A PLAY by Barb and Carl Program

CAST

Kimberly Richardson | Barb
Kimberly Richardson is an actor, choreographer, and theatre maker with 20 years on the Twin Cities performance scene. A member of Ten Thousand Things’ Artist Core, Kimberly has appeared frequently with the company since 2008, in productions including Othello, Music Man, As You Like It, Dirt Sticks, and Scapin. Also a regular at Open Eye Figure Theatre, Kimberly performed/ developed My Life as a Fairytale and The Clumsy Man with Michael Sommers and The Red Shoes with Joel Sass. Other credits include: Red Bird Theatre, Children's Theatre Company, Workhaus Collective, History Theatre, Jungle Theater, TigerLion Arts, Interact Center, Live Action Set and Sodhouse Theater. Kimberly received a 2016-17 McKnight Theatre Artist Fellowship and a 2006 Sage Award for dance performance.

JoeNathan Thomas | Carl
JoeNathan Thomas “Carl” is so grateful to be back at the Illusion for this incredible original story. Thomas has had the great fortune to have appeared on many Twin City and Regional stages. JoeNathan was most recently seen locally as Oliver Warbucks in CTC’s production of “Annie”, also “The Cradle will Rock” at Frank Theater, and “Tinker to Evers to Chance” at Artistry Theater. Recent film credits include Freestyle Film & Disney’s “Everyday St Nick”. There is no greater gift for an artist than to be trusted with the task of bringing to life, new, relevant, and vibrant characters to the American Theater Audience. A former Marine and native Texan, Thomas spends his offstage hours as a Professional Horseman.

Laura Esping | Health Care Worker
Laura Esping is a Twin Cities actor and educator who has performed with many local companies including the Guthrie, Yellow Tree Theatre, Park Square, Pillsbury House, Full Circle Theatre, History Theatre, Old Log Theatre, Penumbra, The Jungle Theatre, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre, and At the Foot of the Mountain Women’s Theatre. As an educator, she has worked at the Guthrie in their summer camp programs, library programs, special community request classes, and acting levels I and II. Laura holds a BA from the University of Iowa and an MFA from the University of Minnesota. She is thrilled to be back at Illusion Theater with this show, these people and in this beautiful new space.

CREW & STAFF

Carlyle Brown | Andrew W. Mellon Playwright-in-Residence
Carlyle Brown is a playwright/performer, curator and artistic director of Carlyle Brown & Company based in Minneapolis. He is an alumnus of New Dramatists, a Life Time Core Writer at the Playwrights’ Center and recently a Mellon Foundation National Playwright in residence with Illusion Theater. His plays have been produced at theatres across the country and internationally and he has received numerous commissions, fellowships and awards. A scholar and historian, Brown has been an artist in residence or visiting professor at various colleges and universities and has worked as a museum exhibit writer and story consultant.

Rachel Lantow | Stage Manager
Rachel is thrilled to be with Illusion & Carlyle Brown again, after serving as stage manager for Acting Black a few years ago. In 2021, Rachel was a logistics coordinator for Minnesota community vaccination clinics. Recently she returned to touring with Cirque Mechanics, which pre-pandemic had enjoyed an off-Broadway residency. In the last year, she worked locally with Circus Juventas, Mu Performing Arts, and Alternative Motion Project. Selected stage management credits include Heaven, French Twist (Flying Foot Forum), Loyce Houlton’s Nutcracker Fantasy (Minnesota Dance Theatre), Hatchet Lady (Walking Shadow Theatre Company), SOLO (McKnight Foundation), In the Margins (THREADS Dance Project), The (curious case) of the Watson Intelligence (Park Square Theatre), Momentum: New Dance Works 2017 & 2019, CLIMB Theatre, and Four Saints in Three Acts (VocalEssence & Black Label Movement). Rachel earned her B.F.A. in Theatre Technology/Design from Minnesota State University, Mankato. "For my audience of one and for Kaela."

ALEX CLARK | Lighting Design
Alex is a freelance lighting designer and photographer with an MFA in lighting design from the University of Minnesota and a BA in theatre, social science, history, and international relations from the University of Minnesota – Morris. He is blessed and cursed with an insatiable curiosity about everything and a fascination for how light interacts with our world. Recent lighting designs include Busy Body (Phipps Center), Theory of Relativity (Blake School), Addams Family (Phipps Center), Miss Richfield 1981 (Illusion Theatre), and The Uncertainty Principle (Open Eye).

DEAN HOLZMAN | Scenic Design
Illusion’s Resident Scenic Designer, Dean has worked in the theater for over 40 years. He has had the honor of designing for many companies including Pillsbury House Theatre, Park Square, History Theater, Steppingstone, Milwaukee Puppet and Mask Theatre, Ping Chong and the Minnesota Opera. In addition to his stage work, Dean is an accomplished furniture designer and sculptor. Many of his designs can be found in public places including the Rochester BioBusiness Center and the Edina Promenade. Among the awards he has received are the City of Minneapolis Planning Department, the Committee on Urban Environment Award, and the McKnight Artist Fellowship.

C. ANDREW MAYER | Sound Design
Andrew has been blessed to work extensively in the Twin Cities, including at the Jungle, History Theater, Guthrie, Minnesota Opera, Mixed Blood, Theatre Latte Da, Pillsbury House, Six Points, Great River Shakespeare Festival, and numerous others; and nationally at Everyman Theater (Baltimore), ACT (San Francisco), Philadelphia Opera, Opera Colorado (Denver), Arkansas Rep (Little Rock), and others. Previously at Illusion, he designed For The Loyal, Finding Fish, and Miranda. He was a 2008-2009 McKnight Artist Fellowship and won an Audelco Award for his design for Carlyle Brown’s Pure Confidence at 59E59 in NYC. In summer he serves as the Producing Director of the Acadia Repertory Theatre on Mount Desert Island, Maine.

BARBARA PORTINGA | Costume Design
Barbara has made her living solely via her costume skills for over 25 years, often working in musical comedy, a favorite genre. Her work has been seen at over 40 theaters from Salt Lake City, Utah to Door County, Wisconsin. She has designed several shows at illusion, including My Antonia and A Night in Olympus. She received her on the job training at Chanhassen Dinner Theater where she remains a cutter/draper/tailor for each main stage show. Barb is a founding Member of The Costume Collective (www.thecostumecollective.com) the newest and largest costume rental company in the Twin Cities.

TREE O’HALLORAN | Associate Producer
Tree has worked with the Illusion on new works, established plays and tours over the past 30+ years and she is thrilled to begin a new chapter as their Associate Producer. Tree has been a stage manager and theater maker for 40 years. As a stage manager, she has worked around the country and abroad for such theaters as the Children’s Theatre Company, Alley Theatre, Hartford Stage, Williamstown Theater Festival, PlayMakers Rep, Nissay Theater (Tokyo), Gibileena Festival (Italy), Jungle Theater and the Illusion Theater. At the Guthrie Theater, she held the position of Production Stage Manager for seven seasons. A graduate of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Tree currently resides in south Minneapolis with her husband and two children.

BONNIE MORRIS | Producing Director
Bonnie has been a part of Illusion Theater’s remarkable history as an actor, writer, educator, and producer. Bonnie is passionate about new work and new artists. She is committed to the transformational power of story-telling and theater. Bonnie co-authored all of Illusion’s educational plays, including Touch, For Our Daughters, Like Waters Rolling Down, No Laughing Matter, Clear the Air, Keepin’ it Real. and the updated film TOUCH for the 21st century .Bonnie was awarded the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Ivey Award with Michael Robins.

MICHAEL ROBINS | Executive Producing Director
Michael founded Illusion Theater in 1974. Over the past 40+ years, he has guided nearly 500 plays to production. This year Michael worked with T Mychael Rambo to ready PRESENT for its tour. Favorite projects he has directed include Allison Moore’s Ivey award winning My Antonia, Bill W. & Dr. Bob by Samuel Shem and Janet Surrey, James Still’s Miranda, Kate Guentzel in The Pink Unicorn, and Jeffrey Hatcher and Chan Poling’s A Night in Olympus. With Roberta Carlson, Michael created the musical Only One Sophie. Michael is part of the team that created Illusion’s Education/Prevention program in 1977 starting with the award -winning play Touch. Michael received the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Ivey Award with Bonnie Morris,

GLOSSARY

What is a Dramaturg or Dramaturge (spelled either way )

It’s not easy to put into one sentence the definition of a dramaturge.

A dramaturge working with a new play is there to help the writer with the process of writing the play. The Dramaturge helps the writer develop and distill their thoughts and ideas, providing feedback, researching contexts and language, and being a professional sounding board so that the writer gets exactly what they ‘re looking for from their script.

In the A PLAY by Barb and Carl Barb describes her role as Carl’s dramaturge-

“My mission as a dramaturge was to be the guardian of my husband’s voice in writing his plays. Every day he would read me fresh pages as I listen to the words and be his audience. An audience of one.And when he finished, after what to him seemed a terribly long and torturous silence, I tell him what I think. Thumbs up, thumbs down. Is it too long? Is it too short? Is it clear? Does it make any sense? Is it aurally articulate and plausible to human behavior? Beginnings are daunting and endings are hard. But most of all does it make you feel something? Can you feel it? Feeling, that’s the most important thing. “

What is Aphasia?

from the Mayo Clinic’s website

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/aphasia/symptoms-causes/syc-20369518

Aphasia is a condition that affects your ability to communicate. It can affect your speech, as well as the way you write and understand both spoken and written language.

Aphasia typically occurs suddenly after a stroke or a head injury. But it can also come on gradually from a slow-growing brain tumor or a disease that causes progressive, permanent damage (degenerative). The severity of aphasia depends on a number of conditions, including the cause and the extent of the brain damage.

Once the cause has been addressed, the main treatment for aphasia is speech and language therapy. The person with aphasia relearns and practices language skills and learns to use other ways to communicate. Family members often participate in the process, helping the person communicate.