by Caryl Churchill

Director
Steven Kent

Sceneographer
Dr. David Flaten

Lighting Designer
Elizabeth Pietrzak

Costume Designer
Ted Shell

Associate Costume Designer
Susan Stewart

Stage Manager
Tirzah Rodgers

Produced by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.

THE CAST



ACT I

(In Dailey Theatre)
Location: Africa in 1878

Clive Obren Milanovic
Betty Eric Mulholland
Joshua Eli Hernandez
Edward Samantha Kern
Victoria As Herself
Maud Sarah Leddy
Ellen/ Mrs. Saunders April Hava Shenkman
Harry Bagley Carlos Moreno

There will be a 15 minute intermission.

ACT II

(In Cabaret Theatre)
Location: London Present Day
But for the characters it is only 25 years later

Betty April Hava Shenkman
Edward Eric Mulholland
Victoria Samantha Kern
Martin Obren Milanovic
Lin Sarah Leddy
Cathy/ Bill Eli Hernandez
Gerry Carlos Moreno

Audience members are welcome to stay after the performance for discussion with the Company.

THE CREW

Technical Director Elizabeth Pietrzak
Properties Stacie Pittman
Dialect Coach Martin Cox
Photo Archivist Juan Garcia
Assistant Stage Managers Jennifer Buckowski and Becky Campana
Costume Assistant Jennifer Buckowski

Light Board Operator Stephanie Barraco
Sound Board Operator Becky Campana
Dresser Reinel Campa and Jennifer Buckowski
Projections Tirzah Rodgers

Construction Crew Stacie Pittman, Peter Suzuki, Becky Campana
Paul Verbansky, Siddeeqah Shabazz, Chevy Chung,
Mike Harrington, Cindy Tuttle, Stephanie Barraco, Amber Arellano,
Tirzah Rodgers, Beaux Enriquez, Juan Garcia, and Sara Wilhoit

Lighting Crew Amber Arellano, Jeremy Taylor
Siddeeqah Shabazz, Chevy Chung,
Stephanie Barraco, and Sara Wilhoit

“Burning Times” (Goddess Chant) Deena Metzger and Charlie Murphy

Special Thanks to . . .

ITC for the projector, Sherry Linnell and Suzanne Reed at Pomona College,
Raffi and ULV Graphics, Ritchie Spencer and Howard Schmitt at USC costume department , Mr. Pittman for loaning us the pond,Vickie Stevens, Joan Rodgers for supporting the stage manager through it all, and Ivica Bojcic for helping with Victoria and for suggesting the play.

From the Desk of the Director


The first professional production of Cloud 9 was at London's prestigious Royal Court Theatre in London in 1979. It won an Obie for the best Off-Broadway play shortly thereafter. After performances in many countries around the world, Sir Peter Hall included it in a series of seven classic plays at the Old Vic in London. He felt the play ranked with Shakespeare's King Lear and Chekhov's The Seagull. Not everyone agrees with him, but the Old Vic revival production in 1997 demonstrated that the play is still timely and powerful. Theatre critic Alastair Macaulay said of the second act: "It is shot through with mystery, it proceeds with dreamlike fluency, and, most beautifully, it allows each character, even while he or she grows more complex and more poignant, to remain an unanswered question."
The play is about colonialism, power, family dynamics, repression and sex, but the drama draws us into the worlds of politics, gender definition and social mores. It is, finally, a play about self-acceptance.
We are all playing roles. Shakespeare saysiin As You Like It:

All the world's a stage
And all the men and women
merely players.

Some of us are aware of this; most of us are not. Many of the roles we are playing are societal constructs that are difficult to perceive, let alone to question. The question, "Why am I really doing this and who does it serve?" rarely comes up. Many of the roles we find ourselves acting out are not for our own benefit or development but serve some need outside our own interests. This play, with it's deliberate cross-casting-men playing women, women playing men, adults playing children, people playing roles of different ethnic origins-- makes the absurdity of some of these constructed roles startlingly clear. Through the device of the time and location jump, as well as the character shifts, from Act I to Act II, we see with clarity the ongoing effects of social roles as they are enacted in the lives of the characters and their interactions with each other.
The work is deliberately confrontational. It urges almost every viewer to try empathizing with things that may initially shock them. We are asked to think outside the box, to use our sense of compassion, to keep our sense of humour, and to maybe shift our paradigms a bit.
Joseph Chaikin once said, "The actor is the active audience." One meaning of that provocative phrase is very clear in Cloud 9. We can all see parts of ourselves and our society in these people. We can see and evaluate ourselves while we revel in the cleverness of this unique, funny, and touching play.
Steven Kent

entr’acte
Fall 2001

Devon Harden.........Editor
Sara Wilhoit.........Editor
Elizabeth Pietrzak.........Faculty Adviser