Blue Door |
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Henery Wyand |
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Lyrics by Tanya Barfield; Music by Larry Gilliard Jr. |
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This production is supported in part by the Maryland State Arts Council. Blue Door is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York. Playwrights Horizons presented the New York Premiere of Blue Door in October 2006. Blue Door was commissioned by Playwrights Horizons with funds provided by The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Commissioning Program. Blue Door was first produced by South Coast Repertory. A workshop of Blue Door was presented by New York Stage and Film and The Powerhouse Theater at Vassar. Blue Door was developed in part with the assistance of the Sundance Institute Theatre Laboratory. |
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Follow Us:
Playwright’s Preface to the Script
“It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness—an American, a Negro; two warring souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.”
—W.E.B. DuBois
AN INVITATION TO CONNECT*
from the director
This production actively invites everyone to engage in a symbiotic exchange of offering and receiving.
OFFER
presence
laughter and joy
tears and pain
affirmation
listening
and patience
RECEIVE
community
love
knowledge
faith
and most importantly healing
with sincerity,
henery
*Inspired by Nicole Brewer and Dominique Morisseau
Translation of Yoruba Song
Baba agba Grandfather
Iya agba Grandmother
Mo pe o I call on you
Eniyan fo soke Fly, people
Eye fo soke Fly, bird
Idiran mi wa sile Come down, my ancestor
Angeli wa sile Come down, angel
Baba agba Grandfather
Iya agba Grandmother
Mo pe o I call on you
Mo dupe Thank you
Cast
Creative Team
Tanya Barfield
Henery Wyand
Sarah McCarthy
Kevin O'Connell
Adam Mendelson
Renata Taylor-Smith
Steven Leshin
Meet the Company
DeJeanette Horne
DeJeanette Horne (he/him), a native Washingtonian, is excited to debut with Perisphere Theater in this production of Blue Door by Tanya Barfield. Storytelling offers a unique and intimate opportunity for us to share another’s perspective. Thank you for this opportunity to tell a beautiful story. Other credits include appearing as Mr. M. in My Children! My Africa! with the Washington Stage Guild; Jim Bono in Fences with the Little Theatre of Alexandria; Simonides, Leonine, Lychorida, Lord of Tyre, Lord Mytilene, and Philomen in The Adventures of Pericles with the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company; and many others.
Jaucqir LaFond
Jaucqir LaFond (they/he) is a graduating senior acting major at Howard University from Atlanta, GA. They were previously seen in the virtual production of Silence Is Violence: The Future of the Field (Young Playwrights’ Theater) as co-writer and co-star. Besides acting, Jaucqir enjoys singing, voguing, and writing theatre, poetry, and music. Jaucqir is thrilled to make their return to live theatre with Perisphere and hopes the audience has as enriching a journey with Blue Door as they did.
Tanya Barfield
Tanya Barfield (she/her) is the co-director of the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at the Juilliard School. Her play Bright Half Life has been seen at multiple theaters around the country since premiering at WP Theater Off-Broadway; it also received a Lambda Literary Award. Her play The Call premiered as a co-production between Playwrights Horizons and Primary Stages.
Barfield is the recipient of a Lilly Award and the first inaugural Lilly Award Commission, a Helen Merrill Award, Honorable Mention for the Kesselring Prize for Drama, and a Lark Play Development/NYSCA grant. She has twice been a finalist for the Princess Grace Award. Her residencies include the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab, the Ucross Foundation, New York Stage and Film, the Royal Court International Residency and Seattle Rep’s Women Playwrights Festival at Hedgebrook. She’s also an alumna of New Dramatists and the Dramatist Guild Council.
Barfield also writes for television (HBO, FX, Showtime) and shares a Writers Guild of America Award for her work on season four of FX’s The Americans. She was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for writing the episode “Shirley” of the FX series Mrs. America.
Henery Wyand
Henery Wyand (he/him) is a director and playwright. He was recently a directing fellow with Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC). Directing credits: REGIONAL: Adirondack Theatre Festival (ATF): Alice in Wonderland. EDUCATIONAL: Vassar College: h.b. Floating palace, The Wild Party, White is Not the Default, Untitled Project of Color, Spring Awakening. Assistant credits: OFF-BROADWAY: Mrs. Warren’s Profession; STC: Will on the Hill. ATF: Beau, Sequence, The Enlightenment of Percival von Schmootz, Calling All Kates. Training: BA in Drama from Vassar College, Advanced Directing at National Theater Institute.
Sarah McCarthy
Sarah McCarthy (she/her) is thrilled to be Blue Door’s stage manager at Perisphere Theater. Recent productions include A Strange Loop (Woolly Mammoth), On The Town, and The Wheel. She has a BFA from Goucher College, where she pursued technical theatre and creative writing.
Kevin O'Connell
Kevin O’Connell (he/him) is the artistic and executive director of Perisphere Theater. He was the founding artistic director of Barabbas Theatre Company, which produced highly acclaimed plays in the Capital Fringe Festival. These included H5x7, O’Connell’s faithful adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry V; the world premiere of Alexandra Petri’s Never Never; and the D.C. area premiere of Lauren Gunderson’s, Exit, Pursued by a Bear. He holds a M.A. in dramaturgy from the Catholic University of America and an M.A. in history from the State University of New York at Albany. Kevin studied directing with Joy Zinoman at the Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory and completed the Directing Studio at Shakespeare’s Globe in London. In addition to Barabbas, Kevin has worked with several local companies, including Quotidian Theatre Company, Factory 449, the Washington Rogues, Pallas Theatre Collective, and Lean & Hungry Theater. He has also worked for the federal government in several capacities since 1994.
Adam Mendelson
Adam Mendelson (he/him) is the Senior Lecturer in Lighting and Sound Design at the University of Maryland Baltimore County where he has been on the faculty since 2012 and helped prepare the new theatre spaces for the opening of the state-of-the-art Performing Arts and Humanities Building. He previously taught at the University of Wyoming, the University of Texas-Arlington, Stephens College (Columbia, MO), and Lawrence Academy (Groton, MA). His design work has been seen across the country and as far afield as Edinburgh, Scotland. Recently, he has lit shows for Rep Stage (Columbia, MD) Lexington Children’s Theatre (Lexington, KY), Annapolis Shakespeare Company (Annapolis, MD), and the Towson University Department of Dance. He lives in Catonsville, MD, with his wife, Catherine, and their menagerie, Lailah and Kona.
Renata Taylor-Smith
Steven Leshin
Photos
DeJeanette Horne and Jaucqir LaFond (DJ Corey Photography)
DeJeanette Horne (DJ Corey Photography)
Jaucqir LaFond (DJ Corey Photography)
Donors
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The members of our board of directors Katharine Ange Ellen Arnold Peg Ayers Marshall Bailey Bob Bartlett Susan Basile Katie Bowen Zachary Brewster-Geisz Pam Burks Stephanie Clark Eileen Devlin Janet Dalton Dickinson David Dieudonne Aaran Drake John Driscoll David S. Dubov-Flinn Kevin Dykstra Karen Faith Jeffrey Fleming Victor Goodrich Anthony Hacsi Jeffrey Halstead Terry Hill Thomas Holzman Natalie Hopkins Mike Iger Kathy Jennings Jasmine Jones John Jordan Abraham Kahn James Ketterer |
Michael Kharfen Helen Leddy Michael Kyrioglou Robert Mason Cathy McCoskey Dimitri McDaniel John McDuffie Sean McGinley RJ Merck Heather Mitchell Annette Mooney Kelly Mulligan Val Murphy Brendan Murray Eve Muson Eileen O'Connell Michael O’Connell Andrea Palmer Beth Perry Graham Pilato Bob Pursell Joan Roberts Maria Rohde Alyssa Sanders Jack Scheer Amanda Stiefvater John Stoltenberg Ryan Taylor Laura Weishaupt Ben Winsor Joy Zinoman |
About Perisphere Theater
We are a nonprofit theater company based in Montgomery County, Maryland.
Mission: Perisphere Theater produces plays that examine personal and collective history and the notion of history itself.
Vision: A theater experience that gives audiences a greater appreciation of history and of those who are often left out of its retelling.
Values:
- Artistic excellence: We pursue the highest possible theatrical quality so we can engage our audience intellectually and emotionally.
- Diversity: We make equitable decisions about the plays we choose to produce and the people we choose to hire and elevate.
- Antiracism: We actively seek to provide opportunities for BIPOC theater artists, recognizing the need to not only eliminate racial barriers to participation but also to make amends for historical injustice.
- Respect: We always show the utmost respect for our collaborators and our audience, and we refuse to allow harassment, disparagement, or objectification in connection with our productions or operations.
Our artistic and executive director, who also serves on the board of directors, is Kevin O'Connell. Kia Hunter (President), Lisa A. Hoston (Vice President), Maria Nuñez-Gaylor (Treasurer), Jeff McDermott (Secretary), Erin Finucane (Immediate Past President), Kindra M. Jones, and Joyce Patry make up the rest of the board.
Thank You
We would like to thank the following people, in addition to our financial contributors listed earlier, for invaluable assistance to our production of Blue Door:
Ellen Arnold
Steve Deming
Vince Eisenson
Jeffrey Halstead
Brendan Murray
Toni Salvatore
Greggory Schraven and the UMBC Department of Theatre
Erica Smith
We also thank Dawna Moore for allowing us to use, free of charge, her photograph "Haint Blue Door" as the background for our promotional images, including the cover of this program. We encourage you to visit her webpage.
