Mary's Wedding


Chicago's Premiere Women's Theatre	Season & Tix	About Us	Backstage	Education	Support Us


Mary's Wedding by Stephen Massicotte directed by Mark Ulrich @ Theatre on the Lake June 2010 Extended to March 6th! Jeff Recommended!!!			When Mary and Charlie unexpectedly find one another sheltering in a barn during a thunderstorm, a tentative first love is born. However, the year is 1914, and Mary and Charlie must surrender their love and their fate to the uncertainties of a world on the brink of war. Reviews: CBS - On Stage with Chris Jones - 3 Stars Chicago Tribune - Recommended Chicago SunTimes - Recommended Chicago Critic - Recommended Chicago Reader TimeOut Chicago - 3 Stars Chicago Free Press Cast *Actor's Equity + RTE Member
			Mary - Cassandra Bissell * Cassandra is honored and excited to be appearing for her first time at RTE in this lovely play. She appeared most recently in *Around the World in 80 Days* at Peninsula Players of Door Co., WI where previous credits include *The Lady’s Not for Burning, Greetings, Doubt, Red Herring, Proof, Caught in the Net, and A Man for All Seasons. Earlier this year she appeared at The Chicago Theatre in the world premiere of The Quiet Man Tales. Elsewhere in Chicago, Cassandra has appeared at Chicago Shakespeare Theater in King John, The Tempest, Richard II, and Short Shakespeare!* productions of Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet; at Court Theatre in Arcadia and Hamlet; at Victory Gardens in Memory House; at Next Theatre Co. in Measure for Measure and In the Blood; at Shakespeare on the Green in Othello; and at Steppenwolf Theatre Co. in The Berlin Circle. Also in Chicago, CollaborAction’s Sketchbook 6, and two performances of her own stories as part of Serendipity’s 2nd Story at Webster’s Wine Bar. Regionally, Cassandra appeared in the 2005 Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors’ Theatre of Louisville in the world premiere of Memory House; the National Endowment for the Arts’ “Shakespeare in American Communities” initiative with Chicago Shakespeare Theatre’s production of Romeo and Juliet which performed throughout the Midwest and South; and Cleveland Play House in Noises Off and Pride and Prejudice. She holds a degree in Gender Studies from the University of Chicago and is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association. Cassandra dedicates this performance to the memory of Charles Horecker.
Dramaturgy Packet for Mary's Wedding			Charlie - Shane Kenyon Shane is excited to make his Rivendell Theatre debut in Mary’s Wedding. He is a local Chicago actor who recently graduated with a BFA in Acting from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. He most recently appeared at The Side Project in their production of Rewind. His previous credits include understudy for Dublin Carol (Steppenwolf Theatre Co.), Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Betrayal, and Last of the Boys (Steppenwolf Theatre Co.), Our Father, Scenes From the Big Picture (Seanachai Theatre Co.), True West, St. Scarlet (American Theatre Co.), Eurydice (Victory Gardens), The Tempest (First Folio Shakes. Festival), and God’s Country, Inspecting Carol (CCPA). His Film credits include: Dog Jack and The Kari Files. Shane would like to thank his family for all their constant love and support throughout the years. Production Staff *Actor's Equity ~ USA829 Member + RTE Member
			Director - Mark Ulrich * + Mark has appeared with Rivendell Theatre Ensemble in their productions of The Walls and Silence. Chicago area credits include Mariela in the Desert at The Goodman Theatre, The Gamester at Northlight, and the Joseph Jefferson and After Dark award-winning Juno And The Paycock at The Artistic Home. Regional credits include The Seafarer at City Theatre of Pittsburgh, Gross Indecency at Madison Repertory Theatre, 7 Stories, The Pavilion, and Between East And West at Next Act Theatre, K2 at Milwaukee Theatre Festival, The Adjustment at Florida Stage, The Price at Palm Beach Dramaworks, and The Dining Room at Iowa Summer Rep. Mark is proud to be a company member of Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, an Associate Artist with Chicago Dramatists, and a member of Actors Equity Association.
			Assistant Director - Tara Mallen * + Tara is a founding member of RTE. She has both produced and performed in Twenty Seven Wagons Full of Cotton, Ten Tiny Fingers, Nine Tiny Toes, WRENS, My Simple City, Holy Days, Mommapalooza, The Clink, The Factory Girls, Faulkner’s Bicycle, Indulgences in the Louisville Harem, Silence, Self Defense, and the recent world premiere, Jeff Nominated production of The Walls. Tara directed the RTE productions of Fighting Words, Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue (in a co-production with Stageworks/Hudson), and Psalms of a Questionable Nature. In collaboration with Powertap Productions, she produced Hamlet and Cyrano de Bergerac. She won a Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Gwenyth in WRENS, as well as being a part of the Jeff Award-winning ensemble for that production. She was nominated the following year for Best Actress in a Principal Role for her work in My Simple City. Tara is originally from New York where she worked extensively with The Open Eye: New Stagings. She spent several seasons with the Iowa Shakespeare Project and has performed in Chicago and in Washington, D.C. at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the long running comedy whodunit Shear Madness. Tara is a graduate of Brooklyn College where she received a BFA in Theatre.
			Scenic Design - Elvia Moreno + Elvia is a longtime RTE ensemble member. She has created the scenic design for the following Rivendell productions: The Walls, Fighting Words, Silence, Indulgences in the Louisville Harem, The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek, The Factory Girls, Holy Days, Mommapalooza! and WRENS. In addition, Elvia designed the sets for the Rivendell/Powertap co-production of Hamlet; Powertap’s Mr. Roberts; Blue, White and Blood Red at Chase Park Theater; and The Lightkeepers for the Bailiwick’s Pride Series. During the day, Elvia moonlights as a professional architect.
			Associate Scenic Design and Properties - Maria Defabo Maria is so grateful to be working with such an amazing group of people. Some of her favorite credits include Props Master for Oedipus and Frankenstein with The Hypocrites; Six Degrees of Separation and A Song for Coretta, Eclipse Theatre Company; and Taming of the Shrew, Theo Ubique. She was also Assistant Props Master for Once on this Island, and Singing in the Rain and a properties artisan for Evita, and Oklahoma! at the Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma City. Maria is currently a student at Loyola University Chicago focusing on the scenic and property elements of theatre. She has much appreciation for her family and friends for supporting her through her theatrical endeavors.
			Lighting Design - Jaymi Lee Smith ~ + Jaymi has been doing lighting design throughout the country for the last fourteen years at theaters such as Hartford Stage, Milwaukee Repertory, San Jose Repertory, Steppenwolf, The Goodman, Northlight, Victory Gardens, Birmingham Children's Theatre, Marin Theatre, The Getty Villa, Milwaukee Shakespeare, Irish Repertory, The Boston Court, and of course Rivendell, to name a few. Her designs for Rivendell have included The Trestle at Popelick Creek, Be Aggressive, Silence, Knowing Cairo, and Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue. Her work has been seen in thirty-four cities nationwide as well as in Ireland, Scotland and Spain. She was the 2003 recipient of the Michael Merrit / Michael Maggio Emerging Designer Award. In addition to theatre, she has also designed lighting for private residences, restaurants and special events. Jaymi is in her third year as Professor at the University of California, Irvine. Latest projects have included Smart Cookie at the Alliance Theatre, Mauritius at Pasadena Playhouse, and Ready, Set, Dead at the Shanghai Theatre Academy in China. Upcoming projects include Junie B. Jones at South Coast Repertory, Icarus at Lookingglass Theatre, and 39 Steps, Pride and Prejudice, and Great Expectations at Utah Shakespeare. She and her partner Kerri were one of the fortunate 18,000 couples to get legally married in the state of California prior to Proposition 8 passing.
			Associate Lighting Design - Jill Norris Jill attended DePaul University, where she received her BFA in Lighting Design. She designed Othello and Tokoloshe at the Merle Reskin. Some of Jill's other designs include Macbeth and Swan at Athenaeum Studio 3, Intimate Apparel and Cabaret at Chicago Academy for the Arts, Two Rooms at Steep Theater, Jeffery at Stage Left, Love! Valour! Compassion! and Five Women Wearing the Same Dress at The Center on Halsted for Hubris Productions, Drunkard for Quest, and A Christmas Carol with Provision this last winter. As well as designing, Jill has assisted lighting designers at Lookingglass, The Goodman, and The Museum of Science and industry. Jill is an electrician at American Girl Place for the American Girl Review. She works on the Operations team at The Center on Halsted working in the theater and on other events in the center. She was also an intern at Animated Lighting in the summer of '04 and Theater Projects Consultants in the winter of '06.
			Costume Design - Janice Pytel ~ Janice previously worked with Rivendell Theatre Ensemble on Psalms of a Questionable Nature and is pleased to be back. Recent Chicago costume design credits include Our Town with Lookingglass, The Seafarer with Steppenwolf, and Picnic with Writers’ Theatre. Janice was recently nominated for a Henry Hewes award for her work on the Broadway Production of 33 Variations. She spent most of last season traveling to various regional theatres and is glad to be spending more time in Chicago this year. You can see her work online at www.janicepytel.com.
			Original Music and Sound Design - Victoria (toy) DeIorio ~ + As a member of RTE, she has sound designed: Holy Days, Ghosts in the Cottonwoods, The Clink, Factory Girls, Faulkner’s Bicycle, Silence, Knowing Cairo, Expecting Isabel, Fighting Words and the NY production of Elliot, a Soldier’s Fugue. Victoria was part of the Jeff Award Winning Ensemble of WRENS as well. Off-Broadway Productions: Cassie’s Chimera – Joe’s Pub, The Public Theatre, The Bluest Eye – Steppenwolf Theatre @ The Duke Theatre, and Ophelia – NYC Fringe Festival. As associate designer Off-Broadway: Boy and Dedication or the Stuff of Dreams – Primary Stages, God of Hell – Actor’s Studio Theatre, Luminescence Dating – Ensemble Studio Theatre, and Live Girls – Urban Stages. National Tour: Private Lives – LA Theatre Works. Productions with: The Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Victory Gardens Theatre, Center Stage, Chautauqua Theatre Company, Indiana Repertory, Milwaukee Shakespeare, Milwaukee Rep, Geva Theatre, Writers’ Theatre, and many other theatres in and around Chicago, NY, and LA. Victoria is a founding member of Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, an Artistic Associate of The Next Theatre, and a member of Lifeline Theatre. She has been nominated for 9 and has received 5 Joseph Jefferson Awards, as well as 2 After Dark Awards. She is the head of Sound Design for The Theatre School at DePaul University. For more information visit www.victoria-sound-design.com.
			Production Stage Manager - Stephanie Hurovitz * + Stephanie has been stage managing in Chicago since 2003 and is very happy to have found a home with Rivendell Theatre Ensemble. She has stage managed Rivendell’s productions of The Walls, These Shining Lives, and Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue with Teatro Vista at the Steppenwolf garage. Other theatres that have been lucky enough to have her pass through include: Pegasus Players, Continental Divide; Lifeline Theatre, Lyle, Lyle Crocodile, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs!, Gaudy Night, Giggle, Giggle Quack, A Long Way From Chicago, and Deep In The Jungle; Bailiwick Reparatory, Sunday on the Rocks and ASM for Naked Boys Singing; Theatre Building Chicago (where she worked with Hancock Productions), The Brother and ‘Night Mother; Walk-About Theatre Company in conjunction with Lookingglass, The Coast of Chicago; Collaboraction Theatre Company, Casanova; (the since re-named) International Theatre of Chicago, Safe; Brown Couch Theatre Company, Tempting Fate, and Defying Gravity; Reverie Theatre Company, All’s Well That Ends Well; and Pywackett Theatre Company, Misery.
			Assistant Stage Manager - Joy Camarena Joy is currently a sophomore in the creative writing program at Columbia College. She was part of Harold Washington Library's Reader's Theatre Troupe for two years. She’s been an intern with Rivendell for five months now. Mary’s Wedding is her first professional theater engagement and she’s thrilled about it!
			Production Manager - Patrick Fries Patrick is thrilled to once again be working with Rivendell after working extensively on These Shining Lives - both the original production, the remount, and at Theatre on the Lake. Other credits include Associate Production Managing A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant, The UN Inspector, Dying City, boom, and End Days at Next Theatre, as well as Welcome Yule! at Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Most recently, Patrick has worked as Production Manager on Teatro Luna's production Lunatic(a)s.
			Dramaturg/Marketing - Caitlin Kunkel Caitlin is very happy to be continuing her work at Rivendell after being a part of the remount of These Shining Lives. She received her MFA in Writing for the Screen and Stage from Northwestern University in 2009.
			Associate Dramaturg & Lobby Display - Ann Shanahan Anne has worked as dramaturg on Appletree Theatre’s productions of Third directed by Sarah Gabel and the remount of The Mistress Cycle at the Auditorium Theatre, directed by Kurt Johns, as well as the original Chicago and nationally touring productions of Angels in American Parts 1 and 2 directed by Michael Meyer, amongst others. Ann is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Loyola University Chicago, where she teaches acting and directing. She worked previously with Rivendell on her adaptation of Room(s) for the Fresh Produce Summer Salon at Piper Hall, home of the Gannon Center for Women and Leadership, through which Ann was a faculty fellow for 2009. Her project, entitled A Room of One’s Own: Women, Creative Leadership, and Home, explores the role of home and houses in women’s creative lives. Ann holds an M.F. A. in Directing from Northwestern University. Her professional directing credits include: The Vagabond and The Turn of the Screw for City Lit Theatre, and Lies and Legends, Wasp, Warrior, and The Living for Buffalo Theatre Ensemble where she will direct On Golden Pond this spring. In addition, she has directed numerous productions at the university and college level in the Chicago area. Favorites include Ibsen's Ghosts, A Doll’s House and Hedda Gabler, Brecht's Mother Courage, an original adaptation of Charlotte Perkins Gillman’s The Yellow Wallpaper, Loves’ Labours’ Lost and Maria Irene Fornes' Fefu and her Friends and Abingdon Square.
			Box Office Manager - Trisha Hooper Trisha has worked with RTE for the past three years. Her official title is Artistic Administrator, but she has worked on everything from grant writing to casting to managing the box office. Trisha graduated from Loyola University Chicago with a degree in English and has also worked at American Players Theatre in Spring Green, WI.


Donate Now	Sign-Up for our Newsletter	Auditions & Submissions	Plan Your Visit	Rivendell Shop	The Green Room - Blog	Privacy Policy