A Civil War Christmas
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December 10th, 2015 – January 3rd, 2016
It’s 1864, and the coldest Christmas Eve in years is whipping through the streets of Washington DC and along the banks of the Potomac River. A country stands torn in two as the President plots his next move, his wife visits convalescing soldiers, an escaped slave finds her freedom, and a young rebel comes face to face with his sworn enemy. This uplifting musical pageant by Pulitzer Prize–winner Paula Vogel weaves together a stunning tapestry of a community courageously weathering our country’s deepest crisis, showing us that hope, humor and peace are innate to being American.
Production Sponsors:
Rob Granat & Al Mazur
Darrell Netherton & Robert Wheeler [/tab]
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Matt’s Memo
Paula Vogel is not only one of our greatest living Lesbian playwrights, she is one of the greatest living playwrights – Period. Her panoramic look at America in A Civil War Christmas is as sweeping as it is intimate, and refreshingly humorous and contemporary. This exclusive concert event is an inspirational and profound alternative to celebrate the holiday season
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About The Playwright
Paula Vogel received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Lortel Prize, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and New York Drama Critics Awards for Best Play, as well her second OBIE for her play How I Learned to Drive. Ms. Vogel won the 2004 Award for Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the OBIE for Best Play in 1992, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center Fellowship,the McKnight Fellowship, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has served as Director of the MFA Playwrighting program at Brown University and Chairwoman of Playwrighting at Yale University’s School of Drama.[/tab]
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Ensemble (In Alphabetical Order) |
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![]() Skyler Sullivan* is grateful to be returning to Diversionary Theatre with A Civil War Christmas. Previously for Diversionary: The Big Gay Improv Show, and Abe Lincoln Was a Faggot (Staged Reading). NYC credits include Largo Desolato (Ohio Theatre); The Vibrator Play (Walt Whitman Theatre); Regional: Strata, and Midnight Radio (Bricolage Production Company, Pittsburgh); TV: Sesame Street and The Electric Company (PBS). In addition Skyler is a hospital clown with the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit. Upcoming: Voltaire in Emilie (New Village Arts). MFA Brooklyn College. |
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Creative Team
Director | Kim Strassburger
Kim is thrilled to return to Diversionary Theatre this year after directing A New Brain. Kim is the Associate Artistic Director of Ion Theatre. Ion directing credits include Master Class, Passion (2014 Craig Noel Nomination), Grey Gardens, Gypsy (2011 Craig Noel Nomination) and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Directing credits also include Edward Albee’s Seascapeat New Village Arts. Kim has also worked with Sledgehammer Theatre (Associate Artist), North Coast Repertory Theatre, and Cygnet Theatre among other San Diego theatres. Kim was the recipient of a National Artist Teacher Fellowship that funded her study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) in 2013. In 2014, Kim also became a member of Lincoln Center Theater’s Directors Lab. In addition to her professional work, Kim teaches at the Coronado School of the Arts and most recently directed productions of A Midsummer Night’s Fever, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), The Grapes of Wrath, Metamorphoses and The Laramie Project, receiving Bravissimo Awards in 2010 and 2011 from the San Diego Educational Theatre Association. Upcoming directing projects include the San Diego premiere of Sunday in the Park with George at Ion Theatre (co-directing with ion’s Producing Artistic Director Glenn Paris.). |
Set Designer | Kristen Flores
Kristen E. Flores (Scenic Design) is a locally-based Set Designer and is very pleased to be back for my third show this season. Some past design credits include: Bight Half Life(Diversionary Theatre), Baby With the Bathwater(Diversionary Theatre), Eternally Bad (Moxie), The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Triad Productions), Water and Power (Culture Clash), Ragnarok and Red Planet Respite (Circle Circle Dot Dot), and Josephine Tonight directed by Dr. Floyd Gaffney. For the last eleven years, Kristen has been designing for the Kuumba Festival, one of largest /longest running and premier celebration of African-American expression, culture, and heritage on the West Coast. She was the Scenic Charge Artist for the San Diego Repertory Theatre for the ten years and is currently the Prop Master for The White Theatre at The Old Globe. |
Costume Designer | Beth Connelly
Beth holds an MFA in Acting from the University of Connecticut and a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts. She is delighting to return to Diversionary Theatre with A Civil War Christmas. She is the resident Costume Designer at Coronado School of the Arts where her recent work includes: Bat Boy, Big Fish, A Midsummer Night’s Fever, Chicago, Legally Blonde, Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged), Pirates of Penzance and Grapes of Wrath. Beth’s work in San Diego includes productions with ACT-San Diego; CYC Theatre; J*Company; and Leading Light Theatre. |
Lighting Designer | Curtis Mueller
Curtis returns to Diversionary having designed Amazons and Their Men, Man Clan and A New Brain. Select local credits include: Quality of Life, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, I Hate Hamlet, All My Sons, and Macbeth (Intrepid Shakespeare Company); Seascape (New Village Arts); Next to Normal, Spring Awakening, The John Mayer Project(Cabaret at the Merc Summer Series). Curtis has also worked extensively with Coronado School of The Arts, CYT San Diego, and CAST Productions. Curtis holds a BFA in Lighting Design from California Institute of The Arts. |
Sound Designer | Blair Nelson
Credits at Diversionary Theatre include: Bright Half Life, A New Brain, The Divine Sister, When Last We Flew, Dooley, and The New Century. Blair completed a Master of Fine Arts in Sound Design from the University of California, San Diego, Department of Theatre and Dance in 2012 and received a Bachelor of Music in Theory/Composition from Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota in 2007. His new music collaborations have been curated, composed, and performed at the University of California San Diego, Calit2, California State University San Marcos, Canvas Gallery San Diego, San Diego State University, SD Space 4 Art, and the Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater Los Angeles. |
Music Director | Tim McKnight
Tim is thrilled to be returning to Diversionary Theatre with A Civil War Christmas. Previously for Diversionary: Twist!, The Daddy Machine, [title of show] and It’s A Fabulous Life. Elsewhere: Ben Vereen Awards; West Side Story (J*Company); The Drowsy Chaperone (MiraCosta College); Rothschild & Sons (North Coast Repertory Theatre); 33 Variations (Carlsbad Playreaders); Little Shop of Horrors (Cygnet Theatre). Tim is also the Music Director of San Diego’s very own Encore Vocal Ensemble. |
Violinist | Kristopher Apple
Kristopher is thrilled to be performing for the first time with the Diversionary Theatre. Elsewhere he has performed for the Joshua Chamber Orchestra, Lucia di Lammermoor (Orquesta de Baja California), Light in the Piazza(Lamb’s Players); Paper Cities (La Jolla Playhouse); Pause for World Creation (WOW Festival); Golden Boy, Hamlet, andThe Dybbuk (UCSD School of Theatre & Dance); An Evening of Surrealist Poetry (Amigos del REP); and Incoming (KPBS). In addition, Apple has worked extensively as a violinist and composer with contemporary dance and theater companies including Animal Cracker Conspiracy, San Diego Dance Theatre, Little Known Dance Theater, The PGK Dance Project, LIVE Collaborative Dance Theater, IMAGOmoves, Wallpaper Performance Company, Somebodies Dance Theater, and TranscenDANCE Youth Arts Project. |
Resident Stage Manager | Monica Perfetto
Monica is proud to be joining Diversionary for the remainder of their 2015-2016 season. Recently at Diversionary: Bright Half Life & A New Brain. Elsewhere: RENT {Southwestern College), Annie (California Youth Conservatory), Much Ado About Nothing, I Hate Hamlet, All My Sons, Macbeth, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream the Musical (lntrepid Shakespeare Company). As Production Assistant: The Fox on the Fairway, Side by Side, Chapter Two (North Coast Repertory Theatre). Monica is a graduate from the University of San Diego and holds a BA in Theatre Arts and Performance Studies. |
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“Compassion and conflict, hardship and humanity blend poetically in “A Civil War Christmas,” a passionate San Diego premiere at Diversionary Theatre. …a fresh alternative to the familiar yuletide fare, it’s well worth a visit.”
-U-T San Diego
“A sophisticated period piece that should appeal equally to history buffs and humanists. On paper, this might not seem like a feel good night, but the rendition is a rich and rewarding experience.”
-The San Diego Story
“A Civil War Christmas is rich in precise historical detail, but it never feels like a series of talking dioramas in a history museum. And when the actors’ voices rise together in song – in well-chosen spirituals, along with war songs, hymns and carols like “Silent Night” and “O Christmas Tree” – there arises from the dark history being told an ineffable sense of wonder at the survival of faith and humanity even in hearts ravaged by loss.”
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