About the Director

HARRIET POWER

HARRIET POWER (Director) is honored and delighted to be working with theatre colleague Michael Hollinger on his Villanova theatre playwriting debut. Ms. Power has worked with playwrights throughout her career, as a resident director of Bay Area Playwrights Festival, West Coast Playwrights, and the Iowa Playwrights Festival, as well as during her tenure as Artistic Director of Venture Theatre and at the International Women Playwrights Festival (Galway, Ireland). Incorruptible launches a busy season of directing; future projects include Syncopation at Act II Playhouse (March 2006), the world premiere of Seth Rozin’s Reinventing Eden (InterAct Theatre Company, April 2006), and Sebastian Barry’s Fred and Jane, highlighting the Irish Festival at Villanova Theatre in May 2006. An associate professor of theatre at Villanova, Ms. Power teaches dramaturgy, acting, and solo performance. In 2004, during her sabbatical year in Rome, Italy, she directed Dinner with Friends for The English Theatre of Rome (the city’s largest professional English-language theatre). Recent U.S. directing credits include Art and By the Bog of Cats… (Villanova Theatre) and Missing Link (InterAct Theatre Company, 2002 Barrymore nominee for Best New Play). She is the recipient of three Barrymore nominations for Outstanding Direction for Measure for Measure (Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival), A Moon for the Misbegotten (Venture Theatre), and Angels in America: Perestroika, for which she received the 1997 award with Villanova colleague James J. Christy.

About the Playwright

MICHAEL HOLLINGER

MICHAEL HOLLINGER is the author of RED HERRING, INCORRUPTIBLE, AN EMPTY PLATE IN THE CAFE DU GRAND BOEUF, and TINY ISLAND, all of which premiered at Philadelphia’s Arden Theatre Company and have together enjoyed productions around the country, off-Broadway, and abroad. These plays are all published by Dramatists Play Service; TINY ISLAND also appears in NEW PLAYWRIGHTS: BEST PLAYS OF 1999, published by Smith and Kraus. TOOTH AND CLAW was commissioned by the Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Science and Technology Project, and received its world and New York premieres in the spring of 2004 at the Arden and EST, respectively. A new play, OPUS, wil premiere at the Arden and Pittsburgh’s City Theatre in 2006. Michael has written seven touring plays for young audiences, as well as the 3D Laser Show EXTREME CHOICES for New Jersey's Liberty Science Center. For PBS, he has written three short films and co-authored the feature-length PHILADELPHIA DIARY. Awards include the Roger L. Stevens Award from the Kennedy Center's Fund for New American Plays, a Barrymore Award for Outstanding New Play, the F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Theatre Artist, a Mid-Atlantic Emmy Award, the Frederick Loewe Award for Musical Theatre, and fellowships from the Independence Foundation, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Michael is a resident playwright of New Dramatists and Assistant Professor of Theatre at Villanova, where, 17 years ago, he was cast opposite Megan Bellwoar in PIPPIN. They now share a life, a profession, and two children, Benjamin and Willa.

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Production Photos

The Peasant Woman (Barbara Quinn) surrounded by the monks of Priseaux: Father Charles (Tim Horner), Brother Olf (Matthew Rohner), Brother Felix (Jared Nelson), and Brother Martin (David Whalen)	Jack (Shane Borer, left) and Marie (Jessica DalCanton)
Father Charles (Tim Horner, left) and Brother Martin (David Whalen)	Jack (Shane Borer, left), Brother Martin (David Whalen) and Father Charles (Tim Horner)
Brother Martin (David Whalen, left) threatens Jack (Shane Borer) as Father Charles (Tim Horner) and Brother Olf (Matthew Rohner) look on	Jack (Shane Borer)
Jack (Shane Borer) and Marie (Jessica Dal Canton)	Father Charles (Tim Horner) and Jack (Shane Borer)

Cast of Characters

About the Director

James J. Christy

This season marks Dr. Christy's 39th year as a professor and director with Villanova's theatre department. Last season, he directed Twelfth Night at Villanova Theatre and Take Me Out at Philadelphia Theatre Company; Take Me Out received six Barrymore nominations, including Dr. Christy's seventh nomination for Outstanding Direction of a Play. In 2004, he had the pleasure of directing a new play, Never Tell, written by his son, Jimmy, for the New York International Fringe Festival. In 2003, he directed fellow faculty member Michael Hollinger's Red Herring for Actor's Theatre of Louisville and received his sixth Barrymore nomination for Outstanding Direction of a Play for The Merchant of Venice at The People's Light & Theatre Company. Other recent credits include Don Juan, The Trojan Women, and Passion of Christ at Villanova Theatre, Proof at Arden Theatre Company, and The Laramie Project at Philadelphia Theatre Company, which received 2001 Barrymore Awards for Overall Production of a Play, Direction of a Play, and Outstanding Ensemble. In recognition of his long career as a theatre artist and educator, Dr. Christy was awarded the "Lifetime Achievement Award" at the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia's Barrymore Awards ceremony on October 10, 2005.

About the Playwright

Sebastian Barry

Sebastian Barry was born in Dublin in 1955. Novelist, playwright, and poet, his first play Boss Grady's Boys (1988) won the BBC/Stewart Parker Award. In 1989 he was Writer in Association at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, when Prayers of Sherkin (1990) was produced. His 1995 play The Steward of Christendom won the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize, the London Critics' Circle Award, the British Writers' Guild Award and the Lloyd's Private Banking Playwright of the Year Award. In 1996 he received The Ireland America Literary Prize, and was Writer Fellow at Trinity College. Our Lady of Sligo (1998) was joint winner of the Peggy Ramsay Award. His most recent book of poems is The Pinkening Boy (2004). His novels include The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty (1998), currently being produced for television, and Annie Dunne (2002). His latest novel, A Long Long Way (2005) has been optioned for a film.

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Production Photos

Fanny Hawke (Marcie Thurstlic), Hannah Hawke (Joanna Rotté), John Hawke (James F. Schlatter), Sarah Purdy (Taylor Williams), and Jesse Hawke (Matthew Mykityshyn)	Jesse Hawke (Matthew Mykityshyn) and Fanny Hawke (Marcie Thurstlic)
Sarah Purdy (Taylor Williams), Hannah Hawke (Joanna Rotté), and John Hawke (James F. Schlatter)	Fanny Hawke (Marcie Thurslic), Jesse Hawke (Matt Mykityshyn), and Patrick Kirwin (Jared Michael Delaney)
Fanny Hawke (Marcie Thurstlic) and Patrick Kirwin (Jared Michael Delaney)	John Hawke (James F. Schlatter)

Cast of Characters

About the Director

Peter M. Donohue, O.S.A.

Peter M. Donohue, O.S.A. is chairperson of the Villanova theatre department and teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in dramaturgy, musical theatre, and theatrical experience. He has received five Barrymore nominations for Outstanding Direction of a Musical for Parade, Children of Eden, Into the Woods, Evita, and Chicago, which received nine nominations and three 2002 Barrymore Awards, including Outstanding Direction of a Musical. Other directing credits at Villanova include City of Angels, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, West Side Story, Candide, and Once on This Island. As an actor, Father Donohue has appeared on the Vasey stage in Twelfth Night, Don Juan, The Trojan Women, and The Passion of Christ.

About the Creators

Mark Hollmann & Greg Kotis

Mark Hollmann attended the Making Tuners Workshop at New Tuners Theatre in Chicago and the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop in New York. A member of the Dramatists Guild and ASCAP, he lives in Manhattan with his wife.

Greg Kotis is a veteran of the Neo-Futurists, creators of the long-running attempt to perform thirty plays in sixty minutes. Jobey and Katherine, his play about fish, toast, and a love stronger and grimmer than death, enjoyed runs in New York and Chicago. He lives in Brooklyn with his family.

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Production Photos

The cast of Urinetown	Hope Cladwell (Corinne May) dances with the employees of the Urine Good Company while her father, Caldwell B. Cladwell (Jarad Mitchell Benn), exults in his riches
The Poor beg Penelope Pennywise (Tonilyn Longo) and Bobby Strong (Justin Damm) to use Public Amenity #9	Penelope Pennywise (Tonilyn Longo) and the Poor explain the drought
Bobby Strong (Justin Damm) and Hope Cladwell (Corinne May) sing about a bright new tomorrow	Penelope Pennywise (Tonilyn Longo) and the Poor
Bobby Strong (Justin Damm) stands up for the Poor and rebels against the evil Urine Good Company	Employees of the Urine Good Company (Jared Nelson and Kimberly Fernandes)
Mr. McQueen (Daniel McFadden) and Caldwell B. Cladwell (Jarad Mitchell Benn) welcome Hope Cladwell (Corinne May) as the newest employee of the Urine Good Company	Officer Barrel (TJ Bodnar) confronts Old Man Strong (Michael Barr) for breaking the Public Health Act
The Cops of Urinetown sing about their methods of intimidation	Bobby Strong (Justin Damm) and the Poor take a stand against the Urine Good Company
Caldwell B. Cladwell (Jarad Mitchell Benn) and Penelope Pennywise (Tonilyn Longo) remember their love during the Stink Years	Little Sally (J.J. Orgera) counts her pennies

Cast of Characters