Recipient of the
2012 American Theatre Wing
National Theatre Company Award

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Press

Awake and Sing wants all of us to wake up from our dreams and sing of the truth. To believe in ourselves, instead of believing what we are told. The Rogue Theatre wants that, too, bringing us this deeply moving production like a sad-eyed kick in the pants! —Chuck Graham, Reviewer

Compelling Awake and Sing at The Rogue

Review of Awake and Sing by Chuck Graham on September 20 in Let The Show Begin! at TucsonStage.com

Rogue opens season with Odets’ classic

Preview of Awake and Sing by Kathleen Allen in the September 4 Arizona Daily Star

Odets’ Awake and Sing coming to Rogue Theatre

Preview of Awake and Sing in the August 29 Arizona Jewish Post

Read others’ reviews of The Rogue Theatre, or write your own review on TripAdvisor!

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Direction

	Bryan Rafael Falcón (Director) has directed The Night Heron and The New Electric Ballroom (2012 Mac Award for Best Director) and Assistant Directed Arcadia, As I Lay Dying and The Tempest for The Rogue Theatre. Bryan is a graduate of the MFA in Directing program at the University of Western Illinois. In addition to working regionally in Chicago, the Twin Cities and Virginia, he is the former artistic director of two Indiana-based theater companies: The Backporch Theater Company (a Shakespeare traveling troupe) and New World Arts (an experimental black box theater company). Bryan dedicates the show to his poet wife, Elizabeth, who graciously watches their two munchkins while he lives in the world of the Berger family. Bryan Rafael Falcón’s direction of Awake and Sing is supported in part by a generous gift from John & Joyce Ambruster.

Notes from the Director

About a week ago, while preparing for rehearsal at a favorite haunt just down the road, I was wrestling with a particularly enigmatic storytelling problem when Joe McGrath appeared alongside my table. Taking in my open script, my scribbled notes, and my pained expression, he quipped, “It’s about family,” and shrugged. So true. Odets’ raw masterpiece Awake and Sing is about a Jewish working-class family with middle class aspirations. Written out of frustration and an examination of his own values and family, Awake and Sing presented a unique and somewhat autobiographical view of 1930’s life. “I was stuffed in a room," Odets later told the New York World Telegram, ”waiting for Luther Adler to perish so I might yet get a chance at playing his part in Success Story." Odets’ company, the influential Group Theater, helped introduce “messy kitchen realism” and the great Stanislavski’s teachings to a wildly receptive Broadway stage. In Awake and Sing, young Ralph Berger, “a boy with a clean spirit,” struggles for life amidst a line of worn acolytes of the American Dream. “I wanna make up my own mind about things...be something,” he declares early on in the play. The mother (and self-proclaimed father) of the family, Bessie, harangues him and his sister, Hennie, about being successful. “It’s about respect,” she preaches, yet she is a pragmatist who knows that money talks. One biographer described Ralph’s relationship with Bessie as the embodiment of Odets’ relationship with his father, who once expressed his opinion of his son’s career by smashing his typewriter. Ralph is surrounded by heartbroken souls waiting for some big payout by Destiny, who also understand their plight. “The day I began losing my hair I just knew I was destined to be a failure in life,” says his perpetually optimistic father, “and when I grew bald I was!” His grandfather, Jacob, the conscience of the family, quotes Marxist texts with fire, but grieves his lost opportunities. “A man who had golden opportunities but drank instead a glass tea.” Yet there are glimmers of hope amidst the Berger family. The forbidden romance of Hennie and Moe is driven by a shared yen for something outside their bleak existence. “Paradise,” Moe calls Hennie, as he dreams of a beautiful place where oranges “fall right in my mouth.” Awake and Sing plays like the blues, with all of the beauty, complexity and heartache of life. This musicality of language, character and subject matter is what makes Awake and Sing a masterpiece. It’s about family. Enjoy the play. —Bryan Rafael Falcón, Director of Awake and Sing director@theroguetheatre.org

Playwright

	Clifford Odets was born to Jewish immigrant parents in Philadelphia in 1906. He was raised in New York City, but dropped out of school at 17 to become an actor. He worked in small repertory companies throughout the 1920s before becoming one of the original members of the influential American ensemble Group Theatre, founded by Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford and method-acting guru Lee Strasberg. In the midst of the Great Depression, Odets perfected the group’s ambition to write plays in the authentic language of its working-class characters; his crackling, pitch-perfect dialogue brought an unprecedented level of social realism to the theater. Odets quickly followed the success of his play Waiting for Lefty in 1935 with what many consider his masterpiece, Awake and Sing. Odets is considered the defining American playwright of the 1930s and revered as one of drama’s greatest crusaders for social justice.

 

 

David Greenwood as Jacob, Terry Erbe as Uncle Morty, Cynthia Meier as Bessie Berger,
Ryan Parker Knox as Moe Axelrod and Marissa Garcia as Hennie Berger

 

Marissa Garcia as Hennie Berger, Matt Bowdren as Ralph Berger, Cynthia Meier as Bessie Berger,
Joseph McGrath as Myron Berger and Ryan Parker Knox as Moe Axelrod

Photos by Tim Fuller

 

Cast
Jacob		David Greenwood*
Ralph Berger		Matt Bowdren*
Hennie Berger		Marissa Garcia
Bessie Berger		Cynthia Meier
Myron Berger		Joseph McGrath*
Uncle Morty		Terry Erbe
Moe Axelrod		Ryan Parker Knox*
Sam Feinschreiber		Steve McKee
Schlosser		Gary Tyrrell
Tootsie		Ripley Erbe
*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 (Ralph Berger) has appeared at The Rogue in Betrayal, Arcadia, Measure for Measure, Mistake of the Goddess, after the quake (2013 Mac Award for Best Actor), 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 with The Now Theatre and Romeo and Juliet with Southwest Shakespeare. Matt has worked regionally in Georgia and New York City performing with The Rose of Athens, Hudson Shakespeare Company, and Collaborative Stages. Matt holds an M.F.A in Performance from the University of Georgia, and is currently engaged in a Post Graduate Fellowship in Acting at the University of Arizona. Matt Bowdren’s performance is supported in part by a generous gift from Bill & Carol Mangold.
Terry Erbe (Uncle Morty) has appeared at The Rogue in Our Town and The Balcony. Terry is in his 15th year teaching and directing theatre at Catalina Foothills High School. Recent acting credits include “the monster” in Playing with Fire (After Frankenstein) at Live Theatre Workshop, King Henry in The Lion in Winter and Johnny in Frankie & Johnny in the Claire de Lune for Winding Road Theater, and Moonlight & Magnolias, Leaving Iowa and The Exonerated at The Invisible Theatre. Terry has been nominated for MAC awards five times, both for acting and directing, and was recognized by the Arizona Daily Star in a featured article titled “10 Actors You Must See In Tucson” in 2010. Terry holds an M.A. in Stage Direction from Roosevelt University, Chicago College of Performing Arts Theatre Conservatory. Terry Erbe’s performance is supported in part by a generous gift from Norma Davenport.
	Marissa Garcia (Hennie Berger) has appeared at The Rogue in Purgatorio, Betrayal, Measure for Measure, Mistake of the Goddess, after the quake, Richard III, Metamorphosis, Mother Courage, The Night Heron, Journey to the West, The Winter’s Tale, As I Lay Dying, and Major Barbara. Marissa has been honored to work for troupes in Colorado and California and graced with the talents of band mates throughout the country. A homegrown export, Marissa is a native Tucsonan and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting and Directing from the University of Arizona. Other local roles include: Ann Deever in All My Sons (Live Theatre Workshop), Thomasina Coverly in Arcadia (Arizona Repertory Theatre) and Ana Hernandez in Living Out (Borderlands Theater—Mac Award Nominee, Best Actress). Marissa Garcia’s performance is supported in part by a generous gift from Joan Cook.
David Greenwood (Jacob) has appeared at The Rogue in Purgatorio, Arcadia, Measure for Measure, Mistake of the Goddess, Richard III, Metamorphosis, Mother Courage, The Night Heron, Journey to the West, The Winter’s Tale, As I Lay Dying, Major Barbara, The Real Inspector Hound, The Decameron and The Rogue’s first production, The Balcony. David 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 Maura Brackett.
	Ryan Parker Knox (Moe Axelrod) has appeared at The Rogue in Purgatorio, Betrayal, Arcadia, Measure for Measure, Mistake of the Goddess, Richard III, Metamorphosis, Mother Courage and Her Children, The Night Heron, and Journey to the West. Ryan is a native of South Dakota and has lived in Tucson for three 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. 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 Paul Winick and Ronda Lustman.
Joseph McGrath (Myron Berger) is Co-Founder and Artistic Director for The Rogue Theatre and has appeared in Arcadia, Measure for Measure, Richard III, The Night Heron, Journey to the West, The Winter’s Tale, The New Electric Ballroom, Shipwrecked!, Major Barbara, New-Found-Land, Old Times, The Tempest, Ghosts, Naga Mandala, Othello, Krapp’s Last Tape, A Delicate Balance (2009 Mac Award for Best Actor), Animal Farm, Orlando, Happy Days, Six Characters in Search of an Author, Red Noses, The Goat, The Cherry Orchard, The Good Woman of Setzuan, Endymion, The Dead, and The Fever. Joe is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Drama and has toured with John Houseman’s Acting Company. He has performed with the Utah Shakespearean Festival and has been a frequent performer with Ballet Tucson appearing in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and for seventeen years as Herr Drosselmeyer in The Nutcracker. He has also performed with Arizona Theatre Company, Arizona Opera, and Arizona Onstage. Joe owns, with his wife Regina Gagliano, Sonora Theatre Works, which produces theatrical scenery and draperies. Joseph McGrath’s performance is supported in part by a generous gift from Karen DeLay and Bill Sandel.
	Steve McKee (Sam Feinschreiber) has appeared at The Rogue in Measure for Measure, Richard III, Mother Courage and Her Children, and The Winter’s Tale. He was also featured in Passionately, Piazzolla!, part of the 2013 Tucson Desert Song Festival. Steve has worked with many local theatre companies and been featured in independent and student films. Favorite roles include Harpagon in The Miser, Halder in Good, Terrence in Breaking Legs, A.C. in Death of Zukasky and Panch in 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Steve has also appeared locally with Live Theatre Workshop and Borderlands Theatre.
Cynthia Meier (Bessie Berger) is Co-Founder and Managing and Associate Artistic Director for The Rogue, and has appeared in Purgatorio, Measure for Measure, Mistake of the Goddess, Mother Courage and Her Children, The Night Heron, The New Electric Ballroom, As I Lay Dying, Major Barbara, The Real Inspector Hound, The Decameron, Ghosts, Not I, Our Town, A Delicate Balance, Immortal Longings, Six Characters in Search of an Author, Red Noses, The Goat (2008 Mac Award for Best Actress), The Maids, Endymion, and The Balcony. Cynthia has been nominated for seven Mac Awards for Best Actress from the Arizona Daily Star. 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, which toured throughout the western United States. 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 Karen DeLay and Bill Sandel.
	Gary Tyrrell (Schlosser) is delighted to be making his first appearance on The Rogue stage. Since moving to Tucson three years ago Gary has appeared as MacDuff in MacBeth’s Knife and Andy in Love Letters. Prior to that he appeared in several plays with Dreamwell Theatre in Iowa City, Iowa, including The Playboy of the Western World and The Drag.
Ripley Erbe (Tootsie) is making her debut at The Rogue (or any other theatre, actually). Ripley has no experience and even less training. But she does come from an acting family, and Mom & Dad feel that the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree. Ripley will be available for autographs and petting after the show.

 

 

Matt Bowdren as Ralph Berger, Ryan Parker Knox as Moe Axelrod,
Ripley Erbe as Tootsie and David Greenwood as Jacob

 

Steve McKee as Sam Feinschreiber, Marissa Garcia as Hennie Berger and Matt Bowdren as Ralph Berger

 

Jake Sorgen performs on saxophone in the music preshow

Photos by Tim Fuller

 

Music
Music Director and Composer		Jake Sorgen

 

	Jake Sorgen (Music Director, Composer) has performed as a musician at The Rogue in Purgatorio and Betrayal. Jake is a musician/composer originally from Woodstock, New York. Primarily a guitarist & saxophonist, Jake also plays mandolin, bass, and other reed instruments in a wide range of styles including American and European folk, jazz, contemporary improvisation, and free music. As a solo artist Jake has released two albums, Sudden Myth in 2012 and In Transit in 2013, as well as appearing as a featured artist on the avant-garde band BLOB’s 2010 release A Night At The Opera and has performed extensively throughout the Northeast. In 2012 Jake composed the score for Rareworks Theatre’s production of Lovers and By The Bog of Cats in Boston and began work on a lyrical project adapting Joseph Brodsky’s Watermark for guitar and voice. Jake Sorgen’s music direction of Awake and Sing is supported in part by a generous gift from Meg & Peter Hovell.

Music Director’s Notes

Not long after the premiere of Awake and Sing, Aaron Copland was asked by The Group Theatre to compose music for Irwin Shaw’s play Quiet City. While the play was not a major success, the music Copland composed is considered a hallmark of his “urban pastoral” sound, bringing together the present and past in one chord. This music has served as a foundation for me in composing the solo saxophone score for Awake and Sing. The Berger family exists in the past (ours and their own) and present as their exchanges bounce from one person to the next. I’ve tried to create a sound that is in touch with these characters: sad, sweet, defeated, and hopeful. In addition to Copland, I’ve been guided by two other period-appropriate sources: a traditional Hebrew song entitled “Eliyahu Hanavi,” and the Caruso recordings heard throughout the play. My deepest thanks to Bryan Falcon for his support, direction, and friendship throughout this process, Cindy and Joe for their guidance, Holly Griffith for helping me explore this world, Chris Babbie for his creation of the phono­graph and radio, and of course the cast for allowing me to be part of the incredible music they make together on stage. Phonograph Recordings: Enrico Caruso, “O’Paradiso” from L’Africana (1907) and “Mi Par D’Udir Ancor” from Les Pecheurs De Perles (1907) Radio Recording: “Utomennoe Solntse” by Jerzy Petersburski (1936) —Jake Sorgen, Music Director and Composer for Awake and Sing

 

 

David Greenwood as Jacob and Ryan Parker Knox as Moe Axelrod

 

Ryan Parker Knox as Moe Axelrod, Joseph McGrath as Myron Berger and Marissa Garcia as Hennie Berger

 

Gary Tyrrell as Schlosser and Cynthia Meier as Bessie Berger

Photos by Tim Fuller

 

Designers
Costume Design		Cynthia Meier
Costume design is supported in part by a generous gift from Katherine Smith.
Scenic Design		Joseph McGrath
Lighting Design		Don Fox
Production Staff
Stage Manager		Keri Muir
Dramaturg		Holly Griffith
Dialect Coach		David Morden
Props Mistress		Keri Muir
Sound Effects Design		Chris Babbie
Set Construction		Joseph McGrath & Christopher Johnson
Costume Construction		Cynthia Meier & Karen DeLay
Master Electrician		Peter Bleasby
Lighting Crew		Josh Hemmo
Scenic Artist		Johanna Martinez
House Manager		Susan Collinet
Assistant House Manager		Caroline Ragano
Box Office Manager		Thomas Wentzel
Box Office Assistants		Matt Bowdren, Kara Clauser, Holly Griffith & Jake Sorgen
Program Advertising		Karen DeLay
Poster, Program & Website		Thomas Wentzel

 

	Don Fox (Lighting Design) has designed lights for The Rogue Theatre for Purgatorio, Betrayal, Arcadia, Measure for Measure, and Mistake of the Goddess. Don earned his MFA in Lighting Design from the University of Arizona and holds a B.A. in Theatre Administration from St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX. Don is the Lighting Designer and Production Manager for the 2014 West Coast tour of the Moscow Ballet's Great Russian Nutcracker and will also tour nationally this fall with Circus Electronica. Recently, he was the Summer 2014 season designer for the Post Playhouse at Ft. Robinson State Park in northwest Nebraska where he designed five musicals running concurrently. Prior to returning to grad school, Don was the Technical Director and Facilities manager for the Performing Arts Center of Wenatchee, in Washington’s Cascade Mountains. He has served as lighting and sound consultant for Silversea Cruises, twice designed Shakespeare in the Park for the San Antonio Botanical Gardens, and is resident lighting designer for Tucson’s Artifact Dance Project. Favorite Tucson designs include Arizona Onstage’s recent production of Les Miserables and SAAF’s Moda Provacateur fashion show/fundraiser. His complete portfolio is at www.djfox.biz.
Keri Muir (Stage Manager, Props Mistress) is thrilled to join The Rogue Theatre for Awake and Sing! She has been the Production Stage Manager for Arizona Opera since 2004, and also has served in that capacity on the Ballet Tucson productions of Swan Lake, Cinderella and The Nutcracker. Prior to moving to Tucson, she had a long and varied career as a Stage Manager, including 13 seasons as Resident Stage Manager at Center Stage in Baltimore. She holds an M.F.A in Theatre: Design and Technology from the University of Missouri at Kansas City.
	Holly Griffith (Dramaturg) has served as dramaturg for The Rogue’s productions of Measure for Measure and Mistake of the Goddess, as well as performing in Rogue plays and serving as The Rogue’s box office assistant. Holly is a Master’s student of English Literature at the University of Arizona where she also teaches Freshman Composition. Her academic interests include 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 served as the President of Emerson Dance Company in Boston, MA, and choreographed a Student Dance Showcase at The Miami Valley School in Dayton. Holly also directed Marina Carr’s By the Bog of Cats, and co-directed Brian Friel’s Lovers for Rareworks Theatre Company in Boston.
David Morden (Dialect Coach) has coached dialects for every dialect-rich Rogue production since its inception. He has also served as the text coach for all Rogue productions of Shakespeare’s works. A frequent performer and director for The Rogue, David has also 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. He is an Assistant Professor in the University of Arizona School of Theatre, Film and Television, where he has directed Lend Me a Tenor and Inspecting Carol for Arizona Repertory Theatre, and three one-act adaptations of Medea for the Studio Series.
	Chris Babbie (Sound Effects Design) has provided The Rogue with sound and sound FX for Krapp’s Last Tape,  New-Found-Land and The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia. Among his other favorite theatrical sound design credits are Bent (a.k.a Theatre), Blue Window and Fall of the House of Usher (Meta Theatre), Touch (Damesrocket), Brahmadon (Actors’ Inc.’s), and Dual Heads (Borderlands). When he wasn’t touring with a band or a musical, he was working in every performance space from downtown Tucson to the UA’s far reaches (and almost every other space in town) providing sound for theatre, film, television, and music of all types and styles.
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		Jesse Greenberg
Arizona Daily Star		Shawn Burke
Lillian Fisher		Sol Littman
Haiku Learning		Our Advertisers
Terry & Amy Erbe		John & Joyce Ambruster
Chris Babbie, Location Sound		Bill Sandel & Karen DeLay
Paul Lucas, Arizona Theatre Company

 

 

Matt Bowdren as Ralph Berger, David Greenwood as Jacob, Cynthia Meier as Bessie Berger,
Joseph McGrath as Myron Berger and Marissa Garcia as Hennie Berger

 

Cynthia Meier as Bessie Berger, Terry Erbe as Uncle Morty, Joseph McGrath as Myron Berger,
Ryan Parker Knox as Moe Axelrod, Steve McKee as Sam Feinschreiber, Matt Bowdren as Ralph Berger
and Marissa Garcia as Hennie Berger

 

Cynthia Meier as Bessie Berger, Matt Bowdren as Ralph Berger and Joseph McGrath as Myron Berger

Photos by Tim Fuller

 

 

Performance Schedule for Awake and Sing

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 15 minutes, including one fifteen-minute intermission, and not including music preshow or post-show discussion.

Thursday, September 11, 2014, 7:30 pm DISCOUNT PREVIEW
Friday, September 12, 2014, 7:30 pm DISCOUNT PREVIEW
Saturday, September 13, 2014, 7:30pm DISCOUNT PREVIEW
Sunday, September 14, 2014, 2:00 pm matinee OPENING PERFORMANCE

Thursday, September 18, 2014, 7:30 pm
Friday, September 19, 2014, 7:30 pm
Saturday, September 20, 2014, 7:30 pm
Sunday, September 21, 2014, 2:00 pm matinee

Thursday, September 25, 2014, 7:30 pm
Friday, September 26, 2014, 7:30 pm
Saturday, September 27, 2014, 2:00 pm matinee
Saturday, September 27, 2014, 7:30 pm
Sunday, September 28, 2014, 2:00 pm matinee

 

David Greenwood as Jacob, Terry Erbe as Uncle Morty and Cynthia Meier as Bessie Berger

Photo by Tim Fuller