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Jean Genet’s
THE
BALCONY
View
the full poster
Directed by Joseph McGrath
Musical Direction by Harlan Hokin
October
6–23, 2005
Thu–Sat 7:30 pm , Sun 2:00
pm All tickets $17
Preview Thu Oct 6 7:30 pm $12
Performance Schedule
Zuzi’s Theatre 738 N Fifth Ave at University Blvd
See
map
Director’s Notes
When we first embarked on this lush project, I felt a
little uncertain about The Balcony’s currency in today’s
world. The play comes from an exhausted Europe, bathed in blood. And
from the mind of a criminal, understandably bitter at the hand he’d
been dealt, and embracing an almost perfect negative of our current
American world view. But as rehearsals progressed and we discovered
together M. Genet’s hidden, parallel, and resonant meanings, the
metaphors to our nightly news became all too apparent. The fifty years
since the play’s first troubled staging have passed in an instant,
and the human character has lost not a whit of its foibles. The costumes
have changed, to be sure, but the need and desire for them has not.
In this regard, the play satisfies the standard of universality that
defines a classic. A universality that we, at The Rogue Theatre, hope
to pursue on a regular basis.
In discussing any drama the most common first question
is “what’s it about?” This usually entails a synopsis.
I’ve found that this is misleading in discussing The Balcony,
however. Describing the plot of this play will relate the experience
of it as, perhaps, describing an eggshell might relate the experience
of eating a soufflé. Our plot is something that is all but discarded
by the time we’ve tasted the play’s visions and symbols.
Much ink has been spilled over the nature of this and
all of Genet’s dramatic visions. The Balcony, more than
most, seems to carry the burden of ritual, history, and fevered vision
all at once. Frequently, the scene changes, and the world is turned
sideways, and a voice within will say, “they’re not allowed
to do that, are they?” It is this richness and unexpectedness
that has attracted, frustrated, and inspired us in a rehearsal process
that, while long, has not seemed long enough.
—Joseph McGrath, Director
Music in The Balcony
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The Rogue’s production of The Balcony is filled
with original and adapted music by our Musical Director, Harlan
Hokin. Harlan has performed extensively as a singer
in Europe and the United States, including a stint with the Oregon
Shakespeare Festival. He earned a doctorate in historical performance
practice from Stanford, and has taught at Stanford and UC Santa
Cruz. Harlan is an active workshop teacher and writer on topics
of interest to singers and early music performers. Recent theatrical
involvement has been with Arizona Onstage Productions as Vocal
Director for their production of Assassins. He is currently
serving as Artistic Director for the Arizona Early Music Society
and is the father of two nearly perfect teenagers.
The Rogue also welcomes violinist Dimo
Canelos, a third generation Tucsonan who has studied
music since age 4. He played in youth orchestras growing up and
played and toured with the Stanford Symphony Orchestra. For the
past 6 years, Dimo has taught private lessons and group classes
to kids, ages 4 and older. Instruction includes guitar, violin,
viola and bass, using a variety of methods including theory and
by rote. He also writes music and his students perform non-classical
music as well as the standard repertoire. He can be contacted
at dimodc@yahoo.com. |
Amy Kenton as Chantal in The Balcony
Photo by Tim Fuller
View production photos
6-page review by Iris J. Arnesen in the Winter/Spring, 2006 The
Opera Glass
Review by Kathy Allen in the Arizona Daily Star
Preview by Chuck Graham in the Tucson Citizen
Preview by Kathy Allen in the Arizona Daily Star
Cast |
Bishop |
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Bill Epstein |
Irma |
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Cynthia Meier |
Sinner |
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Esther Blue Almazan |
Judge |
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William Killian* |
Thief |
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Tanaya Gallagher |
Arthur |
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Grant Bashore |
General |
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Brian Wees |
Horse |
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Arlene Naughton |
Tramp |
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Harlan Hokin |
Dominatrix |
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Martie van der Voort |
Carmen |
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Roxanne Harley |
Chief of Police |
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Terry Erbe |
Chantal |
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Amy Kenton |
Roger |
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David Greenwood |
Envoy |
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Art Jacobson |
*Member
of Actors’ Equity Association,
the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United
States,
appearing under a Special Appearance Contract
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Production
Staff |
Stage Manager |
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Jessica Hudson |
Assistant Stage Manager |
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Sophia Blue |
Costume Assistant |
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Angela Bottka |
Scene Design Assistant |
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Ben Young |
Additional Costume Construction |
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Sara Harper
Elizabeth Bottka-Smith |
Light Board Operator |
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Forrest Hatch |
Marketing and Publicity |
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Thomas Wentzel |
Poster and Program |
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Thomas Wentzel |
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Designers |
Scenic Design |
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Joseph McGrath |
Costume Design |
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Cynthia Meier |
Lighting Design |
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Clint Bryson |
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Our Thanks |
Jenny Carrillo |
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David Hoffman |
Arizona Opera |
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Carrie Kunz |
Barbara Tanzillo |
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Rich Rodgers |
Tucson Art Theatre |
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Tim Fuller |
Jesse Greenberg |
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Katie Peck |
Paul Lucas |
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James Reel |
ZUZI! Dance Company |
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Chuck Graham |
Kathy Allen |
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Arizona Theatre Company |
All Our Advertisers |
Cast Biographies
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Esther
Blue Almazan (Sinner) has a Bachelor’s Degree
in Theatre Arts and recently completed her Master’s Degree
in Scriptwriting at Prescott College. A member of Tucson Art Theatre
since 1990, she has also worked with the National Theatre of Great
Britain, aka Theatre, Old Pueblo Playwrights and the Greer Garson
Theatre. |
Grant
Bashore (Arthur) is juiced to be a part of The
Rogue Theatre’s first volcanic voyage. Grant’s credits
include Amal and the Night Visitors (Spring Green Theater);
Frida Kahlo (Teatro Bravo); One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s
Nest (2000 Zoni Award, Theater Works); Romeo and Juliet
(Tucson Community Theater); and Measure for Measure (Tucson
Theatre Ensemble). He has performed with The Jesters
Improv Comedy Troupe in Scottsdale and Tucson’s Theatrical
Mime Theatre. A member of the Screen Actors Guild, Grant
also does Spanish voice-over work in film, radio, and television.
He divides his time between Arizona and Spain. |
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| Bill
Epstein (Bishop) is a Professor of English at
the University of Arizona and has produced, directed, written,
and acted in productions in the U.S. and Britain, on campuses
(Dartmouth, Purdue, Cambridge, Arizona) and in community and commercial
theaters. He has played leads in mummers’ plays, commedia
dell’arte, musicals (West Side Story, Bells
Are Ringing), comedies (Plaza Suite, It Should
Happen to a Dog, Misalliance, Light Up the Sky),
and dramas (Old Times, Antigone), as well as
featured roles in Shakespeare (Hamlet, Taming of
the Shrew, Measure for Measure), Brecht, Fugard,
Fo, Giraudoux, Shaw, Simon, and others. In Tucson, Bill has acted
with, among others, Arizona Repertory Theatre, Quintessential
Productions, Catalina Players, Festival Repertory Theatre, Tucson
Theatre Ensemble, Borderlands Theater, and Beowulf Alley Theatre. |
Tanaya
Gallagher (Thief): This is Tanaya’s first
professional show and she is delighted to be a part of The
Balcony. She performed in many shows at Catalina Foothills
High School including Cabaret, Jake’s Women,
The Children’s Hour and Summer and Smoke.
Currently she is training to become a fitness instructor at Canyon
Ranch and is attending Pima Community College where she runs cross
country.
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| Terry
Erbe (Chief of Police) was most recently seen
in the leading role in Live Theatre Workshop’s Social
Security. Terry also played Ray in Toni Press-Coffman’s
That Slut! in 2003. He is in his sixth year at Catalina
Foothills High School as the Artistic Director of the theatre.
Terry will direct A Perfect Ganesh for Live Theatre Workshop
in November. |
David
Greenwood (Roger) is a founding member and the
Artistic Director of Tucson Art Theatre. Favorite roles for Tucson
Art Theatre include Jess in The Disposal, Tom in The
Glass Menagerie, Konstantin in The Seagull, and
Pinkie in The One-Armed Man. |
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Roxanne
Harley (Carmen)’s theater credits include
The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife (Wilde Playhouse),
The Hot’l Baltimore and Random Ax (Nathalia),
The Vagina Monologues (V-Day Productions), The Foreigner
(Pima College Theater Arts) and Spinning the Tale (Bloodhut
Productions). She is a playwright and produced and directed her
short film What She Wants. Roxanne is on the counseling
faculty at Pima Community College. |
Art
Jacobson (Envoy) began his acting career as a
child actor in Chicago radio. In college, he played John Adams
in a summer-long production of The Common Glory. He wrote
and acted in radio dramas produced by the Broadcasting Service
of the University of Michigan and came home to Chicago as a production
director at NBC’s affiliate, WMAQ. Subsequently, he taught
philosophy at Roosevelt University in Chicago. Tucson audiences
have seen him in readers’ theatre performances of No
Exit and The Critics and as the Rabbi in Borderlands
Theater production of Vilna’s Got a Golem. He’s
delighted to be part of The Balcony. |
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| Amy Kenton’s
(Chantal) mostly musical theatre credits include Into the
Woods (Witch), Man of La Mancha (Aldonza), The
Fantasticks (Luisa), The Last Five Years (Kathy),
Hansel and Gretel (Gretel), Die Fledermaus (Orlovsky),
Trouble in Tahiti (trio), 1940s Radio Hour (Ann),
Up A Tree (SuSu) and ensemble roles in Beguiled Again,
Assassins, Grand Night for Singing and A
Marvin Hamlisch Music Revue. She has also been seen in Eleemosynary
(Artie), performed Samuel Barber’s Knoxville Summer
of 1915 with chamber orchestra, and was vocal director for
Catalina Foothills High School production of A Chorus Line. |
William
Killian (Judge) has theatre credits that include
The Seagull and Cerceau (Tucson Art Theatre),
A Streetcar Named Desire (Arizona Theatre Company), The
Hot L Baltimore (Nathalia), and Romeo & Juliet
(Borderlands Theatre), as well as Who’s Afraid of Virginia
Woolf?, Love Letters, Bill W. and Dr. Bob,
On Golden Pond, and Rain. He appeared in the
telefilm Family Plan, the independent feature A Vicious
Lick, and was the host of Different Drummers for
the CBS affiliate in Chicago. Bill has appeared in many student
films, and in 2003 received an Outstanding Actor Award from the
U of A Media Arts students in appreciation of his work. |
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Cynthia
Meier (Irma)
has performed in A Streetcar Named Desire (Arizona Theatre
Company), Blithe Spirit, A Midsummer Night’s
Dream (Michigan Repertory Theatre), Romeo & Juliet,
Chicago Milagro (Borderlands Theatre), Top Girls
(Damesrocket Theatre), A Namib Spring (by Patrick Baliani,
winner of the 1999 National Play Award), A Nightingale,
Smirnova’s Birthday, The Midnight Caller,
The Ballad of the Sad Cafe (Tucson Art Theatre), and
A Maid’s Tragedy (directed by Domini Blythe of
the Royal Shakespeare Company). Most recently, she directed The
Seagull (featuring Ken Ruta) for Tucson Art Theatre. Cynthia
is a Division Dean at Pima Community College and holds a Ph.D.
in Performance Studies from the University of Arizona. |
Arlene
Naughton (Horse) is very pleased to be returning
to the stage after a ten-year absence. Her Arizona credits include
Nunsense (Flagstaff Festival of the Arts), Brighton
Beach Memoirs (Serendipity Playhouse), A Christmas Carol
(Gaslight Theatre); and Wigged Out! (Stray Theatre Company).
Arlene also toured with the Nebraska Theatre Caravan and performed
in Lady Audley’s Secret (Imperial Hotel) and I’ll
Be Back Before Midnight (Derby Dinner Playhouse). She is
a licensed marriage and family therapist and works at Cottonwood
de Tucson. |
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Martie
van der Voort (Dominatrix) has been performing
as a musician and actor for over 30 years. She performs regularly
with the Not Burnt Out Just Unscrewed comedy improv troupe and
Bloodhut Productions, and just completed several roles in Lesbian
Shorts II (a short play festival produced by Bloody Unicorn
Theatre Company.) She is a singer/songwriter and is the soloist
at the Pet Cemetery of Tucson. She facilitates Creative Expression
workshops using theatre work and has a private practice in psychotherapy
by day. She appreciates this wonderful company of rogues. |
Brian
Wees (General) was last seen in Live Theatre Workshop’s
Corpus Christi. Brian spent his early years on the stage
of Washington D.C. and New York City - most notably in the Off
Broadway production of Hagar’s Children. Favorite
productions in Tucson have been Quintessential Stage’s A
Skull in Connemara and The Weir, LTW’s The
Rainmaker and The Taming of the Shrew, Top Hat’s
The Sunshine Boys, Borderlands’ Guantanamo,
and Brachiate’s Macbeth. Brian’s next show
will be The Exonerated at Invisible Theatre. |
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Performance
Schedule for The Balcony
Location: Zuzi’s Dance Theater, Historic Y, 738
N. 5th Avenue at University See
map
Thursday Oct 6, 7:30 pm (Preview)
Friday Oct 7, 7:30 pm
Saturday Oct 8, 7:30 pm
Sunday Oct 9, 2:00 pm matinee
Thursday Oct 13, 7:30 pm
Friday Oct 14, 7:30 pm
Saturday Oct 15, 7:30 pm
Sunday Oct 16, 2:00 pm matinee
Thursday Oct 20, 7:30 pm
Friday Oct 21, 7:30 pm
Saturday Oct 22, 7:30 pm
Sunday Oct 23, 2:00 pm matinee
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