TheatreWorks Silicon Valley

SEX, DRUGS, AND CLASSICAL MUSIC

OPUS

Regional Premiere

June 2–27, 2010
Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts

An internationally famous string quartet finds both harmony and dissonance in this smart, funny, and compelling study of artistic passion. Forced to find a new member just days before an appearance at the White House, they are caught in a crescendo of talent and personality, their collaboration tested and their art insecure. A behind-the-scenes look at the world of great music, this intriguing “dramedy” proves that making art and living life have many a measure in common.

Cast
Biographies
Reviews

Director: Meredith McDonough
Scenic Designer: Erik Flatmo
Costume Designer: Jill Bowers
Lighting Designer: Chris Studley
Sound Designer: Cliff Caruthers
Quartet Advisor: Kris Yenney
Casting Director: Leslie Martinson
Dramaturg: Vickie Rozell
Stage Manager: Rebecca Muench*

The Cast (in order of appearance)
Carl: Kevin Rolston*
Alan: Jackson Davis*
Elliot: Richard Frederick*
Dorian: Mark Anderson Phillips*
Grace: Jennifer Le Blanc*

* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States

Producers: Mark & Martha Ross / Lisa Webster
Season Corporate Sponsor: AT&T Real Yellow Pages
Season Media Sponsor: The Mercury News

	JACKSON DAVIS* (Alan) has worked with TheatreWorks for many years in a variety of roles spanning musicals, comedies, and dramas, most recently on board its production of Twentieth Century. Last fall he was in the world premiere of First Day of School by Billy Aronson at SF Playhouse, where he was also in Sara Ruhl’s Dead Man’s Cell Phone. He has also worked with American Conservatory Theater (Happy End, Hans Christian Anderson), San Jose Repertory Theatre (Mizlansky/ Zilinsky, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial), Aurora Theater Company  (The Best Man), Marin Theatre Company (Lovers & Executioners, Company), Magic Theatre (God of Hell), San Jose Stage Company (Lost in Yonkers), City Lights Theatre Company (The Return to Morality), 42nd Street Moon (Ben Franklin in Paris, Pipe Dream) and Playground, among others.
	RICHARD FREDERICK* (Elliot) recently appeared at TheatreWorks as Mr. Weston in Emma. Regional credits include Shenandoah at Ford’s Theatre (DC); Sweeney Todd and Camelot at The Hangar Theatre (NY); The Complete History of America Abridged at Casa Manana (Ft. Worth); Our Town at Theatre Three (Dallas); Travels with My Aunt at Stage West (Ft. Worth). His Bay Area credits include Me and My Girl (Bob Barking), Phantom (Cholet), and The Big Bang (Boyd) with American Musical Theatre of San Jose, as well as shows at 42nd Street Moon, Willows Theatre Company, Central Works in Berkeley, and Oakland’s TheatreFIRST. He was Esau in the film Contractor’s Routine (official selection 2010 Buffalo/ Niagra Film Festival) and received his MFA from The Shakespeare Theatre.
	JENNIFER LeBLANC* (Grace) is pleased to be appearing at TheatreWorks for the first time. Her regional credits include 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 The Denver Center Theatre Company; Love’s Labour’s Lost (Katherine) at San Francisco Shakespeare Festival; Othello (Desdemona) at Marin Shakespeare Company; When it Goes Haywire (Emily Gibbs) at Foothill Theatre Company;  and Heartbreak House (Ellie Dunn) at Porchlight Theatre Company. Ms. LeBlanc also understudied Eurydice in Eurydice at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. She received her MFA from the National Theatre Conservatory.
	MARK ANDERSON PHILLIPS* (Dorian) was last seen at TheatreWorks in 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 recently appeared in Noises Off and Witness for the Prosecution, both at Center REPertory Company, The Weir at San Jose Repertory Theatre, Miss Julie at Aurora Theatre Company, and last summer in Abraham Lincoln’s Big Gay Dance Party at the New York International Fringe Festival. His work at 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.
	KEVIN ROLSTON* (Carl) is making his TheatreWorks debut. His regional credits include ’Tis Pity She’s A Whore at American Conservatory Theater, What the Butler Saw and Sunlight at Marin Theatre Company, Doubt and Noises Off at Center REPertory Company, and The Glass Menagerie and Enrico IV at Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. Other credits include three world premieres at Magic Theatre, including Rebecca Gilman’s The Crowd You’re In With; two tours with San Francisco Mime Troupe; and productions with New Federal Theatre, Pulse Ensemble Theatre, Word for Word, foolsFury, PCPA Theatrefest, and San Francisco Playhouse.
	MICHAEL HOLLINGER (Playwright) is an assistant professor of theatre at Villanova University, and has written plays including An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf, Incorruptible, Tiny Island, Red Herring, Tooth and Claw, A Wonderful Noise (musical co-written with Vance Lehmkuhl) which received the Frederick Loewe Award for Musical Theatre, and Ghost-Writer. He has received a Harold and Mimi Steinberg New Play Citation (Opus), the Roger L. Stevens Award, and two Barrymore Awards for Outstanding New Play (Opus and Red Herring), as well as being nominated for Lucille Lortel and John Gassner Awards for Best New Play (both for Opus). He has also written plays for young audiences as well as three short films for PBS and co-authored the feature-length Philadelphia Diary.
	MEREDITH McDONOUGH (Director) is TheatreWorks’ Director of New Works and directed Auctioning the Ainsleys in TheatreWorks’ 2009 New Works Festival. She is the Associate Artistic Director of Orchard Project in NY and an Artistic Associate at Delaware Theatre Company. 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 (University of California, San Diego).  She was New Works Program Director for National Alliance for Musical Theatre, an Affiliated Artist with New Georges, and a Drama League Fellow. Her MFA in directing is from UCSD and BS in Performance Studies from Northwestern University.

 

Previews:

“‘Opus’ resonates with artistic truth.”
-San Jose Mercury News
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15211009?IADID

-Palo Alto Weekly
http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/story.php?story_id=13002

-San Francisco Bay Times
http://www.sfbaytimes.com/?sec=article&article_id=13033

Reviews:

“absorbing…there are some delicious performances to savor in this ‘Opus’…[Mark Anderson] Phillips gives a virtuoso performance as Dorian”
-San Jose Mercury News
http://www.mercurynews.com/entertainment/ci_15245420?nclick_check=1&forced=true

“McDonough gives it a fluid, handsome staging in her company debut.”
-San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/09/DDME1DO9MO.DTL

“Ultimately this is an emotionally involving look, beneath the calm surface of a chamber ensemble, at the all-too-human struggle to create art collaboratively.”
-San Francisco Examiner
http://www.sfexaminer.com/lifestyle/Zing-go-the-strings-in-Opus-95964224.html

“‘Opus’ is a masterpiece…Witty and intriguing…a tour-de-force performance by five superb actors in a tightly written piece…the heart, the passion of the work, is clear and ultimately quite touching.”
-Palo Alto Weekly
http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/story.php?story_id=13081

“a tightly drawn and nuanced plot and staging…Director Meredith McDonough had an outstanding casting to mold into this opus…TheatreWorks has another winner.”
-San Mateo Daily Journal
http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?type=arts&title=A%20magnificent%20%91Opus%92&id=133485

 “Opus is truly a wonderful capstone to TheatreWorks’ 40th season, which has been, by all definitions, a smashing success.”
-Stark Silver Creek
http://www.starksilvercreek.com/2010/06/theater-review-opus-at-theatreworks-earns-standing-ovation.html

“Opus at TheatreWorks a “classical” winner…a theatrical gem with an extraordinary cast that will keep you riveted to your seats…superb acting and directing…fascinating theater”
-Theatre World Internet Magazine
http://kedaradourforallevents.blogspot.com/2010/06/opus-at-theatreworks-classical-winner.html

“Five gifted actors…deliver a solid 90 minutes of pure enjoyment…deep, satisfying and complete…theatre at its best”
-Gilroy Dispatch
http://www.gilroydispatch.com/lifestyles/266399-opus-and-the-marvelous-wonderettes

“TheatreWorks makes beautiful music…Director Meredith McDonough negotiates the play with delicate vigor, aided by a wonderful, chameleon-like set by Erik Flatmo…(Flatmo is a genius!)…A soaring pleasure”
-Piedmont Post

Opus Show Clips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8srFYQi39Ms