ANGELS IN AMERICA
Performance Times MAY 1 - MAY 26, 2024 Wed, May 1, 2024 - 7:00pm Thur, May 2, 2024 - 7:00pm Fri, May 3, 2024 - 7:00pm Sat, May 4, 2024 - 2:00pm Sun, May 5, 2024 - 2:00pm Wed, May 8, 2024 - 7:00pm Thur, May 9, 2024 - 7:00pm Fri, May 10, 2024 - 7:00pm Sat, May 11, 2024 - 2:00pm Sun, May 12, 2024 - 2:00pm Wed, May 15, 2024 - 7:00pm Thur, May 16, 2024 - 2:00pm Fri, May 17, 2024 - 7:00pm Sat, May 18, 2024 - 2:00pm Sun, May 19, 2024 - 2:00pm Wed, May 22, 2024 - 7:00pm Thur, May 23, 2024 - 7:00pm Fri, May 24, 2024 - 7:00pm Sat, May 25, 2024 - 2:00pm Sun, May 26, 2024 - 2:00pm |
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Joseph Bearor (Joe Pitt) is so happy to be returning to the Dramatic Repertory Company after seven truly long years and thrilled to be making his debut on the Portland Stage. When last he worked with DRC it was under the direction of Keith and Peter in their production of Venus in Fur with his friend and Angels in America costar, Casey Turner. More recently he has appeared as Jake in Mad Horse Theatre Company's production of Straight White Men and as Jamie Wyeth in Nureyev's Eyes, as part of Good Theater's 20th season! A lifetime ago, he spent some time in Los Angeles, where he starred in the miniseries Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Double Agent and the John Lennon biopic, Rubber Soul, which premiered at 2014's SXSW Film Festival. While in Los Angeles, Joe studied scenework at the Beverly Hills Playhouse and found himself bonded to three roles, in particular: Thomas in Venus in Fur, Tony in Outside Mullingar, and Joe in Angels in America. The first, as mentioned, he had the opportunity to perform with the Dramatic Repertory Company. It wasn't long after that Joe found himself in a production of Outside Mullingar with the American Irish Repertory Ensemble. This production of Angels in America completes the triptych and cements Joe's boundless gratitude for the opportunities provided to actors and designers here in Portland, Maine to produce challenging, thoughtful theatre. He thanks his friends and family, most especially his wife, Colleen, for their rowdy support and unrelenting goodness. He would like to dedicate this performance to his son, August: More life. The great work begins. Paul Haley (Roy Cohn) appeared in the Portland Stage Company production of Dancing At Lughnasa. This is his first show with DRC, and he is privileged to be included in this important collaboration on an important play — of enduring gravity and renewed relevance — with an outstanding team. He has performed with American Irish Repertory Ensemble, Theater at Monmouth, Mad Horse Theatre Company, Camden Shakespeare Festival, Acorn Productions & Shakespeare Ensemble, Fenix Theatre and Good Theater. He also has directed for Maine Playwrights Festival and Good Theater. Robbie Harrison (Prior Walter) is thrilled to make his debut on the mainstage at DRC/Portland Stage Company in this play and at this time. Robbie grew up in New England during the AIDS crisis and is honored to take part in Tony Kushner’s "Gay Fantasia" as a meditation on gay life past and present. Robbie's last performance with Dramatic Repertory Co. was in 2020 in The Mother by Lynne Conner and directed by Lisa Muller-Jones. With his castmates he shares the experience of performing with several other Maine theatre companies, including Theater at Monmouth, Fenix Theatre Company, The Theater Project, Maddy's Theatre (at the Children's Theatre of Maine), and the Portland Stage Co. studio series. Robbie is a graduate of Bowdoin College where he majored in Spanish and Gay & Lesbian Studies. Apart from a theatre artist, Robbie is a Spanish teacher. Thanks to Keith, Peter, & Anita for this opportunity. Michela Micalizio (Harper Pitt) is honored to be back on stage with DRC, with an incredible cast in the show of a lifetime. Some credits include The Mother with DRC, Comedy of Errors with Fenix Theater Company, and Pony in the Portland Theater Festival. She often designs and builds puppets for the Children's Museum and Theater of Maine, and has acted in a few shows at Maddy's Theater. She has a BFA in acting from Boston University, has also trained at the Accademia Dell'Arte in Arezzo, Italy, as well as the Celebration Barn in South Paris, ME. Instagram: @micalizzzio Email: michela.micalizio@gmail.com Denise Poirier (Hannah Pitt) (she/her) grew up in Maine and has been a performer for over 30 years. She's thrilled to be working on Angels in America with PSC and DRC. Much of her professional life has been spent on stage in such plays as Lifespan of a Fact, Pack of Lies, The Other Place, The Little Dog Laughed, Rabbit Hole, Good People (Good Theater), King Lear & Blithe Spirit (The Theater at Monmouth), Frozen (the drama, Essential Theater Co./NYC), Death Wings (Dramatic Rep/Theater Project), Carolyn Gage's solo piece Lace Curtain Irish (Estroenious Festival/NYC) and Lighting Martha (PortFringe), The Laramie Project and Measure for Measure (Garson Theater Co, Santa Fe) to name a few. Voice work includes the title role of the animated Aeon Flux for MTV, Merrick in HBO's Spawn, Starstruck and Vault of Horror with Pocket Universe Prod. She's recorded audiobooks with Audible in NJ. She lived in L.A. (west coast version) for a lot of years where her TV career began with guest-starring roles on Seinfeld, Murphy Brown, Frasier and 3rd Rock from the Sun. A life in art is a very good life indeed. It’s great to be home in Maine and working with some of the best people in the world. Nate Stephenson (Louis Ironson) (he/him) is a Portland-based stage, screen, and voice actor, making his first DRC / Portland Stage Company appearance since 2019's Little Festival of the Unexpected. A 2018 graduate of Bates College's Theater Department, Nate began working in Boston before relocating to Portland in 2021. He has since appeared in productions by Ziggurat Theatre Ensemble (The Sand Princess), Acorn Productions (Maine Playwrights Festival 2023), Mad Horse Theatre Company (Quills), Fenix Theatre Company (Twelfth Night, The Tempest), and Dramatic Repertory Company (The Moors). Recent film credits include Hulu’s Wild Crimes (Season 2), Damnationland 2022 (Tick!), and the upcoming Damnationland 2023 (Sweet Meats). instagram: @natetheprettygood web: www.natestephenson.com Casey Turner (The Angel) is a Portland based actor, voice artist and an Emmy nominated producer. She started in vaudeville, apprenticing at the Oddfellow Theater and studying at the Celebration Barn Theater. She received a BA in Theatre from the University of Southern Maine. Select theatre credits include: Theater at Monmouth (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Agitators, Crumbs From the Table of Joy), Portland Stage Company (Lost Boy Found in Whole Foods), Seven Stages Shakespeare Company (Lear), Fenix Theatre Company (Twelfth Night, Three Sisters, Much Ado About Nothing), Mad Horse Theater Company (Stupid F***ing Bird), Dramatic Repertory Company (Grounded, The Flick, Venus in Fur, My Name is Rachel Corrie), Good Theater (Crimes of the Heart, Significant Other, Homer Bound), The Theater Project (Eurydice), SPACE Gallery (Killer Joe), AIRE (The Lonesome West, Eclipsed). Instagram: caseythunder Website: caseyjoturner.com Ashanti Dwight Williams (Belize) This is Ashanti Williams's first performance with DRC / Portland Stages. He was recently seen such productions Lloyd Boateng in One Man, Two Guvnors at Good Theater, Richard Lionheart in Lion In Winter, Last Girl First with Portland Ovations, Moses in Passover for the Portland Theater Festival, and Mr. Depinna in You Can't Take It With You at Good Theater. He is a graduate from the University of Hartford with a BFA in Drama and Circle In The Square Theater School in NYC, New York. Labor well, the minute particulars. - Theresa Haydwen Tony Kushner (Playwright) is an American author, playwright, and screenwriter. Lauded for his work on stage he's most known for his seminal work Angels in America which earned a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award. At the turn of the 21st Century he became known for his numerous film collaborations with Steven Spielberg. He received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2013. Kushner made his Broadway debut in 1993 with both Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and Angels in America: Perestroika. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play. He then adapted it into a 2003 miniseries directed by Mike Nichols for which Kushner received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series or Movie. In 2003 he wrote the lyrics and book to the musical Caroline, or Change which earned Kushner Tony Award nominations for Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score. The 2021 Broadway revival of Caroline, or Change earned Kushner a nomination for the 2023 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, making Kushner among the few playwrights in history nominated for all four major American entertainment awards: the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards. He has collaborated with director Steven Spielberg on the films Munich (2005), Lincoln (2012), West Side Story (2021), and The Fabelmans (2022), the former two earning him nominations for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Keith Powell Beyland (Co-Director). recently directed the critically-acclaimed DRC productions of Grounded, The Moors (co-directed - Theatrical Highlight of 2022 - Portland Phoenix), Lungs, The Flick, Cock (the cockfight play) (co-directed - Theatrical Highlight of 2018 - Portland Phoenix), Venus In Fur (co-directed - Theatrical Highlight of 2017 - Portland Phoenix), The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence (Theatrical Highlight of 2015 - Portland Phoenix), Equivocation (co-directed, Theatrical Highlight of 2014 - Portland Phoenix), My Name Is Rachel Corrie (Theatrical Highlight of 2014 - Portland Phoenix), A Bright New Boise (co-production with Fenix Theatre, Theatrical Highlight of 2013 - Portland Phoenix), Topdog/Underdog (Best Production - 2013 PEER Award, Theatrical Highlight of 2012 - Portland Phoenix), [title of show], Tigers Be Still, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, Life During Wartime and Blue/Orange. He spent the last two decades working on and off Broadway with respected organizations like Roundabout Theatre Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, Signature Theatre Company (NY), The New Group, Berkshire Theatre Festival and Irondale Ensemble Project. Keith studied with Athol Fugard, John Patrick Shanley, Paula Vogel, Maria Irene Fornes, Anne Hamburger, Carey Perloff and Venable Herndon, among others. He holds a degree with Honors from the Dramatic Writing Program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He is a Stroke Survivor. Peter Brown (Co-Director) is honored to be co-directing again with his friend Keith (after having worked so successfully together on Venus in Fur) and to be working again with Portland Stage, where he served as Production Manager 1999-2009. Peter is a Portland-based actor, director, and theater educator, who has appeared in Dramatic Repertory Company's productions of Fabulouso, Equivocation, Swimming in the Shallows, and Life During Wartime. Peter is the Artistic Director of Fenix Theatre Company that produces Shakespeare in Deering Oaks Park, and is the creator/director of Fenix’s annual holiday production, 12th Night: A Celebration of Shakespeare & Song, that infuses Twelfth Night with over two dozen holiday songs. Peter is the Director of the Portland High School Shakespeare Company (since 2002), and former Associate Artistic Director of Mad Horse Theatre Company. MHTC credits include acting in The Normal Heart, The Pillowman, and Long Day's Journey Into Night, and directing The History Boys and Six Degrees of Separation. Peter's proudest role is that of Dad to his son Crosby. A million thanks to his husband R.J., whose love, support, and dedication to their family makes it all possible. Anita Stewart (Set Designer). Emily White (Costume Designer). Seif Salatto-Cristobal (Lighting Designer). Seth Asa Sengel (Sound Designer). Meg Lydon (Stage Manager). |
Portland Stage Company/
Dramatic Repertory Company
Dramatic Repertory Company
In a SPECTACULAR
co-production, Portland Stage and the Dramatic Repertory Company have gone long and deep with one of the classic plays of the late 20th century...kaleidoscopic presentation combining overlapping scenes that mix tough talk, casual sex, comic banter, spooky visitations and philosophical debates.
- Portland Press Herald, May 6, 2024
(read more)
Pulitzer Prize for Drama,
the Tony Award for Best Play,
and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play.
co-production, Portland Stage and the Dramatic Repertory Company have gone long and deep with one of the classic plays of the late 20th century...kaleidoscopic presentation combining overlapping scenes that mix tough talk, casual sex, comic banter, spooky visitations and philosophical debates.
- Portland Press Herald, May 6, 2024
(read more)
Pulitzer Prize for Drama,
the Tony Award for Best Play,
and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play.
ANGELS IN AMERICA
Part One: Millennium Approaches
by Tony Kushner
with Joseph Bearor, Paul Haley,
Robbie Harrison, Michela Micalizio,
Denise Poirier, Nate Stephenson,
Casey Turner and Ashanti Dwight Williams
directed by Keith Powell Beyland
& Peter Brown
Louis abandons his lover. Prior becomes a prophet. Harper visits Antarctica. Joe questions his Mormonism. Belize offers kindness and care to an unlikely patient. Six New Yorker's lives intertwine at the height of the AIDS crisis. Confronting politics, spirituality, and sexuality with sharp humor and a sage observational eye, this great American epic shows us how community and connection can be forged in even the darkest of times.
DRC is thrilled to parner with Portland Stage to present this masterwork of American theatre.