Sept 29–Oct 23
Written and Directed by Israel Horovitz
WORLD PREMIERE
Ron Nakahara* (Mr. Takayama/Policeman) Ron attended the University of Hawaii, where he studied with acting teachers Glenn Cannon from NY and Terry Knapp from The Royal Shakespeare Co. In Hawaii, he also trained with noted voice teacher Kristen Linklater and Japan National Treasure Nomura Mansaku in Kyogen Theater. Selected shows: NY–Ping Pong (The Public Theatre,) Ching Chong Chinaman, Rashomon (Pan Asian Repertory Theatre,) Earth and Sky (Second Stage,) The Three Sisters (Pan Asian,) Romeo And Juliet (NYSF/Public Theatre,) As You Like It (NYSF/Public Theatre,) Danton’s Death (LaMama E.T.C.,) The School for Wives (NATCO,) Midsummer Night’s Dream (Pan Asian) REGIONAL– Wild Swans (debut), (Young Vic, London, and A.R.T., Boston,) Snow Falling on Cedars, The Merchant of Venice (Hartford Stage Co.,) Comedy of Errors (The Shakespeare Theatre, D.C.,) The Screens (The Guthrie Theatre,) Othello (Alliance Theatre, Atlanta,) The Empress of China (Cincinnati Playhouse,) Cyrano (ACT, San Francisco,) Taming of the Shrew (ACT,) Diary of a Scoundrel (Hawaii Public Theatre) FILM– The Wolf of Wall Street, Sleepwalk With Me, I Think I Love My Wife, College Road Trip. TV- can be seen currently recurring as Hirochi in Netflix’s Daredevil Season 2; Elementary, NYC 22, The Good Wife, Fringe, 3 LBS., Whoopi, Cosby Mysteries, Law & Order, Law & Order SVU, One Life to Live, As the World Turns, All My Children, Pearl, The Miniseries, Hawaii 5-O (the original).
Paul O’Brien* (Detective/Connie)This will be Paul’s fifteenth production of an Israel Horovitz play over the past thirty years in Gloucester, New York City, Los Angeles, and Florida, including: Henry Lumper, Widow’s Blind Date, Year of the Duck, Unexpected Tenderness, My Old Lady, Sins of the Mother, Lebensraum, and A Christmas Carol. It is also Paul’s tenth appearance with Sandra Shipley at GSC in the last three decades, including: Mr. Horovitz’s Fighting Over Beverly, Hard Times, Two, Benefactors, Life x 3, A Moon for the Misbegotten, Long Day’s Journey into Night, and Dear Liar. Mr. O’Brien has also appeared at GSC in ART, Off-Season, Faith Healer, and Molly Sweeney. Other credits: Broadway: On a Clear Day, The Importance of Being Ernest, Equus, Cymbeline, Democracy, King Lear (with Christopher Plummer), The Crucible (with Liam Neeson), Twelfth Night. Off-Broadway: Da, The Weir, Burial at Thebes (Irish Rep), Hamlet (NYSF), Is Life Worth Living (Mint Theater), Death Defying Acts (Variety Arts), Three Birds Alighting on a Field (MTC), Widow’s Blind Date (Circle in the Square). Regional: Guthrie Theater, Willamstown, Playmaker’s Rep, Actors Theater of Louisville, Geffen Theater, South Coast Rep, Long Wharf, Huntington, Charles Playhouse. Film: Hail, Caesar, The Boy Downstairs, Henry’s Crime, Redacted, What’s the Worst That Could Happen, Devil’s Own, as well as Fairhaven and Manhattan Romance (written and directed by Paul’s son, Tom O’Brien). TV: Search Party, Forever, House of Cards, Person of Interest, Sopranos, Providence, ER, The Practice, Star Trek Voyager, Angel, One Life to Live, Case of Deadly Force, Law and Order (Criminal Intent).
Ashley Risteen (Emily) is thrilled to be in her second Israel Horovitz play (the first being 6 Hotels with Hub Theatre), and first production at Gloucester Stage. She has been active in the Boston theatre scene for two years in appropriate (Speakeasy), The Big Meal, Neighbourhood Watch, and Cakewalk (Zeitgeist), and active in the North Shore and New Hampshire scene for seven years in Speed-the-Plow, Picnic, Last Summer at Bluefish Cove, Panther and Jaguar, A Secret Remedy (The Actor’s Studio of Newburyport), The 39 Steps, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Firehouse Center for the Arts), A Body of Water (WEST in Portsmouth), Ghosts of Ocean House (Player’s Ring in Portsmouth), Rabbit Rabbit (Ghostlight Theatre Co. of New England) and also in Terezin: Children of the Holocaust (The Tank in NYC). She is currently an Actors’ Equity Membership Candidate.
Sandra Shipley* (Franny) This is Sandra’s eleventh production and tenth with Paul O’Brien at the Gloucester Stage Company, beginning with Hard Times at the Blackburn Tavern Theatre thirty years ago in the summer of 1986, and including over the past three decades: Benefactors, Talking Heads, Two, A Moon for the Misbegotten, Life x 3, Long Day’s Journey into Night, Dear Liar, and Israel Horovitz’s Fighting Over Beverley, which she also appeared in at the Arts’ Garage in Del Ray Beach, Florida. Broadway: Blithe Spirit, Equus, Importance of Being Ernest, Pygmalion, Retreat from Moscow, Vincent in Brixton, Indiscretions. Off-Broadway: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (City Center Encore Series), Suddenly Last Summer, Deep Blue Sea, Arms and the Man (Roundabout), Stuff Happens, Venus (Public Theater), Kindertransport (MTC), The Clearing, Once Around the City (Second Stage), Phaedra in Delirium (CSC), Hannah and Martin (Epic Theater) Rutherford and Son (the Mint). National Tours: Anything Goes, Blithe Spirit. Regional: ART, ATL (Humana Festival), Boston Shakespeare Company, Guthrie Theater, Dallas Theater Center, Hartford Stage, La Jolla Playhouse, Long Wharf, Lyric Stage, McCarter, Merrimack Rep, Old Globe, Yale Rep, Williamstown Theater Festival and most recently in The Velocity of Autumn at the White Heron Theater in Nantucket, MA. U.K.: Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Court, West End, Film and TV: Monument Avenue, Law and Order, Law and Order SVU, Third Watch, Lipstick Jungle. Awards: Elliot Norton Medal for Sustained Excellence, Los Angeles Robbie Award, IRNE.
Francisco Solorzano* (Joey) Award winning Filmmaker, Actor and proud member of the newly formed Directors Unit led by Academy Award Winner, Estelle Parsons and acclaimed director, Daniel Talbott at The Actors Studio. Member: Actors Studios PDU, Barefoot Theatre Company, Actor’s Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA. Francisco is thrilled to be working on Man In Snow once again after collaborating with Horovitz on the play for nearly two years (The Actors Studio, GSC and Orlando Shakespeare Theater). Most notably onstage, Francisco adapted, directed and acted in the critically acclaimed/sold-out Off-Broadway world premiere of DOG DAY AFTERNOON (Theatre Row Theatres). He is also known for his leading role in Israel Horovitz’s two-act drama SINS OF THE MOTHER (alongside Ethan Hawke, Chris Cooper, Bobby Cannavale, and Michael Stuhlbarg); the sold-out, critically acclaimed GLOUCESTER BLUE written & directed by Horovitz (Gloucester Stage Co., Cherry Lane) as well as producing the 70/70 Horovitz Project (a year-long, worldwide festival celebrating Israel Horovitz’s 70th Birthday with 70 of his plays) with the Barefoot Theatre Company. THEATER: Collaborated on award winning revivals, NY and World Premieres with some of the most prolific companies including: LABYRINTH THEATER COMPANY, RATTLESTICK PLAYWRIGHTS THEATER, FLORIDA STAGE, GLOUCESTER STAGE CO., ENSEMBLE STUDIO THEATER, ORLANDO SHAKESPEARE THEATRE, STELLA ADLER THEATER, THEATRE ROW THEATRES and many others. FILM: Leash (Cannes Film Festival), Love Simple (HBO Latino Film Festival), Between Something & Nothing (Berlin Film Festival), with Barefoot Studio Pictures, THE GIRL WITH THE JACKET (post-production) written and directed by Caitlin FitzGerald, award winning FLOATING SUNFLOWERS (also dir.) w/ Anna Chlumsky, Lynn Cohen & Christopher Whalen (Hollyshorts Film Festival, Nashville Film Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival, and many others). Most recently wrote and directed A NORTHERN STAR starring Lynn Cohen, Mateo Solorzano and the Barefoot Theatre Company Ensemble (Best Screenplay Semi-Finalist at Hollyshorts Film Festival). Francisco has led the Barefoot Theatre Company as Producing Artistic Director / Co-Founder for the past 17 years from Off-Off Broadway to become a critically acclaimed and award winning NYC and LA Ensemble. Produced the Benefit ROCKAWAY, collaborating with Jesse Eisenberg, Gina Gershon, John Doman, Mickey Sumner, Jose Rivera, Frank Pugliese, Jonathan Marc Sherman and many others at the Cherry Lane Theatre. BFA in Acting: CUNY’S Brooklyn College; Recipient of the Graduate Theater Organization of Brooklyn College, CUNY’s Alumnus of the Year Award. Please visit me at: www.franciscosolorzano.com & www.barefoottheatrecompany.org
Chelsea Kerl (Costume Designer) is very happy to return to Gloucester Stage this season, having designed Gloucester Blue, A Measure of Normalcy, and Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!) last year. Chelsea graduated from Boston University in 2014 with her MFA in Costume Design, and she previously attended the University of Maryland, where she received degrees in both Theatre and English. She has been working as a freelance designer in the Boston area for five years, and her work has been seen at Stoneham Theatre, Wellesley Repertory Theatre, New Repertory Theatre, The Nora Theatre Company, Bridge Repertory Theatre, and Brown Box Theatre Project, among others. Chelsea is also the current Costume Shop Manager, Costume Designer, and Costume Design Adjunct Professor at Wellesley College. More of her work can be seen at www.chelseakerl.com.
Jenna McFarland Lord (Scenic Designer) Jenna has designed for the Gloucester Stage Company since 2003 and was the resident set designer for GSC from 2003–2013. GSC credits include: Gloucester Blue, New Electric Ballroom, Spring Awakening,, Living Together, Table Manners, Trying, Breath of Life, Sins of the Mother, Doubt: A Parable, The Widow’s Blind Date, The Belle of Amherst, My Old Lady, Dinner with Friends, LifeX3, Spinning into Butter, The Loman Family Picnic. Other Boston area credits: Bootycandy, Big Fish, The Color Purple, In The Heights, The Drowsy Chaperone (IRNE award nomination for Best Set Design), The Great American Trailer Park Musical, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Theatre District, and Moonlight Room (SpeakEasy Stage Company); Something’s Afoot, Distant Music (both IRNE award nominations for Best Set Design), It’s a Wonderful Life, Steel Magnolias, The Porch, Guys on Ice, The Mousetrap (Addison Award for Best Set Design) (Stoneham Theatre); The Convert (Elliot Norton for Best Production 2016) (Central Square Theatre); Collected Stories, Cherry Docs (both IRNE award nominations for Best Set Design) (New Repertory Theatre); Groundswell, November, This Wonderful Life (Lyric Stage Company of Boston); The Merry Wives of Windsor, Macbeth (Actors Shakespeare Project); Don Giovanni (New England Conservatory); Noises Off, Oklahoma, The Full Monty, Twelfth Night, Cosi Fan Tutte (The Boston Conservatory); A View from the Bridge, Escape From Happiness (Brandeis University). Off-Broadway: The Secret of Mme. Bonnard’s Bath (New York Playwrights’ Lab). Ms. McFarland Lord received her theatre training at Emerson College and she is currently the set design teacher at the Boston Arts Academy, a public high school for the arts. jennamcfarlandlord.com
Mark O’Maley (Lighting Design) is an instigator of space, bodies, and ideas – who wears his heart on his sleeve and the sky on his arm while working predominantly in lighting design for dance. His work has been produced throughout the United States, Europe, and South America – including off-Broadway and London’s West End. A native of Gloucester, his GSC credits include lighting Park Your Car In Harvard Yard, Fighting Over Beverley and the world premiere of Horovitz’ Fast Hands. Boston credits include: American Repertory Theatre, SpeakEasy Stage, Lorraine Chapman:The Company, Boston Center for the Arts, Actor’s Shakespeare Project, SummerStages Dance, Harvard University, & Concord Academy. New York credits: The Pearl Theatre Company, P.S. 122, La MaMa, Ohio Theatre/Ice Factory Festival, HERE, The Flea Theatre, Dance Theater Workshop, The Joyce Theater, & Brooklyn Academy of Music. National & international work includes: Magnetic Fields (BAM’s Next Wave Festival 2016) Massachusetts MoCA, Denver Center, Orchard Project, Danny Hoch, Fusebox Festival, Rennie Harris Puremovement, Ravenna Teatro, Walnut Street Theatre, David Dorfman Dance, Pilobolus, River North Chicago Dance, Headlong Dance Theater, Michelle Ellsworth, Pig Iron Theater Company, The Wilma Theater, Brighton Festival, New Paradise Laboratories, Delaware Theatre Company, Sadler’s Wells, Northlight Theater, & Dance Chicago. O’Maley is currently the production manager & designer for Rennie Harris Grass Roots Project in Denver, Colorado & an Assistant Professor at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University – where he has designed for such choreographers Yvonne Rainer, Kyle Abraham, Camille A. Brown, Joe Goode, Netta Yerushalmy, & Keith A. Thompson. O’Maley has also served as faculty and the Director of Dance Production at the University of Colorado Boulder. Mark received his BA from the University Without Walls program at the UMass Amherst and his MFA-IA from Goddard College. None of it would have happened without Hamilton-Wenham RHS theater teacher Christopher Shailor. www.markomaley.com
David Reiffel (Sound Designer) At Gloucester Stage: Gloucester Blue. Selected recent Boston area: Blackberry Winter, The Elephant Man, Chesapeake [IRNE nominee] (New Repertory); Hamlet, A Beautiful Day… [Norton award], Blood Wedding, Stupid Fucking Bird [Norton award] (Apollinaire); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (upcoming), Othello, Measure for Measure, As You Like It, Middletown (Actors Shakespeare Project); Coolsville, The Way of the World (The Boston Conservatory); Songs for a New World, Conference of the Birds (Brandeis); A Disappearing Number [IRNE nominee] (Underground Railway); Dogfight, Big Fish, Carrie, The Color Purple (SpeakEasy). Recent national: Shakespeare in Love (upcoming West Coast premiere), Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). Original work: Glory (book/music/lyrics); Cupcake (lyrics, GBA Productions); The Rag Doll [IRNE nominee] (music/lyrics, Blue Spruce). David was a founding member of and, for five years, composer-in-residence for the nationally-acclaimed Cornerstone Theater Company, and is Program Director for NOMTI (New Opera and Musical Theatre Initative). www.davidreiffel.com.
Marsha Smith* (Stage Manager) GSC: Songs For A New World, The Flick, Sweet and Sad, Fences, Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, This is Our Youth, Spring Awakening, Round and Round the Garden, Fighting Over Beverley, Living Together, An Ideal Husband, Tender, Sins of the Mother, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Doubt: A Parable, Widow’s Blind Date, Ponies, The Price. Regional: Violet, Big Fish, SpeakEasy Stage Company; On The Town, Lyric Stage Company of Boston; Burning, The Company We Keep, The Farm, 5 Down 1 Across, Little Black Dress, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre; Einstien’s Dreams, Underground Railway Theater. Education: BFA in Stage Management Emerson College. Marsha lives on her family’s farm in Hudson, NH, and is glad to be back at GSC.
Don Aucoin, The Boston Globe
A mountain guide searches for meaning in ‘Man in Snow’
“…’Man In Snow’ reflects the tautness of construction and vividness of expression that have long been among the hallmarks of Horovitz…”
Ed Siegel, The Artery
Israel Horovitz Premieres ‘Man in Snow’ In Gloucester, Before It Heads To La MaMa in New York
“Jennifer McFarland Lord’s white circular set is simple but stunning, a combination of snowy Alaska and Zen acceptance and transcendence.” “Whether there’s life after death or not, “Man in Snow” is emblematic of how much artistic vitality there is at Gloucester Stage in the here and now.”
Mark Sardella, Wakefield Daily Item
Horovitz hits new heights with ‘Man in Snow’
“…an impressive professional cast.”