Good People - Pittsburgh Public Theater

Transcription

Pittsburgh Public Theater’s Education and Outreach programs are generously supported
by BNY Mellon Foundation of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Additional funding for all
youth education programs has been provided by The Grable Foundation and Dominion.
Pittsburgh Public Theater
Good People
2012-2013 Season
Page 1
Contents
The Characters ..................................................................................................................... 3
Synopsis ............................................................................................................................... 4
About the Playwright ........................................................................................................... 5
Good People: About the Play ............................................................................................... 7
Geographical and Cultural References ................................................................................ 8
South Boston History ....................................................................................................... 8
The Irish of Southie .......................................................................................................... 9
Whitey Bulger and the Irish Mob................................................................................... 10
Racial Tensions Boston: Anti-Busing Riots of 1976 ....................................................... 11
Southie’s Reemergence ................................................................................................. 12
Walpole State Prison ...................................................................................................... 12
Gillette ............................................................................................................................ 13
Broadway ....................................................................................................................... 13
Old Harbor Village .......................................................................................................... 13
Columbia Point ............................................................................................................... 14
Chestnut Hill ................................................................................................................... 14
Boys and Girls Club ........................................................................................................ 14
“Lace Curtain” ................................................................................................................ 14
Meet the Cast .................................................................................................................... 15
Meet the Director .............................................................................................................. 18
Theater Etiquette............................................................................................................... 19
Pennsylvania Academic Standards .................................................................................... 20
Pennsylvania Common Core Standards ............................................................................ 21
References ......................................................................................................................... 22
Good People
2012-2013 Season
Page 2
The Characters
Margaret (Margie) – About 50; Margie grew up in a low-income development in South
Boston, Massachusetts. Lacking higher education, she has worked a series of minimumwage jobs to support herself and her adult daughter Joyce. She retains a strong sense of
pride for her neighborhood and its people.
Stevie – Late 20’s; Stevie is the manager of the Dollar Store where Margie is employed
as a cashier. He is also a native Southie resident.
Jean – About 50; Margie’s friend since high school. She is fervent in her “Southie Pride.”
Dottie – Mid 60’s; Margie’s landlady and Joyce’s babysitter.
Mike – About 50; doctor who grew up in Southie and attended South Boston High
School with Margie and Jean, now lives in the middle-class neighborhood of Chestnut
Hill with his wife and daughter.
Kate – Early 30’s; Mike’s wife. She is from Washington, D.C., and met Mike when he was
working under her father at the Georgetown University Hospital.
Good People
2012-2013 Season
Page 3
Synopsis
The distance between Boston's Chestnut Hill and the Lower End is measured by
more than miles. Mike and Margaret both grew up poor, but he made it out and
became a doctor while she is stuck - a single mother who gets by on sarcasm and
bingo games with her pals. When they meet again, an invitation leads Margaret to
Mike’s luxurious home and into a turbulent conversation with him and his
surprising wife. Is this apparently self-made man secure enough to face his
humble beginnings? Margie is about to risk what little she has left to find out. This
tough and tender play looks at luck, choices, blame, pride, and what people will
do to survive.
South Boston
Good People
2012-2013 Season
Page 4
About the Playwright
with excerpts from “A Return to Southie, by Way of Broadway,” by Charles McGrath, New York Times
Born to a working-class family in
South Boston, MA – his mother
worked in a circuit-board factory, and
his father sold fruit from a truck –
David Lindsay-Abaire grew up in an
environment described in his own
words as “very blue-collar.” “Class is
something I know about,” said the
playwright in a 2011 New York Times
interview. “I’ve lived it every day of
my life, and it shaped me in my
identity.” Transcending the
boundaries and expectations that
came with being a Southie native was
Abaire’s main challenge as a young
student, yet it was the difficult
realities of his hometown that
inspired the creation of his latest
work, Good People.
Before he pursued a career in writing
full-time, the young David Abaire (the
David Lindsay-Abaire
“Lindsay” was added after his
marriage to the actress Chris Lindsay) spent his afternoons at the local Boys and Girls
club nearly every day, and was encouraged by adult mentors to practice his talents as a
budding author. Even as a boy of ten years old, Abaire was already composing articles
for the club newspaper, and was recognized for this aptitude. “He was special,” said
staff member Anne Gordon, when asked about Abaire’s time at the club. “We knew it
even then. ” Ms. Gordon, along with her colleague Pattie McCormack, lobbied the
prestigious Milton Academy to give Abaire a scholarship to attend the school – a
scholarship that was normally awarded to athletes. An exception was made specifically
for Abaire, and he attended Milton during his junior high and high school years, where
he began to write plays and act in theatrical productions.
Good People
2012-2013 Season
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After graduating from Milton, Abaire attended Sarah
Lawrence College, where he concentrated in theater. When
he finished his degree in 1992, he was accepted into
Julliard’s playwriting program, where he studied under
famous playwrights Marsha Norman and Christopher
Durang. He had his first theatrical success with the play
Fuddy Meers, which was workshopped as part of the
National Playwright’s Conference, and premiered at the
Manhattan Theater Club in 1999. The play, about an
amnesiac woman who is kidnapped by a strange man
claiming her husband is conspiring to kill her, was wellreceived and launched his career, as well as gaining him a
Kimberly Akimbo
long-time partnership with the Club. He followed up this
2003 Playbill
success with the plays
Kimberly Akimbo and Wonder of the World in 2000, and
co-wrote the screenplay for the film Robots in 2005. In
2006, his play Rabbit Hole was premiered in New York to
critical acclaim, receiving the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for
Drama, several Tony Award nominations, and Tony win
for Cynthia Nixon for Best Actress. He is also an
accomplished writer of musical theater, writing the book
for High Fidelity and the book and lyrics for Shrek: The
Musical.
For the playwright, the series of events that allowed him
to leave Southie and pursue his career came from a
Rabbit Hole
combination of luck and hard work. “I’ve worked really
2006 Playbill
hard, but I know people who have worked even harder
but didn’t have the chances I’ve had,” said Abaire. “We have this myth that if you work
hard, you can accomplish anything. It’s not a very American thing to say, but I don’t
think that’s true….you need other things to succeed. You need luck, you need
opportunity, and you need the life skills to recognize what an opportunity is.”
Good People
2012-2013 Season
Page 6
Good People: About the Play
with excerpts from “A Return to Southie, by Way of Broadway,” by Charles McGrath, New York Times
Good People, although not an autobiographical work,
is a play rooted in David Lindsay-Abaire’s
experiences growing up in South Boston. Set in the
heart of Southie, the play follows the middle-aged
Margie, who has recently been fired from her job as
a Dollar Store cashier. It is the first of Abaire’s works
to be set in his hometown, and it seeks neither
judgment nor praise for the narrow-minded
neighborhood and its attitudes. Southie is known for
having its fair share of independent, outspoken
residents – working-class people with strong
community ties and a (mostly) shared disdain for
outsiders. To many locals, Southie is the best
neighborhood on Earth, one that has thrived through
numerous hardships by sticking to its roots, a selfsufficient society built from nothing by people who
Opening Night Playbill
had nothing. But to others, Southie was and will
February 8, 2011
always be a “black hole” filled with racism, perpetual
poverty, and misguided values. Such contradicting opinions are part of Southie’s
character, and are both given voice by Abaire.
Southie natives are often hard work personified, and are just as often destined to
remain where they began. But Good People is not concerned with social justice, or
solving the complicated equation for success that allowed one character Mikey to
become a doctor and left his old girlfriend Margie back in the projects. It’s a play about
the acceptance of reality, the recognition of one’s origins, and the inevitable struggles
that come with being human. Mikey and Margie took vastly different paths, but started
their lives in the same place – a place that, for better or worse, will always be a part of
them.
Good People
2012-2013 Season
Page 7
Geographical and Cultural References
South Boston History
South End Historical Society; The South End
South Boston, affectionately called “Southie” by local
residents, is a city within a city, a large yet tight-knit
community with a fabled and often troubled history.
The city of Boston was founded in 1630 by the Puritans, an
English religious sect who sought refuge in the New World
with the goal of creating a society founded on their moral
John Winthrop
principles that they felt their homeland was lacking. Led
by a man named John Winthrop (who would become
Boston’s first governor), seven hundred Puritans set sail from England aboard a small
fleet of eleven ships and arrived in the already-established settlement of Charlestown.
Most of these settlers left Charlestown rather quickly, crossing the Charles River to the
Shawmut Peninsula, where they founded what would eventually become modern
Boston’s North End. The land to the South was eventually settled for the first time in
1635, by Reverend Richard Mather and a group of one hundred followers. Later, during
the Revolutionary War, South Boston was the site of George Washington’s first military
victory in 1776, at the battle of Dorchester Heights – a conflict that successfully drove
the British army out of the Boston area.
When Boston’s population exploded in the decades after America gained its
independence, city officials were forced to fill in the South Bay, artificially creating the
land on which Southie would be built. Endless rows of townhouses were constructed in
the area on newly paved roads, and merchants and manufacturers began moving their
businesses to the neighborhood. For several decades after its inception, South Boston
was the fastest-growing community in the area, and was not only a fashionable place to
live, but also a profitable market for real estate.
Check out this interactive map,
The History of Land Fill in Boston:
http://www.iboston.org/rg/backbayImap.htm
Good People
2012-2013 Season
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The Irish of Southie
with excerpts from The History Place: Irish Potato Famine
In 1845, the Irish Potato Famine destroyed the livelihood of millions of farmers, forcing
them to seek refuge in America in droves. These immigrants were often extremely poor,
illiterate, and misunderstood by so-called “native” Americans, who saw the Irish as
inferior people not worthy of a
place in the country that the
settlers had built for themselves.
Between 1820 and 1880, over 3.5
million Irish immigrated to the
United States, with a majority
settling in cities along the east
coast. Most of the Irish who came
to Boston settled in Southie,
quickly establishing a close
community with its own culture
Immigrant rail workers
and religious institutions. The
influx of industry into the area
was fueled by this new supply of cheap labor, and the railroad and ship-building
operations in South Boston flourished. Many Irish also worked in iron foundries, which
supplied the Union Army with supplies of metal during the Civil War.
Although they were promised a better life abroad, the Irish of South Boston faced waves
of discrimination and hardship upon their arrival to America. Landlords took advantage
of them, cramming several families into townhouses designed for one, and charging
them excessive rent. Bostonians whose ancestry could be traced back to the Puritans
despised the newcomers for their perceived lack of culture and their religion – Boston
was founded by Protestants, and the Irish still practiced Catholicism. Jammed into tight
quarters, stricken with poverty, and considered by most to be a servant race, the Irish of
Southie gained a reputation for violence and unruliness. Unlike the immigrants who
came before them, the Irish did not assimilate completely into mainstream American
culture; instead, they stuck to their roots and made South Boston their own city. They
persevered and eventually more Irish-American citizens began to seek public office and
take public jobs as policemen or firefighters.
Good People
2012-2013 Season
Page 9
Whitey Bulger and the Irish Mob
with excerpts from the LA Times Blogs; TruTV Crime Library
During the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, South Boston became notorious for being home to the
rise of the Irish Mob – in particular, the
Winter Hill Gang, an infamous group of
extortionists led by James “Whitey”
Bulger. Bulger was a prime example of the
dark side of “Southie Pride:” at once a
Robin Hood figure who captured the
hearts of local residents, and a terrifying
force which loomed over the city and
successfully evaded capture for decades
despite a string of gruesome murders and
numerous criminal rackets.
James “Whitey” Bulger
He was a local kid, born in the Old Harbor Projects, one of the many public housing sites
constructed to help low-income residents during the 1930s. As a street thug in the
1960s, Whitey was captured and did time in Alcatraz for bank robbery. Upon his release,
he returned to his hometown and took control of the Winter Hill Gang with the help of
infamous associates Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi and Kevin Weeks. Although he
committed many high-profile crimes, including a horse race-fixing scheme that nearly
put him back in prison, Bulger was never captured
due to an interesting twist – in addition to being a
mob boss, he was also an FBI informant. With the
help of his handler, Agent John Connolly, Bulger
ratted out his competition to the government in
exchange for his freedom. When his immunity finally
ran out in 1994, Connolly tipped him off about his
impending arrest, allowing him to flee Boston and go
James “Whitey” Bulger
into hiding. He remained on the run until his capture
in 2011; he had been living under an assumed identity in Los Angeles with his girlfriend.
Bulger’s life of crime made him a Southie legend and anti-hero, and inspired numerous
fictional works, including the Oscar-winning film The Departed.
Good People
2012-2013 Season
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Racial Tensions Boston: Anti-Busing Riots of 1976
with excerpts from PBS: Eyes on the Prize; Busing Crisis at South Boston High School
The Irish community of Southie had become increasingly angry towards AfricanAmerican residents of Boston during the 20th century, and vice-versa. The conflict dated
back to the 1850s when Irish immigrants took jobs as servants and manual laborers that
were often the only jobs available to freed black Americans as well.
As both communities grew – the Irish in Southie, and African-Americans in nearby
Dorchester and Roxbury – the loathing between them did as well. When Boston officials
decided to mandate the integration of African-American students into South Boston
High School in 1976, the measure was met with public outrage. Buses of black students
from nearby neighborhoods were met with angry mobs, and black men unfortunate
enough to be caught amidst widespread protests were sometimes beaten and forced to
flee by the crowds. Even the Irish senator Edward Kennedy had rocks thrown at him
during a speech for being in support of desegregation. The racist climate of Southie
soured Boston’s integrity, and shamed the city nationally after the story of the busing
riots and angry town hall protests hit the newspapers. Open fighting over busing in
Southie continued until as recently as 1993.
“The Soiling of Old Glory,” Stanley J. Forman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph. Boston, April 5, 1976.
Good People
2012-2013 Season
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Southie’s Reemergence
Despite its checkered history, South Boston has recently emerged as a community
willing to accommodate change and leave behind the isolation and ruggedness of its
past. Today, Southie is once again home to many new businesses and young families,
and is the site of new buildings with environmentally-friendly designs. Its crime rate has
dropped significantly and local pride manifests itself more in celebrations and local
hangouts instead of racism.
However, there are still places in Southie – including Margie’s sector, the Lower End –
that cling to remnants of the past character of the neighborhood, and have resisted the
gentrification of the area. Some view the working-class attitudes of Southie’s residents
as a sign of nobility, and look at the rough patches of Southie life as being rites of
passage. To many who grew up there, South Boston is a place of legend and a source of
endless pride, a badge of honor to be worn openly without shame. To others, though,
Southie is – in Good People’s Mikey Dillon’s words – still a “black hole,” to be run away
from without looking back.
Walpole State Prison
The Massachusetts Correctional Institution–Cedar Junction (formerly known as MCIWalpole, and still unofficially referred to as such) is an all-male maximum security prison
with a population of around 800, located in Walpole, MA.
Completed in 1955 as a replacement for the aging Charlestown
Prison, the facility is one of two supermax prisons in the state
of Massachusetts. Today, Walpole is a temporary holding
facility where inmates are held until given a permanent prison
MCI-Walpole
assignment. The prison gained notoriety for being one of the
Photo, Commonwealth
most dangerous U.S. prisons during the 1970s, and is still
of Massachusetts
known for its violent environment today. Its name was
changed in the 1980s after a campaign by residents of Walpole; the association of
Walpole with the prison had given the town a bad reputation by proxy.
Good People
2012-2013 Season
Page 12
Gillette
Gillette was founded in 1901 by traveling salesman King C. Gillette,
who had the idea for a disposable razor blade that would not need
sharpening after every use, and could be thrown away and easily
replaced. He received a patent for his razor in 1904, and bought a
six-story building in South Boston in 1905 to manufacture his
products after sales of his razors went up to nearly 100,000 units.
During World War I, the U.S. army ordered millions of his razors for
use by G.I.s, creating a vast number of new consumers who learned
how to use the device during their service. Currently, Gillette
produces other hygiene products as well as razors, along with
writing implements and toothbrushes. Their factory in South
King Gillette
Boston remains their “World Shaving Headquarters.”
Broadway
Broadway is one of South Boston’s busiest main streets, running the length of the
neighborhood and ending in a bridge crossing a rail yard into downtown Boston. The
western portion of Broadway (known as “Big Broadway”) is the location of most of
South Boston’s major shops.
Old Harbor Village
Old Harbor Village was the first public housing
development in New England. Built in the 1930s
opposite Carson Beach in South Boston, the projects
were built as mass housing for lower-income families in
the area. Old Harbor is best known for being the
neighborhood where Whitey Bulger grew up, and for
Old Harbor Village
Photo, Boston Housing Authority
its participation in protests against desegregation in
Boston public schools. Today, the complex is known as
Mary Ellen McCormack, the mother of former Speaker of the US House of
Representatives John W. McCormack who fought for housing and human rights.
Good People
2012-2013 Season
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Columbia Point
Another housing project located in the predominantly African-American neighborhood
of Dorchester, across the bay below South Boston.
Chestnut Hill
Chestnut Hill is a middle-class neighborhood located just outside metropolitan Boston,
bordering the neighborhood of Brookline and in close proximity to the suburb of
Newton. Best known for being the location of Boston College.
Boys and Girls Club
A national organization, similar to the YMCA, that provides
community services to troubled neighborhoods and gives
opportunities for education and fitness to children and teens in
lower-income environments. The BGC location in South Boston
was frequented by playwright David Lindsay-Abaire in his youth,
and he credits the organization with giving him the resources he
needed to find success. The South Boston location provided – and
still provides – local kids with a safe place to hang out and facilities for sports and other
activities, as well as adult mentors; these services are meant to keep youths out of
trouble and encourage community development. Both David Lindsay-Abaire and Mikey
went to the Boys and Girls Club.
“Lace Curtain”
A phrase that probably originated in New England. Irish immigrants used this to describe
other Irish and Irish-Catholic immigrants who would willingly give up their traditional
Irish culture to live a more modern American, or seemingly refined, life by having
smaller families and putting their value on making money to increase their wealth.
Good People
2012-2013 Season
Page 14
Meet the Cast
GLYNIS BELL (Dottie) is delighted to return to Pittsburgh
Public Theater where she appeared in Electra. Some of her
credits after many years in the business are as follows –
Broadway: Harvey, Looped, Amadeus, My Fair Lady, The
Robber Bridegroom, The Time of Your Life, School for Scandal,
Heartbreak House. Off-Broadway: The Morini Strad, Richard
lll, Blithe Spirit, Pera Palas, Badge, Sleep Deprivation
Chamber, Invention for Fathers and Sons. Regional: The Lion
in Winter, Underneath the Lintel, Martha Mitchell Calling,
Doubt, Romeo and Juliet, Woman Before a Glass, The Retreat
from Moscow, Major Barbara, Kid Simple, Pera Palas, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Who’s
Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Inspecting Carol, Six Degrees of Separation, The House of Blue
Leaves, Driving Miss Daisy, The Cherry Orchard, Arms and the Man, The Way of the
World, Macbeth. Television: 12 episodes of various incarnations of “Law & Order,”
“Mercy,” “The Time of Your Life.”
HELEN COXE (Jean) is pleased to be back at Pittsburgh
Public where she appeared in Betty’s Summer Vacation.
Broadway: Sideman. Off-Broadway: In the Middle of the
Night; The Shanghai Gesture; Beauty on the Vine; Bug;
As Bees in Honey Drown; Love, Janis; World of Mirth.
Other credits include Marion Jean (E. 4th Street Theatre),
Anchors (LIA), Silence (Roundtable Ensemble ),The
Gabriel’s and Training Wisteria (Summer Play Festival),
The Dew Point (Centenary Stage), I Coulda Been a
Kennedy (NY Fringe ), A Mouthful of Birds and {wish}
(rUDE mECHANICAL), Blythe Spirit (Public, Maine), My Mother’s a Baby Boy (The Kraine),
Romulus Linney’s Coda and Tennesee (dir. Harris Yulin), and many, many plays at the
Ensemble Studio Theatre. TV: “The Newsroom,” “Made in Jersey,” “Person of Interest,”
“30 Rock,” “Third Watch,” all versions of “Law & Order.” Film: Julie and Julia, The
Rebound, Sherrybaby, Knots, Backseat, Slippery Slope, The Houstaurant. Helen received
her MFA at American Conservatory Theater.
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2012-2013 Season
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JANUARY LaVOY (Kate) is thrilled to return to Pittsburgh
Public Theater (The Piano Lesson) and delighted to be
reunited with Tracy Brigden, who directed her in City
Theatre’s Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge.
Broadway: ENRON. Off-Broadway: Wings (Second
Stage), Coraline (MCC), Two Trains Running, and Home
(Signature Theatre). Regional credits include What I
Learned in Paris (Alliance Theatre); Measure for Measure
(Shakespeare Theatre of NJ); A Streetcar Named Desire,
Lobby Hero, The Merchant of Venice (Denver Center);
and world premiers at the Wilma Theater and the Contemporary American Theater
Festival. She was also a 2010 participant in the Sundance Theatre Lab. Film: War of the
Worlds, High Ground (upcoming). Television: “3 lbs.,” “Law & Order,” “The Guiding
Light,” “All My Children,” and Noelle Ortiz-Stubbs on “One Life to Live.” Voiceover work
includes campaigns for Revlon, Dannon, and Obama for America, and dozens of
audiobooks. MFA: National Theatre Conservatory (Denver). She is married to her
favorite actor, Mat Hostetler. www.januarylavoy.com
KELLY McANDREW (Margaret) is thrilled to be at The Public
working on this amazing play. Kelly was seen last season at
Pittsburgh’s City Theatre in Precious Little (also directed by
Tracy Brigden). Broadway: Maggie the Cat, Cat on a Hot Tin
Roof (with Ned Beatty). Off-Broadway: Still Life (MCC), The
Cataract (The Women’s Project), Book of Days (Signature
Theatre). Other New York theater: Brendan (First Irish Festival),
Greedy (Clubbed Thumb), Topsy Turvey Mouse (Cherry Lane
Mentor Project), Trout Stanley (Culture Project), Lyric is Waiting
(kef productions). Regional theaters include: The Old Globe,
Bard Summerscape, The Alley, Huntington Theatre, A.R.T, Arena Stage, George Street
Playhouse, Baltimore Center Stage, St. Louis Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, the Olney
Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Shakespeare
on the Sound. TV: “Smash” (upcoming), “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Gossip
Girl.” Film: In the Family, Everybody’s Fine (with Robert DeNiro), Superheroes, New Guy,
Out of the Darkness.
Good People
2012-2013 Season
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PAUL TERZENBACH (Stevie) was born and raised in Eugene,
Oregon and received his BFA from Mason Gross School of
the Arts at Rutgers University. Recent theater credits
include Philotis/Cardinal in Tis Pity She’s a Whore, Tommy
in Empirical, (Off-Off Broadway), Mercutio in
Shakespeare’s R&J (Hartford TheatreWorks), Autolycus in
The Winter’s Tale (Ruthers Theater Company at
Shakespeare’s Globe in London), Benvolio in Romeo and
Juliet (Rutgers Theater Company). Film/TV credits include
White Boy Brown, The Sisters, and HBO’s “Mildred Pierce.”
DAVID WHALEN (Mike) returns to The Public where was
seen in God of Carnage, As You Like It, Electra, A
Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Royal Family. He just
appeared in August: Osage County for The REP. This
summer, he played Vershinin in Three Sisters and the title
role in Ivanov for the Chekhov Festival with Pittsburgh Irish
& Classical Theatre. Also for PICT: The Mask of Moriarty,
Doubt, Stuff Happens, Julius Caesar, Betrayal, and many
others. For City Theatre, he was seen in The Monster in the
Hall, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Opus, Speak American, and
The Morini Strad. Other Pittsburgh credits: Quantum in
Cymbeline, barebones’ Take Me Out (director). He played Padraic in The Lieutenant of
Inishmore at St. Louis Rep (2009 Kevin Kline Award for Best Actor). He is a former
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Performer of the Year. He played Claudius in Hamlet at the
Folger Theatre (2010 Helen Hayes Award, Best Production). He has appeared across the
country, Europe, and in New York including: The Roundabout, South Coast Rep (10
productions), Alley Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Arden Theatre, Hartford
Stage, The Roundhouse, Center Stage, Huntington Theatre, Laguna Playhouse, McCarter
Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Venice’s Biennale Festival, among others. TV & Film: Jack
Reacher, 61*, The Xmas Tree, Black Dahlia, My Bloody Valentine, True Blue, Indictment,
“Three Rivers,” “Silk Stalkings,” “Diagnosis: Murder,” “All My Children,” and “The
Guiding Light.”
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2012-2013 Season
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Meet the Director
TRACY BRIGDEN (Director) is thrilled to return to Pittsburgh Public Theater where she
last directed Arthur Miller’s The Price. Tracy is in her 12th season as Artistic Director of
City Theatre. Most recently at City, she directed the American premiere of The Monster
in the Hall by David Greig, the world premiere of Louder Faster by Jeffrey Hatcher and
Eric Simonson, as well as more than 30 productions including premieres of plays by
Christopher Durang, Keith Reddin, Adam Rapp, Helen Edmundson, Eve Ensler, and
Steven Dietz. Prior to coming to Pittsburgh, Tracy was Associate Artistic Director of
Hartford Stage and Artistic Associate for Manhattan Theatre Club. Other directing
credits include productions at both regional and New York theaters, including the
Hangar Theatre, the Atlantic Theater Company, TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, and the
Westport Playhouse. Her next project will be the regional premiere of Seminar by
Theresa Rebeck at City Theatre this January.
Good People
2012-2013 Season
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Theater Etiquette
Things to remember when attending the theater
When you visit the theater you are attending a live performance with actors that are
working right in front of you. This is an exciting experience for you and the actor.
However, in order to have the best performance for both the audience and actors there
are some simple rules to follow. By following these rules, you can ensure that you can
be the best audience member you can be, as well as keep the actors focused on giving
their best performance.
1. Turn off all cell phones, beepers, watches etc.
2. Absolutely no text messaging during the performance.
3. Do not take pictures during the performance.
4. Do not eat or drink in the theater.
5. Do not place things on the stage or walk on the stage.
6. Do not leave your seat during the performance unless it is an emergency.
If you do need to leave for an emergency, leave as quietly as possible and
know that you might not be able to get back in until after intermission.
7. Do clap—let the actors know you are enjoying yourself.
8. Do enjoy the show and have fun watching the actors.
9. Do tell other people about your experience and be sure to ask questions and
discuss the performance.
Good People
2012-2013 Season
Page 19
Pennsylvania Academic Standards
Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening
1.2 – Students read, understand, and respond to essential content in a variety of informational
texts and documents.
1.3 – Students analyze the characteristics and effectiveness of the play, the use of literary
elements, and the use of literary devices.
1.4 – Students compose dramatic scenes where they work to construct dialogue, develop
character, and outline plot.
1.6 – Students listen critically; respond with appropriate questions, ideas, information, or
opinions; and demonstrate awareness of audience using appropriate volume and clarity in
speaking presentations.
1.9 – Students analyze the techniques of media messages to evaluate how they influence
society.
Civics and Government
5.2 – Students analyze citizens’ rights and responsibilities, and analyze citizens’ roles in the
political process toward the attainment of goals for individual and public good.
Economics
6.1 – Students analyze how choices are made because of scarcity, and how incentives cause
people to change their behavior in predictable ways.
6.5 – Students define wealth, and analyze how risks influence business decision-making.
Geography
7.1 – Students explain and locate regions and their shared connections as defined by physical
and human features.
7.3 – Students explain the human characteristics of places and regions according to population,
culture, settlement, economic activities, and political activities.
History
8.1 – Students compare the interpretation of historical events and sources, considering the use
of fact versus opinion, multiple perspectives, and cause and effect relationships.
8.3 – Students compare the role groups and individuals played in the societal, political, and
economic development of the U.S., and interpret how conflict and cooperation among groups
and organizations have impacted the growth and development of the U.S.
Good People
2012-2013 Season
Page 20
Arts and Humanities
9.1 – Students know and recognize elements and principles of the theatre art form; identify and
use comprehensive vocabulary within the theatre art form; communicate a unifying theme or
point of view through the theatre production; explain the function and benefits of rehearsal
and practice sessions; and know where arts events, performances, and exhibitions occur and
how to gain admission.
9.2 – Students explain the historical, cultural, and social context of a work of art; analyze a work
of art from its historical and cultural perspectives; and know and apply appropriate vocabulary
used between social studies and the arts and humanities.
9.3 – Students evaluate works in the arts and humanities using a complex vocabulary of critical
response.
9.4 – Students describe to what purpose philosophical ideas generated by artists can be
conveyed through works in the arts and humanities, and describe how the attributes of the
audience’s environment influence aesthetic responses.
Career Awareness and Preparation
13.1 – Relate careers to individual and personal interests, abilities, and aptitudes.
13.4 – Identify and describe the basic components of a business plan.
Pennsylvania Common Core Standards
On July 1, 2010, the Pennsylvania State Board of Education adopted the Common Core State
Standards in English language arts and mathematics. The regulations pertaining to these
standards took effect upon their publication in the October 16, 2010 edition of the Pennsylvania
Bulletin. The transition to Common Core will begin during the 2010-2011 school year, with full
implementation by July 1, 2013.
English Language Arts
CC.1.3 – Reading Literature: Students read and respond to works of literature – with an
emphasis on comprehension, making connections among ideas and between texts with a focus
on textual evidence.
CC.1.5 – Speaking and Listening: Students present appropriately in formal speaking situations,
listen critically, and respond intelligently as individuals or in group discussions.
http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/current_initiatives/19720/common_core_state_standa
rds/792440
Good People
2012-2013 Season
Page 21
References
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Good People
2012-2013 Season
Page 26

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