The premiere of Villainous Company by Victor L. Cahn
was presented at the Clurman Theatre at Theatre Row
from January 9 to 31, 2015.
Directed by Eric Parness
Starring Alice Bahlke, Julia Campanelli*, and Corey Tazmania*
Photos by Hunter Canning
When Claire returns from an afternoon of shopping, she discovers that one of her packages is missing. Before long, larceny and trickery abound when three women are drawn into a scintillating and suspenseful game of cat and mouse.
Scenic Design: Jennifer Varbalow
Costume Design: Brooke Cohen
Lighting Design: Pamela Kupper
Sound Design: Nick Simone
Props Master: Lindsay Bleile
Fight Director: Joseph Travers
Production Manager: Joe Doran
Stage Manager: Sean McCain*
Assistant Stage Manager: Lindsay Bleile
Master Electrician: Alexander Havard
Technical Director: Kenneth Horgan
Casting Consultant: Stephanie Klapper Casting
Press: JTPR Joe Trentacosta
House Manager: Chris Brucato
Artwork: Billy Mitchell
MEET THE ACTORS
� Alice Bahlke .......................Julia Campanelli
�
Corey Tazmania
MEET THE PLAYWRIGHT................MEET THE DIRECTOR
Victor L. Cahn ................................ Eric Parness
*Actors Appearing Courtesy of Actors Equity Association
CAST
ALICE BAHLKE (Tracy): Trained at the O'Neill National Theater Institute with a BA from Emory University, Alice has been performing in New York for just over five years. Having appeared on Hell House LLC, Americano, As the World Turns, and several national commercials, Alice is excited to return to the stage with Rachel Reiner Productions. Favorite theater credits include H4 (Lady Percy/Poins - Theatre Row), The Magical History Tour (Tour Guide - Floating Theater aboard the Clipper City), Shape of Things (Evelyn - Access Theater), and most recently in The Past is Still Ahead, Alice was honored to play the late Russian cult poet Marina Tsvetaiva (Jewel Box Theater). Thanks and love to my family and John.
JULIA CAMPANELLI (Joanna) NY/Regional: Sleep No More with Punchdrunk NYC (Obie & Drama Desk Award); The Wonder, and As You Like It with Queen’s Company (Lucille Lortel Award); Cornbury with Theatre Askew; Red Bull Theatre, NYTW; Phoenix Theatre; NY Fringe, Samuel French OOBway, & Estrogenius Festivals; Folger Shakespeare. Film/TV: Pamanhikan (Vale Film Festival winner); L’Accordatore (Las Vegas Film Festival winner); Pink Moon; Marcus’s Sweater; The Year I Grew An Inch; Walking Away; Virgin Territory; It Could Happen To You; A Bronx Tale; A Day with Conrad Greene; Prizzi’s Honor; “Law & Order;” “One Life To Live” (ABC); “Tattinger’s,” “The Equalizer.” Julia is the Artistic Director of Shelter Theatre Group NYC. Many thanks to Rachel, Eric and my villainous ladies! www.juliacampanelli.com
COREY TAZMANIA (Claire): This is her second production with Rachel and Eric after appearing in Resonance Ensemble's 2013 production of R.U.R. adapted by Lee Eric Shackleford. Recent credits include: The Parable Conference (Next Wave Festival/BAM); The Tempest (Hampton Independent Theatre Festival); Medea (Gallery Players); On the Future of Art (Guggenheim). Other credits include: Seven seasons with The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, 59E59, SoHo REP, The Magic, Burning Coal, Mill Mountain, Ensemble Theatre Company of Santa Barbara, and is a company member of NJREP. Later this year, Corey will be working with Camel Collective (REDCAT gallery) and NJREP (world premiere of Richard Strand's The Realization of Emily Linder).
PRODUCTION TEAM
VICTOR L. CAHN (Playwright) has written numerous plays produced Off-Broadway and regionally, including Roses in December, Embraceable Me, Fit to Kill (all published by Samuel French), Dally with the Devil (Steele Spring Stage Rights), A Dish for the Gods, Getting the Business, Sheepskin/Bottom of the Ninth, and Sherlock Solo, a one-man show that he performed. He has appeared onstage throughout the Capital Region of New York, taking leading roles in works by Shakespeare, Shaw, Pinter, Coward, Ayckbourn, Simon, Gurney, Christie, and Knott. He is Professor Emeritus of English at Skidmore College, and author of more than a dozen non-fiction books, including Walking Distance: Remembering Classic Episodes from Classic Television. He has also published two novels, and his articles and reviews have appeared in such varied publications as Modern Drama, The Literary Review, The New York Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Variety. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, Inc.
ERIC PARNESS(Director) Eric is the Artistic Director of Resonance Ensemble, where he has directed classics by Sophocles, Gorky, Chekhov, and Ibsen, as well as ten world premieres, including new plays by Charles Mee, Michael Feingold, Christopher Boal, Steven Fechter, and Richard Manley. Also in NYC: Going Once! Laughing Twice!! (currently running at the St. Luke’s Theater), Jean Cocteau’s Crazy for the Dog, Rachel Reiner Productions’ Embraceable Me, Oberon Theatre’s Starship Astrov, ATA’s North to Maine, Hypothetical Theatre’s Kryptonite City, and Boomerang’s Blood Wedding. He is a graduate of Brandeis University (BA) and Brooklyn College (MFA), an adjunct professor at Marymount Manhattan College, and a member of the Lincoln Center Theatre Directors Lab.
JENNIFER VARBALOW(Scenic Design) Jennifer has been designing scenery in NYC for the past 17 years. She is very excited to be working on this project with old friends and new collaborators. Past credits include designs for Bryant Park, Drilling Company/ Shakespeare in the Parking Lot, Resonance Ensemble, The Artful Conspirators, The Workshop Theater, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Theatre Garden, City Lights Youth Theater, Pulse Ensemble Theatre, DR2 Theatre, Queens Theatre in the Park, and many other Off and Off-off Broadway companies. Jennifer is also a Teaching Artist with the Roundabout Theatre Company, The Metropolitan Opera Guild, Vital Theatre, Town Hall and other arts organizations. She is a proud member of USA-Local 829. She has an MFA from Brandeis and a BFA from Rutgers University. Special Thanks to Hana, my muse and best assistant.
BROOKE COHEN (Costume Design) Select credits include: And if You Lose Your Way… Or, A Food Odyssey (Invisible Dog), Tough Titty (Paradise Factory), The Physicists (Columbia Thesis), Ragtime (College of New Rochelle), The Fly Room (Imagine Science Films), A Dish for the Gods (Rachel Reiner Prod.), R. U. R. (Resonance Ensemble), Stick Fly (NYU), Two Brothers/Two Sisters (Theater for the New City), and The Humans are in Trouble (NYU). MFA, NYU/Tisch Department of Design for Stage and Film. www.brookemcohen.com
PAMELA KUPPER (Lighting Design) Pamela has designed multiple Victor Cahn plays including Dally with the Devil (Beckett Theatre) at Theatre Row. She has also designed Lesbian Love Octagon (Krain Theatre); R.U.R. and The Truth Quotient (Beckett Theatre) for Resonance Ensemble; Rachel & Julio and From My Hometown (Madison Theatre); A Great Night for the Irish and The Magic of Christmas (Carnegie Hall); Rooftops (CSV Malagro Theatre); and various regional theatre productions. Other projects include: Lighting director for NBC Christmas in Rockefeller Center 2009-2012; lighting design for corporate events; and Associate/Assistant Lighting Designer on Red, Hamlet, and various other Broadway productions.
NICK SIMONE (Sound Designer) Nick has worked as a designer for many productions such as: US: A Progressive Love Story, The Norwegians, North To Maine, IYOM, Wild Children, Time Travelers Trip To Niagara, The Diorama, Shakespeare's Hamlet at Bryant Park, Extreme Wether. Nick is also affiliated with Broadway's Roundabout Theatre Company and also as sound engineer for MTV's production Artist to Watch.. He is very happy to be working with such a great cast and crew and would love to thank his family for his support.
LINDSAY BLEILE (Props Master/Assistant Stage Manager) Lindsay is a graduate from Augustana College with a BA in Theatre. She has worked on Still on the Corner as stage manager for the All Stars Project and R.U.R. and The Truth Quotient as an ASM for Resonance Ensemble in New York. At Augustana, she stage managed Next to Normal, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You, Kitty the Waitress, The Apollo of Bellac, Faculty Room, and 3:59am. She interned as the Production Stage Manager for the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science.
JOSEPH TRAVERS (Fight Director) has been staging fights and action sequences for over twenty-five years. His work has been seen on and off Broadway, in regional theatres, and on national tour. Recent work includes the Broadway production of Bronx Bombers and the world premier of Billy Porter’s While I Yet Live at Primary Stages. Joe teaches stage combat at Columbia University and at AMDA, NYC, andhe is the founder and Managing Director of Swordplay, NYC’s longest running stage combat school. He is a member of both the Society of American Fight Directors and Fight Directors Canada.
ALEXANDER HAVARD (Master Electrician) Just back from touring with Shen Wei Dance Company through the country of China, Alex is thrilled to be home and working with an amazing crew and cast in the heart of New York. For every step forward he would love to thank the love and support of his family whom he could not do without, friends whom he will never forget and a special woman who gives him that every bit of luck in the morning.
STEPHANIE KLAPPER(Casting Consultant) Stephanie is thrilled to continue her collaboration with the Rachel Reiner, Eric Parness and Victor Cahn. Her work is frequently seen on Broadway, Off-Broadway, regionally, internationally, on television, film, and the Internet. Projects she has been involved with have won numerous awards. Recent Broadway: Bronx Bombers, A Christmas Story: The Musical, Dividing the Estate. She is the resident casting director for Primary Stages, The Pearl Theatre Company, New York Classical Theatre, Resonance Ensemble and Fuerza Bruta/Wayra. NY Casting for many Regional Theatres. Independent films include: Stag, Stood Up, Alice Jacobs is Dead, Roberta, Feast of the Goat; Sidewalk Stories. Eve Ensler's One Billion Rising, the video; Webisode: “Battery Park, Highlights of a Mom’s Life,” “Parking Lot Chronicles.” Television: “Lazytown.” Member of The Casting Society of America and League of Professional Theatre Women.
SEAN MCCAIN (Stage Manager) Selected credits: [NYC] A Dish For the Gods, Getting the Business, Dally With the Devil (Rachel Reiner Productions), The Most Deserving, Row After Row (The Women’s Project), The Truth Quotient, Shakespeare's Slave, The Master Builder (Resonance Ensemble), All Hands (Hoi Polloi), Jackson Heights 3AM, You Are Now The Owner of This Suitcase (Theatre 167), Jack, When We Met, Republic (York Theatre Company). [REGIONAL] Hairspray, Grease, South Pacific, & My Fair Lady (Summer Theatre of New Canaan) August: Osage County (White Plains PAC). [TOURS] The Lightning Thief & Charlotte’s Web (Theatreworks USA). Member of Actors’ Equity Association. Up Next: Snow Orchid with Miranda Theatre Company, at Theatre Row.
JOE DORAN (Production Manager) Joe recently worked as asst. lighting designer on Broadway tours of Anything Goes, West Side Story, and In the Heights. He also designs with Sean Curran Company, Stephen Petronio Company, Armitage Gone! Dance, Shen Wei Dance Arts, HT Chen and Dancers, among others. He is the producing artistic director and resident designer of Equilateral Theatre Company, a nonprofit organization he founded in 2004. He recently designed an adaptation of The Tempest starring Olympia Dukakis. Regionally, Joe has designed for Historic Swift Creek Mill Theatre and Virginia Repertory Theatre. He is the 2008, 2009, and 2011 recipient of the Richmond Theatre Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Lighting Designer. He is an artistic member of Resonance Ensemble in NYC. Graduate of North Carolina School of the Arts. Member of United Scenic Artists Local 829. www.joedorandesign.com
RACHEL REINER(Producer) is the Senior Manager of Audience Engagement at The Broadway League, Inc. Through her production company, Rachel Reiner Productions LLC, Rachel has produced and/or executive produced A Dish for the Gods, Getting The Business, Dally With The Devil, Embraceable Me and Fit to Kill by Victor L. Cahn at Theatre Row, the upcoming Snow Orchid by Joe Pintauro at Theatre Row, The Diorama by Jennifer Brown Stone and David S. Stone at Theatre Row, Crazy for the Dog by Christopher Stetson Boal at the Bouwerie Lane Theatre, and Zimmerman by Frank Barth at the Sanford Meisner Theater. She also serves as Managing Director of Resonance Ensemble (www.ResonanceEnsemble.org), which recently celebrated its 10th repertory season of presenting new work inspired by the classics. She is currently the Co-President of the Brandeis University NYC Alumni Association and is a past Co-President of the League of Professional Theatre Women (www.TheatreWomen.org).
