BWW Stage Mag The Two Hander - New Jersey Repertory Company Stage Mag

THE TWO HANDER

at New Jersey Repertory Company
 

written by
Julia Blauvelt 

 
 
starring
 

Jill Eikenberry*      and      Ella Dershowitz*

 

directed by

SuzAnne Barabas

 

       Scenic Design                Costume Design                       Lighting Design                    Sound Design               Production Stage Manager

Jessica Parks      Patricia Doherty        Jill Nagel           Nick Simone         Rose Riccardi*

 

* Denotes a member of Actors Equity Association, the union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. ActorsEquity.org

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Cast

JILL EIKENBERRY
Diana Walker
ELLA DERSHOWITZ
Claire Fields

Creative Team

JULIA BLAUVELT

Playwright

SUZANNE BARABAS

Director/ Artistic Director, NJRep

JESSICA PARKS

Resident Scenic Designer/Props Designer

PATRICIA E. DOHERTY

Resident Costume Designer

JILL NAGLE

Resident Lighting Designer

NICK SIMONE

Resident Sound Design

BRIAN SNYDER

Technical Director/Facilities Manager

JANEY HUBER

Assistant Director/ Assistant Lighting Designer

JAMES LOCKHART

Master Electrician

ROSE RICCARDI

Production Stage Manager

RACHAEL MALLOY

Assistant Stage Manager

IAN DUHART

Running Crew

JT PUBLIC RELATIONS

PR/Public Relations

JOEL STONE

Literary Manager

DEE DEE IRWIN

Managing Director

EVAN BERGMAN

Associate Artistic Director

GABOR BARABAS

Executive Producer

NJRep Staff

Gabor Barabas, Executive Producer

SuzAnne Barabas, Artistic Director

Evan Bergman, Associate Artistic Director

Dee Dee Irwin, Managing Director

Joel Stone, Literary Manager

Jessica Parks, Production Manager and Resident Scenic Designer

Patricia Doherty, Resident Costume Designer

Jill Nagle, Resident Lighting Designer

Nick Simone, Resident Sound Designer

Brian Snyder, Technical Director and Facilities Manager

Joe Trentacosta, Public Relations

Kristin Pfeifer*, Production Stage Manager

Rose Riccardi*, Production Stage Manager

James Lockhart, Master Electrician

Janey Huber, Artistic Associate & Assistant Lighting Designer

Rachael Malloy, Assistant Stage Manager

Ian Duhart, Running Crew

Karen Wharmby, House Manager and Volunteer Coordinator​​​​​​ 

Donna Stiles, Production and Administration Assistant

Taylor Bongarzone, Box Office Associate

David Becerra, Head Custodian

Dee Cantalice, Director of Finance

John Pocalyko, Head of Finance Committee

Mare Akana, Gallery Curator

Andrea Phox, Photography Curator

Gail Winar, Artistic Associate

Blake Robinson, Scenic Artist/Props Assistant

Gisela Nucciarone, Carpenter

Meet the Company

JILL EIKENBERRY

Diana Walker
JILL EIKENBERRY - Diana Walker JILL EIKENBERRY is perhaps best known for her portrayal of Ann Kelsey on NBC’s long-running hit series LA Law, which earned Jill four Emmy nominations, two Golden Globe nominations and a Golden Globe Award. Jill has starred on Broadway in Moonchildren, All Over Town, Summer Brave, Watch on the Rhine and Onward Victoria. She won an Obie award for her off-Broadway performances in Life Under Water and Lemon Sky. Jill’s more recent New York appearances have been in Enter Laughing, the Musical, The Kid, for which she received a Drama Desk Nomination, Jericho, Evening at the Talk House by Wallace Shawn, and Fern Hill by her husband Michael Tucker – first at The New Jersey Repertory Company and then at 59E59 Theater in New York. Her other appearance at NJRep was in Michael’s first play, The M Spot. This past year Jill and Michael appeared in a filmed version of his play, The Nice Man Cometh. Jill’s feature films include Butch and Sundance: The Early Days, Rich Kids, Hide in Plain Sight, Arthur, The Manhattan Project, Something Borrowed, Young Adult, and In Reality. She has starred in numerous TV movies including An Inconvenient Woman, Chantilly Lace and the sequel, Chantilly Bridge, which is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. Last fall she was a guest star on The Good Fight. And in March she had a guest starring role on the pilot for a reboot of LA Law. Jill has recently been part of a new streaming theater company, New Normal Rep, which has had two successful seasons.

ELLA DERSHOWITZ

Claire Fields
ELLA DERSHOWITZ - Claire Fields Off-Broadway/NYC: Can You Forgive Her? (Vineyard Theatre), Intimacy (The New Group), Card and Gift (Clubbed Thumb), Connected (59E59), On the Verge (Attic Theater), Three Musketeers: 1941 (Project Y), A Splintered Soul (Rosalind Productions). Regional: Joy and Pandemic (The Huntington), Actually (Aurora), The Wolves (Capital Stage), Sovereignty and Thomas and Sally (Marin Theatre Company), The Siegel (City Lights), 4,000 Miles and You Will Remember Me (Hudson Stage), Visitors and The Screenwriter’s Daughter(Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse), Twelfth Night (Payomet). TV/Film: Phil Spector (HBO), The Affair (Showtime), Lie to Me (Fox), Knife Fight, Two-Bit Waltz, Addiction: A 60’s Love Story, I Am Michael, Pitching Tents. Training: Yale University and LAMDA. When not acting, Ella makes crossword puzzles.

JULIA BLAUVELT

Playwright
JULIA BLAUVELT - Playwright JULIA BLAUVELT is an NYC-based playwright and screenwriter. Her work has been produced at New Normal Rep and received residences at Orchard Project and Athena Writers Lab. Her plays have been finalists for the WP Theater Playwrights Lab, Neukom Playwriting Award, and the New Voices Award. She holds her MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU Tisch.

SUZANNE BARABAS

Director/ Artistic Director, NJRep
SUZANNE BARABAS has been the Artistic Director of NJ Rep for the past 25 years. SuzAnne is a member of Actors Equity Association, the Dramatist Guild, and the Society of Directors & Choreographers.

JESSICA PARKS

Resident Scenic Designer/Props Designer
JESSICA PARKS has been working for NJ Repertory Company since 2003 and has been the resident scenic designer and prop designer since 2010. Set designs at NJ Rep include: The Promotion, Memoirs of a Forgotten Man, Wolf at the Door, The Jag, Swimming at the Ritz, Happy and Broomstick. NYC credits at 59E59 St. Theaters include: Michael Tucker’s Fern Hill, Butler, The Housewives of Mannheim, Jericho and Poetic License. Other credits include: The End of Hester at Theatre Row NYC, Bretch:Call & Response at Paradise Factory Theatre and Dan Lauria's Dinner with the Boys at Theater Row NYC.

PATRICIA E. DOHERTY

Resident Costume Designer
As NJ Rep’s resident costume designer since 2000, Doherty’s work includes: The Housewives of Mannheim, The Color of Flesh, Old Clown Wanted, The Good Daughter, Place Settings, Bookends, Engaging Shaw, Puma, Noir, Broomstick, View of the Mountains, Swimming at the Ritz, Dinner with the Boys (with Dan Lauria), Closure (with Wendy Malick, Gary Cole), Nobody’s Girl, Butler, Mad Love and Iago , Fern Hill (with Jill Eikenberry, Dee Hoty and John Glover) to name just a few. New York: Southern Comfort—The Musical (The Public Theater 2016 Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics, Drama Desk Award Nominations with Annette O’Toole, Jeff McCarthy); Dinner with the Boys with Dan Lauria (The Acorn Theatre) Academia Nuts (2014 NYMF Best New Musical); The Devil’s Music (St. Luke’s); The Goldman Project (Abingdon Theatre); Freed, Fall to Earth, Poetic License, The Housewives of Mannheim, Butler, Small World (59E59th St Theatres); Love Therapy (DR2) Regional: Alley Theatre (past resident designer), Barrington Stage, Cleveland Play House, Merrimack Rep, Florida Rep, Penguin Rep, Engeman Theatre, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Montreal Jazz Festival , Luna Stage, Playwrights Theatre of NJ, Merrimack Rep (MA), People’s Light and Theatre Festival (PA), Rubicon Theatre of LA, Mosaic Theatre (DC), Cape Cod Playhouse (MA), Weston Playhouse (VT) TV/Video: AT&T, “Unsolved Mysteries,” Pennsylvania Public Television Guest Artist: Monmouth University, Case Western Reserve University, Ohio University, Niagara University, Syracuse University Guest Artist and Instructor: Kent State University, School of Theatre and Dance 1992-95

JILL NAGLE

Resident Lighting Designer
JILL NAGLE is the Resident Lighting Designer at NJ Rep. Partial NJ Rep include: Dinner with the Boys, Closure, Butler, Broomstick, Happy, Puma, Night Train, and Noir. Partial NYC designs include: Butler, A Stool at the End of the Bar, Jericho, Poetic License, Housewives of Mannheim, The Man in Room 306, The Dishwashers (59E59), Love Therapy (Daryl Roth), Dinner with the Boys (The Acorn) The Bully Pulpit (Samuel Beckett), Do Not Go Gentle (Harold Clurman), Count Down (Bank Street), In the Parlance (The Pulse), Carrera (La Mama E.T.C.), South Beach Rapture (Dixon Place). Other venues: John Engeman Theatre, Chester Theatre, Luna Stage, Playwrights of New Jersey, Montclair State University, New Jersey City University. www.jillnagle.net

NICK SIMONE

Resident Sound Design
NICK SIMONE has been a performing arts educator in NYC for the past 18 years. He has worked at various music schools for all ages and has been a teaching artist for Roundabout Theatre Company, Apollo Theater, and Sundog Theatre specializing in sound design and musical disciplines. As a musician, Nick plays multiple instruments and has also performed at the renowned Carnage Hall and at the Metropolitan Opera House. Nick has also worked as sound designer and as an audio engineer for many productions such as: US: A Progressive Love Story, The Norwegians, North To Maine, IYOM, Wild Children, Time Travelers Trip To Niagara, The Diorama, Shakespeare's Hamlet at Bryant Park, Extreme Weather, Don’t Dress For Dinner, Villainous Company, Capone, & Romantic Trapezoid. Nick is also affiliated with MTV's production Artist to Watch series as a sound assistant. He is currently the chief audio engineer for Fenix Studios in Staten Island, NY and has credits on multiple albums, films, broadcasts, streaming, music videos and mobile apps. He has worked with up and coming talent and platinum selling artists in different genres from Lorde to Coldplay.

BRIAN SNYDER

Technical Director/Facilities Manager
BRIAN SNYDER has been an artist, carpenter, and prop builder since 2003 for several companies in NY and NJ including The Art Department, PVS, Stone Dog Studios, Two River Theater Company, and NJ Repertory Company. After 4 years of teaching Visual Arts and Stagecraft at Lakewood High School he returned to the world of freelance and made his debut as Technical Director and Master Carpenter here at NJ Rep in 2014.

JANEY HUBER

Assistant Director/ Assistant Lighting Designer
Janey began her relationship at NJ Rep in 2004 as a patron & quickly became a subscriber: “They had me at Whores!” Janey brought close to 30 years of administrative experience to her 5-year role as Managing Director and is thrilled to remain in the NJ Rep family as Artistic Associate. Her previous theater management position was as Operations Director of Algonquin Arts Theatre in Manasquan, NJ. Janey has also been a Quality Assurance Consultant in healthcare since 1988 including 18 years at the Reading Birth & Women’s Center in PA and 10 years at the Frontier School of Midwifery in Kentucky. She served as Chief Financial Officer and then Executive Director of the Institute of Midwifery, Women, & Health, and Clinical Site Coordinator of The Midwifery Institute, both at Philadelphia University. She also served as the Director of Patient Services for a large Planned Parenthood affiliate in Pennsylvania for 2 years and for 11 years prior to that, worked at Northampton Community College in Bethlehem, PA as a biology professor; serving as Academic Dean during her last 5 years at the college. Her BA and MS degrees, from East Stroudsburg University, are in aquatic biology.

JAMES LOCKHART

Master Electrician
JAMES LOCKHART has the pleasure of working as the Master Electrician for NJ Repertory Company. He is a young, vibrant freelance lighting designer & master electrician that has worked in the tri-state. He has a comprehensive set of skills.

ROSE RICCARDI

Production Stage Manager
Riccardi has been a NJ Rep Company member since 1998. She has worked on over a hundred productions for the Rep including: The Housewives of Mannheim (Alan Brody), The Little Hours (David Bucknam), Fern Hill (Michael Tucker), Dead Ringer (Gino Dilorio), Naked By The River (Michael Folie), Adult Fiction (Brian Mori), Bookends (Katharine Houghton, Dianne Adams, James McDowell), Whores (Lee Blessing), Donna Orbits The Moon (Ian August), Find Me A Voice (SuzAnne Barabas, Gabor Barabas) Off-Broadway credits include: Songbird by Michael Kimmel and Lauren Pritchard, Butler by Richard Strand, The Violin (Dan McCormick), The Road to Damascus (Tom Dulack), Terms of Endearment (Dan Gordon), Poetic License (Jack Canfora), On A Stool At The End Of The Bar (Robert Callely), A Better Place (Wendy Beckett), Murder In The First (Dan Gordon), Martin Luther on Trial (Chris Cragin-Day), Phoenix (Scott Organ), In The Pocket “A Sideman’s Tale (James Manos Jr. and Mark Rivera) Rose has also been a proud member of Actors’ Equity since 1999.

RACHAEL MALLOY

Assistant Stage Manager
RACHAEL MALLOY is very excited to be starting their career with NJ Rep. Previous credit highlights include: 7 Deadly Sins NYC with Tectonic Theatre Project (Show Operator) and Northampton Community College’s Summer Theatre (Tech Intern). College theatre: Head Over Heels (Assistant Stage Manager), FAME (Stage Manager), Into The Woods (Assistant Stage Manager), Cabaret (Stage Manager).

IAN DUHART

Running Crew
Ian is very excited to be a part his first show at NJ Rep. He just recently finished a run as Sebastian in The Little Mermaid, and is currently competing in Karaoke Knockout. He's honored to be a part of this crew, and hopes you all enjoy the show!

JT PUBLIC RELATIONS

PR/Public Relations
Founded by Joe Trentacosta, JT Public Relations is a full-service entertainment public relations firm. For over 20 years, they have handled over 300 projects on Broadway, Off-Broadway, festival productions, industry readings, films in release, film festivals, non-profit organizations, and special events. Current projects include Anthony Rapp’s Without You, Dog Man The Musical, and the international hit Katsura Sunshine’s Rakugo. Theater companies include AMT Theater, Houses on the Moon, Royal Family Productions, TheaterWorksUSA, Theater Breaking Through Barriers, and Urban Stages. Joe is currently developing a Broadway-bound musical about the Six Triple Eighth Postal Battalion with Holly Garman and Blair Underwood.

JOEL STONE

Literary Manager
JOEL STONE was formerly the artistic director of Off-Off Broadway’s The Theatre Asylum. On May 17, 1998, his play Horrors of Doctor Moreau (published by Samuel French, Inc.) became the first script-in-hand reading to debut at New Jersey Repertory Company. The following year, his short play The Age of Miracles premiered at NJ Rep and went on to be a finalist at the Samuel French Short Play Festival. Also in 1999, NJ Rep presented “Written in Stone”, an evening of Joel’s short plays, including The Speck of Dust in Bugsy’s Eye (featuring the late Kim Hunter). In 2001, he co-produced “One Night With You”, a collection of six short plays about Elvis, created exclusively by NJ Rep playwrights. From 2000-2002, he was the Theatre Education Coordinator for the New York City Board/Department of Education. He has written and directed for all four NJ Rep Theatre Brut Festivals, including Prairie Dogs (2004), Abilene (2004), Trouble on the PATH (2005), Seven4Seven (2006), and The Purgatory of Charlie Hustle (2008). In 2012, Joel directed the acclaimed MainStage production of Gino DiIorio’s Release Point. In 2014, Joel was the Director/Mentor of the award-winning NJ Rep Young Playwrights Project, “Shelter From The Storm”, in which local high school students wrote short plays about Hurricane Sandy. For the past three years, he has been an adjunct professor of playwriting at Monmouth University and recently taught the initial playwriting class for New Jersey Repertory Company’s West End Arts Center. Currently, he is the literary manager for NJ Rep. He was recently commissioned by NJPAC to write The Calling, his first full-length play in decades.

DEE DEE IRWIN

Managing Director
DEE DEE IRWIN joined NJRep in 2022, bringing with her almost 30 years of experience in the performing arts and live events industry. Prior to coming east, Dee Dee spent nine years as the Director of Marketing and Communications/Associate Producer for Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach, CA, and 12 years as part of the Broadway in Hollywood team for Nederlander’s beautiful Pantages theatre in Hollywood, CA. Dee Dee can also be found playing with puppets as part of the gang that produces "Brian Henson’s Puppet Up! Uncensored" at the legendary Jim Henson Company Lot. While in Laguna Beach, Dee Dee served as chair for the Laguna Beach Arts Alliance, celebrated the theatre's 100th birthday, and produced much of the virtual programming during the pandemic. Originally from Los Angeles, Dee Dee holds an MA in Humanities, a BA in Theatre, and is a proud member of IATSE 857. Special shout out to the love of her life, her dog Pickle, who you might see roaming the theatre and giving his opinion on, well, pretty much everything.

EVAN BERGMAN

Associate Artistic Director
Over the years Evan has directed over 15 productions for New Jersey Rep, many of them world premieres. He is extremely proud of the body of work and the theaters ability to identify a wide range of talented playwrights deserving to have their plays produced. He has also directed world premieres at many other theater including Ensemble Studio Theater, The Duke, Daryl Roth, Barrington Stage, Jane Street, Playwrights Horizon, Arclight, The Tiffaney and 59E59. His film work includes the recent short film Day Zero which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and was called” A cautionary tale, perfectly realized” by Oscar award winning Director James Ivory. Dig A Hole, Find A Finger, Palm Springs and Newport Beach International Film Festivals and his Documentary for Warner Music Group featuring Roger Daltry (The Who), Philip Bailey (Earth Wind and Fire). Currently he is in pre-production for a new Feature film he wrote about the life of Oyster Farmers called Life on the Flats which started principle filming in the fall of 2023.

GABOR BARABAS

Executive Producer
For NJ Rep, he has produced over 80 world premieres including Ends, A World I Never Made, North Fork, Octet, The Girl With the High Rouge, In Search of Red River Dog, Naked by the River, An Unhappy Woman, Immortal Interlude, Getting in Touch With My Inner B*tch, Till Morning Comes, Slave Shack, Panama, Big Boys, Winterizing the Summer House, Piaf in Vienna, The Color of Flesh, Emil, Touch of Rapture, Beyond Gravity, A Child’s Guide to Innocence, The Good Daughter, Apostasy, The Best Man, Tilt Angel, Love and Murder, tempOdyssey, October 1962, Place Setting, And Her Hair Went With Her, Engaging Shaw, Poetic License, The Housewives of Mannheim, Dead Ringer, Exposure Time (recipient of and Edgerton New American Plays Award), Character Assassins, The Tangled Skirt (nominated for an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America), Puma, Night Train, The Judy Holliday Story, Jericho (recipient of and Edgerton New American Plays Award), American Stare, Release Point, Esther’s Moustache, Ants, Noir, Happy, Broomstick, Admit One, A View of the Mountains, Butler (recipient of and Edgerton New American Plays Award), Lucky Me, Dinner with the Boys, Angels and Ministers of Grace, and the musicals Immortal Interlude,Bookends, The Little Hours (recipient of and Edgerton New American Plays Award), and Date of Lifetime. His book Miklos Radnoti: The Complete Poetry in Hungarian and English was recently published by McFarland.

NJRep Thanks the Following for Their Support

The Shubert Foundation, MacMillan Family Foundation, New Jersey State Council on the Arts, The Stone Foundation of New Jersey, The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, OceanFirst Foundation, Manasquan Bank Philanthropic Fund, Investors Bank Foundation, Community Foundation of New Jersey, Jewish Communal Fund, Darien Family Fund, Citizens Philanthropic Foundation, The Smart Family Foundation, NJEDA, The New Jersey Cultural Trust. 

 

 

 

 

 

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