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Pentagon Papers |
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Produced by Santa Monica Playhouse and PowerPlayz |
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ENGAGING EXPERIENCES FOR ENGAGING PEOPLE |
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PowerPlayz |
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Santa Monica Playhouse and PowerPlayz are proud to announce the World Premiere of J-Powers’s Pentagon Papers in the 40th anniversary year of the Watergate break-in. For the first time on stage, the hidden history of the Vietnam War that destroyed more than one president is dramatized. Opening Sunday, February 5 and playing Sundays at 3:30pm through March 25, 2012. President Richard Nixon referred to the Watergate break-in which eventually lead to his resignation as ‘silly’ and ‘incredible’ in grand jury transcripts made public in November 2011. Powers’s new play Pentagon Papers presents key passages from the recently declassified Pentagon Papers revealing the shocking secrets that led him to create a team of Watergate burglars and eventually to the self-destruction of his presidency. Unlike previous works on the subject that explore the courtroom effort regarding the right to publish, Pentagon Papers dramatizes the actual secret history of America's involvement in Vietnam. Performed by a cast of young actors, the production aims to inspire a new generation of Americans to demand honesty and transparency from leaders. “The truth will set you free,” said Daniel Ellsberg, who risked everything, including his freedom, to expose this classified information. This production is done in association with Vietnam Veterans of America and made possible through a CCI ARC Grant. Visit Santa Monica Playhouse for ticket information or call for reservations at 310-394-9779 x 1.
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Cast: |
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Dave Kirkpatrick - Dave is thrilled to be a part of this important work. Los Angeles stage credits include Askance at Eclectic Company Theatre, Counter Men (Whitefire Theatre), The Eccentricities of A Nightingale (A Noise Within), All My Sons (Raven Playhouse), Southern Baptist Sissies with Del Shores productions, Salam Shalom (Greenway Court Theatre), and others including plays in San Francisco. Film credits include Las Angeles, Double Spaced, Paperboy, and others. He was awarded a BA Theater from Ohio State University. |
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Amanda Martindale - Hailing from Oklahoma, Amanda moved to Los Angeles to act and sing. In this process, she received a degree in music therapy from CSU Northridge and found a passion for improving California’s state foster care system. Her stage credits include The House of Blue Leaves, @Heart (another work by J-Powers), and as the “The Clean Up Woman” in the national tour of JD Lawrence presents The Clean Up Woman. Film and TV credits include the western Red Gold, Investigative Discovery Channel’s Hostage: Do or Die, and NBC’s Nashville Star. Amanda is a board certified music therapist, Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), and a mentor for children in foster care. Her album Road to Beautiful is available on iTunes and AmandaMartindale.com. She is excited to be part of another J-Powers’s projects that gives a theatrical glimpse into the decisions of our government during wartime. |
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Brian Sounalath (SAG/AFTRA) - Brian is excited to work with J-Powers once again in another theatrical production. He last was seen in the world premiere of American Bamboo, also directed by J-Powers at the Nakano Theatre. Before that he was in Urban Theatre Movement's production of Dog Sees God. Brian has appeared on the Young and the Restless and in Werner Herzog's movie My Son My Son, What Have Ye Done. He thanks his family, friends, and representation for their love and support. He was awarded a BA Theatre, University of Southern California. |
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Caroline Do (SAG/AFTRA) - Conceived in Saigon, Vietnam, and born in Pasadena, California, Caroline is a proud member of the Vietnamese Diaspora. She studied International Development with an emphasis on non-industrialized Southeast Asian nations at UC Berkeley, Sussex University (UK) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Previously recruited by the State Department and CIA, Caroline is delighted to fuse her passion for acting and international intrigue with Pentagon Papers. Trained in improv at The Groundlings and scene study at The Beverly Hills Playhouse, Caroline is in production on a cyberpunk web series and a feature film. |
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Mark Jacobson - Mark is honored to take part in this powerful project. Recent theatrical credits include What's Wrong with Angry? (Celebration Theatre), Engaged (Sierra Madre Playhouse), Away Up North (Three Roses Players), Twelfth Night (Downtown Rep), King Lear (Oval House, London), On the Town, Into the Woods, and Laughter on the 23rd Floor (USC). Mark can also be seen on the weekly mainstage improv comedy team Gentlemanly at The Improv Space in Westwood, as well as the upcoming films The Anchor and Improvising, as well as the web series Flat!. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California School of Theatre and a co-founder of USC's The Merry Men comedy troupe. Special thanks to John, Joe Culliton, Megan, and Nana. |
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Serena Dolinsky - Serena is the Playhouse’s Director of Education and a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts A member of Actors’ Repertory Theatre, Santa Monica’s resident professional theatre company, Serena has performed in countless Main Stage and international touring productions, including DOLLS! Not Your Usual Love Story, Backstreet: The Musical, Love In Bloom, AUDITION! THE MUSICAL (London preview production; U.S. world premiere); Jankenpon, Sugoi!, Youkoso (Japan tours), Ionesco’s The Bald Soprano, Author! Author! - an evening with Sholom Aleichem. Career highlights include the U.K. premiere of Canteen: a musical reconnaissance of war and other unnatural disasters at the Dream Factory in Warwick, the Irish premiere of The Silver Key in Londonderry, Make Mine Myths in Tokyo. |
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From top to bottom: Brian Sounalath, Amanda Martindale, Dave Kirkpatrick. Photos by PowerPlayz |
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Understudies: |
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Crew: |
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Robert Adams - (Stage Manager) Robert is thrilled to be working on Pentagon Papers. Past productions at Cal State Dominguez Hills and Santa Barbara City College include: Stage Manager for Jitney, Lighting Designer for The River Niger, Sound Design for The Brenda Project, as well as Directing and Sound designing for Wanda’s Visit and Biloxi Blues. On-stage credits include Songs for a New World, Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter, All in the Timing, and Macbeth. School Awards include Best Actor for All in the Timing, Best Supporting for Jenny Sutter and nominated Best Supporting from the American College Theatre Festival for Macbeth. |
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Diana Mann - (Costumes) Diana’s passion for costuming reaches back to her early theater days in Chicago, where she received her B.A. in performing arts from the University of Northeastern Illinois. Diana has costumed over five dozen shows in the past decade. Some favorites include The Lion in Winter, Pirates of Penzance, Cabaret, Grease, Moon Over Buffalo, Bent, West Side Story, and The Misanthrope, to name a few. It is Diana’s great privilege to be working again with the brilliant and fascinating John Powers and his excellent Pentagon Papers. Enjoy this historic journey. |
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Cricket S Myers (Sound Design). Broadway: Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (Drama Desk Award, Tony Nomination). Off-Broadway: Marvelous Wonderettes. Regional: Burn This, The Lieutenant of Inishmore (Ovation nomination), Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, The Subject was Roses, The School of Night, Nightingale (Mark Taper Forum); The Wake, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (Ovation nomination), The Little Dog Laughed (Ovation nomination), Two Unrelated Plays, Come Back, Little Sheba (Kirk Douglas Theatre); Book Club Play (Arena Stage); In the Wake (Berkeley Rep); Wrecks, Some Girl(s), Emergency (Ovation, NAACP nomination-Geffen); Three Days of Rain, Trip to Bountiful (South Coast Rep); Crowns, Orson’s Shadow (Pasadena Playhouse); Life Could be a Dream, Marvelous Wonderettes, Winter Wonderettes (Laguna Playhouse). Other LA designs include The Colony Theater, The Rubicon, Antaeus, Boston Court and Circle X. She’s earned 13 Ovation Nominations, as well as winning an LADCC and a Garland Award. www.cricketsmyers.com |
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Paul Linke - (Dramaturge) A professional actor for almost 40 years, Paul is best known as Artie Grossman on the NBC-TV series CHiPs. Motion picture credits include Motel Hell, Parenthood, and K-PAX. An MFA graduate of the University of Southern California, he co-founded the Garden Theatre Festival and was a member of the Company Theatre in Santa Monica where he created his celebrated Time Flies When You’re Alive, which was later filmed as an HBO Showcase special and nominated for a Cable Ace Award. Paul continued his autobiographical solo work with Life After Time, which he developed at the Santa Monica Playhouse. Mr. Charles Nelson Reilly directed the third installment of Paul’s “Time Trilogy” Father Time at Pacific Resident Theatre. Most recently he played Joe Keller in the award winning production of All My Sons at Ruskin Group Theatre. Paul lives in Los Angeles with his wife, actress Christine Healy and is the father of four children. E-mail: linkelink1948@aol.com |
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J.R. Mangels - (SAG / AEA) J.R. has performed in Los Angeles at the Noho Arts Center doing workshops and world première plays and musicals. He has also toured the country performing for the Utah Shakespearean Festival, Bridgework Theatre, Theatre West Virginia, and a National tour of an original children’s' musical "A Kid's Life." On television, J.R. has been on "Days of our Lives" and can be seen in the occasional commercial. |
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Jeffrey Ashkin - (SAG / AFTRA) Jeffrey has worked as journalist and playwright since high school. By age nineteen, he had two plays produced, a story published, and was editor/lead writer of an entire page in the Sun-Sentinel newspaper. After graduating the University of Central Florida's film school, Jeffrey moved out to Los Angeles to pursue acting and writing for television and film. He has written and directed eight short films and produced and co-starred in a feature which recently was picked up for distribution. He is represented by the Apple Talent Group. |