inthe works - TheatreWorks

TheatreWorks inthe
S I L I C O N
works
V A L L E Y
The
Hound
ofthe
Baskervilles
REMINDER:
POST-SHOW
DISCUSSION
WEDNESDAYS
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Adapted by Steven Canny & John Nicholson
4/9, 4/16, 4/23
with cast and artistic staff
April 2–27
Sherlock Holmes Onstage
S
herlock Holmes holds the Guinness World Record for
being depicted on film and television more frequently
than any other human literary character. But long before
appearing onscreen—before Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had even
finished penning his adventures—Sherlock Holmes began his
illustrious career onstage.
Between 1899 and 1930, William Gillette’s play Sherlock
Holmes was produced seven times on Broadway. Both the
playwright and the star, Gillette had an enormous impact on
popular depictions of Holmes from that point on. The deerstalker hat, for example, wasn’t a staple in Holmes’ costume
prior to the play. Also, the iconic calabash-style pipe is said to
have been chosen for those early stage productions, as the
large air chamber beneath the bowl made the prop easily
recognizable from the audience, despite the fact that it would
have been unsuitable for Holmes’ preferred tobaccos.
Sherlock Holmes remained a popular subject onstage in
the century that followed. Author Amnon Kabatchnik’s Sherlock
Holmes on the Stage: A Chronological Encyclopedia of Plays
Featuring the Great Detective identifies over three dozen plays,
including a handful written or co-written by Conan Doyle
himself. In more recent decades, playwrights Charles Marowitz
and Jeremy Paul had Sherlock-centric plays on Broadway and
London’s West End respectively, and two musical adaptions—
Baker Street and Sherlock Holmes: The Musical—were born.
And of course, Steven Canny and John Nicolson’s hilarious spoof
will delight TheatreWorks’ audiences this April. – Katie Dai
For tickets, call 650.463.1960
For more info, visit theatreworks.org
Costuming The Hound
of the Baskervilles
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Plot Synopsis
A gust of wind and an eerie howl sweep through the
English moor, where a lone man is out walking. Suddenly he
realizes he is being pursued, collapsing as a snarling hound
bounds toward him. It’s a terrifying start to the play—so
terrifying in fact that the actors stop the show to warn
the audience about what they’re getting into. As in Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic tale, Sherlock Holmes and his
colleague Dr. Watson set out to unravel the mystery of
the legendary hound that stalks the Baskerville estate.
The duo is also charged with protecting newly arrived heir
Henry Baskerville from becoming the hound’s next victim.
But in this original telling, Holmes’ dazzling detective
work is enhanced by the zany antics of the threeman ensemble, resulting in a hilarious send-up of one of
literature’s greatest mysteries.
Costume Designer B. Modern has designed a stunning range
of costumes for the three men you will see on stage, from
beautiful ingénue to mysterious gypsy, from at-home London
to the misty moors.
TRACY MARTIN
Darren Bridgett, Ron Campbell, & Michael Gene Sullivan
What does it look like when three actors play twenty
different characters? For starters, they each need costume
pieces and props in order to help make the transition clear
to the audience from one character to the next.
THE CAST
In Order of Appearance
Sir Henry Baskerville
Darren Bridgett*
Dr. John Watson
Michael Gene Sullivan*
Sherlock Holmes
Ron Campbell*
Stagehands
Jed Parsario
Alfred Rudolph
Stage Manager
Assistant Stage Manager
Jamie D. Mann*
Emily Anderson Wolf*
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of
Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States
Actors’ photos and bios can be found on the
The Hound of the Baskervilles page on TheatreWorks’ website.
theatreworks.org/shows/1314-season/houndofthebaskervilles
Costume renderings by B. Modern
For tickets, call 650.463.1960
For more info, visit theatreworks.org
An Interview with Actor Michael Gene Sullivan
Prior to the start of rehearsals, Marketing and Digital
Communications Manager Jonathan Amores conducted
an interview with The Hound of the Baskervilles’ Michael
Gene Sullivan.
Jonathan Amores: You are a resident playwright,
director, and a principal actor with the San Francisco
Mime Troupe. For those unfamiliar with the Troupe,
could you explain what the Troupe is about?
Michael Gene Sullivan: The San Francisco Mime Troupe
is a 55-year-old, Tony Award-winning professional theatre
which, despite its ridiculously misleading name, does not
do silent mime! No walking against the wind! No trapped
in a glass box! No tights... unless the role calls for tights!
Lotsa talking and singing. The Troupe is a collectively run,
activist theatre—meaning that with each of our original
plays we are using theatre to activate our audience, to
inform them on issues of equality, social and economic
justice, environmentalism, and show them some action
they can take. And we use comedy to tell people hard
truths because, as Oscar Wilde said, “If you want to tell
people the truth make them laugh, or they’ll kill you.”
JA: How do you think your performance experience
with the San Francisco Mime Troupe will influence your
work in The Hound of the Baskervilles?
MGS: The Troupe’s style of performance is descended
from the broadness of Comedia dell’arte and American
melodrama, so I’m very used to working in a broad,
farcical style. Also most of the shows the Troupe does
are free in the parks, which isn’t as bucolic as it sounds.
Trying to inflame 3000 people in Dolores Park in San
Francisco with the musical subtleties of a song about
racist injustices of the War on Drugs while you’re dressed
as a giant caterpillar requires an honest commitment to
looking ridiculous to tell the story. That’s my life. Ask my
wife. And that’s what I hope to bring to this play. Not the
caterpillar costume, the honestly ridiculous part. Though
that would be funny.
JA: You’ve been in several TheatreWorks productions,
most recently 33 Variations. What is special about
working at TheatreWorks?
MGS: I was recently looking at a complete list of my work,
For tickets, call 650.463.1960
and realized that
TheatreWorks is where
I’ve worked second
most! And I am neither
masochistic nor greedy
enough to show up at a
soulless theatre that
many times just for the
money.
TheatreWorks is a
wonderful example of
how a large, nationally
respected LORT theatre
can keep its roots in
the community, and a
nurturing and respectful relationship with the local talent.
They have their feet on the ground, and have a commitment to excellence and making the world a kinder, fairer
place. That means a lot to me. And on the purely acting
side once you work at TheatreWorks it’s as if you are
part of an extended company, rather than simply an
ex-employee. Also, TheatreWorks has always had a commitment to sensible open casting. If it doesn’t matter, or it
augments the story, they consider any actor for any role
if that actor brings the right energy, ability, and is the
right fit. Not everyone in the audience notices—which is
good—but where else would a black actor like myself
have the chance to play a bearded and adorable German
performer who makes his living playing Jesus, as I did in
Twentieth Century?
JA: You, Ron Campbell, and Darren Bridgett were all in
Twelfth Night here at TheatreWorks in 2007. What
was that experience like?
MGS: Funny you should ask. Just so happens, in that
particular show, we barely interacted on stage! Ron was
Malvolio, Darren was Aguecheek, and I was Orsino—a
role recently described to me as “the least funny
character in a show full of clowns.” Yeah. Darren and I
went straight from doing that show into a show at the
Aurora Theatre in which we played brothers. We also
commuted to both shows together. I think we had a day
off between closing night and first day of rehearsal, so
Continued on page 4
For more info, visit theatreworks.org
Familiar Faces
We were lucky to find three actors who can perform The
Hound of the Baskervilles as well as Darren Bridgett, Ron
Campbell, and Michael Gene Sullivan. You’ve seen these
powerhouses on our stage before—all together they’ve
1
2
appeared in more than 20 TheatreWorks productions.
Can you name the shows pictured below, each featuring
actors from The Hound of the Baskervilles?
4
3
Answers: 1. Michael Gene Sullivan with Ajuana Nzingha & Anise E. Ritchey in Once on This Island (1993); 2. Michael Gene Sullivan with Jackson Davis in
33 Variations (2012); 3. Ron Campbell in Twelfth Night (2007); 2. Darren Bridgett with Julia Motyka in The Learned Ladies of Park Avenue (2006)
Sullivan Interview Continued from page 3
we ended up spending four months of seeing each other
six days a week. And that, my friend, is a lot of Darren
Bridgett. I think even his wife cuts him off at five. The
main times I got to interact with both of them was in the
dressing room, which was almost as much fun as being on
stage! They are both a lot to keep up with! It wasn’t quite
competitive, but I think all of us felt we’d scored when we
could crack the others up while we got ready—especially
for me, what with the whole “least funny character” thing.
MGS: Everything. I love a good farce, and this should be
a really fun one. I’m also one of those nerds who has
actually read The Complete Sherlock Holmes—repeatedly
—so the chance to play Watson is kinda geeking me out.
These are amazing, iconic characters in the canon of
western literature, and I get to run around in tweed and
a fake mustache! This brings me to another good point
about the production: the weight I’ll lose! By the time this
show closes I will look like beef jerky with an afro and
finally fit into my old suits. Thanks, TheatreWorks!
JA: What are you looking forward to in The Hound of
the Baskervilles?
For tickets, call 650.463.1960
For more info, visit theatreworks.org
7 Hilarious “Hound” Adaptations
There have been over 20 film and television versions of
The Hound of the Baskervilles, and many editions of the
books, including graphic novels and comic strips. Although
most maintain the horror aspect of Conan Doyle’s original
story, many of the adaptations have sought to draw out the
humor in the story. The TheatreWorks production is the
latest in a long line of humorous “Hounds”.
Seven of the most notable comic adaptations include:
1. MAD magazine’s 1954 parody, “Shermlock Shomes in
The Hound of the Basketballs!”
2. Chip ’n’ Dale Rescue Rangers episode, “Pound of the
Baskervilles”
3. Disney’s “The Hound of Basketville,” starring Mickey as
“Sherlock Mouse” and Pluto as the hound
4. The 1978 film adaptation starring Peter Cook and
Dudley Moore
5. Gary Larson’s The Far Side comic, “The Parakeet of
the Baskervilles”
6. The Far Left Side’s “The Wereslug of the Baskervilles”
7. The PBS series Wishbone’s adaptation, where Wishbone
(a Jack Russell terrier) daydreams that he is Sherlock
Holmes
– Syche Phillips
For tickets, call 650.463.1960
For more info, visit theatreworks.org