Joseph McGrath (Director) is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Drama and is the Artistic Director for The Rogue Theatre. For The Rogue, Joe authored and directed Immortal Longings, and directed Much Ado About Nothing, The Grapes of Wrath, A House of Pomegranates, Uncle Vanya (2016 Mac Award for Best Director), The Bridge of San Luis Rey, By the Bog of Cats, The Lady in the Looking Glass, Dante’s Purgatorio, Mistake of the Goddess, 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 James Tyrone in Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Deputy Governor Danforth in The Crucible, Ambassador in The Secret in the Wings, Voice Four/Rev. Peters in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Galileo in Galileo (2018 Mac Award for Best Actor), Lear in King Lear, Macbeth in Macbeth, Fitz in Penelope, in the ensemble of The White Snake, Roy Cohn in Angels in America Part One: Millennium Approaches, Mr. Taylor in Tales of the Jazz Age, a singing peasant in Miss Julie, as Claudius in Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Lord Henry Wotton in The Picture of Dorian Gray, Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, Vladimir in Waiting for Godot, Johnnie ‘Rooster’ Byron in Jerusalem, Myron Berger in Awake and Sing, Bernard Nightingale in Arcadia, Duke Vincentio in Measure for Measure, and Richard, Duke of Gloucester in Richard III. 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.
Joseph McGrath’s direction of Blithe Spirit is supported in part by a generous gift from Kathy Ortega & Larry Johnson.

Noël Coward was born in 1899 and made his professional stage debut as Prince Mussel in The Goldfish at the age of 12, leading to many child actor appearances over the next few years. His breakthrough in playwriting was the controversial The Vortex (1924), which featured themes of drugs and adultery and made his name as both actor and playwright in the West End and on Broadway. During the frenzied 1920s and the more sedate 1930s, Coward wrote a string of successful plays, musicals and intimate revues including Fallen Angels (1925), Hay Fever (1925), Easy Virtue (1926), This Year of Grace (1928), and Bitter Sweet (1929). His professional partnership with childhood friend Gertrude Lawrence, started with Private Lives (1931), and continued with Tonight at 8.30 (1936).

During World War II, he remained a successful playwright, screenwriter and director, as well as entertaining the troops and even acting as an unofficial spy for the Foreign Office. His plays during these years included Blithe Spirit, which ran for 1997 performances, outlasting the War (a West End record until The Mousetrap overtook it), This Happy Breed and Present Laughter (both 1943). His two wartime screenplays, In Which We Serve, which he co-directed with the young David Lean, and Brief Encounter, quickly became classics of British cinema.

However, the post-war years were more difficult. Austerity Britain – the London critics determined—was out of tune with the brittle Coward wit. In response, Coward re-invented himself as a cabaret and TV star, particularly in America, and in 1955 he played a sell-out season in Las Vegas featuring many of his most famous songs, including Mad About the Boy, I’ll See You Again, and Mad Dogs and Englishmen. In the mid-1950s he settled in Jamaica and Switzerland, and enjoyed a renaissance in the early 1960s becoming the first living playwright to be performed by the National Theatre, when he directed Hay Fever there. Late in his career he was lauded for his roles in a number of films including Our Man In Havana (1959) and his role as the iconic Mr. Bridger alongside Michael Caine in The Italian Job (1968).

Writer, actor, director, film producer, painter, songwriter, cabaret artist as well as an author of a novel, verse, essays and autobiographies, he was called by close friends “The Master.” His final West End appearance was Song at Twilight in 1966, which he wrote and starred in. He was knighted in 1970 and died peacefully in 1973 in his beloved Jamaica.

For further information on Noël Coward's life and work, visit www.noelcoward.com and to join the Noël Coward Society, visit www.noelcoward.net. Twitter @NoelCowardSir

Cast

Bryn Booth (Ruth Condomine) is a graduate of the BFA Acting program at the University of Arizona. She was most recently seen as the Tour Guide in The Rogue’s production of Middletown. This is Bryn’s third season as a member of the Resident Acting Ensemble with The Rogue where she has performed as Abigail (The Crucible), Snake-Leaves Princess (The Secret in the Wings), Hero (Much Ado About Nothing),Voice Five/No. 40 (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time), Little Monk (Galileo), Regan (King Lear), Rose of Sharon (The Grapes of Wrath), Sybil (A House of Pomegranates), and Lady Macduff (Macbeth). In 2018, Bryn played Mag in the Scoundrel & Scamp’s production of Lovers, for which she was nominated for a MAC award for Best Actress in a Drama. Other credits include Gowdie Blackmun in The Love Talker with the Scoundrel & Scamp Theatre, Juliet in Romeo & Juliet (Tucson Shakespeare in the Park), and Bianca in Othello (Arizona Repertory Theatre). In recent years, she had the pleasure of understudying with Arizona Theatre Company in Romeo & Juliet as Lady Montague and Lady Capulet, and Of Mice and Men as Curley’s Wife. Bryn wants to thank Joe and Cindy for giving her the best job she’s ever had with the most amazing people she’s ever met.
Bryn Booth’s performance is supported in part by a generous gift from Bill & Barb Dantzler.

Erin Buckley (Edith) is unbelievably excited to be back at The Rogue, after previously appearing in The Crucible. She is from Flagstaff Arizona, where she attended Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy and performed at local theatres. Some of her favorite shows include Cabaret, Hamlet, Les Mis, The Cherry Orchard, Anne Frank, and Pippin. Erin is currently a Junior at the University of Arizona working toward her B.A. in Theatre Arts with a minor in Education. She hopes to continue to pursue her love of acting throughout her life. She would like to thank her parents for their endless love and for supporting her crazy dreams. Erin is so grateful for the opportunity to work with and learn from all the wonderful artists at The Rogue.
Erin Buckley’s performance is supported in part by a generous gift from Todd Hansen, in memory of Lonny Baker.

Holly Griffith (Elvira) is a 6th year member of the Resident Acting Ensemble at The Rogue. Favorite productions include Middletown, Much Ado About Nothing, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Three Tall Women, Celia A Slave, A House of Pomegranates, The White Snake, Uncle Vanya, Angels in America, By the Bog of Cats and Hamlet. She also serves as a Box Officer and Co-Producer of the John & Joyce Ambruster Play-Reading Series at The Rogue. Holly holds an MA in English Literature from the University of Arizona where she now teaches in the department of Theatre, Film, & Television. She also serves as Artistic Associate and Director at the Scoundrel and Scamp Theatre, and maintains a fierce interest in the culture and literary tradition of Ireland.
Holly Griffith’s performance is supported in part by a generous gift from Susan & Stacy Litvak.

Ryan Parker Knox (Charles Condomine)  Blithe Spirit marks Ryan’s 38th production in his 8th season as a member of The Rogue Acting Ensemble. Originally from the Midwest, he has his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of South Dakota and spent nearly 11 years in Minnesota’s Twin Cities working for various local and regional theaters. Gratitude to Ryan’s family, his friends, his fellow ensemblers, and especially his cats who have always stuck by him through everything. Special thanks to The Rogue for helping him check yet another role off of his professional bucket list with Charles Condomine.
Ryan Parker Knox’s performance is supported in part by generous gifts from Andy & Cammie Watson and Tim Wernette & Carolyn Brown.

Cynthia Meier (Madame Arcati) is Co-Founder and Managing and Associate Artistic Director for The Rogue, and has appeared in The Crucible, Three Tall Women, The Grapes of Wrath, A House of Pomegranates, Macbeth, Uncle Vanya, Angels in America Part One, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, By the Bog of Cats, The Lady in the Looking Glass, Awake and Sing, 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 eight 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 Jim Wilson & Adam Hostetter.

Carley Elizabeth Preston (Mrs. Bradman) is over the moon to be in Blithe Spirit as the newest Rogue Ensemble member. Her first mainstage appearance on The Rogue stage was The Crucible as Tituba. She received her BFA in Acting and Directing from the University of Arizona where she was a member of the Arizona Repertory Theatre. Some of her other stage credits include Time Stands Still, Molly Sweeney, Enchanted April, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (Live Theatre Workshop), Mrs. Mannerly (Mac Award Nominee for Best Actress), Boston Marriage, By the Bog of Cats (SSTC), Miracle on 34th Street (Mac Award Nominee for Best Actress) Kimberly Akimbo, and Good People (WRTE). Ms. Preston is the Development Operations Manager for Arizona Theatre Company and she would like to thank the loves of her life, Jerrad McMurrich and their fur babies Marley Jenkins O’Toole and Loki Björn Hiddleston for always supporting her theatre habit.
Carley Elizabeth Preston’s performance is supported in part by a generous gift from Clay Shirk.

Matt Walley (Dr. Bradman) is a member of The Rogue Theatre Resident Acting Ensemble and was most recently seen as Thomas Putnam in The Crucible, Mr. Walley in The Secret in the Wings, Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing, Roger in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Matti in Galileo, Edmund in King Lear and Uncle John in The Grapes of Wrath. He has enjoyed previous roles at The Rogue in Bach at Leipzig, Macbeth, Richard III, Journey to the West, The Winter’s Tale, Shipwrecked!, As I Lay Dying and Major Barbara. Last year, as an Artist in Residence at The Scoundrel and Scamp Theatre, Walley co-created and performed in Oaf. Matt is on the board of The Tucson Fringe Festival and also The Shakespeare Forum in New York City. His company, Theatre 3, created new work for Live Theatre Workshop’s late night series Etcetera including Theatrum Orbis Terrarum and Mixtape. 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 Sally Krusing.

Music

Russell Ronnebaum, Pianio and Musical Saw
Music is supported in part by a generous gift from Andy & Cammie Watson.

Preshow Music

A Fine Romance (1936) — Jerome Kern (1885–1945)
So In Love (1948) — Cole Porter (1891–1964)
I’ll See You Again (1929) — Noël Coward (1899–1973)
Our Love is Here to Stay (1937) — George Gershwin (1898–1937)
Always (1925) — Irving Berlin (1888–1989)

Show Music

Gymnopédie No. 1 (1888) — Erik Satie (1866–1925)
À la manière de…Emmanuel Chabrier (1888) — Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)
Always (1925) — Irving Berlin
World Weary (1928) — Noël Coward
So In Love (1948) — Cole Porter
I’ll See You Again (1929) — Noël Coward
Our Love is Here to Stay (1937) — George Gershwin

Russell Ronnebaum (Music Director, Pianist) is most excited to be serving as The Rogue Theatre’s newly appointed Director of Music and Resident Composer. Russell holds a Master of Music degree in collaborative piano from the University of Arizona where he studied under Dr. Paula Fan. He currently serves as the assistant director of music at St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church in Oro Valley, as well as the staff accompanist for the Tucson Masterworks Chorale. As a classically trained pianist, Russell has performed with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, the American Wind Symphony Orchestra, Artifact Dance Company, Arizona Repertory Theatre, and as a concerto soloist with the Tucson Masterworks Chorale. Russell made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2016 performing the music of composer Dan Forrest. Past credits include The Rogue’s 2019 productions of Much Ado About Nothing and Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Music Director, Pianist, and Composer) and The Secret in the Wings (Vocal Director). Recent composition commissions and premieres include music for voice, choir, piano, string orchestra, and dance. Recordings, sheet music, and upcoming concert dates can be found at www.RRonnebaum.com.

Designers

Costume design is supported in part by a generous gift from Marianne Leedy

Scenic design is supported in part by a generous gift from Peggy Houghton

Lighting design is supported in part by a generous gift from Norma Davenport

Production Staff

Deanna Fitzgerald (Lighting Designer) is a professional Lighting Designer and member of United Scenic Artists, as well as a Professor and head of lighting design and technology at the University of Arizona, where she also serves as the Associate Director for theatre programs and the Director of Graduate Studies. Her lighting design credits include a range of theatre, dance, opera, circus-themed entertainment, puppets, architectural lighting and more. She is 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 for STOMP OUT LOUD, the Las Vegas version of the internationally acclaimed STOMP, for whom she also toured for six years as lighting director; Cirque Mechanics: Boom Town, which toured for two years with an off-Broadway appearance at The New Victory Theatre; and Erth’s Dinosaur Zoo US Tour. Deanna has been smitten with her Rogue family since 2014 when she designed their extraordinary creation Jerusalem, and has since designed Waiting for Godot, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Miss Julie, Bridge of San Luis Rey, Tales from the Jazz Age, Uncle Vanya, Penelope, Macbeth, Celia A Slave, Bach at Leipzig, Three Tall Women, King Lear, Galileo, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The Secret in the Wings, The Crucible and Long Day’s Journey Into Night. She is grateful for every moment she gets to spend making things with them and for ME Peter Bleasby and the returning Associate LD Megan Coy whose collaborations make that possible.

Megan Coy (Resident Stage Manager) is thrilled to return to her hometown to stage manage for The Rogue Theatre! Her first Rogue production was this summer’s Middletown. She spent the last five years working in marketing, stage management, and lighting design at The Magik Theatre in San Antonio, TX. Prior to settling in San Antonio, Megan was the stage manager and lighting director on the first North American tour of Erth’s Dinosaur Zoo Live! She graduated from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, training in stage management, lighting design, and dramaturgy. She has worked with Williamstown Theatre Festival, Alpine Theatre Project, and local theater and dance companies in Tucson and San Antonio. Megan is a proud mom to Eleanor and wants to thank Casey for his constant love and support.
Megan Coy’s stage management is supported in part by a generous gift from Kristi Lewis.

Amy Novelli (Scenic Artist) is originally from Ohio and Pennsylvania, where she received her Cum Laude BFA from the Columbus (Ohio) College of Art & Design in 1987 and her MFA from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh in 1994. Amy’s work has been exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, Berlin Germany, Portland OR, Pittsburgh, Scottsdale and Tucson Arizona, Santa Fe New Mexico as well as several cities in Ohio, Wyoming, Utah and Oregon. Her painting “High Desert” was purchased for the permanent collection of the Wyoming State Museum from the Governor’s Award Exhibition in 2015. Novelli has lived in New York City where she worked as a sculptor for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade Studio, as well as New Orleans and Berlin.  She has worked at the Carnegie, Warhol and Dubois (Wyoming) Museums and taught at the University of Arizona and Pima Community College. Her work as lead painter for Larson Company’s Christmas and Easter Windows for Marshal-Fields Department Stores in Chicago and Minneapolis painting the Alice in Wonderland theme won the 1999 “Best Windows in the Country” award. Amy held the position of Charge Scenic Artist for four years at the Arizona Theatre Company, supervised four Public Art Projects with High School Youth for the Tucson Pima Arts Council, and since 2015 Amy has completed 5 large-scale murals in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Arizona and Washington. She continues to paint as a Charge Artist/Scenic Painter for the Rogue Theatre, UA Repertory Theatre,and Arizona Broadway Theatre.  Her fine art work has been exhibited at several Tucson Galleries and recently at the Tucson International Airport, Mission Coffee Imports and forthcoming at Tucson Audubon Society Agua Caliente Gallery. Amy has been living in Tucson since 1996.  In addition to her scenic design/painting and fine art projects, Novelli gentles wild BLM horses for adoption through the Mustang Heritage Foundations TIP Program and is an avid rider and wilderness adventurer.
Scenic painting is supported in part by a generous gift from Nick Soloway & Kay Ransdell.

Nanalee Raphael (Costume Manager) has known from age 5 that she would work in theatre. Of course, she thought it would be as an actor, not as someone who flings fabric around. She feels blessed that she has always been employed in costuming, for both professional and academic theatres, and has never had to have a “day job.” Until moving to Tucson in 1995, she was peripatetic in her work situations, desiring to work with theatres all over the country. She has taught at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee but was lured by the bright lights of Chicago and so moved there to teach at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Following her husband to central Illinois, she then wangled a position at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where she created a successful costume rental program. She then gave up all that greenery to come to Tucson to teach and design at the University of Arizona. She has worked as a costume designer, costume director and/or draper in professional theatres in Michigan, (Hope Summer Repertory, Holland), Wisconsin (American Players Theatre, Spring Green), Illinois (Goodman, Wisdom Bridge, and Steppenwolf, Chicago), New York (The Public, NYC), Arizona (ART & ATC, Tucson), at Shakespeare Festivals in Vermont and New Jersey, and California (The Old Globe, San Diego). She received both her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Costume Design and Technology from Syracuse University. She is one of the “Pioneering Seven,” the first group of women to study full-time at Dartmouth College.

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.

Our Thanks