The Bridge of San Luis Rey

Thornton Niven Wilder (1897-1975) Born in Madison, Wisconsin, and educated at Oberlin, Yale (B.A. 1920) and Princeton (M.A. 1925), Thornton Wilder was an accomplished novelist and playwright whose works, exploring the connection between the commonplace and the cosmic dimensions of human experience, continue to be read and produced around the world. Wilder is the only writer to win Pulitzer Prizes for both fiction and drama—for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927) and two plays, Our Town (1938) and The Skin of Our Teeth (1942). His other novels include The Cabala, The Woman of Andros, Heaven’s My Destination, The Ides of March, The Eighth Day and Theophilus North. His other major dramas include The Matchmaker (adapted as the musical Hello, Dolly!) and The Alcestiad. The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden, The Long Christmas Dinner and Pullman Car Hiawatha are among his celebrated shorter plays. Wilder also enjoyed success as an essayist, translator, research scholar, teacher, lecturer, actor, librettist and screenwriter.  His screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt (1943) remains a classic psycho-thriller to this day.  Wilder’s many honors include the Gold Medal for Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Book Committee’s Medal for Literature, The Order of Merit (Peru), and the Goethe-Plakette (Germany).  In 1930, with royalties received from The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Wilder built a home for himself and his family in Hamden, CT. Although often away from it for as many as 250 days a year, restlessly seeking quiet places in which to write, Thornton Wilder always returned to “The House The Bridge Built.” He died here on December 7^th, 1975. More information on Thornton Wilder and his family is available in Penelope Niven’s definitive biography, Thornton Wilder: A Life (2013) as well as on the Wilder Family website, www.thorntonwilder.com

DAVID GREENSPAN performed in his adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s The Bridge of San Luis Rey at TRT; has worked with many contemporary playwrights; appeared in his own plays, most notably Dead Mother, She Stoops to Comedy, Go Back to Where You Are, I’m Looking for Helen Twelvetrees, The Things That Were There and his solo plays The Argument and The Myopia; performed solo renditions of Eugene O’Neill’s Strange Interlude, Barry Conners’ The Patsy, Gertrude Stein’s lecture Plays, a program of two Stein lectures and a playlet Composition…Masterpieces…Identity; he is a recipient of Guggenheim, Lortel and Fox fellowships, Alpert, Lambda Literary, Helen Merrill Playwriting awards, a RUTHIE and six OBIES.

Ken Rus Schmoll directed Madeleine George’s Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England and The Women of Padilla by Tony Meneses at Two River Theater. Recent credits include Annie Baker’s John at the American Conservatory Theater, a workshop of Anne Washburn’s 12-hour play The Octavia at the University of Washington School of Drama, MJ Kaufman’s Sagittarius Ponderosa for the National Asian American Theatre Company, Lucas Hnath’s Hillary and Clinton at the Philadelphia Theatre Company, and Anne Washburn’s Antlia Pneumatica at Playwrights Horizons. He is a usual suspect at New York Theatre Workshop, an affiliated artist with Clubbed Thumb, a co-mentor of the Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellowship, a three-time Sundance Theatre Institute alum, a former co-chair of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, and the recipient of two Obie Awards.

Antje Ellermann designs sets for theater, opera and TV. She previously designed The Bridge of San Luis Rey for Two River Theater. Her NY credits include: Building the Wall, Stuffed, Dear Elizabeth (WP Theater and Off Broadway), I’m Looking for Helen Twelvetrees, The Belle of Amherst, The Open House (Signature Theatre), Hamlet and The Broken Heart (Theatre for a New Audience). Regionally her work has been seen at: Hartford Stage, Kansas City Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Long Wharf Theatre, Yale Rep, Berkeley Rep, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, NY Stage & Film, Trinity Rep, Huntington Theatre Company, Arena Stage, Denver Center Theatre Company, Cleveland Playhouse, Seattle Rep, Geffen Playhouse, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Bard SummerScape and Pittsburgh Opera Center. Award nominations: Connecticut Critics Circle Award (The House that will not Stand), Helen Hayes Award, Ovation Award and Lucille Lortel Award (Nine Parts of Desire), Emmy Award nomination: Becoming American).

Elizabeth Hope Clancy Broadway: A Christmas Story: The Musical, Passing Strange, The Goat; or Who Is Sylvia?, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan. West End: A Few Good Men. Dublin: Death of a Salesman (Gate). Off-Broadway: The Lady from Dubuque, The Oldest Profession, The Last of the Thorntons (Signature), Measure for Measure (Shakespeare in the Park), Hamlet (TFANA), In the Blood, A Dybbuk (Public), Memory House, Recent Tragic Events, The Wax (Playwrights Horizons), Waiting for Godot, Endgame, The Entertainer (CSC). Regional: The Outsiders (Paper Mill), Our Town (George Street), productions at The Guthrie, Seattle Rep, Intiman, Huntington, Mark Taper, OSF, Hartford Stage, Long Wharf, Geffen, Yale Rep, etc. Dance: resident designer for Sally Silvers Dance. MFA: Yale School of Drama. Faculty: Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers and Fashion Institute of Technology.

Yuki Nakase previously at Two River Theater: Thornton Wilder’s The Bridge of San Luis Rey adapted for the stage by David Greenspan and directed by Ken Rus Schmoll, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest directed by Michael Cumpsty, and Tony Meneses’ The Women of Padilla directed by Ken Rus Schmoll. Recent design credits include Tiny Beautiful Things (Long Wharf Theatre), Hope (Wild Project), Queen of Basel (Colony Theatre), The Hartt School Dance Division Fall Concert (University of Hartford). Next: Triptych: Eyes of One on Another (LA Phil, University Musical Society, Kennedy Center and BAM). She was born in Tokyo, grew up in Kyoto, Japan and currently lives north of NYC in the woods.  B.A. in Dance: JWCPE, M.F.A. in Lighting Design: NYU. For more information, visit http://yukinakase.com

Karin Graybash has created numerous sound designs for regional theater and Off-Broadway, including: Hartford Stage, Long Wharf, Berkeley Rep, Dallas Theater Center, Yale Rep, McCarter, Arena Stage, Portland Stage, TheatreWorks, and the Alliance. Her work has been nominated for the Helen Hayes Awards and she is a recipient of the Bay Area Theatre Critics Award for her sound design of Polk County at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Karin was the original live sound consultant for the multi-media production Freedom Rising at the National Constitution Center. Many of her soundscapes can be heard at The Franklin Institute’s exhibit entitled Your Brain. Karin also holds the position of Sound Supervisor for the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.

David Bova Broadway designs include The Visit, The Real Thing, Violet, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, Motown, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, All About Me, and Next to Normal. Films include Angelica and The Night Before. TV includes Six by Sondheim, Scream Queens, Gotham, Mozart in the Jungle, and Inside Amy Schumer.

Eric Wright Performance credits include: The Soldier’s Tale (Bushwick Starr), What Are You Eating? (The Tank), The Firebird (City Center), Alice in Wonderland (New York City Opera), P.S. Jones and the Frozen City (New Ohio Theater), Compulsion (Yale Rep, Berkeley Rep, The Public), Disfarmer (St. Ann’s Warehouse), Madama Butterfly (Metropolitan Opera), Peter and Wendy (Arena Stage), Powerhouse (Fringe Festival NYC), Petrushka (Lincoln Center), La Bella Dormente… (Spoleto Festival), Hiroshima Maiden (St. Ann’s Warehouse), Don’t Trust Anyone over 30 (Art Basel Miami). He is an Associate Artist of Sinking Ship Productions, and regular performer in Puppet Playlist. Mr. Wright is one of the co-founders and ‘Head Chef’ of the Puppet Kitchen, which provides puppetry services for stage and screen productions worldwide. www.puppetkitchen.com

Taylor “Sharky” Williams is the Casting Director at New York Theatre Workshop. For Two River Theater she has cast: Pericles, The Lion in Winter, The Ballad of Little Jo, A Raisin in the Sun and El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom.

MEGAN SMITH (she/her/hers) STAGE MANAGER is thrilled to return to Two River Theater for THE TEMPEST. Previous TRT credits include Radio Golf, Dancing at Lughnasa and The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Select NY credits include: Off-Broadway: Ordinary Days, Distracted (Roundabout Theatre Company); Fetch Clay, Make Man and Red Dog Howls (New York Theatre Workshop); The Scottsboro Boys (The Vineyard Theatre); Book of Days (Signature Theatre). Regional credits include: Westport Country Playhouse, Miami New Drama, Long Wharf Theater, Baltimore Center Stage, New York Stage and Film, Bard SummerScape and The Guthrie Theater.