January 7 through February 14

January 7 through February 14
From the Playwright
I wrote a short essay, the diary of an actor hired on
Monday and fired on Friday. I thought it would be a perfect
piece for The New Yorker. The New Yorker disagreed …,
A friend said, “You should write it as a one-man show.” I
knew he was right. What is a pretend environment, after
all, if not the setting for a play?
But wait. I would be depicting a living person onstage. A
public figure, true, but one with a litigious history. There’s
even a Wikipedia entry for something called the “Streisand
effect,” referring to lawsuits that publicize information they
intend to suppress, named after you know who. Did I really
want to take this on?
I guess I did. The idea was too much fun to let go. The
premise wasn’t just absurd; it had the potential to be
poignant and meaningful. There was something touching
and childlike about the pride and care with which Barbra
shows off her possessions. And look around: Barbra isn’t
the only one with a house that might be a tad grander than
necessary these days.
The play begins with a disclaimer. The actor explains
what is true (the mall in Barbra’s basement) and what is
fiction (everything that happens). He also says that he will
not impersonate the diva. The play is about the Barbra
we never see — in private, living with the blessings and
burdens of her fame.
By having the actor evoke her simply, switching between
characters without costume or caricature, the play keeps
Barbra a thing of magic — there but not there, always just
out of reach. (It’s a daunting challenge…)
So, O.K., if there’s nobody dressed up as Barbra and the
show is such a loving tribute, why not just invite her to
see it? Well, you can’t do full justice to the Streisand Myth
without acknowledging the great lady’s quirks and foibles,
some of which she jokes about herself. And there is some
tough criticism...
Still, to answer the question: No, I have not heard from
Barbra. Nor from her lawyers. But I suppose now is a good
time for her to hear from me.
“Hi, Barbra. We met once 20 years ago, when you came to
see a play I wrote. You almost bought the movie rights, but
then you didn’t. Anyway, thank you for inspiring “Buyer &
Cellar” and for your sense of humor. People love you in the
play, and many of them go home and order copies of your
book. I hear that friends of yours have seen the show and
told you it’s not offensive. Trust them. But if you do plan to
come, don’t tell me, because I’d plotz. (Did I mention I was
born in Brooklyn, too?)
Oh, and you have to admit, there’s something kind of
funny about a mall in a basement.”
Jonathan Tolins for The New York Times
June 2013
#TWBuyerCellar #BabsBasement
@theaterworksct
theaterworkshartford
@theaterworksct
by
Jonathan Tolins
directed by
Rob Ruggiero †
Starring
TOM LENK *
as Alex More
Set Design
LUKE HEGEL-CANTARELLA
Lighting and Video Projection Design
ROB DENTON
Sound Design
ZACHARY MOORE
Production Manager
Stage Manager
Assistant Director
C. NIKKI MILLS
KATE J. CUDWORTH*
ERIC ORT
Design by WondriskaRusso
Photo by Lanny Nagler with TOM LENK
Original Off-Broadway Production produced by
Darren Bagert, Dan Shaheen and Ted Snowdon
World Premiere produced by Rattlestick Playwrights Theater
(David Van Asselt, Artistic Director; Brian Long, Managing Director)
BUYER & CELLAR is presented by special arrangement
with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York.
† Member of SDC, Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.
* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, Union of Professional Actors
and Stage Managers in the U.S.
Production Sponsors
The Cheryl Chase and Stuart Bear Family Foundation
TheaterWorks is celebrating its 30th season as a non-profit,
professional theater company. Founded in 1985 by Steve Campo.
BUYER & CELLAR is the 2nd production in
the 2015-2016 Subscription Season.
TheaterWorks • 233 Pearl Street • Hartford, CT 06103 • 2016
KOOPMAN CHAIR EXHIBITION
PAPER MOVIES
CURATED BY MELISSA CATANESE + ED PANAR
JANUARY 19–FEBRUARY 17, 2016
OPENING RECEPTION
This exhibition presents contemporary photo
books from around the globe that use thoughtful
editing, sequencing, and design to explore the
narrative potential of a group of images. Curated
by Melissa Catanese and Ed Panar, the 2016
Koopman Chairs in the Visual Arts at the
University of Hartford’s Hartford Art School,
Paper Movies includes work by more than 100
distinguished photographers including Mitch
Epstein, Micheal Schmidt, LaToya Ruby Frazier,
Rinko Kawauchi, and several graduates of the
Hartford Art School’s Limited Residency MFA in
Photography program including Lucy Helton ‘14
and Stefan Schein ‘15.
This exhibition is funded in part by the
Georgette and Richard Koopman Chair
in the Visual Arts Fund.
JOSELOFF GALLERY HOURS:
Tuesday–Friday: 11 a.m.–4 p.m.
Saturday & Sunday: 12–4 p.m.
200 Bloomfield Avenue West Hartford, CT 06117
WHO
TOM L E NK is a SAG Award winning
actor, known for his work on numerous
projects written/directed by Joss Whedon
including Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its
spin-off, Angel, and the movies Cabin in
the Woods and Much Ado About Nothing.
Tom is making his TheaterWorks debut.
He can also be seen in the films Argo,
Transformers, and the much-anticipated
Girls Will Be Girls sequel. Other television credits include
@Midnight, Bones, Episodes, Witches of East End, How I
Met Your Mother, House M.D., Psych, Greek, Nip/Tuck, and
Six Feet Under. On stage he starred as Franz in both the
Broadway and original Los Angeles casts of Rock of Ages,
the west coast premiere of Amy & David Sedaris’ Book of Liz,
and BUYER & CELLAR at the Pittsburgh Public. He regularly
performs live comedy in Los Angeles at Upright Citizens
Brigade, The Groundlings, Largo, and Comedy Central Stage
and toured his solo comedy show, Nerdgasm, in the U.S.,
Canada, and U.K. with a final stop at the Edinburgh Fringe
Festival. Tom can be found on Twitter at @tomlenk and
hosting “The Strangely Attractive Podcast” on iTunes.
JONAT HA N TOL I N S (Playwright) is known to
TheaterWorks audiences as the author of “The Cane in the
Corner” in Christmas on the Rocks, and was represented last
season on Broadway by additional material he contributed
with his husband, Robert Cary, to the revival of On the Town.
He is best known as the author of BUYER & CELLAR, which
won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Solo Show
Off-Broadway and was recently named one of the top ten
most produced plays in America. Other plays include The
Twilight of the Golds, If Memory Serves, The Last Sunday
in June, and Secrets of the Trade. Film/TV work includes
The Twilight of the Golds, Martian Child, Queer as Folk,
The Academy Awards, The Tony Awards, Partners, and the
upcoming BrainDead. He and Robert Cary have written
the adaptation of the classic musical Grease, to be telecast
live in January on Fox TV. He has written articles for Opera
News, Opera Monthly, TheaterWeek, Time Magazine, and The
Huffington Post, and is a regular panelist on the Metropolitan
Opera Radio Quiz. He lives in Fairfield, Connecticut, with his
husband and their children, Selina and Henry.
RO B R U GGI E R O (Director/Producing
Artistic Director) has been a part of
TheaterWorks artistic leadership for 23 years.
He has directed over 50 shows, including
THIRD, Good People, Christmas on the Rocks,
Annapurna, The Other Place and Time Stands
Still. Rob has earned national recognition for
his work on plays and musicals. His Broadway
credits include Looped (starring Valerie Harper in a Tonynominated performance) and High (starring Kathleen Turner).
Off-Broadway, he conceived and directed the original musical
revue entitled Make Me a Song: The Music of William Finn
(Nominated for the Drama Desk and the Outer Critics Circle
Awards). Rob conceived and directed the world premiere
musical portrait of Ella Fitzgerald entitled Ella, which was
seen on more than 24 regional theater stages from 20052010 before beginning a National Tour. His work has received
multiple awards and recognition here in Connecticut, as
well as in other cities around the United States. Rob most
recently directed La Cage aux Folles, his ninth collaboration
with Goodspeed Musicals where he also directed highly
WHO
successful productions of Fiddler on the Roof (Connecticut
Critic’s Circle Award for Best Direction), The Most Happy
Fella (Connecticut Critic’s Circle Award for Best Direction),
Carousel (Broadway World Award), Annie Get Your Gun,
Camelot, Big River, 1776 and a new adaptation of Show
Boat (Connecticut Critic’s Circle Award for Best Direction).
This new version is now being licensed by the Rogers &
Hammerstein Organization and is being produced this winter
at the Sheffield Theater in Sheffield, England.
www.robruggiero.com
LUKE H EG EL- C A N TA R E L L A (Scenic Design)
TheaterWorks: Good People, Woody Sez, Time Stands Still,
The Understudy, This, Broke-o-logy, Speech and Debate,
Blackbird, Driving Miss Daisy, Chesapeake, Lobby Hero,
Spinning into Butter, Ten Unknowns, Blue/Orange, The Last
Five Years, The Exonerated, Rabbit Hole and Dinner with
Friends. NYC: Sex Tips for Straight Women from a Gay Man,
Berenstain Bears Live, Atlantic Theater Company, Make Me a
Song, Lucille Lortel, Synapse Productions, Here, The Lambs,
Sens Productions/Whitney Biennial. Regional: American
Repertory Theater, Cleveland Play House, Milwaukee
Repertory Theater, Repertory Theater of St. Louis, Yale Rep,
Pittsburgh Public, Northlight, Prince Music Theater, RedCAT,
Berkshire Theater Festival, Barrington Stage, People’s Light
& Theater, Prince Music Theater. Opera: Curtis, Peabody/
Baltimore Lyric Opera, Wolftrap. Dance: Wooden Floor,
Dance Connecticut, Eastern Connecticut Ballet. Film/TV:
Damages (Art Director). International: Arts Theater (West
End), Rozentheater (Amsterdam), AUC (Cairo). Associate
Professor: Pace University.
R OB D EN TON (Lighting and Video Projection Design)
is thrilled to be designing his first show at TheaterWorks.
Recent regional design credits include Erma Bombeck:
At Wit’s End (Arena Stage); Simply Sondheim (Signature
Theatre), Mary Stuart (Folger Theatre) Because of WinnDixie (Delaware Theatre Company); Disney’s The Little
Mermaid (Arkansas Repertory Theatre); Hairspray, Holiday
Inn, Into the Woods, Porgy & Bess and Seussical (The Muny);
The Winslow Boy and All The Way (Repertory Theatre of St.
Louis); Die Fledermaus (New Orleans Opera); Hansel & Gretel
and The Mikado (Memphis Opera); and Madame Butterfly
(Minnesota Opera). Some of Rob’s upcoming designs include
Jack and Phil, Giant-Slayers, Inc. (Imagination Stage); BlueSky Boys (Capital Repertory Theatre); and The Explorers
Club (Delaware Theatre Company). www.rdentex.com
ZAC HARY M OO RE (Sound Design) was last at
TheaterWorks designing Blue/Orange. He has designed 79
productions at Pittsburgh Public Theater, including the world
premieres of L’Hotel, The Chief, Harry’s Friendly Service, The
Glorious Ones, The Secret Letters of Jackie and Marilyn, and
Paper Doll; the American premieres of The Bird Sanctuary
and RolePlay (also original music); as well as The Diary of
Anne Frank, Othello, Noises Off!, Around the World in 80
Days, Red, Electra, Circle Mirror Transformation (original
music), Metamorphoses, I Am My Own Wife, Man of La
Mancha, and Anna in the Tropics. Other designs include,
Hibari (NBA Ballet, Tokyo), Pop! (City Theatre Company),
Sweeney Todd and Angels in America (Univ. of Pittsburgh
Rep), House and Garden (PICT Classic Theatre), Completely
Hollywood (abridged) (Reduced Shakespeare Company),
Falsettos (The Huntington), Paper Doll (Long Wharf Theatre),
and Fully Committed (PPT, Dallas Theater Center, McCoy/
Rigby Productions). Zach also operates a music-mastering
studio, HDdB.
C. NIKK I M I L L S (outgoing Production Manager) has
enjoyed working on this final production with TheaterWorks
while making the transition into her new full time position
at Yale School of Drama/Yale Repertory Theater. She has
immensely valued her time getting to know this family at
TheaterWorks comprised of staff, guest artists, volunteers,
and loyal patrons and she has very much treasured the
opportunity to be a part of the TW team.
KATE J. C UDWO RT H (Production Stage Manager)
TheaterWorks: Christmas on the Rocks ’15, Third, I’ll Eat You
Last, Good People, Playing the Assassin, Dancing Lessons,
Christmas on the Rocks ’14, Annapurna, Woody Sez,
Love/Sick, The Other Place, Freud’s Last Session, Christmas
on the Rocks ‘13, Mrs. Mannerly, Time Stands Still, Becoming
Dr. Ruth. Off-Broadway: Freud’s Last Session, [title of
show]. NY/Regional: Barrington Stage Company (8 seasons
including Freud’s Last Session; Dr. Ruth, All The Way; Joe
Iconis’ The Black Suits), Atlantic Stage Company, Hartford
Stage, Manhattan School of Music (4 seasons including
Cosi fan tutte; Thais; Mahagonny), Yale Opera, York Theatre
Company, Bronx Opera Company, Fringe NYC, NYMF.
GRISWOLD STREET ANTIQUES
119 Griswold Street, Glastonbury
860.657.2885 Wed-Sat 11-5, Sun 12-5
STAF F
Producing Artistic Director
Rob Ruggiero
Producing Associate
Taneisha Duggan
General Manager
Nicole LaFlair Nieves
Operations Manager
William Farquhar
Director of Marketing/
Communications
Freddie McInerney
Audience/Communications
Michael McKiernan
Director of Development
Dina Silva
Audience Administration
Joshua Demers
Production Stage Manager
Kate J. Cudworth
Assistant Stage Manager/
Company Manager
Cecelia Chapman
Master Electrician/
Assistant Technical Director
Sasha Wahl
Production Manager
C. Nikki Mills
Technical Director
Zachry Pilat
Lead Production Technician
Joe Staffa
Properties Manager
Anastasia Egan
Production Photographer
Lanny Nagler
Scenic Charge
Miranda Casler
Production Apprentice/
Cafe Operator
Alyssa Voccola
Carpenters
Chris Bell, overhire
Alec Montgomery
Interns
Ashli Beamon
Eric Brazalovich
Daniel Brown
Rosie Coursey
Lawson Lewallen
Zachary Meyers
Shannon Shayes
Diana Sparks
Emily Qualmann
OUR BOARD
Gerry Lupacchino (President)
Dina Plapler (Vice President)
Daniel O’Connell (Treasurer)
Roberta Prescott (Secretary)
Evan Johnson (Asst Secretary)
Michael G. Albano
Julio Concepcion
Jennifer DiBella
Lee G. Kuckro
Robert Pulito
Dennis Russo
Larry Samplatsky
Montell Taylor
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