DIXON PLACE PRESENTS

NORTH

CAST IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE

Ada Lovelace………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………….ROBIN JOHNSON Jon Krakauer…………………………………..…………………………………….…………..…………………………………..WILLIAM GWYN Lord Byron……………………………………………………..………………………….……………………..…………………..……………JAKE LASSER Chris McCandless/Alexander Supertramp…………………………….ADAM FONTANA John Cam Hobhouse / Percy Bysshe Shelley………………..……….JACK UTRATA Ron Franz / Leigh Hunt……………………………..………………………………………………..……..……..ERIC HEDLUND Lady Caroline Lamb / Tracy………………………………..…………………………………………………………..LIZI MYERS Annabella Milbanke (Lady Byron) / Jan………………………………..……………….AMY HANDRA Bob / Dr. John Polidori / Wayne………..……………………………………MATTHEW ACEVEDO Mary Shelley………………………..………………………………………………..………………………………………KATIE WILLMORTH Carine McCandless……………………………..………………………………………………..……………………………..ERIKA VETTER

SETTINGS: 1809 – 1824 EUROPE & 1988 – 1992 AMERICA

CREATIVE

Playwright / Co-director………………………………………………………………………………..……………………………….RAN XIA Director…………………………………..…………………………………….…………..………………………………………………………….PAUL BEDARD Movement Consultant…………….………………………….……………………..…………………..……………KATIE PALMER Vocal Coach…………….…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…….LAUREN ROTH Stage Manager / Understudy……………………………………………………….………………..AMY STRINGER Casting Assistant…………………………………………………………………………………………………………JOY WHITEHURST Media Associate…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….JESSICA TAGHAP

SPECIAL THANKS TO

Erez Ziv, Keila Fontanez & The Horse Trade Theater Group;

Dr. Ellen Spaldo (You made this possible!), and the University Players; Evelyn Chu, Ivana Sabar & Ivy Yu for your faith in this project and

constant encouragement

MUSIC CREDIT

“The Wanderer” by Peter Pringle “Rock & Roll Byron” by Gerry O’Gorman

“The North” by Stars “King of the Road” by Roger Miller

“She Walks in Beauty” by Sissel lyrics by Lord Byron “Lordy May” by Boy & Bear

“King of the Road (Instrumental” by Glen Campbell “Lament for a Warrior Bard” by Vicente Harpantique

 

LIZI MYERS (Caroline Lamb/Tracy) is a Brooklyn-based actor. Recent New York credits include Dear/Sea Monsters in A Pier Drawn in Chalk (The Secret Theater), Lucy in Pains of Youth (Access Theater), Marianne in Sense and Sensibility (BEDLAM Workshop), and Mama Ubu in Ubu the King (Barnard College). She is very excited to also be a part of Ken Schatz’s upcoming production of Paul Zindel's The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds. Lizi holds a BA from Barnard College. She is grateful to the awesome cast and creative team and she sends a personal thank you to her wonderful caterpillar. lizimyers.com AMY HANDRA (Annabella, Lady Byron / Jan) is a lover of poetry and nature. She is thrilled to be a part of this production. Amy holds a BFA in Acting from Wright State University and an MFA in Acting from the University of Alabama. She recently made her Off-Broadway debut in Olympics Über Alles at St. Luke’s Theatre. Other NYC acting credits include: The Commitment Cure at the Strawberry One-Act Play Festival. Regionally, Amy has worked at The Colorado Shakespeare Festival, The Dairy Center for the Arts, Landmark Children’s Theatre, and Kincaid Regional Theatre. International work includes performing in Spanish at the Teatro Nacionale in Havana, Cuba in a production of Beyond Therapy, and with members of the Maxim Gorky Theatre from Vladivostok, Russia in a bi-lingual production of The Inspector General. amyhandra.com MATTHEW ACEVEDO (John Polidori / Wayne / Bob) Matthew Acevedo trained in the Meisner Technique at the Maggie Flannigan Studio. Originally from Orlando, Florida; he moved to New York to further define his artistry. He is thankful for every experience that helps him do so. "Act before you think- your instincts are more honest than your thoughts." -Sanford Meisner KATIE WILLMORTH (Mary Shelley) Katie's first love is the theatre, and her very-close-second love is a tie between English literature, coffee, and the smell of old books. Katie is a NYC-based actress, anglophile, and graduate of NYU:Tisch School of the Arts (Stella Adler Studio of Acting and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts). Favorite credits:The Devil's Disciple (Essie) at Shakespeare Theatre of NJ; Julius Ceasar (Calpurnia) and A Christmas Carol: A Radio Play (Belle) at Smith Street Stage; An Ideal Husband (Mrs. Marchmont) at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival; As You Like It (Rosalind), Dancing at Lughnasa (Chris), and various roles in Caucasian Chalk Circle (dir. John Gould Rubin) at Stella Adler Studio of Acting. katiewillmorth.com ERIC HEDLUND (Ron Franz / Leigh Hunt) is a freelance events electrician, theatrical carpenter and actor. Eric has acted at Pioneer Playhouse, KY, Black Hills Playhouse, SD, and Old Creamery Theater, IA. Conducted theater workshops to K-12 youth, developmentally disabled adults and medium security prison inmates. He has served as a Technical Director, Master Electrician and Director of Education and Outreach. 30-40 hours a week, he can be found at various locations at the top of a ladder installing corporate art or lighting systems for financial industry events and the occasional $100,000 Bar Mitzvah. Current goals include acting more, being a better technician, reincarnating his fun-at-parties college persona, and reinvesting in his own art.

ROBIN JOHNSON (Ada Lovelace) is a stage and screen actress. Recent credits include: Hal (Treehouse Theater), Half-Hearted (Cherry Lane Theatre), Spring Pictures of the Floating World (La MaMa ETC), The Window: 4 ALICE (PopUp Theatrics). BFA, NYU Tisch, Proud member of Barefoot Shakespeare Company and Blue Muse Dance Company. robinjohnsonactress.weebly.com WILLIAM GWYN (Jon Krakauer) NY: Foothills Park (Elephant Room Productions), A Grimm Tale (Cue Laugh Track Productions), King Lear, Othello (Instant Shakespeare Company),Hackers & Heroes (Manhattan Repertory Theater). Regional: The Tempest (Blowing Rock Stage Company), Lobotomobile, Devour (In/Visible Theatre). Graduate of Appalachian State University. He would like to thank the creative team and the cast for this experience and give a personal thank you to his awesome frog. JAKE LASSER (Lord Byron) is a performer, dramaturge, and company member of the New York-based Theater in Asylum. Recent works include Theater in Asylum's ¡Olé! (Prague Fringe Festival), Danaya Esperanza's Kassandra and the Wolf (Juilliard), Oscar Wilde's Vera; Or, the Nihilists (Femme Fatale Theater/HERE Arts Center), Peter Schaffer's Equus (Columbia MFA Acting program), Dara Malina's Lilith (Columbia MFA Directing program), Marc Arthur’s new play Mascot for the Dead (at the Martha Graham Dance Company). B.A. Columbia University 2012. ADAM FONTANA (Chris McCandless / Alexander Supertramp) has recently been seen in various new play readings around the city as well as the short film "Sal and the Goon" currently hitting local film festivals. His past credits include Civil War (Nat'l Tour & Off-B'way), Next to Normal (Hangar Theatre), The Shape of Things, Ragtime, Big Love. Adam loves working on new pieces, creating characters and breathing life into unfamiliar stories like that of Chris McCandless. Thank you Ran and Paul for putting everything into this passionate and thought-provoking piece of new theatre. "Happiness is only real when shared," and Adam couldn't be more excited to share this thoughtful and vibrant new work with you. Jack Utrata (John Cam Hobhouse / Percy Bysshe Shelley) NYC Debut! Regional: Cabaret (Playmakers Repertory Company); Recent Tragic Events, A Tuna Christmas (Carolina Actors Studio Theatre of Charlotte); Educational work includes Three Days of Rain (GroundUP Productions, Dir. Kate Middleton); Diary of a Somebody, All Shook Up, From Up Here, Eurydice (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill); Film: Machina; Other: Zapped: An Electrifying Experience (Discover Place Museum in Charlotte, NC, as Nikola Tesla); Also works as a freelance videographer, recent credits include Caridad Svich’s Upon The Fragile Shore (Dir. Gabriel Shanks) (The Drama League); BA: The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. www.jackutrata.com Erika Vetter (Carine McCandless) is an NYC actor from Colorado, where she attained her BA in Theatre Arts from the University of Northern Colorado. Past credits include As You Like It (Celia), A Month In The Country(Vera), and Dancing at Lughnasa (Rose). She is beyond grateful to Ran, Paul and this cast for showing her a new kind of creativity, and to her family both near and far for the extraordinary support.

 

BYRON & HIS CONTEMPORARIES

CHARACTERS CHEAT SHEET

 

CHRIS MCCANDLESS’ JOURNEY

1990 - 1992

 

RAN XIA (Playwright / Co-director) is grateful beyond words for her collaborators. THEY made this project possible! Interdisciplinary artist and storyteller based in NYC, Visual: Art Takes Times Square, Stories of the Creative, and Art Takes Miami (SEE.ME), Dacia Gallery Art Show (Times Square Arts Centre), and Spiegel Me (Installation at Fountains Foundation, Columbia College, Chicago). Theatre: The Vagina Monologues, Rumours, The Elephant Man (FDU), The Last Dance (York Theatre Company). Ran is drawn to the nature, the romantics of both arts and science, and stories with non-linear timelines. ranxia.see.me PAUL BEDARD (Director) is a theater artist, director and writer, and is a founding artistic director of Theater in Asylum. Recent directing credits include ¡Olé! (Prague Fringe, Chicago Fringe, NYC Under St. Marks Theater), #Coriolanus (Under St. Marks Theater), Frankenstein (Looking Glass Theater), and Nijinsky in Asylum (Steps on Broadway Theater). Paul holds a BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. paulhbedard.com KATIE PALMER (Movement Consultant). NY Choreography: Held Momentarily (The Sheen Center, NYC Fringe ENCORES Series), Holy Crab! (workshop, NYTW) Co-Artistic Director, THEATER IN ASYLUM. Recent credits with THEATER IN ASYLUM:¡Olé!, #CORIOLANUS, Revolution in 1, FRANKENSTEIN. Upcoming Choreography: In Fields Where They Lay (The New Ohio). BFA, NYU Tisch. LAUREN ALESSA ROTH (Vocal Coach) is a NYC-based voice, speech, & dialect coach. She holds a BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she also substitute teaches voice and speech classes in the New Studio on Broadway. Lauren has dialect coached many shows in the tri-state area, in addition to privately coaching individual actors. Recent credits include The Mystery of Edwin Drood (NYU Tisch), A Little Princess (Mazzarella Media), and Bonnie & Clyde (NYU Tisch). Special thanks to those who have helped her find her llama. AMY STRINGER (Stage Manager / Understudy) is an actor and theatre maker in New York. Upcoming projects include the short film "For the Record," and the web series "We're Alright". She is a graduate of Barnard College. JESSICA TAGHAP (Media Associate) has been writing about theater as The Resident Artist since 2006. Currently, she writes for off-off-Broadway website OffOffOnline and this past winter has contributed to NewMusicalTheatre.com's Green Room blog. She is fascinated by missed connections, subway maps (and those sandwiches, too), bars that play really bad live music, street fashion, hippies (especially the kind that sing about hair), Audrey Hepburn, Darren Criss' eyebrows, Chaos Theory and referring to herself in the third person. ………………………………………………..…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. The creative team wants to thank Dixon Place for this incredible opportunity to present North, and the cast for their unfaltering dedication throughout the process. It has been truly fantastic journey. November 2014

SOURCE MATERIALS USED IN THIS PLAY

(IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE FROM EACH AUTHOR)

ADA LOVELACE

NOTES ON ANALYTICAL ENGINE

LORD BYRON

DARKNESS (I HAD A DREAM, WHICH WAS NOT ALL A DREAM.)

ON THIS DAY I COMPLETE MY 36TH YEAR

CHILDE HAROLD’S PILGRIMAGE

MAIDEN SPEECH AT HOUSE OF LORDS

ENGLISH BARDS AND SCOTTISH REVIEWERS

MANFRED

THE ISLES OF GREECE

DON JUAN

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

MONT BLANC

THE MASQUE OF ANARCHY (STAND YE CALM AND RESOLUTE)

ADONAIS

MARY SHELLEY

PERSONAL DIARY

FRANKENSTEIN

“OH COME TO ME IN DREAMS MY LOVE”

LEIGH HUNT

LORD BYRON AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES

JON KRAKAUER

INTO THE WILD

CHRIS MCCANDLESS

JOURNAL ENTRIES

EDITORIAL FOR EMORY WHEEL

ADDITIONAL QUOTES, PERSONAL LETTERS AND DIARIES FROM LORD BYRON, JOHN CAM

HOBHOUSE, CAROLINE LAMB, ANNABELLA MILBANKE (LADY BYRON), MARY SHELLEY, AND

DR. JOHN POLIDORI

 

ADAM FONTANA WILLIAM GWYN

ERIKA VETTER MATTHEW ACEVEDO

LIZI MYERS AMY STRINGER

ROBIN JOHNSON JAKE LASSER

JACK UTRATA AMY HANDRA

KATIE WILLMORTH ERIC HEDLUND

NORTH IS A WORK-IN-DEVELOPMENT WE WELCOME ALL QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS

JOIN US FOR Q&A AND DRINKS IN THE LOUNGE AFTER THE SHOW

PLEASE KEEP IN TOUCH

NORTHTHEPLAY@GMAIL.COM