Review: ‘Prelude to a Kiss’ at Custommade Theatre Company
This reviewer is a voting associate member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle (SFBATCC)
(“Prelude to a Kiss”, produced by Custommade Theatre Company, plays at The Gough Street Playhouse from May 21 through June 16, 2013.)
Craig Lucas‘ gentle yet profound fantasy, “Prelude to a Kiss”, dates from the late 1980s, a time when the burgeoning AIDs epidemic was moving artists to consider issues of mortality among young people. Lucas’ astonishing fable addresses the issue of AIDs obliquely (it is never mentioned in the play), but matters of homosexuality and heterosexuality, the loss of beauty, decay, the threat of death, the wrongness of the world are all touched upon.
The premise of this often-produced play will be familiar to most audience members. At the wedding of Peter and Rita, a mysterious old man, unknown to any of the wedding guests, asks to kiss the bride. When he does so, they exchange consciousness. Now he resides in her body and she in his. The old man (with Rita inside) leaves the wedding and Peter and Rita (who is the old man inside) go off on their honeymoon.
In subsequent scenes, Peter gradually realizes that Rita is, well, she’s just not Rita. Bit by bit, he realizes what has happened and sets out on a search for his love, whom he eventually finds in the old man’s body.
Allison Page as Rita and Richard Wenzel as the Old Man share a mysterious kiss. Photo Credit: Jay Yamada
All of this provides wonderful opportunities for humorous writing, peculiar love scenes (a love scene between a very old man and a very young man in which the old man is actually the young man’s beautiful bride?), reflections on aging and mortality and the nature of romantic love.
The play has remained popular, and is repeatedly revived, because of Lucas’ graceful and persuasive handling of these complex themes and his elegant comic dialogue. He makes us believe.
The play works especially well as a showcase for the actors playing Rita and the Old Man, who have to convince us that their bodies are inhabited by one another. Allison Page as Rita and Richard Wenzel as the Old Man are entirely up to the task, delivering sterling performances good enough to send chills of wonder up our spines. They are supported by a skilled company throughout, with Nick Trengove exceptionally charming as Peter, the confused young husband who must provide the emotional backbone of the play.
Director Stuart Bousel applies his usual deft touch to the dialogue and the movement, keeping the stage picture interesting at all times and plumbing the language for layers of meaning. A wonderful set by Andrew Cummings features a constantly moving cyclorama projection of clouds (created by Maxx Kurzunski), evoking an eerie feeling of otherworldliness and the quick passage of time.
For further information, click here.
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“Prelude to a Kiss” by Craig Lucas, produced by Custommade Theatre Company. Director: Stuart Bousel. Scenic Design: Andrew Cummings. Lighting/Video Design: Maxx Kurzunski. Costume/Props Design: Maria Chenut. Sound Design: Cole Ferraiuolo.
Peter: Nick Trengove. Rita: Allison Page. Old Man: Richard Wenzel. Taylor: William Leschber. Tom/Minister/Jamaican Waiter: Charles Lewis III. Mrs. Boyle: Jan Carty Marsh. Aunt Dorothy/Leah: Elena Ruggiero. Dr. Boyle: Davie Sikula.
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Review: ‘The Medea Hypothesis’ at Central Works
This reviewer is a voting associate member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle (SFBATCC)
(The world premiere of “The Medea Hypothesis”, produced by Central Works Theatre, plays at the Berkeley City Club from May 18 through June 23, 2013).
The reworking of the timeless themes and characters of the Greek theatrical genius has been a staple of western theatre for centuries. With “The Medea Hypothesis”, Central Works makes a respectable contribution to this tradition with a remarkably accomplished playwriting debut by Marian Berges.
Berges’ take on the story is fascinating. Medea, in the original, is a witch or sorceress, which might be considered an archetype of the destroying mother. This negative view of motherhood is not popular nowadays, with most of us preferring the positive image of an all nurturing “Earth Mother” or the Godess Gaia. Devotees of Carl Jung will note that every positive image has its dark shadow. Playwright Berges is interested in paleontologist Peter Ward’s suggestion of a “Medea hypothesis” as a counter to the “Gaia hypothesis”. Ward suggests that our “mother earth” may not be as nurturing as we would like to believe but, in fact, is prone to mass extinction and doesn’t really care much about biological life.
Reimagined as a highly successful contemporary fashion designer, this Medea (named “Em”) is a loving and attentive mother, but the pressures of age, a philandering husband, a distant adolescent daughter and her curiously mysterious seductive assistant Ian (in a superlatively creepy performance by the excellent Cory Censoprano) are weaving a terrifying net about her psyche.
Jan Zvaifler as Em and Cory Censoprano as Ian in “The Medea Hypothesis” by Marian Berges at Central Works. Photo Credit: Jim Norrena.
Initially charming, capable and sympathetic, Em’s gradual deterioration and descent into vengeful madness is chillingly depicted by Jan Zvaifler. We know from the beginning that this good mother will ultimately turn bad, and Ms. Zvaifler does an excellent job in taking us by the hand along that dark pathway.
In addition to the aforementioned Cory Censoprano, Ms. Zvaifler is supported by additional excellent work from Joe Estlack in an astonishingly versatile multi-character performance and the young Dakota Dry as her daughter (who appears only in video projection).
Director Gary Graves makes certain that this production is never dull and it flies by in seventy five minutes without intermission.
It is not perfect. It is sometimes too wordy, and it is debatable whether the extensive use of video projections is the best way to tell this story. But it is full of theatrical magic and excitement and genuine emotion, and achieves a true cathartic effect. It is also not without its humorous moments, in particular, an extremely funny scene set in a French/Swiss restaurant that offers some much welcome comic relief.
Em’s ironic complaint, that “one does not have an unlimited supply of empathy”, is a marvelous bit of irony, hitting just the right note of horror and humor and truth.
That’s damned good writing, and in this remarkable debut playwright Marian Berges has shown us work of which she and her colleagues can be justly proud.
For further information, click here.
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“The Medea Hypothesis” by Marion Berges, produced by Central Works. Director: Gary Graves. Video: Pauline Luppert. Sound: Gregory Scharpen. Costumes: Tammy Berlin.
Ian: Cory Censoprano. Sweetie: Dakota Dry. Carl/Christopher/Dad/Restaurant Onwer/Waiter: Joe Estlack. Em: Jan Zvaifler.
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Review: ‘The Whipping Man’ at Marin Theatre Company
(The Bay area premiere of “The Whipping Man”, co-produced by the Marin Theatre Company and the Virginia Stage Company, plays at the Boyer Theatre from March 28 through April 28).
The moment we see Kat Conley’s remarkable set design of a crumbling antebellum southern plantation house and hear the haunting sounds of a stormy night as beautifully realized by sound designer Will McCandless, Matthew Lopez’s “Whipping Man” carries us away into a fantastic Southern gothic world rich with poetic imagery and slippery realities.
Tobie Windham as John, L. Peter Callendar as Simon and Nicholas Pelczar as Caleb in “The Whipping Man”. Photo credit: Marin Theatre Company.
The crumbling facade appears about to collapse. We see only by candlelight (completely convincing with Ben Wilhelm’s excellent lighting design). A masked man lopes mysteriously past the broken windows of the front hallway.
Then a desperately wounded soldier stumbles in and collapses.
This is among the most dramatic openings you are likely to see in the theatre, and it works well. The audience is rendered breathless in short order.
The act that follows is mostly exposition. We learn that the house is the home of the confederate soldier Caleb (Nicholas Pelczar) and that it has been cared for by two slaves of the family who are now free but remain because they have no place to go and are hopeful that the master of the house will return and give them some promised money to make their way north to a new life.
After the initial exposition, the plot of this play is remarkably convoluted, perhaps too much so, but it provides many extraordinary opportunities for a trio of highly skilled actors, particularly L. Peter Callender as the elderly, recently emancipated slave, Simon. Callender is called upon to play scene after scene of extreme emotional intensity and he rises to it over and over again in a performance of operatic grandeur. It is a career highlight performance for this always excellent Bay area actor.
Among the most interesting discoveries in the play is the Jewish identity of the three men. Caleb’s father, the plantation owner, is Jewish and he saw that the slaves raised on his plantation were given a Jewish religious education as well. The peculiarities of this situation bring many opportunities for reflection on the meaning of slavery and freedom. How can a Jew, whose primary religious celebration emphasizes the release of the Jewish people from slavery, hold slaves? What can the celebration of a Passover Seder possibly mean to Black slaves in the antebellum American south? When Callender’s Simon insists upon holding a Seder in the midst of disaster, singing “We are coming Father Abraham”, and reporting how he has learned of Lincoln’s assassination or when he reflects upon the nature of freedom and Jewish identity, the stormy emotional currents set loose upon the stage powerfully reflect the stormy circumstances of the story. This is a play about unending torment: emotional, physical, religious, social, familial, all at the hands of the mysterious figure of the ‘whipping man’ vividly described by the older and younger former slaves, Simon and John (the latter played well by a very charismatic Tobie Windham). One wonders if perhaps this whipping man might not be G-d Himself. It is a deep play.
Perhaps too deep for easy comprehension. One is left with the feeling that the ever more complex details and secrets revealed in the course of two acts are too much to follow. Playwright Lopez makes unusual demands upon his audience, perhaps a bit more than necessary.
Director Jason Minadakis, however, does an excellent job of keeping the play emotionally interesting through every sequence, even in the midst of an over abundance of detail and revelation. The design elements are uniformly excellent, and, most importantly, the actors take the audience on a memorable emotional ride, not easily dismissed, and likely to remain in the heart long after seeing the play.
For further information, click here.
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“The Whipping Man” by Mathew Lopez, co-produced by the Marin Theatre Company and the Virginia Stage Company. Director: Jason Minadakis. Scenic Designer: Kat Conley. Lighting Designer: Ben Wilhelm. Costume Designer: Jacqueline Firkins. Composer: Chris Houston. Sound Designer: Will McCandless.
Caleb: Nicholas Pelczar. Simon: L. Peter Callender. John: Tobie Windham.
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Review: ‘Reasons to be Pretty’ at SF Playhouse
(“Reasons to be Pretty” plays at the San Francisco Playhouse from March 30th through May 11th.)
Neil LaBute‘s “Reasons to be Pretty” premiered on Broadway in 2008 and was awarded a Tony in 2009. Like his funny and brutal screenplay, “In The Company of Men”, it deals with relations between the sexes and our obsession with appearance.
That obsession is so common, and has been around for so long, it is engrained in the human condition. But it is something of a smokescreen as far as this play is concerned. I think the elephant in the room is the phenomenon of the modern “psycho-bitch” (a term I first heard from a woman who was referring to her boyfriend’s sister).
Live-in couple Greg (Craig Marker, left) and Steph (Lauren English) fight when she learns he described her looks as “regular” in Neil LaBute’s “Reasons To Be Pretty” at SF Playhouse. Photo Credit: Jessica Palopoli
The comedy begins with a domestic dispute which is so over the top and one sided, it was like watching a car wreck as a woman in full fury lacerates a man with whom she has lived for four years. He doesn’t know what hit him or what he did to warrant this whirlwind of curses and insults. It’s depressing how much he takes from her, like a doormat/sponge. And all because in a conversation with his buddy in a garage he referred to his girlfriend as having “regular” features. This was overheard by his buddy’s wife, Carly, and relayed to the girlfriend, Stephanie. Then all hell breaks loose. How dare he speak in less than chivalrous terms about the fair damsel with a potty mouth?
The boyfriend, Greg, is a sensitive schlub who works in a warehouse with his buddy, Kent (Patrick Russell) and Carly, a security guard (Jennifer Stuckert). Greg (in a very nuanced performance by Craig Marker) actually reads books and doesn’t like lying to women. Kent is practically a sociopath in that respect. What does it mean to have equality if Stephanie (Lauren English) can have a meltdown over this, especially considering that if she referred to him as regular-looking he wouldn’t blink an eye? She tries to play a sensitive feminine card, but is closer to a “truck driver in drag” (to quote Truman Capote’s description of the writer Jacqueline Susann). It’s as if she were screaming “WADDAYA MEAN I LACK SOCIAL GRACES YA FRIKKIN’ LOSER!?” while throwing her industrial-strength vibrator and knocking over a vase full of flowers. Lauren English is ferocious in this role, which also requires some magnetic quiet moments.
The second act balances the first. There is a twisted symmetry unfolding in the plot involving shifting alliances amongst the two couples. A little information can be dangerous. Carly, the security guard, comes across as more human when she is pregnant, and not only because there is another human onboard. Her husband Kent, Greg’s buddy at work and on the company baseball team, is a cocky two-dimensional two-timer. He and Greg end up slugging it out on the outfield. He loses the fight and has an emotional breakdown which gets applause, although it seemed a bit overdone to me. Nevertheless, Patrick Russell nails the part.
Overall, this is a fine production. I enjoyed the snazzy revolving set (designed by Bill English) where the entire background turns and sets up the next scene. The theater itself goes back to 1923 when it was some kind of a ballroom. Later it was Theater on the Square with 700 seats. SF Playhouse took over a few months ago and redesigned it into a beautiful house with a more manageable 200 seats.
For further information, click here.
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“Reasons to be Pretty” by Neil LaBute, produced by San Francisco Playhouse. Director: Susi Damilano. Set Design: Bill English. Composer/Sound Design: Billy Cox. Costume Design: Tatjana Genser. Lighting Design: Michael Oesch. Fight Director: Dave Maier.
Steph: Lauren English. Greg: Craig Marker. Carly: Jennifer Stuckert. Kent: Patrick Russell.
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Wily West Productions* and Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco present Sheherezade 13, a Festival of New Plays
(Charles Kruger)
(Sheherezade 13 will play April 12 through 27 at The Exit Theatre on Thursday, Friday and Saturday Nights)
This month, Bay area audiences, thanks to Wily West Productions and the Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco, will have a rare opportunity to feast on a festival of new plays by local Bay Area playwrights with Sheherezade 13, which will be presented at the very avante garde Exit Theatre throughout the month of April.
New plays are the lifeblood of the theatre. Don’t get me wrong, the classics are great. I never miss the summer Shakespeare festivals and attend dozens of revivals every year. The Bay Area is fortunate to have an abundance of classical companies that keep the tradition alive and, really, we should be grateful. But let’s face it, Shakespeare has been dead for hundreds of years. Most American theatre lovers have seen multiple productions of Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller and Eugene O’Neill. No problem; there’s nothing wrong with genius.
But imagine the frustration of the contemporary playwright who sees company after company reviving the old masters while she is relegated to only occasional opportunities, staged readings in storefronts and back offices, or second stage series playing second fiddle year after year to every theatre’s mainstage season. Is it no wonder that sometimes our playwrights wonder if producers believe nobody is writing anything worthwhile today?
Fortunately, San Francisco is blessed with quite a few dedicated young theatre artists who are truly committed, full time, to new plays. In the forefront of this select group are Wily West Productions and the Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco. Discerning playgoers in Northern California should be aware of their excellent work.
Wily West Productions was founded in 2008 with the specific mission of producing new plays by Bay Area playwrights, using local talent for all aspects of their productions. In the beginning, founder Morgan Ludlow provided the bulk of the plays. As their reputation has grown, however, more and more playwrights have contributed work. Today, there are approximately 100 theatre artists associated in one way or another with Wily West, including nearly two dozen playwrights whose work has been promoted by the company. Many of these playwrights enjoy growing national reputations and have won prestigious awards.
The producing partner for “Sheherezade 13″ is the Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco, another leading player in bringing new theatre to the Bay area. The Playwrights’ Center has been pursuing their mission of encouraging and developing local playwrights since 1980. In a workshop environment, they have cultivated playwrights whose work has been produced around the world. Their “scene nights”, where playwrights can bring in selections of work to be read by professional actors with feedback provided, have served the needs of countless artists over the past thirty years.
This year’s “Sheherezade” will be the 13th time that the Playwright Center has presented this festival of short plays, and the second year in association with Wily West. Nine playwrights will be featured this year. Some of the playwrights have multiple Bay Area production credits, while others will be showing their work for the first time. This exciting mix of newbies and oldtimers is essential to the spirit of the festival.
Beverly Butler’s “Indelible” will be her first staged work in the Bay Area, although she has had other work produced in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Beverly is also a novelist and short story writer. ‘Indelible’ is directed by Wily West’s Kat Kneisel.
Mordecai Cohen Ettinger is the author of “Say Uncle”. It is his second fully produced play and is also directed by Kat Kneisel.
Elizabeth Flanagan offers us “Pinata Fight” (in the production of which no pinatas have been harmed), directed by Brady Brophy-Hilton, who, among other interesting credits, developed and ran the circus education program for the famous Teatro ZinZanni.
Susan Jackson has won a Best Original Play award from the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and has been widely produced throughout northern California and as far away as Sydney, Australia. She offers, “Two to Five with Three Seconds to Go”, directed by Laylah Muran, executive producer for Wily West Productions.
The author of “Laura and Curt: A Story of Love and Big Numbers”, Rob McFadden, is surprisingly prolific, having started writing plays in 2009 and already received awards in national competitions. “Laura and Curt” is directed for “Sheherezade” by Brady Brophy-Hilton.
Patricia Milton, a past president of Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco, has won numerous awards. Rob Hurwitt of the San Francisco Chronicle has taken note of her “sharp comic writing”. Her contribution to the festival, ‘After Frank’, is directed by Laylah Muran.
For a playwright, Bridgette Dutta Portman has the unexpected day job of political science lecturer at Santa Clara University in San Jose. Her plays have been produced in the Bay Area and elsewhere around the country, as far away as Washington, D.C. This is the third time her work has been featured in “Sheherezade”. Her play, “Auto-Incorrect”, is directed by Ann Thomas, founder of Pacifica Table Readers.
Jennifer Roberts, author of “Chrysomelidae Hide No More” is the current President of the Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco and the receipient of a Creative Writing MFA from the prestigious California College of Arts. “Chrysomelidae Hide No More” is directed by Brady Brophy-Hilton.
Last on our (alphabetically ordered) list of playwrights is Diane Simpson, a member of the popular Bay area playwriting workshop, Playground, which specializes in the 10 minute play form. Her play, “Romulus and Jewel: A Ten Minute Travesty in Five Acts”, is directed by Kat Kneisel.
The festival plays will be performed by an ensemble of experienced Bay area actors, several of whom will be well known to local audiences. They are Wesley Cayabayab, Joey Cherney, Abigail Edber, Rich Egan, Kate Jones, Karen Offereins, and Peter Townley.
Review: “The Lisbon Traviata” at New Conservatory Theatre Center
(Charles Kruger)
(“The Lisbon Traviata” plays at the New Conservatory Theatre Center from February 22 through March 24, 2013).
Terrence McNally is certainly one of America’s premiere gay playwrights, and it is no surprise that the New Conservatory Theatre Center has made something of a specialty of his plays. As one would expect, their current staging of “The Lisbon Traviata” is intelligent, straightforward and effective.
Opera Queens Stephen and Mendy discuss records and love.L to R: Michael Sally (Mendy) and Matt Weimer (Stephen).
Opera represents a world of heightened emotions, and is famously appealing to gay men, perhaps because for so long so many gay men have felt compelled to bury their strongest emotions beneath a veneer of indifferent camp bitchiness or hide them deeply away in the closet. In “The Lisbon Traviata”, McNally uses the love of opera and its emotional power to get at the feelings of his gay male characters with a maximum of intensity. It was written at a time (the 1980s) when it was commonplace to imagine that the emotional life of gay men was somehow shallower and less legitimate than their straight counterparts, even as the community was suffering the war-like impact of AIDs and its emotional attendants of terror and grief. Using opera as a model, the play pushes the inner life of its characters well beyond what is typically experienced outside of opera or classical tragedy.
When Richard Thomas was appearing in the Los Angeles production, I read in an interview that he did not invite his children because he felt its depiction of gay characters might seem so grim and sad and close to stereotypical that he did not want them exposed to it until they were old enough to put it in context. I have similar reservations. I understand that, in the context of the 1980s, a strong case can be made for McNally’s approach. And I certainly recognize the excellence of the play’s construction, the elegance of the writing, and the power of its impact in performance. Still, a part of me (and I speak as a gay man who came out in the late 70s) finds it to be as excruciatingly dated and cringe-inducing as “The Boys In The Band”.
These doubts notwithstanding, “The Lisbon Traviata” is a marvelous vehicle for fine if over-the-top acting, and the cast at New Conservatory Theatre Center delivers the goods. As the brilliant, brittle, bitchy yet bubbly Mendy, Michael Sally provokes laughter and tears with ease, handling the characters aria-like monologues with aplomb. Matt Weimer brings deep sadness to Mendy’s best friend (and unrequited love) Stephen, making his eventual operatically intense meltdown at the play’s denouement believable. Philippe Gosselin and Adam Roy do well in the supporting roles of Stephen’s lover Mike and his new boyfriend.
For further information click here.
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“The Lisbon Traviata” by Terrence McNally, produced by New Conservatory Theatre Center. Director: Dennis Lickteig. Set Design: Kuo-Hao Lo. Lighting Design: Christian Mejia. Sound Design: Stephen Abts. Costume Design: Jessie Amoroso. Fight Choreography: Will Springhorn.
Stephen: Matt Weimer. Mendy: Michael Sally. Mike: Philippe Gosseline. Paul: Adam Roy.
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Review: ‘The Chairs’ at Cutting Ball Theater
(Charles Kruger)
(Eugene Ionesco’s “The Chairs” plays at the Cutting Ball Theater from March 7 through March 31, 2013.)
Like Samuel Beckett’s even more famous “Waiting for Godot“, Ionesco‘s “The Chairs” (which Beckett greatly admired) combines low comedy with profound philosophical implications and deep tragedy. The author himself described it as a “tragic farce”. This great classic of the Theatre of the Absurd is given a gorgeously successful production in Rob Melrose’s new translation at the Cutting Ball Theater.
The Old Man (David Sinaiko) and The Old Woman (Tamar Cohn) make a decision to have a party in Cutting Ball Theater’s The Chairs. Photo credit: Sarah Roland
An elderly couple, over 90 years of age, sit in their isolated home, surrounded by ocean, chatting about expected guests. They are confused and a bit pathetic. The old man begins to cry and call for his Mommy. The old woman repeatedly asks him to retell stories she has heard before, but can’t seem to remember from one day to the next. They are lonely and close to death.
They prepare for their guests and begin to gather chairs. The old man is planning a speech, one that will, perhaps, give meaning to his long life. But since he does not speak well, he has hired a professional orator to deliver the speech for him.
As the hour approaches, the two become increasingly excited until the doorbell rings, marking the arrival of the first guest. Things get curioser and curioser as more and more guests arrive, all invisible to the audience.
The old man plays host, as the old woman rushes about bringing in chair after chair after chair, packing the stage.
Magically, the space is soon convincingly peopled with a huge crowd of very specific characters, thanks to the wonderful miming of the two actors. This is theatrical magic of a high order, and provides no end of delight. Jostled by the crowd, moving in and out of conversations, greeting more and more guests, the couple become more and more hysterically frantic. Altogether, it is a tour de force of physical acting that leaves the audience breathless with laughter.
The evening progresses faster and faster, producing richer and richer laughter and astonishment in the audience, always with a sense of tragedy underlying the ridiculous. With each new chair, and each new imagined guest, the language develops greater texture and layers of meaning. Artistic director Rob Melrose’s new translation is a revelation of clarity; nuance piles upon nuance in a meteor shower of dazzling linguistic sparkle.
Annie Elias’s expert direction engages us fully for the entire 90 minutes, and leaves no doubt whatsoever that we are watching a masterpiece. Actors David Sinaiko (the Old Man), Tamar Cohn (the Old Woman) and Derek Fischer (the Orator) are physically astounding, capturing the balance of comedy and pathos that is the distinguishing mark of great clowning.
The evocative set by Michael Locher appropriately evokes the feel of a decaying lighthouse. Heather Basarab’s lighting design contributes so perfectly to the overall effect that the play of the light on the walls and the suggestion of the ocean outside functions like a character in itself. Likewise for Theodore J. H. Hulsker’s oceanic soundscape. Sarah Roland’s costumes hit just the right note, most memorably in the case of the Orator.
On opening night, the audience experienced a rare phenomenon that is a mark of truly exceptional theatre: at the end of the performance, there was a long extended moment of quiet awe, only then followed by a burst of tumultuous applause.
For further information, click here.
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“The Chairs” by Eugene Ionesco, translated by Rob Melrose, produced by Cutting Ball Theater. Director: Annie Elias. Scenic Designer: Michael Locher. Lighting Designer: Heather Basarab. Costume Designer: Sarah Roland. Sound Designer: Theodore J. H. Hulsker.
Old Man: David Sinaiko. Old Woman: Tamar Cohn. Orator: Derek Fischer.
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