My Father's War

by Robert Ford

a world premiere SHOW DATES:   Friday, May 2, 9 and 16 @ 8pm   Saturday, May 3, 10 and 17 @ 8pm   Sunday, May 4, 11, and 18 @ 2pm   Thursday, May 8 and 15 @ 8pm

 

Award-winning playwright Robert Ford brings the exciting world premiere of his newest play to Fayetteville. My Father’s War recounts the Normandy invasion through to the Battle of the Bulge as experienced by Art Herzberg, a Jewish kid from Chicago’s North Side, whose adventures read like a Jerry Lewis screwball comedy – at least at  first. In a play reminiscent of both Catch 22 and Broadway's Journey's End, Art’s daughter, actress Amy Herzberg, literally steps into her father’s combat boots to portray a chain of events both farcical and poignant. A fast-moving story that's at once entertaining and profoundly moving. 

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Cast

	Amy Herzberg (Amy, Art) is Associate Artistic Director of TheatreSquared, for which she directed Bad Dates and The Last Five Years. She has acted with the San Diego Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, George Street Playhouse, Aspen Theatre Company, Western Stage Company, the Julie Harris Theatre, and many other theatres. Currently professor of drama at the University of Arkansas, Amy teaches in the MFA acting program and regularly directs for the University Theatre, where recent credits include Dinner with Friends, Doubt, and Into the Woods. Her former students work professionally throughout the country in theatre, TV, and film. She holds an MFA from California Institute of the Arts and has trained at ACT and at The Actors Center in New York.
	Abbey Molyneux (Woman) was last scene on T2's stage in Jungalbook. She will be familiar to local audiences through her numerous appearances on the University Theatre stage, including the roles of Maggie in Lend me a Tenor, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Lydia in Big Love, Hermia in A MidSummer Night's Dream, Emily in Our Town and Ann in All My Sons. Abbey will celebrate the completion of her MFA in acting from the University of Arkansas this month.
	Jason Engstrom (Ensemble) is appearing in his fourth show for TheatreSquared, where he also acted in Noodle Doodle Box, The Mystery of Irma Vep, and Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. Born and raised in Seattle, he appeared in GreenStage's Shakespeare in the Park and performed comedy improv with Playback Theatre Northwest, both in his native city. He has studied acting in Seattle and New York and holds his MFA in acting from the University of Arkansas.
	Justin Scheuer (Ensemble) recently relocated to Northwest Arkansas from the San Francisco Bay Area, where he acted with 6th Street Playhouse (Fully Committed), Sonoma County Repertory Theatre (Moonlight and Magnolias, As You Like It). Other California credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night. Justin will appear next season in T2's production of Fully Committed (presented by the Walton Arts Center) and in T2's summer tour of A Midsummer Night's Dream. He holds an MFA in acting from the University of Arkansas.
	Kris Stoker (Ensemble) previously appeared in T2's Jungalbook. A Missouri native, he studied comedy improv with the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York before joining the MFA acting program at the University of Arkansas, where he appeared most recently in All My Sons. Other University Theatre credits include Doubt, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Dinner with Friends. Kris will be appearing this summer in T2's A Midsummer Night's Dream before leaving to join the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company in the fall.

Production Team

Robert Ford (Playwright) is Artistic Director of TheatreSquared and directs the Arkansas Playwrights Workshop. His plays have appeared in such New York theatres as the Abingdon Theatre and Playwrights Playground, regionally at Pennsylvania Stage Company, the American Stage, and Live Oak Theatre, and at colleges and universities. The Alabama Shakespeare Festival will premiere his play The Fall of the House in 2009. He is a winner of the Stanley Drama Award and an Arkansas Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship. His well-received first novel The Student Conductor (G. P. Putnam's Sons) was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection and won best fiction and best first fiction awards from the Texas Institute of Letters. He has directed and acted regionally and in New York and holds a Master of Music from Yale, an MFA in acting from Rutgers, and an MFA in writing from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild and Actors' Equity Association.

Alice Jankell (Director) is a resident of New York City, but has directed plays on both coasts. She helped to create and develop Broadway musicals for Disney and has served as the Associate Artistic Director of  the Williamstown Theater Festival, where she directed As You  Like It, the world premiere of Dinah Was, and Enough Rope, a special event about Dorothy Parker starring Elaine Stritch. She has worked and learned at venues as varied as the Mark Taper Forum, the Hollywood Bowl, Joseph Papp’s Public Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, and La Mama. Most recently she directed Bad Dates and Tuesdays with Morrie at Pittsburgh’s City Theatre, Teibele and Her Demon for the Jewish Theatre of Pittsburgh, presented Lee Blessing’s Flag Day at City Theatre’s Momentum Festival, and was a guest instructor at Carnegie Mellon University. She is currently working with MacArthur fellow Elizabeth Streb on a new show in New York.

Shawn Irish (Scenic & Lighting Designer) designed The Mystery of Irma Vep, Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol and Noodle Doodle Box for T2. He recently designed Arthur Miller’s The Price for Northern Stage in Vermont. Favorite designs include The Elephant Man, Cabaret and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. His award-winning lighting design for Big Love was featured in Theatre Design and Technology and American Theatre magazines and at the Prague Quadrennial Exhibit in 2007. He has lived in New York City since receiving his MFA from the University of Arkansas in 2007. www.shawnirish.com

Ruby Billig (Costume Designer) lives in New York City where she works at a costume shop making costumes for Broadway shows. My Father's War is her first design for TheatreSquared. She graduated two years ago with an MFA in Costume Design and Technology from the University of Arkansas, where some of her favorite designs included Romeo and Juliet and Into the Woods.

Richard Rew (Sound Designer)is celebrating his 31st year in the entertainment business this year, having started in 1976.  From 1992, when it first opened, to 2006, he was a member of the Walton Arts Center technical crew, the last ten years as the Technical Manager.  In 2007, he became one of the masterminds behind The Event Production Group.  Richard has designed sound for several T2 productions including Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse and Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol. 

Steve Wilhelm (Technical Director) has a working background in technical theatre with emphasis in lighting design.  He has learned tricks of the trade from a number of talented professionals during his 16 year career.  Steve has lived in Fayetteville since 2002 with his wife Elizabeth and two children  - Logan and Olivia.  He is a member of Event Production Group, which has had many opportunites working with area Performing Arts Centers, Civic Groups and Businesses coordinating special events, concerts and galas. 

Ashley Butler (Stage Manager) recently graduated from the University of Arkansas where she studied drama and stage managed A Midsummer Night’s Dream and created lighting designs for Dinner with Friends and the world premiere of 2 A.M. (A.lpha M.ale).  Previously for T2, Ashley stage-managed The Mystery of Irma Vep and Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol and Noodle Doodle Box.