The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler
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March 29th, 2013 – April 28th 2013
What happens to our favorite literary figures after the curtain falls and the last page turns on their story? Is it really The End? Moments after her nightly death, Hedda Gabler and Mammy (yes, that Mammy) head out in search of a more fulfilling ending, encountering a host of the greatest characters of stage, page and screen along the way. Jeff Whitty, one of the twisted minds that brought you Avenue Q, takes the heroines and audience on a comedic journey in search of life beyond the original authors’ wildest dreams.
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[tab title=”About the Writer”]From Jeff Whitty
I’ve always longed to play the role of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, ever since I played her husband, George Tesman, in graduate school a decade ago. In my more grandiose moments, I feel that no one in the world could understand her better than me: her mercurial shifts of mood, her willful destructiveness, the volatility she hides beneath a convincing sophistication. But due to the unreasonable limitations presented by casting directors and artistic directors at theatres across the country, I suspect I will never have the chance.
As Fate moved me from a career in acting to a writing career, I’ve discovered that, for me at least, the creative process is much the same. Both acting and writing require the artist to discover the emotional arithmetic that drives character. This requires a lot of pleasurable time spent inside someone else’s head. I’m still not sure which craft I prefer.
As an actor, one faces the audience head-on.It’s a preposterous leap, pretending to be somebody else in front of a group of people willing to suspend their belief. No matter how advanced stage technology becomes, it will always retain the brutal, primitive thrill of a game of pretend. In theatre more than any other art form, the audience gets to play, too. It’s a jungle-gym exercise of imagination when it works.
Writing is several steps removed from the actor’s chutzpah. When my writing goes well, I love the easy, comfortable bounce between points of view. Some days I get so absorbed, I’m often completely surprised when a moment of humor or pathos emerges. When I hit a block, as I have many times when writing this play, it’s a challenge to replicate the easy and comfortable feeling of happier writing days. But what a gratifying feeling when, after much chipping away, a moment emerges that feels easy, that flows—that doesn’t stick out!
The nail-biting question for the playwright is whether the fireworks in one’s head can be replicated when recreated by a slew of brave actors and brilliant designers and, one hopes, a shrewd and generous director. On this project I’ve been blessed by all of the above.
Like I said, I’m obsessed with Ibsen’s play. But I’m no longer bitter that I’ll never play Hedda.
Because, though I never donned a bustle and picked up the pistols, I feel I’ve been able to play her—my version of her, at least. I don’t want to give too much away, but writing this play has been a treat because I’ve been able to explore all manner of roles for which I’ll never get an Actors’ Equity contract.
If you don’t know Ibsen’s original Hedda Gabler, it’s a magnificent read, and it’s a captivating evening of theatre (even with someone else playing the role). And if you don’t know the play, you may miss a few nuances in tonight’s show, but I’ve written it carefully so all you really need to know is this: driven into a corner at play’s end, unable to balance her own limited world-view and the confines of the world in which she finds herself, Hedda Gabler takes her father’s gun and kills herself.
And now, here’s the sequel.
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*Members of Actors’ Equity Association
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Matt Scott (Scenic Designer) Diversionary credits include when last we flew, The Pride, Next Fall, Poster Boys, Dooley, Fair Use and [title of show]. Other San Diego credits include The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Wonder Wounded Heroes, Back of the Throat, Jekyll & Hyde, Hurly Burly, Speed the Plow, Frozen, The Cripple of Inishmaan, The Pillowman, The Glass Menagerie (ion Theatre); The Man Who Came to Dinner (Coronado Playhouse); Zombie Prom, Metamorphosis (Coronado School of the Arts). |
Michelle Caron (Lighting Designer) is proud to be an Associate Artist at Diversionary, where her designs include Birds of a Feather, Harmony, Kansas, Next Fall, The Pride, Learn to Be Latina, Edward II, Poster Boys, Dooley, Fair Use, … And Then I Wrote a Song About It, Santa Claus is Coming Out and Anita Bryant Died for Your Sins. She has designed over thirty local productions, with favorites being Thoroughly Modern Millie (Coronado School for the Arts), Malashock/RAW with Malashock Dance and Man of La Mancha, Dirty Blonde, The Glass Menagerie, Our Town, A Behanding in Spokane, The Norman Conquests and It’s a Wonderful Life ’09-’11 (Cygnet Theatre). Michelle holds an MFA in Theatrical Design from San Diego State University, and she resides in Pennsylvania. Find out more at carondesignworks.com. |
Kevin Anthenill (Sound Design) Diversionary Theatre credits: Birds of a Feather, Pippin, Edward II, Learn to be Latina, Next Fall and Harmony, Kansas. Sound designed San Diego Repertory Theatre’s Zoot Suit and MOXIE Theatre’s A Raisin in the Sun. As well as composed the music for Boom and In the Next Room. Other Credits include San Diego Asian American Repertory Theater’s BFE, and Flower Drum Song, at the La Jolla Playhouse, As well as the USD MFA program’s A Winters Tale and 12th Night at The Old Globe Theatre, He has been the Sound Design Assistant for The Old Globe’s Summer Shakespeare Festival twice and worked with The Old Globe’s education department sound designing their Summer Shakespeare Intensive three times. He Holds a B.A. in Theater Design from San Diego State University. |
Shirley Pierson (Costume Designer) For Diversionary Theatre: Pippin, Harmony Kansas, Next Fall. Selected San Diego Theatre: Parade, Glass Menagerie, Little Shop of Horrors, Our Town, Cabaret, Sweeney Todd, Private Lives, It’s a Wonderful Life (09, 10, 11), History Boys, A Christmas Carol, Cygnet Theatre; Into the Woods, New Village Arts; Holiday Memories, Scripps Ranch Theatre; Richard III, Old Globe/University of San Diego. Elsewhere: The Amazing Food Detective, Drumming up Peace, Zip’s Great Day, Someone Like Me, Jay and E on the Zig Zag Sea, Kaiser Foundation Educational Theatre Program. Awards include a KPBS Patte Award for Theater Excellence, Outstanding Costume Design; The Irving Parker Award for Excellence in Theatre Arts; and The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, Region VIII, Costume Design in Production Award. Shirley is a faculty member of the Performing Arts Department at Palomar College. She received her MFA in Theatrical Design from San Diego State University. |
David Medina(Prop Designer) is proud to be an Associate Artist at Diversionary: Birds of a Feather, Scrooge in Rouge (2008 & 2012), Pippin, Harmony, Kansas, The Pride, Speech & Debate, The Marriage Bed, Twist, The Little Dog Laughed, Facing East, Corpus Christi, The Daddy Machine. Other Diversionary credits include: When Pigs Fly (Asst. Scenic), Busy World Is Hushed ( Asst. Scenic), BlueBonnet Court (set construction); ion Theatre: Cripple of Inishman ( prop Asst.) Bang productions: Sideman; USD: Cabaret, The Saints Plays. David has worked for the Old Globe Theatre on over 80 shows as a Properties Buyer, Craftsperson & Artisan. |
Deborah Climo (Stage Manager) is a graduate of Southern Illinois University Carbondale with a BA in Theater. She is a Stage Manager and Properties Master who still likes to play backstage when the opportunity arise. Originally from New York by way of Tennessee she moved to San Diego in early 2011. Some past credits include- Locally: Woman in the Mirror, John Doe: The Musical (John Doe Productions), Raisin in the Sun (MOXIE), The Musical Paul Gauguin (Asian Story Theatre) and various projects with Playwrights Project, NYC: Count to Ten (Group Theatre Too), Regional: The Mac-Haydn Theatre- Crazy For You, Sweet Charity, Beauty and the Beast, Hello Dolly, High Society; Cumberland County Playhouse- She Loves Me, Brigadoon, Crowns, Pirates of Penzance, Flight of the Lawnchairman, Captains Courageous; McLeod Summer Playhouse- Cats, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, among others. She would like to thank her family and friends for their insanity and is very happy to be part of this production. |
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Steven Stanley, StageSceneLA says:
“Diversionary Theatre hits the bull’s-eye”
“[Tony Houck and Luke Jacobs] couldn’t be more fabulous as a pair of Bandesque Boys whose sassy exchanges are the evening’s biggest laugh-getters.”
“topnotch design team”
“funny play…and splendidly staged production”
Pam Kragen, U-T San Diego, says:
“funny…well acted…lively and fast-paced”
Patron Reviews:
“Superb play”
“one of the best we have seen”
“Congratulations on a terrific, beautifully acted and well directed show!”
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