
Nickleby, The Illusion, Amadeus, Pericles, Big River, As You Like It, Sondheim on Sondheim, Dear Edwina, Finian’s Rainbow, Avenue Q,
Cyrano de Bergerac (Adapter/Director), Into the Woods; PlayMakers NEO, three albums with Natalie Douglas. AWARDS Three MAC Awards;
Repertory Company Artistic Director, 2006–2015. As an actor, Haj has Backstage Bistro Award for Music Direction
appeared at the Guthrie Theater, The Public Theater, Alley Theatre,
Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville
and internationally in Salzburg, Edinburgh, Paris, Berlin, Venice and Matt Saunders
Japan. OTHER Directed projects in a maximum-security prison in Scenic Designer
Los Angeles; Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina; the West Bank;
and Gaza. AWARDS 2000 NEA Millennium Grant awarded to 50 of GUTHRIE Noura, Guess Who’s Coming
America’s finest artists; Named one of 25 theater artists who will have to Dinner, The Bluest Eye. THEATER
a significant impact on the field over the next quarter-century by Off-Broadway: Pipeline (Lincoln Center
American Theatre magazine; 2014 Zelda Fichandler Award Theater); Venus (Signature Theatre);
Good Person of Szechwan (The Foundry
Theatre/The Public Theater); The Tempest
Regina Peluso (The Public Theater); Regional: More
Choreographer than 100 productions at various theaters,
including The Kennedy Center, Mark Taper Forum, Huntington Theatre
GUTHRIE A Christmas Carol (2018 and Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, Actors
2019). THEATER Collide Theatrical Dance Theatre of Louisville, Children’s Theatre Company, Wilma Theater,
Company (Founding Artistic Director/ Pig Iron Theatre Company and Philadelphia Theatre Company;
Choreographer): The Great Gatsby, Associate Artistic Director of New Paradise Laboratories. TEACHING
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dance ’Til Professor of Design, Swarthmore College. AWARDS Pew Arts Fellow;
You Drop (co-production with History Hodder Fellow at Princeton University; Drama Desk Award; Barrymore
Theatre), Dracula, C.L.U., Le Petit Moulin, Award; F. Otto Haas Award. TRAINING M.F.A., Yale School of Drama.
Zoot Suit Riots, Class of ’85, Romeo www.mattsaunders.net
and Juliet, The Belmont Hotel, Lot of Living to Do; History Theatre
(Choreographer): This Side of Paradise, River Road Boogie, Coco’s
Diary; Old Log Theatre (Choreographer): The Wedding Singer,
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels;
Stages Theatre Company; White Buffalo Theatre Company; Mall of
America. TRAINING B.F.A., Musical Theater, Boston Conservatory.
www.collidetheatrical.org
GUTHRIE THEATER \ 19Toni-Leslie James Carla Steen
Costume Designer Resident Dramaturg
GUTHRIE Sunday in the Park With George. GUTHRIE More than 60 productions since
THEATER Broadway: Bernhardt/Hamlet, 1996, recently including Dickens’ Holiday
Come From Away; Jitney; Amazing Classic, Twelfth Night, Noura, Steel
Grace; Lucky Guy; The Scottsboro Boys; Magnolias, The Glass Menagerie, Guys
Finian’s Rainbow; Chita Rivera: The and Dolls, Cyrano de Bergerac, As You
Dancer’s Life; Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; Like It, Noises Off, Frankenstein – Playing
King Hedley II; One Mo’ Time; The Wild With Fire, West Side Story, Familiar,
Party; Marie Christine; Footloose; The Blithe Spirit, Romeo and Juliet, Sunday
Tempest; Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992; Angels in America: Millennium in the Park With George, King Lear, The Lion in Winter and Sense
Approaches and Perestroika; Chronicle of a Death Foretold; Jelly’s and Sensibility. THEATER Dramaturgy for the University of Minnesota/
Last Jam. AWARDS Tony Award nominations (including 2017 for Jitney Guthrie Theater B.F.A. Acting Program, Hammerstein Center, NYU
and 2019 for Bernhardt/Hamlet); six Drama Desk Award nominations; Tisch School of the Arts and Augsburg University (Cymbeline directed
four Lucille Lortel Award nominations; two Henry Hewes Design by Darcey Engen). PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS Member of Literary
Awards, plus four additional nominations; TDF/Irene Sharaff Young Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA). TRAINING M.F.A.,
Master Award; 2009 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Costume Columbia University; B.A., Augsburg University
Design. TEACHING Assistant Professor Adjunct, Yale School of Drama;
Associate Professor and Head of Design, Virginia Commonwealth
University. TRAINING B.F.A., Theatre, The Ohio State University Jill Walmsley Zager
Voice and Dialect Coach
Yi Zhao GUTHRIE Steel Magnolias, The Glass
Lighting Designer Menagerie, Floyd’s, As You Like It, Noises
Off, Frankenstein – Playing With Fire,
GUTHRIE Twelfth Night, The Bluest Eye. An Enemy of the People, Blithe Spirit,
THEATER New York: Greater Clements, Indecent, Romeo and Juliet, Sunday in the
Pipeline (Lincoln Center Theater); Actually Park With George, The Bluest Eye, King
(Manhattan Theatre Club); Fabulation, In Lear, The Lion in Winter, The Parchman
the Blood, The Death of the Last Black Hour. THEATER Milwaukee Repertory
Man in the Whole Entire World (Signature Theater (more than 30 productions); American Contemporary Theater
Theatre); Thunderbodies, Revolt. She Said. (more than 25 productions); The Marriott Theatre (more than 20
Revolt Again., FUTURITY (Soho Rep); productions); Chicago Shakespeare Theater; Steppenwolf Theatre;
The House That Will Not Stand, Red Speedo (NYTW); Regional: Yale Utah Shakespeare Festival; Arizona Theatre Company; Cardinal Stage;
Repertory Theatre; Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Mark Taper Forum; Drury Lane Theatre; Lyric Opera of Chicago. TRAINING Royal Central
Dallas Theater Center; Wilma Theater; A.C.T.; Berkeley Repertory School of Speech and Drama (London); Northwestern University
Theatre; Huntington Theatre Company; Repertory Theatre of St. Louis;
International: Theaternatur Festival (Germany). OPERA Opera Omaha;
ArtsEmerson; Curtis Institute of Music; Prototype Festival; Hong Jennifer Liestman
Kong Arts Festival. DANCE Sasha Waltz & Guests (Germany); Ballet Resident Casting Director
de Lorraine (France); Nichole Canuso Dance Company. UPCOMING
Broadway: The Skin of Our Teeth; Opera: Norwegian National Opera GUTHRIE Member of the Artistic Team
and Ballet; Chicago Lyric Opera; Opera Philadelphia. AWARDS 2019 since 2003; More than 60 productions,
Henry Hewes Design Award; 2016 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in workshops and readings since 2015,
Theatre. www.yi-zhao.com including the History Plays Workshop,
Dickens’ Holiday Classic, Twelfth Night,
Noura, Floyd’s, West Side Story, BAD
Mikaal Sulaiman NEWS! i was there… , Familiar (with
Sound Designer Seattle Rep), Watch on the Rhine (with
Berkeley Repertory Theatre), Native Gardens (with Arena Stage)
GUTHRIE Debut. THEATER Broadway: and Disgraced (with McCarter Theatre Center/Milwaukee Repertory
Thoughts of a Colored Man; Off- Theater). FILM Master Servant (Casting Consultant). TEACHING Audition
Broadway: Sanctuary City, Light Shining master classes for the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater
in Buckinghamshire (NYTW); Fires in B.F.A. Acting Program; Macalester College; SMU; Other universities
the Mirror; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark in Minnesota and the U.S. TRAINING B.A., Theatre, Minnesota State
(Signature Theatre); Continuity (Manhattan University Moorhead
Theatre Club); Passage, Fairview (Soho
Rep); Recent Alien Abductions, Time’s
Journey Through a Room (PlayCo); Blue Ridge (Atlantic Theater
Company); The Thanksgiving Play (Playwrights Horizons); Rags
Parkland, Underground Railroad Game (Ars Nova); Master (The Foundry
Theatre); Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical; Black Artists
Retreat by Theaster Gates (Park Avenue Armory); Regional: Berkeley
Repertory Theatre; Alley Theatre; Woolly Mammoth; Baltimore Center
Stage; Trinity Rep; Pig Iron Theatre Company; Syracuse Stage; Seattle
Rep; Arden Theatre Company; Early Morning Opera. AWARDS Henry
Hewes Design Award; Nominations: Drama Desk Award, Lucille Lortel
Award, San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award, Theatre
Bay Area Award, AUDELCO Award. www.mikaal.com
20 \ GUTHRIE THEATERMegan Winters
Stage Manager
GUTHRIE Debut. THEATER Regional: Dallas
Theater Center (11 seasons, four seasons
as Resident Production Stage Manager);
The Old Globe; Alley Theatre; Ogunquit
Playhouse; Shakespeare Dallas; Second
Thought Theatre; Olney Theatre Center;
Seaside Repertory Theatre. TRAINING B.A.,
Theatre Arts, Oklahoma Baptist University
Lyndsey R. Harter
Assistant Stage Manager
GUTHRIE Dining With the Ancestors.
THEATER Regional: Minnesota Opera;
Theater Latté Da; Pillsbury House
Theatre; Theater Mu (five seasons);
Park Square Theatre (five seasons);
Playwrights’ Center; Yellow Tree Theatre;
New Dawn Theatre Company; Great
River Shakespeare Festival. MEMBERSHIPS
Actors’ Equity Association; AEA National Stage Managers Committee;
AEA Twin Cities Liaison Committee; Minnesota Theater Accountability
Coalition. TRAINING B.A., Theatre Arts, Hamline University
by LORRAINE HANSBERRY
Nate Stanger
Assistant Stage Manager directed by AUSTENE VAN
GUTHRIE Assistant Stage Manager:
Guys and Dolls, West Side Story, The
Parchman Hour. THEATER Ordway: Irving
Berlin’s White Christmas, A Chorus
THREE THINGS TO KNOW
Line, The Sound of Music, The Pirates of
Penzance, Damn Yankees, A Christmas ABOUT THE SHOW
Story the Musical; Children’s Theatre
• Inspired by Lorraine Hansberry’s own
Company: Cinderella, Dr. Seuss’ How
family’s experience in Chicago in the
the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2017 and 2018), The Abominables, Dr.
Seuss’ The Sneetches, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Jungle Book; Park 1930s, A Raisin in the Sun opened on
Square Theatre: The Pirates of Penzance, Amy’s View, Romeo and Broadway in 1959 and, for the first time,
Juliet; Walking Shadow Theatre Company: The Sexual Life of Savages, hailed an all-Black principal cast, a Black
Gross Indecency; Open Eye Figure Theatre: The Amazing Cow Boat
playwright and a Black director.
(Puppeteer); Minnesota Centennial Showboat: Sweet Revenge, The
Vampire! TRAINING B.A., Theatre Arts, University of Minnesota • The play was nominated for four
Tony Awards, and Hansberry was the
McCorkle Casting, Ltd. first Black woman to be produced
Pat McCorkle, C.S.A.
on Broadway.
NYC Casting Consultant for • Director Austene Van is an acclaimed
2021–2022 Season
Twin Cities theater professional,
GUTHRIE More than 100 productions since
co-founder of New Dawn Theatre
1998. THEATER Broadway: More than 50 Company and Producing Artistic Director
productions, including On the Town, at Yellow Tree Theatre. She was last seen
Amazing Grace, End of the Rainbow and on the Guthrie stage playing Truvy in our
A Few Good Men; Off-Broadway: More
2019 production of Steel Magnolias.
than 60 productions, including Highlights;
Our Town (Barrow Street Theatre); Freud’s Last Session; Toxic
Avenger; Almost, Maine; and Driving Miss Daisy; Regional (selected):
Barrington Stage Company; George Street Playhouse; Connecticut
Repertory Theatre. FILM/TELEVISION Senior Moment, Year by the
Sea, Premium Rush, Ghost Town, The Thomas Crown Affair, Die Hard
Jan 8 – Feb 12
With a Vengeance, School Ties; “Twisted,” “Sesame Street,” “Hack”
(CBS), “Californication” (Emmy Award nomination), “The Education
612.377.2224 / guthrietheater.org
of Max Bickford” (CBS), “Chappelle’s Show,” “Strangers With Candy.”
www.mccorklecasting.com
GUTHRIE THEATER \ 21DISCOVER A NEW LEVEL OF LUXURY
BAR & RESTAURANT
SPECIAL EVENTS
MEETINGS & CONFERENCES
HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS
OUTDOOR PATIO
PARKING
225 THIRD AVENUE SOUTH
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55401
(612) 375-1700
www.marriott.com/mspdd
22 \ GUTHRIE THEATERAn essential American play
by LORRAINE HANSBERRY
directed by AUSTENE VAN
January 8 – February 12, 2022
McGuire Proscenium Stage
A parable of reconciliation
by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
directed by JOE DOWLING
February 26 – April 16, 2022
Our subscription season Wurtele Thrust Stage
features an eclectic mix of plays
that present forever-relevant
themes and shared human
experiences. Along the way, A music-filled comedy
hope shows up in unexpected
places and reminds us that by KAREN ZACARÍAS
healing is possible — especially directed by
RUBEN SANTIAGO-HUDSON
when we seek it together.
April 30 – June 5, 2022
McGuire Proscenium Stage
To become a subscriber, call
the Season Ticket Office
at 612.225.6238 or visit
guthrietheater.org.
A playful twist on a classic
by KATE HAMILL
based on the novel by JANE AUSTEN
directed by MEREDITH McDONOUGH
season sponsors
June 18 – August 21, 2022
This activity is made possible Wurtele Thrust Stage
by the voters of Minnesota
through a Minnesota State
Arts Board Operating Support
grant, thanks to a legislative
appropriation from the arts
and cultural heritage fund.
A Pulitzer Prize-winning drama
WEM 2000 Foundation
of The Dorsey & Whitney
Foundation
by LYNN NOTTAGE
directed by TAMILLA WOODARD
July 16 – August 21, 2022
McGuire Proscenium Stage
The Guthrie Theater is a grateful recipient of a
federally funded Shuttered Venue Operators Grant.PLAY FEATURE
The Business of Directing
and Adapting
Joseph Haj and Lavina Jadhwani have something notable in
common (and it’s not a shared knowledge of rom-coms, as
they quickly discovered during the interview). They’ve both
directed and adapted plays, but they’ve never collaborated
in their respective director and adapter roles on the same
play until now. So we invited them to chat about all things
A Christmas Carol and share what it feels like to move
between the roles they both know — and do — so well.
LAVINA JOSEPH JH: Your adaptation captured
us because it felt enormously
LAVINA JADHWANI: Hi, Joe! faithful to Dickens’ novella. It does
Let’s start by talking about a magnificent job of showing us A Christmas Carol. It’s almost
Charles Dickens. that Scrooge wants what we all like he knew it would become
want: He wants to be better. He’s a tradition, in the same way we
JOSEPH HAJ: My dad loved bad at it. He’s scared of it. He’s sing “Silent Night” every year or
Dickens, so I didn’t read any cynical about it. But deep down, he participate in holiday rituals with
Dickens at first. [laughs] But in wants to change. To show Scrooge our friends and family. We revisit
my 20s, that surliness subsided; as an active participant in his A Christmas Carol again and again
I read everything he wrote and own redemption is a compelling to remind us that what matters
became a lifelong fan. I love theme I’m excited to explore. It’s a most shouldn’t be sacrificed for
him as a writer entirely. The different journey for Scrooge than what matters least. Perhaps that’s
characters he writes and the ways we usually see. why this story has not been out of
he threads storylines are deeply circulation in two centuries. It has
satisfying. Dickens has a genius LJ: Why did you want to direct always been in favor.
way of presenting numerous A Christmas Carol?
plots and then intersecting them LJ: What has it been like having me
in ways that thrill the reader. So JH: During the pandemic, I in the rehearsal room with you?
I’m astounded that A Christmas didn’t want to go a year without
Carol came from the same writer doing A Christmas Carol for our JH: I have an outstanding
because there’s not even a B story. community. Together with my relationship with dead playwrights.
There’s one story with a singular friend and filmmaker E.G. Bailey, That’s where I spend so much
purpose. Everyone in the rehearsal we made Dickens’ Holiday Classic, of my time. [both laugh] In all
room understands that purpose a film based on the performance seriousness, it’s been awesome.
and feels the responsibility to script Dickens adapted from his With every play, you always wonder
PHOTOS: T CHARLES ERICKSON; DAN NORMAN
share something beautiful with our novella for his public readings. what the writer was thinking. It’s
community who loves this holiday While making the film, I fell deeply amazing to just turn to you and ask,
tradition so dearly. in love with the material. I’m “What do we think is happening
fascinated by its structure and in this scene?” I love having many
LJ: There are countless the questions it poses. Something collaborators and great thinkers in
A Christmas Carol scripts out I’ve continued to contemplate one room. It makes the play feel
there. What drew you to mine? is why Dickens titled his novella like a living thing.
24 \ GUTHRIE THEATERI grew up in a household that’s
big on the idea that people aren’t
so much defined by their past
as by what comes next. Maybe
that comes from being Hindu
and growing up in a culture that
believes in reincarnation, but on
the page, Scrooge’s desire to
change is evident. And I think the
story is not only better but funnier
when we see him wrestling with
that early on. Yes, I’ll leave with a
Christmas tune in my heart, but
I’ll also wonder what kind of life
Scrooge is going to lead after all
this, which makes me look inward
and ask, “What kind of life am I
JOSEPH LAVINA when I worked as a marketing going to lead?”
assistant at the Goodman Theatre
JH: Why did you decide to adapt and handed out candy canes to JH: What is it like being an adapter
this story, Lavina? audience members. It’s a whole and working with another director,
different world to experience especially being a director
LJ: I’ve been excited to have this it as a creator. I started tooling yourself?
conversation with you! I think it around with the text during the
was two things. In the first play I pandemic. I became part of a LJ: During my first day of tech
adapted, The Sitayana (Or How to Chicago-based company of artists rehearsal while directing As You
Make an Exit), there’s a breakup called “The ShakesZoom” who Like It at the Guthrie in 2019, I
scene at the end where Sita says to read Shakespeare plays online remember thinking, “Someone
Ram, “I release you.” Everyone told three times a week. The only two needs to make a lot of decisions.
me it reminded them of A Christmas readings of my script prior to Oh, right — that’s me!” [laughs]
Carol. Secondly, I was interested rehearsing it at the Guthrie were So it’s been great fun to sit back
in the idea of business, which done by that virtual company. I and watch you make the decisions
keeps coming up in the rehearsal wouldn’t be here without those because you know and love this
room. What does it mean to be incredible people. story intimately. Your vision for it
a good person of business or for is exquisite. I recently had dinner
mankind to be our business? Being JH: How did the idea of Scrooge with some friends who work at
Sindhi, there is much of Scrooge’s being an active participant in his the Minnesota Orchestra, and I
humanity that I see reflected in my redemption emerge? learned that your renowned local
own culture and family. The journey conductor [Osmo Vänskä] is
that the theme of business takes in LJ: Dickens has a particular sense retiring this year. They said that
the text was of great interest to me. of humor, and I’m into it. [both when he conducts, they hear
laugh] For example, early in Stave parts of the music they’ve never
JH: What was your writing Two, Scrooge has a tear on his heard before, even though they’ve
process like? face. When the spirit asks him always been written in the score.
about it, he says it’s a pimple. So seeing my script in a director’s
LJ: Until now, the closest I’d ever But he starts crying right away; hands, yours to be specific, is
been to A Christmas Carol was something is ready to crack open. hopeful and exciting.
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