ShareMiss Julie BIOGRAPHIES
Helen Cooper (Translator) was born in Holland of Welsh/Dutch parentage. After studying History of Art at Leiden University and at the Victoria and Albert Museum she went to the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts. Her most recent highly acclaimed play Three Women and a Piano Tuner was premiered in June 2004 and was runner-up for the Susan Smith Blackburn Award. It transferred to the Hampstead Theatre in June 2005. Helen's other plays include Mrs. Gaugin and Mrs. Vershinin. Both plays were nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn Award. Helen translated Strindberg's Miss Julie for Tom Cairns' production at Greenwich Theatre, which was later adapted into a screenplay for Mike Figgus’ film, Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, the libretto of Don Giovanni and was the dramaturg for Tom Cairns' production of La Boheme at Stuttgart Opera House. Helen's work-in-progress includes a new commission from the Royal Shakespeare Company, and her play Mothers at the Gate, which is being developed by the Royal National Theatre Studio. She has also been the screenwriter for several award winning independent films.
the cast
Beth Deitchman (Christine) is thrilled to be making her Aurora Theatre debut. A classically trained dancer, she has performed such roles as Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and Juliet (Romeo and Juliet). Her favorite roles as an actor include Hermia (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Desdemona (Othello), and Agnes (Dancing at Lughnasa). During the brief hiatus between her dance and acting careers, Beth taught Shakespeare and composition at UC Davis where her audiences were sometimes more captive than captivated.
Lauren Grace* (Miss Julie) is very happy to be back for her fourth show at Aurora, having played Hilda in The Master Builder (Bay Area Critics Award nomination), Emma in Emma, and Dulce in Ice Glen. With ACT she appeared in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, A Mother, the premiere of Hilda, and The Voysey Inheritance (which then went on to Kansas City Repertory.) With Berkeley Repertory Theatre, she played Minta in To The Lighthouse and with the Magic Theatre, she played Ava in the world premiere of Monkey Room. Hailing from England, Lauren makes her professional base in both the California Bay Area and Manhattan. Commercially Ms. Grace has been seen in Holes at the Orpheum Theatre and Noises Off at the Marines Memorial Theatre. Lauren has also appeared in several key Upon These Boards projects, most notably Lysistrata Project, Art Is Peace, The Inkwell Communiqués (creating the role of Maudine), and A Lovely Day (creating the role of She).
Mark Anderson Phillips* (Jean) was featured in the company’s acclaimed production of Salome, directed by Mark Jackson, and in the West Coast Premiere of Small Tragedy. Additional credits include productions at SF Playhouse (Abraham Lincoln’s Big Gay Dance Party), TheatreWorks, Magic Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and California Shakespeare Theater, among others; he is the recipient of three Bay Area Critics Circle Awards.
the artistic team and the crew
Heather Basarab (Light Designer) Recent designs include T.I.C. with Encore Theater; Mud with Cutting Ball; AXIS Dance Co’s the beauty that was mine, through the middle, without stopping (Joe Goode) and Vessel (Alex Ketley); Wonderboy with the Joe Goode Performance Group; and Birdhouse Factory with the Pickle Circus. Ms. Basarab’s work has also been seen with Project Bandaloop, Flyaway Productions, the Ethnic Dance Festival, the Dorsch Gallery (Miami), LACMA, Shotgun Players, Fools Fury, Thick Description, Campo Santo, Crowded Fire, STOMP, and the Magic Theatre. Ms. Basarab is the recipient of an Isadora Duncan Award for the production design of Drowsy with the JGPG.
Fumiko Bielefeldt^ (Costume Designer) has previously designed Marius, The Persians and Bosoms and Neglect for Aurora. Other recent credit includes 20th Century for TheatreWorks, Evie’s Waltz for Magic Theatre, and Emma for Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. Her designs have also appeared at ACT, Marin Theatre Company, California Shakespeare Theatre, and Stanford University. In Japan, she has designed for Tokyo Theatre of Children, and Tokyo Shitamachi Festival. Ms. Bielefeldt has received many awards for her designs, including the Barbara Bladen Porter Special Award, Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Award, Dean Goodman Choice Award, and Drama-Logue Award.
Alisha Ehrlich (Production Assistant) is excited to be working on Miss Julie at Aurora Theatre. She most recently worked as an Assistant Stage Manager for UC Berkeley’s production of Sauce for the Goose. Alisha is currently earning her B.A. in Theater and Performance Studies, with a focus on acting and stage management, at UC Berkeley. Alisha plans to resume acting this summer.
David A. Graves (Composer/Sound Designer) Multi-genre composer David Graves studied at the University of Nebraska as well as the SF Conservatory. His pieces have been performed in theaters, redwood canyons and moving “audio” buses. During the past year, in addition to having six pieces premiered by the Berkeley Symphony, he released three very different albums (progressive rock, ambient and pop) and collaborated with Clare Twohy for a new piece performed by the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra.
Sylvie Hitchcock (Properties) assisted in a variety of technical aspects of previous Aurora productions including Betrayed, The Devil’s Disciple, The Best Man, Private Jokes, Public Places, Bosoms and Neglect, The Birthday Party and SEX. She is now embarking upon her last semester in Theater and Performance Studies at UC Berkeley, where she was recently the assistant set designer in Barbara Oliver’s production of Euripides’ The Bacchae.
Mark Jackson (Director) has written and/or directed for a number of Bay Area theatre companies, as well as others in Washington DC, the UK and Germany. Some recent projects include Shakespeare’s Macbeth at Shotgun Players; Sophie Treadwell’s Machinal at SF State University; Yes, Yes to Moscow at Deutsches Theater Berlin and the San Francisco International Arts Festival; his play American $uicide at Encore Theatre Company; and Oscar Wilde’s Salome here at Aurora. Mark can be found digitally at www.artstreettheatre.org.
Giulio Cesare Perrone (Set Designer) has designed over 100 productions in the US after leaving his native Italy in 1995. He received a 2000 Pew-TCG National Artists Residency grant for his adaptation of Paradise Lost and a 2002 Pew-TCG grant for The Memoirs of Casanova, both of which he wrote, designed and directed. He received a Drama-Logue for Goldoni’s The Liar at the Laguna Playhouse. He has worked with many companies including the San Jose Rep, Opera San Jose, Festival Opera, Dell’Arte, Marin Theatre Company, TheatreWorks and the Magic Theatre. Recent directing credits include: Artemisia, Il Trovatore, Cavalleria Rusticana, and Pagliacci.
The Real Vocal String Quartet (Music) Strings for the play were recorded in San Francisco’s Fine Vermin Studio and performed by members of the Real Vocal String Quartet: Alisa Rose (violin), Dina Maccabee (viola) and Jessica Ivry (cello). Ms. Rose is also a member of the Picasso Quartet, Homespun Rowdy, Forty-Nine Special, A.J. Roach and the Strange Pilgrims. Alisa performed recently at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Strawberry Music Festival, the Olympic Music Festival, Blue Highways Festival in Utrecht, Netherlands, and in Carnegie Hall. She helped David Graves craft some specific idiomatic techniques used in the music for Miss Julie.
Susan M. Reamy* (Stage Manager) is pleased to be returning to Aurora Theatre Company where her stage management credits include The Best Man, SEX, The Birthday Party, Small Tragedy, The Thousandth Night,Dublin Carol, Betrayal, Lobby Hero (in Napa), The Old Neighborhood, Thérèse Raquin, The Entertainer, The Homecoming, The Weir, and The Aspern Papers, among others. Susan’s other Bay Area experience: California Shakespeare Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, San Francisco Opera Center, Marin Theatre Company, Magic Theatre, A Traveling Jewish Theatre and San Francisco Shakespeare Festival. Elsewhere her work has included The Kentucky Cycle, Uncle Vanya, The Grapes of Wrath, and Once on This Island. Susan holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Stage Management from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.
*Member, Actors' Equity Association
^Member, United Scenic Artists
