Old Money

March 6-18, 2018

Carling-Sorenson Theater, Babson College, Wellesley

By Wendy Wasserstein

Directed by Karen MacDonald

A dinner party in a fashionable home offers a rich and witty look at social classes and issues of wealth and privilege from the Gilded Age of the early 20th century to the present day. A wealthy robber baron and his family, their descendants and assorted characters in their midst — an Irish maid, a Hollywood producer, a social climbing decorator, confused teenagers and eccentric artists — mingle in a contrast of old money and new.

Tuesday, March 6 at 7:30pm
Wednesday, March 7 at 7:30pm
Thursday, March 8 at 7:30pm
Friday, March 9 at 7:30pm
Saturday, March 10 at 7:30pm
Sunday, March 11 at 3pm
Thursday, March 15 at 7:30pm
Friday, March 16 at 7:30pm
Saturday, March 17 at 7:30pm
Sunday, March 18 at 3pm

Running Time: 2.5 hours including intermission

 

 

Cast

Jordan Clark
Penny Nercessian / Betina Brevoort
Jordan Clark
Penny Nercessian / Betina Brevoort

Jordan Clark is thrilled to be making her Commonwealth Shakespeare Company debut. Recent credits include: Road Show, Gypsy, Camelot, and Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play (The Lyric Stage Company of Boston); Significant Other (SpeakEasy Stage); Journey to the West and Arabian Nights (Central Square Theater); The Trumpet of the Swan (Wheelock Family Theatre); and You For Me For You and She Kills Monsters (Company One). Jordan holds a degree in Vocal Performance from The University of the Incarnate Word in her hometown of San Antonio, TX.

Amanda Collins
Flinty McGee / Florence Deroot
Amanda Collins
Flinty McGee / Florence Deroot

Amanda Collins has worked with many Boston area theaters including Gloucester Stage Company, Boston Playwrights’, Wheelock Family Theater, Underground Railway, Nora Theatre Company, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater (WHAT), Cape Rep, Publick Theatre Boston, Orfeo Group, Off The Grid, New Repertory Theater, and The Modern Theatre. She has also worked with The Outfit in NYC and Philadelphia, American Stage in Florida, and was a founder of the Harbor Stage Company. She is a member of Theatre Espresso, performing interactive dramas exploring issues of social justice in American history.  Television: “Olive Kitteridge”  (HBO), “Castle Rock (Hulu), “Boston’s Finest” (ABC Pilot) Film: “Sea of Trees. Amanda is a proud member of Actors’ Equity and SAG-AFTRA.

 

 

Josephine Moshiri Elwood
Caroline Nercessian / Mary Gallagher
Josephine Moshiri Elwood
Caroline Nercessian / Mary Gallagher

Josephine Moshiri Elwood is happy to be making her debut with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company. Previous Boston credits include Gabriel (Greater Boston Stage Company), Hand to God, The Whale (Speakeasy Stage), Othello, and God’s Ear (Actor’s Shakespeare Project). Josephine can be found performing regularly with Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet and TheTaming of the Shrew. She is a graduate from Emerson College, where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting.

Ed Hoopman
Sid Nercessian / Tobias Vivian Pfeiffer
Ed Hoopman
Sid Nercessian / Tobias Vivian Pfeiffer

Ed Hoopman is thrilled to be back with Commonwealth Shakespeare, having previously performed as Edgar in King Lear, Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Nicholas in The Taming of the Shrew. He has been seen recently in Boston as King Arthur in Camelot at Lyric Stage and as Ted in Ideation at New Repertory Theater. Other regional credits include Finish Line (Boston Theater Co./Boch Center); Peter and the Starcatcher, City of Angels, Dear Elizabeth, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Groucho Marx in Animal Crackers (Lyric Stage); Mister Roberts and Indulgences (New Repertory Theater); Dog Paddle (Bridge Rep); A Civil War Christmas (Huntington Theatre Company); Assassins, After Ashley and A Clockwork Orange (Company One); and Shear Madness (Charles Playhouse). NYC: Interior: Panic (NY Fringe Festival) and World’s Fastest Hamlet both with Hedgepig Ensemble Theatre; Jester’s Dead (The Outfit); Foreign Wars (Random Access Theater). TV: “See Kate Run” (ABC), “Aftershock” (History Channel). Mr. Hoopman is also an accomplished voice over actor whose work can be heard both locally and nationally. www.edhoopman.com

Jeremiah Kissel
Jeffrey Bernstein / Arnold Strauss
Jeremiah Kissel
Jeffrey Bernstein / Arnold Strauss

Jeremiah Kissel is a thirty-five year veteran of Boston’s professional theaters, and has appeared previously for Commonwealth Shakespeare eight times, most recently in King Lear. Other recent appearances include Fiddler on the Roof, Kol’s Last Call, The Boston Pops Holiday Concerts, and an episode of the upcoming “Castle Rock” for Hulu. Screen credits include “The Town”, “The Fighter”, “Joy”, “Stronger” and “The Wrong Car”. He has received numerous Norton and IRNE nominations, and has won several times, most recently, for Best Actor, 2014, and most notably, the very first Norton Award for a Boston actor in 1990. In 2003 he was given The Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence.

Will Lyman
Vivian Pfeiffer / Schuyler Lynch
Will Lyman
Vivian Pfeiffer / Schuyler Lynch

Will Lyman-Boston Stages: King Lear, Ulysses on Bottles, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Windowmen, Operation Epsilon, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, All My Sons, Exits and Entrances, The Oil Thief, Nicholas Nickleby, King of the Jews, Prospero, Brutus, Claudius. Off-Broadway: The Novelist, Passion of Dracula, Grinding Machine, The Dwarfs. Television: “Commander-in-Chief”, “Threat Matrix”, “Hull High”, “Crossbow”, “American Meltdown”, “Our Fathers”, soaps. Film: “Little Children”, “A Perfect Murder”, “The Siege”, “Mystic River”, “Welcome to the Dollhouse”, “What Doesn’t Kill You”Narrator: “Frontline”, “NOVA”, “American Experience” etc. Awards: Norton Outstanding Achievement (4 plays), Norton Sustained Excellence 2013, IRNE, NETC Award for Contribution to American Theatre, Howard Keel, Best of Boston, Imaginaire.

Eliott Purcell
Ovid Walpole Bernstein / Tobias Vivian Pfeiffer Jr.
Eliott Purcell
Ovid Walpole Bernstein / Tobias Vivian Pfeiffer Jr.
Eliott Purcell returns to the Commonwealth Shakespeare stage after previously appearing on the Common in King Lear and Two Gentlemen of Verona, and at the Strand Theatre in Dorchester in the CSC2 production of Romeo and Juliet. Recent Credits: The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-TimeHand to God (Elliot Norton Nomination Best Actor), appropriate [SpeakEasy Stage]; Our Town [Huntington]; The Weird [Off the Grid]; Laura [Greater Boston Stage Company]; A Measure of Normalcy [Gloucester Stage]; The Song of Achilles, The Oresteia, Ethan Frome [Newton Theatre Company]. NYC Credits: Jews on First [Piece of Tish Productions]. Education: Boston College.
Veronica Wiseman
Saulina Webb / Sally Webster
Veronica Wiseman
Saulina Webb / Sally Webster

Veronica Wiseman is honored to be in her first production with CSC. Recent shows: A Winter Gathering, Cleanliness, Godliness & Madness, 27 Tips for Banishing the Blues, Real Realism (Sleeping Weazel), The Last Schwartz (Gloucester Stage), Mrs. Packard, Mud Blue Sky, Salome (Bridge Rep), Speech and Debate, The Goat or Who Is Sylvia – IRNE Nomination (Bad Habit Productions), The Edge of Peace (Central Square Theatre), Bully Dance (Argos Productions), The How and The Why (One Bird Productions).

Creative Team

Karen MacDonald
Director

Karen MacDonald previously appeared as Mrs. Plant/Mrs.Vane in Universe Rushing Apart, Maria in Twelfth Night, Volumnia in Coriolanus, The Countess in All’s Well That Ends Well and Gertrude in Hamlet and directed Old Money for CSC. On Broadway, she understudied and performed the role of Amanda Wingfield in John Tiffany’s production of The Glass Menagerie. New England area credits include The Huntington Theatre, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Portland Stage, Hartford Stage,  Trinity Rep, Speakeasy Stage Company, Lyric Stage, Greater Boston Stage Company, Gloucester Stage, GAMM Theatre, Israeli Stage, Sleeping Weasel, ARTS Emerson, Boston Playwrights Theatre, Bridge Rep, Boston Theatre Company, New Repertory Theatre,. The Vineyard Playhouse, Dorset Theatre Festival, Shakespeare and Company, Berkshire Theatre Festival.  She has appeared with the Boston Pops and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, both at Symphony Hall and Tanglewood. She was a Founding Company Member of the American Repertory Theatre, performing in 73 productions.. She has worked nationally from The Wilma Theatre to Berkeley Rep. Karen has been awarded several IRNE and Eliot Norton Awards for her work. She received the Robert Brustein Prize for Sustained Achievement in the Theatre and the Eliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence. She is a graduate of Boston University and teaches at Harvard University.

Wendy Wasserstein
Playwright

Wendy Wasserstein, (born October 18, 1950, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.—died January 30, 2006, New York City), American playwright whose work probes, with humour and sensibility, the predicament facing educated women who came of age in the second half of the 20th century. Her drama The Heidi Chronicles (1988) was awarded both a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award in 1989.

Wasserstein was educated at Mount Holyoke College (B.A., 1971) and City College of the City University of New York (M.A., 1973), where she studied creative writing with playwright Israel Horovitz and novelist Joseph Heller. In 1976 she received an M.F.A. from Yale University.

Wasserstein’s first play, Any Woman Can’t (1973), is a cutting farce on one of her major themes—a woman’s attempts to succeed in an environment traditionally dominated by men. Two other early works are Uncommon Women and Others (1975; revised and expanded, 1977) and Isn’t It Romantic(1981), which explore women’s attitudes toward marriage and society’s expectations of women. In The Heidi Chronicles a successful art historian discovers that her independent life choices have alienated her from men as well as women. The Sisters Rosensweig (1992) continues the theme into middle age. Later plays include An American Daughter (1997) and Third (2005).

Wasserstein’s other works include an adaptation for television of the John Cheever short story “The Sorrows of Gin” (1979); the play When Dinah Shore Ruled the Earth (1975; with Christopher Durang); The Man in a Case (1986), an adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s short story; a musical, Miami (1986); and a children’s book, Pamela’s First Musical (1996). She also wrote several collections of essays, including Shiksa Goddess (2001).

Jon Savage
Scenic Design
Jon Savage
Scenic Design

Jon Savage is very happy to be returning to CSC. Past CSC credits include All’s Well That Ends Well ( Elliot Norton Award, Best Production, Large Company); Comedy of Errors (CSC, Elliot Norton Award, Best Design, Large Company) Regional credits include Ryan Landry’s “M” (Huntington Theatre), A Grand Night for Singing (Bucks County Playhouse); State Fair (Walnut Street Theatre); Is He Dead? (Olney Theatre); Ain’t  Misbehavin‘; (Bay Street Theatre) Other area credits include To Kill a Mockingbird (Gloucester Stage); The Disappearing Number (Underground Railway); Imagining Madoff (New Repertory Theatre); The Farm (Boston Playwright’s Theatre). Jon is currently on faculty at Boston University and is a member of United Scenic Artists.

Charles Schoonmaker
Costume Design
Charles Schoonmaker
Costume Design

Charles Schoonmaker Charles is the recipient of four Daytime Emmy Awards and an IRNE Award for best costume design for Venus in Fur at the Huntington Theatre. Boston area theatre work includes productions at Arts Emerson, North Shore Music Theatre, Lyric Stage, SpeakEasy Stage, Israeli Stage, New Rep, Bridge Rep, and Boston Baroque. Other credits include the Berkshire Theatre Group, Dorset Theatre Festival, Northern Stage, Bay Street Theatre, The Chester Theatre Company, and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. Television credits include Another World, All My Children, and As the World Turns. He teaches costume design at Bennington College. www.Charles-Schoonmaker.com

Brian Lilienthal
Lighting Design
Brian Lilienthal
Lighting Design

Brian Lilienthal Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Our American Hamlet. Regional: Over 250 productions at: Huntington Theatre, Arizona Theatre Co, Milwaukee Rep, Cleveland Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, South Coast Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville (over 60 productions and 20 world premieres at the Humana Festival of New American Plays), Merrimack Rep, Arden Theatre, Trinity Rep, GEVA Theatre Center, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, among many. Opera: Long Beach Opera, Bard Summerscape, Portland Opera Repertory Theatre. Mr. Lilienthal has won the Los Angeles Ovation Award for lighting design, and has been nominated multiple times for Boston’s IRNE Award. He has spent 9 summers as the resident lighting designer for the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center. MFA: California Institute of the Arts. Mr. Lilienthal currently teaches lighting design at Tufts University, and is a member of the Patriots Program at Merrimack Rep in Lowell, MA. He lives in Somerville, MA, and is a drummer with a rockabilly/jump blues quartet that performs throughout the Boston Metro area. www.BrianJLilienthal.com

David Remedios
Sound Design
David Remedios
Sound Design

David Remedios CSC: Romeo and Juliet (2017); Our American Hamlet, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Twelfth Night (2014, IRNE nom.), The Last Will, Coriolanus, All’s Well That Ends Well, Othello. Recent: Knyum, The Royale, Women in Jeopardy!, The Making of a Great Moment, Merrimack Rep; The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The Scottsboro Boys (IRNE Award), SpeakEasy Stage; Wild Horses, The Niceties, Contemporary American Theater Festival; The Effect, Gloucester Stage; Faithful Cheaters, Trinity Rep; Finish Line, Boston Theater Company at Shubert Theatre. Other regional and local credits include Geva Theatre, 59E59, Huntington Theatre, Studio Theatre, Portland Stage, Theatre for a New Audience, American Repertory Theatre, Centerstage Baltimore, LaJolla Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse, among many others. International: prominent arts festivals in Bogotá, Paris, Hong Kong and Edinburgh. David is Assistant Professor and Program Head of Sound Design at Boston University. remediosssound.com.

Sally Tomasetti
Props Artisan
Sally Tomasetti
Props Artisan

Sally Tomasetti is pleased to return to CSC having recently worked on Birdy, Universe Rushing Apart and Birdy.  A freelance set and props designer working with Next Generation Theatre Company, Boston Improv, Walpole Children’s Theatre, Uncommon Theatre Company and Needham Explorations. Sally is an artist that specializes in portraits and liturgical art. Each spring and summer Sally’s joy is to teach Theatre and Set design classes, educating the next generation in the wonders of backstage theater.

Jenna Worden
Stage Manager
Jenna Worden
Stage Manager

Jenna Worden is a producer, director, and stage manager with a passion for storytelling, education, and access to the arts. Favorite CSC credits include Birdy, Universe Rushing Apart, and Our American Hamlet. Additional regional credits include New Rep Theatre, Gloucester Stage Company, Phoenix Theatre, and Childsplay AZ. She collaborates often with Brian O’Donovan and is the director and producer of A Christmas Celtic Sojourn. She earned both her BA in Theatre Studies and BSEd in History from Northern Arizona University and is constantly looking for new ways to teach and be in conversation with the past. Proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.

Kristen Mazzocchi
Production Manager
Kristen Mazzocchi
Production Manager

Kristen Mazzocchi is an experienced arts educator, director and production manager. She holds a BA in Theatre and Economics from Boston College and a Master’s in Education from Harvard University. Kristen began her career at the Boch Center for the Performing Arts working in their arts education program. She went on to work as Production Manager and Director of Education for Celebrity Series of Boston. Kristen is currently a freelance teaching artist, director and production manager working with many schools and arts organizations in the Boston area. Current and past clients include: New England Conservatory of Music, Improv Asylum, Needham Public Schools and Needham Community Theatre. She also serves as Chair of the Needham Cultural Council.

Rachel Corning
Assistant Stage Manager
Rachel Corning
Assistant Stage Manager

Rachel Corning returns to CSC for the Stage2 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Since 2016, she has worked in various technical capacities with companies throughout the Boston and North Shore areas. Select credits include Deal Me Out (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre), A Christmas Celtic Sojourn (WGBH), TrayfCardboard Piano (New Repertory Theatre), Romeo & JulietBirdyBlue Kettle/Here We GoMacbeth, Old Money, Death and the Maiden (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company), A Christmas CarolSunset Boulevard, Jersey BoysJekyll and Hyde (North Shore Music Theatre). Rachel holds a BA in Communications from Simmons University and is a native of Ipswich, MA, where she first discovered her love for theatre in sixth grade.

Caley Chase
Assistant Director
Caley Chase
Assistant Director

Caley Chase is thrilled to be working with CSC for the first time. Her directing credits include: Eliza’s Artist (Trinity Rep’s Write Here, Write Now), Rivkala’s Ring (Brandeis Theater Company), and Boston Theater Marathon. Assistant directing credits: Macbeth and Familiar (both A.R.T. Institute), Faithful Cheaters (Trinity Rep), and Dark Room (Bridge Repertory Theater, upcoming). She is also co-adaptor of R&J Redux (FringePVD). Caley holds a BA from Brandeis University.

Carling-Sorenson Theater
19 College Drive Babson College
231 Forest Street
Babson Park (Wellesley), MA 02457

Driving Directions to Babson College/Sorenson Center for the Arts

From the east: Take the Massachusetts Turnpike to Exit 15 (Interstate 95/Route 128). After the tolls, follow signs to Route 95/128 South to Exit 21 (Route 16 Newton/Wellesley) …

From the west: Take the Massachusetts Turnpike to Exit 14 (Interstate 95/Route 128). After the tolls, follow signs to Route 95/128 South to Exit 21 (Route 16 Newton/Wellesley) … From the south: Follow Route 95/128 North to Exit 21 (Route 16 Newton/Wellesley) …

From the north: Follow Route 95/128 South to Exit 21 (Route 16 Newton/Wellesley) …

Then … At end of the off ramp, follow signs for Route 16 West (Washington Street). Continue on Route 16 West for 2 miles through Newton Lower Falls and Wellesley Hills. Turn left onto Forest Street and follow for 1 mile to Babson College; the main entrance is on the right. Turn left onto Map Hill Drive and park in the Trim Parking Lot. The theater is a short walk away, on College Drive.

Trim Parking Lot is the best place to park when attending events at the Sorenson Center for the Arts.  As you enter on Forest Street, make a left at the first stop sign unto Map Hill Drive.  On your right will be a smaller lot, Hollister Lot. If there is space available, patrons may park there.  However, Trim Parking Lot is preferred which will be on the left hand side after you pass the Hollister lot.  To walk to the theater, walk back towards the stop sign and make a left at the Hollister building.  Continue walking straight past Reynolds Campus Center and the Sorenson Center for the Arts will be the next building.

Handicap parking is available in the Hollister Lot, on Map Hill Drive.  We also recommend that patrons with mobility issues be dropped off in front of the theater before your party finds parking in Hollister or Trim lot for your convenience. 

From the Amtrak Terminal at South Station

You have two options:

1) Take the Framingham/Worcester Commuter rail to Wellesley Hills. From South Station, take the Framingham/Worcester commuter rail to Wellesley Hills. Depending on the time of day, regularly scheduled trains leave South Station at ½ to 2-hour intervals (Monday-Friday), and 1-to 3-hour intervals (Saturday and Sunday). The trip takes approximately 30 minutes. Purchase your ticket in the station. Then, call a taxi from Wellesley Hills. (See Area Taxis, below.)

2) Take the “T.” From South Station, take the MBTA subway Red Line inbound two stops to Park Street. Walk upstairs and take the Green Line outbound Riverside D train to Woodland, the next to last stop on the D line. Allow an hour for the trip. Then, take a taxi from Woodland to Babson. (See Area Taxis, below.)

For complete information about Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) services, including specific maps, schedules, and fares for trains, buses, and subways, please visit the MBTA web site.

By Taxi

Veteran’s Taxi (781) 449-8294 Wellesley Transportation (781) 235-2200 The Babson campus is handicap accessible.

Reviews

“Old Money,” by Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning playwright Wendy Wassserstein (who took those prizes and more for her 1988 play “The Heidi Chronicles”), is a sprawling, intricate tale of two centuries. Its various narrative crossroads converge on one… Read More

- WBUR The ARTery, Killian Melloy

News

Edge Media: Then, as Now, It’s a Rich Man’s World : Karen MacDonald on Directing ‘Old Money’ for CSC
Category: News
Wicked Local: Babson’s play ‘Old Money’ looks at the character of America through wealth
Category: News

What is the running time of the production?

2.5 hours including intermission

What ages is the production appropriate for?

Old Money is recommended for ages 14 and up.  The show contains sexual innuendo and adult language.  Parents know your child’s sensibilities and maturity best.  If you have specific concerns about content, please contact the box office at 781-239-5880.

Are there accessible performances for patrons with disabilities?

Currently there are no accessible dates for this production.  CSC is committed to making theater available for all and we look forward to offering accessible performances in the near future,

Is there handicap seating available?

Yes, there are several locations in the theater to accommodate wheelchairs.  Call the box office at the Sorenson Center for the Arts to purchase these locations at 781-239-5880.

Are assisted listening devices available?

Yes, visit the box office for assisted listening devices.

When should I arrive?

The theater will open for seating roughly a half hour before curtain time.

We advise you give yourself plenty of time for parking and walking to the theater.

Where should I park?/How do I get to the theater after parking?

Trim Parking Lot is the best place to park when attending events at the Sorenson Center for the Arts.  As you enter on Forest Street, make a left at the first stop sign unto Map Hill Drive.  On your right will be a smaller lot, Hollister Lot. If there is space available, patrons may park there.  However, Trim Parking Lot is preferred which will be on the left hand side after you pass the Hollister lot.  To walk to the theater, walk back towards the stop sign and make a left at the Hollister building.  Continue walking straight past Reynolds Campus Center and the Sorenson Center for the Arts will be the next building.

Are concessions available?

Although there is no food or drink permitted in the theater, food and drink are available for purchase in the Reynolds Campus Center next to the Sorenson Center for the arts.

Are shows delayed or canceled for weather?

Audience and actor safety is our main concern.  In cases of heavy snow or extreme weather, we will cancel and try to reseat patrons into an alternative performance date.  Weather updates can be found on the homepage of our website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

If I miss the show, what are my options?

To reschedule, call the box office at the Sorenson Center for the Arts at 781-239-5880 at least one business day before your reservation.  We will make our best efforts to seat you in another performance.  Seating will be based on availability.  It is not our policy to refund tickets but we are happy to reseat you on another date.  If you miss a production altogether, we will reseat you in an alternative production of your choice based on availability.

Can I take photos or video?

The taking of photos or video is strictly prohibited.

How can I support Commonwealth Shakespeare Company?

to make a donation or call 617-426-0863.  Click on the Ways To Give tab on our website to learn more about upcoming fundraising events and ways to get involved.

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