IN THIS ISSUE:

• Six Degrees of Separation Reviews
• Sponsors Six Degrees of Separation
• Program Notes - Six Degrees of Separation
• Since Africa - Now Playing
• Sponsors Since Africa
• Program Notes - Since Africa
• Kingdom Starts February 14
• Sponsors Kingdom
• Kingdom Writer and Director Interviews
• Education Experiences - Building Community
• Kingdom Hip Hop Dance Party
• Last Chance to Pave Your Name in Stone
• Restaurant Partner of the Month
• 2009 Theatre Tours
• Thursday Club Rummage Sale

Photos (L-R): Karen Ziemba and Samuel Stricklen; Cast from Six Degrees of Separation; Donald Sage Mackay and Keliher Walsh. Photos by Craig Schwartz.

CRITIC'S CHOICE! "Directed by Trip Cullman with propulsive energy and plenty of dramatic (not to mention literal) color, the play is a reminder that long before the whole world was within one mouse-click of, say, Kevin Bacon, there was a deep fascination with the idea of a small world, and a desire to bask in the flattery of being linked to the luminous."
– SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE

“One of the strongest American plays of the postwar era. Broadway is due for a revival of 'Six Degrees of Separation'. When it comes, I hope it's this good."
TERRY TEACHOUT- WALL STREET JOURNAL

"Ziemba beautifully etches this woman of privilege who slowly comes to realize there is a very different and starkly real world outside her safe ivory tower."
—THEATERMANIA

"Six Degrees' still potent two decades later."
NORTH COUNTY TIMES

"Director Trip Cullman shows a good sense of the play’s collage-like form — comedy, farce, infomercial, direct address, drama, each tumbling out of the other."
SAN DIEGO READER

SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION
Now Playing - February 15
By John Guare
Directed by Trip Cullman
Old Globe Theatre

The Kittredges' lives revolve around the high-stakes world of the New York art scene, where the appearance of success is everything. One evening as they are entertaining at their Upper East Side home, a young man claiming to be a college friend of their children shows up at their front door injured and asking for help. He is a charming young man who enchants the couple with a home-cooked gourmet meal and regales them with stories of his famous father. As their involvement with him takes unexpected twists and turns, they begin to question not only his identity but their own. A hit on Broadway that became an acclaimed motion picture with Will Smith, Stockard Channing, and Donald Sutherland, this intriguing play probes the allure of celebrity and the games we play to elevate our own significance. For Mature Audiences; Contains Nudity. BUY TICKETS

THE LIPINSKY FAMILY
Elaine and Jeffrey Lipinsky, along with Jeff’s wife Sheila, continue the tradition of tremendous support to the Globe that their family began in 1978. The Lipinskys began attending The Old Globe in the 1950s and the family’s tradition of generous support established by the late Dorris and Bernard Lipinsky lives on. The family plays a major role in the success of The Old Globe through their generous donations of time and financial support. Sheila Lipinsky has served for many years as a member of The Old Globe’s Board of Directors and its Executive Committee, and is a former chair of the Education Committee. Jeffrey and Elaine also stay active with the Globe through their support of theatre events and education endeavors. The Old Globe thanks the Lipinsky Family for their continued generosity.

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES
For more than 15 years, Continental Airlines has provided Globe artists non-stop service between San Diego and Continental Airlines’ New York area hub, Newark Liberty International Airport. As one of the world’s largest airlines, Continental carries approximately 69 million passengers each year. For the fifth consecutive year, Fortune Magazine ranked Continental number one World’s Most Admired Airline on its 2008 list of World’s Most Admired Companies. Continental’s commitment to the communities it serves remains a major priority and Continental supports charitable organizations of various interests and concerns across the country. Continental Airlines’ previous production support includes underwriting for Sea of Tranquility, Restoration Comedy, The Times They Are A-Changin’, Take Me Out, Bus Stop, Stones in His Pockets and Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All.

PROGRAM NOTES - Six Degrees of Separation

FROM PREFACE OF HIS PLAY
John Guare, Playwright

A writer learns his or her life as a writer is entrusted to work being done in a room, a studio, an atelier not at the top of a stair but hidden somewhere within the mind. Why the hell is the place that is truly us the place that is most inaccessible? And a writer grows to hate that room and its gnawing presence and its inaccessibility. A writer’s life becomes a history of the trek of how he or she returns to that room down a path as trustworthy as mercury. The writer strews the path with booze or drugs or lies and resentments and fear of abandonment and despair and jealousy and self loathing and hatred that we have lost the way to that path which is most us. Because the inhabitants of that room demand attention when they are ready or else they will drive us mad. You didn’t try hard enough to find me. You didn’t structure your life in the right way to hear us when we called. But you have to go on living. This is not Dostoevsky. This is not Byron.

I heard about an event in 1983. Read about it in the papers. Forgot the event. Or thought so. Six years later in 1989 I was breaking my back trying to solve a play and also working on a film script that I liked but that would also pull double duty of paying to support my playwrighting habit. Overwhelmed? My plate was very filled.

And of course what’s when the knocking started. Six Degrees of Separation – title and all – announced it was ready and must be collected and everything else put aside. Now! The workshop had spent the past six years collecting data, reworking, inventing, finding a style of narrative. Luckily the call didn’t come during an appendectomy or wartime invasion or a loved one’s emergency or a parachute jump. It came when I was in proximity to my pen.

Which I picked up. Because you cannot say to that knocking: Later. Or not right now. It’s perverse, that unconscious. It only shows up at the most inappropriate time, when it’s not been asked for. I wrote the play. I showed it to the people at Lincoln Center. It went into production.

Jack DePalma, Play Development Director recently sat down with director Trip Cullman to discuss his thoughts about Six Degrees of Separation.

Jack: Tell me about what attracted you to this play?

Trip: I feel that this play is a masterpiece. The first thirty minutes of it are the best first thirty minutes of any American play ever written. It (depicts) the kind of dinner party that as a New Yorker you always dream of either having or attending. I immediately latched onto this idea of transgression, that these people are living in this ivory tower above Fifth Avenue in this hermetic perfect palace world and the idea of Ouisa reaching out beyond the walls of this Eden that she’s created for herself and how the act of empathy or reaching beyond those walls shatters the walls and all of a sudden the World, invades upon her psyche and she’s forever transformed by that. I thought that was quite exciting and I think it’s the theme of transgression actually, that goes throughout the play whether it’s how the Mormon kid is seduced by Paul and sleeps with him all the way up to what Paul does with Ouisa and Flan.

Jack: In 1990, this play captured the zeitgeist of that time. Sometimes plays like that don’t stand the test of time. Six Degrees absolutely does.

Trip: As all truly great plays do. I do think we have progressed in terms of race in this country. I don’t know if it’s as politically or socially incendiary as it was then but certainly as a piece of writing, as a piece of art absolutely it still has incredible power. I think the dialogue is among the best dialogue ever and also his ability to etch fully three dimensional characters who appear for like a page, that I think is really extraordinary.

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L-R: Linda Gehringer as "Diane MacIntyre" and Warner Miller as "Ater Dahl". Background: Kristin D. Carpenter as "The Nameless One." Photo by Craig Schwartz.

SINCE AFRICA
January 24 - March 8
By Mia McCullough
Directed by Seema Sueko
Old Globe Theatre

A recently widowed socialite and her daughter
volunteer to help a “Lost Boy of Sudan” relocate to a major American city. The African refugee tries to leave his past behind and forge a new life but finds he is mystified by American ideas of art, ritual, and family.As the two women get to know the young man and his fellow immigrants, their notions about Africa and their own experience of loss are transformed forever.
BUY TICKETS

The mission of the James Irvine Foundation is to expand
opportunity for the people of California to participate in a vibrant, successful and inclusive society. The Foundation generously supports the arts, fostering creativity and nurturing a rich cultural environment throughout the state. One of four California organizations selected in 2008 to receive an Irvine Foundation Artistic Innovation Fund grant, The Old Globe launched the Southeastern San Diego (SSD) Residency Project to establish the Globe as an artistic resource for the community. The Foundation’s grant includes support for an extended run of Since Africa to accommodate free student matinees and offer increased access to residents of southeastern San Diego.

The Old Globe salutes Bank of America as a valued partner in providing world-class theatre and outstanding arts education programs. Through Bank of America’s support, students from San Diego and Imperial Counties will have the opportunity to attend free matinee performances of Globe productions Since Africa and Kingdom. Bank of America has previously sponsored Globe productions of Beethoven, As I Knew Him, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, What the World Needs Now, The Real Thing and Time and Again. Brian Wineke, Market Executive and Managing Director of Pacific Southwest Markets for U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management, serves on the Globe’s Board of Directors.

The Old Globe's production of Mia McCullough's Since Africa, with accompanying educational programs and community activities, is supported by a grant from The National Endowment for the Arts, a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established, bringing the arts to all Americans, and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Arts Endowment is the nation's largest annual funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases. For more information, please visit www.arts.gov.

PROGRAM NOTES - Since Africa

Mia McCullough, the author of Since Africa, recently answered some questions from Jack DePalma, the Play Development Director at the Globe.

How did you come to write this play?
I had read an article about The Lost Boys in the NY Times Magazine. It had really intrigued me, but not inspired a story. Then, I saw a well-heeled North Shore woman in the local grocery store showing the cereal aisle to a very confused looking young Dinka man in ill-fitting, second-hand clothes, and I thought: “This relationship must be so bizarre.”

So the play started with Diane and Ater. And then Reggie popped in, and then Eve. So much of writing this play has been an on-going struggle to access Ater on an emotional level. Most refugees who have experienced severe trauma are necessarily very emotionally disassociated, which is a difficult feature in a major character. A constant challenge has been figuring out how to crack Ater open. Dinka culture tends to be stratified by age. Closer bonds are far more common in people of similar age. So Eve became essential to seeing other sides of Ater.

Unfortunately it wasn't enough. The feedback on the play was that it felt far more weighted towards Diane's story. And while I think, in many ways, Diane's journey is more central, or primary, I wanted to open up the story to Ater; bring more Africa into this American setting.

Can you talk about The Nameless One? How did you come upon this device?
My initial impulse to write the story came from a desire to put African culture and American culture side by side and see the contrast. I really started to think about what our rituals are. Western culture has so few rituals. We've abandoned so many, or the ones that we've kept have lost most of their meaning. I wanted to find a way to bring ritual on stage.

And then there was this other odd thing happening. I had statues popping up in all these scenes. These statues of women and girls (only one is left in the current version of the play). And the characters would talk about them, imbue them with personality and flaws. And I kept thinking, what are they doing there? I kept wanting them to be alive. The Nameless One came out of that. And the more developed she became, the more I was able to access Ater's emotional life, and the better the audience response became. Once she was up and moving on stage I knew: “Yes, this is it. This is the connective tissue that was missing. She was always there. She just wasn't always moving around."

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PARAPUOL The Dinka people populate most of Southern Sudan, and the majority of The Lost Boys come from this ethnic tribe. In traditional Dinka culture, parapuol marks one's initiation from childhood into adulthood. Through a ritual of scarification, tribal marks are cut into the forehead of the initiate, usually around the age of 12. Those who have gone through parapuol are considered to be the warriors or guardians of the tribe.

INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR
Director Seema Sueko sat down with Jack DePalma, the Globe’s Play Development Director to discuss Since Africa.

Jack: You directed this play at the Mo’olelo Performing Arts Center where you are the Artistic Director. How will this production differ?

Seema: Well, I think the biggest difference was having more space. The other production was in Diversionary Theatre, a tiny pie-sized stage. So here, we’ll be at the Copley with much more space and a little more freedom. Because of that we knew we wanted to represent a little of Africa somewhere and that’s where the light boxes on the walls pour these images out. We wanted to do that so we could support The Nameless One a little bit more in this production.

Jack: Let’s talk about The Nameless One.

Seema: She’s very much an African spirit, in her early twenties, so youngish but not a child. She is an ancient presence, timeless and that she’ll help everyone on their journey. I envision that she was with The Lost Boys when they walked across Sudan twice, and she was with them protecting them when we meet her. I hope to kind of present that in the first prelude that will open with the sound of wind and footsteps, people walking through the brush and then lights on her walking and it turns into a representation – a dance representing a bit of The Lost Boys experience. Then she meets Diane, who’s on her trip to Africa – who’s shopping and who purchases this shield that The Nameless One has — this purchase brings The Nameless One home with her who then sees Diane’s need and Ater’s need.

Jack: So it’s really Diane that makes her appear, not Ater. Or does Ater complete her?

Seema: Exactly. It’s this transaction that brings her into Diane’s world but she’s probably been with Ater long before.

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KINGDOM
Feb. 14 and 15 at Lincoln High School Performing Arts Theatre
Feb. 19 - 22 at Old Globe Theatre
Music By Ian Williams
Book and Lyrics by Aaron Jafferis
Directed by Ron Daniels
Choreography by Tony Caligagan

Once in a generation a new musical rocks the core of the theatre world and brings audiences to the edge of their seats. KINGDOM is that musical. KINGDOM fuses hip-hop, rock and Latin music to create a truly original score for the musical theatre. KINGDOM chronicles the story of two young men who quit their menial jobs and join the Latin King and Queen Nation in search of honor, power and respect. The men and women in this underground movement take them in and open up a new world of hope and possibilities. When tragedy upends their lives, the struggle for leadership of the Nation tears the two friends apart with devastating results. Inspired by true stories, KINGDOM is a groundbreaking new musical that brings us a challenging and ultimately satisfying understanding of these men and women—their lives, their hopes, their struggles, and the choices they make. Contains Strong Language.
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KINGDOM is supported,in part, by the following generous sponsors:
	The mission of the Legler Benbough Foundation is to improve the quality of life of the people in the City of San Diego. The Foundation made an extraordinary commitment to supporting the Globe’s production of Kingdom because this is a play that aims to make a difference. Like Andres, Juan and Marisa, young people in San Diego have to make tough choices about how to live their lives every single day. Playwright Aaron Jafferis said that he sees Kingdom “as the beginning of a difficult, fresh, practical conversation about how to survive and thrive when you weren’t born with those tools in your kit.” The Legler Benbough Foundation is known for actively encouraging San Diegans to engage in open dialogue and find collaborative solutions. The Old Globe applauds the Foundation’s willingness to address such a wide range of issues and challenges, such as rebuilding disadvantaged communities; preserving valuable cultural assets like Balboa Park for future generations; and establishing San Diego’s Center for Ethics in Science and Technology.
	The mission of the James Irvine Foundation is to expand opportunity for the people of California to participate in a vibrant, successful and inclusive society. The Foundation generously supports the arts, fostering creativity and nurturing a rich cultural environment throughout the state. One of four California organizations selected in 2008 to receive an Irvine Foundation Artistic Innovation Fund grant, The Old Globe launched the Southeastern San Diego (SSD) Residency Project to establish the Globe as an artistic resource for the community. The Foundation’s grant includes support for an extended run of Since Africa to accommodate free student matinees and offer increased access to residents of southeastern San Diego.
	The Old Globe salutes Bank of America as a valued partner in providing world-class theatre and outstanding arts education programs. Through Bank of America’s support, students from San Diego and Imperial Counties will have the opportunity to attend free matinee performances of Globe productions Since Africa and Kingdom. Bank of America has previously sponsored Globe productions of Beethoven, As I Knew Him, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, What the World Needs Now, The Real Thing and Time and Again. Brian Wineke, Market Executive and Managing Director of Pacific Southwest Markets for U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management, serves on the Globe’s Board of Directors.
County Supervisor Bill Horn	Kingdom is supported, in part, by a Community Projects grant awarded by Supervisor Bill Horn to support the Globe’s Play Development and Major Works Program. The Old Globe thanks Supervisor Bill Horn and the San Diego County Board of Supervisors for valuing and supporting the arts. Through the County’s Community Projects and Community Enhancement programs, non-profit organizations receive funding for programs that improve the quality of life for County residents and visitors and promote economic development and tourism.
	The City of San Diego and Commission for Arts & Culture The Old Globe congratulates the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture for twenty years of outstanding service, continually advocating on behalf of the arts and culture community. The Commission’s vision for a vibrant and successful San Diego recognizes arts and culture as a major factor in improving the local economy while enhancing the quality of life for both residents and visitors.
	The San Diego Foundation is supporting the Globe’s Southeastern San Diego Residency Project through a grant made possible by The James Irvine Foundation; Ariel W. Coggeshall Fund; and The San Diego Foundation Community Endowment Fund. The Old Globe thanks The San Diego Foundation’s Arts & Culture Working Group and the Foundation’s Board of Governors for supporting the development of innovative new performance and training programs that will engage students and residents of southeastern San Diego in the art of theatre.
AND A VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO... Mayor Jerry Sanders and the San Diego City Council The City of San Diego’s investment in The Old Globe helps the theatre sustain a year-round production schedule of more than 630 performances and a provide variety of community programs for children and adults. Mayor Jerry Sanders, Councilmember Tony Young and Globe Executive Producer Lou Spisto at the opening of The Old Globe Technical Center in southeastern San Diego. City Councilmember Tony Young With the opening of The Old Globe Technical Center, the theatre gained a second home in City Council District Four. Councilmember Young welcomed the Globe into the community and has actively supported the launch of The Old Globe Southeastern San Diego Residency Project – a comprehensive, multi-faceted project that include the innovative play development program that is supporting the Globe’s production of Kingdom. He also approved Community Development Block Grant funding for improvements to the Tech Center facility.   The Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation Pete Ellesworth Lincoln High School Southeastern San Diego Economic Development Corporation The San Diego Police Department Gang Unit Michael Brunker and Jackie Robinson YMCA Writerz Blok

KINGDOM INTERVIEWS

Jack DePalma, the Globe's Play Development Director recently had conversations with both Aaron Jafferis, the book and lyrics writer for Kingdom and Ron Daniels, the director.

Jack: What was the genesis of Kingdom?

Aaron: I grew up in New Haven, Connecticut (and was) in high school at a time when violence in the city was at a high especially with young people being killed because of gang related things. Crack was at its height and so there were drug feuds and territory feuds, gang wars and what not. I lost classmates and former friends and brothers and sisters of classmates and started thinking both about why this was happening and also what folks who were surviving and who were not succumbing to this were doing and how they managed. Ten years later I was back in New Haven, teaching and things had really quieted down a lot, but gangs were starting to resurface and youth violence was on the upswing. I felt like it was the responsibility of me and my generation who had gone through that already and had learned our lessons to share what we had learned with kids coming up. So I decided that I wanted to write a show about this. I had started out writing hip hop poetry and theatre, performing my own stuff. I wrote a show about race and in particular white people, like me, and then decided I wanted to write a bigger show with more characters. That is why I decided to go to NYU. That’s where I met Ian and we decided to write about the themes I already mentioned.

Stars of Kingdom perform at the September 6 NYMF press conference.

Jack: How did this story come to be? Was this something based on people that you knew or did this come organically?

Aaron: This was a combination. There were two kids that I went with to elementary and middle school whom I was friends with when I was very young. Then our paths started to diverge . One of them was killed probably by a rival drug dealer and the other killed himself, so part of my desire to write this show was to figure out what happened to them, where they went and why and how our paths diverged. So there is something of their stories in Kingdom. When it comes to the Latin Kings in particular, I didn’t grow up around or with any Latin Kings but at the time we were thinking about writing this show, I had gotten to know current and former Kings and Queens in New Haven. So because I knew folks first hand and that the Latin Kings were much more interesting and complicated and deep in many ways than other gangs in New Haven, it made sense to combine the story of these kids that I grew up with that were not Latin Kings with the people who I know now along with stories of folks who I read about in the newspaper and other sources. So it is a combination of various people who I knew and know and some stuff just sprang from my imagination.

Jack: Your director, Ron Daniels, , has talked about the Shakespearean dimensions of Kingdom . Were you conscious of that while writing?

Aaron: I love that Shakespeare tackles big themes through characters and I think that is something that we are trying to do with Kingdom. We never were consciously trying to follow a Shakespearean model. The themes in Macbeth are ones that have kind of come up a lot, themes of need for power and fear, paranoia that can come with that and particularly the sacrifices that we make as human beings when we strive for power. To be empowered, to have power over others and how that eats away at our humanity. We hope to explore that in our case and so I think Shakespeare is an inspiration in terms of theme and character and also the idea that characters can speak in heightened language. We might not ordinarily be hearing folks talk like this on the street but hip hop uses heightened language so our characters who are part of the hip hop generation do as well.

Jack:  I think there is a connection between the poetry of Shakespeare and the poetry of rap in this context.

Aaron: When I’m writing from an intense emotional place for a particular character and so that momentum just kind of naturally carries me and the character into rhyme speech, into rap because rap is all about momentum, how one rhyme one word play leads to the next. As the emotion pulls the character forward the words also acquire a momentum and identity that both reflects and propels the feeling of the moment. For that reason it just makes sense when I’m writing theatre to be writing rap.

Jack: Why did you identify the gang in Kingdom as The Latin Kings rather than a fictional gang?

Aaron: If we are living in a dangerous time or difficult time or a violent time, I think we have a responsibility as theatre artists to explore that . I grew up going to a lot more theatre and you know repertory theatre in New Haven which like the Old Globe is part of the regional theatre movement and which exists in an urban environment but whose audience often consist of people who do not have to encounter or deal with first hand a lot of the problems and wonders of that specific urban environment. Ever since then I was interested in bringing those very specific problems and specific assets and wonderful things about New Haven or Harbor City to folks who might want to avoid that.

Jack: Kingdom takes a microcosm of a very specific group of people and speaks very universal themes.

Aaron: Yes hopefully.

Jack: You don’t have an axe to grind. We can infer what you think by seeing your story.

Aaron: It has evolved over time. That has been one of the interesting things that has changed over time about Kingdom. When we started we did have a little bit more of an axe to grind and it was more about this political parallel and allegory, with the gang banger, the guy who takes over the gang, being a parallel to George Bush. What we found is that it made it impossible  for us to be really true to the really specific characters in the specific moment in the specific situation and so the characters themselves demanded to be liberated from that axe we had to grind. So I think the story began to be more character driven over time as a result.

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EDUCATION EXPERIENCES
BUILDING COMMUNITY: New Neighbors, New Opportunites

The Old Globe’s new Technical Center in Southeastern San Diego has become the heartbeat of our scenic department as well as the home for our vast collection of props and costumes. Construction of all of our sets will be done in this 33,000 square foot building on Market Street. The move to the new space has taken thousands of hours of hard work for our scenic, properties and costume departments but now the building is humming (or sometimes roaring) with the sounds of drills and saws, and the swish of paint brushes.

The new facility represents the beginning of a new journey for The Old Globe. The theatre has been a part of the Balboa Park landscape for over 70 years and is an integral part of this community. Our full staff has worked on-site throughout the history of the organization (except for the storage facility which recently closed when we moved our belongings to the Market Street site) and the very idea of moving some of our staff elsewhere was intimidating. But the move has taught us something and the organization is embracing a new reality as we face a bright future. That new reality is our membership in a new community.

Southeastern San Diego is a vibrant community with residents who have lived there for their entire lives along with newcomers who hail from the far corners of the world. There are busy restaurants, fascinating shops, performance venues, arts organizations, and much more in this diverse area. And now, there’s The Old Globe Technical Center.

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Old Globe restaurant partner of the month is Mukashi Sushi and Steak located at 2706 5th Ave. Phone (619) 298-1329. Get 25% Off lunch or dinner (anytime) when you mention this email. Go to www.mukashisandiego.com for more information.

2009 THEATRE TOURS

THURSDAY CLUB RUMMAGE SALE

The 82nd Annual Thursday Club Rummage Sale is coming up!  Every year, the Rummage Sale proceeds go to selected community and Balboa Park beneficiaries - this year that includes The Old Globe. This year's event has relocated to the Balboa Park Activity Center at 2145 Park Blvd. (near the Veterans Memorial) and east across Park Blvd. from the World Beat Center. This larger location means more room to shop, more items to select and great deals to be found.  The sale days are Saturday, March 14 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday, March 15 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. In this economy, what better way is there to save money and help benefit our community!

TRIP CULLMAN INTERVIEW continued

Jack: What about the idea that the parents curry favor with their children – the roles are reversed.

Trip: Yes – the parents are terrified of the children, the children hold the power. Part of the reason why the parents are so attracted to Paul in the first place is because of his in (with their children) to say that “oh I know your kids and we were talking about you” so they’re dying to find out what the kids say about them because they have no concrete relationship with their own children so they’re dying to hear about the relationship from someone else. They don’t have any other way in.

Jack: And Paul isn’t the only con artist in the play.

Trip: I mean what is more of a con than the art market?

Jack: Look what they’re doing –getting money so they can borrow money and make that into a lot more money.….

Trip: Absolutely. I love that line where Paul asks Trent whether these are all really really rich people and Trent says “oh no these people are hand to mouth on a higher plateau”, and that’s exactly what it is – where they’re absolutely scheming con-artists as well.

Jack: Are Ouisa and Flan the heirs of radical chic? Do you think if Paul were white – would they have fallen so hard?

Trip: That’s a great question. I think if he were white and the son of Robert Redford, you know what I mean? I think that part of what it is – is the attraction of fame and notoriety and all that kind of stuff. Paul is such an interesting character because I think he’s someone who desperately wants everyone to love him but also is incapable… .

Jack: There’s no malice in him

Trip: None at all – the opposite. I think he’s an open wound and desperate for affection. Paul gives Ouisa and Flan and Geoffrey what they desperately needed and in that way I don’t think it is a con, getting something for nothing – I actually think he provides a great service to all three of those characters.

EDUCATION EXPERIENCES continued

As newcomers to a community, our goal is to meet our neighbors, get to know the area and reach out to serve as a resource. We’ve met principals and teachers in the many schools in the area, service providers for residents of all ages, artists, business owners, community organizers and more. These people are telling us about themselves and helping us to understand what makes our new neighborhood tick. And they are telling us what we can do for them.

The local schools are telling us that they need a place for students to go to meet people working in a field these young people didn’t even know existed. In response to that need, we’ll be hosting tours and workshops for area high school students, giving them the opportunity to talk to our professionals about their work and learn how to make a career in this field.

Local after school programs are telling us that they need professional development for their instructors, many of whom are neighborhood residents. These program instructors will benefit from workshops with our Teaching Artists who will share theatre activities such as improvisation, ensemble-building games, movement and speech exercises, and Readers Theatre techniques. By training the program instructors, our artists will help to build a sustainable community of local teachers who will be able to improve their programs for years to come.

Local community organizers are telling us that we are entering a burgeoning arts and culture district and they want to know what we’ll be doing to enhance the offerings. We’re responding with new ideas for performances at area venues and schools. We’ll seek to provide plays that meet the same high standards we hold for our productions here in Balboa Park and will introduce students and families to our work with presentations at sites close to home. The first of these offerings is our production of the new hip-hop musical, Kingdom, which will be performed at the new Lincoln High School as well as on the Old Globe stage in February, 2009.

None of this work would be possible without the incredible support of the San Diego Foundation and the Irvine Foundation whose grants will help us to focus our efforts and bring ideas to fruition.
We’re excited about the new ideas and opportunities that are coming our way as a result of the move to the Tech Center and we look forward to making new friends and sharing what we do with our new neighbors.

For more information about The Old Globe’s Education programs contact: Roberta Wells-Famula, (619) 238-0043 x2144

These programs are underwritten by generous grants from The James Irvine Foundation, Legler Benbough Foundation and San Diego Foundation. Financial support is provided by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture. Additionally, City Councilmember Anthony Young and his staff have been extremely helpful, as the Globe acquired this property and began developing relationships with neighborhood organizations and schools.

SINCE AFRICA PROGRAM NOTES continued

The Diane/Reggie relationship is prickly. Diane is non-religious. Do you find that it’s hard for non-religious people to relate to clerics, Or is this just Diane’s problem?
I do think it's difficult for many non-religious people to relate to clerics. I think there's a little fear, mistrust, an inherent belief that they will have nothing in common. Many non-religious people, including myself, tend to be very judgmental of people of the cloth. A lot of Diane's hackles in the Diane/Reggie scenes are my own. And in writing those scenes I really had to confront my own biases and my own naiveté. Diane's biggest problem is that she has a "disbelief system" instead of a "belief system." So even if Reggie is wrong about God, his belief is active and positive and it makes him strong; whereas Diane's disbelief is inherently negative and does not make her strong or serve her in a time of crisis. I'm not saying we need to believe in God to be strong. We need to believe in something to be strong. I see a lot of empty belief in this country: people going to church out of habit instead of out of need. Rituals that have more to do with TV and shopping and checking our e-mail than in getting in touch with something larger than ourselves. And I believe there is something larger than ourselves. And The Nameless One represents that something. And she is desperate for Diane to recognize her.

LOST BOYS

In the 1980s a group of boys fled their villages in
Southern Sudan. They were orphans and were afraid that they would be slaughtered as many of their families had been by government troops. Some boys were as young as 6 years old. They are called the “Lost Boys” because they had to fend for themselves without parents or elders. The Lost Boys walked a very dangerous route across rivers and deserts from the country of Sudan to Ethiopia. When they reached Ethiopia they were sent back to Sudan and finally ended up in refugee camps in Kenya.

Sudanese refugees have gone to the UK, USA and France. In 2001 the U.S. government agreed to allow 3,600 Lost Boys to begin new lives in America.

THE DINKA

The Dinka originate from 3,000 BC and are believed to have introduced the idea of farming cows. They are one of many tribes from Southern Sudan. They were farmers, cowherds, high court judges, civil administrators and doctors. They were the South’s richest and proudest tribe. Traditional homes were made of mud walls with thatched conical roofs, which might last about 20 years. Cattle have important religious meaning and are never eaten as meat. They have beautiful poetry and songs for holidays, praise to their ancestors and the living, field work, preparation for war and initiation ceremonies. Women make pottery, and weave baskets and mats while men are blacksmiths.
In the 1930s, Christian missionaries went to Southern Sudan to convert the Dinkas into Christians. Although the Government has tried to make the country an Islamic one, the South has rejected this religion. Sadly, the Dinkas have been deeply affected by the war. The chaos of war has led to lost dialects and shaken beliefs. The separation and murder of family members has meant that the tradition of caring for the elderly by extended family no longer exists. Dinkas were forced from their homes in the South and to refugee camps. Some moved to Darfur were they have been affected by the conflict there.

Photo above: The photo above shows a “Corseted Dinka Man” in Sudan. Besides cattle, the most coveted possession of a Dinka man is an intricately beaded corset. This corset is sewn on tightly and worn until marriage. The height of the beaded wire at the back indicates that the wearer comes from a family rich in cattle.

SEEMA SUEKO INTERVIEW continued

Jack: Ater is trying to find his place here and there is a continuity. Maybe that’s his completeness so he can be here but he has that past too.

Seema: Yes, throughout the play she’s trying to remind him, don’t forget where you came from. You know there’s that scene where they go shopping and he’s got that polo shirt on and she’s there to remind him and after the phone call she’s there – she’s the one, she pushes him to make that phone call, so she’s very much reminding him of where he belongs. She does the same with the other characters too. With Reggie she sees a man of the cloth but it’s all through this Western perspective and she’s trying to connect him to more ancient tribal spirituality and she succeeds in that. He’s going to go to Africa by the end of the play. It’s interesting, I think at the start of the play Reggie’s the character who so knows where he belongs. He belongs at the church, he belongs to this community. He knows what he’s doing but by the end of the play he starts to question it and he’s about to go on his journey and maybe really ask that question or get a different answer.

Jack: Will you have music?

Seema: Yes – lots of music and Paul Peterson is a great sound designer and he’s found some wonderful African sounds that just are dynamic and will really add a lot to the production. We’ve got some great Dinka chanting and some wonderful drums, some great warrior sounds, so I’m very excited about the sound design.

Jack: Great – and you’ve immersed yourself in Dinka culture?

Seema: Well as much as you can. It’s tough because much of the Dinka culture is very much a culture that’s been in war and certain aspects of the culture are disappearing. Even The Lost Boys – they were all between 3 and 7 years old when they fled their villages and then they spent five years walking and then ten years in Kenya at a refugee camp, so even for them the Dinka culture, it’s what they can remember from their childhood.

Jack: Also what I imagine is it’s not a culture that keeps records.

Seema: You’re absolutely right; it’s very much an oral culture.

Jack: This has been great - thank you.

Seema: Thank you.

INTERVIEWS KINGDOM continued

INTERVIEW WITH RON DANIELS

Kingdom, 2006, New York Musical Theatre Festival

Jack: It is a pleasure to talk to you Ron. My first question is what drew you to Kingdom? Why did you choose this of all the things you could do.

Ron: The wonderful thing about the piece in my opinion is that rap allows for an attention to language and to poetry which I find very, very interesting and tallies very much with all my interests in Shakespeare and the use of language in theatre and bizarrely that is what Aaron Jafferis is doing with this piece. Its use of language I find quite stunning so that’s one thing that attracted me to it. It’s kind of like street Shakespeare in a way. It’s colloquial and at the same time it has images and aspirations which are not just prosaic, not just pedestrian, but which soar just like I think Shakespeare’s language soars.

Jack: And it deals with very elemental themes on a grander scale that Shakespeare also would deal with.

Ron: Exactly. And the story to me is quite tragic. I think what the story is actually dealing with is the second thing that I find very attractive. It is the vision of the Latin Kings we have at the first half of the piece and before the death of the leader.  I find enthralling the notion of an organization which is not just simply a gang but is an organization that is a community organization which has philosophical, religious and community roots which are actually something I didn’t know about the Latin Kings. And I find everything they represent in the first half of the piece very attractive and the sense though obviously there are contradictions, which begin to corrode it. The descent into criminality and violence, literal criminality, I find very tragic. That narrative arc, which Aaron and Ian succeed in telling through their poetry and their music I just find unbelievably invigorating.

Jack: The darker aspect of the Latin Kings isn’t immediately apparent.

Ron: That’s right because in theory everything the Latin Kings represent in the first half of the play is what the characters wished for. It’s an organization that supports its members, that gives its members identity. It reminds them of their history. It offers specific community services like unemployment benefits, like cleaning of the parks,  almost like a sort of a shadow government if you like, shadow public services. It is very important this notion of identity and history and it’s very interesting that in the text itself in the Latin King’s meeting,  the quotation (used) comes from Nelson Mandela. And I think that is very sort of indicative of what historically the Latin Kings were in the late 1990s before they plunged into disarray. I think it was very specific and universal.

Jack: I think that is the basis of most of the best theater pieces. As soon as you start being very general it loses a texture, it loses the immediacy. That’s what I think is great about this piece. it is very, very visceral and real.

Ron: It is so rewarding to be working on a piece that goes beyond just simple psychology, that actually does take in a wider social perspective and I love that again that is very much my background. Shakespeare is essentially my landscape and this fits very much into that. I find that very exciting and it reminds me in a way too of my very young days in Brazil.

Jack: How did you meet Aaron and Ian?

Ron: I did a play at Intar by Michael John Garcés, Points of Departure. Aaron saw it and asked me to start working with him and Ian on Kingdom. What I find quite wonderful about Aaron is that he is so willing to listen to everyone. It was wonderful to see him at the feedbacks genuinely engaged to hear what people had to say.   

Jack: Thanks so much, Ron.