Recipient of the
2012 American Theatre Wing
National Theatre Company Award

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Press

Bach at Leipzig laughs at human nature

Review of Bach at Leipzig by Chuck Graham on November 7 in Let The Show Begin! at TucsonStage.com

Rogue’s Bach at Leipzig hits all the right notes

Review of Bach at Leipzig by Kathleen Allen to appear in the November 9 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, Kafka’s Metamorphosis and F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tales of the Jazz Age, and directed Celia, A Slave, The White Snake, Miss Julie, Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, The Merchant of Venice, Waiting for Godot, 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 Bach at Leipzig is supported in part by a generous gift from Joan Cook.

Notes from the Director

He makes even silence . . . gorgeous. —Georg Schott in Itamar Moses’ Bach at Leipzig Whenever I have the chance to spend a few hours at an art museum, I always leave changed. As I walk away, I see colors and patterns and shapes differently. I see “art” everywhere and have a new awareness of the beauty surrounding me. Great art has this effect. Great music has a similar effect on sound and silence. The musician Johann Fasch tells his wife in the play, “From an early age, my gingersnap, I heard everything in nature—from the squeak of wheels on a passing stagecoach to the slap of feet in mud puddles—as melodies and harmonies.” Is this what happens? The artist or the musician sees or hears deeply into everyday life and translates it into art or music, which in turn makes us see the beauty in life? In any case, this play, Bach at Leipzig, has made me hear fugues everywhere—in cafés, in traffic, in the sounds of crickets and wind—one melody joining with another in counterpoint, then reflecting back again as another voice enters. The play is itself a kind of fugue, which you shall soon see. But this play is also about tender egos, the endless splintering of religious factions, envy, the veneration of a teacher, the spirit of competition, and the desire for a father’s love, among many other subjects. In fact, the play is so rich that we are still discovering meanings and parallels and connections, even in the last few rehearsals. We hope you enjoy the play as much as we’ve enjoyed putting it together. And we hope you leave the theatre a little changed, a little more aware of the beauty (and laughter) around you. Cynthia Meier, Director director@theroguetheatre.org

 

Playwright

Itamar Moses (Playwright) grew up in Berkeley, Califormia, and earned his bachelor’s degree at Yale University and his MFA in Dramatic Writing from New York University. He has taught playwriting at both Yale and New York University. In addition to Bach at Leipzig (2002), he is the author of Outrage (2003), Celebrity Row (2006), The Four of Us (2007), Back Back Back (2008), Yellowjackets (2008), Love/Stories (2009), Completeness (2011), and The Fortress of Solitude (2014). He was born in 1977.

 

Joseph McGrath as Fasch and Matt Walley as Lenck

Joseph McGrath as Fasch, Matt Walley as Lenck, David Weynand as Graupner,
Holly Griffith as The Greatest Organist in Germany, Michael Bailey as Kaufmann,
Hunter Hnat as Steindorff and Ryan Parker Knox as Schott

Photos by Tim Fuller

 

Cast (in order of appearance)
Johann Friedrich Fasch		Joseph McGrath*
Georg Balthasar Schott		Ryan Parker Knox*
Georg Lenck		Matt Walley
Johann Martin Steindorff		Hunter Hnat
Georg Friedrich Kaufmann		Michael Bailey
Johann Christoph Graupner		David Weynand*
The Greatest Organist in Germany		Holly Griffith
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States

 

	Michael Bailey (Georg Friedrich Kaufmann) is an actor, an educator, a stand-up comic, a corporate speaker, a husband, a father, and a pretty fair bowler. Hailing from Dayton, Ohio, he holds a degree in theatre and English literature from Eastern Michigan University. For over thirty years, Michael has toured as a stand-up comic, headlining clubs, colleges, and corporate events throughout the country and appearing on several national television programs including VH-1 Stand-up Spotlight with Rosie O’Donnell and Comedy Central.  He has performed often with the Southwest Shakespeare Company in Mesa, AZ, playing such roles as Malvolio in Twelfth Night, Peter Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Dr. Caius in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Trinculo in The Tempest, Player in The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged), and Ivan in Art. Watch for Michael in the feature film Postmarked to be released later this winter.  This is Michael’s first performance with The Rogue Theatre and unquestionably, a show business dream come true. Michael Bailey’s performance is supported in part by a generous gift from Andy & Cammie Watson.
Joseph McGrath as Fasch, Michael Bailey as Kaufmann and Ryan Parker Knox as Schott
Holly Griffith (The Greatest Organist in Germany) is a member of the Acting Ensemble at The Rogue Theatre and has appeared in Celia, A Slave, A House of Pomegranates, Macbeth, The White Snake, Uncle Vanya, Angels in America Part One, Tales of the Jazz Age, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Miss Julie, By the Bog of Cats, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, The Lady in the Looking Glass, Jerusalem, Purgatorio and Arcadia. She has also served as Box Office Assistant, Dramaturg, Stage Manager, and Co-Producer of the John & Joyce Ambruster Play-Reading Series at The Rogue. Holly dabbles in tap, jazz, and ballet dance, and has performed and choreographed for Emerson Dance Company, X-Dance, and Emerson Urban Dance Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts. Holly holds an MA in English Literature from the University of Arizona, teaches Freshman Composition, and has a fierce interest in the history, culture, and literary tradition of Ireland. Holly Griffith’s performance is supported in part by a generous gift from Kate Phillips & Sheldon Trubatch.
Holly Griffith as The Greatest Organist in Germany
	Hunter Hnat (Johann Martin Steindorff) is working with The Rogue Theatre for the second time, having appeared in this past summer’s production, A House of Pomegranates. He is a Tucson local who has most recently been seen in the Tucson Fringe Festival’s Beer with the Bard. He is a U of A alumnus with his BFA in Musical Theatre class of 2015 and has plans to take his career to Chicago where he can live happily ever after with his amazing fiance. Enjoy the show! Hunter Hnat’s performance is supported in part by a generous gift from Kristi Lewis.
Hunter Hnat as Steindorff
Ryan Parker Knox (Georg Balthasar Schott)   Bach at Leipzig marks Ryan’s 27th production at the Rogue spanning more than five seasons as a member of the Acting Ensemble. He remains humbled by the fierce intellect of his fellow company members and the gracious support from the faithful Rogue patrons. Ryan is a South Dakota native and graduate from USD in 1999 with a BFA in Acting, and also spent over a decade performing in Minneapolis/St Paul before arriving in Tucson in the autumn of 2011. He would like to sincerely thank his family and friends for all their support through all the ups and downs. Ryan Parker Knox’s performance is supported in part by a generous gift from Jim Wilson & Adam Hostetter.
Ryan Parker Knox as Schott
	Joseph McGrath (Johann Friedrich Fasch) is Co-Founder and Artistic Director for The Rogue Theatre and has appeared in Celia, A Slave, Macbeth, Penelope, The White Snake, Angels in America Part One, Tales of the Jazz Age, Miss Julie, Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Merchant of Venice, Waiting for Godot, 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 Joan Cook.
Joseph McGrath as Fasch
Matt Walley (Georg Lenck) was seen most recently at The Rogue Theatre this past spring as Banquo in Macbeth. He has enjoyed previous roles at The Rogue in Richard III, Journey to the West, The Winter’s Tale, Shipwrecked!, As I Lay Dying, and Major Barbara. He graduated from Dell’Arte International in 2009 with an MFA in Physical Ensemble Theatre. He has also performed with The Pinnacle Peak Pistoleros and their Wild West Stunt Shows, Stories that Soar!, and Live Theatre Workshop. Matt Walley’s performance is supported in part by a generous gift from Joan Cook.
Matt Walley as Lenck
	David Weynand (Johann Christoph Graupner) has appeared with The Rogue as Duncan in Macbeth, Fa Hai in The White Snake and Serebryakov in Uncle Vanya. Tucson audiences have seen him in Stella and Lou (Invisible Theatre) and Comedy of Errors, Tempest, Othello and Frankenstein (Arizona Repertory Theatre). He has performed off-Broadway as one man in Night just before the forest (UBU Repertory) and Ron in The Ice Fishing Play (The Samuel Beckett Theatre). Favorite roles in regional theatre include Dvornichek in Rough Crossing (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park), Etienne in A Flea in Her Ear (St. Louis Repertory Theatre), Hindley in Wuthering Heights (Paper Mill Playhouse), A Tuna Christmas (Actors Theatre of Louisville), Algernon in The Importance of Being Ernest with actor Larry Linville (Capital Repertory), Pseudolous in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Hampton Playhouse), Bela Zangler in Crazy for You (Walnut Street Theatre), Lord Henry in  The Picture of Dorian Gray (Wisdom Bridge), Paul in You Can’t Take it With You (Steppenwolf) and Tom/Phyllis/Leslie in Sylvia (Capital Repertory). David holds an MFA in Directing from Texas State and a BFA in Acting from Theatre School at DePaul University/Goodman School of Drama. David Weynand’s performance is supported in part by a generous gift from Joan Cook.
David Weynand as Graupner

 

Music
Music Director & Sound Designer		Jake Sorgen
Preshow Violin		Vicki Brown

 

	Jake Sorgen (Music Direction & Sound Designer) was music director for Celia, A Slave, A House of Pomegranates, Macbeth, Penelope, The White Snake, Uncle Vanya, Angels in America Part One, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Miss Julie, By the Bog of Cats, Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, The Merchant of Venice, The Lady in the Looking Glass, Waiting for Godot, Jerusalem and Awake and Sing at The Rogue Theatre, and has performed as a musician at The Rogue in Purgatorio and Betrayal. Jake is an improviser/composer/musician originally from Woodstock, New York, and has composed for and performed with musicians, actors, and dancers in Amsterdam, Austin, Boston, New York, and Tucson. He performs solo and in music and interdisciplinary ensembles around the world and is currently recording his 4th solo album. Most recently Jake studied guitar with Ed DeLucia, improvised music with violist Mary Oliver, and movement with dancer Katie Duck and performed and studied with members of the Instant Composers Pool and the Creative Music Studio in the Netherlands and New York. Jake Sorgen’s music direction is supported in part by a generous gift from Sally Krusing.
Vicki Brown (Violin) was violinist for The Rogue’s recent production of Celia, A Slave. She is a composer and musician with a wide stylistic range. Collaboration is a cornerstone of her work, and she thrives on the exciting alchemy of working with a variety of artists, including choreographers, dancers, filmmakers, writers, painters and actors. She has created original scores for theater productions (Kore Press, Arizona Repertory Theater) and choreographers and dance filmmakers (Kimi Eisele, Tori Lawrence + Co, Jeremy Moss, New ARTiculations, Kore Press, Katherine Ferrier and Kathy Couch). She has been resident musician with compositional improvisation dance artists The Architects and Tucson’s Movement Salon. Music from her two solo albums, Winter Garden (2006) and Seas & Trees (2009), appears in the Oscar-nominated HBO documentary films, GASLAND (2010) and GASLAND II (2013). Vicki has also toured and recorded with numerous bands nationally and internationally since 2006. She received her PhD in Psychology from the University of Arizona in 2003 and currently works with international aid organizations and environmental agencies.

 

Music Director’s Notes

The “character” of Johann Sebastian Bach makes its biggest impact in the music throughout Bach at Leipzig. In the same way that one plays a crab canon backwards to understand the true beauty of its harmonies, Bach’s contemporaries provide us with a rich context to hear and more fully appreciate the vast catalogue Bach left behind. Heard throughout the play are selections from Prelude and Fugue in A Minor (BWV 543), Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor (BWV 582), Musikalisches Opfer, BWV 1079: Ricercare a 6 (BWV 1079), and Jesu bleibet meine Freude (BWV 147). My deepest thanks to Chris Babbie for his pivotal role in bringing the sounds of the Thomaskirche’s organ into our space and to my dear friend Vicki Brown, whose musical preshow provides us a varied and rich offering of some of Bach’s works. —Jake Sorgen, Music Director and Sound Designer

Music Preshow

Preshow Music will feature selections fromCello Suites (BWV 1007-1012)
Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach
Violin Concerto in E Major (BWV 1042)
Partita No. 5 (BWV 829)

All arranged and performed on solo violin by Vicki Brown

 

Joseph McGrath as Fasch, David Weynand as Graupner, Matt Walley as Lenck,
Ryan Parker Knox as Schott and Hunter Hnat as Steindorff

Matt Walley as Lenck, Ryan Parker Knox as Schott, Michael Bailey as Kaufmann,
Joseph McGrath as Fasch and Hunter Hnat as Steindorff

Photos by Tim Fuller

 

Designers
Costume Design		Cynthia Meier
Costume design is supported in part by a generous gift from Dee Barrington
Scenic Design		Joseph McGrath
Lighting Design		Deanna Fitzgerald
Production Staff
Stage Manager		Shannon Wallace
Fight Choreographer		Brent Gibbs
Scenic Artist		Amy Novelli
Set Construction		Joseph McGrath & Christopher Johnson
Costume Construction		Cynthia Meier, Nanalee Raphael, Barb Tanzillo, Lynn Davis, Zohreh Saunders & Barbara Seyda
Wigs		Athena Hagen
Associate Lighting Designer		Shannon Wallace
Master Electrician		Peter Bleasby
Lighting Crew		Tori Mays, Brie Gonzales, Connor Greene, Mack Woods, Kendall Phillips & Amber Rudnick
House Manager		Susan Collinet
Assistant House Managers		Leigh Moyer & Lizzie Schloss
Box Office Manager		Thomas Wentzel
Box Office Assistants		Kara Clauser, Holly Griffith, Allie Knuth & Rebekah Thimlar
Program Advertising		Paul Winick
Poster, Program & Website		Thomas Wentzel

 

	Deanna Fitzgerald (Lighting Design) is a professional Lighting Designer and member of United Scenic Artists, as well as an Associate Professor and head of lighting design and technology at the University of Arizona, where she also serves as the Associate Director of the theatre program and the Director of Graduate Studies. Her lighting design credits include theatre, dance, opera, circus-themed, puppets, architectural lighting and more. She is also a registered yoga and meditation teacher and conducts classes and workshops focused on using these and other "quietive" practices to enrich creative processes. Some of Deanna’s career highlights include the lighting designs of Cirque Mechanics: Boom Town, which toured for 2 years with an off-Broadway appearance at The New Victory Theatre, and Erth’s Dinosaur Zoo US Tour. She designed the lighting for the world premiere STOMP OUT LOUD, the Las Vegas version of the internationally acclaimed STOMP. Other design credits include the San Francisco Opera’s Merola and Coconut Grove Playhouse’s Young Artist programs, as well as numerous original dance designs for choreographers such as Deborah Hay, Ben Levy and Andy Vaca. Other credits 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 and Assistant Lighting Designer at the Cincinnati Ballet.
Shannon Wallace (Stage Manager) has served as stage manager for The Rogue Theatre productions of Celia, A Slave, A House of Pomegranates, Macbeth, Penelope, Uncle Vanya, Angels in America Part One, The Bridge of San Luis Rey and The Picture of Dorian Gray, and as assistant director for The White Snake. She graduated from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, focusing on both stage management and lighting design. During her time in school she worked on over 25 productions with Arizona Repertory Theatre, including: Bat Boy: The Musical, Avenue Q, Love Song, Cymbeline, Nine, Boeing Boeing, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Oklahoma!, Lend Me A Tenor, The Full Monty and Othello. She also worked at Arizona Theatre Company on their Summer on Stage productions of Elephant’s Graveyard and Legally Blonde: The Musical. Additionally, she had the opportunity to work as assistant stage manager for Oklahoma City Philharmonic’s The Christmas Show 2014. And she enjoyed a summer with the Contemporary American Theatre Festival in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, working as part of the company and events management team. Shannon Wallace’s Stage management is supported in part by a generous gift from Susan & Stacy Litvak.
	Peter Bleasby (Master Electrician) lit his first show at 13. Professionally, he was with BBC-TV for several years, and was an assistant to UK lighting designer Richard Pilbrow during the inaugural production of the National Theatre (Hamlet, directed by Olivier.) He transferred to architectural lighting, but maintained his theatre interests by lighting many shows on both sides of the Atlantic. When the Rogue established itself at the Historic “Y” in 2009, he volunteered for the initial season, returning in 2013 with  lighting designer Don Fox, and later working with Deanna Fitzgerald. He devised the installation of the permanent wiring system that enables lighting teams to devote more time to the creative process. For the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation he directs the technical and logistical aspects of 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.

 

Matt Walley as Lenck, Michael Bailey as Kaufmann, Ryan Parker Knox as Schott, Joseph McGrath as Fasch and Hunter Hnat as Steindorff

Holly Griffith as The Greatest Organist in Germany

 

Photos by Tim Fuller

Our Thanks
Tim Fuller		Tucson Weekly
Chuck Graham		Patrick Baliani
Arizona Daily Star		Shawn Burke
Jerry James		Our Advertisers
Katherina Phillips		Eric Holtan
Arizona Illustrated		Andrew Brown
Chris Babbie, Location Sound

 

Director Cynthia Meier, Stage Manager Shannon Wallace, and the cast of Bach at Leipzig

Photo by Tim Fuller

 

Performance Schedule for Bach at Leipzig

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

Performance run time of Bach at Leipzig is two hour and 25 minutes, including one 10-minute intermission.
Run time does not include the music preshow beginning 15 minutes before curtiain, or post-show discussion.

Thursday, November 2, 2017, 7:30 pm DISCOUNT PREVIEW
Friday, November 3, 2017, 7:30 pm DISCOUNT PREVIEW
Saturday, November 4, 2017, 7:30pm OPENING NIGHT
Sunday, November 5, 2017, 2:00 pm matinee

Thursday, November 9, 2017, 7:30 pm
Friday, November 10, 2017, 7:30 pm
Saturday, November 11, 2017, 2:00 pm
Saturday, November 11, 2017, 7:30 pm
Sunday, November 12, 2017, 2:00 pm matinee SOLD OUT

Thursday, November 16, 2017, 7:30 pm
Friday, November 17, 2017, 7:30 pm
Saturday, November 18, 2017, 2:00 pm
Saturday, November 18, 2017, 7:30 pm
Sunday, November 19, 2017, 2:00 pm matinee SOLD OUT

Matt Walley as Lenck, Joseph McGrath as Fasch, Ryan Parker Knox as Schott and Michael Bailey as Kaufmann

Ryan Parker Knox as Schott, Matt Walley as Lenck, Joseph McGrath as Fasch and Michael Bailey as Kaufmann

Ryan Parker Knox as Schott, Matt Walley as Lenck, Joseph McGrath as Fasch and Michael Bailey as Kaufmann

Ryan Parker Knox as Schott and Joseph McGrath as Fasch

Matt Walley as Lenck, Joseph McGrath as Fasch, Michael Bailey as Kaufmann and Ryan Parker Knox as Schott

Photos by Tim Fuller