Recipient of the
2012 American Theatre Wing
National Theatre Company Award

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Press

Godot: The perfect ink blot test

Review of Waiting for Godot by Chuck Graham on January 12 in Let The Show Begin! at TucsonStage.com

Rogue production gives clarity—sort of—to Waiting for Godot

Review of Waiting for Godot by Kathleen Allen for the Arizona Daily Star

Rogue Theatre tackles Godot

Preview of Waiting for Godot by Kathleen Allen in the January 8 Arizona Daily Star

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

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Direction

	Cynthia Meier (Director) is Co-Founder and Managing and Associate Artistic Director for The Rogue Theatre where she has adapted and directed James Joyce’s The Dead and Kafka’s Metamorphosis, and directed Jerusalem, Betrayal, Arcadia, Richard III, Journey to the West, The Winter’s Tale, Shipwrecked!, New-Found-Land, Old Times, The Tempest, Naga Mandala, The Four of Us, Othello, Animal Farm, Orlando, Happy Days, The Good Woman of Setzuan, The Fever and The Cherry Orchard. She holds a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from the University of Arizona. She is co-founder of Bloodhut Productions, a company performing original monologues and comedy improvisation, which toured throughout the western United States. She also directed The Seagull (featuring Ken Ruta) for Tucson Art Theatre, and she directed Talia Shire in Sister Mendelssohn and Edward Herrmann in Beloved Brahms for Chamber Music Plus Southwest. Cynthia received the Mac Award for Best Director, Drama for Richard III in 2013, and for Arcadia in 2014. She has been nominated for seven Mac Awards for Best Actress from the Arizona Daily Star, and in 2008, she received the Mac Award for Best Actress for her performance of Stevie in Edward Albee’s The Goat at The Rogue Theatre. Cynthia Meier’s direction of Waiting for Godot is supported in part by a generous gift from Dave Lewis.
Patty Gallagher (Associate Director) is an Artistic Associate of The Rogue Theatre and 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 Madame Moiselle in Dante's Purgatorio, Hannah Jarvis in Arcadia, Kali in Mistake of the Goddess (Hayavadana), 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. In 2014 she was awarded the Pavel Machotka Chair in Creative Studies at UCSC’s Porter College. She holds a doctorate in Theatre from University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is Director in Residence for the Clown Conservatory, San Francisco Circus Center.

 

Notes from the Director

“Waiting for Godot has achieved a theoretical impossibility—a play in which nothing happens, that yet keeps audiences glued to their seats. What's more, since the second act is a subtly different reprise of the first, he has written a play in which nothing happens, twice.” —Irish literacy critic Vivian Mercier Waiting for Godot premiered in French at the Théâtre de Babylone, Paris, in January 1953 (a dozen reviews in daily papers ranged from tolerant to enthusiastic) and went on to London in English in 1955, directed by Peter Hall. Writing in the Guardian, critic Philip Hope-Wallace described Beckett’s play as “inexplicit and deliberately fatuous” and claimed it “bored some people acutely.” Later that year it won “The Most Controversial Play of the Year Award” from the Evening Standard—the only time that award was ever given. The play opened in New York in 1956. Critic Ben Brantley described it as “a mystery wrapped in an enigma.” James Knowlson, Beckett's friend and biographer, wrote about the appeal of Waiting for Godot in the years since it was first produced: “I would suggest the answer lies in its ambiguities. So much is suggested rather than explicitly stated. People can read into it what they want to read into it. This openness to interpretation has helped the play to avoid becoming dated. For a play that's about the passing of time, it’s curiously timeless. It asks all the big philosophical questions—about life and death and the uncertain purpose of what goes on in between—but in a way that isn't limited to a particular place or era.” Over the past two months, we at The Rogue have been alternately bewildered and elated by Beckett’s meditation on life in Waiting for Godot. At times, we seemed almost certain about the meaning of a moment, and at other times, we had to be content to live with the mystery. We encourage you, dear friends, to let the puzzle of this play envelop you and to simply enjoy its images and words and whatever meaning they may reveal to you. As Vladimir says: “In an instant all will vanish and we’ll be alone once more, in the midst of nothingness.” Why not laugh together in the meantime? —Cynthia Meier, Director director@theroguetheatre.org

 

Matt Bowdren as Estragon and Joseph McGrath as Vladimir

Photo by Tim Fuller

 

About the Playwright

	Samuel Beckett (Playwright) (1906-1989) was born in Foxrock, County Dublin, Ireland, to a comfortable Anglican family. He excelled in sports as a young man and was especially fond of cricket. Beckett studied French, Italian, and English at Dublin’s Trinity College from 1923 to 1927, and moved to Paris at the age of 23. There he met the much older James Joyce and became his assistant. Joyce deeply influenced Beckett’s thinking and writing. Beckett returned briefly to Ireland in 1933 to be with his ailing father and teach at Trinity College. After his father’s death, he returned to Paris and published his first two novels, More Pricks Than Kicks and Murphy. He took part in the French resistance in World War II, helping the Irish Red Cross to rebuild Saint Lo, while working on his novel Watt. Between 1945 and 1955, he wrote the trilogy of Molloy, Malone Dies, and The Unnamable, as well as Waiting for Godot, all in French. In 1969, Beckett was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

 

Joseph McGrath as Vladimir, David Greenwood as Lucky, David Morden as Pozzo and Matt Bowdren as Estragon

Joseph McGrath as Vladimir and Matt Bowdren as Estragon

Photos by Tim Fuller

 

Cast
Estragon		Matt Bowdren*
Vladimir		Joseph McGrath*
Pozzo		David Morden*
Lucky		David Greenwood*
Boy		Adam Taner Harris
*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 (Estragon) has appeared at The Rogue in Awake and Sing, 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 where he teaches acting and directing and was recently seen in the Arizona Repertory Theatre production of Frankenstein. Matt Bowdren’s performance is supported in part by a generous gift from Joyce & John Ambruster.
David Greenwood (Lucky) has appeared at The Rogue in Jerusalem, Awake and Sing, 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 Dan Gilmore.
	Adam Taner Harris (Boy) is a senior at the University of Arizona and is so excited to be appearing on The Rogue stage for the first time. A BA In Theatre Arts, he has appeared in the University's productions of Mr. Marmalade (Bradley) and The Secret Garden (Colin u/s). After graduating, he plans on sharing his love for theatre by teaching at the high school level. Adam Taner Harris’ performance is supported in part by a generous gift from Norma Davenport.
Joseph McGrath (Vladimir) is Co-Founder and Artistic Director for The Rogue Theatre and has appeared in Jerusalem, Awake and Sing, 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 Jan Stewart.
	David Morden (Pozzo) has been a part of The Rogue Theatre for nine years, where his appearances onstage include Wesley in Jerusalem, Louis de Rougemont in Shipwrecked!, Jellaby and Captain Brice in Arcadia, Buckingham in Richard III, The Chaplain in Mother Courage and Her Children, Polixenes in The Winter’s Tale, Rinieri in The Decameron, Stephano in The Tempest, Editor Webb in Our Town, and in the ensembles of Purgatorio, Animal Farm and Orlando. 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 also directed The Rogue’s productions of Measure for Measure, Major Barbara, Ghosts, A Delicate Balance, The Goat, Six Characters in Search of an Author and Krapp’s Last Tape, Not I & Act Without Words. David is an Assistant Professor of Voice and Movement 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 directed three one-act adaptations of Medea for the Studio Series. David Morden’s performance is supported in part by a generous gift from Joan Cook.

 

Jake Sorgen and Adam Taner Harris in the Preshow

Photos by Tim Fuller

 

Music
Music Director		Jake Sorgen

 

Preshow Music

For Morton Feldman for Samuel Beckett for Franz Schubert
by Jake Sorgen

The Waiting Juggler
by Jake Sorgen

 

Music Director’s Notes

Composing music for a play as well known for its silences as Waiting for Godot, there is a tendency to treat silence quite literally, as the play is historically done without musical accompaniment. But as with many aspects of Godot where there are multiple layers to each word and movement, there too is more than one interpretation of silence and sound. The music you’ll hear in the play follows the tradition of indeterminacy as practiced by composers such as Morton Feldman, John Cage, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. This type of music may be notated more or less traditionally but the performance of it is not designed to be restricted to tempos, pitches, or dynamics on the page but by other forces, in this case the actors’ movements and rhythms of Beckett’s language. One of the foremost scholars on Beckett and music, Mary Bryden, has written that in Beckett’s work the characters are held down by language while “music acts as an impetus for movement” and may “defer the dictates of time and space.” As Didi and Gogo drum up exercises, games, and conversations to help pass the time, the music will expand, compress, and articulate the sometimes rapid, sometimes endless movement of day into night. —Jake Sorgen, Music Director and Composer

 

	Jake Sorgen (Music Director) was music director for Jerusalem and Awake and Sing at The Rogue Theatre, and 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 is supported in part by a generous gift from Robert & Rhonda Fleming.

 

 

David Morden as Pozzo, Matt Bowdren as Estragon, David Greenwood as Lucky and Joseph McGrath as Vladimir

 

David Morden as Pozzo, David Greenwood as Lucky, Joseph McGrath as Vladimir and Matt Bowdren as Estragon

Photos by Tim Fuller

 

Designers
Costume Design		Cynthia Meier
Costume design is supported in part by a generous gift from Kristi Lewis.
Scenic Design		Joseph McGrath
Lighting Design		Deanna Fitzgerald
Production Staff
Stage Manager		Holly Griffith
Set Construction		Joseph McGrath & Christopher Johnson
Master Electrician		Peter Bleasby
Lighting Crew		Ryan Moore
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 & Rebekah Thimlar
Program Advertising		Karen DeLay
Poster, Program & Website		Thomas Wentzel

 

	Deanna Fitzgerald (Lighting Design) is a Lighting Designer and member of United Scenic Artists Local 829, as well as an associate professor and resident lighting designer at the University of Arizona. Deanna is particularly interested in material that is without spoken word, as well as the relationship between contemplative practices and creativity, and its impact on the human experience.  Recent designs include the lighting designs of Jerusalem at The Rogue Theatre, Cirque Mechanics: Boom Town, which toured for 2 years with an off-Broadway appearance at The New Victory Theatre, and the North American tour of Erth’s Dinosaur Zoo. She designed the lighting for the world premiere STOMP OUT LOUD, the Las Vegas version of the internationally acclaimed STOMP. Other career highlights include 6 years as the Lighting Director on the International Tour of STOMP; Production Director of the Opera Theater Music Festival in Lucca, Italy; Lighting Supervisor/Assistant Lighting Designer at the Santa Fe Opera; Lighting and Tour Consultant for the Original Broadway Cast tours of the Greater Tuna trilogy. Deanna welcomes you to experience more of her work at www.deannafitzgerald.com.
Holly Griffith (Stage Manager) has performed with The Rogue Theatre as Pea in Jerusalem, in the ensemble of Purgatorio and as Chloë Coverly in Arcadia. Holly has also served at The Rogue as a box office assistant and as dramaturg for Awake and Sing, Measure for Measure and Mistake of the Goddess. Holly is a Master’s student of English Literature at the University of Arizona where she also teaches Freshman Composition. 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, OH. 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.
	Peter Bleasby (Master Electrician) lit his first show at 13, using near-lethal home-made equipment.  Professionally, he was with BBC-TV for several years, and then was an assistant to UK lighting designer Richard Pilbrow, including the inaugural production at the National Theatre in London (Hamlet, directed by Olivier). He later transferred to the general lighting industry, handling projects ranging from major sports stadia to cathedrals, but maintained his theatre interests by lighting innumerable shows on both sides of the Atlantic.  When the Rogue established itself at The Historic Y in 2009, he volunteered for the initial lighting “hang,” returning in 2013 to work with lighting designer Don Fox and later with Deanna Fitzgerald.  For the 2014-15 season, he planned and supervised the installation of an extensive permanent wiring system that enables the lighting crews to devote more time to the creative process.  In Tucson, he also directs the technical and logistical aspects of Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation fundraisers, including the fashion show Moda Provocateur.
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
Our Advertisers

 

Joseph McGrath as Vladimir and Matt Bowdren as Estragon

 

Joseph McGrath as Vladimir and Matt Bowdren as Estragon

Photos by Tim Fuller

 

Performance Schedule for Waiting for Godot

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

Thursday, January 8, 2015, 7:30 pm DISCOUNT PREVIEW
Friday, January 9, 2015, 7:30 pm DISCOUNT PREVIEW
Saturday, January 10, 2015, 7:30pm DISCOUNT PREVIEW
Sunday, January 11, 2015, 2:00 pm matinee OPENING PERFORMANCE

Thursday, January 15, 2015, 7:30 pm
Friday, January 16, 2015, 7:30 pm
Saturday, January 17, 2015, 7:30 pm SOLD OUT
Sunday, January 18, 2015, 2:00 pm matinee SOLD OUT

Thursday, January 22, 2015, 7:30 pm
Friday, January 23, 2015, 7:30 pm
Saturday, January 24, 2015, 2:00 pm matinee SOLD OUT
Saturday, January 24, 2015, 7:30 pm
Sunday, January 25, 2015, 2:00 pm matinee SOLD OUT

Joseph McGrath as Vladimir and Matt Bowdren as Estragon

Photo by Tim Fuller