Yesterday
January 6, 2016 - May 8, 2016 | Goldstein Cabaret
By Richard Hopkins, Rebecca Hopkins, and Jim Prosser. In the mid-1960s, groups such as The Beatles, The Who, and The Rolling Stones were topping the charts. While trying to replicate the rebellious tone of American Rock ‘N’ Roll, a new sound emerged. By 1964 The Beatles alone had 31 hits on the Top 100. Journey back to a time of peace, love, and everything in between with songs such as “Let It Be,” “Satisfaction,” and “You Really Got Me Going.”
For a large print version of the playbill, click here.
To view the forum booklet located on the tables during the performance, click here.
Creative
Director | Catherine Randazzo
Music Director | Ben Krauss
Costume Designer | Susan Angermann
Lighting Designer | Tom Hansen
Sound Designer | Toby Algya
Cast
John Bronston
Hunter Brown
Ben Mackel
James Zap
JOHN BRONSTON recently served as musical director of WBTT’s The Color Purple and last performed at FST in Night Train To Memphis. Favorite credits include tours of Hair, Smokey Joe’s Café, and Five Guys Named Moe as conductor and regional productions of A Chorus Line, Fences, and Rocky Horror as a performer. His compositions have been produced by Richmond Shakespeare Festival, New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF), and New Jersey Playwright’s Competition.
HUNTER BROWN is honored to be representing his musical heroes in Yesterday. He is the proud musical director of FST Improv, and co-teaches their Musical Improv course. He’s also appeared locally with the Manatee Performing Arts Center in Brigadoon (Charlie), Our Town (George) and Les Miserables (Ensemble). Enjoy the show!
BEN MACKEL is excited to be returning to FST. Previous shows include American Pie; Poems, Prayers and Promises; and Pump Boys and Dinettes. He was a resident actor for eight years at Barter Theatre in VA. As a composer, credits include Of Mice and Men; Billy, Goat, Gruff; and most recently Winter Wheat, a musical about the women’s suffrage movement. His string band, The Blue Eyed Bettys, is currently recording a second album and touring this summer. www.theblueeyedbettys.com
JAMES ZAP is a recent graduate of the University of New Haven. He is from Ridgefield, CT and very excited to return to the FST stage! Past productions include: One Man, Two Guvnors (Guitar, Banjo, Vocals), Triumph of Love (Agis), RENT (Mark), Little Shop of Horrors (Dentist), Into the Woods (Baker).
CATHERINE RANDAZZO (Director & Choreographer) is excited to make her directorial debut for FST’s Winter Cabaret Series and congratulates FST on their 20th anniversary of the Cabaret. She fondly remembers first performing on the Goldstein Cabaret stage in 1996 when FST hosted a Fringe Festival of cabaret acts. Catherine was part of that festival while performing with Sarasota’s original political comedy group, License to Bash. For the past 25 years she has worked professionally as a performing artist appearing in plays, musicals, cabarets, new play readings, voice overs, commercials, fund raisers, and touring in national and international productions. She is the recipient and nominee of local and national arts awards including “Best Actress in a Musical” for her performance as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl and “Sarasota’s Funniest People.” Catherine joined FST last year as Associate Artist. She serves as Literary Manager, in-residence director, and professional actor. She handles new play development, collaborates on cabaret development, teaches adult education classes, and leads audience outreach programs. Catherine is a graduate of Otterbein University in Ohio with a BFA in performance, and she is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.
BEN KRAUSS (Music Director) is an active pianist, vocal coach, and music director in the New York area. Credits include: FST: Inspired Lunacy, American Pie, Poems Prayers and Promises. Broadway: The Mystery of Edwin Drood, The Addams Family. Selected Regional/Stock: Westport Country Playhouse, North Shore Music Theater, Theater by the Sea, Surflight Theater. Ben’s orchestrations have accompanied singers such as Tituss Burgess, Lillias White, and Stephanie J. Block. Additionally, Ben is an alumnus of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop.
JULIENNE BAILEY (Sound & Light Operator) graduated with a B.F.A. in Theatre Design & Technology from Utah State University, and is excited to join FST as a stage management intern this season. She has adopted a nomadic lifestyle, working on productions in a variety of states, including The Pirates of Penzance, Wiley and the Hairy Man, Cyrano de Bergerac, Spamalot, Souvenir, Mary Poppins, and He Wrote Good Songs in California, Utah, Texas, New York, and now Florida.
SUSAN ANGERMANN (Costume Designer) started her career in costuming in New York where she designed and constructed costumes for various productions in theatre, opera, film, and television. In 1993 she moved with her husband, Chris, and son, Erik, to Sarasota, and designed several productions at FST. She returned to FST in January 2009 as Costume Shop Manager and recently designed Soul Mates: A Journey to Hitsville, American Pie; Chapatti; Becoming Dr. Ruth; Pump Boys and Dinettes; Too Darn Hot; Freud’s Last Session; Poems, Prayers and Promises; The Prima Donnettes; By Gershwin; That’s Life Again; Night Train to Memphis; Shake, Rattle and Roll; Urban Cowboys and Let’s Twist Again: with the Wanderers.
TOM HANSEN (Lighting Designer) Award credits: Singing In the Rain, Oklahoma!, Harvey, Philadelphia Story, The Sound of Music, Beauty & the Beast, The Great Sebastians, Mornings At Seven, Big River, and Crazy For You (nominated 2010 Colorado Springs Fine Arts Council). Favorites: The Foreigner (American Stage), Grey Gardens (freeFall Theatre), Chicago (Eight O’clock Theatre), 42nd Street (Sarasota Players), Hairspray (Peach State Summer Theatre), Man of LaMancha (Show Palace), and Joseph...Dreamcoat (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center). www.tomhansensets.com
TOBY ALGYA (Sound Designer) NYC: H2O, Hard Love, Abundance, Natural Affection, Lost In Yonkers, Awake and Sing!, Philip Goes Forth, Tender Napalm, Whida Peru, Mosaic, Rosmersholm, Ringmaster, Human Variations, Pratfalls, Where’s My Money, The Invested, Hamlet, Fantasy Football: The Musical?. Regional: Barrington Stage, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, Trinity Shakespeare Festival, Hartford Stage, City Theatre - Pittsburgh, Portland Stage, People’s Light and Theatre, WHAT, Asolo Rep., South Coast Rep., La Jolla Playhouse. MFA UC San Diego.
RICHARD HOPKINS (Co-Writer) fostered the development of FST’s Cabaret productions since the opening of the Goldstein Cabaret in 1996. Most recently, Mr. Hopkins led the development of Dancing In The Street, The Prima Donnettes and Too Darn Hot. Some of his favorite Cabaret shows include: That’s Life, European Cabaret, Piano Men, Inspired Lunacy, Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits, and the Laughing Matters series. Mr. Hopkins serves as Producing Artistic Director and Chief Executive Officer of Florida Studio Theatre. This includes overseeing the creation and implementation of all FST programming, including Mainstage, Cabaret, Stage III, New Play Development, Education, and Touring. Since his arrival at FST in 1980, Mr. Hopkins has guided the theatre from a small touring company to a nationally recognized regional theatre which impacts over 200,000 adults and children annually. In 2012, the Arts & Cultural Alliance awarded Mr. Hopkins the Cultural Champion Award in recognition of his many years of accomplishment and growth with Florida Studio Theatre. Mr. Hopkins is the recipient of numerous awards including the Arts Leadership Award from the Sarasota Arts Council, and the Richard G. Fallon Award for Artistic Excellence from the Florida Professional Theatre Association.
REBECCA HOPKINS (Co-Writer) has been actively involved in development of FST’s Cabaret productions since Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits in 1999. This season in addition to being the lead developer on Yesterday she is currently working on Laughing Matters (vol. 5) Lock the Gates. Previously she was the lead developer on Poems, Prayers, and Promises and Co-Writer on Dancing in the Street with the Prima Donnettes and Never Marry a Girl with Cold Feet. She has been the head writer on all four Laughing Matters shows. Some of her favorite shows she helped develop include: That’s Life; The Wanderers; My One and Only Gershwin; Hot and Cole; Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits; Piano Men; The British Invasion; The Flip Side; Outlaws and Angels; and Steppin’ Out. In addition, she is the founder and producer of FST Improv and the Sarasota Improv Festival. Mrs. Hopkins serves as Managing Director for Florida Studio Theatre, and as such, is the Chief Operations Officer. Mrs. Hopkins is responsible for oversight of FST’s Administration, including the Business Office, Development, Marketing, Box Office, Front of House, Restaurant, budgeting, and maintaining the overall quality of FST’s internal management. In 2012, the Arts & Cultural Alliance awarded Mrs. Hopkins the Cultural Champion Award in recognition of her many years of accomplishment and growth with Florida Studio Theatre.
JIM PROSSER (Co-Writer & Arranger) Over his many years at FST, Jim has co-developed many FST Cabaret productions, including Dancing In The Street, By Gershwin, Laughing Matters, European Cabaret, That’s Life, Again, British Invasion, Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits, Harry Who?, Too Darn Hot, and last season’s Never Marry A Girl With Cold Feet. He has also served as resident composer/music director for FST’s Education department, writing numerous songs and scores for children’s shows such as Androcles and the Lion, RAP-Punzel, and the WRITE A PLAY elementary tours. Outside of theater, Jim periodically performs locally with the swing trio, Jazz Around the Corner.