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OUR MISSION
Capital Stage’s mission is to entertain, engage and challenge our audience with bold, thought provoking theatre.
THINGS TO KNOW
HEALTH & SAFETY:
Visit our COVID-19 Safety Protocols & Procedures Page to stay up to date on our Health & Safety requirements and recommendations.
VIDEO/PHOTOS:
Recording and photography during the performance are prohibited at Capital Stage by copyright law and union regulations.
CELL PHONES:
Patrons are asked to turn any noise making devices off upon entering the theatre.
LATE SEATING & RE-SEATING:
Due to the design of our theatre, we cannot guarantee seating for late arrivals or for patrons who leave the theatre during the performance. As a courtesy to our artists and our audiences, late arrivals will be seated in a suitable location by our staff if possible and at the appropriate intervals.
REFRESHMENTS:
Only concession items purchased in the Wine & Dessert Bar are allowed in the theatre, patio and lobby areas. Yes, you can bring your drinks and snacks into the theatre!
CHILDREN:
Capital Stage is noted for bringing intimate bold productions to our region and we encourage young adults to experience a live performance. Children age sixteen and up are welcome at Capital Stage unless specifically noted in the production’s description.
WHEELCHAIR SEATING:
Seating locations at Capital Stage for patrons using wheelchairs or with limited mobility are located in the first row. Tickets for these seats may be purchased in person or by calling the Box Office at 916-995-5464. Please call ahead to notify the staff if you required these seats.
RESTROOMS:
Restroom facilities are located in the lounge behind the Wine & Dessert Bar.
INFORMATION:
Brochures and information about upcoming Capital Stage productions and events are available in the box office or by visiting capstage.org.
Capital Stage is a member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
Capital Stage is a member of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre.
Capital Stage is a member of the National New Play Network, the country’s alliance of leading nonprofit theaters that champion the development, production and continued life of new plays.
Capital Stage is a member of Blue Star Theatres, offering discounts to Military personnel, Military family members, and Veterans.
SDC is the theatrical union that unites, empowers, and protects professional Stage Directors and Choreographers throughout the United States.
Cast
Creative Team
Kareem Fahmy
Benjamin T. Ismail
Michael Stevenson
Keith Riedell
Tony Gabrielson
Caleb Jones
Suzanne Tyler*
Erika Placencia
Jerid Fox
Isaiah Leeper
Shae Mercer
Rebecca A. Valentino
Logan Jacob Germano-Heller
Ed Lee
Christa Kinch
Chloe King
Samantha McLean Haas
K. Kevyne Baar
Nicole C. Limón
Special Thanks
Joe Bertolucci, Affordable Heating & Air, Inc.
Kate Bossenmaier
Donna Chipps
Di Arie Vineyard & Winery
Jim Hensley, President Abbey Flooring, Inc.
Dean & Sandi Karagianes
Oak Park Brewing Company
Brian Rickel, Consumes River College
Shirlee Tully
Michele & Robert VanEyken
Ian Wallace & Cameron Hoyt, Folsom Lake College
Alan Ware
The Panthers Cheering Section:
Jim Callaghan
Lynda Cassady
Jana Cortez
Charr Crail
Fred Deneke
Jim Eastman
Mae Ferral
Andrew Fridae
Linda Hayward
Patt Hull
Alan LaFaso
Roberta Madeira
Patricia Quinn
Anne Rewell
Scott Taylor
Production Staff
Artistic Director - MICHAEL STEVENSON
Production & Company Manager - TONY GABRIELSON
Technical Director - CALEB JONES
Lead Carpenter - CONOR WOODS
Carpenter, Technician & Marketing Assistant - ANDREW FRIDAE
Carpenter, Painter - SUNNY MACKEY
Scenic & Projections Designer - JERID FOX
Scenic Charge Artist - SAMANTHA McLEAN HAAS
Sound Designer & Engineer - ED LEE
Lighting Designer - ISAIAH LEEPER
Associate Lighting Designer, Lead Electrician - SHAE MERCER
Electricians - ISAIAH LEEPER, SHAE MERCER
Stage Manager - SUZANNE TYLER*
Assistant Stage Manager - ERIKA PLACENCIA
Sub Stage Manager - MELISSA JERNIGAN*
Properties Designer - CHRISTA KINCH
Costume Designer - REBECCA A. VALENTINO
Hair & Makeup Designer - LOGAN JACOB GERMANO-HELLER
Movement Director - CHLOE KING
Build Crew - SUNNY MACKEY, CONOR WOODS
Painters - SAMANTHA McLEAN HAAS, CALEB JONES, SUNNY MACKEY, CONOR WOODS
Wardrobe/Ensemble/Run Crew - FATEMEH MEHRABAN^, SHELBY SAUMIER^
Sub Wardrobe/Ensemble/Run Crew - MADDIE JUDD^, OSCAR QUEZADA^
Production Associate/Run Crew - YASMINE SALMERON
BIAPOC Liaison - NICOLE ANNE SALLE
Resident Dramaturg - K. KEVYNE BAAR
Intimacy Coordinator - NICOLE C. LIMÓN
Infection Control Manager - ELIJAH PETERS
Graphic Designer, Webmaster - MISTY MCDOWELL
Photographer - CHARR CRAIL
^ Capital Stage Apprentice | * Member Actors' Equity Association
About The Play
by K. Kevyne Baar, PhD
Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, is a period of fasting [from sunrise to sunset], spiritual growth, and is one of the five 'pillars of Islam' - the others being the declaration of faith, daily prayer, almsgiving, and the pilgrimage to Mecca.
Is AMERICAN FAST, as those who have seen it opine, a “riveting new sports drama?” A play about Islam and the practice of Ramadan? Maybe it is an examination of female power? Or even simply “basketball celebrity?” Perhaps it’s asking us to look at a daughter’s relationship with her mother where their religion plays a major role? What of the other people in her life? Ambition? The answer is yes, and perhaps even more as the complications of social media in today’s world makes all of it so very public.
Sport drama/basketball: from the outset (prologue) we meet Khady Salama, 21 years-old, a female basketball phenom about to face the NCAA championship games. This is made clear as the scenes are not so subtly named Round of 64, Round of 32, Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final 4, and the always hoped for Championship game which, depending on the results, which I won’t give away here, just might lead to that elusive “basketball celebrity.” The playwright also does not let us forget the challenges women continue to face in the world of sports while navigating the mores of what it means to be female in various cultures.
What makes this play different from other sports stories is that these games are being played during the month of Ramadan, the holiest month on the Muslim calendar. Khady is a Middle Eastern American woman with a mother who is devoutly Muslim even though she does not wear a headscarf. Khady is also given a Muslim boyfriend, and an ambitious female coach which allows the audience to explore any number of relationships. Khady longs to be known as an athlete, not just as a “Muslim” athlete, but the questions remain: will Khady fast and still play; can Khady fast and still play?
In an interview given for the program of an earlier production the playwright discussed what was for him, the central imperative for this play, “One of the things that was most important for me in writing this play was to show the various forms that the practice of Islam can take. There’s a tendency to think of Islam as a monolith and that the practice of it is quite circumscribed, but in this play, you meet three very different characters who identify as Muslim and who practice (or don’t) three very different Muslim perspectives, and I hope illuminate for audiences the wide range of ways Islam affects people’s lives. And more than that, their faith is only one part of who they are and doesn’t wholly define them. They are flawed, funny, complicated people who are trying to navigate a world that doesn’t always want them to win.”
Kareem Fahmy has created a play with perhaps more questions than answers; one that brings art and sport and family to our stage. He asks us to see the final scene as “the ultimate amalgam of theatre and sport; exhilarating and transcendent.” We at Capital Stage want nothing less than that for our audiences.
About The Playwright
by K. Kevyne Baar, PhD
“When I became a theatremaker, I realized it was commonplace to see the practice of other major religions on stage, but much less so with Islam. Putting faithful Muslims on stage is often associated with a lot of political baggage. In writing American Fast, I wanted to break that convention.” – Kareem Fahmy
Canadian-born, New York-based theatre director, playwright, and screenwriter of Egyptian descent, Kareem Fahmy has been receiving fellowships at a breakneck pace in the last number of years. Included in this list are fellowships at MacDowell, Yaddo, Sundance Theatre Lab, the Hermitage Retreat, Stratford Festival, The Old Globe, Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Phil Killian Fellowship), New York Theatre Workshop, Second Stage, and The O'Neill (National Directors Fellowship). In 2020, he was named a Theatre Communications Group "Rising Leader of Color.” Two years later he was awarded the Woodward/Newman Playwriting Award for American Fast, the play you are seeing at today’s performance.
Fahmy had been working as a director and writer in Montreal Canada, when he was encouraged to get his MFA in Directing which he did at Columbia University in 2007. But it was in 2012 that he returned to writing: “I realized that there are just a lot of stories about Middle Eastern life and experience and Muslim life and experience that haven’t been told yet. And I really wanted to contribute to building up the canon of Middle Eastern American work.”
It is this work that is defining Fahmy today. He is the co-founder of the Middle Eastern American Writers Lab at The Lark and of Maia Directors, a consulting group that works with theater companies and writers across the country on producing authentic Middle Eastern and Muslim stories. “It feels like there’s a different urgency now, a more specific need for a cohort of leaders of color to step forward and try to create a new conversation for what our industry needs to do to represent communities of color.”
Much has been written about this need for more diversity in the arts. Fahmy reminds us that while strides have been made, plays about Muslims or those of Middle Eastern descent seem to be few and far between. There have only been a handful of widely produced plays that tells those stories. As Kareen Fahmy works to change that, Capital Stage and its audiences are excited to participate in this continuing conversation.
Meet the Company
Victoria Nassif*
Rula Gardenier*
Vernon Lewis
Atim Udoffia*
Kareem Fahmy
Benjamin T. Ismail
Michael Stevenson
Keith Riedell
Tony Gabrielson
Caleb Jones
Suzanne Tyler*
Erika Placencia
Jerid Fox
Isaiah Leeper
Shae Mercer
Rebecca A. Valentino
Logan Jacob Germano-Heller
Ed Lee
Christa Kinch
Chloe King
Samantha McLean Haas
K. Kevyne Baar
Nicole C. Limón
ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION (AEA)
Founded in 1913, this union represents more than 45,000 actors and stage managers in the United States. Equity seeks to advance, promote and foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions, providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. AEA is a member of the AFL-CIO, and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions. The Equity emblem is our mark of excellence.
Capital Stage Staff
MICHAEL STEVENSON - Artistic Director
KEITH RIEDELL - Managing Director
KIRK BLACKINTON - Development Manager
TONY GABRIELSON - Production & Company Manager
MISTY MCDOWELL - Marketing Manager
LOGAN JACOB GERMANO-HELLER – Education & Box Office Manager
THEODORE ALEXANDER - House Manager
CALEB JONES - Technical Director
CONOR WOODS - Lead Carpenter
SUNNY MACKEY - Carpenter, Painter
ED LEE - Resident Sound Designer & Engineer
ISAIAH LEEPER - Lighting Supervisor
SHAE MERCER - Lead Electrician
ANDREW FRIDAE - Carpenter, Technician & Marketing Assistant
CECILIA CASTILLO JUAREZ - Concessions & Box Office Associate
YASMINE SALMERON - Production Associate
K. KEVYNE BAAR - Resident Dramaturg
JAMIE JONES, PETER MOHRMANN, GAIL RUSSELL, JANIS STEVENS – Associate Artists
ELIJAH PETERS - Infection Control Manager, Payroll & Administrative Assistant
FAYE CROOK - Marketing Intern
2023/24 SEASON APPRENTICE COMPANY - Maddie Judd, Fatemeh Mehraban, Oscar Quezada, Shelby Saumier
Capital Stage Board Members
Chastity E. Benson
California State Association of Counties
Dan Brunner, Treasurer
Arts Patron
Melissa Conner
Seed Communications Design
Kathryn E. Doi, Board President
Feldesman Leifer LLP
Sherry Hartel Haus
Downey Brand
Leili Khalessi
California Dept. of Human Resources
Steve Koonce
Arts Patron
Dena Martinez
Talen Agent, Director, Actor
Kristi Quesada Mathisen
Sacramento Country Day School
Lori Abbott Moreland
Arts Patron
Brian Rickel
Dean of Arts, Media & Entertainment at Cosumnes River College
Vince Sales
Everyday Impact Consulting
Mike Tentis
University of the Pacific
Peggy Wheeler
California Hospital Association
Board Emeritus:
Stephanie Gularte, Founding Artistic Director
Capital Stage
Peter Mohrmann, Co-founder
Capital Stage
Jonathan Williams, Co-Founder
Capital Stage
Clif McFarland
Mitchell Chadwick
Arlen Orchard
SMUD
Julie Stark
Arts Patron
Donors
Special Thanks to our Donors
Donation Totals from 1/18/23 to 1/18/24
Please alert us to any errors or omissions by contacting Development Manager, Kirk Blackinton at kblackinton@capstage.org.
Founder's Circle: $20,000+
Kathryn Doi
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Sacramento City Office of Arts and Culture
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Lead Actor: $1,200+
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Designer: $600+
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Learn more about "The Crew": capstage.org/play-a-part/donate/