Different Stages
Presents
Appointment with Death
by Agatha Christie
Director Norman Blumensaadt
Associate
Director Karen Jambon
Set
Design Paul
Davis
Lighting
Design L. Tara
Beaver
Costume
Design Marann
Faget
Stage
Manager Irene
Dubberley
CHARACTERS AND CAST
Mrs. Boynton Paula Gilbert
Ginevra
Boynton, her stepdaughter Jessica Medina
Lennox Boynton,
her stepson Keith Yawn
Nadine
Boynton, Lennos’s wife Julie Winston-Thomas
Hotel Clerk Joel
Reynosa
Italian Girl Gina Lopez
Alderman Higgs William
Holliman
Abdulla Gina
Lopez
Lady Westholme Kathleen Lawson
Miss Amabel
Pryce Nicole
Marosis
Dr. Theodore
Gerard Craig
Kanne
Sarah King Nikki Zook
Jefferson Cope William
Rene
Raymond
Boynton Andy
Smith
A Dragoman T.J.
Moreno
Colonel
Carbery Steven
Fay
Time: 1930’s
Locations: Act 1: King Solomon Hotel,
Jerusalem
Acts 2 & 3: Desert Camp, Petra
There will be two intermissions (between
acts).
This
play produced by special arrangement with
Samuel French, Inc.
THE PRODUCTION COMPANY
ANDY SMITH (Raymond Boynton) was seen on stage most recently
professing his love for Beck in Celebrity
Crush III with Refraction Arts back in February. After initially majoring in Theater, he eventually graduated in
2002 from the University of Texas with a B.S. in Radio-Television-Film. After graduating, Andy found himself missing
the stage and began taking acting classes again and auditioning for productions. He continues to learn more about filmmaking
and plans to get back to work on music video projects after this production
closes.
CRAIG KANNE (Dr. Theodore Gerard) was, until the evening of June
20th, 2005, just a simple innocent lad skipping merrily through life with no
idea what a capricious fate had in store for him. For that
evening, he received a call that the actor playing Dr. Gerard had left the show
Appointment with Death and a
replacement was needed immediately. Girding up his loins (and whatever
else he could handily gird), Craig agreed with some trepidation to take the
role. After working with this cast and crew, he is glad that he did.
GINA LOPEZ (Italian Girl and Abdullah) began performing in San
Antonio, Texas at age ten as Flamenco, Folkloric dancer for many cultural
festivals. After joining the San
Antonio Ballet Junior Company, she attended the High School for the Performing
Arts in Houston, Texas. Following graduation she was introduced to the stage in
Bertolt Brecht’s The Good Woman of
Setzuan as the Good Woman, Shen Te.
Gina continued performing as a dancer and actor, moved to Austin, and
was a member of Ballet East Dance Theater.
While receiving her Associates degree in Photography, Gina volunteered
for several non-profit bicycle organizations.
Being influenced by many musicians, she played drums in local Austin
bands, The Platforms and Lieutenant Shui. This is Gina’s most recent theater
performance since playing Hippolyta, in A
Mid-Indian Summer Night’s Dream and assistant stage manager in Michael
Frayn’s Noises Off.
JESSICA MEDINA
(Ginevra Boynton) has been in four productions with
Different Stages and is very excited to work with such a lively
cast. Thanks to Norman and also to Karen Jambon for lending her directorial
expertise when needed. Thank you and enjoy the show.
JOEL REYNOSA (Hotel Clerk) is making his third appearance with
Different Stages. Previously he appeared in Roosters
and Two Gentlemen of Verona. He
studied acting at Chris Wilson’s Actors Studio in Houston and at ZACH here in
Austin. With three television commercials and three short film credits
under his belt, Joel is now looking for feature film roles.
JULIE WINSTON-THOMAS (Nadine Boynton) is a founding member of
Loaded Gun Theory for whom she recently produced and did scenic design for I Am Alpha, appeared in Baka Gaijin (Best of the Week Frontera),
and rambled paranoidally in Copyright
Denied. She will be directing their
next play in August. For Different Stages she has appeared in Fuddy Meers, Betty’s Summer Vacation, and Two
Gentleman of Verona. Julie has also
worked with Gypsy Baby, Bedlam Faction, Second Youth, and is currently slaying
audiences with Murder Mystery Players and Capitol City Mystery
Players. She holds a B.A. in
Theatre from the University of Texas at Austin. She thanks Norman for the opportunity to play a suspected murderess
and her husband, Tim, for holding down the homestead while she’s off rehearsing.
KATHLEEN LAWSON (Lady Westholme) most recently appeared in How I
Learned to Drive at the Bastrop Opera House.
Her last performance with Different Stages resulted in her second B. Iden
Payne Nomination for her performance in Horton Foote’s Traveling Lady. Some of her
favorite performances have been Love
Letters, Last of the Red Hot Lovers,
Learned Ladies, Road to Mecca, Angry Housewives,
and I Do, I Do.
KEITH YAWN (Lennox Boynton) is delighted to return to Different
Stages in the classic murder mystery Appointment
with Death, after premiering with the company in last season’s The Misses Overbeck. Keith has previously performed in Second
Youth Theater’s The Wise Men of Chelm,
Mainline Theater Project’s Billy Budd,
and SBCT’s Fools. He offers gracious appreciation and thanks
to Norman for providing the opportunity to work with this exceptionally
talented cast and crew and to his family for their enduring support and
encouragement.
L.
TARA BEAVER (Lighting Designer) makes her debut with Different Stages with this
production of Appointment with Death,
joining us from her base of Sam Bass Community Theatre in Round Rock, where she
is currently Vice-President on the Board of Directors. Her theatrical career started off in middle
school; and after graduation from Georgetown she attended Texas State University-San
Marcos (formally SWT), where she received a bachelor’s degree in Theatre. Tara has many acting credits to her name
including Puck in A Midsummer Night’s
Dream, Beatrice in Much Ado About
Nothing, and Girl in Hot L Baltimore. Directing credits include Alice in Wonderland, Anne of Green Gables, and Agatha
Christie’s Ten Little Indians. Tara was first introduced to lighting design
by Frank Benge and furthered her love for it in college. Recent credits include Charlie’s Aunt, The Marriage
of Figaro, and Everything I Need to
Know I Learned in Kindergarten. She
is currently a theatre teacher at Burnet Middle School in Austin, where she
runs around all day wearing goofy hats and plays theatre games. It’s a real hard life…
MARANN
FAGET (Costume Designer) has been designing and constructing costumes for 20
years, designing over 70 shows. IN AUSTIN: Sam Bass Theater: Master Harold and the Boys; Storie Productions:
Square One; Refraction Arts: The Philomel Project; One World Theatre:
Groucho starring Gabe Kaplan; Zachary
Scott Theater: House Arrest; The
Company: Come Blow Your Horn. She is the resident designer for Laughing
Out Loud Productions. REGIONAL CREDITS: Colorado:
Windsor Community Playhouse: A Delicate
Balance, Ten Little Indians, Relatively Speaking; Bas Bleu Theatre: The Caretaker, Trifles. Minnesota:
Costume Designer (1989-1995) at Rochester Community College: Spoon River Anthology, Veronica's Room,
Lunacy, Tobacco Road, Luv; Rochester Civic Theater: A Shayna Maidel; Rochester Repertory Theatre: Lonestar, Laundry and Bourbon, Agnes of God, Private Wars; Feast
and Footlights Theater: Steel Magnolias,
Driving Miss Daisy. INTERNATIONAL CREDITS: Greece: Chios
Civic Theater: Kidnapping of the Pope, Arsenic and Old Lace, Educating
Rita. Her favorite pastime is playing
poker.
NICOLE
MAROSIS (Miss Amabel Pryce) attended California Institute of the Arts as a
B.F.A. vocal performance major and studied acting at PCPA Theaterfest’s
Conservatory program in Santa Maria, California. Recent past performances include Mariella, Alba, and Pepita in Marriage is Forever; the role of
Fraulein Kost in the musical Cabaret
at Zachary Scott Theater; and the role of Jack’s Mom in Into the Woods at Vive les Arts in Killeen, Texas. Nicole would like to thank her family and
friends for all of their love and support.
This one is for you.
NIKKI ZOOK (Sarah King) is a native Austinite who is thrilled to
be performing in her second show with Different Stages. Last year she
debuted with Different Stages as Raina in Arms
and the Man. Previously she had the privilege to play some of Shakespeare’s
most beloved ladies in Will Power: The
Course of Love with the Austin Shakespeare Festival. She also
relished playing multiple roles in Julius
Caesar, which was nominated for an Austin Critics’ Table Award for Best
Ensemble Cast. Nikki would like to thank her husband and her family for
their support as she continues to pursue this “acting thing.” She knows she is blessed to be surrounded by
so much love.
NORMAN
BLUMENSAADT (Producer and Director) is
the Producing Artistic Director for Different Stages. Among the numerous shows that he has directed, a selection of
just some of the more recent are Summer
and Smoke, The Cripple of Inishmaan,
All My Sons, Arcadia, The Wild Duck, The House of Bernarda Alba, Arms and the Man, and Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Memorable leading roles that he has
portrayed include Aunt Augusta/Henry Pulling in Travels with my Aunt and Vanya in Uncle Vanya. In celebration
of his long and outstanding work in the Austin theater scene, the Austin Circle
of Theaters bestowed upon Norman the 1998 Deacon Crain/John Bustin Award.
PAUL
DAVIS (Set Designer) most recently designed The Water Principle at Hyde Park and The Drawer Boy at Hyde Park Theatre. Other designs include, Perdita, Quake, Coyote—A
Fence, Marion Bridge, Vigil, Art
Stripped Naked, Little FootSteps, Corpus Christi, Angels in America at
Connecticut Rep, The Knight in
Finborough, England. Scenic Artist for
Connecticut Rep, Portland Stage, and Dallas Theatre Center, he now teaches
theatre at Leander High School. For
Different Stages Paul has designed The
House of Bernarda Alba, Two Gentlemen
of Verona, and An Ideal Husband and
Molly Sweeney.
PAULA GILBERT (Mrs. Boynton) first worked with Different Stages is
the 1981 production of The Tempest.
She had so much fun that she kept working with Different Stages not only
onstage but backstage as well. Among her favorite roles for
Different Stages are: a member of the Wasp Chorus for The Wasps, an Italian Lady in Orpheus
Descending, a blonde Helena in A
Midsummer Night’s Dream, a snake handler in Talking With, and a potter in The
Misses Overbeck. Paula is finally getting to play someone without any
redeeming qualities. Paula is a company and board member of the Vortex
and is a board member for the Austin Affiliate, Habitat for Humanity.
Thanks to Mike and Joe for the support.
She can’t do it without you. Thanks to Norman and Karen for great
leadership. Thanks to the cast, from whom she continues to learn.
STEVEN FAY (Colonel Carbery) makes his lucky 13th appearance in a
Different Stages’ production, the most recent being Pericles,
Prince of Tyre in which his roles ranged from a gentle king to
a brutal pander. He played a suspect in
Different Stages’ previous Agatha Christie project, The Unexpected Guest. He also appears at the Vortex.
T.J. MORENO (A Dragoman) most recently worked with Different
Stages as the stage manager for An
Ideal Husband and The Misses Overbeck.
He wants to thank Norman for this opportunity to get back on stage with
this production and wonderful cast.
WILLIAM HOLLIMAN (Alderman Higgs) is a screenwriter, filmmaker and
actor. After a twenty-year absence from the stage, in 2003 he
appeared in the world premiere of Cruelty
to Animals for the Barebones Festival at the Vortex. In 2004 he
appeared in the world premiere of Wayne Alan Brenner’s Screwed into the Book of Love, produced by the Bedlam
Faction. In 2005 he’s making his first appearance in a Different Stages
production; and though it’s not a world premiere, he couldn’t be
happier. Please tell all your friends to come to the play, cause if you
don’t, he’ll tell everyone that “you moost be daft.”
WILLIAM RENE (Jefferson Cope) is
making his second appearance in a Different Stages production. He first appeared for Different Stages as a
“Voice” in Betty’s Summer Vacation. William enjoyed that show intensely,
especially the part where they made him paint himself silver. That was great! Unfortunately, this time all they’ve made him do is grow a
beard. Nevertheless, he’s thrilled to
be working with Different Stages again.
William is also a member of a band of wily outlaws who enjoy putting on
plays; they call themselves Loaded Gun
Theory.
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About the Playwright
AGATHA CHRISTIE (1890-1976) was born
Agatha May Clarissa Miller in Devonshire, England, the youngest of three
children. Frederick Miller, her father,
was an easy-going American and her mother a devoted parent. Agatha grew up in a very comfortable
Victorian household in the seaside resort community of Torquay. As a child she was educated at home by a
governess and tutors, and as a teenager she attended a private school in Paris,
where she studied music but was too shy to pursue it as a career.
In 1914 at the age of 24 she married
Archie Christie, a World War I fighter pilot.
While he was off at war, she worked as a nurse. It was during this time, in 1915, that she
wrote her first murder mystery novel The
Mysterious Affair at Styles, although it was not publish until 1920. It introduced her detective Hercule Poirot.
In 1926 her mother died and her husband
left her for a younger woman. In 1927
she travelled to the Near East; and in Iraq she met a dashing young
archeologist by the name of Max Mallowan, who was the son of an Austrian-Czech
father and a French mother but who had been educated in England. Her divorce was finalized in 1928 and in
1930, when Agatha was 40 and Max was only 26, they married—a marriage that was
to last for 45 years. In 1930 Agatha
also introduced her detective Miss Jane Marple in Murder at the Vicarage.
Especially in the Thirties and later in the Fifties, Agatha and Max
travelled almost yearly to Syria and Iraq, particularly around Mosul, with its
mix of Arabs, Kurds, Armenians, Syrians, and Yezidis—he to excavate and she to
write. Max acquired fame for his
excavations at Chagar Bazar, Nimrud, and Tell Brak; published numerous learned
papers; and eventually was knighted.
She absorbed the local culture; found the lack of telephones a blessing;
and eventually wrote over 100 novels, 16 plays (the longest running being The Mousetrap, opening in 1952), and
numerous short stories and screenplays.
Many of her stories have been adapted for stage, television, and film,
her most famous being perhaps Murder on
the Orient Express (1974). Her
works have been translated into over a hundred different languages. In 1971 Queen Elizabeth made her a Dame of
the British Empire.
Agatha
Christie spoke of herself as “A comfortable, sensible ordinary person.” She started one of her books with the words
“To be alive is a grand thing” and closed with “It is good to remember that
there were such days and such places.”
She found adventure in the ordinary and humor in the everyday but was
not adverse to including a bit of the exotic and a dash of danger.
PRODUCTION STAFF
Master Electrician Amanda Harris
Light Operator Matt Moeller
Running Crew J.R.
Lewis
Graphic Artist Sarah Hauck
Seaton
Photographer Brett
Brookshire
Program Norman
Blumensaadt, Royce Gehrels
Properties Irene Dubberley, Norman Blumensaadt
Publicity Carol
Ginn, Norman Blumensaadt
In loving
memory of my father,
Norman S. Blumensaadt,
who died June
12, 2005.
“Thanks dad,
for all the love and support.”
Norman S.
Blumensaadt
was a financial supporter of Different Stages from the
start.
Norman Edmund Blumensaadt,
Producing Artistic Director, Different Stages
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND SPECIAL THANKS
Russ
Wiseman, Dougherty Arts Center, Austin Circle of Theaters, Douglas Kelly
(furniture), Laura Sandberg, Second Youth Family Theatre, Karen Jambon, Frank
Benge (sound), Bonnie Cullum, Paul Davis, Lucy Jennings (accent coaching),
Phillip Judah (Universal Publishers).
Different Stages, Inc. has been a community-based organization since its inception in 1981 and incorporation in 1984. It produces works by playwrights whom we believe to be defining forces in theatre. We seek to entertain with performances that reveal life in all its comedy, tragedy and intensity; and we hope to educate by choosing plays that provide exceptional insight into the human condition. By challenging ourselves as artists and our audiences as participants, we endeavor to provide the community with vigorous and exciting live theatre. Board of Directors: Karen Jambon, Henry V. Fitzgerald, Jr. Operating Board: Norman E. Blumensaadt, Mike Groblewski, Royce Gehrels, and Paula Ruth Gilbert.
Danny
L. Hardesty Attorney
at Law Board
Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law Texas
Board of Legal Specialization (512)
327-2278 (512) 327-4846
(FAX) 925-B
S. Capital Of Texas Hwy. danny@dannyhardesty.com
Suite 240 http://www.dannyhardesty.com/
Austin, Texas 78746
Contributors
Director Level $5000+
The City of Austin
Actor Level $1000 - $5000
Karen Jambon & Jennifer Underwood
Stage Manager Level $500-$999
Tera Quest Metrics, Inc. Norman S.
Blumensaadt
Designer Level $250-$499
Royce
Gehrels, Bruce McCann, Emily Erington, Don Howell
Stage Hand
Level $100-$249
Connie
McMillan, Kathleen Lawson, Ann Blumensaadt, Janie Hayes & Jimmy Bisese,
Karen Kuykendall, Irene Dubberley, Suzanne Winkelman, Mary Margaret Farabee,
Richard A. Muscat, Tom White, David Smith, Harvey Guion
Audience Level
$20-$99
Carl Anderson & Peyton Hayslip, Paul
G. Minor & Erin Ochel, Rodolfo R. Alamia, M.D., Helen M. Mrasek, Rebecca
Robinson, Courtney Dial, Reba Gillman, Patricia Bennett,
Charles Ramirez Berg, William L. Cohagan,
Ronald Seeliger,
Bobbie & Larry Oliver, Bill Johnson
& Elota Patton,
Marvela Pritchett-Paschall, Richard &
Marcia Kinsey,
In-Kind Donations
Mary Alice
Carnes, Sarah Seton
Different Stages’ Repertory
Begun as Small
Potatoes Theatrical Company
1981: August Strindberg’s Creditors and The Stronger. 1982:
William Shakespeare’s The Tempest
and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. 1983: George Bernard Shaw’s Candida; Anton Chekhov’s The
Brute, Swan Song, and Celebration. 1984: Luigi Pirandello’s Right You Are (If You Think You Are); Jane Martin’s Talking With… 1985: Caryl Churchill’s Cloud 9; William Shakespeare’s As
You Like It; Carl Sternheim’s The
Underpants; Michael Weller’s Moonchildren. 1986: Amlin Gray’s How I Got That Story; William Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale; Eugene O’Neill’s Beyond the Horizon. 1987:
Michael Weller’s Loose Ends;
Aristophanes’ The Wasps; Larry
Kramer’s The Normal Heart; Arthur
Schnitzler’s Anatol. 1988: Wallace Shawn’s Aunt Dan and Lemon; Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood; Moss Hart’s Light
Up the Sky; Jean Racine’s Phaedra;
Jean-Baptiste Molière’s The Misanthrope. 1989: Caryl Churchill’s Fen; Charles Ludlam’s The
Artificial Jungle; William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. 1990:
Eric Overmeyer’s On the Verge;
Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into
Night; Milan Kundera’s Jacques and His Master; Tom White’s The Trouble with Tofu; William
Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus. 1991: George Kelly’s The Show-Off; George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession; Keith Reddin’s Life and Limb; Mozart/Lorenzo da Ponte’s Così fan Tutte; Jean-Baptiste Molière’s The Learnèd Ladies. 1992:
Alan Ayckbourn’s Woman in Mind; Carlo Gozzi’s The Raven; Henrik Ibsen’s The
Wild Duck; Charles MacArthur’s Johnny
on a Spot; George Farquhar’s The Recruiting Officer. 1993: Timberlake Wertenbaker’s Our Country’s Good; Charles Ludlam’s The Secret Lives of the Sexists;
Tennessee Williams’ Orpheus Descending. 1994: Constance Congdon’s Tales of the Lost Formicans; William Shakespeare’s Cymbeline; George M. Cohan’s The Tavern; Marlayne Meyer’s Etta Jenks. 1995: Pierre Marivaux’s The Triumph of Love; Tom Stoppard’s Travesties; Larry Kramer’s The
Destiny of Me; Alexander Ostrovsky’s The
Diary of a Scoundrel. 1996:
Caryl Churchill’s Mad Forest;
Agatha Christie’s Black Coffee;
William Congreve’s The Way of the World. 1997:
Terrence McNally’s A Perfect
Ganesh; Dorothy Parker’s Here We Are;
Alan Ayckbourn’s Drinking Companion;
Terrence McNally’s Noon; George M.
Cohan’s Seven Keys to Baldpate; Sean
O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock. 1998: Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia; Aeschylus’ Agamemnon;
Giles Havergal’s Travels with my Aunt;
Arthur Miller’s All My Sons. 1999: Edit Villareal’s My Visits with MGM; Jean-Baptiste Molière’s The Hypochondriac (tr. Martin Sorrel); Edward Percy and Reginald Denham’s Ladies in Retirement; Chekhov’s Uncle
Vanya. 2000: Peter Parnell’s The Rise and Rise of Daniel Rocket; Ann Ciccolella’s Fruits and Vegetables; George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly’s Merton of the Movies; Martin McDonagh’s The Cripple of Inishmaan. 2001:
Milcha Sanchez-Scott’s Roosters; George
Bernard Shaw’s The Devil’s Disciple;
J. B. Priestly’s Dangerous Corner;
Tennessee Williams’ Summer and Smoke. 2002: Ann Ciccolella’s Madame X; David Linsay-Abaire’s Fuddy
Meers; Agatha Christie’s The
Unexpected Guest; Federico Garcia Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba.
2003: Christopher Durang’s Betty’s Summer Vacation; Horton Foote The Traveling Lady, William Shakespeare’s
Two Gentlemen of Verona; Oscar
Wilde’s An Ideal Husband. 2004:
John Patrick’s The Hasty Heart; Tom
White’s The Misses Overbeck; Brian
Friel’s Molly Sweeney, George Bernard
Shaw’s Arms and the Man. 2005:
William Shakespeare Pericles, Prince of
Tyre, Edit Villareal’s Marriage is
Forever, Agatha Christie’s Appointment
with Death.
Use of the Vortex is made possible through the support
of Vortex Repertory Company.