David Andrew Macdonald: (Mike) appeared on Broadway in Mamma Mia!, Coram Boy, and Two Shakespearean Actors, and in the national tour of Stephen Daldry’s An Inspector Calls (Jeff Award nomination/Chicago). Off-Broadway for Manhattan Theatre Club, he originated roles in The Green Heart and A Night and Her Stars. Regional theatre includes What We’re Up Against by Theresa Rebeck (world premiere), Alley Theatre; Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby, Arizona Theatre Company; The Rocky Horror Show, The Old Globe; My Wonderful Day, Wilma Theater; Happy Now? (American premiere), Yale Repertory Theatre; Noises Off and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hartford Stage; A Seagull in the Hamptons (world premiere), McCarter Theatre Center; Actors Theatre of Louisville; Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey; Shakespeare Festival St. Louis; Intiman Theatre; and Manitoba Theatre Centre. Television includes Sex and the City, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Another World, One Life to Live, and ten years as Guiding Light’s Edmund Winslow. Graduate of The Juilliard School. less appeared on Broadway in Mamma Mia!, Coram Boy, and Two Shakespearean Actors, and in the national tour of Stephen Daldry’s An Inspector Calls (Jeff Award nomination/Chicago). Off-Broadway for Manhattan Theatre Club, he originated roles in The Green Heart and A Night and Her Stars. Regional theatre includes What We’re Up... more

http://www.davidandrewmacdonald.com

Denny Dillon: (Dottie) a Cleveland native and former Curtain Puller, returns to CPH after appearing in Well. Broadway: Gypsy starring Angela Lansbury, Enchanted April, Harold & Maude, The Skin of Our Teeth (with Elizabeth Ashley), and My One & Only opposite Tommy Tune and Twiggy for which Dillon received a Tony nomination. Regional theatre: Hartford Stage, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Westport Country Playhouse, and Henry IV Part I at The Kennedy Center. An alumna of Saturday Night Live (’80 – ’81 season), Dillon won a CableACE award Best Actress in a Comedy Series on HBO’s hit Dream On. Television credits include Designing Women, Night Court, Nash Bridges, and the title role in the FOX movie Roseanne: Portrait of a Domestic Goddess. Film work includes Saturday Night Fever, Ice-Age (voice), and United 93 which won the Boston Critics’ Best Ensemble Cast award. A professional improviser, Dillon was trained by Viola Spolin, has her own company Improv Nation, and teaches this art form at Tom Todoroff Acting Conservatory in Manhattan. Her acclaimed visual art can be viewed at www.thedrawingroomonline.com. less a Cleveland native and former Curtain Puller, returns to CPH after appearing in Well. Broadway: Gypsy starring Angela Lansbury, Enchanted April, Harold & Maude, The Skin of Our Teeth (with Elizabeth Ashley), and My One & Only opposite Tommy Tune and Twiggy for which Dillon received a Tony nomination. Regional... more

Elizabeth Rich: (Jean) most recently appeared off-Broadway in the world premiere of Rx by Kate Fodor, and in Animals out of Paper at Chester Theatre Company in the Berkshires. Other New York credits include Civilization: All You Can Eat at Clubbed Thumb, Couldn’t Say as part of Midtown International Theatre Festival, and A Common Swallow at Bleeker Street Theatre. She has worked regionally at Steppenwolf, Goodman Theatre, Alley Theatre, The Wilma, Florida Stage and Theater J to name a few. She received a Jeff Award, an After Dark Award and a Helen Hayes Nomination for her portrayal of Hannah Arendt in Kate Fodor’s Hannah and Martin and an MITF Nomination and Talkin’ Broadway Citation for Couldn’t Say. Film credits include the upcoming Side Effects, Knee High, Wings & Beer, The Couch, Watch, and The Transfiguration of Harold Maines. Television includes House of Cards, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, and Missing/Reward. less most recently appeared off-Broadway in the world premiere of Rx by Kate Fodor, and in Animals out of Paper at Chester Theatre Company in the Berkshires. Other New York credits include Civilization: All You Can Eat at Clubbed Thumb, Couldn’t Say as part of Midtown International Theatre Festival, and A... more

Kate Hodge: (Margie) previously appeared at Cleveland Play House in Dinner with Friends and Bright Ideas. Regional theatre includes The Accomplice at Two River Theater Company and Any Wednesday at Deertrees Theatre. She danced at The San Francisco Ballet School, studied theatre at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and trained in the art of mime with Marcel Marceau in Paris. Hodge also attended the master classes of Milton Katselas, George Dicenzo and Jennifer Gelfer. She has worked extensively in film and television. Selected credits include The Following, Person of Interest, Blue Bloods, Law & Order (all three), Boston Legal, Ellen, The George Wendt Show, Rapid Fire and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III. She has also worked in commercials, most notably Citracal for strong bones. less previously appeared at Cleveland Play House in Dinner with Friends and Bright Ideas. Regional theatre includes The Accomplice at Two River Theater Company and Any Wednesday at Deertrees Theatre. She danced at The San Francisco Ballet School, studied theatre at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and trained in the... more

Laura Kepley: (Director) directed Cleveland Play House mainstage productions of A Carol for Cleveland (world premiere); In the Next Room, or the vibrator play; and My Name is Asher Lev; and CPH readings of Daphne’s Dive, by inaugural Roe Green Award-winner Quiara Alegría Hudes; Silent Sky; The Fagin Effect; and Three Voyages of the Lobotomobile. Most recently, Kepley directed The Heidi Chronicles for Asolo Repertory Theatre (Fla.). She joined CPH in 2010 as associate artistic director, having arrived from Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island where she directed The Clean House, The Syringa Tree, and world premieres of Shapeshifter, Boots on the Ground, and Some Things are Private. She has directed over 20 new plays including Breadcrumbs at Contemporary American Theatre Festival, The K of D at The Kennedy Center and Orlando/University of Central Florida Shakespeare Festival, and several written by George Brant such as Grizzly Mama at Dobama Theatre, Elephant’s Graveyard at The University of Texas at Austin, and shoptalk for The Drama League’s DIRECTORFEST. She has worked with playwrights on the development of their work at The Public Theater (N.Y.), The Playwright’s Center (Minn.), PlayPenn (Pa.), Naked Angels (N.Y.), The New Harmony Project (Ind.), PlayhouseSquare’s Launch Program (Ohio) and WordBRIDGE Playwrights' Lab (S.C.). Kepley is a Drama League Fellow and a recipient of the 2009 – 2011 National Endowment for the Arts/Theatre Communications Group Career Development Program for Directors. less directed Cleveland Play House mainstage productions of A Carol for Cleveland (world premiere); In the Next Room, or the vibrator play; and My Name is Asher Lev; and CPH readings of Daphne’s Dive, by inaugural Roe Green Award-winner Quiara Alegría Hudes; Silent Sky; The Fagin Effect; and Three Voyages of... more

Patrick Halley: (Stevie) recently appeared at Pioneer Theatre Company in Salt Lake City as Curley in Of Mice and Men, and with The Denver Center Theatre Company in The Taming of the Shrew. Off-Broadway, he played Clitandre and understudied the title role in The Misanthrope with The Pearl Theatre Company at New York City Center (Lucille Lortel Nomination, Best Revival). Halley has worked extensively with the critically acclaimed Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, where he is also a resident teaching artist. In four seasons there, favorite productions include The Bomb-Itty of Errors, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Romeo and Juliet, Troilus and Cressida, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He has co-written and performed student workshops for Lincoln Center’s Meet the Artists series, Point of Entry Theater, and Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, among others. Halley is a Poughkeepsie, New York native and graduate of Bucknell University. less recently appeared at Pioneer Theatre Company in Salt Lake City as Curley in Of Mice and Men, and with The Denver Center Theatre Company in The Taming of the Shrew. Off-Broadway, he played Clitandre and understudied the title role in The Misanthrope with The Pearl Theatre Company at New York... more

http://www.patrickhalley.com

Zoey Martinson: (Kate) appeared in All's Well That Ends Well and 365 Days/ 365 Plays at The Public Theater; RACE and Good People at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. She has also appeared at Guthrie Theater, Shakespeare on the Sound, The Flea Theater, Penobscot Theatre Company, and internationally in South Africa; National Theatre of Ghana, West Africa; and New Diorama Theatre in London. She founded Bright Future Arts International in Ghana. Film and television includes Are We There Yet, Restless City and Law & Order. As a playwright, her play Ndebele Funeral has toured South Africa. Skype Duet that she co-created and directed won the 100 Grand Award at the HAU2 Theatre in Berlin and toured Europe. Her production company Smoke & Mirrors Co. recently released the web series A Minority Report, www.aminorityreport.com. She has her Master of Fine Arts, New York University’s graduate acting program. less appeared in All's Well That Ends Well and 365 Days/ 365 Plays at The Public Theater; RACE and Good People at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. She has also appeared at Guthrie Theater, Shakespeare on the Sound, The Flea Theater, Penobscot Theatre Company, and internationally in South Africa; National... more

A Game of Equals?: "I won. Last week. It wasn't much, but was enough. And I never win at bingo." - Stevie, Good PeopleFor thousands of years people have been fascinated by games of chance, like bingo. The Babylonians played a dice game called “The Royal Game of Ur”; several thousand years later, lotteries were run routinely in colonial america to raise money. in fact, many of the earliest universities, including Harvard, were founded in part by using money from games of chance. Today the lottery is a national sensation: about half of all Americans will play the lottery in their lifetime. Most tickets, however, are purchased by just 20% of the population, and that 20% is largely poor and uneducated. In fact, households earning less than $12,400 a year spend 5% of their income on the lottery. At first, this might seem counter-intuitive. The less money someone earns, the less they spend on luxuries, right? (Especially ones with such a meager rate of return.) So why spend so much money on games of chance? Research finds that while winning money is one reported reason, anticipation and fun also play an important role in deciding to take a risk on games of chance. A significant portion of people report social reasons for playing games like bingo, such as spending time together with friends or family to talk and share the fun. However, emotional and social engagement are not the only reasons this 20% continues to spend so much money on games of chance. Research by Carnegie Mellon University on the lottery says it has to do with the cost-to-benefit ratio of buying a single ticket as opposed to thinking of the long-term cost. In other words, paying $1 for a lottery ticket seems like such an insignificant amount of money that it is feels almost like not spending anything at all. The short-term downside of spending a dollar is outweighed by the potential—the anticipation—of winning millions. So perhaps the most compelling reason why people play games of chance is this: No matter who you are or what your circumstances, maybe we all have an equal chance of winning. And that’s a rarity in life.(photo credit: Dylan Vitone)  less "I won. Last week. It wasn't much, but was enough. And I never win at bingo." - Stevie, Good PeopleFor thousands of years people have been fascinated by games of chance, like bingo. The Babylonians played a dice game called “The Royal Game of Ur”; several thousand years later,... more

Make Your Own "Good People"-inspired Rabbit!: "And with Easter coming up, this is kinda my high season." - Dottie, Good People Good People's Dottie puts her crafting talent to good use, making flowerpot rabbits and selling them at her bingo games.  Now you can make your own rabbit, inspired by the show!Materials:-flowerpot with a 4" diameter opening at top (go bigger or smaller to make bunnies in different sizes!)-styrofoam balls (about 3" diameter)-pipe cleaners in various sizes-googly eyes -hot glue-scissors-newspaper or a disposable tablecloth-paint for decorating the pots (spray paint works great for an overall coating)-pom poms-construction paper, fabric, markers, glitter or any other crafty decorating supplies to customize your rabbit Instructions:1. Spray paint your flowerpot in the color of your choice.  Allow to dry completely before adding additional decorations.  2. Place your flowerpot upside down so the open end is on the table. This will be your rabbit's body.  Leaving the top of the pot clear for your rabbit's head, feel free to decorate the body any way you'd like! Large white pom poms work really well for a cottontail.  Add on rabbit hands & feet and use more pom poms to decorate. Construction paper and fabric scraps can be used to make bow ties, belts, and other accessories for your rabbit.3. Take a styrofoam ball and use hot glue to secure it to the flowerpot.*Dottie's tip: Be careful not to put the head's on lopsided!4.  Glue googly eyes to the ball to make the face.  A small pink pipecleaner makes a great nose and mouth. 5. Take full-sized pipe cleaner and bend to make an ear. Stick the ends in the styrofoam ball, and repeat to make a second ear. We used a white pipe clearner for the outer ear, and a pink one for the inside.6. Use additional pipe cleaners to make eye lashes, eye brows, hairbows, hats and other accessories. You can also use contruction paper and fabric - get creative!Keep your rabbits, or give them away.  You can even try selling them at your next bingo game...just be cautious when bringing them to a birthday party :)Don't miss Good People, running March 22-April 14, 2013! *Special thanks to Lisa Guild, CPH Props Artisan, who made the rabbits who appear in the show! less "And with Easter coming up, this is kinda my high season." - Dottie, Good People Good People's Dottie puts her crafting talent to good use, making flowerpot rabbits and selling them at her bingo games.  Now you can make your own rabbit, inspired by the show!Materials:-flowerpot... more

Learning to "Park the Car in the Harvard Yard": The Art of the AccentActors like Meryl Streep make changing accents seem as easy as flipping a switch. But have you ever thought that the muscles and technique used in voice and speech production for an actor’s performance take training just like an athlete’s? The role of a voice and speech coach plays a critical role in the theatre, from ensuring actors can be heard and understood, to establishing the world of the play through dialect.  Thom Jones, dialect coach for Good People, is one of the industry’s most in-demand voice and speech experts. (In fact, just a few days after this interview he left for Monaco to work on a film with Nicole Kidman.) Here he discusses how he works with actors to bring body, voice and words together.   Let’s start with the basics: what exactly is the distinction between “voice” and “speech”? With voice we’re not even necessarily talking about speech yet. Words are kind of like the costume; the voice is the body. The voice is the part that is really the person, the actor. And the speech work defines or clarifies the character, similar to the way that a costume works. So voice work ends up being a very integral part of acting. So when that foundational voice work is in place how does speech—the “costume” aspect, as you say—come into the picture?  What I’ll be doing with Good People is probably a little bit of both, voice and speech. I’ve worked with Laura [Kepley, CPH Associate Artistic Director and the play’s director] a few times and she’ll say, “Yeah, go ahead and give vocal feedback too,” which is more like what I’ve been talking about so far. I think at the beginning of the work we’ll be focusing mainly on getting the nuts and bolts of this “costume” down, this “Southie” [South Boston] dialect and sound. It’s very particular, with many rules, and many exceptions to the rules, that have to be talked about and followed. What if you’re working with an actor who has never done a Boston accent, how do you go about teaching that? I’ve broken it down to three things. The first is what are called “sound changes.” The most well-known sound changes in South Boston would be, instead of saying, “park the car in the Harvard Yard,” you’d say, “pahk the cah in the Hahvahd Yahd.”  Instead of saying “go out there” you would say “go oot theh”—it almost becomes “oat,” like in Irish. Boston’s huge Irish population has been influencing this speech for a very long time. Those are some sound changes, the black and white mathematics of dialect work. Next would be vocal placement, how it feels inside of your mouth. Does it feel tall? Does it feel flat? Where is the tip of my tongue? Do I feel my voice on my hard palate, or does it resonate through my sinuses? All of this stuff has to be discussed, what happens with the voice. It’s the bridge between the voice work and the speech work. The last thing—and they are not necessarily in this order because all three have to be working together—is the rhythm and the musicality of the dialect. Is it lyrical? Is it staccato?  Do they use a lot of pitch or not much pitch? What’s the cadence? Things like that. Once you have those going, it’s a matter of practice practice practice. Working with the text in the play, working with text that’s not in the play—like picking up a newspaper and reading it out loud so that you can get the hang of it. I try to get actors to improvise in the dialect, too; it has to drop into the actor’s instrument in such a way that it feels like it’s their voice. Beside all these things I will be putting together a bunch of samples for the actors to listen to, and they can put them on in their car or when they’re exercising or whatever. It has to trickle into the subconscious. It’s fascinating how intricate the “simple” act of speaking on stage can be! I think it’s a fun thing for audiences to know that when an actor is acting in an accent or a dialect they’re using both sides of their brain. The dialect work is engaged through the left side of the brain, but acting is very much a right side of the brain experience; the right side of the brain is about our responses, and the left side of the brain is about our ability to analyze our experience. So actors are able to juggle the left and right side of their brains. They make it look easy, but it’s a lot harder than people think! You mean “hahdah” than people think? We’ll work on that dialect… (laughs) less The Art of the AccentActors like Meryl Streep make changing accents seem as easy as flipping a switch. But have you ever thought that the muscles and technique used in voice and speech production for an actor’s performance take training just like an athlete’s? The role of a... more

She's "Good People" - Director Laura Kepley: What’s the first thing you do when you get a script? I try to read it like you would a fun novel on the beach—just let myself be immersed in it,  go on the ride of the play, and not be thinking about logistics like, “What does her costume need to look like?” Then my next step is to personalize it.  I ask myself, “What do I love about this play? What do I know about this world?” Sometimes the personal connections are immediate and obvious, and sometimes they can seem more elusive. Like with My Name is Asher Lev [in CPH’s 2010-11 season], I could’ve really freaked myself out, and said, “What does a women who was raised Catholic in the Midwest know about Hasidic Jewish men in Brooklyn in the 1950s!?” But if you start like that you build walls between yourself and the play. So instead, with Asher Lev I asked myself, “What do I know about wanting to be an artist?” I know something about that. “What do I know about wanting to do something that my parents don’t want me to do?” I know a lot about that! (Laughs) Once I make those essential personal connections to the play, any remaining gaps between my experience and the experiences in the play can be filled with research and imagination. As a director you’re working with not just actors, but also with multiple designers to bring a play to life. That can lead to a perception that directing is telling other people what to do… That’s totally how I work! (Laughs) Of course I’m kidding. I think my job as a director is to lead the collaboration, to inspire and support people to do their best work, to serve the demands of the play and the vision of the production.  Guided by the play, my job is to define and clearly articulate the “whats” in our production: to tell the team this is what story we are telling, this is what our world is and what the rules of that world are, this is what we’re trying to do. The “hows” in the production are a result of collaboration among our particular team of artists. We collaborate to figure out how we tell the story, how we physically manifest the world, how we behave in it, how we play each moment to have the desired impact.  You have about 3½ weeks from the first rehearsal to the first performance. How do you structure your process to ensure you’re ready? Every process is different, but I like to read the play on the first day, and let the actors respond to it, before I share the “whats” that make up the vision for our production.  There is always a desire to get the show up as quickly as possible, but I like to spend at least two and a half days at the table unpacking the script before we get on our feet and start physicalizing the events.  In rehearsal we will also explore the activities the characters do – for example during Asher Lev we went to the Cleveland Art Museum to look at paintings and then we took a figure drawing class at Cleveland Institute of Art.  For Good People we will probably spend some time playing bingo, as that is an important part of the play. So, what did you do last season for In the Next Room, or the vibrator play …? (Laughs) Sometimes, just like Las Vegas, what happens in the rehearsal room stays in the rehearsal room! To go back a bit, what do you mean by “unpacking the script”? Basically, just about every play written is about desperate people in desperate situations fighting desperately to change those circumstances.  Sometimes they succeed and sometimes they fail, but inevitably during the process they discover something that changes them and their world forever. When we “unpack” the script we investigate who the characters are, what their world and situation is (we call this the “given circumstances”), what they are fighting for (we call this their “action”), what they are fighting against (this is called the obstacle), what made them start fighting (this is their “inciting incident” or “motivation”), and what their big discovery is. We start the investigation intellectually at the table and then continue physically exploring the events on our feet as we block the play.  If your job isn’t telling people what to do, then how do you “block” the play? Where does the actors’ physical movement around the stage come from? It depends on the play, the set design, and the actors’ style of working.  Sometimes it is very organic—we set up the ground plan or the furniture and then the actors start making physical choices and I respond to them.  Sometimes stage mechanics dictate very specific choreographic blocking that isn’t negotiable, like in A Carol for Cleveland.  Because there were so many moving parts and so many people onstage, sometimes I would have to say “You have to stand right here on your line or you will be hit by that big moving wall.” In Good People, except for a few transitions, the actors and I will completely collaborate on the staging. This is your fourth Mainstage production at CPH, but you also direct around the country. How is freelancing different from working here at home? It’s a tremendous opportunity to be able to have a long term relationship with your audience, like I have here in Cleveland. Most people don’t know this, but a freelance director leaves the day after the show opens. In some ways I feel like when you freelance you sort of drop a bomb, and then get on a plane and leave. (Laughs) You don’t get to see the impact of the production.  You don’t get to have a conversation, or a dialogue about the play. We’re lucky to have you and your work sparking that conversation in Cleveland! less What’s the first thing you do when you get a script? I try to read it like you would a fun novel on the beach—just let myself be immersed in it,  go on the ride of the play, and not be thinking about logistics like, “What... more

Play Guide - Good People: To view the Play Guide, click on the related file link below! Infused with intelligence, wit, howl-inducing humor and brutal honesty (not to mention bunny rabbits made out of flower pots), David Lindsay-Abaire’s Good People is contemporary writing at its best—particularly because Lindsay-Abaire has crafted one of the most intriguing and surprising characters in modern theatre history: Margie (with a hard ‘g’) Walsh. In his New York Times review of the New York production, critic Ben Brantley wrote, “…discovering how Margie operates — and where she’s coming from — is one of the more subtly surprising treats of this theater season."Everyone at CPH agrees—but we’re also excited to learn about where Margie literally comes from. This Play Guide dives into the play’s setting, the proudly insular community of South Boston (known to locals as “Southie”) You’ll explore how the past shaped Southie present, and how our chances and choices in the present affect our future. You’ll also learn what being “good people” has to do with “making good” in this hard-knocks neighborhood. And you’ll discover how Vocal Coach Thom Jones and Director Laura Kepley will use their skills to bring Margie, her former boss Stevie and now-wealthy former boyfriend Mike, her bingo buddy Jean, and craft-loving landlady Dottie to riotous life.Only someone with the talents of Pulitzer Prize-winner David Lindsay-Abaire could take the everyday challenges of class, race, education and good old money troubles, and turn them into a theatrical roller coaster ride with such hilarious highs and stunning hairpin turns. Take a trip through this Play Guide, then join us in the Allen Theatre to discover why Good People is such great theatre.To view the Play Guide, click on the related file link below! less To view the Play Guide, click on the related file link below! Infused with intelligence, wit, howl-inducing humor and brutal honesty (not to mention bunny rabbits made out of flower pots), David Lindsay-Abaire’s Good People... more

Common Threads: Lombardi & Good People: Taken alone, each play in CPH’s season is entertaining and vital, but fascinating connections emerge when you examine them together. The kind of pride and doggedness for which Vince Lombardi is known united the Packers and led them to greatness. But pride and unity can also create isolation and challenge. Margie Walsh, the protagonist of the Pulitzer prize-winning Good People, is another character who is deeply proud, though her pride has led her to a very different kind of life—that of a single mother who can’t keep a job, and whose disabled teenage daughter doesn’t know her father. Pride runs deep in Margie’s neighborhood, rough-and-tumble South Boston—or “Southie.” Michael Patrick MacDonald, author of All Souls: A Family Story from Southie says, “…there was also this attitude in the neighborhood that, you know, you didn’t need to go out into the bigger world, because we have it all, and that was kind of reinforced by not only the gangsters that ran the neighborhood, but their friends who are politicians…in the Massachusetts Senate, even.” less Taken alone, each play in CPH’s season is entertaining and vital, but fascinating connections emerge when you examine them together. The kind of pride and doggedness for which Vince Lombardi is known united the Packers and led them to greatness. But pride and unity can also create isolation... more