2011-2012 Season
The Great Immensity
Feb 17th - Mar 18th, 2012
Copaken Stage
Music & Lyrics by Michael Friedman
Book by Steven Cosson
Directed by Steven Cosson
Acclaimed innovative theatre company, The Civilians has been celebrated for its endlessly
inventive and entertaining spin on the most pressing issues of our time. The company now
brings its provocative and groundbreaking approach to storytelling to the Rep for
the world premiere of The Great Immensity, an original musical that is part mystery
and part morality tale. Woven into the story about two sisters’ global journey
are authentic interviews with top scientists, indigenous community leaders and
those who have been touched by the reality of climate change, deforestation and
endangered ecosystems.
Edgerton Foundation
The Great Immensity is supported by funds from the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts and was developed at Princeton University in partnership with the Princeton Environmental Institute and the Lewis Arts Center/Princeton Atelier.
The Great Immensity is the recipient of an "Edgerton Foundation New American Plays" award.
Recommended for ages 13 and up. Contains strong language.
Copaken Stage Restaurant Sponsor
KC Star “nice music, strong performances”
KCMetropolis.org “…enlivening performances, an appealing score, inventive stagecraft…”
KC Studio "Intellectually provocative, clever, entertaining"
The Great Immensity Company
Molly Carden (Julie) KC Rep: debut. New York: P.S. It’s Poison (Red Room); The Bird and the Two-Ton Weight (Ensemble Studio Theatre); Gentrifusion (Red Fern Theater Company); The Less Than Human Club (HB Playwrights); Rain, River, Ice, Steam (Six Figures Theater Company). Regional: I Capture the Castle (Creede Repertory Theatre); Proof (Temple Theater). Education: University of the North Carolina School of the Arts. Ms Carden’s favorite roles from UNCSA include Joan in Shaw's Saint Joan and Sarah Nancy in Horton Foote's Blind Date.
Todd Cerveris (Rob/Ship Spotter/Dr. Medvedkov) KC Rep: debut. Broadway: South Pacific, Twentieth Century. Off-Broadway: Southern Comfort (CAP21); Almost, Maine (Daryl Roth Theater); The Booth Variations (59E59); The Butcherhouse Chronicles (Summer Play Festival); Time and the Conways (Epic Theater Ensemble). National Tours: Spring Awakening, Twelve Angry Men, The Acting Company. Regional: Arena Stage, La Jolla Playhouse, Actors Theater of Louisville, Old Globe Theater, George Street Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse, Portland Stage, Dorset Theater Festival, Grove Theater Center, Repertory Theater of St. Louis, Adirondack Theater Festival. TV & Film: “White Collar,” “Nurse Jackie,” "Law & Order," “One True Thing,” “Living and Dining.” www.toddcerveris.com
Dan Domingues (Marcos/Charlie) KC Rep: debut. Off-Broadway: The Cherry Orchard (Atlantic Theatre); His Greatness (NY Fringe at Cherry Lane and Soho Playhouse); King Lear (LaMaMa); Night Sky (Baruch Performing Arts Center); Cymbeline (New York Classical Theatre). New York Workshops: The Great Immensity (MTC/7@7 Series and Roundabout Studios). Regional: It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (Long Wharf); When the Sun Shone Brighter (Florida Stage); The Great Immensity workshop (Berlind at McCarter Theatre); Julius Caesar, Christmas Carol (Portland Stage); Amadeus, Othello (Pioneer Theatre); Enrico IV (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis); Othello, La Dispute w/SITI Company (American Repertory Theatre); AR Gurney's Human Events, Wit (George Street Playhouse); Macbeth (Commonwealth Shakespeare); New Rep; Stoneham Theatre; Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey; New Jersey Repertory Company. TV & Film: “Gossip Girl”, “Law & Order”, “As The World Turns,” "Hope & Faith”, “Third Watch”. Training: MFA from ART-MXAT Institute for Advanced Theatre Training; American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Associate Artist: The Civilians. Company member: NJ Rep & non-profit Only Make Believe, which brings live theatre to sick and disadvantaged children in NY hospitals.
Rebecca Hart (Phyllis/Polly) KC Rep: debut. New York: Uncle Vanya (Target Margin, upcoming), Dead City (New Georges); Vendetta Chrome (Clubbed Thumb); Mr. Burns (The Civilians); Jazz Desert: the life & death of an american band (Culture Project); Struck (co-writer/composer, 2011 Ice Factory Festival). Regional: A Devil at Noon (2011 Humana Festival, 2010 O'Neill Playwrights Conference); Son of a Gun (2011 O'Neill Musical Theatre Conference); Orestes, an Antic Tragedy (Folger Theatre/Two River Theatre); Rock & Roll: The Reunion Tour (Actors Theatre of Louisville). TV & Film: Young Adult. Training: Brown University, Maggie Flanigan Studio, NYU Graduate Music Theatre Writing (upcoming). Ms Hart is the lead singer/songwriter for a four-piece rock band based in NYC. www.rebeccahart.net
Eddie Korbich (Harold/ Pete) KC Rep: debut. Broadway: The Little Mermaid (Lunt-Fontanne); Face the Music (Encores!); *The Drowsy Chaperone (Marquis); After the Night and the Music (Manhattan Theatre Club); Wicked (Gershwin); Seussical (Richard Rodgers); Carousel (Beaumont); Sweeney Todd (revival, Circle in the Square); Singin’ in the Rain (Gershwin). Off-Broadway: **Taking a Chance On Love (York Theatre); The Most Happy Fella (New York City Opera); The Irish Curse (New York Fringe); Assassins (Playwrights Horizons); Eating Raoul (Union Square); Godspell, Gifts of the Magi (Lambs); Flora, The Red Menace (Vineyard Theatre); The No Frills Revue (Musical Theatre Works); A Little Night Music (Equity Library Theatre). Regional: Limelight (La Jolla Playhouse); The Drowsy Chaperone, 3HREE (Ahmanson Theatre); Heaven Help Us! (Florida Stage/Buell Theatre); Buffalo Gal (Studio Arena); Redhead (Goodspeed); Oliver! (Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera); Fields of Ambrosia (world premiere, George Street Playhouse); A Fine & Private Place (O’Neill Theatre Center); George M! (North Carolina Theatre); Tintypes, Brigadoon (Forestburgh Playhouse); The Little Foxes (Lyric Stage, Boston). TV & Film: “Nurse Jackie”, “Days of our Lives”, “Law & Order: SVU”, “Wonderland”, “Mary and Rhoda”, “Benjamin Franklin”, “NY Undercover”, “Law & Order”, “Out of the Box”. Jennifer 8, Quiz Show, Franny. Cartoon & Voice-Over: voice of TIVO; Doug, PB&J Otter, HappyNess, Pinky Dinky Doo, Kid Cuisine. Awards: *2006 Drama Desk Nomination-Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical, **2000 Obie Award-Best Actor. Education: BFA, Boston Conservatory.
Meghan McGeary (Allie/Emmanuelle) KC Rep: debut. Off-Broadway: The Blue Flower (Second Stage), A Christmas Carol (Lucille Lortel). NY: The Rockae (Prospect Theater Co.) Regional: The Blue Flower (A.R.T.), Land of Dreams (MSU / Dance Studio Theater), Aspects of Love (Media), Titanic (Media). IRNE (Independent Reviewers of New England) Award Winner, Barrymore Award Nomination. AB in Theatre, Smith College. Meghan and Jim Bauer co-founded the band DAGMAR in 2005 which is the folk-tronica foundation for EXO, a show they are writing about Insects inheriting the Earth: www.dagmartheband.com. Meghan also sings and plays ukuleles as vintage songbird Amity Rose. www.meghanmcgeary.com.
Bonnie Brady (Production Stage Manager) KC Rep: debut. New York: Twelve Angry Men (Roundabout); Scattergood, Intrigue with Faye, A Letter from Ethel Kennedy (MCC), Broadway Bash (Encores!); Guantanamo (Culture Project); 1001 (Page 73 Productions); The Molly Maguires (Kirby Center); Evil Dead: The Musical, Burleigh Grimes (New World Stages); Almost Heaven: The Songs of John Denver (Promenade); Going to St. Ives, Boy, Strictly Academic (Primary Stages). Regional: The Merchant of Venice (The Shakespeare Theatre); Amadeus, The Glass Menagerie, Reckless (Chautauqua Theatre Company); Ain’t Misbehavin’, Hughie, Shipwrecked! (Long Wharf Theatre); Dinner with Friends (Westport Country Playhouse).
Bonnie Brady (Production Stage Manager) Credits include: The Merchant of Venice (The Shakespeare Theatre), Amadeus, The Glass Menagerie, Reckless (CTC), Ain’t Misbehavin’, Hughie, Shipwrecked! (Long Wharf Theatre), Dinner with Friends (Westport Country Playhouse), 1001 (Page 73 Productions), The Molly Maguires (Kirby Center), Evil Dead: The Musical, Burleigh Grimes (New World Stages), Twelve Angry Men (Roundabout), Almost Heaven: The Songs of John Denver (Promenade), Guantanamo (Culture Project), Going to St. Ives, Boy, Strictly Academic (Primary Stages), Scattergood, Intrigue with Faye, A Letter from Ethel Kennedy (MCC), Broadway Bash (Encores!). Thanks to family and friends for their continued love and support. Member AEA.
Steve Cosson (Writer/Director) KC Rep: Bus Stop. Mr. Cosson is the founding Artistic Director of Civilians, the Center for Investigative Theater. Recent credits: A Devil at Noon by Anne Washburn, Humana Festival and O’Neill Conference;. With Civilians: Anne Washburn's Mr. Burns (workshop Seattle Rep, upcoming premiere Woolly Mammoth); writer/director In The Footprint (Top 10 of 2010 NY Times, Time Out, New Yorker); co-writer and director of This Beautiful City, Humana Festival, Vineyard Theatre (Drama Desk, Drama-League, Lortel Nominations), Center Theatre Group, and Studio Theatre. (Helen Hayes Nominations); co-writer/director of Paris Commune (The Public Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, upcoming BAM Next Wave); writer/director of the long-running hit Gone Missing which toured for several years throughout the U.S. and the U.K. culminating in a seven-month Off Broadway run at Barrow Street Theater (New York Times’ Top 10 of 2007 list.) Writer/director (I Am) Nobody’s Lunch, (A.R.T., Edinburgh Fringe First Award, London’s Soho Theatre, US Tour); director of Civilians’ first show Canard, Canard, Goose?. Additional productions of Civilians work at Actors Theatre of Louisville, HBO’s Aspen Comedy Festival, MoMA, London’s Gate Theatre, Arts Emerson, and many others. Other directing highlights include Michael Friedman: Adventures in Reality (Lincoln Center Theatre); U.S. premiere of Martin Crimp’s Attempts on Her Life (Soho Rep); world premiere of Peter Morris’ Square Root of Minus One (Market Theatre); Anne Washburn’s Communist Dracula Pageant (Soho Rep); Peter Morris’ Marge (Soho Rep); Elise Thoron and Jill Sobule’s Prozak and the Platypus (Hartford Stage); The Time of Your Life (Williamstown); The Importance of Being Earnest (ACT); Serious Money; Guys and Dolls, (both at CMU); U.S. premiere of Sarah Kane’s Phaedra’s Love (Intersection); Tommy Smith’s Air Conditioning (O’Neill Conference); Mat Smart’s 13th of Paris (New Harmony); and Measure for Measure (SF Drama-Logue Award); Presently commissioned by Manhattan Theatre Club, Center Theatre Group (Pretty Filthy by Michael Friedman and Bess Wohl), and developing a new musical with the Goodman Theatre by Jose Rivera with music by Hector Buitrago of Aterciopelados. He also hosts Civilians' cabaret and podcast series Let Me Ascertain You. Steven won an Obie in 2004 for the work of the Civilians. He has been a Fulbright Scholar in Colombia, a MacDowell Fellow, a Barron Fellow at the Princeton Environmental Institute, twice participated in the Sundance Theatre Lab, and Resident Director at New Dramatists. His plays have been published by Oberon Books in the UK, Dramatists Play Service, and an anthology published by Playscripts. He holds an MFA in directing from UC San Diego and a BA from Dartmouth College.
Michael Friedman (Composer/Lyrics) KC Rep: Saved. Broadway: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best New Musical). With the Civilians: In the Footprint, This Beautiful City, [I Am] Nobody’s Lunch, Gone Missing, and Canard, Canard, Goose? His work has been seen at many New York and regional theaters. He was also the dramaturg for the recent Broadway revival of A Raisin in the Sun, directed by Kenny Leon. 2009-2010 Barron Visiting Professor at the Princeton Environmental Institute; Artistic Associate at New York Theatre Workshop; MacDowell fellow; Meet the Composer Fellow; Princeton University Hodder Fellow. He received a 2007 OBIE award for sustained excellence. Founding Associate Artist, The Civilians.
Daniel Doss (Music Director) KC Rep: Into the Woods, A Christmas Story: The Musical, Saved. National Broadway Tour: The Color Purple. Kansas City: The Marvelous Wonderettes, The 25th Annual Putnam county Spelling Bee, Are We There Yet?, Always…Patsy Cline, I Love You Because (American Heartland Theatre); The Women of Brewster Place: The Musical, Rightnextto me (World Premiere), Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats, Tick, Tick…Boom! (Unicorn Theatre); The King & I, Cinderella, Xanadu (Starlight Theatre); How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Musical Theatre Heritage); Kiss of the Spiderwoman, A Man of No Importance (Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre); The Showgirl of 52nd Street (Theatre League, Kansas City Festival of New Musicals); Lucky Duck: A New Musical, Life on the Mississippi, Twice Upon A Time (Coterie Theatre); Fishtank Theater / Hybrid, Sonlight Productions, Eubank Productions / Egads Theatre company, Thin Air Theatrics, Gorilla Theatre Company. Education: BM Conservatory of Music, UMKC. Upcoming: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (New Theatre).
Mimi Lien (Set Design) is a designer of sets/environments for theater, dance, and opera. Having arrived at set design from a background in architecture, her work often focuses on the interaction between audience/environment and object/performer. Recent work includes ELEPHANT ROOM (Rainpan 43), DIE LIEBE DER DANAE (Bard Summerscape), BORN BAD (Soho Rep), and a building-wide installation for the inaugural Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts in Spring 2011. Other notable designs include NEIGHBORS (The Public Theater), QUEENS BOULEVARD (Signature Theatre), STRANGE DEVICES FROM THE DISTANT WEST (Berkeley Rep), WELCOME TO YUBA CITY (Pig Iron), THE LESS WE TALK (Hoi Polloi), and BECKY SHAW (The Wilma Theater). Mimi is an artistic associate with Pig Iron Theatre Company and The Civilians, resident designer at BalletTech, and she was a semifinalist in the Ring Award competition for opera design in Graz, Austria. Her work has been recognized by a Barrymore Award, four Barrymore nominations, American Theatre Wing Hewes Design Award nomination, Bay Area Critics Circle nomination, and she was a recipient of the 2007-2009 NEA/TCG Career Development Program. Her design for LOVE UNPUNISHED (Pig Iron) was presented in the 2011 Prague Quadrennial, and her sculpture work was featured in the exhibition, LANDSCAPES OF QUARANTINE, at the Storefront for Art and Architecture.
Sarah Beers (Costume Design) KC Rep: Bus Stop, Cabaret. With The Civilians: Canard Canard Goose, The Ladies, Nobody's Lunch, Gone Missing, Paris Commune, and Tales from our Parents Divorce. NY theater companies: The Flea Theater , HERE, Labyrinth Theater Company, The New Group, Naked Angels, The Play Company, The Pearl Theater, The Public Theater, Women's Expressive Theater, The Women's Project. Williamstown Theater Festival, Santa Fe Opera, New Mexico Rep. Film and TV: four seasons of Rescue Me on FX network, HBO's Maria Full of Grace, 3rd season of in Treatment on HBO and History Channel series.
Tyler Micoleau (Lighting Design) KC Rep: debut. Other regional designs: Huntington, Goodman, Alley, Playmakers, American Repertory Theatre, Trinity Rep, Old Globe, Dallas Theater Center, Long Wharf and more. New York design credits include: Dreams of Flying Dreams of Falling (Atlantic); Middletown, God's Ear (Vineyard Theatre); When The Rain Stops Falling (Lincoln Center Theater); That Face (Manhattan Theatre Club); Adam Rapp's Hallway Trilogy, The Aliens (Rattlestick), Blasted (Soho Rep); Disfarmer, Hell House, Hiroshima Maiden (St. Anns Warehouse); Bug, Orson's Shadow (Barrow Street). He is the recipient of a American Theatre Wing Hewes Award, two Lucille Lortel Awards, two Village Voice OBIEs, three Philadelphia Barrymore nominations, and a Chicago Jefferson nomination. He has held visiting artist positions at Yale University, Dartmouth College and for six years served as adjunct faculty at Sarah Lawrence College Department of Dance. He received a 2010 OBIE Award for Sustained Excellence in Lighting Design.
Jason H. Thompson (Projection Design) KC Rep: Venice (Kirk Douglas Theatre, KC Rep, Ovation Award) Broadway: Baby It’s You! Off-Broadway: Remember Me (Parsons Dance Company, Joyce Theatre/ National Tour), This Beautiful City (The Civilians, Vineyard Theatre). Recent: Ordinary Days (South Coast Rep), The Night is a Child (Pasadena Playhouse), Distracted (Theatreworks), Little Rock (Theatreworks), Re:Union (Pacific Theatre, Vancouver), No Good Deed (Furious Theatre Company, LA). Jason also designs video content for Stars on Ice 2006-2012 USA and Canadian Tours, has worked internationally in Taiwan, Singapore, Brighton (UK), Vancouver, and is an adjunct professor at UCLA. He is currently working on John Cage Songbooks, and Crescent City: A Hyperopera in Los Angeles. www.jasonhthompsondesign.com
Ken Travis (Sound Design) KC Rep: debut. Broadway Designs: Newsies, Memphis, The Threepenny Opera, Barefoot in the Park, Steel Magnolias. Regional: Numerous regional theaters and companies including: 5th Avenue, La Jolla Playhouse, Los Angeles City Theatre Group, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Guthrie Theater, Dallas Theater Center, McCarter Theater, Playwrights Horizons, The New Group, New York Shakespeare Festival / Public Theater, Classic Stage Company, Signature Theater NYC, Soho Rep, Vineyard Theater, The Civilians, Mabou Mines, and festivals across Europe and the United States.
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