Photos by Taylor Crichton
In a historic collaboration with Vermont’s Weston Playhouse and Northern Stage, DTF will present Table Manners, the second play in Alan Ayckbourn’s acclaimed comic trilogy, The Norman Conquests.
All three companies will share a cast and creative team. Dorset Theatre Festival’s production will be helmed by renowned director Evan Yionoulis, known to regional audiences for her recent revival of Hapgood at Williamstown Theatre Festival. The trilogy is both wildly comic and poignant, as the complex relationships among six characters are examined. All three plays are set during the sexual revolution of the 1970s and take place over the same weekend at an English country estate. Each play takes place in a different part of the house with Dorset Theatre Festival’s Table Manners taking place in the dining room. Unique Talk Back events for audiences will feature the artistic directors, designers, and actors speaking speaking about their exciting collaboration across all three productions.
Cast
Mark-Light-Orr (Reg)—is pleased to be making his debut at Dorset Theatre Festival. Mark’s New York credits include the critically acclaimed Counsellor At Law (Lucille Lortel Award—Best Revival) and the world premiere of Patrick Barlow’s Christmas Carol (Joe Calarco, dir.). Other NYC credits include the Irish Repertory Theatre, Expanded Arts, the Midtown International Theatre Festival, the NY Fringe Festival, Ensemble Studio Theatre, ASCAP, the Women’s Project & Production Directors Lab, Theatre at St. Clements, the Drama League, the 45th Street Theatre, and the Players Theatre. National tours include Susan Stroman’s revival of The Music Man (Charlie Cowell). Regional credits include nine seasons with the Utah Shakespearean Festival, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, the Fulton Opera House (Capt. von Trapp in Sound of Music), Delaware Theatre Company, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Geva Theatre, the Pioneer Theatre Company, Theatreworks CO (Elyot in Private Lives, Charles in Blithe Spirit), Florida Studio Theatre, NJ Repertory Theatre, and the Engeman Theatre. Television includes CBS’ Person of Interest. www.marklight-orr.com
Richard Gallagher (Norman)—Broadway: The Lyons, The Importance of Being Earnest (with Brian Bedford). Other NY: The Pearl, Women’s Theatre Project, 59E59 Theatres, Lark Theatre, NY Fringe. Regional: McCarter Theatre (most recently as Detective Sgt. Trotter in Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap and previously three seasons of A Christmas Carol), Studio Theatre (Helen Hayes nomination for best supporting actor in Tribes), Baltimore Centerstage, Yale Repertory Theatre, Pioneer Theatre, Magic Theatre, TheatreWorks (Palo Alto). Film/TV: El Camino (with Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss), Person of Interest, Blue Bloods, Law & Order, As The World Turns, Wallflowers and recurring roles in Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black and AMC’s Turn: Washington’s Spies. Mr. Gallagher holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
Ashton Heyl (Ruth)—is delighted to be making her Dorset Theatre Festival debut. Most recently, she played Gretchen in Boeing Boeing at Gulfshore Playhouse, as well as Emma in After the Revolution at Baltimore Center Stage as part of their Herzog Festival. Other credits include The Book Club Play (Virginia Stage Company); A Little Night Music and The Cat and The Canary (Berkshire Theatre Group); Belles (NY-Theatre Row); Tartuffe (Yale Summer Cabaret); After the Revolution, Golden Gate, The Egg-Layers (Williamstown Non-Equity Company); 1776, Twelfth Night (Texas Shakespeare Festival). A recent graduate of the Yale School of Drama, her credits there included Hedda in Hedda Gabler, As You Like It, Lottie in the Late Afternoon, Sunday in the Park with George, Chamber Music, and Fen. Many thanks to WTG. For my intelligent, supportive, and good-looking parents. MFA: Yale School of Drama.
Caitlin Clouthier (Sarah)—Recent/ favorite credits include: The Tragic Muse with Metropolitan Playhouse, Much Ado About Nothing with Chautauqua Theater Co., Richard II with Yale Rep, Saving Kitty and The Betrothed with W.H.A.T, Strange Love in Outer Space with NYC Fringe, among others. She appeared on As the World Turns as ‘Taffy the assistant’ and played Felicia in the web series My Transient Life. She can also be seen in the upcoming web series Drama School: School of Drama. Caitlin has a B.A from the University of Washington and received her MFA from the Yale School of Drama. She is a proud member of AEA and proud resident of NYC.
Jenni Putney (Annie)—is over the moon to be back in Vermont! Previous Northern Stage Credits: Blithe Spirit, Clybourne Park, and Fox on the Fairway. Other credits include: The Pool Skimmer (Clubbed Thumb), Orpheus and Eurydice (The Trip/Theater Lab NY), If All the Sky Were Paper (Kennedy Center), Moon over Buffalo (Gulfshore Playhouse), Three Sisters, Our Town, A Dram of Drummhichit (La Jolla Playhouse), Venus in Fur (Philadelphia Theater Company/George Street Playhouse), Midsummer Night’s Dream (Portland Center Stage), Much Ado About Nothing, The Mock Tempest (Shakespeare Santa Cruz), Winnemucca (Shelby Company), The Tempest (Shakespeare Orange County). MFA: University of California, San Diego; BA Chapman University.
David Mason (Tom)—is delighted to make his Dorset Theatre Festival debut. Regional credits include the recent world premiere of Theresa Rebeck’s The Nest at Denver Center Theatre Company, directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt. Other regional credits include: The Velocity of Autumn, The Odd Couple (Cape Playhouse); Last Gas, Almost, Maine, The Resurrection of Son House (Geva Theatre Center); Love/Sick, Trouble Is My Business, Last Gas (all world premieres at Portland Stage); the American premiere of a new adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ Period of Adjustment at TheatreSquared in Arkansas; and numerous productions at Syracuse Stage, New Century Theatre, the Public Theater, Majestic Theater, Shadowland Theatre, Foothills Theatre, Opera House Arts, Judson Theatre Co. NYC credits include: Ensemble Studio Theatre, Civilian Studios, Primary Stages, The Japan Society, Present Company Theatorium, NativeAliens, Impact Theatre Festival, Red Fern Theatre, Circle East, Chip Deffaa Festival. TV: The Leftovers (HBO), House of Cards (Netflix), Law & Order SVU, All My Children.
Creative Team
Evan Yionoulis (Director)—Evan Yionoulis has directed new plays and classics in New York and across the U.S. She opened Manhattan Theatre Club’s Biltmore Theatre (Broadway) with Richard Greenberg’s The Violet Hour, directed his Everett Beekin (Lincoln Center Theatre) and received an Obie Award for her direction of his Three Days of Rain (Manhattan Theatre Club), having directed the premieres of all three at South Coast Repertory. She directed Adrienne Kennedy’s Ohio State Murders (Lortel Award, Best Revival) and the Off-Broadway premiere of Howard Brenton’s Sore Throats for Theatre for a New Audience, as well as the premieres of Daisy Foote’s Him (Primary Stages) and Bhutan (Cherry Lane). As a resident director at Yale Repertory Theatre, she has directed Richard II, Master Builder, Galileo, King Stag (which she adapted from the Gozzi with composer Mike Yionoulis and Catherine Sheehy), and numerous other productions. She’s directed at the Mark Taper Forum, the Huntington, NY Shakespeare Festival, the Vineyard, 2econd Stage, Dallas Theatre Center, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Denver Center, PlayMakers Rep, Williamstown Theatre Festival and many other theatres. She is collaborating with Mike Yionoulis on the theatrical and transmedia project,Redhand Guitar. Evan is Professor (adjunct) in the Yale School of Drama’s Departments of Acting and Directing.
David Arsenault (Set Designer)—Select NYC: Peer Gynt (Classic Stage Company), A Better Place (The Duke), H2O (GroundUP at 59E59), Sense of an Ending (59E59), the NY Times Critic’s Picks Handle With Care (Westside Theatre), The Awake (59E59), and Long Story Short (Prospect). International: English Theatre Berlin, Germany. Outside NYC: Bay Street Theatre, Kitchen Theatre Company, Geva Theatre, Hangar Theatre, Northern Stage, Merry Go Round Playhouse, Gulfshore Playhouse, Urban Arias, Bucks County Playhouse, and others. Broadway (Associate): The Color Purple (current revival), King Charles III, and Constellations. Member: United Scenic Artists 829. Education: Ithaca College. www.DavidArsenaultDesign.com
Charles Schoonmaker (Costume Designer)—is happy to be back at DTF, where he previously designed The Whipping Man and Red. Charles is the recipient of four Daytime Emmy Awards and an IRNE Award for best costume design for Venus in Fur at the Huntington Theatre. Other work on Boston stages includes North Shore Music Theatre, Speakeasy Stage, Lyric Stage, Arts Emerson, Boston Baroque, and the Israeli Stage. Credits in the Berkshires include the Berkshire Theatre Group, The Chester Theatre Company and seven seasons as the resident costume designer at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. Television credits include Another World, All My Children and As the World Turns. He teaches costume design at Bennington College. www.Charles-Schoonmaker.com
Stuart Duke (Lighting Designer)—New York: The Rothschilds, Cast of Characters, Little Me, Frankie (directed by George Abbott), The Matchmaker and jon & jen. Recently: Harvey for Walnut Street Theatre; Beauty & the Beast for Alabama Shakespeare Festival; Living Together and Hound of the Baskervilles at Northern Stage; Pump Boys & Dinettes for Weston Playhouse. Other regional credits include The Night Seasons (written and directed by Horton Foote), Death of a Salesman (starring Christopher Lloyd), Rags for the Paper Mill Playhouse, H.M.S. Pinafore for the Huntington Theatre, and Conrack for Ford’s Theatre. Mr. Duke has been nominated three times for the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lighting.
Jane Shaw (Sound Designer)—designed sound for Sherlock Holmes…, All in the Timing, Whipping Man, Boeing Boeing, The Pavilion, & Fallen Angels at DTF. Regional credits include: Rear Window, Hamlet (Hartford Stage), The Crucible (Cleveland Playhouse), Naked Influence (Capital Rep), The Catch (Denver Theater Center), Guadalupe in the Guest Room (Two River), Asolo Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville, City Theater, Williamstown Theater Festival, Triad Stage. Off-Broadway: The Killer (TFANA), Women Without Men (Mint), Don Juan (Pearl), Grounded (Page 73), Red Dog Howls (NY Theater Workshop), The Coward (LCT3), Off-Off Broadway: Ironbound (Rattlestick), Men on Boats (Clubbed Thumb), Jackie (Women’s Project), Septimus and Clarissa (Ripe Time), Repertorio Espanol. International Touring: Big Dance Theater, Merce Cunningham, Susan Marshall, Murakami’s Wind Up Bird Chronicles. Education: Yale School of Drama, Harvard College. Awards: Henry, Premios ACE, Drama Desk, Bessie; nominations for 2 Lortels, Henry Hewes, Eliot Norton; Meet the Composer NEA/TCG Career Development Program.
Danielle Zandri (Stage Manager)—couldn’t be happier conquering all three of the Norman Conquests this year in Vermont, and is thrilled to be making her debut at The Dorset Theatre Festival! Previous productions include: Northern Stage: Living Together, Mary Poppins, Clybourne Park, Orwell In America. The Weston Playhouse: Pump Boys and Dinettes, Guys and Dolls, A Chorus Line, 42nd Street, The 39 Steps. GFour Productions: Menopause the Musical. Ocean State Theatre Company: Les Miserables. Trinity Repertory Company: Oliver!, House and Garden, Clybourne Park, Boeing, Boeing, King Lear, Crime and Punishment. The Walnut Street Theater: The Glass Menagerie, Speaking in Tongues, My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra.
Press
Conquering ‘The Norman Conquests’ Without Going Broke-American Theatre Magazine
Table Manners Review by Telly Halkias-Manchester Journal
Table Manners Review by Alex Brown-Seven Days
‘Norman’s Conquests’ aims to capture Dorset by Andrew McKeever-Manchester Journal
Table Manners Review by Jim Lowe-Rutland Herald
Table Manners Review by J. Peter Bergman-Berkshire Bright Focus
Norman brings his troubles to the table- Rutland Herald Preview
Berkshire Eagle- Best Bets for Theater
YouTube Video Preview- Norman Conquests/Living Together
Vermont Arts Council Feature: Dividing Conquests
Seven Days Review VPR- Spotlight- The Norman Conquests
VT Digger: Vermont Theatres Play Up Historic Partnership
Living Together Review-Berkshire Bright Focus
The Norman Conquests: Collaborating to Inspire and Create- Samuel French/Breaking Character Jim Lowe Norman Conquests Preview
Special Events
PLAY TALK: CREATING THE NORMAN CONQUESTS
DATE: SUNDAY JUNE 19 TIME: 1:00 pm, before the matinee at 2:00
DTF’s Artistic Director, Dina Janis, Table Manners director Evan Yionoulis, Weston’s Steve Stettler, Northern Stage’s Carol Dunne, and the amazing Design Team for Norman Conquests will share their experiences in moving this historic trilogy from theater to theater while creating the world of the play.
