Happy End

Notes from the Director

Happy End had a chaotic beginning. Written in a rush to capitalize on the recent success of Threepenny Opera, the original production flopped terribly, though perhaps less due to any faults in the play and more because Helene Weigel (Brecht’s wife, who was playing “The Fly”) took time out in the third act to ad lib an attack on the audience’s bourgeois leanings. Whatever the reason, Brecht did not even put his name on the first published edition of the script. In its place was that of Elisabeth Hauptmann, his secretary, lover, and co-writer on many of his early plays, including the aforementioned Threepenny Opera. So in a way, this is Woman’s Will’s first production written by a woman. By contrast, “Dorothy Lane,” the woman whose name remains above the title line and on whose novel the piece supposedly was based, does not even exist.

Despite its inauspicious origins, Happy End is an accessible introduction to a playwright unfairly judged to be ponderous and difficult. Light on politics, the play nonetheless gives an audience a representative taste of Brecht’s anti-establishment attitude—in Happy End, “robbing a bank’s no crime compared to owning one,” and the gangs and Salvation (and other) armies all serve the same underclass that is desperately trying to survive in a country run by robber barons. Other characteristic Brechtian motifs are here in spades as well—his sharp and wicked sense of humor, his snappy dialogue (so wonderfully adapted by Michael Feingold), his love of all things American, and his distinct performance style, most notably evidenced in the two terms gestus and alienation effect.

Gestus was Brecht’s name for a strong, short-hand approach to physicality that illuminates a character’s social status, purpose in the play and attitude towards life to an audience from their first glance—but it was not much different from the acting style of American film of the time. To understand the idea of gestus, think of Humphrey Bogart’s characters or those of Peter Lorre (who originated the role of Dr. Nakamura); think of Keystone Kops and cartoon characters. No wonder that Brecht so enjoyed creating his own version of these famous American film icons.

The much misconstrued alienation effect (derived from a Russian term, priem ostranneniye, to make foreign or strange) also shows up in straightforward ways. A sweet Salvation Army lass singing from the point of view of debauched sailors, gangsters doing a soft shoe dance, and an improbably silly happy ending, all make a distinction between the actors and their characters, between reality and make-believe. Alienation is not a hostile distancing but an invitation to look at the everyday from a new point of view and to examine your own reactions and beliefs. Modern audiences of Happy End get an additional jolt as they watch a white person play a painfully stereotypical “Oriental” character—untroubling casting when Brecht wrote the play, but a prime opportunity for alienation now. And, as always, Woman’s Will employs an additional alienation technique—casting women in the roles of men.

And then there is Kurt Weill’s delicious and haunting music. The perfect match for Brecht’s words, Weill’s songs embody and enliven the alienation effect by constructing contradictions between the tone of the tune and the words of the singer and through the application of liberal doses of dissonance and melodic surprise. Happy End features some of this brilliant and influential composer’s most lovely and complex compositions, and some of his toe-tappingest.

For this production, Woman’s Will’s emphasis, as always, is on bringing the text to life in ways that reflect both the original intent and the reality of our own time and place. In this spirit, we have made one adjustment—the piece was originally set in 1919, but we have updated it to 1939 to more accurately reflect modern audiences’ images of American movie gangsters; and to highlight the tension between the end of a devastating Depression and the onset of war that had just happened in Germany and was moments away in America. This time in Germany meant the end of runaway inflation but also the end of a unique period of freedom for artists, homosexuals and non-Christians; indeed, it meant mechanized death on a broader scale than the world had ever seen. This period in America in some ways also mirrors our country today, as Americans fight our own economic, cultural and literal wars in the 21st century. Woman’s Will’s Happy End is set in the moment before our innocence was shattered, but experienced by those whose innocence is, for the moment, gone. That, perhaps, is the ultimate alienation.

-Erin Merritt

Bios

• Kay Susanne Arnaudo (Captain Hannibal Jackson)
  • is delighted to join the lovely ladies of Woman's Will for the first time. She has performed for many theatre companies including Broadway by the Bay (PCLO), TheatreWorks, Marin Civic Light Opera and others. Some favorite roles ar the Mother Abbeess in The Sound of Music, Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd, Dottie Ottley/Mrs. Clackett in Noises Off, the Dowager Empress in Anastasia, Bubbie in Crossing Delancey and the title roles of Puccini's Sister Angelica and Tosca in New York. She has won several theatre awards for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress from theatre in the Bay Area. Ms. Arnaudo toured as a soloist on goodwill tours of Europe and Japan. She sends love to her wonderful sister and terrific friends.
• Alexaendrai Bond (Sister Jane)
  • is delighted to make her debut with Woman's Will in the role of Sister Jane. She was most recently seen as Alma Hix in The Music Man. A proud member of Theatre Bay Area, Ms. Bond's other recent credits include The Women, Everyman and Ragtime: The Musical.
• Lauren Carley (Music Director/Dr. Nakamura)
  • sings, acts, conducts, teaches music and solo performance, and is an arts administrator. Whenever possible, she collaborates with music, drama and dance departments, composers, musicians, actors, singers, and wonderful companies like Woman's Will and was last seen with the company as Miss Prism is The Importance of Being Earnest. She is the Vocal/Choral Director for the Oakland Public Conservatory (www.opcmusic.org).
• Erin Carter (The Professor)
  • appeared most recently in the Impact Theatre production Nicky Goes Goth. Other Bay Area credits include: Cyrano de Bergerac (Shotgun Players), Impact Briefs 7: The How-To Show (Impact Theatre), Arcadia (u/s, TheatreWorks), Abducted (Elastic Future), All's Well that Ends Well (u/s, Cal Shakes), and Heavy Days (Shotgun Theatre Lab). Ms. Carter studied theater at Princeton University and the American Conservatory Theater Summer Training Congress and is a member of Theatre Bay Area.
• Deb Cembellin (Miriam the Barmaid, Accordion)
  • A fourth-generation native to the Bay Area, Deb Cembellin is thrilled to be back after a 10-year journey in Arizona. While subsisting in the desert, she performed as accordionist and English concertina player with Clusterfolk, Phoenix's premier contra dance band, performing folkdance music from New England, French-Canada, and the British Isles. She also served as contra dance caller throughout Arizona, and as President of the Phoenix Friends of Old Time Music (PFOTM). Since returning to California, she has discovered the electrifying world of musical theater! She has most recently performed as accordionist Isabella, the sole musician for Altarena Playhouse's production of Scapino, and as pit-musician / strolling accordionist in Altarena's most recent production, Cabaret.
• Jenny Debevec (Bill Cracker)
  • is pleased to perform with Woman's Will as a new company member. Previous performances include Richard III (Elizabeth), Lord of the Flies (Jack), and As You Like It (Celia). Other favorite shows include Cinderella (Cinderella), Measure for Measure (Juliette), As You Like It (Rosalind), The Secret Garden (Lily), and Grease (Marty). A student of ACT's Summer Conservatory, Ms. Debevec has earned a degree in Music/Philosophy, and has performed as a singer for numerous bands, churches, and private funerals. Thanks to He that brought in Led Zeppelin along with Chopin.
• Scarlett Hepworth (Major Stone)
  • Having moved to the Bay Area from the Pacific Northwest one year ago, Ms. Hepworth has appeared as Baroness Elsa in The Sound of Music and Countess Yelverton in John Muir's Mountain Days with Willows Theater, originated the role of Marmee in Little Women at CTA Crossroads Theatre, and acted as music director for A Chorus Line at Berkeley High School. Favorite roles include Golde in Fiddler on the Roof, Eulalie Shinn in The Music Man, and her award-winning portrayal of Vivian Bearing in Wit. Ms. Hepworth has a private vocal music studio in Oakland- www.SingWithScarlett.com.
• Lisa Jenai Hernandez (Sister Lillian Holliday)
  • last appeared with Woman's Will in Comedy of Errors (Courtesan), which toured Bay Area parks. Ms. Hernandez is currently on tour with New Conservatory Theatre Center YouthAware, which is a program to educate youth about diversity and acceptance. Her theatre credits include: All's Well that Ends Well, Much Ado about Nothing, and Arms and the Man with California Shakespeare Theatre; The Damnation of Faust with SF Opera; Cinderella (Prince Charming) with San Francisco Shakespeare Festival; The Grapes of Wrath with TheatreWorks; Little Shop of Horrors (Ronnette) with Foothill Theatre Company; and West Side Story (Anita) with Foothill Music Theatre (Dean Goodman Award). Ms. Hernandez has also worked with 42nd Street Moon, Magic Theatre, ACT, Thrillpeddlers, and Playwrights' Center of SF. Lisa has trained at ACT in San Francisco, American Musical Theatre of San Jose, and Santa Clara University.
• Lisa Hori-Garcia (Baby Face)
  • is the newest collective member in the San Francisco Mime Troupe. Since moving to San Francisco about four years ago from Massachusetts, she has had the pleasure of working with such great theater companies, some of which include: Impact Theater, Asian American Theater Company, WORD 4 WORD, BRAVA Theater, The Magic, TheatreWorks.... and now Woman's Will. (Special thanks to Detti for exposing her to my first Woman's Will show!) 
• Anna Ishida (The Fly)
  • is an East Bay Area native. She has enjoyed working with Berkeley Rep in Fetes de la Nuit, Thrillpeddlers in Blood Bucket Ballyhoo, Collegiate Players in Antony and Cleopatra, and has appeared in TheatreFIRST productions The Colour of Justice and Map of the World. She most recently completed a run of Bat Boy: The Musical at the Western Stage where she performed the role of Meredith Parker. She is a graduate of the Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts where she appeared in mainstage productions 42nd Street, Sweeney Todd, and a staged reading of 36 Views. Ms. Ishida just received her BA in English Literature from Mills College this past December.
• Shelley Lynn Johnson (Sam "Mammy" Wurlitzer)
  • is pleased to be performing for the first time with Woman's Will. She has worked all over the Bay Area playing leading roles in musicals. Favorites include: Man of No Importance, A Little Night Music, She Loves Me, Annie, Fiddler on the Roof, Mame, A New Brain, and Romance/Romance. Non-musical stage work includes featured roles in Winter's Tale, Sylvia, Lettice & Lovage, A Streetcar Named Desire and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Ms. Johnson is also a stage director and an acting coach specializing in work with opera and musical theatre singers.
• Amanda Melton (Stage Manager/Lighting Designer/A Cop)
  • graduated in 2004 from SFSU (Bachelor of Arts, Theatre Arts; Minor, English Language Studies) where some of her production credits included Kurisumasu Karoru, God's Country, Uncle Vanya, Street Scene, Unexpected Song, Multiplex and Baby. Happy End is her third production with Woman's Will, having been involved with both Lord of the Flies (Lighting Design) and Richard III (Stage Manager). Most recently, Ms. Melton finished work on Crazy Go Nuts with Demon 13 Z Productions and, besides Happy End, she is currently in production with Into the Breach on Big Money. She will also stage manage Crowded Fire's upcoming production of Juan Gelion Dances for the Sun.
• Rami Margron (Choreographer)
  • Rami Margron teaches and choreographs kids and adults all over the Bay Area. She has studied over twenty dance styles locally and abroad and has danced with Group Petit La Croix and Reconnect . As a member of Woman's Will, Ms. Margron was last seen sportin' an afro in As You Like It .
• Erin Merritt (Director)
  • With Woman's Will, Artistic Director Erin Merritt has directed seven previous productions (most recently 2004's Lord of the Flies), choreographed fights for five, and acted in five, most recently Richard III. As actor, director and theatre teacher, Ms. Merritt has worked in the Bay Area and beyond with such companies as Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Shotgun Players, Center REPertory Company, Pacific Repertory Theatre, Willows Theatre Company, Unconditional Theatre, Washington's Interplayers Ensemble and school districts all along the West Coast. Her Logical Brecht: what he did, why he did it, how we do it has been used as a text at Reed College since 1990. Ms. Merritt is a member of Theatre Bay Area and its Theatre Services Committee.
• Caroline Mink (Set and Prop Design)
  • Ms. Mink is a recent graduate of St. Mary's College of California. At St. Mary's, she created her own "sub-major" in Theatrical Design. Her most recent project was an original student production called Red Umbrellas by Angela Santillo, for which Ms. Mink designed and constructed the set as well as designed the costumes. She has been invited to submit her design in the American College Theatre Festival's Design Competition in February 2006. Working with Woman's Will on Happy End is Caroline's first professional design experience.
• Amy Neilson (Costume Design)
  • This is Ms. Nielson's third production with Woman's Will. She has designed locally for Killing My Lobster, Impact Theater, Cutting Ball, Contra Costa Civic Theater, Restless Minds Productions, Shotgun Players, and Marin Arts Academy. Ms. Nielson is a stitcher/wig mistress for Center REPertory Company and wardrobe supervisor for "Menopause, the Musical!" She is a founding member of the multi-media performance group Double Vision (www.double-vision.biz). Special thanks to Poppi, Chip and the Fam.
• Hillary Nordwell (Band Leader/Brother Ben Owens)
  • holds a Masters Degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a Bachelors Degree from Lawrence University. She currently teaches and performs throughout the Bay Area, both as a pianist and as a violist. Happy End is her first Woman's Will production.
• Jayn Pettingill (Silent Sid, Sax/Clarinet/Flute)
  • Bay Area native Jayn Pettingill is active as a performer, composer and educator. Recently returned from Colorado where she completed her graduate studies in music, Ms. Pettingill has performed and recorded with a variety of musicians and groups, including Art Lande, trumpeter Ron Miles, and the West-African influenced band Pele Juju. As a performer, her primary interest and passion is improvisation, which led to private study with alto saxophonist Frank Morgan and multi- reed player/composer Anthony Braxton. Presently Ms. Pettingill teaches music in East Palo Alto at the Center for A New Generation, is composing music for her own group, and plays as a freelance musician in various groups throughout the Bay Area.
• Bernadette Quattrone (The Reverend)
  • is a proud company member of Woman's Will. Her work with the company includes Rivers, Richmond and others in this past summer's Richard III, Angelica Bianca in The Rover and assistant director for As You Like It. Other Bay Area companies she has worked withinclude Word for Word, New Conservatory Theatre Center, Exit Theatre (Divafest 2005), Willows Theatre Company, Impact Theatre, Golden Thread Productions, Napa Valley Shakespeare Company, and as an understudy for California Shakespeare Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre and TheatreWorks.
• Leticia Duarte Trattner (Sister Mary)
  • Proud Theatre Bay Area Member Ms. Trattner is delighted to be working with Woman's Will. A few of her Bay Area credits include: Angie in Breaking Legs, Rebecca/Zubaida/Moises in The Laramie Project, Principal roles in The Vagina Monologues, the Narrator in Christmas Carol, Julia in A Delicate Balance, and Susie in Wit. Thank you for supporting live theatre!

Multimedia

Photos

Caption: (Left to right) Lisa Jenai Hernandez and Jenny Debevec.

Photographer: Elizabeth Allen
Site: Wilde Oscar's

Press

• Oakland Tribune Review
• East Bay Express Review
• Berkeley Daily Planet Review
• SF Bay Times Review