University of Wisconsin - Whitewater

THEATRE/DANCE •DEPARTMENT•

UW-W is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Theatre.This production is possible in part by SuFAC Funding.

October 7 - 12, 2019 at 7:30 pmOctober 12 - 13, 2019 at 2:00 pmHicklin Studio Theatre, Greenhill Center of the Arts

WARNING: This play may contain subject matter that is a trigger/is difficult for some viewers. This production contains special effects including: strobe lights,

moments of darkness, theatrical fog, a gun, and gun-shot sound effects.

RESORT 76

CAST

CREATIVE

SETTING

Yablonka .......................................... Kory FriendKrause ............................................. Jonathon MickelSchnur ............................................. Sam BochatBeryl ................................................ Jordan PaullinBlaustain .......................................... Jonathan LottiEsther .............................................. Ivy Steege Hauptmann ..................................... Simon McGheeHupert ............................................. Faith O'ReillyMadame Hershkovitch ..................... Alexa FarrellAnya ................................................ Natalie Meikle

Director: Bruce CohenAssistant Director: Faith O'ReillyStage Manager: Alexander CareyTechnical Director: Ruth Conrad-ProulxScenic Designer: Eric AppletonCostume, Hair, and Makeup Designer: Tracey LyonsLighting Designers: Abby Smith-Lezama, Nicolas SoleSound Designer: Jeff HerriottProjection Designer: A. Bill MillerDramaturges: Faith O'Reilly, Hope O'Reilly, Samantha Pinchard

by Shimon Wincelbergbased on the novella A Cat in the Ghetto by Rachmil Bryks

(in order of appearance)

The action takes place in and around the living quarters of Resort 76, a small factory for the salvage of textile wastes. The locale is one of the the Rehabilitation Zones of an occupied country in eastern Europe. The time is during the Second World War. The season is winter.

This performance will run 90 minutes without an intermission. Please turn off or silence your cell phones upon entering the theatre.

MANAGEMENT STAFFDirector of Marketing & Events | Audra Lange ‘10

Associate Director of Marketing & Events | Leslie LaMuro ‘82

Academic Department Associate | Linda Allegretti

Publicity Assistant | Audrey Parker

House Manager | Escher Wentz

Box Office Manager | Crystal Benes

Assistant Box Office Manager | Angela Parker

PRODUCTION CREWAssistant Stage Managers | Moira Kowalski, Alden Swanson

Props Masters | Sharva Billings, Carlee WuchterlMakeup Supervisor | Carlee Wuchterl

Master Electrician/Light Operator | Harry HeinrichSound Board Operator | Kathleen Grace Martin

Projections Operator | Thomas FuerstCarpenters | Jace Banasik, Sam Bochat, Angelique Compton, Tyler Grissom,

Megan Grove, Abby Smith-Lezama, Laura Medley, Michael MeschkeCostume Assistants | Alexa Farrell, Grace Rusch, Alexander Carey,

Abrya Schneeburg, Jordan Meyer, Carlee WuchterlWardrobe Crew | Nathan Broege, Michelle Dohm, Heather Wallman

Backstage Run Crew | Thomas Fuerst, Harry Heinrich, Kathleen Grace Martin, Grace Rusch

Preparation Crew | Rachel Charniak, Robert Chelius, Savannah Dagostini, Michelle Dohm, Jeremiah Florin, Kaitlyn Grove, Harry Heinrich,

Wayne Humphrey, Hannah Kasprzyk, Moira Kowalski, Siena LoMastro Anna McCallum, Lauren McLaughlin, Natalie Meikle, Michael Meschke,

Charlie Mews, Morgan Mickelson, Lydia Oestreich, Owen Poskin, Jessica Rawski, Lydiana Remster, Terrance Robinson, Laura Schultz, Nicolas Sole, Mary Sportiello, Hanna Srour, Ivy Steege, Aiden Thorn,

Escher Wentz, Wyatt Wheeler, Grace Stettler

The videotaping or making of electronic or other audio and/or visual recordings of this production or distributing recordings on any medium, including the

internet, is strictly prohibited, a violation of the author’s rights and actionable under United States copy right law.

artist profilesKORY FRIEND (Yablonka) is a junior BFA Theatre Performance major. Their previous UW-W credits include Angel Street (Elizabeth) and

Triumph of Love (Harlequin), Dear Ruth (Martha Seawright), and Strong Poison (Actrex Track 1), as well as worked as an understudy/swing for Love, Loss, and What I Wore. Kory hopes to pursue acting and writing professionally after they graduate. They hope you enjoy the show!

J O N A T H O N MICKEL (Krause) is a second-year senior finishing his BA in Electronic Media with an emphasis in Audio Engineering. Notable roles

include William Barfee (25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), Track 5 (Strong Poison), and Adam (Toil and Trouble). He's also crafted a combination of score and sound design in 2019's Angel Street. He hopes after gradutaion he can continue to work in audio production and composition.

SAM BOCHAT (Shnur) is a senior BFA performance major at UW - W h i t e w a t e r . Recent notable roles have been Angel Street (Detective

Rough) and Blithe Spirit (Charles). Mr. Bochat plans to pursue acting work and grad school in the Chicago area after graduating.

J O R D A N PAULLIN (Beryl) is a junior at UW-W majoring in Marketing and pursuing a minor in theatre with an emphasis in

performance. He is thrilled to be making his collegiate debut onstage in Resort 76. Theatre has always been a huge part of Jordan’s life and he is happy to call UW-Whitewater theatre home. Some of his past roles include Robert Martin in The Drowsy Chaperone, Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Hank Bennet in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.

J O N A T H A N LOTTI (Blaustain) is a junior transfer with a degree in Theatre performance. Some of his favourite roles have been Demetrius in A

Midsummer Night's Dream, Algernon in the Importance of Being Earnest and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet.

IVY STEEGE (Esther) is thrilled to have Resort 76 as her mainstage debut at the UW-W. In the past, she has been seen in shows such as Devon’s Hurt (Stephanie), The Addams Family

career in theatre and travel. She is humbled to be part of this production.

ALEXA FARRELL ( M a d a m e Hershkovitch) is a Senior at UW-W with a major in BFA Theatre P e r f o r m a n c e . Previous production

credits include Blithe Spirit (Madam Arcati), Mary Mary (Mary), Angel Street (Nancy), Love, Loss, and What I Wore (Gingy), Rare Birds (Janet), Dear Ruth (Edith), and 1959 Pink Thunderbird (Hattie). Her design credits include Costumes for DanceScapes '19, and Hair and Makeup for Rare Birds. In the future Ms. Farrell would like to work professionally as an actress after graduation next May.

NATALIE MEIKLE (Anya) is thrilled to be making her first year debut on the UW-W stage. She is a freshman who is working towards her BFA in Theatre

Performance. She is also looking forward to the future shows that she will be in, and the good memories and challenges that come along with it.

BRUCE COHEN (Director) Professor Cohen teaches Directing for the Stage, Theater History, Devised Performance and leads the BSE-Theater Education track. He has taught for Denison University, Weber State University,

(Morticia), The Butler Did it, Again! (Jane Doe), Macbeth (Witch), and many more. After graduation, Steege plans on going to graduate school but

is still undecided as of where.

SIMON MCGHEE ( H a u p t m a n n ) is a senior BFA permance major at the UW-W. Some shows you may have seen him in are Angel Street (as

Jack Manningham), Ghosts (as Pastor Manders), and in The Emperor's New Clothes (as the narrator). Post college Simon hopes to act professionally, but where that will be is undecided. He would like to thank all those who helped make this show possible, and wishes everyone the best!

FAITH O'REILLY (Hupert\Assistant D i r e c t o r \Dramaturge) Ms. O'Reilly is a senior C o m m u n i c a t o n s major with a Public Relations emphasis

and Theatre minor. She has been previously seen in Triumph of Love (Corinne), Greater Tuna (Track 4), Dear Ruth (Ruth), Strong Poison (Actress Track 4), and 1959 Pink Thunderbird (Elizabeth). Following her graduation in the spring she hopes to pursue a

artist profiles

the New World School of the Arts and was Director of the Department of Theater at Arkansas State University-Beebe. A director, actor and produced

playwright for close to three decades; Professor Cohen is a full member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, holds affiliation with Actors Equity Association and is a former Arkansas State Chair of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. Prior to his career as a university professor and administrator, Bruce ran several professional theatre companies including the award-winning Utah Musical Theatre. Professor Cohen holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Acting from Adelphi University and a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Directing for the Stage from The University of Alabama. http://bruceevancohen.wixsite.com/portfolio

ALEXANDER CAREY (Stage Manager) is a Theatre BFA- Emphasis in Stage Management. They recently served as Assistant Stage Manager for Cymbeline, No Child and Stage Manager for Love's Labour's Lost at Great River Shakespeare Festival. Last season's credits include Stage Manager for Angel Street, DanceScapes '19, and Love, Loss, and What I Wore. They’ve also been the Production Stage Manager for the Irene Ryan

Audition Scholarship KCACTF-Region 3 (2018-2019).

RUTH CONRAD-PROULX (Technical Director) has been a professional theatre manager and technician specializing in production management and technical direction in producing theatrical venues for the past 20 years. She has worked alongside professionals and students alike to meet the ever present challenges each production presents, finding learning experiences everywhere. At UW-W she oversees the stage management program, the scene shop, electrics, sounds and run crew labs in the Department.

ERIC APPLETON (Scenic Designer) is the associate professor scenic and lighting design here at UW-W. Recent scenic designs include Triumph of Love, Angel Street, and Strong Poison. Recent lighting design included Tarzan for Milwaukee's Theatre Gigante, with whom he traveld to Slovenia the past April to remount the show in the cities of Kranj and Ptuj.

TRACEY LYONS (Costume, Hair, Makeup Designer) has designed for the CBC, Lincoln Theatre Guild, The Huron Playhouse, Madison Ballet, Madison Theatre Guild, American Folklore Theatre, UW– Madison Music Department and many other theatres. She has toured internationally with Sesame Street Live. Her professional scope includes classical

artist profiles

and contemporary theatre, dance, opera, and musicals. She authored Sewing Techniques for Theatre and co-authored Teaching Introduction to Theatrical Design (Focal Press). During the summer of 2017, she directed Rounding Third. Her MFA is in Costume Design and Technology from Wayne State University and BA from CSB/SJU.

ABBY SMITH-LEZAMA (Lighting Designer) is a junior BFA Design/Tech Major, Abby has worked on every show during the academic school year at UW-Whitewater since 2017. She was previously the Stage Manager for Blithe Spirit and the Assistant Stage Manager for Love, Loss, and I What I Wore.

NICOLAS SOLE (Lighting Designer) is a Theatre BFA Major with an emphasis in Design and Technology. His last lighting design at UW-W was Angel Street in the 2018-2019 season. He also assistant designed Triumph of Love in last year's season.

JEFF HERRIOTT (Sound Designer) is a composer whose music focuses on sounds that gently shift and bend at the edges of perception. His works, which often include interaction between live performers and electronic sounds, have been described as “colorful…darkly atmospheric” (New York Times) and “incredibly soft, beautiful, and delicate” (Computer Music Journal). New Focus Recordings recently released a recording of Jeff’s The Stone Tapestry, an album-length work commissioned by the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition that features performances by Due East and Grammy-winning Third Coast

Percussion. In addition to his work in classical music, Jeff has composed score and soundtrack music for several recent films, including working with Rock & Rock Hall of Famers The O’Jays on songs for Brawl in Cell Block 99 and Dragged Across Concrete. Jeff is a Professor of Music at UW-W.

A. BILL MILLER (Projection Designer) is an Associate Professor of Art and Design at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, earned his MFA at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He has exhibited and screened his animated videos, abstract drawings, animated GIFs, and web browser-based compositions nationally and internationally. In 2013, TRANSFER Gallery, a Brooklyn space dedicated to the exhibition of non-traditional digital media and Internet Art, held the first solo exhibition of his work. Bill also performs and experiments with live audio/visuals using custom software patches. His performances have been done in traditional gallery exhibitions as well as Art and Music Festivals including VIA Pittsburgh in 2011, DINCA Fest Chicago in 2013, Slingshot Athens GA in 2014, and in collaboration for Milwaukee Psych Fest.

HOPE O'REILLY (Dramaturge) is a senior at UW-Whitewater pursuing a bachelor's in psychology. This is her first time doing dramaturgy for department. She wanted to contribute given her study abroad experience in Poland during Autumn and Winter of 2018.

SAMANTHA PINCHARD (Dramaturge) is a senior pursuing

degrees in both a BSE Theatre Education & BA Music. She was last seen on the UW-Whitewater stage as Ruth Condomine in Blithe Spirit, but participates in the dramaturgy team for this production. She got to experience studying abroad in Germany this past summer, to which she now serves as a dialect coach for the German speaking characters.

MOIRA KOWALSKI (Assistant Stage Manager) is a Freshman majoring in Theatre Stage Management at UW-Whitewater. She is excited to begin her journey; this is her first production at UW-W.

ALDEN SWANSON (Assistant Stage Manager) is a Junior majoring in Theatre Stage Management at UW-Whitewater. He enjoys participating and learning about all aspects of our productions. Last season he worked as an Assistant Stage Manager in Devon's Hurt, Triumph of Love, and Mary, Mary. Alden thanks his family for their constant support.

SHARVA BILLINGS (Props Master) is a sophomore at UW-Whitewater, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Theatre. She is excited to be working on props for her first show, Resort 76.

Special Thanks to Our Media Sponsors

“Nein! Zay musen vissen” -Rachmil BryksThe quote above is pulled from the afterward in the current print edition of A Cat in the Ghetto by Rachmil Bryks. The afterward is written by the author’s daughter, Bella Bryks-Klein. This particular quote, which she ascribes to her father, translates to; “No, they must know.” I include it here because of what it says in comparison to the oft repeated “never forget’. Both are strong statements, but Bryks’ admonition is aggressive and forward leaning. It prompts the question, what is next after we have not forgotten? Do we simply continue to remember? Is that enough? Rachmil Bryks’ writings, recently republished in English by Persea Books are the inspiration for Shimon Wincelberg’s play, Resort 76. Bryks survived the Shoah from ghetto to camp to commit his experiences to paper. Resort 76 is the dramatization of some of Bryks’ memories of the Lodz Ghetto. Before deciding to direct this play, I considered a few other scripts dealing with this period. I looked to the conventional and populist but wanted a property that was unfamiliar. Familiarity, in my estimation, can get in the way of discovering a play and its characters. I also wanted to avoid sentimentalism as the university audiences we perform to are adroit cynics. In investigating some other options, I pulled my copy of Wallace Shawn’s Aunt Dan and Lemon off the shelf. For his play, Shawn provides a special preface to the script. This preface, titled Notes in Justification of Putting the Audience through a Difficult Evening, serves as a caveat to an ethically challenging piece of theatre. Shawn writes,“It would be flattering to believe that we are superior in some way to the audiences who cheered for Hitler -- more insightful and perceptive, let's say or less bloodthirsty -- but I think it would be more prudent to make the assumption that perhaps we are not. At least we should allow ourselves to imagine that possibility for just a moment. After all, if we do turn out to be superior -- if we are, in fact, a uniquely benign and harmless group of people, blessed with unusual clarity of vision -- then our moment of over-cautiousness will have cost us nothing. Whereas if it should happen to turn out that we're not superior, our self-examination might save a lot of people -- possibly all people -- from being harmed by us.” This preface came to mind when I reconsidered Shimon Wincelberg’s Resort 76. The drama is an adaptation, and Bryks’ A Cat in the Ghetto. The novella, amongst other stories, served as the foundation for Wincelberg’s play. Although quite different in plot, Resort is a similar to Aunt Dan and Lemon concerning the difficult evening it means to put its audience through.

DIRECTOR’S NOTESBY BRUCE COHENOn Resort 76, Jewish Drama and Putting the

Audience Through a Difficult Evening.

This is an unconventional play within the genre of holocaust drama because it presents characters that are multi-dimensional, often ignoble and very human. Wincelberg’s motley ensemble is morally complex with neither good nor evil defining a character. The complexity intrigues on an individual level, draws us to empathize and focus on people and not the big terrible thing happening to them. To some large degree, being allowed to focus on the “big terrible thing” is comforting because it is not individualized. The “big terrible thing” is universal and easily translates across tribal lines. Most importantly, being “big” the “terrible thing” is outside of our personal orbit and, to a degree, allows us to step back and objectify comfortably at a distance Stories of the Holocaust can tend to focus on the “big terrible”. This helps their universality but hurts empathy. Wincelberg’s play is not one of those stories. Jewish theatrical traditions began as drama of a people. Starting in celebration, ritual and didacticism, the earliest dramas (arguably, evocative biblical poetry like the Song of Solomon or liturgical pageants and Purim Spiels) were sacramental. This theatre was not universal and was specifically meant for a Jewish audience. Eventually, where Jews did find broader success on the stage was in the guise of an easily digestible, self-lampoon for Gentile audiences. These characters are two-dimensional stereotypes. They are tramp clown or bête noir; the ineffectual nebbish, the doddering alter cocker, the haranguing yenta, the sinister gonif; all of them played with hyperbolic theatricality undercutting and de-fanging the threatening exoticism of the Other. As Jews mainstreamed into American culture, theatrical portrayals became more subtle but not much more dimensional. In conventional/populist Jewish and Holocaust drama, plays like the Diary of Anne Frank and Fiddler on the Roof, the characters are tropes. They are less broad and more nuanced than the yiddishkeit clowns, but they are still idealized, didactic instruments and stock types. Tevye and Anne are safe, morally defensible, unchallenging avatars. Most importantly, they are accepting and hopeful in the extremity of their victimization. They are doomed, yet serenely resigned at their end. As such, these plays mesh well with the bittersweet expectations of Jewish celebratory remembrance. Tevye and Anne are attractive culturally because they are each a memorial to tragic heroism and, as a result, they are reduced to the iconography and ineffability of sentiment. I am not interested in promulgating sentiment. A much fuller portrait is possible of the Jewish experience as human beings in travail. This theatre production will not protect sensibilities or forego the ugly in deference to comfort and avoiding disturbance. Indeed, I hold that seeking opportunities to discomfit and disturb are very Jewish traits. There is an ancient Judaic custom called Tikkun Olam. Roughly translated, it means, “repair the world”. Within Tikkun Olam, lies the root of the Jewish mandate to pursue social justice. As a Jew, I am called to the expectation that I will bear responsibility for not only my own moral welfare, but for my community and the world as well. Active, engaged and often aggressive attention is necessary. “Repairing the world” presumes that something (truly,

Eric AppletonBruce Cohen

Ruth Conrad-Proulx

Sara J. GriffinBarbara Grubel

Piper Hayes

Tracey Lyons Sarah MartyAmy Slater

THEATRE/DANCE DEPARTMENT FACULTY AND STAFF

Marshall Anderson, Department ChairLinda Allegretti, Academic Department Associate

Office: CA2076 Phone: 262-472-1566

Inclusive Excellence Fellow for DanceAlfonso Cervera, MFA

many things) are broken and what is broken cannot be repaired through passivity. A broken thing will not be fixed by memorializing; rips in our social fabric will not be patched with sentiment. The impetus to act will not spark unless agitated by discomfort and disturbance. “Nein! Zay musen vissen”. They must know. It is not enough to never forget.The story that Resort 76 tells is uncomfortable and compelling. The people it portrays are, at once, disturbing and laudable. Most importantly, this human story is deeply dimensional and does not seek to spare any polite sensibilities. It is certainly a justifiably difficult evening.

You may have noticed that a sizable portion of the audience seating has been marked differently from the rest. The marked seats, while no different

than the rest, do represent something particular. This theatre seats 130 people and of that number, we have marked 25%, or 32 chairs. 25% is also a good estimate of the portion of the population of Lodz Poland that was

first relocated and imprisoned in the Lodz ghetto. Lodz was a city of roughly 600 thousand souls in 1940. Of that population, more than a quarter were

walled-in. The ghetto consisted of the remaining population of 167,000 Jewish Poles in Lodz (an estimated seventy thousand more had fled the city prior to the ghetto restriction). To this number, an additional forty thousand

were added from other districts and across the Reich including several communities of Roma and Sinti.

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