Theatre

Utopia Program

UTOPIA

By Charles L. Mee

Directed by: Joan Herrington

Choreographer: Morgan Bodie

Stage Manager: Zoe Carlo

Scenery & Properties Coordinator: Lindsey Cook

Costume Designer: Sammy McGuire

CAST

Tilly: Max Achenbach

Edna: Lexie Strohschein

Jennifer: Katie Bavirsha

Bob: Jacob Tyler Reinstein

Waiter: Andrew Klepser

Riff: Allison Ehlfeldt

Harriet: Sylvia Stephens

Evie: Cassidy Monti

Tessa: Madison Warnke

James: Ewan Gorski

Ariel: Lilli Grey

Jonathan: Sean Ower

Jordan: Amy Ward

Sam: Tre’Shawn Bordner

Herbert: Frankie Braker

Edmund: Zeb Fulcher

Olympia: Lataevaya Severe

Henry: Derrick Jefferson-Mobley

Thyona: Brie Bradley

Barney: Nico Polk

Fabio: August-Aurelius Palmer

Charles: Leandro Ocampo

Laura: Molly Wilson

Catherine: Halyana Bollwitt

Nessa: Maya Narayan

Nikos: Sam Davis

Lydia: Anna Carabio

Understudies:

Morgan Bodie

Gabe Koebbe

Jaxon Curry

Kimia Miri

Jake Flaviani

Meredith Michaels

PRODUCTION STAFF

Assistant Stage Manager: Alia Lynn

Production Assistant: Ash Richardson

Technical Director: Patrick Niemi

Costume Shop Manager: Eni Buckhanan

Wardrobe Crew Head: Emma Wagner

Wardrobe Crew: Aidan Dockendorf, Madison Medland, Via Novarro, Orion Vandenberg

Stitchers: Eni Buckhanan, Perris Stachlewitz, Gizelle Khouri, Arise Rock, Lauren Dinkelmann, Alia Bruey, Stacey Jordan

Lighting Designer: Lindsey Cook

Master Electrician: Sydney Becker

Electricians: Gabrielle Blowers, Lindsey Cook, Hannah Cowgill, James Nixon, Elena Hewett, Nick Pollich, Noah Brown, Autumn Cymbal, Kaitlyn Albertson, Samuel Konyndyk

Light Board Operator: Jordan Smaka

Production Audio: Amber Kolp

Sound Board Operator: Abby Levin

Master Electrician: Sydney Becker

Run Crew: Xavier Bolden, Karsten Cooper, Alyssa Gilpin, Julius Owens

Vocal Coach/Intimacy Director: Elizabeth Terrel

Front of House: Jem Gelderbloom, Kim Krane

Social Media Coordinator: Marryn Barney

Arts Administration Assistant: Chloe Eash

DIRECTOR'S NOTE

When you produce a play by Charles Mee, he offers the opportunity to re-envision the work. His plays are not meant to be staged exactly as written but to be “remade.” Mee encourages artists to “take my plays and use them freely as a resource for your own work”- to cut, rearrange, add new text, or, as he says, “pillage the plays as I have pillaged the structures and contents of the plays of Euripides and Brecht and stuff out of Soap Opera Digest and the evening news and the internet, and build your own, entirely new piece.”

This version of Utopia, a collage just like the original, includes text from several Mee plays, poems by Pablo Neruda, and music by Vivaldi and Bach. For Mee, “appropriated materials” are “historical documents - evidence of who and how we are and what we do. And the characters who speak and perform these

materials are people through whom the culture speaks, often without the speakers knowing it.”

The poetry and music in this piece allow the characters to share their inner fears, passions, and turmoil - the joy and pain of finding and losing love. These interludes, part of Mee’s larger collage, serve as windows into the soul.

-Joan Herrington

BIOS

Max Achenbach (Tilly): is a Sophomore from Kalamazoo MI. Previous credits include The Book of Silence (Assistant Director).

Morgan Bodie (Choreographer/Understudy): is a Senior from Indianapolis, Indiana. Previous credits include Bernadette, POTUS; Hilda, Am I Blue; Cinna, Julius Caesar.

Halayna Bollwitt (Catherine): is a Junior from Davison, MI. Previous credits include WMU - Mrs. Judge/Queen Eufeme, The Book of Silence; UM Flint - Agnes, She Kills Monsters; Claire, Proof.

Tre'Shawn Bordner (Sam): is a Sophomore from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Previous credits include Samuel US/Epps, All the Natalie Portman's; Henry, Sanctuary City (D1); Seely Booth, BONES (D1).

Frankie Braker (Herbert): is a Senior from Lake Odessa, MI. Previous credits include Mr. Green, Clue; Lucius, Julius Caesar; Silence, The Book of Silence.

Anna Carabio (Lydia): is a Senior from Rochester Hills, Michigan. Previous credits include Eleanor Vance, The Haunting of Hill House.

Zoe Carlo (Stage Manager): is a Junior from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Previous credits include Winter Dance Gala, ASM; Legally Blonde, ASM; SpongeBob The Musical, Light Board Operator; Great Comet, Production Assistant.

Lindsey Cook (Lighting scenic and props): is a Senior from Byron Center, MI. Previous credits include Next Stop Broadway, A2; On the Town, ALD; Clue, Head Electrician; Argonautika, ASD; Haunting of Hill House, Paint Charge; Dreamgirls, Head Props; Cats, ASD.

Sam Davis (Nikos): is a Sophomore from Kalamazoo, Michigan. Previous credits include Murdoch, Titanic; Zack Brown, Bronco Way.

Allison Ehlfeldt (Riff/ Catharine U/S): is a Junior from Hartland MI. Previous credits include The Haunting of Hill House, Mrs. Dudley and Mrs. Montague U/S; The Great Gatsby, Party Guest.

Jake Flaviani (Understudy for Bob, Edmund, Herbert, and Fabio): is a Junior from Clarkston, MI. Previous credits include Mr. King/King of England, The Book of Silence; Prof. Schrepferman, The Great Gatsby; House Mover/Cop, Clue.

Zeb Fulcher (Edmund): is a Senior from Windsor, Ontario Canada. Previous credits include J. Bruce Ismay, Titanic: The Musical; Assistant Music Director/Keys 2, Legally Blonde: The Musical; Patrick (Standby), Spongebob Squarepants: The Musical.

Ewan Gorski (James): is a Junior from Bolingbrook, IL. Previous credits include Pelias & Phineas, Argonautika; Old Once-ler, EFA Lorax; Peter Pan, Peter/Wendy (non WMU - Brook theatre).

Lilli Gray (Ariel): is a Senior from Michigan. Previous credits include Meredith Blackbuck, The Great Gatsby; Understudy, POTUS; Molly, More Fun Than Bowling; Understudy, Clue.

Derrick Jefferson-Mobley (Henry): is a Junior from Detroit. Previous credits include Dreamgirls, Ensemble.

Andrew Klepser (Waiter): is a Sophomore from Portage, Michigan. Previous credits include Nick Carraway (U/S), Great Gatsby.

Kimia Miri (Understudy): is a Sophomore. Previous credits include Briseis, Wrath of Achilles Footlight; Party Guest, The Great Gatsby.

Cassidy Monti (Evie): is a Junior from Brookfield, Illinois . Previous credits include Myrtle, Dottie; The Great Gatsby Immersive.

Sean Ower (Jonathan): is a Sophomore from Corona, CA. Previous credits include Swing, Titanic.

August-Aurelius Palmer (Fabio): is a Junior from St. Genevieve, Missouri . Previous credits include Matthew Carmichael, Emcee Understudy, Dance Captain, The Great Gatsby; Swing All, Rocky Horror Picture Show; Quinn West, Bronco Way; Mrs. Wire, The Lady of Larkspur Lotion.

Nico Polk (Barney): is a Junior from Las Vegas, NV. Previous credits include Nature & Nuture/others, The Book of Silence.

Jacob Tyler Reinstein (Bob): is a Senior from Battle Creek, MI. Previous credits include Swing, Lightning Thief; Figment, On the Town; Mr. Marks, Intimate Apparel; Plankton, Spongebob; Young Onceler, The Lorax; Richie, Bronco Way.

Lataevaya Severe (Olympia): is a Junior from Grand Rapids MI. Previous credits include All The Natalie Portmans.

Sylvia Stephens (Harriet): is a Senior from Port Huron, MI. Previous credits include U/S Natalie, All the Natalie Portman's; Wednesday, The Addams Family.

Lexie Strohschein (Edna): is a Sophomore from Lake Orion, MI. Previous credits include Swing/Ensemble, Titanic.

Amy Ward (Jordan): is a Sophomore from Homewood, Illinois . Previous credits include Judy Jenkins (Staff), The Great Gatsby.

Madison Warnke (Tessa): is a Senior from Rockford, Michigan . Previous credits include Party Guest and Daisy U/S, The Great Gatsby; Ada, Museum.

Molly Wilson (Laura): is a Junior from Illinois . Previous credits include Doctor/ Effie of Cornwall/ Burgundian Courtier/ Tavern Barkeep, Book of Silence.

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