January 24 + 25 Sonnets for an Old Century

IN HOT PURSUIT at Location One
New Theatre. Innovative Directors.
Curated by Jocelyn Ruggiero

SONNETS FOR AN OLD CENTURY
A New Play by Jose Rivera
Directed by KJ Sanchez
January 24 and 25
8:00 PM Tickets $10 (Members free)

With Carolyn Baeumler, George Bass, Doug Bost, Alison Briner, Ron Cohen, Michael Escamilla, Dion Graham, Bridgett Ane Lawrence, Kriste Peoples, Bray Poor, Jocelyn Ruggiero and Dawn Saito;
Stage Manager Emily Mendelsohn
Live Sound by Atsushi Nishijima and Richard Huntley

SONNETS FOR AN OLD CENTURY examines what it means to be alive at this particular time and place and what traces each of us will leave behind. In a series of exquisitely written monologues, using dance and live music, SONNETS captures the subtle, often overlooked treasures of everyday life.

KJ SANCHEZ (Director)
recently starred as Thyona in Charles L. Mee’s BIG LOVE at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. KJ was also fight captain this production which began at the 2000 Humana Festival, then moved to Long Wharf Theater, Berkeley Rep, The Goodman and culminated in the Next Wave Festival at BAM. This past year KJ created, choreographed and directed TOO MUCH WATER, a dance theatre piece about Ophelia, for the graduate theatre training program at the University of Washington in Seattle. KJ was a member of Anne Bogart’s SITI Company for many years with whom she co-created plays such as GOING GOING GONE, SMALL LIVES BIG DREAMS and CULTURE OF DESIRE and performed extensively throughout the US and internationally.

JOSÉ RIVERA (Playwright)
Puerto Rican-born Jose Rivera’s plays have been seen nationally, internationally and translated into seven languages. Rivera’s plays havebeen performed at the Joseph Papp Public Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, South Coast Rep, the Goodman Theatre, the Mark Taper Forum, Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Humana Festival, Hartford Stage Company, and Manhattan Class Company — as well as theatres in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Peru, Scotland, Greece, Rumania, Sweden, Norway, England, and France. They include the Obie Award-winning plays MARISOL and REFERENCES TO SALVADOR DALI MAKE ME HOT, as well as CLOUD TECTONICS, EACH DAY DIES WITH SLEEP, THE PROMISE, THE HOUSE OF RAMON IGLESIA, GIANTS HAVE US IN THEIR BOOKS, THE STREET OF THE SUN, SONNETS FOR AN OLD CENTURY, and SUENO. His work has been generously supported by the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays, the National Arts Club, the NEA, the Rockefeller Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Fulbright Commission, PEN West, the Whiting Foundation, and the Berilla Kerr Foundation. THE HOUSE OF RAMON IGLESIA appeared on the public television series American Playhouse. Rivera has studied with Nobel Prize Winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez at the Sundance Institute and has been a writer-in-residence at the Royal Court Theatre, London. Television credits include co-creating and producing the critically-acclaimed NBC series “Eerie, Indiana” as well as “The Eddie Matos Story” for HBO; episodes of “Goosebumps,” “The Great Brain,” and “Night Visions” for the Henson Company; “The Brothers Garcia” for Nickelodeon; and “A.K.A. Pablo” for ABC. Films include “The Jungle Book: Mowgli’s Story,” “Mr. Shadow,” and “Family Matters,” all for Disney, as well as the 3-D IMAX film “Riding the Comet” for Sony. Current theatre and film projects include SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS and BRAINPEOPLE (both commissioned by South Coast Rep), ADORATION OF THE OLD WOMAN (commissioned by La Jolla Playhouse), and the films “A Bolero for the Disenchanted” (Showtime), “Somewhere in Time, II” (Universal Home Video), “The Motorcycle Diaries,” (Robert Redford’s Wildwood Co. directed by Walter Salles), “Lucky” (Interscope), and “Cesar Chavez” (Showtime).

ATSUSHI NISHIJIMA
received his Bachelor’s degree in Musical Technology from the Osaka University of Art in 1989 and his Master’s degree in Media Art in 2001 from the International Academy of Media Arts and Science in Gifu. Trained in experimental and contemporary music, Nishijima creates sculptures and installations that emphasize the idea that sound, and thereby music, is inherent in all objects and environments. A particularly important resource for the artist is the city as a gigantic synthesizer from which everyday sounds are selected and transformed into a unique “sound” due to “space”. Nishijima’s work has been exhibited and performed throughout Japan (solo exhibitions: Osaka Contemporary Art Center and Ashiya City Museum of Art & History, Hyogo 1992; Dohjidai Gallery of Art, Kyoto, 1998), as well as Singapore, Paris and New York (“Citycircus”, New Museum of Contemporary Art, 1994, an exhibition curated by Laura Trippi).

The New York City based percussionist RICHARD LIVINGSTON HUNTLEY plays a wide variety of music including jazz, Brazilian, klezmer, and avant garde. He has performed and recorded with jazz greats Mulgrew Miller and Cameron Brown. Huntley has performed with notable jazz musicians such as Billy Drewes, Don Braden and Shunzo Ohno; the Brazilian pianist Dom Salvador; klezmer music with Frank London from the Klezmatics, among others. Huntley co-leads a band with the Danish saxophonist Emil Hess. The Hess/Huntley group has released two CDs, most recently “Skovens Nat.” The Hess/Huntley group has toured extensively throughout Europe and performs regularly in New York City. Huntley is also an endorser/clinician for Bosphorus cymbals and Regal Tip sticks and brushes.

EMILY MENDELSOHN (Stage Manager)
recently graduated from SmithCollege where she studied theatre and a whole lot else.She has dabbled in stage managing atTNC, The Bloomsbury Theatre in London and New England Actor’s Theatre in New Haven.
CAST BIOGRAPHIES:

GEORGE BASS
is a graduate of the High School of Performing Arts in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he worked as an actor, singer, dancer, director and choreographer. In New York City since 1975, he has been actively working in theatre both English and Spanish. Principal credits include JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, HAIR, ANTHON Y AND CLEOPATRA, ARSENIC AND OLD LACE , DEATH AND THE MAIDEN, LATE NITE CATECHISM and a concert version of DESIREE, a comic opera by J.P. Sousa (CD Recording). He is well known by Spanish audiences for his performances in Zarzuelas (Spanish Operettas) such as THE PHARAOH’S COURT, THE MERRY GENERAL’S WIFE, THE BARBER OF SEVILLE and LA PARRANDA. Mr. Bass received several awards and his voice can be heard in numerous T.V. and radio jingles and commercials. Film credits: THE BREAK and THE CRYSTAL CAGE. T.V. appearances include LAW & ORDER, AMERICA’S MOST WANTED, THE SOPRANOS, STRANGERS WITH CANDY and THE BEAT.

CAROLYN BAEUMLER
spent most of last year appearing with KJ Sanchez in Charles L. Mee’s BIG LOVE, directed by Les Waters (2000 Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Long Wharf Theatre, Berkeley Repertory, The Goodman Theatre, and the 2001 Next Wave Festival at BAM). Other recent credits include: Marilyn Monroe in MISS GOLDEN DREAMS (ACT,Seattle); Mae West in SEX (The Hourglass Group); understudy for Blanche and Stella in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (NYTW); A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (Steppenwolf); Courtney Love in LOVE IN THE VOID; THE EROTICA PROJECT and IN-BETWEENS. She is a co founder of The Hourglass Group and a Usual Suspect at New York Theatre Workshop and Doug’s wife.

DOUG BOST
is an original member of the sketch comedy group Euphobia. He has been heard in the award-winning radio dramas DEAD MAN’S HOLE and DECEMBER17, both broadcast on Bavarian State Radio and National Public Radio’s NPR Playhouse. Doug is well known to lovers of Japanese hentai video as THE MASTER from the series BRIDE OF DARKNESS. Doug is also a writer.

ALLISON BRINER
was most recently seen in The Great Lakes Theatre Festival’s pre-Broadway production of LONESTAR LOVE OR THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, TEXAS. Prior to that she played the role of Chic in The Cape Playhouse production of CRIMES OF THE HEART, starring Sandy Duncan. Off Broadway: RETURN TO THE FORBIDDEN PLANET, FORBIDDEN BROADWAY, JACQUES BREL…THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY, FORBIDDEN HOLLYWOOD, SONG OF SINGAPORE and PETE “N” KEELY. National Tours: LES MISERABLES, TITANTIC…A NEW MUSICAL. Ms. Briner will be featured in The Denver Center for the Performing Arts’ production of ALMOST HEAVEN, the musical based on the life and music of John Denver.

RONALD COHEN
has appeared such roles as Shakespeare’s Othello, Vershinin in THE THREE SISTERS, and Graham in Stuart Spencer’s 10011/MANHATTAN ZIP. This past fall he was in Chiori Miyagawa’s WOMAN KILLER at HERE! Films include Frank Whaley’s THE JIMMY SHOW, show last week at Sundance Film Festival. For many years he was an editor at Women’s Wear Daily where he also reviewed theater and cabaret. He currently covers New York theater for Musical Stages Magazine, published in Britain.

MICHAEL RAY ESCAMILLA
NYC: Mayi-Theatre at The Public, Lincoln Center Theatre, Classic Stage Company, Theatre for a New Audience, Cherry Lane Theatre, Soho Rep. and Camilla’s. Regional theatre: ATL (Humana Festival), Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and North Shore (Boston). TV: THE JOB.

BRIDGETT ANE LAWRENCE
is thrilled to be performing in this fabulous space with such talented people. Stage credits include: EINSTEIN’S DREAMS at the Kraine Theatre, the two-woman play SHE FINDS HER at the Manhattan Theatre Source, Nina in THE SEAGULL with StreetSigns Center for Literature & Performance, the American Globe Theatre’s ANTIGONE, Drew Pisarra’s YES IS FOR A VERY YOUNG MAN at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange and two seasons of A CHRISTMAS CAROL at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago; BA received her BFA in Acting from Ithaca College. She would like to thank KJ for this rare opportunity and her beautiful, daring direction. BA dedicates this performance to her husband, Chris, a constant inspiration.

KRISTE PEOPLES
is not new to the stage, though SONNETS marks her first acting experience in some time. She can usually be found singing jazz and blues at clubs in and around Manhattan with her trio. Website: http://www.kristepeoples.com

JOCELYN RUGGIERO
last worked with KJ Sanchez developing an original project about medicine this past summer. They met while acting in a production of FEFU AND HER FRIENDS at Santa Fe Stages, directed by Maria Irene Fornés. Other acting credits include THE MAN WHO SHOT HIS WASHING MACHINE, directed by Tom O’Horgan at TNC; THE BITTER TEARS OF PETRA VON KANT, directed by Sonja Moser; SPRINGTIME at The Image Theatre and LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING at Long Wharf Theatre, directed by Mike Bradwell. In March, she will perform at Location One in PHILOCTETES, directed by Sonja Moser. Jocelyn is currently rehearsing PERSEPHONE, written and directed by Emily Davis, a play that will use masks and puppets by Shannon Harvey. She is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College.

DAWN AKEMI SAITO
actress/performance artist, writer and Butoh dancer/choreographer has collaborated with major innovative performance groups, as well a presenting her own works in New York, Los Angeles and Europe. Her works include: A FACE OF OUR OWN, in collaboration with composer Myra Melford presented at the Orpheum Theatre in Graz, Austria; Leaves, Water, Sun (Berkshire Theater); Red Eye (Whitney Museum at Philip Morris); HALO (Asian American Theater Workshop at Mark Taper and Highways); HA directed by Maria Mileaf (Dance Theater Workshop, New York Theater Workshop); PASTIME (LaMaMa, E.T.C.); DreamCatcher (Dance Theater Workshop and Aaron Davis Hall). Other Dance/Theatre background includes performing in: Arden/Ardennes at Theatre du Rond-Point in Paris; MY HOUSE WAS COLLAPSING TOWARD ONE SIDE, conceived and directed by Charles Mee, Jr. with music composed by Myra Melford (Dance Theater Workshop); Bill T. Jones’ LAST SUPPER AT UNCLE TOM’S CABIN at Brooklyn Academy of Music; Ping Chong’s DESHIMA and ELEPHANT MEMORIES; Music-Theater Group’s MOBY DICK IN VENICE directed by Roman Paska at the Public Theater’s Henson Festival; CHILDREN OF WAR directed by Larry Sacharow at the Taganka Theatre in Moscow; ‘MAID by Erik Ehn and directed by Maria Mileaf at Lincoln Center’s Summer Festival; HEDDA GABLER at The Old Globe Theater; PHOTOGRAPHS AT S21, directed by William Carden; SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER and THE POET at Hartford Stage Co., directed by JoAnne Akalaitis. Dawn is currently an Artist-In-Residence and teaches at Fordham University.