From a Tony and Pulitzer Prize award-winning creative team, comes the world-premiere musical comedy
World-Premiere Musical
Dave
July 18 – August 19
-
Credits
Book by
Thomas Meehan
and Nell BenjaminMusic by
Tom KittLyrics by
Nell BenjaminDirected by
Tina LandauChoreographed by
Sam PinkletonMusic Direction by
Rob Berman -
Location
The Kreeger Theater
“A really FUN SHOW with a strong cast.”
“A musical FOR OUR TIMES.”
From a Tony and Pulitzer Prize award-winning creative team, comes the world-premiere musical comedy Dave, adapted from the Oscar-nominated film. Dave tells the story of high school teacher (and presidential lookalike) Dave Kovic, who is hired by the Secret Service as a stand-in for the Commander-in-Chief. When the President falls ill under less than “presidential” circumstances, Dave is thrust into the Oval Office to avoid a national scandal, and must find a way to gain the trust and love of the American people … and the First Lady.
Dave runs approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes with one intermission.
Please be advised this production contains haze and strobe lights.
Cast
JENNY ASHMAN
JARED BRADSHAW
JOSH BRECKENRIDGE
DANA COSTELLO
TRISTA DOLLISON
SHERRI L. EDELEN
RACHEL FLYNN
KEVIN R. FREE
DREW GEHLING
ADAM J. LEVY
BRYONHA MARIE PARHAM
MAMIE PARRIS
ERIN QUILL
JONATHAN RAYSON
JAMISON SCOTT
DOUGLAS SILLS
THOMAS ADRIAN SIMPSON
VISHAL VAIDYA
JENNY ASHMAN
makes her Arena Stage debut. Originally from Alaska, Jenny most recently starred in the world-premiere of Paris Time at Capital Repertory. Off-Broadway and regional credits include Eva Peron in Evita (Kansas City Repertory and Opera North), Side by Side by Sondheim (Kansas City Repertory), Arista in Disney's The Little Mermaid (Hollywood Bowl), Sleep No More, Johanna in Sweeney Todd (Ovation Award nomination), Rosalind in As You Like It, Penny in the world-premiere Romance Language, Meg in Little Women and Rhoda in A New Brain. Jenny is a graduate of UCF Conservatory Theatre. www.jennyashman.com
JARED BRADSHAW
is thrilled to join Dave after spending the last year on Broadway in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where he appeared nightly as reporter Jerry Jubilee, understudied Christian Borle and appeared as Willy Wonka on the Tony Awards. Previously, Jared performed for eight years in Jersey Boys, playing all 10 featured roles in the show on Broadway and the national tour. Jared spent three years at Forbidden Broadway (cast album) playing every other role from the Phantom to Jean Valjean. Favorite credits include The Last Five Years, The Music Man and Jekyll and Hyde. Upcoming credits include Leo Frank in Jason Robert Brown's Parade in Marietta, GA, and continuing concert work in Bing Crosby: Swinging on a Star. Much love to wife Lindsay Northen at Wicked, and sweet daughter Georgia. Instagram: @bwaymjjared www.jaredbradshaw.com
JOSH BRECKENRIDGE
last appeared in the D.C.-area as the Doctor in The Book of Mormon (first national tour) at the Kennedy Center. Broadway credits include Come from Away, The Scottsboro Boys and The Ritz. Off-Broadway credits include The Scottsboro Boys and Saved. Regional credits include Sunday in the Park with George (Huntington Theatre), The Whipping Man (Kansas City Repertory), Tales of the City (American Conservatory Theater), The Scottsboro Boys (Guthrie Theater), Hairspray (Marriott Theatre), Smokey Joe’s Cafe (The Cape Playhouse), High School Musical 2 and Dreamgirls (North Carolina Theatre) and Memphis (La Jolla Playhouse, 5th Avenue Theatre). He appeared in the film Finding Me: Truth and received his B.F.A. from Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. Instagram: @josh.breckenridge
DANA COSTELLO
last appeared in D.C. at the Kennedy Center as Nellie in the national tour of Jekyll and Hyde. Her Broadway credits include Mary Barrie in Finding Neverland and Nellie in Jekyll and Hyde. Dana has performed all over (from Broadway to Off-Broadway to waaaaaaay Off-Broadway) and is thrilled to be back in D.C. at Arena Stage! She thanks Patrick at Telsey and her agents Chad and Alex at Henderson Hogan. dana-costello.com Twitter/Instagram: @Dana_Coz
TRISTA DOLLISON
makes her Arena Stage debut! Trista was last seen playing Violet in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on Broadway. Other Broadway credits include Frieda in A Bronx Tale, Disney’s The Lion King and Avenue Q. New York and regional credits include Frieda in the world-premiere of A Bronx Tale; Keisha in Soul on Fire (the Kennedy Center); Deloris in Sister Act; Faust (NY City Center); and Lorrell in Dreamgirls. She is a proud member of Broadway Inspirational Voices. She would like to give special thanks to Clarence, Mommy, Daddy, friends & friends. Grateful. Psalm 37:4. Twitter/Instagram: @TRISTADOLL www.facebook.com/TristaDoll
SHERRI L. EDELEN
last appeared at Arena Stage in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. She received a Helen Hayes Award for Les Miserables and Side Show at Signature Theatre and a Barrymore Award for The Light in the Piazza at Philadelphia Theatre Company. Her most recent credits include Copenhagen (Theater J), Romeo and Juliet (Folger Theatre), Outside Mullingar (Fusion Theatre Company) and Gypsy (Signature Theatre). National tours include Me and My Girl and Nunsense. She has performed locally at the Kennedy Center, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Olney, Ford’s Theatre, Round House and Rep Stage for over 20 years. Directing credits include Steel Magnolias and On Golden Pond starring Joyce DeWitt at Riverside Center for the Performing Arts.
RACHEL FLYNN
is thrilled to be making her Arena Stage debut in Dave. She originated the role of Stoner Chick in Off-Broadway’s Heathers the Musical, vomited fake blood onto the guitars of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s in St. Ann’s Stop the Virgens and championed feminism through glitter and hair jewels in Baby No More Times (Ars Nova, The Lark). Regional acting and directing credits include work with Williamstown Theatre Festival, Shakespeare & Company, Human Race Theatre and American Repertory Theater. She is the artistic director of At the Table Podcast and librettist/co-conceiver of the upcoming punk musical PATRIARCHY. Thanks to ATB, Mom, Dustin and her own personal hero-named-Dave: Dave Flynn. Twitter and Instagram: @radiofreerachel
KEVIN R. FREE
KEVIN R. FREE (Ensemble/Murray) is so excited to make his Arena Stage debut! His New York credits include Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind; CasablancaBox; The Fantasticks; and Night of the Living N-Word!! (FringeNYC, Overall Excellence in Playwriting). Regional acting credits include The Parchman Hour (Guthrie); Boys From Syracuse (Baltimore Center Stage); A Single Shard (People’s Light); and Angels in America (Charlotte Repertory). TV/film credits include Blindspot, Law & Order and Eighth Grade, and is the co-creator and star of the award-winning web series Gemma & The Bear. Kevin has voiced over 300 audiobooks and is the voice of Kevin from Desert Bluffs on the podcast Welcome to Night Vale. Awards include an Obie as producer of The Fire This Time Festival, and Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award. @kevinrfree www.kevinrfree.com
DREW GEHLING
is best known for originating the role of Dr. Pomatter in the Tony Award Nominated musical Waitress. Most recently he starred in the pre-Broadway tryout of the new musical Roman Holiday. Previous Broadway credits include On a Clear Day You Can See Forever and Jersey Boys. Off-Broadwaycredits include Lexy in A Minister’s Wife (Lincoln Center); Sistrom in Billy & Ray (Vineyard Theatre); I Believe (Lincoln Center); and Gilbert Blythe in Anne of Green Gables (Lucille Lortel Theater). Film/TV credits include Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix), Dietland (AMC), Succession (HBO), Elementary, 30 Rock, Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight, Smash, The Daily Show and Unsung Carolyn Leigh (Live from Lincoln Center). Regional credits include Johnny Baseball (A.R.T.); Moby Dick, Jersey Boys, Hello Dolly (Paper Mill); and Utah Shakespeare. Workshops include American Psycho, The Searchers, Big Fish and Sunset Boulevard. Drew is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University.
ADAM J. LEVY
is stoked to be making his Arena Stage debut in Dave. New York and regional credits include Fiddler on the Roof, The Way We Get By, The Light in the Piazza, A Chorus Line, See What I Wanna See, Hairspray, Lysistrata Jones and Merrily We Roll Along. He has also performed alongside symphony orchestras across the nation, including the New York Philharmonic and Philly Pops. Most recently, Adam starred in the title role of painter Georges Seurat in American Repertory Theater’s virtual reality workshop of Sunday in the Park with George. B.F.A. Pace University. Endless thanks to the creative team, CGF, Jeff Berger, Pat Goodwin and his incredible family. Gratitude first; the rest will follow. Instagram: @adamjlevy
BRYONHA MARIE PARHAM
makes her Arena Stage debut! Bryonha was last seen in D.C. at the Kennedy Center in Ragtime and went on to reprise her role as Sarah’s friend in the Broadway transfer. Other Broadway credits include Prince of Broadway, Book of Mormon, After Midnight and The Gershwins’ Porgy & Bess. She is also making a name in the classical world, appearing in Bernstein’s Mass with the Philadelphia Orchestra (recorded by Deutsche Grammophon); Sweeney Todd and Showboat at Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic; and most recently in Candide at Carnegie Hall. Her numerous regional credits include Dreamgirls (North Shore), Little Shop of Horrors (Berkshire Theatre), Hair (SMC), Fulton Theatre, MSMT and many more. Bryonha’s TV credits include Madam Secretary, Today and the 66th and 68th Tony Awards. Instagram: @BryonhaMarie
MAMIE PARRIS
is delighted to make her Arena Stage debut. She most recently starred on Broadway in Cats, singing the iconic song “Memory” nightly as Grizabella, and previously originated the role of Patty in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s School of Rock. Other Broadway and national tour credits include On the 20th Century, Wicked, Ragtime, 9 To 5, The Drowsy Chaperone, 110 In The Shade and Legally Blonde. Off-Broadway credits include Pump Boys and Dinettes (Encores) and See Rock City (Transport Group). Mamie has performed at Goodspeed, The Muny, The Macau International Music Festival and many more. TV/film credits include The Blacklist, State of Affairs and A Stand Up Guy (Orchard). The New York Times calls her “winsome”, which is nice, and her husband calls her “sweetheart”, which is nicer. She's political, she's opinionated, and she's on Twitter: @mamieparris and Instagram: @mamierocks
ERIN QUILL
holds a B.F.A. from CMU. Credits include Avenue Q (Original Broadway Company), Madame Rita in Flower Drum Song (AMTSJ’s 50th Anniversary Company) and Lady Thiang in The King & I (West Coast tour with Debby Boone). TV credits include Damages, Nurse Jackie, The Following, NY 22, LFE (CBS pilot), NYPD Blue and Dishin’ (Bravot pilot). Film credits include Man on a Ledge, Screening Party and The Mikado Project. She thanks the creative team of Dave, The Luedtke Agency, Benjamin Rauhala and her family, whose support means everything. Follow her musings on Twitter: @EQuill
JONATHAN RAYSON
is proud to be making his Arena Stage debut! Jonathan appeared on Broadway in Little Shop of Horrors (Seymour) and A Year with Frog and Toad. He traveled with the first national tours of Little Shop of Horrors (Seymour) and Legally Blonde. New York credits include I Love You, You’re Perfect… and Adrift in Macao. A few of his favorite regional credits are Dan in Next to Normal (Pioneer Theatre Company), Mr. Banks in Mary Poppins (Ogunquit Playhouse), The Full Monty (Fulton Theatre) and Carousel (Goodspeed). Jonathan recently made his TV debut on Law & Order: SVU and can be seen in the new series After Forever on Amazon. His solo CD of 70s cover songs, Shiny and New, is available on iTunes. www.jonathanrayson.com
JAMISON SCOTT
makes his Arena Stage debut. Broadway credits include Motown, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Memphis and Grease! Touring and regional credits include Motown, Grease!, Hairspray, We Will Rock You, Saturday Night Fever and Altar Boyz. Recordings include Hairspray movie, Killer Queen – A Tribute to Queen, Grease! (original cast album) and Walk a Mile (solo debut). TV/web series credits include Sillyocity featured on Youtube.com, and the 62nd and 65th Tony Awards. Thanks to Kevin and everyone at Buchwald & Associates. To God be the glory! ILYHMS @JamisonScottR www.thejamisonscott.com
DOUGLAS SILLS
makes his Arena Stage debut. He has starred on Broadway in War Paint, Little Shop of Horrors and The Scarlet Pimpernel, for which he received a Tony and Drama Desk nomination for his performance.On the New York stage, Douglas appeared in Hey, Look Me Over; Lady Be Good; Music in the Air; and Carnival (Encores!); and Moonlight & Magnolias (MTC). He toured the country starring in The Addams Family, The Secret Garden and Into the Woods, played numerous leading roles for California Shakespeare Festival and appeared regionally at La Jolla, Long Wharf, Westport Theatre, the Kennedy Center, South Coast Repertory and Reprise LA. TV credits include Chicago Justice, CSI, The Closer, Numb3rs, Will & Grace, and feature film credits include Erotic Fire of the Unattainable and Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo.
THOMAS ADRIAN SIMPSON
THOMAS ADRIAN SIMPSON (Ensemble)’s Arena Stage credits include A Raisin in the Sun, Carousel, Oliver!, Fiddler on the Roof, Mary T. & Lizzy K., My Fair Lady and The Light in the Piazza, among others. D.C. credits include The Threepenny Opera and Company (Signature Theatre); Orphie and the Book of Heroes (Kennedy Center); 1776 and Liberty Smith (Ford’s Theatre); and Candide and The Boys from Syracuse (Shakespeare Theatre Company). Regional credits include Candide (Goodman); 9 to 5 with Sally Struthers and Les Misérables(Riverside Center); and Outside Mullingar (New Mexico’s Fusion Theatre). Television: House of Cards and America's Most Wanted. Tom is a graduate of the U.N.C. School of the Arts.
VISHAL VAIDYA
makes his Arena Stage debut. A D.C.-area native, Vishal has also appeared in Spelling Bee and A Christmas Carol (Ford’s Theater), The Secret Garden (Shakespeare Theater Company), A Year with Frog and Toad (Adventure Theater, Helen Hayes nominee) and Barrio Grrrl! (the Kennedy Center), and productions at Olney Theater Center and Toby’s Dinner Theater. He made his Broadway debut last year in Groundhog Day. Regional credits include Cincinnati Playhouse, Minneapolis Children’s Theater Company, Baltimore Center Stage and New York Stage and Film. Instagram: @Vishgram, Twitter: @TweetsByVish
Creative
THOMAS MEEHAN
NELL BENJAMIN
TOM KITT
TINA LANDAU
SAM PINKLETON
MICHAEL STAROBIN
ROB BERMAN
DANE LAFFREY
Toni-Leslie James
JAPHY WEIDEMAN
WALTER TRARBACH
PETER NIGRINI
ROBERT-CHARLES VALLANCE
KENNETH FERRONE
MAYTE NATALIO
WILLIAM YANESH
TELSEY + COMPANY
MARK DOBROW
MARNE ANDERSON
THOMAS MEEHAN
a three-time Tony Award winning book-writer for the Broadway musicals Annie, The Producers (co-written with Mel Brooks) and Hairspray (co-written with Mark O’Donnell), wrote over a dozen Broadway musicals including I Remember Mama; Cry Baby (co-written with Mark O’Donnell); Young Frankenstein (co-written with Mel Brooks); Elf (co-written with Bob Martin); Rocky, The Musical; the up-coming Dave (co-written with Nell Benjamin); and off-Broadway Death Takes a Holiday. Mr. Meehan was a long-time contributor of humor pieces to The New Yorker, most notably Yma, Ava, Yma, Abba, Yma, Oona, Yma, Aga …and Others. He was the co-librettist, with J. D. McClatchy, of the Lorin Maazel opera, 1984, and an Emmy Award-winning writer of television comedy. His screenplays include One Magic Christmas, Annie and a collaboration with Mel Brooks on Spaceballs and To Be or Not To Be. He was a member of the Council of the Dramatists Guild. He was working on several new musicals when he passed away at the age of 89 on August 22, 2017.
NELL BENJAMIN
co-wrote the score to the musical Legally Blonde with her husband, Laurence O’Keefe. Nell and Larry have also written Huzzah! and Life of the Party. Nell has written book and/or lyrics for Mean Girls; Halftime; Because of Winn Dixie; Pirates! (or Gilbert and Sullivan plunder’d); Sarah, Plain and Tall; Cam Jansen; I Want My Hat Back; How I Became a Pirate; and The Mice. She has written a play, The Explorers Club, as well as the New York Philharmonic New Year’s Eve and Young Peoples’ concerts. TV credits include Unhappily Ever After; Whoa! Sunday with Mo Rocca; the new Electric Company; Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris; Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway; and Julie’s Greenroom. She is the grateful recipient of a Kleban Foundation Award, a Jonathan Larson Foundation Grant and is a member of ASCAP and the Dramatists Guild of America.
TOM KITT
received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, as well as two Tony Awards for Best Score and Best Orchestrations for Next to Normal. Next to Normal also received the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Score. He is also the composer of If/Then (Tony nomination, Outer Critics nomination, Broadway); High Fidelity (Broadway); Bring it On, The Musical (co-composer with Lin-Manuel Miranda, Broadway); Disney’s Freaky Friday; The Winter’s Tale, All’s Well That Ends Well and Cymbeline (The Public’s NYSF); From Up Here and The Madrid (MTC); Orphans (Broadway); The Retributionists (Playwrights Horizons); and As You Like It (Toho Co., Japan). Tom is the music supervisor, arranger, orchestrator and composer of additional music for SpongeBob Squarepants: The Broadway Musical. In addition, he is the music supervisor for the new NBC drama, Rise, and was responsible for the music supervision, arrangements and orchestrations for Grease Live! and Green Day’s American Idiot on Broadway. His work with Green Day also includes additional arrangements for their Grammy Award-winning album 21st Century Breakdown and their album trilogy, ¡Uno! ¡Dos! ¡Tré! Tom received an Emmy Award as co-writer (with Lin-Manuel Miranda) for the 2013 Tony Award opening number, Bigger. Other TV songwriting credits include a musical episode of Royal Pains and songs for Penny Dreadful, Sesame Street and Julie’s Greenroom. As a musical director, conductor, arranger and orchestrator, credits include the Pitch Perfect films, 2Cellos featuring Lang Lang (Live and Let Die), The Kennedy Center Honors, 13, Debbie Does Dallas, Everyday Rapture, Hair, Laugh Whore, Pippin (Deaf West) and These Paper Bullets.
TINA LANDAU
is a writer and director whose work has been produced on Broadway and Off-Broadway, internationally and regionally, and most frequently at Steppenwolf Theatre where she is an ensemble member. Broadway credits include SpongeBob Squarepants: The Broadway Musical (also conceiver), Tracy Lett’s Superior Donuts and the revival of Bells Are Ringing. Off-Broadway credits include Old Hats, Big Love and Iphigenia 2.0 (Signature Theatre); A Civil War Christmas (NYTW); Wig Out! (Vineyard Theatre); and the musicals Floyd Collins (Playwrights Horizons) and Dream True (Vineyard Theatre), both of which she co-wrote. Steppenwolf productions include Head of Passes (also The Public, Mark Taper Forum, Berkeley Repertory), The Brother/Sister Plays, The Wheel, The Tempest, Time of Your Life (also ACT Seattle), The Cherry Orchard, The Diary of Anne Frank, Ballad of Little Jo, Berlin Circle, and her own play, Space (also The Public, Mark Taper Forum). Regionally, Tina’s productions include Sycamore Trees (Signature Theatre VA), Antony and Cleopatra (Hartford Stage) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (McCarter, Paper Mill). Tina teaches regularly and co-authored The Viewpoints Book with Anne Bogart.
SAM PINKLETON
is a New York City-based director and choreographer. As a choreographer his work on Broadway includes Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 (Tony Nomination); Significant Other; Amélie; Machinal; and Heisenberg. Other work includes Soft Power (Ahmanson / Curran), Runaways (Director – Public Theater / Shakespeare in the Park/City Center Encores), Trouble in Tahiti (Dutch National Opera), Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play (Playwrights Horizons), Burn All Night (ART / Oberon), Kansas City Choir Boy (with Courtney Love – ART / CTG / Art Basel), and new work at BAM, Soho Rep, MTC, Theatre For A New Audience, Berkeley Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville, McCarter Theatre, and Kansas City Rep. He is a collaborating artist with Pig Iron Theatre Company, The Civilians, and The Dance Cartel.
MICHAEL STAROBIN
is a well-known orchestrator and arranger working on Broadway and in Hollywood. He has been the orchestrator for some of Broadway's most innovative musicals such as Falsettos, Sunday in the Park with George, Assassins (2004 Tony Award for Best Orchestrations) and Next to Normal (2009 Tony Award for Best Orchestrations). He was the conductor and orchestrator for Disney's animated film The Hunchback of Notre Dame, orchestrated the songs for Tangled and contributed orchestrations to the film versions of Chicago, Nine and Beauty and the Beast (2017).
ROB BERMAN
is music director of the acclaimed Encores! series at New York City Center where he has conducted over 30 productions, including Grand Hotel, The Most Happy Fella and Anyone Can Whistle. On Broadway, he has conducted many shows including Steve Martin and Edie Brickell’s Bright Star, Finian’s Rainbow and The Pajama Game. Rob won an Emmy Award for outstanding music direction for The Kennedy Center Honors, which he music directed for nine years, and a Helen Hayes Award for music direction of Sunday in the Park with George at the Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration. He has conducted numerous cast recordings, including Brigadoon with Kelli O’Hara and Patrick Wilson. Rob music directed A Broadway Celebration: In Performance at the White House for President Obama on PBS.
DANE LAFFREY
Dane’s work on Broadway includes the set for the current revival of Once on This Island, set/costumes for Deaf West’s Spring Awakening and set for Fool For Love. Recent D.C. credits include Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare Theatre), Collective Rage (Woolly Mammoth) and The Wolfe Twins (Studio Theatre). Off-Broadway work at Manhattan Theatre Club, Roundabout, Second Stage, B.A.M.’s Harvey Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Atlantic Theater Company, Vineyard Theatre, Transport Group, Classic Stage Company and others. Dane has worked regionally at theaters including Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum, Huntington, Geffen Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Old Globe, Denver Center, Dallas Theater Center and others. Dane received a 2017 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Set and Costume Design, and has been nominated for a Drama Desk Award and five Hewes Design Awards. www.danelaffrey.com
Toni-Leslie James
Toni-Leslie’s Broadway credits include Come From Away; Amazing Grace; Lucky Guy; The Scottsboro Boys; Finian's Rainbow; Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life; Ma Rainey's Black Bottom; King Hedley II; One Mo’ Time; The Wild Party; Marie Christine; Footloose; The Tempest; Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992; Angels in America: Millennium Approaches & Perestroika; Chronicle of a Death Foretold; and Jelly’s Last Jam. She received a Tony Award nomination, three Drama Desk Award nominations, six Lucille Lortel Award nominations, a Henry Hewes Design Award and four additional nominations, Connecticut Critics Circle Award, Irene Sharaff Young Master Award and the 2009 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Costume Design. Toni-Leslie is head of design at Virginia Commonwealth University. For Cosima & Jett with love.
JAPHY WEIDEMAN
Japhy’s Arena Stage credits include Dear Evan Hansen and The Mountaintop. He received Tony Award nominations for Best Lighting Design for Dear Evan Hansen, The Visit, The Nance, Of Mice and Men and Airline Highway. Other Broadway credits include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Lobby Hero, Bright Star, Sylvia, Old Times, The Heidi Chronicles, Macbeth (Drama Desk nomination), Cyrano de Bergerac and The Snow Geese. Off-Broadway credits include Lincoln Center, The Public, NYTW, Second Stage, Playwrights Horizons, MTC, MCC, LAByrinth and The Vineyard. West End credits include A Nice Fish (Harold Pinter Theatre) and Blackbird (Albery Theatre). Opera credits include Bluebeard’s Castle/Il Prigionero (La Scala, Nederlands Opera); The Revolution of Steve Jobs, Don Giovanni and Life is a Dream (Santa Fe Opera); Manchurian Candidate and Doubt (Minnesota Opera); and Don Giovanni (Opera Lyon).
WALTER TRARBACH
Walter’s credits include SpongeBob Squarepants: The Broadway Musical (Tony Award nomination); The Farnsworth Invention; Cymbeline; I Am Anne Hutchinson/I Am Harvey Milk; Queen of the Mist; The Man in the Ceiling; Becky Shaw; Measure for Pleasure; and Love, Loss, and What I Wore. As a partner in SCK Sound Design, credits include Ain’t Too Proud, Radio City Christmas Spectacular and Doctor Zhivago. Regional credits include La Jolla, Huntington Theatre Company, 5th Avenue Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Le Petite Theater, George Street Playhouse and Bay Street Theater. He is married to photographer Kimberly Witham. He would like to thank Steve Kennedy for his help and support on this project.
PETER NIGRINI
Peter’s Broadway credits include SpongeBob Squarepants: The Broadway Musical; A Doll’s House: Part 2; Amelie; Dear Evan Hansen; The Best Man; and Fela!. Additional credits include Wakey, Wakey (Signature); Real Enemies (BAM Next Wave); Grounded and Here Lies Love (The Public Theater); Far from Heaven (Playwrights Horizons); The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (2nd Stage); Notes from Underground (Yale Repertory); The Grace Jones Hurricane Tour; Rent (New World Stages); Lucia di Lammermoor and Don Giovanni (SantaFe Opera); and Blind Date (Bill T. Jones). He also designed every aspect of the work of Nature Theater of Oklahoma including No Dice and Life & Times.
ROBERT-CHARLES VALLANCE
Robert-Charles Vallance’s Broadway credits include Come from Away, Jitney, Amazing Grace, Lucky Guy, Little Shop of Horrors, Long Day's Journey, Play What I Wrote, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Our Town, Hollywood Arms, The Elephant Man, Dance of Death, Amy's View, The Blue Room, Master Class and Blood Brothers. Other credits include First Daughter Suite, Head of Passes, Comedy of Errors (The Public), Conflict, Woman Without Men (The Mint, 2016 Drama Desk nominee), Daphne’s Dive (Signature), Race for Love, Cinderella (Broadway Asia), A Civil War Christmas, Valhalla (NYTW), Marvelous Wonderettes, Dessa Rose (Lincoln Center), Lost in Yonkers (TACT), My One and Only, Amazing Grace (Goodspeed), Cotton Club Parade and Pipe Dream (Encores!). Resident designer at Irish Repertory Theatre and 42 Productions. Proprietor of The Broadway Wig Company www.broadwaywigs.com and Angels of New York www.angelsofny.com
KENNETH FERRONE
is thrilled to join this wonderful company at Arena Stage. His work on Broadway as Associate Director includes SpongeBob Squarepants: The Broadway Musical (Tina Landau, dir.), Love Letters and Wonderland. Directing credits include Sistas, now in its seventh year Off-Broadway, HiHitler (Cherry Lane Theatre), When Blood Ran Red (National Yiddish Theatre) and The Wanderer: The Life & Music of Dion DiMucci. Associate credits include Head of Passes (Taper) and Deathless (Goodspeed), both with Tina Landau, In Transit (Primary Stages), Waterfall (5th Avenue, Pasadena Playhouse) and Colin Quinn: The New York Story (Jerry Seinfeld, dir.) For TV, Kenneth co-produced Grease Live! on Fox (Emmy Award), as well as the NBC drama series’ Rise, Smash, Deception, and Ironside. He is a Northwestern University alum.
MAYTE NATALIO
trained at LaGuardia H.S. and SUNY Purchase. She has performed with Parsons Dance, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Kyle Abraham, Camille A. Brown and Dancers, Chase Brock, Rich and Tone Talauega among others. She has toured with pop singer, Mylene Farmer as well as Kanye West. Regional theater credits include the Ogunquit Playhouse, Dallas Theater Center and Pregones Theater. New York theater credits include NYCC Encores, original cast of the immersive production Queen of the Night and Third Rail Productions’, The Grand Paradise. As a choreographer Mayte has been a part of Camille A. Brown’s choreography team on several productions most recently NBC’s Jesus Christ Superstar Live (assistant and performer) and Atlantic Theater Company’s This Aint No Disco. Mayte will be the 2018 PublicWorks choreographer for Dallas Theater Center’s A Winter’s Tale.
WILLIAM YANESH
returns to Arena Stage after serving as Music Director on Snow Child andAssociate Music Director on Carousel. His music and lyrics were performed Off-Broadway in Caps for Sale (New Victory Theater; National Tour). D.C.-area credits as music director include Me … Jane (Kennedy Center TYA), Floyd Collins (1st Stage), Ordinary Days (Round House), Jesus Christ Superstar and The Last Five Years (Signature Theatre, Helen Hayes nomination for music direction). His orchestrations include Man of La Mancha (Shakespeare Theatre Company) and Alexander and the Terrible…, and Miss Nelson is Missing! (Adventure Theatre MTC). William has served as associate conductor for Caroline, or Change (Round House) and A Little Night Music and West Side Story (Signature Theater). Education: Carnegie Mellon University.
TELSEY + COMPANY
Broadway / Tours: Pretty Woman, Straight White Men, My Fair Lady, Carousel, Mean Girls, Frozen, Escape to Margaritaville, SpongeBob SquarePants, Once on This Island, Anastasia, Hello, Dolly!, Come From Away, Waitress, Hamilton, Kinky Boots, Wicked, The Color Purple, On Your Feet!, The King and I, An American in Paris. Off-Broadway: Sweeney Todd, Atlantic Theater Company, Classic Stage Company, MCC Theater, Park Avenue Armory, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Second Stage Theater. Regional: Center Theatre Group, La Jolla Playhouse, McCarter Theatre, New York Stage and Film, Paper Mill Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, Wallis Annenberg Center, Williamstown Theatre Festival. Film: Mary Poppins Returns, The Greatest Showman, Miss Sloane, Into the Woods, Margin Call, Rachel Getting Married. TV: “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert,” “This Is Us,” “House of Cards,” “Divorce,” “NCIS: New Orleans,” “Rise,” “One Day at a Time,” “Atypical,” commercials. www.telseyandco.com
MARK DOBROW
is excited to make his debut at Arena Stage on Dave. He has been a member of Actors’ Equity Association since 1991 and has had many wonderful jobs on Broadway, Off-Broadway, national tours and regional theatres. In 2017, Mark had the great opportunity to PSM the Broadway production of Bandstand, directed and choreographed by three-time Tony Award winner Andy Blankenbuehler. His long-standing interest in magic brought him together with The Illusionists for two productions on Broadway and a third in Cancun. In the late fall of 2018, he will continue his ongoing relationship with Roundabout Theatre Company and Fiasco Theater in New York to PSM a new production of Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along.
MARNE ANDERSON
Marne’s Arena Stage credits include Two Trains Running, The Great Society, Nina Simone: Four Women, A Raisin in the Sun, Roe, Moby Dick, All the Way, Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End, King Hedley II, Five Guys Named Moe, The Mountaintop, Metamorphoses and Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies. Additional D.C. credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Folger Theatre); Angels in America: Parts 1 and 2 (Round House); Wig Out!(Studio Theatre) and The Arsonists, You for Me for You and Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play (Woolly Mammoth). She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.
Multimedia
In The News
CBS News
Dave, a movie about an accidental president, is adapted for the stage
Washington Post Express
Dave takes D.C. to a white house that's not quite our own
TheaterMania
Tina Landau wants Dave to show us what America could look like
Great Day Washington - WUSA9
Douglas Sills and Bryonha Marie Parham talk Dave in D.C.
Broadway.com
Accessible Performances
Open Captioned
Thursday, August 9, 2018 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, August 11, 2018 at 2 p.m.
Wednesday, August 15, 2018 at 7:30 p.m.
Audio Described
Saturday, August 11, 2018 at 2 p.m.
Events
Civil Dialogues
Sunday, August 12, 2018: The robots are coming
Will robots continue to take more of our jobs? Will they out smart us? Can they start wars?
Learn more
Post-Show Discussions
Tuesday, August 7, 2018 at 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, August 16, 2018 at 8 p.m.