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A Rolling World Premiere of 4 a.m. Friendsby Charlene A. Donaghy |
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| Directed by Debra Schultz | ||
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| Angela Aguirre as Kim Mary Mink as Becca Debra Schultz as Tammy |
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Lighting Designer Pedro Balcazar |
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Timeline of Play
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Playwright Note
Marlene Dietrich is quoted as saying, “It’s the friends you can call at 4 a.m. that matter.” That quote, my own ‘4 a.m. Friends’ plus copious amounts of ice cream and Thin Mints, fueled the writing of these six playlets that make up “4 a.m. Friends”. With humor and heart the ties that bind, a myriad of iconic moments, people, and fashions from the 1970s to present day propel Becca, Tammy, and Kim as they laugh, fight, argue, support, and love through some of life’s most challenging and most rewarding hurdles. You know, just like you might do with your own ‘4 a.m. Friends.’
Director Debra Schultz and cast Mary Mink, Suzanne Mobarak, and Angela Aguirre bring these characters and their journeys to life. I am so thankful for them, for Cone Man Running Productions, Christine and Michael Weems, the amazing crew, and for this magical theatre space, as well as my husband Gary and my ‘4 a.m. Friends’ who inspire me every day! And for all of with us today, I hope you are here with some of your ‘4 a.m. Friends’ and can celebrate each other after the show…don’t forget the ice cream!
Enjoy!
Charlene A. Donaghy
Playwright
Special thanks to HCC Drama Program and S&D Custom Props and Costumes.
Cast
Creative Team
Debra Schultz
Pedro Balcazar
Tamara Schultz
Charlene A. Donaghy
Timothy Schultz
Meet the Company
Angela Aguirre
Angela Aguirre is excited to return to the stage after nearly 13 years. Upon returning to Houston after college, she met the most amazing community theatre people where she performed dinner theatre at The Balinese Room in Galveston, in Tony Soaprano's Retirement Dinner Show, and the online theatre group, Plays in Perpetuity, in Writing a Woman and God's Own Cartoon Anvil. She also had the pleasure to participate in Festival of Originals (The FOO) at Theatre Southwest, The Women and Goodbye Charlie. She wants to thank Sam Martinez for thinking of her for this role, Deb for giving her a chance to come back to the stage after so many years, and to her new friends, Mary and Suzanne, who have been an absolute delight working with during this show. Lastly, she wants to thank Tony, her husband ,and her two beautiful girls, Violet and Penelope, for being so supportive.
Mary Mink
Mary Mink has been in the Houston theatre scene for decades, most recently performing with The Live Oak Playhouse in Twelfth Night in Richmond, Tx and Haven Arts Theatre in The Lady Demands Satisfaction in Spring, Tx - which opened and closed the same weekends. Notable roles include Kate Mundy in Dancing at Lughnasa, one of the three witches in Macbeth, and Pearl in House and Garden. She won a Superior award for acting from the Texas Community College Speech and Theatre Association's Festival. As a techie, she won an award from the Houston Press for Best Sound on Obsidian Theatre’s production of Ruined.
Debra Schultz
Debra is no stranger to Cone Man Running Productions, having directed numerous projects with the company. She steps into the role of Kim with a deep love for the story and for the tight-knit cast she helped shape. While audiences may know her more for her work behind the scenes, Debra is excited to return to the stage and help bring this heartfelt tale to life.
Debra Schultz
is pleased to be back at Cone Man Running. She loves working in this space and with the Cone Man folks! Working as both a director and scenic designer around Houston, some of her credits include works as both a scenic designer and director around Houston. Some of her credits include Surviving the Night and God of Carnage (directing/design) and Office Hours and Garden (of House/Garden design, ConeMan Running), Ann (directing, The Garden Theater), The Mousetrap, Mama’s Boy, A Few Good Men, Greetings, Harvey (directing/design), The Elephant Man (directing), and Cabaret, Wait Until Dark, Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, and Crimes of the Heart (design, Stageworks), Harvey (design, Cast Theatrical), True West (directing/design, Country Playhouse), Cinderella (directing/design, StageRight), and Silent Sky, The Wisdom of Eve and The Little Hut (design, Theatre Southwest). Debra is a full-time college Theatre professor where she both directs and designs. Additionally, she has written and produced many children’s theatre shows and the Executive Director of and the “D” in S&D Custom Props and Costumes @sdcustomprops.
Pedro Balcazar
is a General Theater Major at Houston Community College. This is his first time serving as a lighting designer, but he isn't a stranger to Cone Man, having served as light and sound operator for Surviving the Night in December 2023. His interest in theater started in high school, where he made his stage debut in Guys Named Chuck. During his high school years, he was also involved in The Crucible where he took on the role of Reverend Hale. After high school, Pedro enrolled at HCC. Although he was an automotive major at the time, he decided to audition. He received the role of Euripides in The Frogs during the 2022 fall semester followed by Long in The Hairy Ape during that following spring, participated in Gi60 Houston during the summer, Clotaldo In Life Is A Dream/La Vida es Sueno for the fall 23, and Macbeth in last spring's production of Macbeth In A Bookshop. Earlier this year, Pedro won awards at the TCCSTA Play Festival for his first time outing as a Stage Manager for Assistance by Leslye Headland. Outside of school, Pedro was and Assistant Stage Manager for the Sparkle and Shine dance showcase for Houston Metropolitan Dance.
Tamara Schultz
Charlene A. Donaghy
Charlene A. Donaghy is an award-winning educator, producer, and playwright with plays produced and/or awarded from New York City to Los Angeles, in Canada, Great Britain, and Australia. Charlene’s Bones of Home and Other Plays collection is published by Hansen Publishing. Other publications include Best American Short Plays, She Persisted, Best 10-Minute Plays, Estrogenius, and others. Charlene teaches playwriting, screenwriting, fiction/University of Nebraska Omaha’s Creative Writing MFA, as well as theatre, cinema/UNO Theatre Department. Founding member Boston’s Proscenium Playwrights and a member of New York’s 9th Floor Writers & Actors Collaborative, The Playwrights Center, Honor Roll!, and The Dramatists Guild of America where Charlene served seven years as inaugural Connecticut/Western New England Regional Representative. www.charleneadonaghy.com
Timothy Schultz
Donors
Jeffry Abrams
Joe Alexander
Stacy Williams Bakri
Brandon Barchus
Patrick Barton
Malinda L Beckham-Cone
Allan Brain
Karla Brandau
Rachel Brownhill
Troy Chandler
Autumn Clack
Brett Dressler
Conor Farrell
Bailey Hampton
Janet Hansen
Stephanie Kelso
Joel & Ruth S McCleskey
Patrice McKinney
Susan Noe
Kathryn Noser
Copper Buthman Paradiso
Ben Plopper
Michael Raabe
John & Kelly Raley
Sandra Peck Ramsey
Lee Raymond
Katherine Rinaldi
Helen Rios
Jason Jonathon Rivas
Adam Roberson
John William Stevens
Stephanie Howe Sullivan
William Tynan
Hilary Unger
Christine & Michael Weems
Up Next
Cone Man Running presents a Boiling Point Players production of
An All Female
Caesar
Directed by Katherine Rinaldi
May 30-June 14, 2025
1824 Spring Street, Studio 233, Houston, TX 77007
In one of Shakespeare’s most enduring political dramas, Julius Caesar explores the perilous intersection of ambition, loyalty, and power. In this adaptation, the drama plays out within the fortified walls of Rome Correctional Facility, a brutal maximum-security prison where status is power—and power can be fatal.
Julius Caesar, a legendary inmate, has just claimed dominance over the prison. After years of manipulation, strength, and strategy, she’s finally secured control. As she basks in her hard-won authority—surrounded by followers, flanked by loyal enforcers—her celebration echoes through the cellblocks. But not everyone is cheering.
Brutus, a fellow prisoner and Caesar’s longtime confidant, begins to question whether Caesar’s rule is liberation or tyranny. Coaxed by the sharp-witted and deeply suspicious Cassius, Brutus joins a secret conspiracy to take Caesar down—believing it’s the only way to prevent total dictatorship within the prison walls.
But the conspirators’ noble intentions quickly unravel. Caesar's shocking murder on the Ides of March sets off a violent chain of events, as Mark Antony—Caesar’s loyal ally—rallies the people of Rome with one of the most famous speeches in theatrical history. What follows is a gripping descent into civil war, betrayal, and tragedy.
As trust shatters and the lines between justice and vengeance blur, Julius Caesar becomes a raw, high-stakes exploration of power, betrayal, and what it means to rule when freedom is a distant dream. In a world locked down by iron and concrete, ambition still finds a way to rise—and to fall.
https://www.conemanrunning.com/caesar
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