World premiere
By Larissa FastHorse
Directed by Ann Brebner and Jeanette Harrison
with dramaturgy by Duca Knezevic
Starring Michael J. Asberry, Nick Garcia, Patricia Silver and Emilie Talbot
Production: Jack Beuttler, Frank Cardinale, Wiljago Cook, Janice Koprowski, Laura Millar, Chiyako Nelson, Adam Roy
Every object has a story--the toy train you played with as a child, the shirt you wore to your father's funeral, the stone you picked up on a walk with your first lover....Imagine the stories that fill a four-generation, family-owned shop. LANDLESS is an unexpected romance among a woman, a boy, a shop, and a small town, but it all goes off the rails when a Native American tribe receives federal recognition. Come be part of the town for a night as stories and secrets are told, stolen, and sold.
Performs in two locations!
San Rafael: January 7th through February 1st
New Dates! San Francisco: February 6th through February 15th
Landless
The Cast & Crew
A playwright from the Sicangu Lakota Nation, Larissa made the top 46 of the Kilroy’s List of most recommended plays by women. Three of her commissions will be produced in 2015 with Cornerstone Theatre Company in Los Angeles, AlterTheater in the Bay Area and Eagle Project in New York City. Mountainside Theatre premiered her play, CHEROKEE FAMILY REUNION, in the summer of 2012. Other productions include TEACHING DISCO SQUAREDANCING TO OUR ELDERS: A CLASS PRESENTATION for Native Voices at the Autry (AATE Distinguished Play Award) and AVERAGE FAMILY for Children’s Theatre Company of Minneapolis where Larissa is developing her National Endowment for the Arts Distinguished New Play Award winner, FANCY DANCER.
Larissa is an alum of Berkeley Rep's Ground Floor, Center Theatre Group’s Writers Workshop, the Playwright’s Union and Café Bohemia at Arizona Theatre Company. Larissa also developed the musicals, SERRA SPRINGS and DIFFERENT DOES NOT MEAN THE SAME, with Native Voices. She was awarded the Sundance/Ford Foundation Fellowship, Aurand Harris Fellowship, William Inge Residency and numerous Ford Foundation and NEA Grants as well as being an NEA Theatre Panelist and TCG Board Member. She is published with Dramatic Publishing and Plays for Young Audiences.
Ann Brebner
Trained as a director at London’s prestigious Old Vic Theater, Ann Brebner has directed for the stage in England, New Zealand, Rhode Island, New York and the Bay Area. She is the co-founder of the Marin Shakespeare Company, directing frequently for them. Until 1981 she was the president of Brebner Agencies Inc., in San Francisco representing actors and screenwriters in the motion picture industry. She has worked as a casting director, written three screenplays, and authored a book on the skill of living a creative life in a left-brained world, Setting Free the Actor, published in 1991. More recently she headed the drive to restore the Rafael Film Center in San Rafael as the permanent home of the California Film Institute, which produces the Mill Valley Film Festival. She has completed her second book, All My Mothers, a memoir of those who formed her life. With AlterTheater, Ann co-directed with Jeanette Harrison the 2013 co-winner of the National Latino Playwriting Award, The River Bride by Marisela Treviño Orta, and with Frances Lee McCain the Bay Area premiere of Sex Parasite. Also at AlterThetaer, she directed the West Coast premiere of "Cuddle Time" by Keely Madden in Smorgasbord of Shorts II, the world premiere of Thirst by Dyke Garrison, the award-winning production Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage, and Two Sisters and a Piano by Nilo Cruz. She and her writing partner Laurel Graver adapted Anne Lamott's first novel, Hard Laughter, into a play, which premiered with AlterTheater in Spring 2008. Full bio
Jeanette Harrison
is a co-founder of AlterTheater. Also with Ann Brebner, she co-directed the 2013 co-winner of the National Latino Playwriting Award, The River Bride, which was developed within AlterLab, AlterTheater's playwright residency program. Jeanette has worked primarily as an actor and a producer, shepherding more than 15 new plays to world premiere productions, including Theatre Bay Area Award finalist BABA by Denmo Ibrahim. She has worked in casting, theater education, and worked onstage, on-camera and off-camera in both the non-profit and commercial entertainment industry. She has worked with Cutting Ball (…and Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi by Marcus Gardley, winner of Best Production and Best Ensemble from the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle), Aurora Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Magic Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Theatre Rhino, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Actors Theatre of Sonoma County, Sonoma County Rep, Golden Thread Productions, Woman’s Will, Playhouse West, and Combined Art Form Entertainment (C.A.F.E.), among others. With AlterTheater she appeared onstage in After the Fall, Owners, Intimate Apparel, References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, and in the Bay Area premieres of Sex Parasite, Two Sisters and a Piano, and in the world premieres of Thirst, and A Man, his Wife, and his Hat (one of two finalists for the USA Pen Award, for best new play written west of the Mississippi).
Patricia Silver
is thrilled to be working at AlterTheater again, where she has been an Associate Artist for 10 years; appearing here on the streets of San Rafael in SUMMERLAND by Brian Thorstenson, and AFTER THE FALL by Arthur MIller, and Lauren Yee's A MAN, HIS HAT AND HIS WIFE. For the last 20 years she has been a Charter Member of the acclaimed WORD FOR WORD PERFORMING ARTS COMPANY originating roles in over a dozen of their productions; notably Olive in OLIVE KITTERIDGE by Elizabeth Strout. In her youth (1968 - 1982) she was a collective member of the award winning SAN FRANCISCO MIME TROUPE, touring with them in California, the USA, Europe and Cuba. In between she has worked in theaters all over the Bay Area and on radio,TV, film and the web. She is a proud member of AEA, the actor's union.
Nick Garcia
iis thrilled to be working again with AlterTheater and this production marks his third partnership with the company. He was last scene as Mike in The Fellowship and as Moises in the critically acclaimed production The River Bride. Nick has worked extensively across the country as a teacher, actor, director, and designer. He is currently the Chair of the Department of Dramatic Arts at Los Medanos College and was previously the Artistic Director of Children's Theatre Programming for the George Daily Auditorium, where he designed and oversaw the curriculum for the drama school as well as directed their summer season. He has performed, directed, and designed for venues such as the National Conservatory Theater Center in San Francisco, Pella Shakespeare Festival in Iowa, The Miner's Union Theatre in Silverton Colorado, The George Daily Auditorium in Oskaloosa Iowa, and both the Iowa New Play and Fringe Festivals. He would like to thank his family for their support and love.
Emilie Talbot
Emilie Talbot started acting at age six and hasn’t stopped working on stage yet. Over the past 20 years the Bay Area she has worked at Aurora Theatre, Berkeley Rep, ACT, The Magic, and San Jose Rep as well as appearances with Mettle Theater Co., Playground, and the Playwrights Foundation. In 2013 she created the role of Esther in AlterTheater’s world premier of Ann Brebner’s THE DEAD GIRL. Elsewhere around the country she has appeared at or spent seasons with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Mark Taper Forum, La Jolla Playhouse, Huntington Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, and Fort Worth Shakespeare-in-the-Park, among others. Film credits include the short THE FIFTH STAGE OF LABOR, ONCE BEAUTIFUL PAST, CEREMONY, MUFFIN MAN, and a whole slew of commercials, voiceovers, industrials and video games. Favorite roles included Andromache in TROJAN WOMEN and Alice Russell in THE BEST MAN (Aurora Theatre), Desdemona in Othello (multiple productions including OSF), and Elise/Lyse/Clarina in THE ILLUSION (BRT). A founding member of the Los Angeles Women’s Shakespeare Company, she was also a core member of Patrick Stewart’s Paramount Shakespeare Company. She worked as a the literary associate at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, and in independent and feature film casting at Warner Brothers and Fox Studios. She studied British History at Oxford University (New College) and holds a dual degree in History and Theatre from Duke University, and a MFA from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). Emilie now lives in Burlingame with her husband and two sons.
Michael J. Asberry
is honored to be making his AlterTheater debut. Michael most recently performed in Fences with Marin Theatre Company. Michael has also appeared with the Sacramento Theatre Company (Master Harold... and the boys), Artists Repertory Theatre (Portland, OR - Seven Guitars), San Francisco's Best of PlayGround Festival, the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre (Day of Absence, Fabulation, King Hedley II and Crumbs from the Table of Joy), 6th Street Playhouse (Topdog/Underog), TheatreWorks (Superior Donuts) and the Aurora Theatre (Satellites). Film and television appearances include Walk the Walk, Return to Elektra Springs, Chasing Rodriguez, The Californians, Trauma (CBS) and Nash Bridges (CBS). Voiceover credits include Paramount Pictures, Pixar Animation and Electronic Arts.
Frank Cardinale
is delighted to be calling his first show at Alter Theater. He has recently come down from high as Production Stage Manager of The Mountain Play Association's production of South Pacific. Other recent credits include James Dunn's western version of Taming of the Shrew at The College of Marin's Main Stage and Old Money at Ross Valley Players. He has also worked with Curtain Theater, West Marin Players, Fairfax Theatre Company and Academy DeTurk.
Duca Knezevic
Dramaturg Duca Knezevic is a theatre scholar and practitioner with teaching credentials on undergraduate and graduate levels. She has worked as a dramaturg for film, radio, and TV. Past employments in the Bay Area include Theatre Rhinoceros and Playwrights Foundation. Extensive knowledge of both history and new tendencies in contemporary arts fuels her constant interests in experiment, multimedia, and utopia of Gesamtkunstwerk, with a strong emphasis on political engagement and responsibility of the artistic community, be it on local or global level.
Madeleine Oldham
Madeleine Oldham is very happy to be working with AlterTheater again. She has worked as a sound designer for Crowded Fire, SF Playhouse, Shotgun Players, JustTheater, the Bay Area One-Act Festival, PlayGround, and Geva Theatre inRochester, NY, among others. For AlterTheater, she designed sound for The River Bride. She also hosts a program on KALX radio, 90.7fm.
Jack Beuttler
lA Bay Area native, Jack studied philosophy at UC Berkeley where he didn't study any theater at all, but went on to become a designer and production manager in performing arts. A few companies he's designed for include Project B, ODC/School, Gerald Casel Dance, LINES Training Program, Post:Ballet, LEVYdance, and Dance Theater SF. He's also worked for Oakland Ballet, ODC/Dance, Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, Fluid Hug-Hug, REDCAT Theater and others as a Production Manager, Stage Manager and Technical Director. He's currently the Production Manager for the Sun Valley Summer Symphony in Idaho and a freelance designer in San Francisco.
Janice Koprowski
has been active in play production for over 50 years in Michigan and California. She holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts from Western Michigan University, and has designed costumes, makeup, or lighting for over 200 productions. Recent productions include All My Sons and The King and I for Douglas Morrisson Theatre; The Producers and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof for PCP; Doubt, Almost Maine, and Putnam County Spelling Bee for CCT. This is her 11th production for AlterTheater, where she most recently costumed Theater Bay Area Award finalist BABA and Fool for Love, and she is delighted to be back.