TheatreWorks Silicon Valley

An ALL-NEW MUSICAL

Fly By Night

Lucie Stern Theatre

July 13—August 13, 2011

World Premiere
Winner of a 2011 Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award

Guided by a star-crossed prophecy, two entrancing sisters and a hapless sandwich maker discover a well of courage and a wealth of romance during New York¹s knockout blackout of 1965. In a charming, darkly comic rock musical the promise of change begets anxiety and hope, delight and devastation. But as this runaway hit of our New Works Festival proves, it sometimes takes a blackout to see the light.

“A breathtakingly good new musical”
“A solid evening of tuneful and evocative delights”
San Francisco Chronicle

“A STUNNING world premiere”
“One of the BEST CAST musicals…across the board, STELLAR”
“Deserves to keep the Lucie Stern Theater jammed to the rafters for the rest of its run"
Stark Insider
 

“Fly By Night shines with BRILLIANCE”
“Universally excellent cast”“Get your tickets soonest"
Daily News

 

“Fly By Night is a SMASH!”
“A fantastical and lyrically rich play that bears CLEAR SIGNS OF GENIUS”
“I predict that success is written in the stars for Fly By Night”
BroadwayWorld.com

 

“Sweetly affecting…truly beguiling new musical”
“Bill Fennelly directs with both humor and sensitivity"
SF Examiner

“Utterly charming modern musical…winning cast”
“I recommend it to all of our own Peninsula theatergoers"
San Mateo Daily Journal

“Fly By Night is a new musical well worth a boarding pass”
“Intelligent and enticing…imaginative flair"
The Bay Area Reporter

“Beguiling indie charm…casts a buoyant spell” 
San Jose Mercury News

“Most engaging story…superlative cast…inventive direction”
“A MUST SEE HIT"
For All Events

“The way the story weaves in and out of time is BRILLIANT”
"The cast is EXCELLENT"
SF Theater Blog

 

	Rachel Spencer Hewitt (Daphne) is proud to make her TheatreWorks debut with this production. Her credits include The Master Builder (Hilda u/s, performed) at Yale Repertory Theater, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Maggie) at English Theater of Vienna, and the recent production of Amadeus (Constanze) at the Virginia Arts Festival with Chautauqua Theater Company in collaboration with the Virginia Symphony. She starred in an independent feature this past year called Return to the Hiding Place (Aty), which played at Cannes and the Berlin Film Festival. Ms. Hewitt is a recent MFA graduate of Yale School of Drama, where she performed in numerous productions including Orlando (Orlando), Hamlet (Ophelia), and Homebody/Kabul (Homebody).
	James Judy (Mr. McClam) has performed on Broadway in The Scarlet Pimpernel (Dewhurst), Into the Woods (Narrator) and A Christmas Carol (Fred). His national tours include Deaf West’s Big River and South Pacific. Off-Broadway he has performed in Fiorello (Floyd) at Encore! City Center Series; Tin Pan Alley Rag at Roundabout Theatre; 1,2,3,4,5 and The Gig at Manhattan Theatre Club; La Boheme at New York Shakespeare Festival; and Catch Me If I Fall (Lonny) at the Promenade Theatre. Regionally, Mr. Judy performed Ace at The Old Globe Theatre, St Louis Repertory, and the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and A Christmas Story (Jean Shepherd) at Kansas City Repertory. His TV credits include Trinity (NBC), Cosby (CBS), and All My Children (ABC). Mr. Judy would like to thank Kathy for being his refuge.
	IAN LEONARD (Harold) is thrilled to return to Fly By Night, in which he had the pleasure to participate during last summer’s New Works Festival. Just weeks ago, Mr. Leonard appeared in the final production of TheatreWorks’ 41st season, [title of show] (Jeff). Prior to that, he appeared in A Christmas Memory (Adult Buddy), Dessa Rose (Adam Nehemiah), My Ántonia (Jimmy Burden), and Jane Eyre (St. John). Mr. Leonard spent a year overseas on the international tour of The Sound of Music (Rolf). Recent local performances include The Full Monty (Ethan) at American Musical Theatre of San Jose and She Loves Me (Kodaly) at Foothill Music Theatre. When not at Connect Studios, the acting school he founded for young performers, Mr. Leonard spends his time fronting the Bay Area’s friendliest and most punctual band, The Peelers. www.thepeelersband.com
	Wade McCollum (Narrator) was in TheatreWorks’ New Works Festival developmental production of Fly By Night. Most recently he appeared as the Emcee in Cabaret at Dallas Theatre Center. He was also in the Chicago Company of Jersey Boys (Norm) and his New York credits include Jeffrey (Jeffrey, Plays the Thing) and Irma La Douce (Nestor, Musicals Tonight). He has appeared in The Santaland Diaries (Syracuse Stage, Portland Center Stage); I Am My Own Wife (Charlotte and 40 others), Batboy: the Musical (Batboy), The Merchant of Venice (LauncelotGobbo), all at Portland Center Stage; Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Hedwig, Celebration Theatre; Ovation, Garland and LA Drama Critics Circle Awards), and Toy Story—The Musical (Woody) Disney/ Pixar Workshops. Last summer his musical ONE was workshopped in New York at 59e59st Theatre. You can also find his original album “beauty is a streetlight” on iTunes.
	Michael McCormick (Crabble) is excited to be making his TheatreWorks debut. His recent Broadway credits include Elf (Mr. Greenway), Curtains (Oscar Shapiro), How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Pajama Game, Kiss Me Kate (1st gangster), 1776 (John Adams), Sam Mendes’ Gypsy, Marie Christine, Kiss of the Spiderwoman (Warden) and La Bete. Recent off-Broadway credits include Tin Pan Alley Rag (Roundabout Theatre Company) and A Man of No Importance (Lincoln Center Theatre). National tours include The Producers (Franz Liebkind) and Les Misérables (Thenardier). He is featured on 14 original cast albums. Television appearances include guest spots on all three Law and Order series, and films include The Producers and A Very Serious Person. Mr. McCormick is a member of AEA since his 1965 Broadway debut in Oliver. He lives in Connecticut with his wife Alison and son Dylan.
	Keith Pinto (Joey Storms) has performed in the European and North American tours of Fame the Musical. Most recently Mr. Pinto appeared in Becoming Britney (K-Fed) at Center REPertory Company, Scapin (Gendarme) at American Conservatory Theater, and God’s Ear (G.I.Joe/Flight Attendant) with Shotgun Players. Pinto is a co-founder of the San Francisco based hip hop crew Felonious which creates original music and theatre. With Felonious, Pinto appeared in San Francisco in Angry Black White Boy (Guy) at Intersection for the Arts, and Stateless: A Hip Hop Vaudeville (The Pinto) at The Jewish Theater. Felonious has recorded numerous albums and has performed all over the Bay Area, LA, Chicago, and Germany as well as shows with Black Eyed Peas, LL Cool J, The Roots, De La Soul, Mary J Blige, and Erykah Badu.
	KRISTIN STOKES (Miriam) is happy to return to TheatreWorks where her past productions include the New Works Festival production of Fly By Night, Doubt, Theophilus North, The Learned Ladies of Park Avenue, Brooklyn Boy, Into The Woods, Jane Eyre, and Gypsy. She has also participated in the New Works Festival in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009. Her other credits include Jacques Brel… with Marin Theatre Company, Sex (Agnes) at Aurora Theatre Company, The Secret Garden (Martha) and Cabaret (Sally) at Willows Theatre Company, The Ride Down Mount Morgan (Bessie) at San Francisco Playhouse, and John and Jen (Jen) at Bus Barn Stage Company. She is also part of the indie band, Lawrence & Leigh (lawrenceandleigh.com). Ms. Stokes is a proud graduate of the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts.
	Will Connolly (Author) is an actor and songwriter. As a musician, he played guitar and bass for Fly By Night at TheatreWorks’ New Works Festival (2010). He has performed at NYC’s The Bitter End and Sidewalk Cafe, and his songs have appeared in the web series iChannel. He has acted in productions and workshops at American Repertory Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, Yale Repertory Theatre, Southern Repertory Theatre, Amsterdam Fringe Festival, Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (London), Bogazici University (Istanbul), The Tank, and Studio 42 and received the Carbonell Award for Best Supporting Actor for Candida (Palm Beach Dramaworks). He is a co-founder of the The NOLA Project--a non-profit theatre based in New Orleans, created in 2005. His BFA is from NYU Tisch School for the Arts and MFA from Yale School of Drama.
	Michael Mitnick (Author) is a playwright and songwriter. His plays and musicals have been produced and developed around the country at theaters including Manhattan Theatre Club, Second Stage, Ars Nova, The McCarter, The Denver Center Theatre Company, The DC Source Festival, Chautauqua Theater Company, The Lark, Studio 42, Page 73, Aspen TheaterMasters, Washington Ensemble Theatre, and The Kennedy Center. He has an MFA in Playwriting from the Yale School of Drama and lives in Brooklyn.
	Kim Rosenstock (Author) has written several plays including Tigers Be Still, receiving its West Coast premiere at SF Playhouse through July 30th. The world premiere of Tigers Be Still at Roundabout Underground was voted one of the top ten plays of 2010 by The NY Times, and was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award. She is currently working on commissions for Ars Nova (where she is the 2011 Playwright-in-Residence), Roundabout Theatre Company, and Dallas Theater Center. Awards include the Clauder Prize from Portland Stage Company and Aspen Theater Masters' Visionary Playwright Award. She is a graduate of Amherst College where she first began writing plays under the mentorship of Connie Congdon, and holds an MFA in playwriting from Yale School of Drama. She is originally from Baldwin, Long Island.
	Bill Fennelly (Director) directed Frankenstein, the Musical off-Broadway, was Assistant Director on the creation of Jersey Boys (LaJolla Playhouse), resident director for The Lion King tour, Associate Director of Broadway’s The Gershwins’ Fascinating Rhythm, and spent four seasons as a staff director with New York City Opera (Lincoln Center). His work has appeared at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Hartford Stage Company, Goodspeed Opera House, Portland Center Stage Company, Glimmerglass Opera, and NYU Graduate Music Theatre Writing Program. He was Producing Artistic Director at Actor’s Express, Associate Producing Artistic Director of the Acting Company, and Assistant Artistic Director at Cirque du Soleil. Awards include KPBS Patte, San Diego Playbill Award, and the Moss Hart Award from the NETC. He is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Drexel University in Philadelphia. He graduated from Hartt School and earned his MFA in directing from UC San Diego.
KIKAU ALVARO (Musical Staging) made his TheatreWorks debut as Associate Director/Musical Staging for [title of show]. He has worked with the Children’s Musical Theater of San Jose for the last eight years, recently directing the mainstage production of The Drowsy Chaperone and providing choreography for Chicago and The Secret Garden. Mr. Alvaro made his New York directing debut with a one-act piece called Life Recital, which was featured in a new works festival called “New Life Crisis.” He is a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York and holds a Theatre Arts degree from San Jose State University.
Tanya Finkelstein (Costume Designer) works as a lighting and costume designer. She designed the costumes for TheatreWorks’ World Premiere of The North Pool and the developmental production of Fly By Night in 2010’s New Works Festival. She designed hair and makeup for Magic Theatre’s Monkey Room. For Renegade Theatre Experiment she designed All This Intimacy (lights), Killer Joe (costumes), Bug (lights), A Clockwork Orange (costumes), and Right Place Right Time (co-costumed), and A Hand In Desire for Emspace Dance (co-costume design). As a founder of Collective Theatre Productions she designed lights for The Empire Builders and costumes for No Exit. Ms. Finkelstein graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz receiving her BA in Theatre Arts (2006) and her Graduate Certificate (2007). She is also Renegade Theatre Experiment’s Production Manager and TheatreWorks’ Wardrobe Manager.
DANE LAFFREY (Set Designer) has designed sets and costumes for theatre and dance, including more than 30 world premieres, on 4 continents. Recent NYC credits include Kim Rosenstock’s Tigers Be Still (Roundabout Theatre Company), The Other Place (MCC Theater), Benefactors (Keen Company), Exit (Keigwin + Company; The Joyce Theater), The Boys in the Band (Transport Group; Drama Desk nomination), Inner Voices: Solo Musicals (Primary Stages/Premieres), Sixty Miles to Silver Lake (SoHo Rep/P73), Rag and Bone (Rattlestick Theatre) and others. International credits include The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (Parco Theatre, Japan), The Colour of Panic (Sydney Opera House & Det Apne Theatre, Oslo), Some Explicit Polaroids (Darlinghurst Theatre Company) and many others. Recent US regional credits include Nilo Cruz’s Hurricane (Ringling International Festival), Giant (SignatureTheatre Company), Reckless (Chautauqua Theatre Company) and others. www.danelaffrey.com
Jamie D. Mann (Stage Manager) recently stage managed TheatreWorks’ Snow Falling on Cedars, The 39 Steps, Superior Donuts, and the developmental production of Fly By Night in TheatreWorks’ New Works Festival. He also stage managed the World Premiere of Mrs. Whitney (Magic Theatre), 2 X Malmud—The Jewbird and The Magic Barrel (Word for Word/The Jewish Theatre), The Last Yiddish Poet (The Jewish Theatre), and Sunrise at Campobello (Willows Theatre Company). He was Production Manager for six seasons at San Jose Stage Company, and stage managed Dirty Blonde, Rock N’ Roll, The Great America Trailer Park Musical, Always…Patsy Cline, Altar Boyz, Blade To The Heat (with Thick Description); The Diary Of Anne Frank, and Beehive, The Musical. He graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz, with a degree in Theatre Arts.
LESLIE MARTINSON (Casting Director) is TheatreWorks’ Associate Artist and Casting Director. For TheatreWorks, her directing credits go back over twenty years, including, most recently, the West Coast premieres of Superior Donuts and Theophilus North. A graduate of Occidental College, she has been a Watson Fellow, a member of Lincoln Center Directors’ Lab, a member of the LaMaMa International Directing Symposium and has served on Theatre Bay Area’s Theatre Services Committee since 2002. She was awarded an Individual Artist Fellowship in Stage Direction by the Arts Council of Silicon Valley for artistic achievement and community impact. In addition to her casting work at TheatreWorks, she teaches master classes and workshops for many Bay Area universities and theatre companies. This summer, she will be directing Lend Me A Tenor for Shakespeare’s Associates.
Meredith McDonough (Production Dramaturg) is TheatreWorks’ Director of New Works where she’s directed [title of show], Auctioning the Ainsleys, and Opus (Bay Area Theatre Critics Award). She recently directed The Lily’s Revenge for Magic Theatre, and she spent three seasons as a Resident Director at Actors Theatre of Louisville, directing numerous world premieres in the Humana Festival. She directed premieres for Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Actors Express, Summer Play Festival, and Keen Company. Favorites include Summer of ’42 (Round House Theatre) Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice (Williamstown Theatre Festival), and Angels in America (UCSD). She was the New Works Program Director for National Alliance for Musical Theatre, is an Affiliated Artist with New Georges and the Orchard Project, and a Drama League Fellow. Her MFA in directing is from UCSD and BS in Performance Studies from Northwestern University.
Jeff Mockus (Sound Design) designed TheatreWorks’ Superior Donuts and [title of show]. His work has been heard in American Conservatory Theater’s Clybourne Park, Center REPertory Company’s A Marvelous Party, and California Shakespeare Theatre’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession, as well as the world premieres of Tracy’s Tiger for Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Lend Me A Tenor: The Musical for Utah Shakespearean Festival, War Music at ACT, and Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s Menocchio. Most recently Mr. Mockus contributed original music to the West Coast premiere of Legacy of Light, which marked his 70th production for San Jose Repertory Theatre, where he has received Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards for Old Wicked Songs and Mary’s Wedding, and Dean Goodman Choice Awards for By the Bog of Cats, ART, and Major Barbara.
Mike Pettry (Music Director/Orchestrator) developed his musical The Light Princess at the TheatreWorks’ 2011 Writer’s Retreat. Mr. Pettry toured the country with Dirty Rotten Scoundrels as assistant conductor, and off-Broadway credits include Signs of Life (Amas) and Rooms (Time Life cast album). At the John W. Engeman Theater, Mr. Pettry music directed several productions, including RENT, Fiddler on the Roof with Eddie Mekka, and Sound of Music with Felicia Finley. Other NYC performances include The Black Suits (Public Theater) and Things To Ruin: The Songs of Joe Iconis (Sh-K-Boom cast album). Musicals written include The Time Travelers Convention (available on iTunes), Long Distance, World of Heroes, and Flipside (2007 NYU Frederick Loewe Award). Mr. Pettryis a songwriting teaching artist with Lincoln Center, and holds an MFA in musical theatre writing from NYU/Tisch. www.mikepettry.com
VICKIE ROZELL (Research Dramaturg) is in her eleventh season as TheatreWorks’ resident dramaturg, working on over seventy productions including as co-director/dramaturg on Doubt, Arcadia, and Wrong for Each Other; associate director/dramaturg for Yellow Face, Caroline, or Change; M Butterfly; Into the Woods; Dolly West’s Kitchen; Shakespeare in Hollywood; Jane Eyre; Ragtime; Pacific Overtures; and Side Show among many others. She has directed Picnic, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, The Little Foxes, and Ladies of the Camellias (Palo Alto Players); W;t (Bus Barn Stage Company); Proof (City Lights Theatre Company); CTRL+ALT+DELETE (Pear Avenue Theatre) and The Vagina Monologues (California Theatre), taught at Ohlone and Foothill Colleges, is a member of the West Coast Director’s Lab, has BAs in English and Psychology from Stanford University, and an MFA in directing from the University of California.
PAUL TOBEN (Lighting Designer) designed TheatreWorks’ [title of show], Daddy Long Legs, Auctioning the Ainsleys, and Fly by Night in the 2010 New Work Festival. His New York credits include The Story of My Life (Broadway), The Realm and Electra in a One Piece (The Wild Project), Futurity (HERE Arts Center), Romeo & Juliet (Columbia Stages), When in Disgrace (Examined Man), and The Redheaded Man (Down Payment). Regionally, he has designed for Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Flat Rock Playhouse, Theatre by the Sea, and Northlight Theatre, among others. In three seasons at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, he designed Caravan Man and Demon Dreams. He was Associate Designer for Broadway’s Anything Goes, Everyday Rapture, Bye Bye Birdie, Sunday in the Park with George, and Pal Joey, and for national tours of Spring Awakening, A Bronx Tale, and Annie.
Robert Kelley (Artistic Director) is a Bay Area native and Stanford University graduate. He founded TheatreWorks in 1970 and has been its Artistic Director ever since. He has directed over 150 TheatreWorks productions, including many world or regional premieres. He has received the Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Paine Knickerbocker Award for lifetime achievement, BATCC Awards for Outstanding Direction for his productions of Into the Woods; Pacific Overtures; Rags; Sweeney Todd; Another Midsummer Night; Sunday in the Park with George; Jane Eyre; and Caroline, or Change; Bay Area Drama-Logue Awards for his direction of Ah, Wilderness! and Once in a Lifetime; Dean Goodman Choice Awards for Violet, Ragtime, Proof, Dolly West’s Kitchen, and Harold & Maude; and Back Stage West Garland Awards for his direction of Side Show and Sunday in the Park with George. He recently directed Snow Falling on Cedars, The 39 Steps, A Christmas Memory, The Light in the Piazza, and To Kill a Mockingbird.
Phil Santora (Managing Director) is in his fourth season at TheatreWorks after spending four years as Managing Director of Northlight Theatre outside Chicago. Prior to working at Northlight, he was Managing Director of Georgia Shakespeare Festival (GSF) in Atlanta, as well as Development Director for Great Lakes Theatre Festival in Cleveland and George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He holds an MFA in Theater Administration from the Yale School of Drama and a BA in Drama from Duke University. Mr. Santora has served on the boards of the League of Chicago Theatres, the Atlanta Coalition of Theatres, and the executive committee of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT). He was named 2000’s Best Arts Administrator by Atlanta Magazine, received the Atlanta Arts and Business Council’s 1998 ABBY Award for Arts Administrator, and under his leadership GSF won the 1997 Managing for Excellence Award.