About The Author

FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. Inspired by native folklore and religious customs, Lorca’s early work earned him recognition from the elite cultural community. He developed friendships with prominent Spanish artists, including the painter Salvador Dali. Lorca traveled to the United States and studied poetry at Columbia University in New York. In the early 1930s when changes in the Spanish government sparked civil war, Lorca’s writings reflected the turmoil, ultimately supporting a republic. THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA was written in 1936, the same year Lorca was assassinated. This play was to mark the start of a stylistic change for the playwright. When it was staged in 1945, THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA drew international acclaim and assured Lorca recognition as one of the most provocative writers in contemporary literature.

Cast

Kat Aldrich (The Maid)

Kat is an actor, teacher and director. She is the Artistic Director of the new Australian youth theatre company Riot Stage. In 2011 Kat directed Prometheus Days for the Mackay Festival of Arts, and After 3 for the Anywhere Theatre Festival. She performed in the Two Hours Traffic’s production Sh*t and The Danger Ensemble’s Hamlet Apocalypse at LaBoite. In 2008-2009 she toured throughout Europe, America and Australia as part of The Danger Ensemble, performing with internationally acclaimed singer Amanda Palmer. Previous performance credits include Sub-Con Warrior Version 2.0 (2008), Zeitgeist (2008), Dracula (2007) and Romeo and Juliet (2005-2006).

Mary Murfin Bayley (La Poncia)

Mary has recently been seen as Gratiana in Revenger’s Tragedy at Greenstage, Beatrix Potter in The Tale of Jemima Canard at Annex, and Olive Worthington in Book-it Repertory Theater’s award-winning Cider House Rules. In 2008 and 2009 Mary lived in Italy where she studied Commedia Dell’ Arte with Roberto Andrioli. Her B.A. in theater is from Reed College. She is thrilled to be part of Arouet’s The House of Bernarda Alba.

Colleen Carey (Angustias)

Colleen is totally delighted to be working with Roy and Charles again and to be working with such a stellar cast. She studied theater at Los Angeles County School for the Arts and at the North Carolina School for the Arts. Recent credits include: All Through the Night at ArtsWest; Bigfoot with Danny Bonaduce (for the Sci-Fi Channel); The Castle with Fathom Collective @ the Satori Loft; The Gene Pool with Arouet; Edmond with Balagan and Café Nordo. All my gratitude and love to my wonderful family, David & Aidan.

Monica Chilton (Mourner)

When Monica first read the gripping story of The House of Bernarda Alba in her freshman theatre class at Northwestern, she never dreamed that she would act in a production of the play. Thanks to Roy for encouraging her to audition, to Charles for his directorial insights (and stupendous powers of name recall), J.J. for her patience, and a grand cast of women for being amazing!

Jennifer Davies (Mourner)

Jennifer is delighted to be participating in her first show with Arouet. She is a Washington native whose previous roles include Marge in The Whole Shebang at UPAC, Beth in Copious Love’s production of Sweet & Decent/Dark & Twisty, and Rosalind in As You Like It with Last Leaf Shakespeare in the Park.

Lorrie Fargo (Amelia)

Lorrie is very excited to be diving into the wonderful words of Federico Lorca. She was last seen as Jackie Coryton in Hay Fever with Bellevue Civic and Renton Civic Theater. Other favorite roles include Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing with SecondStory Rep, the Duchess in Wonderland: Alice Adventures with theater simple and half the residents of Verona in Greenstage’s Romeo and Juliet. Lorrie trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in the UK. LtJ.

Caitlin Gilman (Mourner)

Caitlin Gilman is delighted to be joining this important production. Previous roles include Barbara in Run for Your Wife, and Felicity in Farndale…Christmas Carol (Renton Civic Theater), Chloe in Arcadia (SITPL), Didi in The Cat’s Meow (Redwood Theater), and Claudia in The Butler Did It (VCP). Caitlin is a graduate of Cornish College of the Arts, and a proud company member of Annex Theatre.

Frances Hearn (Maria Josefa)

Frances is thrilled to be a part of this production. Frances has an MFA from CalArts and a Master’s in Education (TESOL) from Seattle University. Some of her favorite roles have been Anna from Burn This, Irena from The Seagull, The Lover in An Unseen Energy Swallows Space, and the Lady in the Mirror from Wounds to the Face. She also loved working on the Vagina Monologues with Tyrone Brown at Stone Soup. She has just recently performed in a short film by TJ Mino – A Penny Earned, which showed at Sundance 2012. Last year she performed in a feature at SIFF titled, Marrow by Matt Wilkins.

Margaretta Lantz (Mourner)

Margaretta has most recently appeared as Summer, the beautiful bridezilla in ‘Till Death with the Murder Mystery Company. Favorite stage roles include Shitara the Jungle Woman in Jungle Woman of the Jungle (Unexpected Productions), Tiresias in Oedipus (Akropolis Performance Lab), Mata Hari in The True Life Fiction of Mata Hari (Cyberact Theatre, Paris). She has also appeared at the Vancouver Fringe Festival, the Penthouse Theatre, and at Le Maison Bleu with the Bilingual Acting Workshop in Paris.

Ruth McRee (Bernarda Alba)

Ruth is delighted to be working with Arouet. She was recently seen as Mme. Pernelle in Taproot Theatre’s production of Moliere’s Tartuffe. She has worked professionally in regional theatres in the east, and since 1982, in many Seattle area theatres. She works frequently with Theatre 9/12, playing Mrs. Toothe in Albee’s Everyrthing in the Garden and the older Medea in Barbara Lindsay’s Jason and Medea—a Love Story. In 1986, she helped found PLAYWORKS for which she is a teaching artist. She also performs for PLAYWORKS touring company in A. Miller’s I Can’t Remember Anything and Vesuvius at Home – which she co authored with Paul O’Connell.

Sarah Milici (Adela)

Sarah is an honors graduate of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. Most recently, she was seen as “The Sea Goddess” in the mythological aerial dance piece Tarhun by The Cabiri. She has performed with Theatre 9/12, the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, George Street Playhouse, Fulton Theatre, and many other companies. This performance is dedicated to Sarah’s wonderful mother who introduced her daughter to Lorca’s writing many years ago.

Alecha Newbern (Prudencia)

As a shy little girl in the den of our home I operated my own private theater. With continuous runs to the LP sound track version of The Sound of Music and Bye Bye Birdie. It took a half century for me to step out of the den and into the world of the art of acting, playing all of the parts.

I have had excellent training, usually being the oldest in the class starting at the Taproot Theatre, on to learning so much from David Van Maren, Pat French, Elizabeth Pelham, to acting coach John Jacobson and then on to The Circle in the Square Theatre Summer Program in New York City. All of this along with being a part of the Topo Swope Talent team I am now on the journey of auditioning and seeking theatre and film opportunities. I am extremely honored to be a part of The House of Bernarda Alba cast and being directed by Charles Waxberg and Roy Arauz.

Madeline Nutting (Mourner)

Madeline is honored to be joining Arouet for the first time in The House of Bernarda Alba. A recent graduate of the University of Idaho Moscow’s Fine Arts program in performance, Madeline was most recently seen with Seattle Opera as an ensemble actor in Attila after her Seattle debut with Ghostlight Theatricals’ LAPD SMU late-night performance. She has also worked backstage as Ghostlight’s properties designer for Freakstorm and the upcoming Last Days of Judas Escariot.

Devin Rodger (Magdalena)

Devin grew up in New York but has been rattling around Seattle for the last decade. Devin has been in several films including the award winning Three Actresses Walked into a Bathroom, a fantastic interpretation of Hamlet (&@ Hamlet), and Things Left Behind — a short film set in the Mesolithic middle Stone Age period. Devin has worked with local theatre companies such as Annex, Gesamtkunstwerk! and Artattack. She so very grateful for the honor of working with this cast and crew as well as to have the opportunity to work on this gorgeous, painful play. Thank you for coming! (Terquazz, terquazz terquazz.)

Gina Marie Russell (Martirio)

Gina is excited to be making her Arouet debut! Most recently she played Hecuba in quiet’s Trojan Women and was part of Annex’s generative ensemble in c. 1993. Last summer she flit about parks as Ariel in GreenStage’s Tempest and spent the winter belting her face off as Lucy Brown with Seattle Shakes in Threepenny Opera. Favorite shows include Annex’s Money Changes Everything (Candy), GreenStage’s As You Like It (Audrey), Emerald City Scene’s Sister Cities (Carolina), Rough Play’s King Lear (Regan), and Into The Woods (The Witch) and The Who’s Tommy (Acid Queen) at UW.

Natalie Schmidt (Beggar Woman)

Natalie is thrilled to be making her Seattle theatre debut at Arouet! Originally from Tempe, Arizona, she holds a B.A. Theatre from Arizona State University and has also studied at Canada’s National Voice Intensive. Past credits include The Mousetrap (Hale Centre Theatre), The Glass Menagerie / Colección de cristal (Teatro (D)e), Stories from the Conquest of the Kingdom of New Mexico (Firebird), Mourning Becomes Electra (Arizona State University), and Camino Real (Arizona State University).

Production Team

Charles Waxberg (Director)

Charles is a director, author and award winning playwright. Inspired by the New York theatre scene surrounding him since childhood, Waxberg’s early career earned him recognition as an educator at Carnegie-Mellon University, Instructor and Conservatory Director for the Roundabout Theatre Conservatory, a Script Analyst and Program Director for The Stella Adler Conservatory and an occasional director at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. At the request of Adler, Waxberg relocated to Los Angeles where he not only continued teaching at her Los Angeles Academy, but also became the founding Artistic Director for the UNITAS Theatre Company. Leaving the world of television and film to refocus on theatre, Waxberg relocated to Seattle where he became the founding Artistic Director of Seattle’s acclaimed Balagan theatre. He is currently the founding Artistic Director of Theatre 9/12, where he sometimes directs. His book, The Actor’s Script–Script Analysis for Performers was published by Heinemann Books in 1998 and is currently in its 13th printing.

Roy Arauz (Producer and assistant director)

Roy trained as a modern dancer in Costa Rica. Upon moving to the U.S., his dance training led to acting, choreography, and stage management, ultimately leading to directing and producing. He choreographed Female Hitchhikers for Consenting Adults Theatre Company in Washington DC, earning a Helen Hayes Award Nomination. In the last ten years, he has worked in various capacities at ArtsWest, Balagan Theatre, The Driftwood Players, Microsoft Theatre Troupe, Redwood Theatre, SecondStory Repertory, Snoqualmie Falls Forest Theatre, and Studio East. He started Arouet last year to produce and direct works he is passionate about, starting with Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune and The Gene Pool.

Jordan Johanson (Stage Manager)

Jordan has Stage Managed and Assistant Stage Managed several shows for EDCC, Driftwood Players, Village Theater (Kidstage) and Seattle Musical Theater. Some of her favorites are The Laramie Project, Little Shop of Horrors, Cabaret, All My Sons, Barefoot in the Park, Jungle Book, Annie Get Your Gun, Love, Sex and I.R.S. Jordan would like to thank the company of Arouet, for letting her do another production with them.

Michael Brunk (Photographer)

Michael is photojournalist with over 20 years experience behind a camera. He combines his love of the stage with his passion for photography by shooting stills for a number of local theater companies. Michael is a member of the American Society of Media Photographers. You can enjoy more of his photography on his website at http://nwlens.com/

Marissa Chargualaf (Graphic Design)

A transplant of Sacramento, CA, Marissa made a beeline for Seattle in 2001 to pursue her BFA in Graphic Design. Although working professionally as a graphic designer since 2004, her involvement promoting local theater through poster and logo design dates back to the late ’90s with the productions of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Romeo & Juliet. She is delighted to work with Arouet and the opportunity to return to the wonderful world of theater.

Evan Crockett (Original Music)

Evan is a Seattle based Actor/Musician, excited to graduate from Cornish College of the Arts in Spring 2012! He was recently seen in Prairie Nocturne at Book-It Repertory playing bass, mandolin, and guitar. He can currently be seen in ReAct theatre’s A Language Of Their Own performing his own original musical score. He plays bass/backup vocals for Loyal Kites, and more information can be found at reverbnation.com/loyalkites

John Epperson (Sound Design)

John is a recording artist. His work appears on many albums, compilations and DVDs as well as television, film and video games. When not making weird noises with synthesizers, Epperson designs sound for theatre. His favorite show was Redwood Theatre’s Thunderbolts and Dunderheads because he got to play in surround sound. He has previously worked with Arouet, ArtsWest, Redwood Theatre and Theatre 9/12. John has a website.

Keith A. Gehrig (Lighting Design)

Keith is a 20 year veteran of theater in the Puget Sound area. He has designed lighting for Evergreen Theatre, Civic Light Opera (now Seattle Musical Theatre), Driftwood Players, Tacoma Little Theater, Northwest Savoyards, Seattle Comic Opera, and Gaydar Productions. Also a scenic designer, master electrician, actor and playwright, his day job is running the front office for The Driftwood Players in Edmonds. When not in a theater, he spends his time with his two “guys”, Chazz and Dave.

Kim Rosin
 (Set Design)

Kim’s path to set design has meandered through several creative jobs, working at Sotheby’s in London for several years and then at David Hicks and John Stefanidis, to name a few stops which provided valuable influences. She has also designed her own fabrics and line of products, manufactured locally under the label: kimthings. She has a degree in Fine Art and Art History from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa and studied Textile Design at Central St Martin’s College of Art in London.

Earlier this year she designed and painted the sets for Timepieces (Ethnic Cultural Centre). She has also designed and painted sets for Seattle productions of Snakes and Ladders (Stone Soup Theatre), The Torch Bearers (Richard Hugo House), Once in a Lifetime (The Phoenix Theatre) and Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (Richard Hugo House).

Leah Pope (Dramaturgy)

Leah is a recent graduate from American University in Literature and Theatre Arts. Her recent projects include co-constructing See Something/Say Something, a docudrama about Washington, DC viewed through the public transportation system, in 2011; lighting design for Macbeth for Impossible Theater Company in 2011; and directing her own Macbeth for American University Players in 2010. Leah currently works in family engagement for District of Columbia Public Schools and will be starting a PhD program in English literary studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison this fall.

Kristina Hestenes Stimson (Costuming)

Kristina recently provided Set Design, Costuming, and Props for Arouet’s production of Frankie and Johnny. In film, she did Set Decoration and Production Design for Sister Billie’s Sinner Hour, which won best costuming in the 2010 48-Hour Film Festival; and she was the Production Designer for the film short Three Mothers. She is a licensed architect and studied fine art in France at the L’Ecole Des Beaux-Arts.