Utah’s Premier Professional Theatre in Residence at the University of Utah

November 30 to December 15, 2018

By Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon

This charming sequel to Pride and Prejudice will delight Austen fans and novices alike.

“A holiday comedy full of warmth and charm. Brightened with themes of love and family, this play is most assuredly destined to become a seasonal classic.”—BroadwayWorld.com

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”—Pride and Prejudice

Elizabeth Bennet Darcy has invited her family to join her for her first Christmas after her marriage to Mr. Darcy. Older sister Jane, middle sister Mary and younger sister Lydia join Lizzy for the festivities. Will an unexpected visitor catch the eye of bookish Mary, and will romance follow?

Important Dates

Monday–Thursday 7:00 PM
Friday & Saturday 7:30 PM
Saturday 2:00 PM

Sponsors

Robin M. Woods Legacy Endowment

Andrea Golding Legacy Foundation

Overview

Cast

GREG-BALLA-Headshot 2
RACHEL-CLAUSEN-Headshot 2
LOGAN-JAMES-HALL-Headshot-e1542651182107 2
JESSICA-NAIMY-Headshot 2
JAMEN-NANTHAKUMAR-Headshot-e1542651338219 2
ELIZABETH-RAMOS-Headshot 2
SAVANNAH-MOFFAT-Headshot 2
EMILY-NASH-Headshot 2
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Creative Team

JULIE KRAMER (Director) At PTC: Outside Mullingar on the mainstage and Perpetual Girl, A Requiem for August Moon, Slow Food and True Art for Play-by-Play. Kramer directed her adaptation of Rona Jaffe’s The Best of Everything in New York (Critics’ Pick – The New York Times and Time Out, published by Dramatists Play Service). She’s currently developing her play The Click, a comedy with music about the Women’s Movement and is an Audrey Resident at New Georges with playwright Lynn Rosen creating the play Legerdemain. Recent New York directing includes Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder’s Santa Doesn’t (Ensemble Studio Theatre) and And…Action by Eleanor Burgess (Keen Company). She has directed and developed new work at The Public Theater, New Dramatists, New York Musical Festival, Uprights Citizens Brigade Theatre, the HBO/Aspen Comedy Festival, Juilliard, NYU, Dorset Theatre Festival and The Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center. She teaches directing for The Tepper Semester/Syracuse University. www.juliekramerdirector.com

LAUREN HELPERN (Scenic Designer) PTC debut! Select NYC: Skintight and Bad Jews (Roundabout), 4000 Miles (Lincoln Center, Lortel Award), BUG (Barrow Street, Obie Award), None of the Above (Hewes nomination), also Atlantic, Playwrights Horizons, MTC, MCC, Primary Stages, Second Stage, La Mama and Voices in the Dark on Broadway. National Tour (upcoming): American Girl Live! Select Regional: recent productions include Music City (Cape Fear Regional Theatre) and Seize the King (La Jolla Playhouse), also Blue Man Group/Live at Luxor (Eddy Award, also Boston and Chicago), Arizona Theatre Company, Geffen Playhouse, South Coast Rep, Studio Theatre, The Old Globe, Guthrie Theater, Cleveland Playhouse, Syracuse Stage, Portland Center Stage, Huntington and Anchorage Opera. Web series: Janice Gunter: Ghost Hunter. www.laurenhelpern.com

MICHAEL GILLIAM (Lighting Designer) Broadway credits include: Bonnie and Clyde, Brooklyn, Big River and Stand-Up Tragedy. West End credits: Gershwin Alone. Off-Broadway: Cagney the Musical, Tappin’ Thru Life, Mr. Joy, Striking 12, Blue, End of the World Party, Zooman and the Sign and Menopause The Musical. National Tours include Peter Pan, Brooklyn, Guys and Dolls and Big River. Regional: Pioneer Theatre Company, Arena Stage, The Globe Theatres, Mark Taper Forum, Seattle Repertory, Goodman Theatre, The Guthrie Theater, The Pasadena Playhouse, Geffen Playhouse, The Kennedy Center, Ford’s Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Prince Music Theater, Denver Center and Arizona Theatre Company. Awards: Los Angeles Ovation Award, Drama-Logue Award, Garland Award and the 1999 Career Achievement Award from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle.

SUSAN BRANCH TOWNE (Costume Designer) returns for her 21st production at PTC, where previous designs include A Comedy of Tenors, The Tempest, Hamlet, My Fair Lady, Chicago, Romeo & Juliet, Sophisticated Ladies and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Other engagements include the Utah Shakespeare Festival, Denver Center Theatre Company, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Syracuse Stage, Geva Theatre Centre, Yale Repertory Theatre, Skylight Music Theatre, New York City Opera and numerous off-Broadway productions. She is based in Austin, Texas, where she is on the faculty at St. Edward’s University and designs for Zach Theatre, Austin Opera and Ballet Austin. Susan holds a BFA from Carnegie-Mellon and an MFA from the Yale School of Drama. She is a 32-year member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829. Susanbranchtowne.com

ALLAN BRANSON (Resident Sound Designer) is thrilled to join Pioneer Theatre Company. He previously worked at The Arkansas Repertory Theatre as their resident sound designer for six seasons, where he designed such shows as Because of Winn-Dixie (world premiere), The Bridges of Madison County (regional premiere) and Memphis (regional premiere). Branson is a proud member of The Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association.

SARAH SHIPPOBOTHAM (Dialect Coach) is a graduate of the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. She teaches in the Actor Training Program at the University of Utah. Her work as dialect coach for PTC includes Sweeney Todd, Oslo, Twelfth Night, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The Last Ship and Oliver!. She was seen on stage at PTC in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and King Charles III. Shippobotham has also worked as resident voice and dialect coach for the Shaw Festival in Canada for the past 17 years.

MARY P. COSTELLO (Production Stage Manager) has worked on over 40 productions during eight seasons with PTC. Favorites include Sting’s The Last Ship, The Will Rogers Follies, Les Misèrables, In the Heights, Next to Normal and Rent. Other stage management teams: Indiana Repertory Theatre, Connecticut Repertory Theatre, Boston Theatre Works, Grand Valley Shakespeare Festival and the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Proud Equity member.

BECKY LYNN DAWSON (Stage Manager) joins Pioneer Theatre Company for her second season. She holds an MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts and a BFA from Utah State University. Selected stage management credits include From Here to Eternity, Saturday Night Fever (Merry-Go-Round Playhouse), The Spitfire Grill, Chicago, M. Butterfly (Northern Stage), The Christians (Gulfshore Playhouse), Divinamente New York 2009 & 2010 (EH Arts International). She would like to send many thanks to her family for their continuing support.

KALLIE ERICKSON (1st Assistant Stage Manager) is a recent grad from the University of Utah with a BFA in stage management. Recent assistant stage management credits include Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and In The Heights: Concert Version (PTC). Stage management credits include: form of a girl unknown, Stags Leap (SLAC), You Never Can Tell and Dogfight (U of U Theatre). She is super pumped to be back at PTC this season with some of her favorite people! Love to the fam, Tim and her pup.

ALEXANDRA BOWDEN (2nd Assistant Stage Manager) is excited to join PTC for the Christmas season! She will be graduating from the University of Utah with a BFA in Stage Management this upcoming May. Previous Assistant Stage Manager credits include Candide, Amahl and the Night Visitors (U of U School of Music), Love’s Labour’s Lost and Dogfight (U of U Theatre). Previous Stage Manager credits include Julius Caesar (U of U Theatre). She would like to thank her friends, family and boyfriend for their continued support.

 

LAUREN GUNDERSON (Playwright) is the most produced playwright in America of 2017, the winner of the Lanford Wilson Award, the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award and the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, she is also a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and John Gassner Award for Playwriting, and a recipient of the Mellon Foundation’s 3-Year Residency with Marin Theatre Company. She studied Southern Literature and Drama at Emory University, and Dramatic Writing at NYU’s Tisch School where she was a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. Her work has been commissioned, produced and developed at companies across the US including South Coast Rep (Emilie, Silent Sky), The Kennedy Center (The Amazing Adventures of Dr. Wonderful And Her Dog!), Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The O’Neill, The Denver Center, San Francisco Playhouse, Marin Theatre, Synchronicity, Berkeley Rep, Shotgun Players, TheatreWorks, Crowded Fire and more. She co-authored Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley with Margot Melcon, which was one of the most produced plays in America in 2017. Her work is published at Playscripts (I and You, Exit Pursued By A Bear, The Taming and Toil And Trouble), Dramatists (The Revolutionists, The Book of Will, Silent Sky, Bauer, Miss Bennet) and Samuel French (Emilie). LaurenGunderson.com and @LalaTellsAStory

MARGOT MELCON (Author) is a theater artist, administrator and writer. She was the Director of New Play Development at Marin Theatre Company for seven years, where she dramaturged over 30 productions—including six world premieres—and administered the company’s two annual new play prizes and commissioning program. She has developed plays with TheatreWorks, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Crowded Fire Theater, Shotgun Players, Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor, the Kennedy Center, the New Harmony Project and the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis. She is currently the Program Executive for Promoting Culture at the Zellerbach Family Foundation. Melcon is a graduate of California State University, Chico.

Media

Publicity

Study Guide

Content Advisory

Hello Dolly!

SYNOPSIS: Jerry Herman’s energetic Hello, Dolly! is a musical filled with charisma and heart. Matchmaker Dolly Levi is a widow, a matchmaker, and also a professional meddler –but everything changes when she decides that the next match she needs to make is to find someone for herself. Set in New York City at the turn of the century, Hello Dolly! is boisterous and charming from start to finish. Dolly Levi is one of the strongest and richest starring roles for a woman ever written for musical theatre.

LANGUAGE:  A few mild uses of  “damn.”

SMOKING AND DRINKING:  The characters sing of smoking although none is depicted, and wine and champagne are consumed during dinners.

SEX:  None.

VIOLENCE: None.

FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?  Hello, Dolly! is suitable for all ages.

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