January 20 to 29

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Dead Man’s Cell Phone

January 20 to 29, 2011Telus Studio Theatre

The University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Theatre and Film

by Sarah Ruhl

Directed by Chris McGregor

One of the joys of being a faculty member in a place like the Department of Theatre and Film is meeting and working with young artists at a time when they are beginning to understand their own power and potential. It is such a delight to be able to introduce you to their unique gifts every time we open a production. So, welcome to the Telus Studio and to this wonderful play that takes such an unnerving look at how we make (or don’t make) human connections in our technologically driven world.

Sarah Ruhl is a young American playwright whose career has risen in meteoric fashion over the past decade. A student of the brilliant Paul Vogel at Brown University, Ruhl completed her MFA in 2001 and since that time has already twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and once nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play in 2009. All that and only 36! We are very excited to add this young contemporary American voice to our international line-up for the 2010/2011 theatre season at UBC.

WelcomeWe welcome MFA directing grad, Chris McGregor, back to the campus to bring his many gifts to this production. Chris is no stranger to this kind of dark comedy, having beautifully navigated the whacko world of Christopher Durang and Albert Innaurato’s The Idiots Karamazov as his thesis production two seasons ago. The excellent designs for the production are all student generated and Mandi Lau’s set design constitutes the practical aspect of her MFA Design thesis. And of course, our first-rate production students are making everything run smoothly in the booth and back stage, as always.

Our leader, Jerry Wasserman, is on leave for six months and it is my privilege to head our excellent department until June 30 in his stead. I look forward to seeing you at our final offering for this season in March. Wild Honey opens on March 17 on the Frederic Wood theatre stage. Until then, happy theatre-going.

Stephen HeatleyInterim Head, UBC Department of Theatre and Film

I believe that theatre is actually going to grow in the twenty-first century, because it forces us to slow down. The circadian rhythms are being lost, technology is speeding up, so we have to go somewhere and literally have a one-to-one relationship with the tick-tock of the clock. – Bomb 99, Paula Vogel

Sarah Ruhl (1974 - ) was born in Wilmette, Illinois. She completed her studies under Paula Vogel at Brown University (A.B., 1997; M.F.A., 2001) and went on to do graduate work at Pembroke College, Oxford. Ruhl is an American playwright who lives on the East Side of Manhattan with her partner Tony Charuvastra, a child psychiatrist, and their daughter Anna. The world premier of Dead Man’s Cell Phone was produced in June 2007 by Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, D.C.; the New York premiere of the play was produced in March 2008 by Playwright’s Horizons, starring Mary-Louise Parker; and the Vancouver premiere ran from September 9-19, 2010, at the Firehall Arts Centre as part of the 2010 Vancouver International Fringe Festival. Ruhl received a McArthur Fellowship (September 2006) for “creating vivid and adventurous theatrical works that poignantly juxtapose the mundane aspects of daily life with mythic themes of love and war” (Wiki: 1).

As a dramatist, Ruhl has written numerous award-winning plays, including The Clean House (Susan Smith Blackburn Award, 2004, Pulitzer Prize Finalist, Pen Award), Melancholy Play, Eurydice, Late: a cowboy song, Orlando, Demeter in the City (NAACP image award nomination), Passion Play

(Fourth Forum Freedom Award, Kennedy Center), Dead Man’s Cell Phone (Helen Hayes Award), and In the Next Room (or the vibrator play). Her plays have been performed at the Lincoln Center, Second Stage, Playwrights Horizons, the Goodman Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, the Cornerstone Theatre, Madison Repertory Theatre, Clubbed Thumb, and the Piven Theatre Workshop, among other theatres across the USA. Her plays have been translated into German, Polish, Korean, Russian, and Spanish, and have been produced internationally in London, Canada, Germany, Latvia, and Poland. She is also the recipient of a Helen Merrill Award, Whiting Writers’ Award, PEN/Laura Pels Award. Ruhl is a proud member of New Dramatists and 13P.

Dead Man’s Cell Phone interrogates the existential dilemma facing our highly digitalized culture. The play is a mediation on the paradoxical ability of a cell phone (and the people who use them) both to isolate and unite: “I never had a cellphone,” Jean remarks. “I didn’t want to be there, you know. Like if your phone is on you’re supposed to be there. Sometimes I like to disappear. But it’s like when everyone has their cellphones on, no one is there. It’s like we’re all disappearing the more we’re there” (DMCP 2009: 35).

By Ernesto Garcia

Sources: Firehall Arts Centre. <http://deadmanscellphone.ca>

Lahr, John. “Surreal Life, The Plays of Sarah Ruhl.” The New Yorker. March 17, 2008. <http://www.newyorker.com/archive>

Ruhl, Sarah, Dead Man’s Cell Phone. New York, NY: Samuel French, 2009.

Sarah Ruhl. Wikipedia. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Ruhl> Accessed 12/9/2010.

Sarah Ruhl. Bret Adams Ltd. Artists Agency. Accessed through external links <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Ruhl>

Vogel, Paula. “Sarah Ruhl.” Bomb 99 (Spring 2007). Interview with Sarah Ruhl. <http://www.bombsite.com/issues/99/articles/2902>

“I try to interpret how people subjectively experience life.

Everyone has a great horrible opera inside [her/] him. I

feel that my plays, in a way, are very old fashioned. They’re

pre-Freudian in the sense that the Greeks and Shakespeare

worked with similar assumptions. Catharsis isn’t a wound

being excavated from childhood. 

– Surreal Life: The Plays of Sarah Ruhl, Sarah Ruhl

Gordon

Andrew James Cohen

Carlotta

Sarah Goodwill

Mrs. Gottlieb

Claire Hesselgrave

Dwight

David A. Kaye

Hermia

Joanna Williams

Jean

Tich Wilson

Chorus

Christine Bortolin

Scott Button

Mitchell Hookey

Jordan Kerbs

Emma Middleton

Melanie Reich

Dead Man’s Cell Phoneby Sarah Ruhl

The performance is approximately 2 hours long. There is one 15-minute intermission. A herbal cigarette will be smoked during the performance.

Please turn off all cellular telephones, pagers and watch alarms. The use of cameras, video or any other recording device is prohibited during the performance. Thank you.

Acknowledgements: Arts Club Theatre, Valerie Moffat

Cast

Production

Stage Manager Collette BrownAssistant Stage Manager (Props) Danielle BourgonAssistant Stage Manager (Costumes) Catriona RobinsonAssistant Stage Manager (Set) Yeon Kyeom KimProduction Manager Jay HenricksonTechnical Director Jim FergussonScenery and Lighting Specialist Keith SmithSet Design Assistants Madeleine Copp, Claudia Cantoral,  Emily HartigScenic Artist Lorraine WestScenic PaintersMichael Bock, Claudia Cantoral, Molly Lai,  Mandi Lau, Amelie Schumaher,  Elliot Squire, Stephan YoonProjections Operator Scott ZechnerLighting Head and Lighting/Projections Assistant Alia StephenAssistant Lighting Design  Jon TsangAssistant Lighting Head Michael BockLighting Operator Ling ZhongLighting Crew Jade GreavesCostume Design Assistants  Jui Kang, Megan Kennedy,  Stephanie KongCostumes Supervisor Jean Driscoll-Bell

Dressers Stephanie Kong, Phoenix SmithHair and Make-up Artist Jill WynessHair and Make-up Assistant Haruka Sakaguchi Properties Supervisors Janet Bickford, Lynn BurtonProperties Crew Chiefs Stephen Yoon, Vanessa BlissProperties Builders Emily Hartig, Camille MohnProperties Labour Christian JonesSound Operator Javier SotresVocal Coach Gayle MurphyMovement Coach Cathy BurnettSinging Coach Stephanie OlsonMandarin Coach Justin ChenFight Choreography Nicholas HarrisonVoice Captain Emma MiddletonDance Choreography/Dance Captain Melanie ReichStage Crew Hanaka Ebi, Bernice Wong, Hoori Barkh Faculty Stage Management Advisors Bob Eberle/Jayson McleanFaculty Lighting Advisor Robert GardinerFaculty Costume Design Advisor Alison GreenFaculty Sound Design Advisor Andrew Tugwell

Set and Projection Design

Mandi Lau

Lighting and Projection Design

Wladimiro Woyno

Costume Design

Steffi Lai

Sound Design

Nathan Shapiro

Director

Chris McGregor*

*Appears with permission of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association

Andrew James Cohen (Gordon) UBC: Private Wars, The Madwoman of Chaillot, Arms and the Man, Laramie Project, Dining Room.

Regional (selected): 2010 Olympics Opening/Closing (DAEP), A New Brain (Pipedream), Grease (TUTS – Ovation Award Winner), Falsettos (Skycorner). Film/TV: Triple Sensation (Top 12), Inspiration & Performance (CBC). In February he will represent BC at the National Artist Program in Halifax. Andrew is a co-founder/producer for Homeshark Theatre ([title of show], Laramie 10 Years Later), and the Director/Executive Producer of UBC LipDub. www.ubclipdub.com.

Sarah Goodwill (Carlotta) Sarah is in her final year of the BFA Acting program and is excited to continue her pursuit. Last seen as Irma in The Madwoman of Chaillot (UBC), Sarah will next be seen as Sofya in Wild Honey (UBC) this March. Selected recent theatre credits include performances in Romeo and Juliet, The Laramie Project, and The Dining Room (all at UBC). Sarah wants to thank Chris for his encouragement and everyone around her for their support.

Claire Hesselgrave (Mrs. Gottlieb)Originally from Vashon Island, Washington, Claire has been living in Vancouver for the last four years. She

is currently in her final year of the BFA Acting program. She collects soundtracks and other people’s discarded old photographs. Selected credits include Marge Murray in The Laramie Project, Lady Montague in Romeo and Juliet, and Mary Louise in The Madonna Painter (all at UBC). Next up: UBC’s production of Wild Honey.

Mitchell Hookey (Chorus) Mitch is thrilled to be making his debut in the Telus Studio Theatre singing and dancing with his classmates in the chorus. He would like to thank Chris for giving him this opportunity,

along with his fellow cast members for their amazing talent and hard work. He sends his love to girlfriend Lauren and brother Cam for their never-ending support. Enjoy the show!

David A. Kaye (Dwight) David has worked in Film and Television since he was 4, breaking into voiceovers at the age of 11. He enjoys playing with knives, fire, stilts, and anything else you should not try at home. Selected credits include: Samuel Decker, Legends of the Fall; Jesse Waingrow, 3000 Miles to Graceland; Noddy, Make Way for Noddy, and Shin, Nana. Recent theatre credits include Ragpicker in The Madwoman of Chaillot (Stephen Heatley), and Silvio in Private Wars (Patrick New). www.Whiskayefilms.com.

Jordan Kerbs (Chorus) This is Jordan Kerbs’ premiere on the Telus Studio stage! She is a BFA Acting student at UBC in her intermediate year. Her past

credits include: Baby with the Bathwater, and The Actor’s Nightmare, which she performed at Woodinville Reperatory Theatre in Seattle, Washington. Last fall, she was in Hecuba directed by Sarah Rodgers. Summer 2011, she will be attending the British Academy of Dramatic Arts (BADA) Midsummer Intensive in Oxford England.

Collette Brown (Stage Manager)Collette is in her third year of UBC’s BFA in Theatre Design and Production Program. Favorite Stage Management credits include: Jade in the Coal (Pangaea

Arts/Theatre at UBC); Curlew River (City Opera Vancouver); Arms and the Man, Unity (1918) (Theatre at UBC), Pink Floyd’s The Wall (LiveStage Performance); and Jesus Christ Superstar (TUTS). Collette would like to thank the entire company for giving this crazy fairytale such a wonderful ending.

Christine Bortolin (Chorus) Christine is a graduate of the Douglas College Theatre program and is currently completing her BFA at UBC. She volunteers for the Canadian Improv Games and is part of the improvised theatre duo Sister Act. Selected credits: Hecuba, When Ya Comin’ Back, Red Ryder?, and The Marriage of Bette & Boo. She would like to thank everyone for their support, especially Ryan and Woody. Thank you for supporting live theatre.

Scott Button (Chorus) Previous credits: When You Comin’ Back, Red Ryder? (Douglas College), Macbeth (Limbo Circus Theatre), and The Marriage of Bette & Boo, Hecuba and City of Beaches, all at

UBC. Scott thanks the talented cast and crew for their hard work, with special mention to Emma and Melanie for their patience.

Biographies

Steffi Lai (Costume Design) It has been a thrill to work on this show with such enthusiastic and talented people! BIG thank yous go to Chris for his endless creativity, Jean, always, for her patience and

guidance, and my assistants Jui, Stephanie, and Kennedy for their help with the workload! Previous work include designs for The Madwoman of Chaillot (UBC), Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them (Twisted Knickerz), and the SFU film Salvation.

Mandi Lau (Set/Projection Design) An interdisciplinary designer and multimedia artist, Mandi’s work ranges from film photography, interactive art installations, architecture to scenography. She holds a degree in Architecture (Manitoba) and has worked as an architectural designer in Hong Kong. Her recent debut credit was The Madonna Painter (Lighting). Dead Man’s Cell Phone is her MFA thesis design, which marks her first experience in set and projection design. Special thank you to Professor Robert Gardiner for his insightful mentoring and tremendous support.

Chris McGregor (Director) Guest director Chris McGregor is a graduate of UBC’s MFA Directing program. Over the years he has earned several Jessie Richardson Awards including

Outstanding Ensemble Cast, Significant Artistic Achievement, and the Larry Lillo Award for Outstanding Direction. McGregor established Theatre Bagger Arts Society in 1993 and their recent production of The Little Old Man received four Jessie Richardson Awards including Outstanding Direction and Best Production. Last season Chris directed The Soul Menders at the Guild Theatre in

Whitehorse, Falling Up Stairs at Studio 58, and Christopher Durang’s Why Torture is Wrong, and the People who Love Them with the Twisted Knickerz Equity Co-op. Next Chris travels to Bishop’s University in Quebec where he directs Unity (1918) and Spring Awakening.

Emma Middleton (Chorus) Emma is in her intermediate year of the BFA Acting Program. Past credits at UBC include Daisy in City of Beaches, Hekabe in Hecuba, and Emily in The Marriage of Bette & Boo. Elsewhere: Armitage (UBC Player’s Club), Annie Get Your Gun (TUTS), and Anything Goes (Metro Theatre). A big thank you to the fantastic creative team, fearless crew and of course her lovely classmates for making her first mainstage show such a wonderful experience.

Melanie Reich (Chorus) A graduate of the Douglas College Theatre Program, Melanie is in her Intermediate year of the Acting program. Recent credits include Polyxena (Hecuba) and Bette/Father

Donnelly in The Marriage of Bette & Boo at UBC. Melanie loved choreographing the dances for this production with help from the brilliant Chris McGregor, Cathy Burnett, and the patient diligence of her classmates. Special thanks to God and her family for their amazing support.

Nathan Shapiro (Sound Design) Nathan is delighted to be involved in his first sound design project with Dead Man’s Cell Phone. Many thanks to my advisor, Andrew Tugwell

– without your help, I would still be looking for the iMac’s on button. Enjoy the show!

Joanna Williams (Hermia) This is Joanna’s final year in the BFA of Acting Program. Previous credits at UBC include the title role in The Madwoman of Chaillot, Ensemble in Romeo and Juliet, and Catherine Connolly, Allison Mears, and Mormon Home Teacher in The Laramie Project. Joanna also has her Diploma in Performing Arts from Douglas

College.

Tich Wilson (Jean)Tich is in her final year of the UBC BFA Acting program. UBC credits: The Madwoman of Chaillot, Romeo and Juliet, The Laramie Project, The Dining Room, Oh My God!

(Brave New Play Rites). Other Credits: Spring Awakening (Delinquent Theatre). Tich is grateful to work with such an amazing cast and crew for her final show; this has truly been one hell of a ride. She wants to thank Solomon for being her partner in crime.

Wladimiro Woyno (Lighting Design)Wladimiro is an international student from Colombia at UBC’s BFA Theatre Design and Production Program. Returning from his 17-month escapade at the Banff Centre’s theatre work/study in scenic and stage carpentry, he is excited to be working with this great cast and crew on his first UBC Mainstage Lighting Design. Other design credits: Armitage (Player’s Club), Brave New Play Rites (UBC), Thou Shalt Not Kill (Escola Graduada), and Gormenghast (Assistant, UBC).

Stephen Heatley Interim Head, Department of Theatre and Film

Ronald Fedoruk Associate Head, Theatre Production

Gerald Vanderwoude Business Manager

Jay HenricksonManager, Technical Production

Ian PattonManager, Communications, Audience Services and Technology

Deb Pickman Manager, Marketing and Communications

Jennifer Suratos Theatre/Film Studies Administrator

Karen Tong Theatre/Film Studies and Graduate Secretary

Theatre at UBC AdministrationZanna Downes Theatre/Film Production and Graduate Secretary

Linda Fenton Malloy Theatre at UBC and Production Website

Carol Lai Financial Clerk

Tony Koelwyn, Marijka Brusse Box Office

Gene Baedo Custodial Services

Joyce HintonCo-Managing Director

Wendy AtkinsonProgramming Manager

Rachel LowryMarketing & Programming Coordinator

Christine OfferProgramming Coordinator

Cindy BehrmannDirector of Development

Lisa SlaterDevelopment Coordinator Cameron McGillCo-Managing Director

Owen SchellenbergerTechnical Director

Chan Centre for the Performing Arts Administration

George PereiraProduction Clerk

Beng KhooOperations Clerk

Kristi FuocoMarketing & Communications Assistant Coordinator Gilda MorraTicket Office Supervisor

Donna CaedoTicket Operations Manager

Carl ArmstrongEvents & Customer Service Manager

Gary Andraza Systems Coordinator

Ashton EhnesProgramming Assistant Coordinator

CinderellaA dreamy fairytale, carriage and glass slippers.

February 3-5 February 6

| 7:30pm| 2:00pm

J. MASSENET’S

280.3311604www.ticketmaster.ca

ubcoperaCHAN CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS6265 Crescent Road, UBC

The use of the arena configuration in the Telus Studio Theatre is an honest and direct response to the existing architecture. From my recent lighting design experience in the space for The Madonna Painter, I noticed a lot of great qualities, as well as unique design potentials that set the Telus apart from all other black box or conventional proscenium style of theatres.

The Telus has quite a few flaws as a theatre in terms of practicality (for example, the lack of an overhead grid and efficient rigging system), but nonetheless, it is a very interesting and special piece of architecture. For example, the unique “flexibility” of the Telus comes from the 12 movable towers that hold the audience seating, but such quality is only true to the extent that half of those remain attached to each other to form a semi-arena of box style seating, from which there is no escape.

The fact that there are three separate floors of seating in each tower creates an enormous

Designing for Theatre in the Round

sense of height and closure within such a small space. This imposing sense of height is not only to be felt by the performers but most importantly impacts greatly on how the audience perceives the space for the duration of the performance.

Most often for the audience members on the towers, they have to sit on the edge of their seats and lean on the ledge that surrounds the seats (in groups of 4) for the entire show in order to be able to see what is happening down below on “stage.”

If those unique spatial features of the theatre are appropriately utilized and appreciated, it could reward any production with a great theatrical experience rather than imposing a rigidly fixed set into the already limiting space. For this reason, I wanted to take this special opportunity and emphasize designing on the ground, embracing the floor that already exists as the central focal point of the space.

This, in turn, will create a theatrical experience that is unique to the Telus. It is also an exploration and experiment to challenge the conventional “forth-wall-picture-frame” perception of theatrical spaces with a minimalist set and projected stage floor. The use of light and multimedia imagery from multiple projectors will morph and sculpt the space into different locales as the story unfolds. The design of the set and the stage itself only exist for the duration of the play, making all a temporal experience just as any live performance.

by Mandi LauSet and Projection Designer

Originally posted on our Theatre at UBC blog:

https://blogs.ubc.ca/theatre/2011/01/07/designing-for-theatre-in-the-round/

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