|
Click for
a larger veiw
Cast
(in order of appearance)
Kate
Griswald
Linda
Metz
Grace Griswald
Charron
Traut
Jack Griswald
Kevin McGrath
Sam Gelman
Alan
O’Brien*
Lorna
Peg Callaghan
Madge Wellington
Bonnie Hilton
Lenny, Marty,
Doctor
1, Doctor2,
Waiter,
Morton Seligman
Mike Prosise*
*new
to our stage
Dramaturg's
Diary
By
Carol Dapogny
We
all have — at some time or another in our
lives — wanted a “second chance.” Sometimes
it is only for something small, sometimes
for something very important. The story
behind Surviving Grace is a story
of two “second chances.”
Trish
Vradenburg began her career as a writer
for TV sitcoms such as Family Ties,
Kate and Allie, and Designing
Women. Anyone knowing her professionally
expected her writings to reflect her wit
and glib one-liners. But in her personal
life in 1991, as her own mother slipped
into the late stages of Alzheimer’s disease,
Vradenburg realized that there were many
things she would never get to tell her mother,
many things she would never learned about
her mother’s life. Five years after her
mother’s death, Vradenburg gave herself
a “second chance” by turning her personal,
painful reality into a fantasy play about
a mother who beats Alzheimer’s with a miracle
drug. The play, The Apple Doesn’t Fall…,
opened on Broadway, but due to lukewarm
reviews, it closed the same night.
Six
years later in 2002, after much rewriting,
the play itself had a “second chance.”
With a new name — Surviving Grace
— it opened off Broadway, this time
with a much more successful reception.
However, some critics were concerned that
the play swings between tragedy and comedy:
but audiences were quite able not only to
follow the shifts, but to enjoy them.
Vradenburg‘s
response to this was, “I’m trying to have
a roller coaster ride — like life is. It’s
not always bleak, it’s not always funny.
It’s a combination that makes you go, ‘Tomorrow?
I have to wake up again tomorrow?’”
Jack
Hofsiss who directed the original production
of Surviving Grace, asked his actors
to think about the different ways characters
use humor to deal with pain. “Part of the
reason I like this play is that, you know,
bad things happen to funny people. Just
because a tragedy is happening doesn’t mean
our sense of humor goes out the window.”
The
new title is wonderfully ambiguous. It could,
of course, be about how to survive someone
like Grace. Tom Savage used it in the opening
lines of a post-9/11 poem which had noting
to do with this play, but he liked it to
express his frustration with God:
I have survived your grace
Possibly existent God
Or
it might mean that the only way to survive
is with grace.
|
Production
Credits
| Director
|
Jack
Phillips |
| Technical
Director |
Troy
Lee Brasuell, Jr. |
| Stage
Manager |
Angelee
Favoino |
| Assistant
Stage Manager |
Karen
Arnold |
| Choreographer |
Joe
Savino |
| Costume
Co-Designers |
Lori
D’Asta, Darla Goudeau |
| Costume
Crew |
Vicki Ann Blair, Susan Cardamone, Peggy Carlson,
Mary Dempsey, Mary Ellen Druyan, Debbie
Phillips, Patti Roeder, Margaret Solick |
| Dramaturg |
Carol Dapogny |
| Hospitality
Chair |
Carol
Clarke |
| Hospitality
Crew and Bakers |
Dorothy
Attermeyer, Jayne Besjak, Susan Cardamone,
Peggy Carlson, Ruth Cekal, Mary Clarke,
Julie Crnovich, Mike DeKovic, Bonnie
Hilton, Bill FitzGerald, Tom Frohnapfel,
Ceri Hartnett, Mike Huth, Pat Huth,
Dennis Hudson, Dick Jacoby, Julie Knoch,
Jeff Miklos, Arlene Page, Joan Roeder,
Robyn Saunders, Liz Steele, Catey Sullivan,
Dick Traut, Gregg Valek, Dave Valenta,
Sue Valenta |
| Lighting Designer |
Benton Bullwinkel |
| Lighting Crew |
Tom
Frohnapfel, Patt Geith, Debbie Mills,
Diane Murray, Dick Traut |
| Makeup
Designers |
Lori
D’Asta, Mary Ellen Druyan |
| Makeup
Crew |
Cindy
Blaszak, Penny Choice, Carol Dapogny, Mary
Ellen Druyan, Ceri
Hartnett, Pat
Huth, Norma Main, Stacy Mazzulla, Arlene Page |
Properties
Co-Designers |
Bob
Erck, Bill Rotz |
| Properties
Crew |
Brian Centers, Carolyn Redding, Donna Sauers, Kevin
Slattery, Julie Suarez, Sue Wisthuff |
| Set
Construction Chair |
Art Kelly |
| Set
Construction Crew |
Mike
Huth, John Otto, Mark Cunningham, Peter
Sonnenburg |
| Set
Designer |
Art Kelly |
| Set
Painting Chair |
Patti Roeder, Betsy Stiles |
| Set
Painting Crew |
Mark
Cunningham, Brian Wacker, Susan Wisthuff
|
| Sound
Designer |
Stephanie Bullwinkel, Jan Quinn |
| Sound
Crew |
Betsy
Stiles, Patt Geith, Pat Deane |
| Box
Office Chair |
Mary Ellen Schutt |
| Box
Office Crew |
Ed
Barrow, Susan Cardamone, Kelli Kubicki,
Jill Neely,Patti Roeder, Marilyn Wilson,
Susan Wisthuff |
| House
Manager Chair |
Bill
Wilson |
| House
Managers |
Jack Calvert, Brian Centers, Rob Cramer, Mike DeKovic, Joe Delaloye, George Dempsey, Harry Hultgren, Mike
Mallon, Jon Mills |
| Front Row Center flyer |
Joe
Petrolis |
| Group
Sales Chair |
Betsy
Stiles |
| Group
Sales Crew |
Carol
Clarke |
| Poster
Distribution |
Kathleen
Kusper |
| Production
Coordinator |
Linda
Roberts |
| Program
Advertising |
Peggy
Carlson |
| Publicity
Chair |
Patt Geith |
| Program
Editors |
Bill
Hammack, Marion J. Reis |
| Program
Production |
Stephanie
Williams |
| Website |
Judy
DiVita |
Director's
Corner
By
Jack Phillips
I
first met the author of tonight’s play,
Trish Vradenburg, two summers ago when
I moderated a panel of playwrights in
a workshop for the American Association
of Community Theatre in New York. She
spoke with such passion and wit about
her play that I asked her where I could
get a copy. She had one with her and
gave it to me. The second I finished it,
I knew I had to direct it someday. This
is my favorite kind of play. It’s a story
about a serious subject told with real
wit and genuine humor. The only way we
get through some of the crises of our
lives is by finding the humor in them.
Sometimes that humor only comes later
when we look back. We all hope that we
will survive those crises with dignity
— with grace.
As
you can see from the dramaturg’s notes,
Ms. Vradenburg has become an activist
for the rights of people with Alzheimer’s.
It was she who testified before a U.S.
Senate Committee. The driving force of
this play is her sense of humor. It is
that sense that helped her get through
a similar experience with her own mother.
This
is also a story about second chances.
Most of the characters in this story have
an opportunity to change a relationship
for the better. Many of us wish we had
such a chance.
AUTHOR’S
NOTE
Although
the medical possibilities are very real,
at present the story on these pages is
a fantasy, a wish, an impossible dream.
The same words were said to Galileo, Newton,
Edison, Pasteur, Einstein, Curie, Salk,
Sabin and whoever dreamed up a fax.
Yesterday’s
dream is today’s reality.
Thursday
Nights
are audience Talkback nights.
Join us immediately following
the show
for a discussion with the cast, crew, and
experts in the
subject.
Photos
Page 2
|
