TheatreWorks Silicon Valley

From the Author of Pride and Prejudice and Emma

Sense and Sensibility

Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts

August 24—September 25, 2011

American Premiere
Fortune lost to fate, romance lost to folly, two charming sisters sail the unpredictable seas of courtship in this captivating, intimate  adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic novel. Sensible, reserved Elinor and passionate, impulsive Marianne find the course of true love beset with scandalous secrets, shocking betrayals, dashing suitors, and devious rivals, all brought to glorious life in a delicious, period-perfect tribute to everything Austen.

 

“In Robert Kelley’s WELL-CAST AND FINELY PACED PRODUCTION, the developing bond between the sisters becomes the emotional heart of the story…It’s when the sisters share the secrets of their hearts that the play touches ours.”
San Francisco Chronicle


“Hopeless romantics will devour every last scone and sigh in this HEART-TUGGING Regency-era adventure…Succumb to the charms of Robert Kelley’s ELEGANT PRODUCTION.”
San Jose Mercury News


“4.5 stars – EXCELLENT!”
“Delicately luminous...THE ACTING IS SUPERB. Director Robert Kelley has crafted a production that embodies Austen…I find myself, once again, falling in love.”
Stark Insider


“The cast is outstanding. Another winner for TheatreWorks!”
San Mateo Daily Journal


“Strong cast…brisk and buoyant direction”
“Beautifully designed production”
San Francisco Examiner


“Fumiko Bielefeldt’s gowns are perfect”
“If you love Jane Austen…you will feel at home here.”
SF Theatre Blog


“Marvelous actors”
“Joe Ragey’s set design is drop-dead stunning”
Palo Alto Weekly


“Elegant, polished and refined…visually stunning. All the actors give exemplary performances. Jane Austen aficionados will be thrilled!”
Kedar Adour For All Events

 

	KATIE FABEL (Marianne) is making her TheatreWorks debut. She appeared off-Broadway in The Shaughraun (Arte) and Ernest in Love (Cecily) both at Irish Repertory Theatre, and Belle of Belfast (Cherry Lane Theatre). Her regional credits include Sirens (The Siren, Penguin Repertory Theatre); Noises Off (Brooke), Taming of The Shrew (Bianca), and Amadeus (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey); Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde (Cincinnati Playhouse and St. Louis Repertory Theatre); and Sight Unseen (Greta, The Old Globe). Her UK credits include The Sound of Music (West End); Arsenic & Old Lace (National Tour); Jason Robert Brown & Friends (West End); Wind in the Willows (Royal National Theatre, Nick Hytner, dir.); Some Gorgeous Accident (Edinburgh Fringe); Carmen, La Boheme, and Khovanschina (English National Opera), and She Loves Me (Amalia) and Orpheus Descending (Royal Academy of Music, MFA).
	THOMAS GORREBEECK (Edward) is excited to be back at TheatreWorks having appeared as Danny in The Chosen. Local credits include Eccentricities of a Nightingale (John) at Aurora Theatre Company; Dracula (Harker) with Center REPertory Company; Much Ado About Nothing (Borachio) with California Shakespeare Theater; Compleat Female Stage Beauty (Kynaston), Dead Man Walking (Matt), The Three Musketeers (D’Artagnan), First Person Shooter (Kerry), and A Few Good Men (Kaffee) all with City Lights Theater Company; The Real Thing (Billy) and Last Night of Ballyhoo (Joe) at Bus Barn Stage Company; and Three Sisters (Andrey) and Playboy of the Western World (Christy) both with The Pear Avenue Theatre. Mr. Gorrebeeck received his BA from New York University and has trained with Shakespeare & Company in Massachusetts.
	JENNIFER LE BLANC (Elinor) appeared at TheatreWorks in Opus (Grace). Her regional credits include Eurydice (Eurydice), Twelfth Night (Viola), and Country Wife (Alithea) at Pacific Repertory Theatre; The Real Thing (Annie) and Macbeth (Lady Macbeth) at Livermore Shakespeare Festival; King Lear (Regan) with Take Wing and Soar at The National Black Theatre in Harlem; second (Lauren) at S12E; Eurydice (Eurydice) at Artists Repertory Theatre; Love’s Labour’s Lost (Princess), Macbeth (Lady Macduff), and Three Musketeers (Constance) at Colorado Shakespeare Festival; Pride and Prejudice (Kitty) at Denver Center Theatre Company; Love’s Labour’s Lost (Katherine) at San Francisco Shakespeare Festival; Othello (Desdemona) at Marin Shakespeare Company; and Heartbreak House (Ellie Dunn) at Porchlight Theatre Company. She received her MFA from the National Theatre Conservatory.
	ALEXANDER LENARSKY (Servant) is thrilled to make his debut with TheatreWorks. He was most recently seen as Donalbain in Livermore Shakespeare Festival's Macbeth. He has also performed as Ophelia in American University’s production of Hamlet. With Portland Community College, Mr. Lenarsky portrayed Danny in Sexual Perversity in Chicago, Dwight in Dead Man's Cell Phone, and Woyzeck in Woyzeck.
	LUCY LITTLEWOOD (Lucy Steele) is making her debut appearance with TheatreWorks. She most recently appeared in Hay Fever (Sorel Bliss) and Dial M for Murder (Margot Wendice) with Broadway West Theatre Company; Angels in America: Millenium Approaches (Harper Pitt/Martin Heller) and A Christmas Pudding with Bus Barn Stage Company; Hold on to Love (Lady Caroline) with Tabard Theatre Company; and Doctor Faustus (Lucifer) with Foothill Theatre. Ms Littlewood is a graduate of the Foothill Theatre Conservatory and a member of Theatre Bay Area and The North American Fire Arts Association.
	MICHAEL SCOTT McLEAN (Willoughby) makes his TheatreWorks debut in Sense and Sensibility. Most recently, he performed in The Rover (Willmore) with New York Classical Theatre. His regional credits include Dracula (Arthur), A Christmas Carol (Fred), and the world premiere of When Tang Met Laika (Young Capitalist) with Denver Center Theatre Company. He is a graduate of both the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and The National Theatre Conservatory.
	EMILY OTA (Servant) is proud to make her TheatreWorks debut with this production. Her credits include The Tavern (Violet) and The Winter’s Tale (Paulina) at Foothill College Theatre Arts Department, Working (Millwork Soloist/Ensemble) at Foothill Music Theatre, Charlotte’s Web (Charlotte) at Foothill Theatre Conservatory, and The King and I (Ensemble) at Palo Alto Players. Ms. Ota has recently received a Certificate of Completion from the Foothill Theatre Conservatory and is currently a student at Foothill College.
	MARK ANDERSON PHILLIPS (Colonel Brandon) was last seen at TheatreWorks in Snow Falling on Cedars, The 39 Steps (Hannay), Opus (Dorian), and Theophilus North (Theophilus). His many TheatreWorks appearances include The Grapes of Wrath (Tom Joad), Proof (Hal), Charley’s Aunt (Jack), The Cripple of Inishmaan (Babby Bobby), and Dolly West’s Kitchen (Alec). Mr. Phillips most recently appeared as Butler in Tiny Alice at Marin Theatre Company. Other recent appearances include Happy Now? (Marin Theatre Company), Noises Off and Witness for the Prosecution (Center REPertory Company), The Weir (San Jose Repertory Theatre), Miss Julie, (Aurora Theatre Company), and Abraham Lincoln’s Big Gay Dance Party (New York International Fringe Festival). His work with other theatres includes roles with Magic Theatre, SF Playhouse, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, Word for Word, Marin Theatre Company, and American Conservatory Theater. www.markandersonphillips.com
	STACY ROSS (Aunt Jennings) is jubilant to be back at TheatreWorks having last appeared in Dolly West’s Kitchen, as well as Book of Days and Over the River and Through the Woods. She recently capped a string of offbeat-mother roles, including the Other Mother in Coraline (SF Playhouse), Kitty Warren and Lady Macbeth in Mrs. Warren’s Profession and Macbeth, respectively (California Shakespeare Theater), with the ultimate offbeat mom: Tamora, in California Shakespeare Festival’s Titus Andronicus. Other work includes Olga in Three Sisters (Center Stage, Baltimore) and the world premieres of In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play (Berkeley Repertory Theatre) and Lolita Roadtrip (San Jose Stage).
	JEREMY RYAN (Servant) was most recently seen in Foothill Theatre’s production of The Enchanted. As a member of the Foothill Players, Mr. Ryan was seen as Larry in Malleus Maleficarum, Bonzo in Panda-Monium, and Guy in Only Customary. During the 2010–2011 school year, Mr. Ryan also acted as the student leader for the Foothill Players. Mr. Ryan is about to begin his second year as a student in the Foothill Theatre Conservatory.
	ANDY GRAHAM (Author) has collaborated with Roger Parsley on two other stage adaptations: E. M. Forster’s novel Maurice, and the film My Beautiful Laundrette. Mr. Graham is the founder of SNAP Theatre Company in England and was its artistic director from 1979 to 2005. During his time with SNAP, Mr. Graham worked to bring theatre to young people all over England, eventually reaching over three million children with plays, workshops, and community projects. He continued this work with the cross-discipline art project The Longest Story in the World, which was designed to give children from all over the world the chance to create the story of the world’s past, present, and future. As of 2009, he is the arts programmer and artistic director for the Rhodes Arts Complex in Bishop’s Stortford in England.
	ROGER PARSLEY (Author) is a British playwright who has written several stage adaptations including from the books Howards End, Sons and Lovers, Of Mice and Men, and Pride and Prejudice. With Andy Graham, he has also written stage adaptations of E. M. Forster’s novel Maurice and the movie My Beautiful Laundrette. As well as these projects, Mr. Parsley has worked closely with SNAP Theatre Company as a writer and a director for more than 20 years, and has directed for the touring company Transaction Theatre. He has also written and directed for Theatre-In-Education and for Youth Theatre, following a first career as a teacher. He trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.
ROBERT KELLEY (Director) Please see bio below.
FUMIKO BIELEFELDT (Costume Designer) has designed over 50 productions for TheatreWorks since 1983, including Snow Falling on Cedars, The Light in the Piazza, A Civil War Christmas; Yellow Face; Twentieth Century; Caroline, or Change; and Emma, which traveled to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (Kevin Klein Awards Nominee). Her designs have also appeared in the Bay Area at American Conservatory Theater, Aurora Theatre Company, California Shakespeare Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, and Magic Theatre, among others. She is a graduate of Waseda University in Tokyo and studied costume design at Stanford. Ms. Bielefeldt has received many awards for her designs, including the 2004 Barbara Bladen Porter Special Award, Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Awards, Dean Goodman Choice Awards, Back Stage West Garland, and the Drama-Logue Award.
CLIFF CARUTHERS (Sound Designer) has created soundscapes and music for more than 200 theatrical productions, including over forty as resident sound designer for TheatreWorks. Recent projects include Caucasian Chalk Circle, The Homecoming, and Brainpeople for American Conservatory Theater; Happy Days for Guthrie Theater; Crime and Punishment and TRAGEDY: a tragedy for Berkeley Repertory Theatre; ...and Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi, The Tempest, and Bone to Pick for The Cutting Ball Theater; 9 Circles for Marin Theatre Company; Bug, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, and Reborning for SF Playhouse; On the Waterfront for San Jose Stage Company; The Creature for Black Box Theater; and Auctioning the Ainsleys, Opus, and The Light in the Piazza for TheatreWorks. Future projects include Race for ACT, Troilus and Cressida for Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Julius Caesar at Guthrie Theater, and Pelleas and Melisande for Cutting Ball.
PAMILA Z. GRAY (Lighting Designer) recently designed TheatreWorks’ The Light in the Piazza. She has also designed TheatreWorks world premiere productions of Tinyard Hill, Baby Taj, My Ántonia, and Kept, as well as the West Coast premiere of A Civil War Christmas. Her work on Bingo! The Musical was seen in Chicago, Ft. Lauderdale, and the Bay Area’s Center REPertory Company. Her designs have also been seen in Los Angeles, Portland, Sacramento, Houston, Dallas, and Washington, DC. She has won 7 Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards including her TheatreWorks designs for Grey Gardens, Floyd Collins, Cabaret, and Almost September, which also garnered a Bay Area Drama-Logue Award. She has won four Dean Goodman Awards, including both Ragtime and The Cripple of Inishmaan, at TheatreWorks. Ms. Gray is a graduate of Northwestern University.
WILLIAM LIBERATORE (Musical Director) is TheatreWorks’ resident musical director having conducted more than twenty shows including [title of show], A Christmas Memory, Grey Gardens, Merrily We Roll Along, Harold and Maude, Crowns, My Ántonia, Jane Eyre, Ragtime, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, and Pacific Overtures. He was the musical director at American Musical Theatre of San Jose, conducting over 30 shows including Flower Drum Song, Little Shop of Horrors, Gypsy, A Chorus Line, 42nd Street, Follies, Children of Eden, and Crazy for You. Mr. Liberatore has won Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards for A Little Night Music, South Pacific, and Damn Yankees (AMTSJ) and Bat Boy; Into the Woods; Emma; Caroline, or Change; and The Light in the Piazza (TheatreWorks). He is also the choral director at Gunn High School, and is proudly conducting Symphony Silicon Valley’s Broadway in Concert Series.
LESLIE MARTINSON (Casting Director) is TheatreWorks’ Associate Artist and Casting Director. She recently directed the West Coast Premiere of Superior Donuts for TheatreWorks, where her other directing credits include Theophilus North, If We Are Women, Brilliant Traces, The Boys Next Door, Interpreters, Stepping Out, and The Voice of the Prairie. 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. In 2009 she was awarded an Individual Artist Fellowship in Stage Direction from the Arts Council of Silicon Valley for artistic achievement and community impact. In addition to directing, she leads master classes and workshops for many Bay Area universities and theatre companies.
REBECCA MUENCH (Stage Manager) is beginning her twelfth season as a resident stage manager at TheatreWorks. During that time she has stage managed 44 productions including the following which are also adapted from novels or short stories: A Christmas Memory; The Light in the Piazza; The Chosen; Theophilus North; Striking 12; A Little Princess; My Ántonia; Nickel and Dimed; Ragtime; and The Grapes of Wrath. Ms. Muench graduated from the University of Evansville in Indiana with a BS in technical theatre and a BA in literature, is a proud member of Equity, and cautions everyone to beware of seamonsters.
RICHARD NEWTON (Dialect Coach/ Cultural Consultant) is a native of Liverpool, England with extensive dialect experience in the Bay Area. His previous dialect credits for TheatreWorks include The 39 Steps, Emma, The Elephant Man, Equus, and The Sisters Rosensweig. His other Bay Area credits include A Christmas Carol: The Musical (Performing Arts Company with Notre Dame de Namur University [also associate director]); The Odd Couple, The Secret Garden, and Dancing at Lughnasa (Coastal Repertory); and Shirley Valentine (Hillbarn Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe Festival [also director]). He holds an MFA in directing/dramaturgy and non-profit theatre from Roosevelt University, Chicago. Also, to assist actors to further access their own bodies, emotions, and voices, he has adapted the equine therapeutic skills of massage, Reiki, Tellington Touch, and acupressure.
SHANNON PRETO (Movement) was assistant choreographer for Mary Beth Cavanaugh for TheatreWorks’ Emma and California Shakespeare Festival’s As You Like It and choreographed Sergeant Musgrave’s Dance for Theatre FIRST and Dancing at Lughnasa at College of Marin. Mr. Preto teaches dance in the Theater Department at the San Francisco School of the Arts, has taught dance and somatic based workshops at Dance Mission Theater, the Temescal Arts Center (Oakland), the SOLA Contemporary Dance Festival (Torrance, CA), Sonoma State University, and the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. He has an MFA in dance from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
JOE RAGEY (Scenic Designer) has designed over 50 shows for TheatreWorks over the last 25 years. Some of his favorite TheatreWorks designs include The 39 Steps, A Christmas Memory, Merrily We Roll Along, Baby Taj, My Ántonia, Jane Eyre, Peter Pan, Triumph of Love, You Can’t Take it With You, Equus, Conversations With My Father, Nagasaki Dust, Honor Song for Crazy Horse, La Bete, and Pacific Overtures. He has received over a dozen Bay Area Critics Circle Awards, LA Drama-Logue Awards, and Dean Goodman Choice Awards for shows he designed for TheatreWorks.
JOSHUA M. ROSE (Assistant Stage Manager) is returning for his twenty-fifth show in his seventh season with TheatreWorks, having most recently been the Equity Assistant Stage Manager for Snow Falling on Cedars, The 39 Steps, A Christmas Memory, and The Light in the Piazza. Recently, he was also the Equity Stage Manager for Secret Order, Groundswell, and Splitting Infinity at San Jose Repertory Theatre. Mr. Rose has also worked with A Contemporary Theatre, Tacoma Actors’ Guild, Seattle Children’s Theatre, The Fifth Avenue, Village Theatre, On the Boards, Fulton Opera House, Mount Washington Valley Theatre Company, Minnesota Repertory Theatre, and Minnesota Festival Theatre. He received his BFA in Stage Management and Theatre Technology from the University of Minnesota Duluth and is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.
VICKIE ROZELL (Dramaturg) has been TheatreWorks’ resident dramaturg for ten seasons, working on over eigthy productions including as co-director/dramaturg on Doubt, Arcadia, and Wrong for Each Other and 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; Side Show; and Floyd Collins 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.
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.