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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
Carly Mensch
Jeffrey Lo
Michael Stevenson
Keith Riedell
Tony Gabrielson
Caleb Jones
Erika L. Placencia*
Olivia Amore
Matthew Hanjoong
Christopher Fitzer
Isaiah Leeper
Gail Russell
Ed Lee
Samantha McLean Haas
Nicole C. Limón
K. Kevyne Baar
Special Thanks
Joe Bertolucci, Affordable Heating & Air, Inc.
Donna Chipps
Di Arie Vineyard & Winery
Jim Hensley, President Abbey Flooring, Inc.
Oak Park Brewing Company
Shirlee Tully
Production Staff
Artistic Director - MICHAEL STEVENSON
Production & Company Manager - TONY GABRIELSON
Technical Director/Scenic Designer - CALEB JONES
Lead Carpenter - CONOR WOODS
Technician & Marketing Assistant - ANDREW FRIDAE
Carpenter, Painter - SUNNY MACKEY
Lead Electrician - SHAE MERCER
Dialect Coach - JANEL MILEY
Scenic Charge Artist - SAMANTHA McLEAN HAAS
Sound Designer & Engineer - ED LEE
Assistant Sound Designer - MADDIE JUDD^
Lighting Designer/Supervisor - ISAIAH LEEPER
Electricians - ISAIAH LEEPER, SHAE MERCER, EVA HERNANDEZ
Stage Manager - ERIKA L. PLACENCIA*
Assistant Stage Manager - OLIVIA AMORE
Assistant Director - MATTHEW HANJOONG
Scenic & Properties Designer - CHRISTOPHER FITZER
Costume Designer - GAIL RUSSELL
Build Crew - SUNNY MACKEY, CONOR WOODS
Painters - SAMANTHA McLEAN HAAS, CALEB JONES, SUNNY MACKEY, CONOR WOODS, ANDREW FRIDAE
Wardrobe/Run Crew - MADDIE JUDD^, OSCAR QUEZADA^
Sub Wardrobe/Run Crew - FATEMEH MEHRABAN^, SHELBY SAUMIER^
BIAPOC Liaison - KRISTON WOODREAUX
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
“Modern times are boring. Besides, the way I see it, our generation is doomed. Because we’re all culturally bankrupt. We have no tangible things to pass down to our children. No artifacts. No family heirlooms. All we have is fleeting virtual moments.” – Gideon
Gideon is a young man of 27. To say he is a hardcore history buff is an understatement. His list of reenactment assignments is long and diverse: he’s done Gettysburg, Salem, Shaker Village, Daniel Webster, a few Renaissance Fairs when he was in college, five birthplaces of Republican Politicians, and he just got back from doing the Living History Farm in Urbandale, Iowa. He describes it as “an addiction.” For him, his “brain is like a twenty-four-hour History Channel.” It will be Gideon who, as Julian Glockner, will be the first to welcome you into New York City’s Lower East Side Tenement Museum: a home of living history, in this case, circa 1890. Our tour will last about one hour and forty minutes and has the potential to be a bumpy ride.
At his side is Margie, a 26-year-old Filipina who has herself just “immigrated” to New York from a small town in Michigan looking for more of what life has to offer. With a degree in English and no experience whatsoever as an actor or a reenactor or even as an educator, and no love for this period of history either, she has landed a job at the Museum playing Josephine Glockner; that is, if she can hold it together. Gideon does not hide his shock and disappointment that the museum would hire this non-white young woman who actually thinks that “history is bullshit.”
Over the course of this evening you, the audience in our theatre and by extension at the museum, will get to know the Glockners, Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. From their marriage, arranged and performed by the rabbi in their village just in time for them to catch the boat, speaking of bumpy rides, they long for a better future that they hope they will find in New York.
Our playwright, Carly Mensch, tells us that, she “came up with the idea of historical reenactments, turning the theater into a sort of museum. I’m deeply amused and intrigued by this idea that if you put on a costume and talk in a hokey accent that history becomes present tense.”
Thrust together as both young American adults and young Jewish immigrants Gideon/Julian and Margie/Josephine will form relationships that will grow and change. The past and the future come closer and closer together until both couples get thrown asunder, as a type of confusion leads them all to very different and often unexpected conclusions as our tour comes to an end.
Gideon, quoting Antonio in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest reminds us that, “The past is prologue,” as we come closer to understanding that our “now” could not, would not exist without our “then.” How will we look back on our time? What will we want to make sure to remember?
About The Playwright
by K. Kevyne Baar, PhD
“Think about the audience. Entertain them, respect them, challenge them. Don’t write a play you know has already been written. Read a million books. Go on crazy adventures. Fall in love with theater and then write a play that redefines what theater is.” – Carly Mensch
For those of you who think the name Carly Mensch is familiar, you have probably heard of her numerous and impressive television credits. Not long after our current show originally opened, she became a story editor on the Showtime series Weeds. Mensch went on to write and produce for Nurse Jackie, and Orange is the New Black. Along with Liz Flahive she co-created the Netflix series GLOW, for which she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2018 as well as Writers Guild and Producers Guild nominations. This is not an uncommon story for many of the playwrights whose work has been presented at Capital Stage. But like the others, the seeds were planted and nurtured in theatre.
Mensch, who now lives in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, was born and raised in Harrison, New York. She graduated from Dartmouth College in 2005 and attended Julliard’s MFA program.
Mensch's plays include the production you are seeing today as well as Oblivion (Steppenwolf’s First Look Festival, Westport Playhouse), All Hail Hurricane Gordo (Humana Festival, Cleveland Play House), and Len, Asleep in Vinyl (2nd Stage/Uptown Series). Her work has also been read, workshopped, and developed at Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, Center Theatre Group, The Kennedy Center, Marin Theatre Company, New York Stage & Film, and Ars Nova the theatre where this production began and where she was the 2008 Playwright-in-Residence and a founding member of Play Group. She volunteers with the 52nd Street Project, an organization that creates theater with inner city kids.
Prior to the first production of Now Circa Then, she was being interviewed about her plays and was asked, “what was coming up next?” Mensch volunteered that the play that we are sharing with our audience today had a most unique beginning.
“I wrote [this play] with a specific space in mind - Ars Nova. For those who don't know Ars Nova, it's a sort of old-school vaudeville cabaret theater. Red velvet curtains, bar in the back, very intimate. I wanted to write a two-person play that used the performative aspect of the space and I came up with the idea of historical reenactments, turning the theater into a sort of museum. I'm deeply amused and intrigued by historical reenactments - this idea that if you put on a costume and talk in a hokey accent that history becomes present-tense. I based the museum on one of my favorite museums in New York - the Lower East Side Tenement Museum - so I could explore issues of immigration and personal reinvention. There's also a love story and a bunch of philosophical smack-downs about why we study history and how our generation is culturally bankrupt. I won't say any more.”
Time for us to let the play speak for itself here at Capital Stage.
Meet the Company
Nicole Anne Salle
Hunter Hoffman*
Carly Mensch
Jeffrey Lo
Michael Stevenson
Keith Riedell
Tony Gabrielson
Caleb Jones
Erika L. Placencia*
Olivia Amore
Matthew Hanjoong
Christopher Fitzer
Isaiah Leeper
Gail Russell
Ed Lee
Samantha McLean Haas
Nicole C. Limón
K. Kevyne Baar
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
AVERY HERSEK - Box Office Associate
THEODORE ALEXANDER - House Manager
CALEB JONES - Technical Director/Scenic Designer
CONOR WOODS - Lead Carpenter
SUNNY MACKEY - Carpenter, Painter
ED LEE - Resident Sound Designer & Engineer
ISAIAH LEEPER - Lighting Supervisor
SHAE MERCER - Lead Electrician/Lighting Designer
ANDREW FRIDAE - 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
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 6/7/23 to 6/7/24
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
Golden 1 Credit Union
Lesley & Steve Koonce
Sacramento City Office of Arts and Culture
Anita Scuri & James Simon
The Shubert Foundation
Executive Producer: $10,000+
John Abbott & Lori Abbott Moreland
Dan Brunner
Jeffrey Farley & Mike Tentis
Gloriette C. Fong
Kris Martin
Sacramento Region Community Foundation
Art & Sue Scotland
Producer: $6,000+
Chastity Benson
Susie & Jim Burton
Donna Chipps
Ted Cobb
Steven Debry
Downey Brand
Linda McAtee & Steve Sphar
Leonard Vincent Sales
Ed Telfeyan & Jeri Paik
Gloria & Don Yost
Director: $3,000+
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Foundation for California Community Colleges
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SCRF - APIs Rise Fund
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Howard Slyter
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Susan Wheeler
Lead Actor: $1,200+
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Learn more about "The Crew": capstage.org/play-a-part/donate/