Cops is presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.

Cops is presented with no intermission

Supported in part by the Virgina Commission of the Arts andThe Arlington County Department of Parks, Recreation and

Community Services, Cultural Affairs Division

PLEASE NOTE:The use of recording equipment and/or the taking of photographs

during the performance is strictly prohibited

The American Century TheaterPresents

by Terry Curtis FoxJanuary 4 - 26, 2008

Gunston Theatre II2700 S. Lang StreetArlington, Virginia

ProducerRhonda Hill

DirectorStephen Jarrett

Stage ManagerAlicia Oliver

Lighting DesignerAnnMarie Castrigno

Set DesignerTrena Weiss–Null

Assistant DirectorJason M. Beagle

CostumerRip Claassen

PropertiesKaren Currie

Technical Director & Sound Designer

Michael Null

Cops

The Setting:Chicago’s North Side, 1978

An all-night diner around 2:00 AM

Cast (In order of appearance)

Omelet Eater......................................................................................Mickey...............................................................................................George..................................................................................................Cab Driver.............................................................................................Jack Rolf............................................................................................Bob Barberson...................................................................................Gene Czerwicki................................................................................Customer..............................................................................................Lieutenant Buchevski............................................................................

Production StaffProducer................................................................................................Director.............................................................................................Assistant Director...........................................................................Stage Manager.....................................................................................Technical Director...............................................................................Set Designer................................................................................Lighting Designer....................................................................Sound Designer....................................................................................Costumer..............................................................................................Properties.............................................................................................Set Construction........................................................................................Vocal Coach...................................................................................Photographer...............................................................................................Program........................................................................................Program Logo...............................................................................Weapons provided by.......................................................................

Bruce FollmerHonora Talbot

Rob HeckertBill Gordon

Regen WilsonBrian RazzinoJohn C. Bailey

Shane WallisBill Gordon

Rhonda HillStephen Jarrett

Jason M. BeagleAlicia OliverMichael Null

Trena Weiss–NullAnnMarie Castrigno

Michael NullRip ClaassenKaren Currie

Jake NullJason M. Beagle

Jeff BellMichael ShermanMichael Sherman

Preferred Arms

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSCharter Theater, National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, Don Barton,

Eileen Farrell, Mike DuBlois, Deborah Critzer, Joan Kelly, Dr. Judith Sills, Backstage, Inc., The Arlington County Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources, Cultural Affairs Division, and all others whose names

were not available as this program went to press.

TACT is funded in part by Arlington County through the Cultural Affairs Division of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources and the Arlington Commission for the Arts; the Virginia Commission for the Arts;

numerous foundations; and many generous donors.

Artistic Director’s Notes: Cops (1976)by Terry Curtis Fox Cops, by Terry Curtis Fox, is not your classic “well-made play.” Nor is it a play of beautiful language, in which a master of word-craft places beautifully fashioned elegant monologues and witty bon mots for the mouths of his characters. Cops is a play that either charted the future of drama or signaled the spiral of its demise. Either way, attention must be paid.

When our production of Cops was holding auditions, one actor appeared only to announce that he would never agree to perform anything so vile. Previous to that, a frequent American Century Theater ticket-purchaser went to the trouble of buying a copy of the play and mailing it, anonymously, to the theater, with a brief but passionate message condemning the work as devoid of art and worth, challenging us to justify its production under the company’s mission. Since the very first goal in the company’s mission is “To revive worthy plays and musicals at risk of being forgotten,” this challenge must rest on the company’s definition of “worthy.”

“Worthy,” in the calculus of choosing a show for a TACT season, means, first and foremost, that the play is one of some significance in American culture. I submit that in the case of Cops, that is beyond reasonable dispute. The play picked up the theme of the complex moral conflicts endemic to police work that were first explored on stage in Sidney Howard’s Detective Story but seldom since. It was one of the first stage plays to cover this territory while employing the language of the streets, and began a creative process that transformed television drama with Hill Street Blues five years later. That landmark show, which included crucial participation by both Cops playwright Fox and one of its stars, Dennis Franz, effectively ended the era in which police officers were portrayed as modern day equivalents of Tom Mix and Hopalong Cassidy, fighting bad guys while remaining true to the Code of the Lawman. Cops, taking its cues from the celebrated police novels of Joseph Wambaugh, reminded us that police work could be a dirty and corrupting business and an enobling one, all at once.

The American Century Theater has an unofficial and occasionally-fudged requirement that all of its shows be at least 25 years old. This is to ensure some perspective on a play or musical’s impact over time as well as its virtues, and, frankly, to steel our resolve against the periodic temptation, when coffers are lean and reviewers have been unsupportive, to produce a more current show that is popular rather than good. When the company began in 1995, this limitation insulated the company from considering most of the plays that were created in the era—our era—of declining gentility, vulgar speech, on-stage sex and nudity. But it is 2008 now. Plays with the violence and language of Cops (which premiered thirty-one years ago) shattered the conventions that allowed Quentin Tarantino to write his brilliant screenplays for Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, and it moved the lexicon of the American hero

THE AMERICAN CENTURY THEATER STAFF AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Jack Marshall, CEO and Artistic DirectorRhonda Hill, Executive ProducerSteven Scott Mazzola, Associate Artistic DirectorBrian Crane, Volunteer CoordinatorEllen Dempsey, Artistic AssociateRip Claassen, Artistic AssociateMichael Null, Technical DirectorEd Bishop, Artistic Associate Tom Fuller, General CounselJeff Bell, PhotographerRobert McElwaine, Resident PlaywrightMichael Sherman, Graphic Artist & Program

Chair: Wendy KenneyBoard: Rebecca Christy, Peter Kellogg, Jack Marshall,

Steven Scott Mazzola, David Siegel, Peri Mahaley, Ann-Marie Plubell, Loren Platzman.

into the real world. In 1956’s The Searchers, John Wayne’s catch phrase (as Ethan Edwards) was “That’ll be the day!” By 1969, Wayne’s signature challenge to the villains (in True Grit) was an earthier “Fill your hand, you son of a bitch!” By 2007, Bruce Willis was dispatching the bad guy (In Live Free or Die Hard, as well as its three predecessors) with “Yippee Kayay, mother-fucker!” as audiences cheered. The culture moves on, and like it or not, Cops helped move it.

None of this matters, of course, if you don’t like the play, and some inevitably will not, as indeed is the fate of most of our productions. But Cops does what it sets out to do, and it has made its mark in the dramatic landscape. It should be remembered for that.

Jack Marshall, Artistic Director

THE COMPANYJOHN C. BAILEY (Gene Czerwicki) is a twenty-year veteran of stage, TV & film. He has been seen on various stages locally and regionally including Ganymede Arts (where he is a member of the acting company and Literary Curator), Adventure Theatre (where he is a Resident Artist), The Shakespeare Theatre Company, The American Century Theater (umpteen times), Signature Theatre, Roundhouse Theatre Company, Source Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Shakespeare & Company and South Carolina Shakespeare Company. He can be seen next on the PBS documentary A Prince Among Slaves as Andrew Marschaulk.

BRUCE FOLMER (Omelet Eater) is appearing in his third show with TACT. He appeared in TACT’s very first production, Twelve Angry Men, back in the dark ages and recently had the opportunity to play one of the audience stooges in Hellzapoppin’ for a few evenings. He has also worked with Signature Theatre in their production of The Last Meeting of the Knights of the White Magnolia. He has directed over 40 community theatre productions, most recently the area premiere of Greater Tuna, and has appeared in over 100 other productions.

BILL GORDON (Cab Driver, Lieutenant Buchevski) is a founding member and former president of the Firehouse Theatre Project in Richmond, Virginia, where his favorite roles include Russell Boam in The Big Slam, Dean Swift in Nebraska, Bob in Women of Manhattan, the interrogator in Tone Clusters, and Roland Reynolds in the world premiere of The Persistence of Memory. Other roles include Jack Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest and Poprischin in Diary of a Madman with the Experiential Theatre Company of Richmond, Virginia; Uncle Peck in How I Learned to Drive with ShenanArts in Staunton, Virginia; and Paul in Barefoot in the Park. He is also a former staff member of the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia.

ROB HECKART (George) was last seen in Medieval Times Dinner Show & Tournament as King Alfonso. He appeared in principal roles on multiple TV commercials and industrial videos and the narrator for many voiceover jobs. He is a former police officer for Baltimore County, Maryland.

BRIAN RAZZINO (Bob Barberson) was most recently seen in The Philadelphia Story (Stephen Mazzola, Dir.) where he played Dexter Haven. Prior to this he appeared in Edward III at the Washington Shakespeare Company. Brian recently completed a year-long intensive training program with the Theatre Lab’s Honors Conservatory to study acting. At the conservatory, he was seen on the Lab’s main stage in Othello (as Iago) and co-directed and acted in the one-act play Penguin Blues. In addition to these endeavors, Brian completed shooting the feature length Sci-Fi Film The Photon Effect this last Spring (Spring, 2008 release), in which he plays the principal villain, Dr. Robert Chase.

HONORA TALBOTT (Mickey) recently graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College with a BA in Theater and Dance. She has also trained at Michael Howard Studios, The Shakespeare Theatre, and the American Conservatory Theater. Previous roles include Claire in Proof, Celèmene in The Misanthrope, Teenage Greek Chorus in How I Learned to Drive, and multiple roles in her two-person show Halfway ‘Round the Circle. You can also see her perform long-form improv comedy in Washington Improv Theater’s JINX.

SHANE WALLIS (Customer) has appeared with TACT in Mr. Roberts (Insigna), A Flag is Born (Saul), Machinal (Boy/Jailer), Porgy (Detective), and Moby Dick Rehearsed (Tashtego/Elijah). Also for TACT, he has filled the capacity of Technical Director for The Time of Your Life, Fight Choreographer for Mr. Roberts, Porgy, Paradise Lost, Tea & Sympathy, and Moby Dick Rehearsed, and Director of Spoon River Anthology. NY/DC acting credits include: The Looking Glass Theatre (NYC): Things That Go Hump in the Night (Donald); The Shakespeare Theatre: MacBeth (Soldier/US Swing), Pericles (Ensemble Swing); Washington Shakespeare Company: The Royal Hunt of the Sun (Hernando de Soto); Baltimore Shakespeare Festival: Romeo & Juliet (Lord Montague/Apothecary), Rorschach Theatre: Behold! (Sam--world premiere); Other credits include: You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown (tour), Speed the Plow (second-stage), Moon Over Buffalo, The Curious Savage, Twelve Angry Men, and Charlie’s Aunt. Following Cops, Shane will be serving as an understudy for several roles in The Folger Theatre’s production of MacBeth.

REGEN WILSON (Jack Rolf) has had principal or featured roles in 28 plays and 19 films around the country as well as various television, radio, commercial and industrial work. Cops marks his first appearance with The American Century Theater. This past autumn he closed a critically and commercially successful run as the lead role of Vincent Cradeau in Scena Theatre’s production of Sartre’s No Exit with director Robert McNamara. Wilson plays the principal character in the horror film 502, picked up for distribution last year with an anticipated straight-to-video release later this year. He also plays the antagonist in the suspense picture College Park, currently scheduled for a video release also this year, and starts principal photography on Bunny Man, based on the Fairfax County horror story, in August with New Line Cinema. Wilson starts production in principal roles on the horror feature Pearson’s Place in February and in the thriller The Razor Man this autumn. In the last two years he’s also played Jamestown settler Capt. John Smith on the National Geographic Channel, as well as appearing in a principal role for History Channel’s pilot episode of The Inventors series. The film Tears Fall Silent, in which he appeared in the principal role of Jack, received a Best Picture nomination in the 1999 National Telly Awards.

PRODUCTION STAFFSTEPHEN JARRETT (Director) last directed TACT’s production of Murray Schigall’s Luv. His other local productions include Murder as a Fine Art (Source Theatre), two double-bills for the Opera Theatre of Northern Virginia and The Tender Land (Opera Americana). His New York directing credits (nine productions) include the first NYC revival of Frank D. Gilroy’s Who’ll Save the Ploughboy? (Equity Library Theatre), Lawrence and Lee’s The Gang’s All Here (Riverwest Theatre) and The Ballad of Baby Doe (Bronx Opera). Other career highlights include production stage managing in New York and elsewhere, running a US Army theatre in Germany, and being Staging Director and Production Manager for the Hispanic Heritage Awards. He was the founding Director of Performing Arts at BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown. His theatre training was at Yale Drama, the University of Iowa and Catholic University.

ALICIA OLIVER (Stage Manager) is active in the area as a director, performer, and teaching artist in creative drama and creative opera workshops for students and teachers. She is the Associate Director of InterAct Story Theatre, and is a teaching artist with the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through The Arts and the John F. Kennedy Center. Ms. Oliver is a founding member of the Forgotten Opera Company, with whom she has performed the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, and conducted P.D.Q. Bach’s The Stoned Guest.

JASON M. BEAGLE (Assistant Director/Vocal Coach) New York: The Manhattan Theatre Club, Assistant Director, Five by Tenn ; Washington, DC: The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Assistant Director, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Five By Tenn, The Rivals; Directing Experience: The Montana Repertory Theatre, Kent State University, University of Montana, Wright State University, and The Youngstown Playhouse; Education and Training: Master of Arts degree in Drama with an emphasis in directing from the University of Montana; Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theatre Studies from Wright State University; Artistic Administration Intern (Directing), The Shakespeare Theatre.

RIP CLAASSEN (Costumer) is a staff member of the Theatre Department at Duke Ellington School of the Arts, teaching Improvisational Theatre, Theatre criticism, and running the extra curricular activities. He has served as the dramaturge in residence at Backstage Inc. for 16 years. He has guest taught at Bowie State University (costuming), The Fairfax County Public Schools Institute for the Arts (Improvisational Theatre and Comedy), The Maryland State High School Theatre Festival, and The Actors’ Center. He is an artistic associate with The American Century Theater. Rip has directed for Natural Theatricals, HITS (which he co-founded), The Lincoln Park Players, Duke Ellington, and is the Artistic Director and founder of Teens and Theatre Company. He attended NCDA (National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts) back in its humble beginnings as the Theatre School.

ANNMARIE CASTRIGNO (Lighting Design) Nominations and awards for Outstanding Lighting Design: Murder Room (LTA, 2000), Misery (LTA, 2001), Master Class (LTA, 2002), Kiss Me Kate (TAP, 2003), Evita (Vienna, 2004), The Weir (ESP, 2005) and Fiddler on the Roof (TAP, 2006). AnnMarie holds both community and professional credits in lighting and electrics at many DC metro area theaters, including Toby’s Dinner Theater in both Columbia and Baltimore, MD.

TRENA WEISS–NULL (Set Design and Construction) is a designer, director, actor, and theatre teacher working in professional and educational theatre for over thirty years. She most recently worked on the set of Ah, Wilderness! for TACT and wrote and directed a production called Racing Through Aesop in an educational venue. She has also recently designed and built the sets for Godspell, Heracles, and School House Rock—Live! and is a member of The Theatre History Initiative through the Shakespeare Theatre and NEH.

MICHAEL NULL (Technical Director & Sound Design) has experience in four states doing anything technical, most recently with TACT as Stage Manager for Ah, Wilderness! Also with Encore Stage and Studios Act III as Technical Director and several shows with their Children’s Theatre group as Technical Director and Lighting Designer. Other experience includes Sound Design, Set Design, Directing, Stage Managing, and even a little acting. Michael even met his wife while working at Provincetown Playhouse on Cape Cod and is very glad to be working with The American Century Theater again.

KAREN CURRIE (Props Designer) is delighted to return to TACT where she has stage managed Drama Under the Influence and The Autumn Garden, as well as performed various volunteer duties. She has also stage managed locally for Theater J (Speed the Plow, Either Or, ASM); Washington Shakespeare Company (Two Headed, The Royal Hunt of the Sun, Titus Andronicus); DC Dollies & Rocket Bitch Revue (Nutshell, 2007 Capital Fringe Festival); Open Circle Theater (You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown; Low Level Panic); and National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts (Twelfth Night, The Real Inspector Hound, Fen, Our Lady of Sandwich). She was a production consultant on The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore at WSC. Karen has produced for The Myth Project, DC (The Myth Project: Greek), and Spellbound Theatreworks (Twelfth Night, The Last Session, Hear My Song, HAiR, A Woman of No Importance). She will be producing TACT’s production of Eccentricities of a Nightingale this spring. She holds an M.A. in Arts Management from American University. Upcoming: Rabbi Sam (reading) and 25 Questions to Ask a Jewish Mother (Theater J).

DONORS

GROUP THEATER GOERS- $5000+ Anonymous Arlington Commission for the Arts

PROVINCETOWN PLAYERS $2,500 - $4,999 Bob & Wendy Kenney

THEATER GUILDERS $1,000 - $2,499 Ellen Maland & Donald Adams Anonymous Arlington Community Foundation Rebecca & Gene Christy Robert G. DuBois Peri Mahaley Jack & Eleanor Marshall Constance McAdam

MERCURY THEATER BACKERS $500 - $999 Mr. & Mrs. Alan Branigan Joya B. Cox Francis Cunningham John Dawson Gloria Dugan Craig & Allison Fields Michael Kahn LIVING THEATER LOVERS $250 - $499 John Acton Rick Albani Peter & Cherry Baumbusch Barney Black Marvin & Ellen Cantor Brian Crane Suzanne Thouvenelle & Dennis Deloria The Gary Hall and Julianne Gilmore Fund Thomas & June Hoya Vivian & Art Kallen Louis Kriser

THE PLAYERS $100 - $249 Elaine Howell Philip & Patricia Larson John B. Marston Carl E. Nash Steven & Candace Barrigar Tom & Loretta Beaumont Ron Brandt Boris & Earlene Cherney Sally & Jack Cooper

Robert McElwaine Steve Cohen & Mary McGowan Loren Platzman Ann Marie Plubell Willa & David Siegel Sheldon Wallerstein Janet Reingold & Philip Yasinski

Virginia Commission for the Arts

William Kolodrubetz Jacqueline Manger Jim & Marjie Mayer Harriet McGuire Mary Patricia Michel William Bunting & Virginia Tarris

Edwin Coover & Katherine Krubsack Geraldine Kuryla Suzy Platt Mr. & Mrs. A.A. Raizen Bill & Connie Scruggs Alan P. Simon Adam S. Posen & Jennifer A. Sosin Frontis Wiggins Bonnie Williams Annette Zimin

Mary Ann Lawler Barbara & Wilber Leventer Wesley MacAdam Winnie Macfarlan Judith & David McGarvey Thomas McGovern Thene Martin & George Mernick Doreen Mueller

THE PLAYERS $100 - $249 (cont’d) Savtanter Dillon Coralie Farlee Timothy Farris Donna Feirtag Tracy Fisher Marian Flynn Sharon Galm Jean Getlein Gabriel Goldberg William C. Hamilton Adriana Hardy Virginia Harris Alan Herman Robert Honeygosky Roger & Katharine Hood Angela Hughes Sharon Judge Nancy Kassner Alan King

THE FEDERAL THEATER FUNDERS $10 - $99 Harry Bacas Patricia Chapla Ronald Cogan Walt & Sue Duka Jim & Laura Farrand Renee Fischman Cathleen Garman James & Maria Gentle Lois Goodman Margaret Gough Madi Green Bob Griffin Jack Hahn Sally & Robert Hoffman Marta Hopmann William Kelleher Peter Kellogg Charles Kennedy Robert L. Kimmins Ronald Lafferty Mark Linton

Margaret Mulcahy Donn B. Murphy Dennis Nollette Dennis O’Connor Sherman & Anastasia Pratt Mr. & Mrs. Henry Raduazo Morton Rubenstein Charline Rugen Sharon Schoumacher Carole Shifrin Jennie Sinsabaugh Jean V. Smith James & Patricia Snyder Kathryn Tatko Helen Trilling Jane W. Vanneman George & KayWagner Heathcote W. Wales George Krumbhaar & Lee Zahnow

Gudrun Luchsinger Terri Lynch Angus MacInnes Phoebe K. Masson Barbara & Kenneth McLean Anne Meagher Mitch & Marnie Metzman Sam & Lynn Mudrak Carol Parowski Sheila Hess & Suzanne Perry Mr. & Mrs. Cecil Richardson Glory Sabatier Henry Shields Bertha Shostak Robert L. Spatz Bernita Starks Sharman Stephens Peter & Erika Streng Sue Swift Marjorie Townsend Col. William Wright