Recipient of the
2012 American Theatre Wing
National Theatre Company Award

Press

Yes, mistakes were made!

Review of Mistake of the Goddess (Hayavadana) by David Ray on September 17 in Sonoran Arts Network

Magic, mythology fill Mistake of the Goddess

Review of Mistake of the Goddess (Hayavadana) by Chuck Graham on September 17 in Let The Show Begin! at TucsonStage.com

Rogue stages traditional Indian myth

Preview of Mistake of the Goddess (Hayavadana) by Kathleen Allen in the September 12 Arizona Daily Star

Direction

	Joseph McGrath (Director) is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Drama and is the Artistic Director for The Rogue Theatre.  For The Rogue Theatre, Joe authored and directed Immortal Longings, and directed Mother Courage and Her Children, As I Lay Dying, The Real Inspector Hound (2010 Mac Award for Best Director), The Decameron, Our Town, Red Noses, Endymion, The Maids (winner of the Arizona Daily Star 2007 Mac Award for Best Play), and The Balcony. Joe was most recently seen as Richard, Duke of Gloucester in Richard III, Griffin in The Night Heron, the Jade Emperor in Journey to the West, Leontes in The Winter’s Tale, Patsy in The New Electric Ballroom, and in the ensemble of Shipwrecked! In 2009 Joe won the Arizona Daily Star Mac Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Tobias in A Delicate Balance. He has toured with John Houseman’s Acting Company, performed with the Utah Shakespearean Festival, and he is a frequent performer with Ballet Tucson appearing in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Cinderella, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Dracula and The Nutcracker. He has also performed with Arizona Theatre Company, Arizona Opera, Tucson Art Theatre, and Arizona OnStage. Joe owns, with his wife Regina Gagliano, Sonora Theatre Works, which produces theatrical scenery and draperies.

Notes from the Director

Matt Bowdren, Marissa Garcia and Ryan Parker Knox

Photo by Tim Fuller

Playwright

	Girish Karnad (Playwright, b. 1938) is an Indian writer, playwright, screenwriter, actor and movie director. He earned a B.A. in Mathematics and Statistics at Karnataka University , and attended Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar from 1960 to 1963, earning a M.A. in Philosophy, Political Science and Economics. Karnad published his first play, Yayati, in 1961. It became an instant success, immediately translated and staged in other Indian languages. He followed this with Tughlaq (1964), Hayavadana (1971), Naga Mandala (Play with Cobra) (1988), Agni Mattu Male (The Fire and the Rain) (1995), Odakalu Bimba (A Heap of Broken Images) (2006) and many others. Karnad uses history and mythology to tackle contemporary issues in his plays, writing them in Kannada, his adopted language, and translating them into English. His movie acting as well as screenwriting debut was in Samskara (1970), which won the first President's Golden Lotus Award for Kannada cinema. He first directed Vamsha Vriksha (1971), which won a National Film Award for Best Direction. Karnad has acted in over 60 films and directed over a dozen. He has served as chairman of the National Academy of the Performing Arts (1988–1993) and as director of the Nehru Centre and as Minister of Culture, in the Indian High Commission, London (2000–2003). He has been conferred Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan, the fourth and third highest civilian awards by the Government of India, and has won four Filmfare Awards for Best Director and Best Screenplay. He is a recipient of the 1998 Jnanpith Award, the highest literary honor conferred in India. Karnad currently resides in Bangalore, India.

A Note from the Playwright The words of the Bhagavata, spoken at the beginning of Mistake of the Goddess: “O Elephant-headed Ganesha…we pay homage to you and start our play. May Ganesha, the destroyer of obstacles, who removes all hurdles and crowns all endeavors with success, bless our performance now.”     All my dear friends of The Rogue Theatre, Today, the 8th of September, is being celebrated over the whole of South India as the festival of Ganesha, the elephant-headed God. In the morning, the men of the family would have gone to the market with the children and bought a clay image of the god—a miniature if the family needs to economize, but one around two feet in height if in reasonably comfortable circumstance. The god would have been brought home and installed in an altar specially constructed and decorated by the ladies of the house, and ritually worshiped. In the evening, neighbours will visit each other’s houses to exchange sweets, see and admire the decorated altars, and bless each other’s children. On the fifth day from today, the idol will again be taken out in a procession by the men and children and immersed in a lake or the river or the sea, whatever is conveniently available, where the idol will melt away into the elements, to come together again next year. This year, however, the millions of Ganeshas immersed on the 12th will do something different. They will come together on the other side of the globe in Tucson, Arizona to set in motion and energize The Rogue Theatre’s production of Mistake of the Goddess (Hayavadana). Your timing is perfect. So, I am sure, will be the shows. With fondest regards, Girish

 

Gabriel Morales and David Greenwood

 

Ryan Parker Knox, Marissa Garcia and Matt Bowdren

Photos by Tim Fuller

 

Cast
The Bhagavata		Cynthia Meier
Actor		David Morden*
Hayavadana		David Greenwood
Devadatta		Ryan Parker Knox
Kapila		Matt Bowdren
Padmini		Marissa Garcia
Kali		Patty Gallagher*
Boy		Gabriel Morales
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States, appearing under a Special Appearance Contract

 

 

	Matt Bowdren (Kapila) holds an M.F.A in Performance from The University of Georgia and a B.F.A from the University of Arizona. At The Rogue, Matt has appeared in after the quake, Richard III, Metamorphosis, Mother Courage and Her Children, The Night Heron, Journey to the West, As I Lay Dying, Major Barbara, The Real Inspector Hound, New-Found-Land, The Four of Us, Six Characters in Search of an Author, and The Goat. Other Arizona credits include The Pillowman (The Now Theatre) Romeo and Juliet (Southwest Shakespeare), and Titus Andronicus (Arizona Repertory Theatre). In Georgia, Matt has been seen in The Shape of Things, Betrayal, Endgame, and The Comedy of Errors. In New York City, Matt performed in Somewhere In Between with Collaborative Stages, and Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Hudson Shakespeare Company. Matt Bowdren’s performance is supported in part by a generous gift from an anonymous sponsor.
Patty Gallagher (Kali) is Professor of Theatre Arts at University of California Santa Cruz where she teaches movement, mask, Balinese dance, and clown traditions. With The Rogue, she has performed the roles of Red Peter in Kafka’s Monkey, Mrs. Samsa in Metamorphosis, Monkey King in Journey to the West, Autolycus in The Winter’s Tale, Player 1 in Shipwrecked!, Alibech in The Decameron, Ariel in The Tempest, Rani in Naga Mandala, Emilia in Othello, the Player in Act Without Words, Orlando in Orlando, Sonnerie and Scarron in Red Noses, Winnie in Happy Days, Ranevskaya in The Cherry Orchard and Shen Te in The Good Woman of Setzuan. She has worked with Shakespeare Santa Cruz, The Folger Shakespeare Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, The New Pickle Circus, Ripe Time Theatre, Two River Theatre, Teatro Cronopio and Grupo Malayerba. She has performed, choreographed and directed workshops in Asia, South America, Europe, and the U.S. In 2006 she was Fulbright Scholar in Quito, Ecuador. She holds a doctorate in Theatre from University of Wisconsin–Madison, and she is Director in Residence for the Clown Conservatory, San Francisco Circus Center. Patty Gallagher’s performance is supported in part by a generous gift from Katherine Smith.
	Marissa Garcia (Padmini) performed with The Rogue Theatre as Sayoko and the Nurse in after the quake, Lady Anne Neville in Richard III, Grete Samsa in Metamorphosis, Yvette in Mother Courage and Her Children, a Townsperson and a musician in The Night Heron, Guanyin in Journey to the West, Dorcas in The Winter’s Tale, in the ensemble, a musician in As I Lay Dying and Barbara Undershaft in Major Barbara. She is a Tucson native and received her BFA in Acting/Directing from the University of Arizona. Since graduating, Marissa has performed and directed with companies throughout Arizona, Colorado and California. She was seen on Los Angeles stages in premieres of Bernardo Solano’s Lost and Evangeline Ordaz’s Visitors’ Guide to Arivaca, a show she was also involved in here with Borderlands Theater. Other credits include: Ana in Living Out (2005 Mac Award Nominee–Best Actress), Julia in School of the Americas (Borderlands Theater), Thomasina in Arcadia, Cordelia in King Lear (Arizona Repertory Theatre), and Evelyn in Close Ties (Catalina Players). Marissa Garcia’s performance is supported in part by a generous gift from John & Pat Hemann
David Greenwood (Hayavadana) was a member of the cast of The Rogue Theatre’s first production, The Balcony, and has recently appeared in Richard III, Metamorphosis, Mother Courage and Her Children, The Night Heron, Journey to the West, The Decameron, The Real Inspector Hound, Major Barbara, As I Lay Dying and The Winter’s Tale. He has appeared locally in Shining City and The Birthday Party at Beowulf Alley Theatre and The One-Armed Man, The Disposal and The Glass Menagerie at Tucson Art Theatre. David Greenwood’s performance is supported in part by a generous gift from John & Diane Wilson.
	Ryan Parker Knox (Devadatta) is a native of South Dakota and has lived in Tucson for two years. A BFA graduate of the University of South Dakota, “RPK” called Minneapolis/St. Paul home for over a decade before relocating to the Southwest on a whim, and good thing he did. This marks his second season as a Rogue Acting Company Member, having previously appeared in Richard III as Hastings/Blunt, Metamorphosis as Clerk/Charwoman/Three Gentlemen, Mother Courage and Her Children as Lieutenant/various other soldiers, The Night Heron as Neddy Beagle, and Journey to the West as Sha Monk. Some of his favorite past roles include Jerry in The Full Monty, and title roles in Picasso at the Lapin Agile and The Who’s Tommy, all for Paul Bunyan Playhouse in Bemidji, MN as well as Henry in Henry V, Tesman in Hedda Gabler, and Phillip in Orphans. Ryan sends humble thanks out to all his previous and current Rogue sponsors, to his four biggest little fans O, D, A, and P back in South Dakota, and especially to his beautiful girlfriend Shayna. Please enjoy the season! Ryan Parker Knox’s performance is supported in part by a generous gift from Lillian Fisher.
Cynthia Meier (The Bhagavata) is the Managing and Associate Artistic Director for The Rogue Theatre, where she most recently played the title role in Mother Courage and Her Children, Bolla in The Night Heron, Clara in The New Electric Ballroom and Addie Bundren in As I Lay Dying. Cynthia has been nominated for six Mac Awards for Best Actress from the Arizona Daily Star. In 2008, she received the Mac Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Rogue’s production of The Goat. She has also performed in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Arizona Repertory Theatre), A Streetcar Named Desire (Arizona Theatre Company), Blithe Spirit and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Michigan Repertory Theatre), Romeo & Juliet and Chicago Milagro (Borderlands Theatre) and A Namib Spring (1999 National Play Award winner). Cynthia co-founded Bloodhut Productions, a company performing original monologues and comedy improvisation, which toured throughout the western United States. Last season, she directed Journey to the West, Metamorphosis and Richard III for The Rogue Theatre. Cynthia holds a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from the University of Arizona. Cynthia Meier’s performance is supported in part by a generous gift from Dan Gilmore & JoAn Forehand.
	Gabriel Morales (Boy) is a native Tucsonan, born in 2007. He currently attends Carrillo Magnet Elementary as a first grade student. Gabriel is blessed with parents who love him, and three sisters whom he spends a majority of his time entertaining. He enjoys playing little league baseball, math, baking and playing board games. Gabriel has a beautiful heart, and has to be one of the friendliest six-year-olds you will ever meet.
David Morden (Actor) has appeared with The Rogue Theatre as Buckingham in Richard III, The Chaplain in Mother Courage and Her Children, the Dragon King in Journey to the West, Polixenes in The Winter’s Tale, Louis de Rougemont in Shipwrecked!, Rinieri in The Decameron, Stephano in The Tempest, Brabantio and Montano in Othello, Editor Webb in Our Town, in the ensembles of Animal Farm and Orlando, as Madame Pace in Six Characters in Search of an Author, The Pope in Red Noses, Yephikhov in The Cherry Orchard, The Man in the Silver Dress in the preshow to The Maids and Glaucus in Endymion. He has acted locally with Arizona Opera (The Pirates of Penzance, The Threepenny Opera), Arizona Onstage Productions (Assassins), Actors Theatre (The Bible: The Complete Word of God (Abridged)) and Green Thursday Theatre Project (Anger Box, Rain), of which he was a co-founder. David has also directed The Rogue’s productions of Major Barbara, Ghosts, A Delicate Balance, The Goat (2008 Arizona Daily Star Mac Award), Six Characters in Search of an Author and Krapp’s Last Tape, Not I and Act Without Words. Last season, David directed Inspecting Carol for Arizona Repertory Theatre and directed three one-act adaptations of Medea for the Studio Series at the University of Arizona, where he is an Assistant Professor in the School of Theatre, Film and Television. David Morden’s performance is supported in part by a generous gift from GBL Family Fund.

 

 

Cynthia Meier as The Bhagavata

Photo by Tim Fuller

 

Musicians
Paul Amiel
Jenny Hijazi
Eric Schoon
Anton Shekerjiev

Notes from the Music Director

When Joe and Cindy approached me about doing the music for Mistake of the Goddess, I flinched, knowing that my ability to understand and absorb, much less produce the music of India was severely limited by my present Western incarnation. Assured that the play was a contemplation and exploration of the confluence, clash, and contradiction of cultures, and not a concert of authentic Indian music, I became very interested in the musical/theatrical challenge of how to respect the music(s) of India (not being trained in those ancient, complex, and venerable Indian traditions) while supporting dramatically the truth of the story in the emotional/musical idioms we embrace at The Rogue. The result is, hopefully, a harmonious clash. Some of the songs and underscoring are based on existing Indian melodies, but most of them are my own compositions, relying heavily on a variety of ragas. The songs in the preshow and at the beginning, Jai Ganesh, Hey Govinda, and Vakaratunda are Indian kirtans and bhajans that we have come to thoroughly love. While not all of the instruments are authentically Indian, we are using a harmonium, mridangam drum, and bansuri flute, along with viola, dombra, bagpipe chanter, setar, guitar, and a stripped down buzzy autoharp. I have many to thank, especially for the loan of instruments: Ramesh Upadhyay at Namaste and Govinda’s, Sukanya Bhat at India Dukkan, Dani Dryer, Laurent Baig at Tucson Yoga, James Tanguay and the Folk Shop, luthier Richard Barnes, and Ana Irani. Thank you, Pam, for your love and support of music and the theater! And we all deeply thank our musicians, Jenny Hijazi, Eric Schoon, and Anton Shekerjiev, for their enthusiastic embrace of this music with their great talent, sensitivity, flexibility, humor, and utsaah. And of course Ganesh, who saw us through this challenge. Jai! —Paul Amiel, Music Director

Musician Biographies

	Paul Amiel (Music Director) is a musician/composer passionate about traditional music and instruments of the world, with an emphasis on Turkish, Medieval, Chinese, Japanese, Mediterranean, and ancient music. Paul has performed on gothic harp, kaval, saz, ney, banjo, flute, piano, guitar, dizi, shakuhachi, and accordéon for his groups Summer Thunder, Muso, Seyyah, Zambuka, and Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Theatre 3) as well as Musica Sonora, the Arizona Early Music Society, and Odaiko Sonora. Paul, an Artistic Associate of The Rogue, was Music Director for Kafka’s Monkey and Metamorphosis, Richard III, The Night Heron, Journey to the West, As I Lay Dying and The Winter’s Tale. Mistake of the Goddess is his 16th production with The Rogue Theatre. Paul Amiel’s music direction is supported in part by a generous gift from Pam Shack.
Jennifer Rose Hijazi (Vocalist) graduated with a BFA in Musical Theatre and a BA in Art History from the University of Arizona in May 2012. She has performed with The Rogue Theatre as Sarah Undershaft in Major Barbara and with The Now Theatre in its production of Overruled. Local credits include Olive Ostrovsky in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Cinderella in Into the Woods, and Shy in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Jennifer is currently pursuing dual masters degrees in journalism and Middle Eastern studies at the University of Arizona.
	Eric Schoon (Musician) performed music for The Rogue Theatre's productions of As I Lay Dying and Kafka’s Monkey and Metamorphosis. Trained as a classical violist, Eric has performed in orchestras and as a soloist in the United States and throughout Europe. He studied at Penn State University, and completed a Bachelor of Musical Arts degree in viola performance in 2008. In addition to the viola, Eric also enjoys playing a variety of other instruments and is currently completing a Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Arizona.
Anton Shekerjiev (Musician) Born and raised in Bulgaria, Anton traveled extensively in Eastern and Western Europe playing music from the Balkans, and lived for several years in Spain performing with masters of Bulgarian music. In 2001 he moved to the USA, and in Tucson formed the bands Balkan Spirit, Trite Muzikante, MoroMore and others, performing Mediterranean, Flamenco, Moroccan, Asian and other types of world music. Anton performed as a musician for The Rogue Theatre production of The Winter’s Tale, and currently performs with the bands Gsol, Tarraf de Tucson, Mzekala and others, playing tamboura, djura, guitar, and kaba gaida (bagpipe). He recently graduated from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor of Fine Arts.

 

David Greenwood as Hayavadana

Photo by Tim Fuller

 

Designers
Costume Design		Cynthia Meier
Scenic Design		Joseph McGrath
Lighting Design		Don Fox
Production Staff
Stage Manager		Leah Taylor
Costume Construction		Cynthia Meier, Karen DeLay
Ganesha Figure, Hayavadana Mask		Matt Cotten
Other Masks		Aaron Cromie
Half Curtain Painting		Amy Novelli
Dramaturg		Holly Griffith
Assistant Stage Manager		Wesley Creigh
Lighting Programmer		Josh Hemmo
Lighting Crew		Peter Bleasby, Josh Hemmo & Javier Martinez
House Manager		Susan Collinet
Box Office Manager		Thomas Wentzel
Box Office Assistants		Chelsea Bowdren, Holly Griffith, Caroline Ragano & Evren Sonmez
Poster, Program & Website		Thomas Wentzel

 

	Don Fox (Lighting Design) holds a B.A. in Theatre Administration from St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX and in May 2014 will complete his M.F.A in Lighting Design at the University of Arizona. Prior to returning to grad school in 2011 Don was the Technical Director and Facilities Manager at the high-tech Performing Arts Center of Wenatchee, in Washington’s Cascade Mountains. He has served as lighting and sound consultant for Silversea Cruises, has twice designed Shakespeare in the Park for the San Antonio Botanical Gardens, and is resident lighting designer for Tucson’s Artifact Dance Project for whom he recently designed I Wonder if My Name is Alice, and The Great American Dance Tour which toured for a month to the great opera houses of China. Favorite designs include Bat Boy—The Musical, Jesus Christ Superstar, and SAAF’s Moda Provacateur fashion show/fundraiser. This is Don’s first production with The Rogue Theatre. His complete portfolio is at www.djfox.biz.
Leah Taylor (Stage Manager) was Stage Manager for The Rogue Theatre’s Major Barbara, As I Lay Dying, Shipwrecked! An Entertainment, The New Electric Ballroom, The Winter’s Tale, Journey to the West, The Night Heron, Mother Courage and Her Children, Kafka’s Monkey and Metamorphosis, Richard III and after the quake and Assistant to the Stage Manager for The Decameron. She was Stage Manager for The Now Theatre’s The Pillowman, The Bald Soprano and Overruled. Other work includes shows with Winding Road Theatre Ensemble and Sacred Chicken Productions. Leah graduated from the University of Arizona in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in Classics and Anthropology.
	Holly Griffith (Dramaturg) is a Master’s student of English Literature at the University of Arizona where she also teaches Freshman Composition. Holly’s academic interests include multi-cultural American Literature, folklore, Irish literature, and of course, drama and theatre studies. In addition to her scholarly pursuits, Holly has worn many hats as a performing artist. She most recently served as the President of Emerson Dance Company in Boston, MA, and choreographed a Student Dance Showcase at The Miami Valley School in Dayton, Ohio. Holly also directed Marina Carr’s By the Bog of Cats, and co-directed Brian Friel’s Lovers for Rareworks Theatre Company in Boston, MA.
Susan Collinet (House Manager) earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Creative Writing and English Literature from the University of Arizona in 2008. Decades before returning to college as a non-traditional student, Susan spent twenty years in amateur theater, mostly on the East coast, as well as in Brussels, Belgium in the American Theater of Brussels, and the Theatre de Chenois in Waterloo. She has worked in such positions as a volunteer bi-lingual guide in the Children’s Museum of Brussels, the Bursar of a Naturopathic Medical school in Tempe, Arizona, an entrepreneur with two “Susan’s of Scottsdale” hotel gift shops in Scottsdale, Arizona, and as the volunteer assistant Director of Development of the Arizona Aids Project in Phoenix. Susan continues to work on collections of poetry and non-fiction. Her writing has won awards from Sandscript Magazine, the John Hearst Poetry Contest, the Salem College for Women’s Center for Writing, and was published in a Norton Anthology of Student’s Writing. In addition to being House Manager, Susan serves on the Board of Directors and acts as Volunteer Coordinator for the Rogue.

 

Our Thanks
Tim Fuller		Tucson Weekly
Chuck Graham		Herb Stratford
Shawn Burke		Jesse Greenberg
Arizona Daily Star		Ramesh Upadhyay
The Folk Shop		Our Advertisers
Arizona Theatre Company

 

Ryan Parker Knox as Devadatta and Marissa Garcia as Padmini

Photo by Tim Fuller

 

Performance Schedule for Mistake of the Goddess (Hayavadana)

Location: The Rogue Theatre at The Historic Y, 300 East University Boulevard
Click here for information on free off-street parking

Performance run time is 2 hours and 25 minutes, including one ten-minute intermission, and not including music preshow or post-show discussion.

Thursday, September 12, 2013, 7:30 pm DISCOUNT PREVIEW
Friday, September 13, 2013, 7:30 pm DISCOUNT PREVIEW
Saturday, September 14, 2013, 7:30pm DISCOUNT PREVIEW
Sunday, September 15, 2013, 2:00 pm matinee OPENING PERFORMANCE SOLD OUT

Thursday, September 19, 2013, 7:30 pm
Friday, September 20, 2013, 7:30 pm
Saturday, September 21, 2013, 7:30 pm
Sunday, September 22, 2013, 2:00 pm matinee SOLD OUT

Thursday, September 26, 2013, 7:30 pm
Friday, September 27, 2013, 7:30 pm
Saturday, September 28, 2013, 2:00 pm matinee
Saturday, September 28, 2013, 7:30 pm
Sunday, September 29, 2013, 2:00 pm matinee SOLD OUT

 

The Ensemble and Ganesha, the destroyer of obstacles

Photo by Tim Fuller
Lighting design by Don Fox