Different
Stages
Presents
Lettice
and Lovage
by
Peter Shaffer
Director Bob
Tolaro
Set
Design Ann
Mare Gordon
Light
Design Bill
Peeler
Costume
Design Sarah
Mosher
Stage
Manager Jonathan
Urso
CHARACTERS
AND CAST
Lettice
Doufett
Bobbie Oliver
Surly Man Arthur
DiBianca
Lotte Schoen Jennifer Underwood
Miss Framer Liza Binkley
Mr. Bardolph Richard
Craig
Visitors to
Fustian House Larry
Oliver
Liza
Binkley, Richard Craig,
Arthur
DiBianca, Stacey Smith
Felina, The Queen of the Sorrows Alley,
the Cat
ACT
I
Scene
1
The
Grand Hall of Fustian House, Wiltshire, England.
Various
times of the day.
Scene
2
Miss
Schoen’s office at the Preservation Trust, Architrave Place, London. Three
o’clock in the afternoon the day after the last scene.
ACT
II
Miss
Douffet’s basement flat, Earls Court,
London. Late Afternoon.
Act
III
The
same. Six months later. Early evening.
TWO
INTERMISSIONS.
Produced by special
arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.
THE PRODUCTION
COMPANY
ALLEY THE CAT
(Felina, Queen of Sorrows)
Alley was adopted from PAWS in April 2006 by Stacey Smith and enjoys
playing with her toy mice, watching animals on TV, sleeping and bird watching from
the window. She is very loving and enjoys being held.
LIZA BINKLEY (Ms. Framer) Liza is currently in her last
semester at the University of Texas, where she will complete a B.A. in Acting
and Business. She has performed with the Larry Gatlin Enterprise, toured
Scotland with a newly written play, and has most recently graced the UT stage
in The Way of the World. Liza is honored to work with such a lively,
fun company in producing this witty, intelligent British comedy.
RICHARD
CRAIG (Mr Bardolph) has been acting
steadily for about 35 years; if you count his first play, make that 49 years.
He has performed in Austin; Oceano, CA; Bakersfield, CA; Durango, CO; and
Logan, UT. He has performed in Austin for OnStage Productions, Refraction Arts,
UT Department of Theatre and Dance, Tongue and Groove, Vortex, Zilker Summer
Musical, Third Coast Repertory, as well as Different Stages and others. He was
a founding member of the Great American Melodrama in Bakersfield, CA and served
as a Guest Artist two summers for the Old Lyric Repertory Company in Logan, UT.
He was most recently seen as Dr. Chumley and Aunt Ethel Chauvenet in the
OnStage production of Harvey at the
Austin Playhouse. Some of his favorite roles have been: Richard Henry Lee in
1776, Lady Brachnell in The Importance
of Being Earnest, Weller in The Gin Game directed by Bob Tolaro,
Eliot in Private Lives, Horace in The Little Foxes, Senex in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
and Aunt Abby in Arsenic and Old Lace.
He won a B. Iden Payne award for his work in Street Theater at Capitol City Playhouse
(which he misses greatly) and he was also received his 5th nomination for a
Payne award for the Different Stages production of Fruits and Vegetables, directed by Ann Ciccolella. Richard is
currented Operations Associate at Zachary Scott Theatre Center. He is very
happy to be working again with Bob Tolaro and Jennifer Underwood.
ARTHUR DIBANCA
(The Surly Man) has appeared in many
Austin-area stage productions, with a marked emphasis on the musicals of
Gilbert & Sullivan. His roles include Rosencrantz in Hamlet (1996), Philip Lombard in Ten Little Indians (1999), Dr. Daly in The Sorcerer (2001), the
Thane of Rosse in MacBeth (2005), and
Pish-Tush in The Mikado (2005). This
is his first appearance with Different Stages. He has lived in Austin since
1991.
ANN
MARIE GORDON (Set Designer) is the
resident designer at The Vortex. Her designs for St. Enid and the Black Hand won a B. Iden Payne Award. Other
designs for The Vortex include The Deluge
and Despair’s Book of Dreams. She has
also designed for Ariel Dance Theater and The Rude Mechanicals. For Different
Stages she designed Life and Limb and
The Beard of Avon.
WILLIAM (BILL) PEELER
(Lighting Designer) is a faculty
member with the Texas State University Department of Theatre and Dance. He has
over 25 years experience as a lighting designer, holding both national and
international credits including Uncle
Vanya with the National Theatre Company of Costa Rica, a four-year stint
lighting the International Bluegrass Music Awards Show, in addition to Trying and Men of Tortuga for the Asolo Rep in Sarasota, Florida. Among his
Austin area credits are the world premier productions of Sonny's Last Shot at
the State Theatre, Austin, Texas, A Ride With Bob featuring Grammy award
winning Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel, culminating in a run at the Kennedy
Center in Washington, D.C., and six previous shows for Different Stages. For
the last five summers, Bill’s design work, involving both conventional and
automated lighting, has been seen in San Jose, Costa Rica while serving as a
director and faculty member with the Institute for Digital-Performing Arts.
SARAH
MOSHER (Costume Designer) is an MFA
candidate in Theatrical Design at UT.
Most recently Sarah designed costumes for the UT production of The Way of the World directed by Jesse
Berger. Sarah has designed costumes for many shows in the Seattle area,
including several original works at the Tacoma Museum of Glass in Tacoma, WA
under the direction (and writing) of Sam Vance, the world premier of Elsinore Diaries (One Lump or Two
Productions), J.B. (SPU), Last Night of
Ballyhoo (SPU), Twelfth Night (Highline Community College), Lysistrata (HHC) and Blood Wedding (HHC). Sarah is
pleased to be making her design debut with Different Stages.
BOBBIE
OLIVER (Lettice Duffet) is coming to
know Vortex Theater well, as her last three shows have been produced on this
stage. She previously appeared as
Ann/Wicked Whore in Different Stages’ production of The Beard of Avon, and
Jillian in Birth. In
2005 Bobbie received the B. Iden Payne Award for Outstanding Lead
Actress in a Drama for her portrayal of Bessie in Play! Theater Group’s production
of Marvin’s Room. She is delighted to be a part of this show
and thanks all the talented folk involved, as well as her husband and
fur-babies, for their love and support.
LARRY
OLIVER (Visitor to Fustian House) Has appeared at the Vortex in Let Them Eat Cake, in Different Stages
production of Summer and Smoke, and
in the Gaslight Theater production of Sylvia.
When not performing he keeps the City of Austin safe as
best
as he can.
STACEY SMITH (Visitor to Fustian House) Stacey grew up in many cities due to her father being in the
Military. She moved to Austin in 2002 and has appeared in several films
as well as Television shows including The
Alamo, Her Minor Thing, The King, How to Eat Fried Worms, Jack & Bobby and Friday Night Lights. She was also
in the hit musical A Ride with Bob
with Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel. Along side of acting Stacey produced
a short film The Matter which was
accepted in SXSW and Washington DC Independent Film Festival.
ROBERT
TOLARO (Director) happily includes Lettice and Lovage to his directing
repertoire. His Austin credits include
The Hasty Heart for Different Stages,
The Gin Game and I Ought to be in Pictures
for Onstage Theatre, Othello and Great Expectations at St. Edward’s University,
and productions for the Austin Shakespeare Festival, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merry Wives
of Windsor, A Comedy of Errors, and Much
Ado About Nothing. When not
directing, Robert is a professional Equity stage manager, currently working for
the Greater Tuna shows, A Ride With Bob with Ray Benson and
Asleep at the Wheel, and soon Menopause
the Musical in San Antonio. He
received an Emmy Award for Best Director for his signed and voiced production
of Moliere’s The Miser which aired on National PBS stations.
JENNIFER
UNDERWOOD (Charlotte Schoen) Jennifer’s last Different Stages production
was as Queen Elizabeth in The Beard of
Avon. Other Different Stages productions include Catherine Petkoff in Arms and the Man, Mrs. Siezmagraff in Betty’s Summer Vacation for which she won the B. Iden
Payne Award as Outstanding Actress in a comedy, the title role in The House of Bernarda Alba, Gertie in Fuddy Meers, Mrs. Dudgeon in The
Devil’s Disciple, Kate in The Cripple
of Inishmann, Kate in All My Sons
and Norma in The Misses Overbeck. Other Austin area productions include Kate
Mundy in Dancing at Lughnasa, Bessie
in Marvin’s Room, Elizabeth in The Petition, Betty in The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon-Marigolds, Evie in The Gingerbread Lady and Big Mama in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Geneva Musgrave
in Dearly Beloved.
PRODUCTION
STAFF
Light Operator/Sound Operator Jonathan Urso
Assistant Stage Manager Stacey Smith
Set Construction Ann Marie
Gordon, Steven Fay,
Jonathna
Urso, Bob Tolaro
Web Master Aleta
Garcia
Properties Norman
Blumensaadt, Bob Tolaro
Costumes Sarah
Mosher
Graphic Artist Sarah Seaton
Photographer-Publicity Brett
Brookshire
Program Norman
Blumensaadt
Publicity Carol
Ginn, Norman Blumensaadt, Scott Tesh
Email Guru Scot
Tesh
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
PETER SHAFFER was born in Liverpool, England, on May 15, 1926,
along with his twin brother, Anthony, who would also become a writer. Shaffer
studied history on a scholarship from Cambridge University, and worked a number
of odd jobs including coal miner, bookstore clerk, and assistant at the New
York Public Library, before discovering his dramatic talents. Shaffer's first
play, The Salt Land (1954) was presented on the BBC. Encouraged by this success,
Shaffer continued to write and established his reputation as a playwright in
1958 with the production of Five Finger Exercise
which opened in London under the direction of John Gielgud and won the Evening
Standard Drama Award. When Five Finger
Exercises moved to New York in 1959, it was equally well-received and
landed Shaffer the Drama Critics Award.
Shaffer's canon contains a unique mix of philosophical dramas and
satirical comedies. The Royal Hunt of the
Sun (1964) presents the tragic conquest of Peru by the Spanish, while Black Comedy (1965) takes a hilarious
look at the antics of a group of characters feeling their way around a pitch
black room--although the stage is, of course, actually flooded with light.
Equus
(1973) won Shaffer the 1975 Tony Award for Best Play as well as the New York
Drama Critics Circle Award. An electrifying journey into the mind of a
17-year-old stableboy who has plunged a spike into the eyes of six horses,
Equus ran for over 1000 performances on Broadway. Shaffer followed this success
with Amadeus (1979) which won the Evening
Standard Drama Award and the Theatre Critics Award for the London production.
Amadeus tells the story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and court composer Antonio
Salieri who, overcome with jealousy at hearing the "voice of God"
coming from an "obscene child," sets out to destroy his rival. When
the show moved to Broadway, it won the 1981 Tony Award for "Best
Play" and, like Equus, ran for
over 1000 performances.
Several of Shaffer's plays have been adapted to film including The Royal
Hunt of the Sun (1969), Equus
(1977), Amadeus (1984) which won
eight Academy Awards including "Best Picture".
ABOUT LOVAGE
The Garden Lovage is one of the old
English herbs that was formerly very generally cultivated, and is still
occasionally cultivated as a sweet herb, and for the use in herbal medicine of
its root, and to a less degree, the leaves and seeds.
It is a true perennial and hence is very easy
to keep in garden cultivation; it can be propagated by offsets like Rhubarb,
and it is very hardy.
Formerly Lovage was used for a
variety of culinary purposes, but now its use is restricted almost wholly to
confectionery, the young stems being treated like those of Angelica, to which,
however, it is inferior, as its stems are not so stout nor so succulent.
A herbal tea is made of the
leaves, when previously dried, the decoction having a very agreeable odour.
Lovage was much used as a drug
plant in the fourteenth century, its medicinal reputation probably being
greatly founded on its pleasing aromatic odour. It was never an official remedy,
nor were any extravagant claims made, as with Angelica, for its efficacy in
numberless complaints.
An infusion of the root was recommended by old writers for gravel, jaundice and urinary troubles, and the cordial, sudorific nature of the roots and seeds caused their use to be extolled in 'pestilential disorders.' In the opinion of Culpepper, the working of the seeds was more powerful than that of the root; he tells us that an infusion 'being dropped into the eyes taketh away their redness or dimness.... It is highly recommended to drink the decoction of the herb for agues.... The distilled water is good for quinsy if the mouth and throat be gargled and washed therewith.... The decoction drunk three or four times a day is effectual in pleurisy.... The leaves bruised and fried with a little hog's lard and laid hot to any blotch or boil will quickly break it.'
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND SPECIAL THANKS
Bonnie Cullum and the
Staff of The Vortex, Russ Wiseman & Dougherty
Arts Center, Austin Circle of Theaters, Ann Ciccollela and Zackary Scott
Theater, Luc Jennings and The Parmount Theater, Phil Judah & Universal
Publishers, Wayne Hunt
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 T.J. Moreno, Norman Blumensaadt Operating
Board: Norman E. Blumensaadt, Sarah
Seton, Royce Gehrels, and Paula Ruth Gilbert.
Funding and Donations
Director Level $5000+
The City of Austin
Actor Level $1000 - $5000
Karen Jambon & Jennifer Underwood
Stage Manager Level $500-$999
Designer Level $250-$499
Royce
Gehrels, Bruce McCann, Emily and Kent Erington,
Connie McMillan, Harvey Guion
Stage Hand
Level $100-$249
Karen
Kuykendall, Irene Dubberley, Sarah & David Seaton Keith Yawn, Pamela Bates,
Marla Boye, Melanie & Travis Dean, Anonymous, Ann Bower, The Pizer
Foundation, Bonnie & Frank Cahill
Audience Level
$20-$99
Miriam Rubin, David Smith & Tom White,
M.D., Rebecca Robinson, Reba Gillman, Charles Ramirez Berg, Dianne Herra,
Rodney & Donna Le Roy
IN-KIND DONATIONS
Mary Alice
Carnes, Sarah Seaton
This
project is funded in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division
and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts.
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; Anton 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’s 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’s Pericles, Prince of Tyre; Edit Villareal’s Marriage
is Forever; Agatha Christie’s Appointment with Death; John
Millington Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World. 2006: Two into War (The Gifts of War
and The Retreating World); Amy Freed’s The Beard of Avon;
Agatha Christie’s The Hollow. Christopher Durang’s Mrs’Bob Cratchit’s
Wild Christmas Binge. 2007: Edward
Albee’s The Goat or Who is Sylvia. Peter Shaffer’s Lettice and
Lovage, W. Sommerset Maugham’s The Constant Wife.