PERFORMANCE GUIDE

THE SPIDER

by tommy shepherd & dan wolf

directed by josh costello

11/12 S

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Marin Theatre Company Performance Guides are intended to enrich your studentsʼ theater experience by offering insight to the play and inspiring intellectual discovery through key background information. Guides often offer notes on historical or cultural context, as well as interviews with the artists about productions and scripts. We hope the Guides enhance your studentsʼ enjoyment of our performances. marintheatre.org | 415.388.5200 x3310

JASSON MINADAKIS | ARTISTIC DIRECTOR RYAN RILETTE | PRODUCING DIRECTOR JOSH COSTELLO | DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION

MARIN THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS

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ANANSI THE SPIDER by Tommy Shepherd & Dan Wolf

Table of Contents

3 Plot Summary

6 Once Upon A Time (or, What Is Storytelling?)

7 Hip Hop, and You Don’t Stop

8 Interview with Tommy Shepherd and Dan Wolf

10 Suggestions for Classroom Exercises

12 Discussion Questions

13 Theater Etiquette

14 Biographies

16 MTC Education

ANANSI THE SPIDER | Cast + Crew

Cast Tommy Shepherd*

Traci Tolmaire*

Dan Wolf*

Crew Stephanie Schliemann* | STAGE MANAGER

Chelsea White | COSTUME DESIGNER

Josh Costello | DIRECTOR

Meg Pearson | CASTING DIRECTOR

Mia Baxter | WARDROBE

Seren Helday | PROPS ARTISAN

Jennifer Gadda | PRODUCTION MANAGER

Joe Mizzi | TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

Jeff Klein | ASSISTANT TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

*member, Actors' Equity Association

This performance guide was written, compiled and edited by Margot Melcon, MTC Literary Manager, and Josh Costello, MTC Director of Education.

PLOT SUMMARY

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THE STORY

Anansi (ah-NAHN-see) the spider is a popular figure in the folklore of parts of West Africa. Anansi is a ʻtricksterʼ figure – clever, cunning, and sometimes mischievous – who uses his wits to make up for what he lacks in size and strength. The following story tells how Anansi became the owner of all stories:

In the beginning, all tales and stories belonged to Nyame the Sky God. But Anansi the spider yearned to be the owner of all the stories known in the world, so he went to Nyame and offered to buy them.

The Sky God said, “I am willing to sell the stories, but the price is high. Many people have come to me offering to buy, but the price was too high for them. Rich and powerful families have not been able to pay. Do you think you can do it?” Anansi replied to the Sky God, “I can do it. What is the price?” “My price is three things,” the Sky God said. “I must first have Mmoboro, the hornets. I must then have Onini, the great python. I must then have Osebo, the leopard. For these things I will sell you the right to tell all the stories.” Anansi said, “I will bring them.”

He went home and made his plans. He first cut a gourd from a vine and made a small hole in it. He took a large bowl and filled it with water. He went to the tree where the hornets lived. He poured some of the water over himself, so that he was dripping. He threw some water over the hornets, so that they too were dripping. Then, he put the bowl on his head, pretending to protect himself from a storm, and called out to the hornets, “Are you foolish people? Why do you stay in the rain that is falling?” The hornets answered, “Where shall we go?” “Go here, in this dry gourd,” Anansi told them.

The hornets thanked him and flew into the gourd through the small hole. When the last of them had entered, Anansi plugged the hole with a ball of grass, saying: “Oh, yes, but you are really foolish people!”

He took his gourd full of hornets to Nyame the Sky God. The Sky God accepted them and he said, “There are two more things.”

Anansi returned to the forest and cut a long

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THE PLAY

Ana, Eddie and TJ are playing in the schoolyard. TJ wants to play a game and both Ana and Eddie have ideas for what the game will be, so they play rock-paper-scissors to decide. Ana wins and she decides theyʼll play Anansi the Spider, which theyʼve just been learning about in class.

They start playing. Ana is Anansi and Eddie is the Leopard that gets stuck down a hole. But just as theyʼre getting to the part where Anansi uses a rope tied to a tree to rescue the Leopard from the trap, TJ bursts in wearing a superhero costume, changing up the whole story!

Ana objects, telling TJ that there isnʼt a superhero in the Anansi story and claiming heʼs not telling it right. TJ says heʼs just having fun, using his imagination and that Ana should relax. She tells him he should listen to her because sheʼs the expert on stories and she knows them all. TJ tests her and quickly finds out Ana doesnʼt know all the stories after all.

She gets frustrated and, determined to learn every story ever told, she heads to the library where she picks out a tall stack of books and begins to read every one. Soon she gets tired and falls asleep.

The librarian wakes her up and tells her that, though she has read a lot of books, she hasnʼt

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PLOT SUMMARY (continued)

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(THE STORY continued)

bamboo pole and some strong vines. Then he walked toward the house of Onini, the python, talking to himself. He pretended to be talking about an argument with his wife. He said, “My wife is wrong. I say he is longer and stronger. My wife says he is shorter and weaker. I give him more respect. She gives him less respect. Is she right or am I right? I am right, he is longer. I am right, he is stronger.”

When Onini the python heard Anansi talking to himself, he asked, “Why are you arguing this way with yourself?” The spider replied, “Ah, I have had a dispute with my wife. She says you are shorter and weaker than this bamboo pole. I say you are longer and stronger.” Onini said, “Itʼs useless and silly to argue when you can find out the truth. Bring the pole and we will measure.”

So Anansi laid the pole on the ground, and the python came and stretched himself out beside it. “You seem a little short,” Anansi said. The python stretched further. “A little more,” Anansi said. “I can stretch no more,” Onini said. “When you stretch at one end, you get shorter at the other end,” Anansi said. “Let me tie you at the front so you donʼt slip.” He tied Oniniʼs head to the pole. Then he went to the other end and tied the tail to the pole. He wrapped the vine all around Onini, until the python couldnʼt move.

“Onini,” Anansi said, “it turns out that my wife was right and I was wrong. You are shorter than the pole and weaker. My opinion wasnʼt as good as my wifeʼs. But you were even more foolish than I, and you are now my prisoner.”

Anansi carried the python to Nyame the Sky God, who said, “There is one thing more.”

Osebo the leopard was next. Anansi went into the forest and dug a deep pit where the leopard liked to walk. He covered it with small branches and leaves and put dust on it, so that it was impossible to tell where the pit was. Anansi went away and hid. When Osebo came prowling in the black of night, he stepped into the trap Anansi had prepared and fell to the bottom. Anansi heard the sound of the leopard falling and said, “Ah, Osebo, you are half-foolish!”

When morning came, Anansi went to the pit and saw the leopard there. “Osebo,” he asked, “what

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(THE PLAY continued)

read them all. There is still one special book that contains stories that the librarian keeps behind the counter and only lets out under special circumstances. The librarian transforms before Anaʼs eyes and becomes Nyame the Sky God, who tells Ana that she must bring him the Hornets from the nest outside and the Python from the meadow nearby.

Ana quickly realizes this is very much like the story of Anansi the Spider. She asks the Sky God about the Leopard, and he reminds her that she trapped the Leopard in the hole earlier. Ana leaves the Sky God to go accomplish her tasks and get that book!

Ana finds the Hornets hard at work, building the nest for the Queen. She tries to convince the Hornets that it is raining, but they donʼt believe her. She tries to convince the Queen that it is raining, but she doesnʼt believe her. Ana gets the clever idea to convince the Hornets that it is raining by making the sound of rain. Suddenly it actually begins to rain! She hustles all the Hornets inside her jar and traps them, taking them to the Sky God.

Then Ana finds the Python in the flower-filled meadow, singing a sad song about being in love. Ana tells the Python that she is practicing being in love, and that she canʼt really be in love yet because she is not tall enough. She tells him he canʼt be in love either, because he

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PLOT SUMMARY (continued)

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(THE STORY continued)

are you doing in this hole?” “I have fallen into a trap,” Osebo said. “Help me out.” “I would gladly help you,” Anansi said. “But Iʼm sure that if I bring you out, I will have no thanks for it. You will get hungry, and later on you will be wanting to eat me and my children.” “I promise it wonʼt happen!” Osebo said. “Very well. Since you promise it, I will take you out,” Anansi said.

He bent a tall green tree toward the ground, so that its top was over the pit, and he tied it that way. Then, he tied a rope to the top of the tree and dropped the other end of it into the pit.

“Tie this to your tail,” he said. Osebo tied the rope to his tail. “Is it well tied?” Anansi asked. “Yes, it is well tied,” the leopard said. “In that case,” Anansi said, “you are not merely half-foolish, you are all-foolish.” And he took his knife and cut the other rope, the one that held the tree bowed to the ground. The tree straightened up with a snap, pulling Osebo out of the hole. He hung in the air, head downward, twisting and turning. As he twisted and turned, he got so dizzy that Anansi had no trouble tying the leopardʼs feet with vines.

Anansi took the dizzy leopard, all tied up, to Nyame the Sky God, saying: “Here is the third thing. Now I have paid the price.”

Nyame said to him, “Anansi, great warriors and chiefs have tried, but they have been unable to do it. You have done it. Therefore, I will give you the stories. From this day onward, all stories belong to you. Whenever a man tells a story, he must acknowledge that it is Anansiʼs tale.”

And that is why, in parts of Africa, the people love to tell and love to hear the stories they call “spider stories.” And now, you have heard one too.

(THE PLAY continued)

isnʼt tall enough. The Python tries to stretch out but keeps coiling up, so he asks Ana to tie him to a stick all stretched out to prove he is tall enough to be in love. Ana does what he asks, and as soon as heʼs tied up, she takes him to the Sky God.

The Sky God reminds Ana that she has only trapped the Leopard, and that in order to get the book, she must bring the Leopard to him. Ana returns to where the Leopard is trapped in the hole, but there is no tree so she canʼt use the same trick from the story. Using her imagination, Ana finds her own way to get the Leopard out of the hole.

Ana brings the Leopard to the Sky God who congratulates her and hands her the book, but each page is blank! The Sky God tells Ana that the final book is filled with blank pages because the best stories are the ones you make up yourself using your cleverness and your imagination.

With a new sense of inspiration, Ana returns to the playground and finds TJ and Eddie. She suggests they play a game and says it can be whatever they want, knowing that theyʼll get creative, change it up and have a great time.

ONCE UPON A TIME… (or, What is Storytelling?)

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What is a story? A story is a narrative account of real or imagined events. It is when one person, or group of people, shares an experience with another person or group. Through stories, we explain how things are, why they are and our role and purpose as people. Stories are sometimes made up to explain the unexplainable, like natural disasters or mysterious happenings. They are a way of passing on history and connecting things that happened in the past to the present and future. What makes up a story? Stories have characters, settings and actions. A story is told using language, movement and music. You need a person telling the story and someone to listen. The more creative the person telling the story and the more details and description used, the more exciting the story can be. How are stories told? Stories can be told in many ways. They can be written in books and poems. They can be told through songs. A moment can be captured in a drawing or painting, and that moment can tell a story. A television show, movie or play is a story. A joke is a story, too. And many times stories are shared just by talking. In fact, before writing was invented, all stories were told that way. That is called oral storytelling. Oral Storytelling Storytelling is natural for everyone but those who are very good at it sometimes become entertainers, educators and historians for the community. The history of a culture used to be handed down from generation to generation through the storytellers. Traveling storytellers journeyed around the land, gathering news and learning the favorite stories of various regions. Storytellers exchanged stories and changed stories to make them new and make them sound right to different audiences. The best storytellers make the audience feel like the story is happening around them, just by using their voice and their bodies to create different characters and a suspenseful and exciting mood. Characteristics of a Good Storyteller: Flexibility – change details of the story without getting off track Spontaneous –shift suddenly from light to dark or funny to scary Read the crowd – react to what the audience is responding to and adapt Make the story relevant – make the audience understand why they should listen Specificity – adapt the story to each audience so it feels like itʼs about them Structure – make sure there is a beginning, middle and end African Folktales Many cultures in Africa have traditions of oral storytelling. Skilled storytellers would memorize folktales and captivate audiences with their stories of adventure. African folk tales and myths serve as a means of handing down traditions and customs from one generation to the next. The storytelling tradition has thrived for generations because of the absence of printed material. Folk tales prepare young people for life, as there are many lessons to be learned from the tales. Because of the history of this large continent, which includes moving African people into slavery on other continents, many of the same folk tales exist in North America, South America and the West Indies. The stories are told, sometimes with variations, spread by word of mouth among the African population.

HIP HOP, AND YOU DON’T STOP

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Hip Hop is a cultural movement comprised of four parts:

• DJing

• Rapping (or MCing)

• Breakdancing

• Graffiti Art

In early Hip Hop music, DJs would loop parts of recorded songs, finding cool rhythms and drum and percussion and playing them in patterns to create new beats. These beats were coupled with rhyming lyrics and melodies, which became rapping. Beatboxers replicated the sounds and rhythms of recorded music with the human voice. The culture also created its own form of dancing called breakdancing, which is an athletic style of dancing that matches the beats laid out by DJs or beatboxers. Sometimes breakdancing and rapping is done as battles, with competitors facing off, showing their skills and trying to out-perform each other. Graffiti art incorporates the elements of Hip Hop culture in a visual way, using color and large—often outdoor—graphic pictures and letters to tell a story.

Hip Hop first came into being in the 1970s in the Bronx, New York, with young black and Latino kids creating new music and art at parties and in their communities. Rapping – poetry spoken out loud to a beat – built on the storytelling tradition of blues and gospel music and mythology and folklore brought to American from West Africa and South America. It was a way for kids to share stories of growing up in the city and entertain their friends.

The first commercial Hip Hop song was Rapperʼs Delight, released in 1979 by Sugarhill Gang. Ever since, Hip Hop has been an important part of culture in America and around the world. It can be found in every country among every race and culture now and some call Hip Hop the most modern form of art.

Sugarhill Gang album cover (1979)

INTERVIEW WITH DAN WOLF AND TOMMY SHEPARD, THE CREATORS OF ANANSI

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How did you become a storyteller?

Dan: I think I was born a storyteller since my teachers always said I talked too much in class. When I was 10 years old, I saw a play and knew that was where I wanted to tell my stories. And Iʼve always loved song lyrics, so once I connected both to storytelling I knew I had my forum.

Tommy: I believe that I was a storyteller before I even knew it. Iʼve always had a wild imagination and I understood what it meant to be able to “make something out of nothing.” Meaning, being able to stand there with no lights, no sound, nothing up your sleeve and still make people see or hear something thatʼs not really there.

What do you like about telling stories?

Dan: I like how you can learn about life and human beings. I also love that you can hear and learn

something new every time a story is told. A story is the oldest technology and can happen anywhere an imagination, eyes and ears meet.

Tommy: I like the fact that if you can imagine it, anything goes. “No lying” was a huge rule of the house when I was a kid. Once I discovered what pretending was, I jumped at the chance to talk about things that werenʼt exactly the whole truth.

What was first exciting to you about the story of Anansi?

Dan: We have been working within the aesthetic, community and structure of Hip Hop for most of our

creative lives yet we had never worked with a story that emerged from that same community. Anansi is an African folk tale that, at its very fabric, explores the same concepts of remixing, ownership and storytelling that Hip Hop culture deals with head on.

Tommy: The fact that he is part spider and part man. I mean… Do you identify with the characters in the play? Which ones?

Dan: I can really relate to Anansi, a character that has vision and knows what he/she wants yet has an

uphill battle to get it. In a real way, Anansi uses freestyle and imagination to break through borders that have been placed in the way of success. I can relate.

Tommy: I identify with TJ because I like to take stories that most people know and make them my own by changing them up a little from time to time.

You decided to tell the story of Anansi in your own way. What made you choose to tell it the way you did? Dan: To me, this is the only way I know how to tell stories. Rhythm, rhyme, music and movement take me

Dan and Tommy in Angry Black White Boy at Intersection for the Arts

INTERVIEW continued

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back to the reason why theater is powerful. It is the mixture of all these textures that create the picture I want to be in. My teacher once said, “You write the play you want to see.” This is what I want to see.

When/How did you start performing?

Dan: I have been in plays since I was 10 years old. First musicals in a community setting (Annie, The King

and I, The Music Man) then in high school at Redwood I was part of Ensemble Theater Company where we would write, develop and direct original work that was more experimental. In college I met Tommy and we quickly realized the connection between the Shakespeare we were studying and the Hip Hop we were listening to. That was the moment where I became a musician as well as an actor.

Tommy: I was about 13 years old and my friends and I started a breakdance group called Magnetic Attraction. We performed at parties and we were intermission entertainment for beauty pageants on cable access television.

What is it like working as a team?

Dan: Itʼs one of the most inspiring things I

get to do. Watching Tommy create music with his mouth, and now watching that grow into using tools like the computer, reminds me how powerful art can be. We learn together, teach and challenge each other. We battle and grow and watch each other succeed and fail. It used to be where we would sit next to each other and work line by line. As our process has become solidified so has our roles. It is still very much about collaboration but we each know what we are expected to lead and assume that role.

Album cover from Dan and Tommyʼs band Felonious

SUGGESTIONS FOR CLASSROOM EXERCISES

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Animal Characters

Clear all of the desks and chairs to the sides of the room so that a big empty space is available in the center. Have the students spread themselves around the space and lie down separately on the floor. Tell the students to think of a favorite animal. It could be a pet, or an animal theyʼve seen in the zoo or in a book. Tell them to think of three things that make this animal different from other animals (maybe the way it moves or the shape of its body).

Tell the students to pretend that they are their animal, sleeping on the ground or in their nest or den, and to imagine their body is the animalʼs body. Now tell them that they are starting to slowly wake up; the animals can roll and stretch on the floor. Talk them through slowly waking up, then sitting up and moving around the space as their animal. Tell them not to interact with the other animals at first – just pretend to be the animal and feel what it feels like to have this animalʼs body. Ask them questions like: How does your animal move? How does your animal breathe? Which parts of your body are the most different? What rhythm does your animal move to? Tell them that the bigger they are, the slower they move. Encourage the students to take their time and to use their imagination. Encourage them to exaggerate the movements that are unique to this animal; find three things about the way this animal moves that are different and unique.

Now tell them they can make a noise as this animal. The students will want to interact with each other – that's okay, but encourage them to focus on being the animal and not on trying to make each other laugh. Have them explore their voice without using words for a while, finding a sound that fits their animal.

Now tell them that the animals are learning to talk! The only word they can say is "Hello." Have them walk around the room, saying "Hello" to everyone they meet. Encourage them to exaggerate the way they are walking like their animal and to exaggerate the different way their animal talks.

Interviews

In pairs, students take turns interviewing each other as their animals. The student conducting the interview can pretend to be a television or newspaper reporter, or could conduct the interview as their own animal. Afterwards, students present the results of the interview to the rest of the class — introducing each otherʼs animals and their special characteristics.

Anansi Skits

Divide the students into groups of two to five. Each group will create a short skit in which one animal (possibly Anansi the spider, but it could be any animal) tricks another animal. They can use their animals from the previous exercises or they can create new animals to fit the story. They can use the same tricks Anansi uses in the story or they can change the story and create their own.

Each student should make the following choices before performing their skit (each of these could be its own exercise as well, with students taking time to try out different choices):

-What makes your animalʼs physicality different from your own? How does this animal stand and walk?

-What makes your animalʼs voice different from your own? How does this animal sound?

MTC students

EXERCISES, continued

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-What is the point of the trick? Is it to capture the other animal? How does the trick work? What makes a good trick?

Designing the Set

Individually or in groups (perhaps the same groups from the Anansi Skits exercise), create a collage of images that relate to the story of Anansi. Groups can create one collage that's just about the physical world, with images of the kind of scenery they imagine where the story takes place. Another collage might be just about colors, evoking the feelings of the story. Another might be about a specific character or moment.

Have students design a set for a stage-play version of Anansi, drawing inspiration from the collage. What scenic elements are necessary? What furniture? Will the play happen in a traditional proscenium theater, or in a theater with a thrust (the audience sits on three sides of the stage), or in the round? Draw a groundplan (a bird's-eye-view map of the stage) as if you had an unlimited budget. Draw another groundplan that works in your classroom with the materials you have on hand, or in your school theater.

Send the designs to MTC – weʼll post our favorites on our website.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

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1. What does it mean to own a story? Who does a story belong to?

2. Anansi gets his way by tricking the other animals. What other trickster characters do you know from other stories? Why do so many cultures tell stories about a trickster?

3. Is Anansi good or evil or somewhere in between? Make an argument for each side.

4. What makes a good story? What makes someone a good storyteller? How do the details, large or small, make the story better?

Ask the following questions after the performance:

1. This play told the story of Anansi the Spider, but was also about children acting out stories. Why did the playwrights choose to tell the story in this way?

2. How did acting out the story of Anansi help Ana understand and deal with her own situation? What did she learn?

3. How did the actors use their bodies and voices to make all the characters and animals different?

4. There was a lot of music in the play. How did the songs and music help tell the story?

THEATER ETIQUETTE

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The Audience A quick guide to theater etiquette

When you are in the audience for a play, you're not just watching and listening – you are an important part of the show. This may seem obvious, but the actors on stage are right there in the same room as you. They can hear every noise the audience makes: laughter, whispers, gasps, coughs, and candy wrappers. Actors can sense whether the audience is caught up in the play, whether they're bored, and even what kind of sense of humor this particular audience has. And here's the exciting part – actors change their performances from day to day to fit what kind of audience is in the theater.

Here are a few tips on how to be a good audience, and how to get a great performance from the actors:

Respond honestly to what happens onstage. It's always okay to laugh if something is funny – it lets the actors know that the audience gets the joke! Be absolutely sure that your cellphone is turned off. A ringing cellphone distracts the audience as well as the actors. Also, the light from your cellphone screen is almost as distracting as the sound of the ringer – no texting, no checking the time on your phone. Be respectful of the space; keep your feet off the seats and the edge of the stage. It's not okay to take photos or video during the performance.

Wait until the end of the show to talk with your friends. Talking during a performance, even in whispers, is very distracting. At the end of the play, the actors will return to the stage to take a bow (this is called the curtain call). This is your chance to thank them for their performance with your applause. If you particularly liked a certain actor, it is appropriate to cheer. If you loved the show, you can let everyone know by giving the actors a standing ovation! It's worth repeating: please be sure your cellphone is turned off and stays off. The actors and everyone in the audience appreciate it.

MTC students in a Summer Camp production of 13

BIOGRAPHIES

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Tommy Shepherd (TJ) aka Soulati, is a father, husband, actor, playwright, b-boy, rapper, drummer and beatboxer. Tommy is one of the co-founders of the live hip hop band, Felonious, who play throughout the world and also create original theatrical productions. Felonious is a resident theater company at Intersection for Arts in San Francisco. Felonious has created many projects with Campo Santo, also a resident company at Intersection, and Intersection including Angry Black White Boy, adapted from the Adam Mansbach book. As one of the co-creators of Angry Black White Boy, Shepherd created the original music and performed in the production. Tommy was a long time Hybrid Resident Artist at Intersection. He is also a member of Campo Santo and has performed many times with Erika Chong Shuchʼs ESP project. He created and performed his first one act solo performance piece The MF in ME at Intersection for their Grounded festival of new works. One of Tommyʼs most active and fulfilling partnerships has been with Marc Bamuthi Joseph. He spent most of the past several years performing and touring internationally with Bamuthi Joseph, including red, black, and green: a blues, which premiered at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and is embarking on a tour. His next new performance work with Felonious, Campo Santo and Sean San José is 1st element, inspired by the history of the Street Art movement in San Francisco, to premiere outdoors in June with Intersection.

Traci Tolmaire (Ana) is an actor, dancer, choreographer, and singer. She was born and raised on the south side of Chicago. She studied theater at Spelman College, where she received her BA, and at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Her theatrical credits include Rejoice! (Lorraine Hansberry Theatre), IPH . . . translated and adapted by Colin Teevan from Euripides' Iphigeneia at Aulis (Brava Theatre Co/African American Shakespeare Co), In the Wake (u/s, Berkeley Rep), Mirrors In Every Corner (Intersection for the Arts/Campo Santo), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Fulton Opera House), The Darker Face of the Earth (Take Wing and Soar Productions), Trouble in Mind (Actor's Express), and Breath, Boom (Synchronicity Theatre Group). Traci choreographed Hartford Stage Company's production of Gee's Bend, winner of the Connecticut Critics Circle Award for best ensemble and Lorraine Hansberry Theatre's holiday musical Rejoice! She is currently on tour throughout 2012 with red, black, and GREEN: a blues which premiered at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in October 2011.

Dan Wolf (Eddie) is an actor, rapper, writer, director, and educator. His work crosses artistic and cultural borders to combine conventional theater styles with the themes, language, music, history and aesthetics of the Hip-Hop generation. Dan is a founding member of the critically acclaimed Hip Hop music and theater collective Felonious and a resident artist at Intersection for the Arts. His plays include Angry Black White Boy, based on the novel by Adam Mansbach, Beatbox: A Raparetta and Stateless: A Hip Hop Vaudeville. As an actor, he has worked with Word for Word, Crowded Fire, Campo Santo/Intersection for the Arts, Porchlight Theater Company, the Shotgun Players and in various commercials and industrial films. As a director and educator, he has worked with American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Rep, Intersection for the Arts, SmartDesign, Killing My Lobster and Youth Speaks. Felonious has shared the stage with The Roots, De La Soul, Big Daddy Kane, DJ Premier, Black Eyed Peas, Zion I, Living Legends, Radioactive, Crown City Rockers, Raw Deluxe, and Dynamic.

BIOGRAPHIES (continued)

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Josh Costello (Director) is MTCʼs Director of Education. For MTC, he directed 2009ʼs My Children! My Africa! and 2007ʼs Lovers & Executioners, as well as school tour productions of TALL Tales, Animal vs. Animal: an Aesop's Fables mashup, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and A Short History of Nearly Everything. Josh has directed dozens of plays up and down the West Coast, including his adaptation of Little Brother by Cory Doctorow for Custom Made Theatre Company (Jan 2012), House of Lucky at Magic Theatre, Reborning at SF Playhouse, Hamlet at Shakespeare-by-the-Sea in LA, and Romeo & Juliet: A Fire Ballet at The Crucible in Oakland. Josh was the founding Artistic Director of Impact Theatre, the Education Director at Marin Shakespeare Company, and has taught at A.C.T., Cal Shakes, and South Coast Rep, among others. He holds a BFA in theatre from Boston University and an MFA in Directing from the University of Washington, Seattle.

Stephanie Schliemann (Stage Manager) has worked on Orsonʼs Shadow, Fortune and The Last Schwartz at Marin Theatre Company. Other local stage-managing credits include Spring Awakening, Love in American Times, The Dresser, and Ain't Misbehavin', among others, at San Jose Repertory Theatre, Flower Drum Song, Guys and Dolls, The King & I, Gypsy, and The Wizard of Oz at American Musical Theatre of San Jose, Le Nozze de Figaro and The Magic Flute at Opera San Jose, and Race, Marcus, The Tosca Project, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, At Home at the Zoo, War Music, Blood Knot, The Circle, and A Christmas Carol at the American Conservatory Theater. She has also worked with Teatro ZinZanni, and the Circus Center of San Francisco.

EDUCATION AT MARIN THEATRE COMPANY

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For students and families, for teachers and schools, and for our community, MTC's Education programs open up a world of excitement and enjoyment with professional theatre for people of all ages. In our 2011/12 season, we will reach thousands of students in our drama classes at schools around Marin County, our School Tour production, Summer Camps, Student Matinee performances, and special events like Teachers' Night Out. Want to join the fun? Visit www.marintheatre.org or email Josh Costello, the Director of Education, at josh@marintheatre.org. MTC in the Schools Bring a professional teaching artist from Marin Theatre Company into your school! We will create a customized drama program that fits your community – a one-time workshop, weekly drama classes, or as an addition to the classroom curriculum. Eight- to ten-week afterschool sessions for elementary schools include an invitation to a shared final performance onstage at MTC. Drama can enliven your History and English curriculum, as with our California History Monologues project at Old Mill School, in which a teaching artist from MTC helped 4th graders write and perform monologues as historical characters from the California mission period. Contact us for pricing options and more information. Marin Young Playwrights Festival MTC celebrates the work of teen playwrights and encourages a focus on playwriting in Bay Area high schools. Eight finalist plays are performed by teens in an event at MTC. The play selected as the MYPF winner receives a public staged reading with professional actors. Summer Camps MTC's Summer Camp is a full-day theatre training program for students in grades 2 - 12, culminating in fully produced performances open to the public. Each program features quality theatre training during the morning and rehearsals during the afternoon. Students engage their imaginations, study their craft, and work together to put on a production. Classes include improvisation, musical theatre, dance, playwriting, and acting techniques. Final performances are fully produced with costumes, lights, and sets. Scholarships are available. Teen Advisory Board Marin Theatre Company's Teen Advisory Board is a group of passionate and dedicated high school students who serve as ambassadors between MTC and the teen community in Marin County. Our goal is to include at least one student from every Marin County high school drama department on the Teen Board. Teen Board members select the finalists in the Marin Young Playwrights Festival, help plan MTC's Summer program; observe rehearsals for MTC mainstage productions; participate in discussions with MTC designers, actors, and directors; attend monthly meetings; and receive free tickets to MTC productions. Internships MTC's internship program is designed to provide experience and preparation for beginning a career in the professional theatre. Interns work closely with members of MTC's artistic and administrative staff, attending departmental meetings, interacting with patrons, and taking on real responsibilities in connection with MTC's programs and productions. In addition, interns participate in special workshops and seminars and attend theatrical performances. Visit www.marintheatre.org for more information about these and all our programs.

Students at Park School enjoy the 2010 School Tour