Different Stages

Presents

 

What I Want Right Now

By

Tom White

                                                               

 

Director                              Norman Blumensaadt

Set Design                                           Paul Davis

Light Design                                Laura Sandberg

Costume Design                         Talena Martinez

Foley Artist                              Dipu Bhattacharya

Stage Manager                             Callie Boatman

 

 

 

 

 

CHARACTERS AND CAST

 

                                                                                                                         

Darla                                                                     Leng Wong

Bruce                                                         Tom Chamberlain

Bruce                                                     Randall Mark Lorenz

                                                                             (July 5, & 6)

Woman #2                                                            Amy Lewis

Man #2                                                      M. Omid Ghorashi

 

                                                                                               

ONE INTERMISSION

 

 

Produced by special arrangement with

 The playwright.

.

 

 

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT

 

Tom White is a widely produced and read playwright who has lived in Austin since 1970.  His works include Yes. No. And Yellow, Willie the Shake (with Nick Andrews), Stud Silo, Colonel Mustard, N. York Ion, Sacramento, and The Misses Overbeck, among others.  (Search for playwright Tom White on the internet.  His one act Tyler Rose was the first play published there.)  About What I Want Right Now, Tom says he thinks it might be funny, but he's not sure.

 

 

 

WHO’S WHO

 

 

TOM CHAMBERLAIN (Bruce) is shocked but pleased to be in a play about a happy marriage, after last year's stint as Martin, the goat... er.... lover in Different Stages' production of Albee's The Goat, or Who is Sylvia, for which he won ACOT's B. Iden Payne Award. Or for that matter, his next previous stint as Frank Sweeney, who pressures his blind wife into an disastrous eye operation in Brian Friel's Molly Sweeney.  Or other dysfunctional husbands such as George Tessman in Hedda Gabler, Frank Hyland in The Show Off, Buddy Husband in Secret Lives of the Sexists, Dr. Bill Windsor in Woman in Mind, or Second Lt. Ralph Clarke in Our Country's Good.  Other favorite roles include Henry Carr in Travesties, Ariste in The Learned Ladies, Bert (deaf), Sherman (blind) and Alec (sociopath) all in Etta Jenks, Ward Cleaver, in About the Beaver and Arthur in Checkmate.  He also acts in and makes independent film, and was co-producer and cinematographer of Six Man, Texas, which debuted this March at the AFI-Dallas Film Festival.  In real life he is happily married to lovely wife, Virginia.

 

M. OMID GHORASHI (Man #2) This is my first production with Different Stages, and I am very excited for the opportunity.  I have been performing in Austin for 8 years in such plays as The Assumption, The Buttons and Bows Show, and Eggheads.  I would also like to thank my wife, Leah, with putting up with me never being home.  Thanks, Baby.

 

AMY LEWIS (Woman#2) Amy Lewis is a graduate of McMurry University with a BFA in acting and directing with a minor in lighting.  She has appeared in many shows in the four years she has lived in Austin including, Bitten - a Zombie Rock Odyssey, Bride of Slapdash, and The Automat with Loaded Gun Theory, Dracula at the Bastrop Opera House, All in the Timing, Sister Mary Ignatious Explains it All For You, Time Flies, and Shakespeare in Hollywood with Sam Bass Theatre, The Laramie Project with City Theatre, The Playboy of the Western World, The Hollow, and Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge with Different Stages.  She is very grateful to the Austin theatre community for embracing her so warmly and to Different Stages, her fantastic cast-mates, Tom White, and Norman for allowing her to be a part of this. 

 

RANDALL MARK LORENZ (Bruce) Randall is new to Austin, Texas, but is not a stranger to the stage. Acting has been a passion for him, and he has performed in shows from Elementary all the way through High School. He has performed in A Trip to Bountiful, You Can’t Take it With You, and as Lenny in Of Mice and Men, five female characters in an adaptation of The Kathy and Mo Show and roles in All in the Timing. In Oklahoma he acted in and directed several melodramas. Hopefully you will see him in more productions in Austin.

 

LENG WONG (Darla). This is Leng's second production with Different Stages and she is ecstatic and honored.  She is enamored with this new play by Tom White, which deals with sex, love and women with penises.  In her free time, she enjoys writing, reading and daydreaming about all the 'what-ifs', and considers daydreaming to be one of her most valuable skills.  All my love and thanks to the uber-talented cast and especially to Norman for his faith.  Thank you Steve for your love and support, may we always have thirsty bees in our knees.

 

 

 

 

 

     

DIRECTION AND DESIGN

 

 

 

NORMAN BLUMENSAADT (Director) is the Producing Artistic Director for Different Stages. As an actor he has worked in Shakespeare Festivals in Odessa, Texas, Madison, New Jersey and Dallas, Texas.  For Different Stages he has recently appeared in The Miser, Arms and the Man and The Playboy of the Western World. Among the numerous shows that he has directed, are The House of Bernarda Alba, An Ideal Husband, The Beard of Avon, The Hollow and The Constant Wife.  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. His production of The Goat or Who is Sylvia won the 2006-2007 ACOT Award for Best Production of a Drama. Next season he directs Getting Married by GB Shaw and An Inspector Calls by JB Priestley.

 

 

DIPU BHATTACHARYA (Foley Artist) comes to the stage from the world of film, video, web design, and … documentation. A technical writer by day, he spends his free time finding unpaid creative work. Most recently, he was involved in the documentary Six Man, Texas, which premiered at the 2008 AFI Dallas film festival. He has worked on several other independent film projects, including an animated super-hero feature and Tom Chamberlain’s documentary The Real Santa, and had several small roles in the comedy film One Eye Peeled. He also directs, shoots, edits, and produces films and DVDs for events such as weddings, roasts, and plays. He even designs websites for independent films (such as sixmantexas.com) and other specialty clients. In between all that, he shoots and edits thousands upon thousands of photographs. This is his first experience as a Foley artist and his first work in a play since elementary school.

 

 

CALLIE BOATMAN (Stage Manager) is extremely excited to be working with all these talented actors, with Different Stages and with the Vortex. This is her first Austin play to work technical staff with and hopefully not the last. Her other credits include: 1776, Meet Me in St. Louis, 7 Brides for 7 Brothers, Cats and The Foreigner. She has also.. for lack of a better word.. dabbled in acting. Those credits included: Godspell, Twelfth Night, and Aladdin Jr. She is also involved in helping direct and choreograph with church productions for FUMC Georgetown. Would also like to point out the crazy gas money she's spending to help with this and is still ready and willing to do it again! She hopes you enjoy this show.

 

 

PAUL DAVIS (Set Designer) The Pillowman, You’re No One’s Nothing Special, The Glory of Living, The Water Principle and The Drawer Boy at Hyde Park Theatre. Other designs include Bent, 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, An Ideal Husband, Molly Sweeney, The Hollow, and The Constant Wife.

 

 

CAROL GINN (Assistant Director) appeared in last fall’s Different Stages production of Moliere's The Miser, and previously appeared in Different Stages’ productions of Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood and Moss Hart's Light Up the Sky.  She has also performed in musical theater, including Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific and The Sound of Music, Lerner and Loewe’s Brigadoon, and Fierstein and Herman’s La Cage aux Folles.  She has also enjoyed working on Different Stages’ productions of Terrence McNally’s A Perfect Ganesh, Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, Giles Havergal’s Travels with My Aunt, Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, Amy Freed's The Beard of Avon, Agatha Christie's The Hollow, and W. Somerset Maugham's The Constant Wife.

 

 

TALENA MARTINEZ (Costume Designer) has worked in the local Austin theater scene since she moved here three years ago from her hometown, Indianapolis. She has been nominated for her costume design for the Ethos production of Bell(e) as well as a nomination for best costume design for the Different Stages production of The Beard of Avon, for which she was the assistant-designer. Her national credits include costume design of a youth production of Jekyll & Hyde, stage management for a youth production of Les Miserables, technical work on shows including Madame Butterfly, The Good Doctor, Guys and Dolls, Othello, and All in the Timing, which traveled to the Scotland Fringe Festival, as well as many theater workshops, camps and classes. Talena has also worked on independent films and TV news shots geared to teens. Talena is the Executive Director of a children's theater called Austin Children's Theater where the children are the artists. She is proud to be working with Different Stages for yet another thrilling production.

 

 

LAURA SANDBERG (Light Designer) has been designing around Austin for far longer than she cares to admit, and far more often than her demanding dogs and cats would prefer.  However, she always enjoys working on projects like this one, so keeps coming back.  Favorite past projects have included making puppets for The Secret Garden, doing lighting for The Snow Queen, King Stag, The Dragon King, A Christmas Carol, The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast and scenery for A Perfect Ganesh, Mad Forest, Etta Jenks, Mrs Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge, and Gary Grinkle's Battles with Wrinkles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PRODUCTION STAFF

 

                                                                                                  

Light Operator                                                              Gina Lopez        

                                                                                                  

Set Construction                                                    Randall Lorenz,

                                                                        Lonnie Thibodeaux        

Web Master                                                       Martina Ohlhauser        

Properties                            Norman Blumensaadt, Laura Sandberg          

Graphic Artist                                                               Ellen Chou

Photographer-Publicity                                   Norman Blumensaadt

Program                                                        Norman Blumensaadt

Publicity                                      Carol Ginn, Norman Blumensaadt

Email Guru                                                        Martina Ohlhauser

 

 

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND SPECIAL THANKS

 

Russ Wiseman & Dougherty Arts Center, Austin Circle of Theaters, Karen Jambon,  Emily Erington, Barbara Chisholm and Zach Scott Theater, Bonnie Cullum and the staff of The Vortex.

 

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.

 

Producing Artistic Director                       Norman Blumensaadt

 

Board of Directors:  Karen Jambon, T.J. Moreno, Norman Blumensaadt.  Operating Board:  Norman 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, Jack Grimes, Ameriprise Financial

Stage Manager Level  $500-$999

       Craig Kanne

Designer Level  $250-$499

      Royce Gehrels, Bruce McCann, Emily and Kent Erington,

       Connie McMillan, Harvey Guion, Ann Bower 

Stage Hand Level  $100-$249

      Karen Kuykendall, Irene Dubberley, Sarah & David Seaton Keith Yawn, Pamela Bates, Marla Boye, Melanie & Travis Dean, Anonymous, The Pfizer Foundation, Bonnie & Frank Cahill, Tom White and David Smith

Audience Level $20-$99

      Miriam Rubin, M.D., Rebecca Robinson, Reba Gillman, Charles Ramirez Berg, Dianne Herra,

      Rodney & Donna Le Roy. Richard Collins

 

IN-KIND DONATIONS

Mary Alice Carnes, Sarah Seaton

 

 

                                                                                  

 

This project is funded and supported in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts and an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.

 

 

 

 

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; Moliere’s The Miser. 2008: Tenneesee William’s  Garden District (Something Unspoken and Suddenly Last Summer); Diana Son’s Stop Kiss, Tom White’s What I Want Right Now.