The Alchemist:
An Annotated Comedy
by Ben Jonson
Thursday, February 13–Saturday, February 15, 8 p.m.
Saturday, February 15, 2 p.m.
Harold and Sylvia Greenberg Theatre
The action takes place in and around Lovewit’s house
in the Blackfriars neighborhood of London, 1610.
There will be one 15-minute intermission.
Karl Kippola, director
Yaniv Dinur, music director
Meghan Raham, scenic designer
Jason Arnold, lighting designer
Barbara Tucker Parker, costume designer
Stacey Thomann, costume co-designer
Mackenzie Ellis, sound designer
Robb Hunter, fight director
Greg Anderson, production manager
John Stahrr, technical director
Jen Rankin, stage manager
Diana Cummiskey, dramaturg
cast
SUBTLE
FACE
DOL COMMON
LOVEWIT
DAPPER
ABEL DRUGGER
SIR EPICURE MAMMON
PERTINAX SURLY
ANANIAS
TRIBULATION WHOLESOME
KASTRIL
DAME PLIANT
Paul Lysek, Jr.
Christopher Carillo
Sarah King
Grant Saunders
Noah Cooper-Hauser
Jesse D. Saywell
Hilary Morrow
Madeline Steiner
Alison Donnelly
Julia Peltier
Nathan Levy
Alexandra Johnson
The video and/or audio recording of this performance by any means whatsoever are strictly
prohibited. Please turn off cell phones and pagers.
director’s note
Science or snake oil?
Alchemy was a proto-science positing that perfection was achievable. Through the
power of the philosopher’s stone, base metals could be transformed into noble metals
(silver and gold), and the elixir of life could confer youth and longevity. In its purest sense, alchemy was more a metaphysical science than a physical one, serving as an
allegory for humanity craving purification and a higher level of spiritual development.
Each of the characters in this play likewise seeks perfection or an approach to the noble
or sublime, but motives are far from pure. In The Alchemist, Ben Jonson’s mockery
of the greedy and the gullible, the pretentious and stupid, still speaks to an entitled
twenty-first century world. We are easily “gulled” or “cozened” by anyone promising
to make us smarter, stronger, or richer without the pesky, requisite hard work. We give
away money for the chance to make even more. We break the rules. We are special—
destined for greatness. And so we will believe just about anything.
The Alchymist, commissioned for the centennial of Jonson’s play, is an arrangement
by an unknown composer of Handel’s extended overture to the Italian opera Rodrigo. While this orchestral work likely marked London’s introduction to the music
of Handel, the composer did not receive payment for The Alchymist’s performance or
publication.
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dramaturg’s note
K.I.S.S. – Keep it simple, stupid. While this saying didn’t become popular until 1960,
the sentiment has stretched back for ages. For you, dear audience, we use it for this
show. Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist is one of the few Renaissance plays with an enduring
stage life (other than Shakespeare’s plays). And why is that? Jonson perfectly follows
the French Neoclassical unities, meaning his play is singular in its action, time, and
place. There is unity in action because in that the characters only have one goal—for
Subtle, Face, and Doll, our main characters, it is the pursuit of riches. The play takes
place over the course of a single day, demonstrating the unity of time. There is a unity
of place because in that we remain in one location—unlike shows nowadays, where
every scene demands a change of set. By following these rules, Jonson cemented The
Alchemist’s scholarly success—literary critic Samuel Taylor Coleridge named it one of
the three most perfect plots in literature. The unities echo the K.I.S.S. principle—the
singularity makes it easier for everyone to focus exclusively on the play itself.
The satire of the play also contributed to its popularity. Unashamed of poking fun,
Jonson mocks the vanity of mankind. Social classes, rich and poor alike, succumb to
the folly of greed. All characters who try to get ahead are shot down—our trio can
almost be seen as righteous thieves, as they con money out of such people as our hypocritical Anabaptists similar to Robin Hood. Everyone enjoys a good old “take from the
rich and give to the poor” story, even if ours is more like “take from the rich and keep
it for yourself.”
King James, in power at the time of Jonson’s playwriting, continued Queen Elizabeth’s
practice of supporting the dramatic arts. James, however, had a love of comedy and the
supernatural—hence Jonson’s use of alchemy. A science that seems to be a mix of our
modern chemistry and magic, alchemy remains fascinating even today (Harry Potter,
anyone?).
With the current popularity of sarcasm and satire (modern cynicism can be found in
TV shows such as The Office, Scrubs, and The Big Bang Theory), The Alchemist’s humor
remains relevant—even, dare I say, hip.
The Alchemist has endured because its elements can be enjoyed by all types of audiences. Simplicity? Check. Making fun of other people? Check. Con men and alchemy?
Check. So sit back and have fun!
Diana Cummiskey, dramaturg
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production staff
Director: Karl Kippola
Music Director: Yaniv Dinur
Scenic Designer: Meghan Raham
Lighting Designer: Jason Arnold
Assistant Lighting Designer: Tyler Dubuc
Costume Designer: Barbara Tucker-Parker
Costume Co-Designer: Stacey Thomann
Sound Designer: Mackenzie Ellis
Fight Director: Robb Hunter
Fight Captain: Christopher Carillo
Production Manager: Greg Anderson
Technical Director: John Stahrr
Lighting/Audio Coordinator: Erin Sullivan
Front of House Operations: Heather Koslov
Stage Manager: Jen Rankin
Assistant Stage Managers: Henry Pines,
Clancey Yovanovich
Operations Assistants: Joshua Midgett,
Charlotte Ringle
Props Head: Samina Vieth
Scenic Artist: Pallas Bane
Dramaturg: Diana Cummiskey
Master Electrician: Jen Grunfeld
Assistant Master Electrician: Julia Peltier
Light Board Operator: Jenna Fink
Sound Board Operator: Izzy Smelkinson
Wardrobe: Blythe Abramowitz, Gianna Rapp,
Logan Miszencin, Mahlia Fulk
Violins
Karly Brinkman
Aria Wiseblatt
Amanda Brenber
Vanlal Hruaia
Jayk Cherry
Oboes
Sydney Krieck
Michael Dan
Cello
Douglas Bell
Harpsichord
Mary Voutsas
musicians
Bassoon
Ben Mangefrida
biographies
Jason Arnold (lighting designer) has been an artist in residence at American University since 2008. His design work in the Greenberg includes The Rocky Horror Show,
Cabaret, Guys and Dolls, The Who’s Tommy, Oklahoma, Nine, Tartuffe, Orpheus Descending, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Locally, he has designed
for Arena Stage, Theatre J, Studio Theatre, Imagination Stage, MetroStage, Adventure Theatre, and Rep Stage. He holds a BA from Vassar College and an MFA from
Brandeis University. He is a member of United Scenic Artists.
Christopher Carillo (Face, fight captain) is a senior theatre: performance major
from Mahwah, New Jersey. Previous credits include Marat/Sade (Jean-Paul Marat),
Cabaret (Max), Guys and Dolls (Brandy Bottle Bates), and Dead Man Walking (Clyde
Percy).
Noah Cooper-Hauser (Dapper) is a senior theatre arts major from Acton, Massachusetts. Previous credits include The Skin of Our Teeth (Telegraph Boy), Dead Man
Walking (Sgt. Beliveau/Walter Delacroix), and Measure 4 Measure (Froth).
Diana Cummiskey (dramaturg) is a sophomore arts management and history major
from Telford, Pennsylvania. Previous credits include Marat/Sade (Kokol), The Skin of
Our Teeth (Conveener), and The Bald Soprano (Mary).
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Yaniv Dinur (music director) began his conducting career at the age of nineteen,
when he was invited to perform with the Israel Camerata in Jerusalem, making him
the youngest conductor ever to conduct an orchestra in Israel. Since then, he has
conducted orchestras around the world. Broadcast live on Israeli radio, he has conducted for the Jerusalem Symphony’s Young Artists Competition since 2003. Dinur
has worked closely with such world-class conductors as Lorin Maazel, Michael Tilson
Thomas, Pinchas Zukerman, Kurt Masur and Jorma Panula. He holds a doctorate in
orchestral conducting from the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and
Dance, where he was a student of Kenneth Kiesler.
Alison Donnelly (Ananias) is a senior theatre: performance major from Naragansett, Rhode Island. Previous credits include Glengarry Glen Ross (George Aaronow),
The Good Doctor (ensemble), Bare: A Pop Opera (Rory), and The Who’s Tommy (Lass/
Reporter).
Mackenzie Ellis (sound designer) is a DC area native and has designed sound locally
as well as across the country. She recently returned from a resident sound designer/engineer position at Western Playhouse in Saint Joseph, Missouri, and was the assistant
designer of the second national tour of Broadway’s Million Dollar Quartet. Favorite
designs include Miss Saigon and Sweeney Todd: The Melodrama. Mackenzie received her
BFA in theatre from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Robb Hunter (fight choreographer) is fight choreographer in residence at AU, having
staged violence or movement for many productions including The Rocky Horror Show,
Cabaret, Wecycling, Measure for Measure, The Skin of Our Teeth, The Who’s Tommy,
R&J, Guys and Dolls, Company, Orpheus Descending, and Oklahoma. He is a director/
choreographer in the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a member of Actor’s
Equity, SAG/AFTRA, and is one of only 30 fight directors in the world certified by
the Society of American Fight Directors, for whom he is also a certified teacher. He
holds an MFA in theatre pedagogy from Virginia Commonwealth University and is
combat/movement instructor for the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program at the
Kennedy Center. Hunter has choreographed for numerous theatres in the area including Shakespeare Theatre (A Winter’s Tale, The Alchemist, Hamlet, Measure for Measure),
Arena Stage (Ruined, Noises Off, Stick Fly, Frankie and Johnny in the Claire du Lune,
The Heidi Chronicles), Studio Theatre (Red Speedo, Invisible Man, Superior Donuts,
American Buffalo, Reasons to Be Pretty, The Walworth Farce [Helen Hayes Award nomination for outstanding choreography]), and the Washington National Opera (Hamlet,
Don Giovanni, and the upcoming East Coast premiere of Moby Dick), plus many
other theatres all along the East Coast. When not teaching or choreographing, Hunter
is providing weapons to theatres all over North America as the founder of Preferred
Arms, Theatrical Weapons.
Alexandra Johnson (Dame Pliant) is a sophomore theatre: performance and public
communication major from Chantilly, Virginia. Previous credits include Marat/Sade
(Patient 1), Wecycling (ensemble), The Bald Soprano (Mrs. Smith), and the 2012 New
Student Showcase.
Sarah King (Dol Common) is a senior theatre: performance major from Los Angeles, California. Previous credits include The Rocky Horror Show (Magenta), Dead Man
Walking (Sister Helen Prejean), Talking With (French Fries), and The Skin of Our Teeth
(Fitzpatrick).
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Karl Kippola (director) is in his eleventh year as assistant professor of theatre and
musical theatre at American University. He holds a BA in drama from the University
of Montana, an MFA in acting from Wayne State University, and a PhD in theatre
from the University of Maryland. His book, Acts of Manhood, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2012. Kippola has worked professionally as an actor and director
for over 27 years on well over 100 productions. At American University, he previously
directed Kiss Me, Kate; Of Thee I Sing; The Mystery of Edwin Drood; Hamlet; Urinetown;
The Country Wife; Tartuffe; Oklahoma; Company; The 25th Annual Putnam County
Spelling Bee; and Guys and Dolls.
Nathan Levy (Kastril) is a freshman theatre: performance major from Frederick,
Maryland. Previous credits include the AU Rude Mechanicals’ 2013 Variety Show
(Pompey).
Paul Lysek, Jr. (Subtle) is a senior musical theatre major from Wayland, New York.
Previous credits include Marat/Sade (Marquis de Sade), Cabaret (Herr Schultz), The
25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Vice Principal Panch), and The Who’s Tommy
(ensemble).
Hilary Morrow (Sir Epicure Mammon) is a senior musical theatre major from
Angier, North Carolina. Previous credits include The Who’s Tommy (Mrs. Walker), Guys
and Dolls (Arvide Abernathy), Marat/Sade (Rossignol), and I Never Saw Another Butterfly (Mother).
Julia Peltier (Tribulation Wholesome, assistant master electrician) is a senior musical theatre and film and media arts major from Roanoke, Virginia. Previous credits
include The Rocky Horror Show (Doctor Scott), Bare: A Pop Opera (Sister Chantelle),
Measure 4 Measure (Elbow), and the 2010 New Student Showcase.
Henry Pines (assistant stage manager) is a junior theatre arts and political science major from Brooklyn, New York. Previous credits include Marat/Sade (Duperret), Cabaret
(Ernest Ludwig), and the AU Rude Mechanicals’ Polaroid Stories (Narcissus).
Meghan Raham (scenic designer) is a set and costume designer with a strong interest
in the development of new work. Recent professional credits include: Romeo and Juliet
and The Conference of the Birds (sets, Folger Theatre), Red Speedo and The Aliens (costumes, Studio Theatre), The Chosen (sets and costumes, Barrington Stage Company),
Death of a Salesman (sets, Kansas City Repertory Theatre), Venice (sets and costumes,
Center Theatre Group, Los Angeles), The Wings of Ikarus Jackson (sets and costumes,
the Kennedy Center), and Clay (sets, Lincoln Center Theatre, LCT3). She was production designer and co-creator of S/he is Nancy Joe, which premiered in Prague, Czech
Republic, in 2012 and won a Herald Angel award at the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Raham is an assistant professor of design at American University.
Jen Rankin (stage manager) is a junior theatre: design and production and communication studies major from Tolland, Connecticut. Previous credits include Marat/Sade
(set designer), Glengarry Glen Ross (set designer), The Skin of Our Teeth (prop master),
and the AU Rude Mechanicals’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream (stage manager).
Grant Saunders (Lovewit) is a junior musical theatre major from Nashville, Tennessee. Previous credits include the 2012 New Student Showcase, Cabaret (Cliff), and
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Marat/Sade (Captain of the Guards).
Jesse D. Saywell (Abel Drugger) is a junior musical theatre major from Salisbury,
Maryland. Previous credits include The Rocky Horror Show (Brad) and Guys and Dolls
(Nicely-Nicely Johnson).
Madeline Steiner (Pertinax Surly, dance captain) is a senior musical theatre and
history major from Dallas, Texas. Previous credits include Glengarry Glen Ross (Shelly
Levine), Talking With (Big Eight), Marat/Sade (stage manager), and I Never Saw Another Butterfly (Child).
Stacey Thomann (co-costume designer) has worked at AU as the assistant costume
shop manager since 2009 and is thrilled to be one half of “those crazy ladies in the
costume shop.” She last brought her love of historical costume to the stage when she
designed and built costumes for Romeo and Juliet (Silver Spring Stage), for which she
won a WATCH award, and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged
(Silver Spring Stage). On weekends, she performs at the Virginia Renaissance Faire as
Queen Elizabeth.
Barbara Tucker Parker (costume designer) received an MFA in design from George
Washington University and a BA in theatre from Cedar Crest College in Allentown,
Pennsylvania. She studied in New York City at Traphagen School of Fashion and at
the Fashion Institute of Technology. She is the resident costume designer at AU, where
she received the University Award for Outstanding Service in 1992. Tucker Parker has
designed and constructed costumes and accessories for theatre, dance, opera, and musical theatre. Several productions have won regional American College Theatre Festival
competitions. She has created outfits for student performing troupes and special events
at AU and in Washington, DC Tucker Parker teaches technical classes in costume design and costume construction and manages the costume shop. She designed and constructed the costumes for the AU production of They Shoot Horses, Don’t They, which
was presented at the Greenberg Theatre and then toured to Yaroslavl, Russia, for the
7th International Festival of the Volkov Theatre. A Washington, DC, native her area
work includes most of the local professional theaters, including Horizon’s Helen Hayes
Award-winning A My Name is Alice, Kennedy Center Theatre Lab, a presentation of
Streets of America on the Millennium Stage, Shakespeare Theatre, Studio Theatre, Jewish Community Theatre, Washington Savoyards, New Arts Theatre, BAPA’s Imagination Stage, Library Theatre, Source Theatre, Washington Stage Guild, Folger Theatre,
Maryland Dance Theatre, and Danceworks at GWU.
Clancey Yovanovich (assistant stage manager) is a junior musical theatre major from
Middleburg, Virginia. Previous credits include The Rocky Horror Show (Phantom), The
Skin of Our Teeth (Hester), and Guys and Dolls (General Cartwright).
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