"The Real Thing" Program in pdf format. - The Pear Avenue Theatre

The Pear Avenue Theatre proudly presents
The Real Thing
by Tom Stoppard
Director
Ray Renati
Producer
Diane Tasca
Stage Manager
Set Design
Sara Sparks Ron Gasparinetti
Lighting Design Costume Design
Edward Hunter Diane Tasca
Sound Design
Ray Renati
Presented with permission from Samuel French, Inc.

. The Ensemble (in order of appearance)
Max ............................................. Fred Pitts
Charlotte ....................................... Lucy Littlewood
Henry ............................................ Michael Champlin
Annie ............................................ Carla Pauli
Billy .............................................. Robert Sean Campbell
Debbie ........................................... Madeline Napel
Brodie............................................ Brandon Leland
Time / Place
Act 1: Early 1980s, London (various locations)
Act 2: Two years later, London and Glasgow
There will be a 10-minute intermission between Acts 1 and 2.
The Production Team
Director ........................................ Ray Renati
Producer ....................................... Diane Tasca
Stage Manager ............................. Sara Sparks
Production Manager ................... Patricia Tyler
Set Designer ................................. Ron Gasparinetti
Lighting Designer ....................... Edward Hunter
Costume Designer ...................... Diane Tasca
Sound Designer ........................... Ray Renati
Master Carpenter ........................ Charles McKeithan
Scenic Painting ............................ Madeline Gibson
Costume Consultant ................... Lucy Littlewood
Publicity Directors ...................... Jeanie K. Smith & Shannon Stowe
Postcard Designer ....................... Patricia Tyler
Program Consultant ................... Susan Petit
Website Designer ........................ Ray Renati
Director’s Note
Perception, belief, faith, love, commitment: we humans base most of our lives
on our own personal perceptions of what we decide is real. All of our political
beliefs, prejudices, and even our closest personal relationships are based on
what we believe to be true. However, when you narrow all things down to their
smallest manifestation, you soon find that there is really nothing there. It's all
based on our own desires and hopes for what we wish were cast in stone.
When we are able to accept this, life becomes much easier. All things become
more fluid and we become more understanding and accepting of change.
As you move into the world of this performance of The Real Thing, you may at
times become confused. What you think you see, will slowly become something
else altogether. You may feel amused, frustrated, tricked, or even angry, as what
you believe you are witnessing is revealed as something else altogether, a
microcosm of our lives: Lance Armstrong, a hero to millions is revealed as a
cheat, or is he? Muslim terrorists are evil agents of the devil himself, and then
you realize that they believe the exact same thing about the West. Who's right?
Someone we decide to love and who we believe loves us, suddenly dies, or
maybe even more hard to accept, simply leaves. How do we deal with these
things? How do we survive them and carry on? Perhaps, it has to do with
staying nimble and holding on to the beliefs that keep us sane: religion, love,
charity, the innate goodness of humanity. Perhaps the wisest thing to do is to
hold on to your sense of humor.
I would like thank to this company of actors that I have been privileged to
nudge, cajole, and laugh with for the last four weeks. The commitment and
effort that each of them has devoted to this endeavor has been an joy to be a
part of. --Ray Renati, November 1, 2012
About the Playwright and the Play
Sir Tom Stoppard was born Tomás Straüssler in Zlín, Czechoslovakia, in 1937,
where his father, a doctor, worked for the Bat’a shoe company. On the day in
1939 that Germany invaded what remained of Czechoslovakia, Bat’a evacuated
the Straüsslers to Singapore, but Stoppard would not learn until the 1990s that
his secular father and Catholic mother were of full Jewish descent and that all
four of his grandparents and three of his mother’s sisters had died in death
camps. When the Japanese attacked Singapore in 1942, Dr. Straüssler stayed to
treat the wounded and was killed, but his wife and sons managed to reach India.
In Darjeeling, Tomás and his brother Petr attended an English-language
boarding school; their mother ran a Bat’a store. In 1945 she married Major
Kenneth Stoppard, a chauvinistic Englishman who took his new family to
England, anglicized his stepsons’ first names, and gave them his last name. Tom

Stoppard has said that he felt immediately at home in Britain, and he became an
enthusiastic cricketer and fly fisher.
Stoppard left school at 17 to work as a reporter in Bristol. He got
interested in drama when he was assigned a theatre beat, and in 1960 he became
a free-lance journalist to have the time to write radio, television, and stage plays.
His breakthrough came in 1967 when the National Theatre staged Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern Are Dead, which became an international success. (It would be
filmed in 1990 under Stoppard’s direction.) His major plays include Jumpers,
Travesties, Night and Day, Hapgood, Arcadia, Indian Ink, The Invention of Love, Rock ’n’
Roll, and The Coast of Utopia. Luckily for local theatregoers, ACT in San
Francisco staged each play except the last shortly after its first production.
There have also been revivals; one of his most popular plays, Arcadia, which the
Pear mounted in 2007, will be revived by ACT in spring 2013. Stoppard’s many
screenplays, all of which are adaptations, include Shakespeare in Love, Empire of the
Sun, and this year’s Anna Karenina.
The Real Thing opened in London in 1982 and on Broadway in 1984,
where it won five Tonys; I saw a fine revival of it in 2010 at London’s Old Vic.
In this play for the first time Stoppard focused more on character than on wit
and drew on his own life as husband, father, and playwright. Yet artifice is still
very much present, as shown—among other things—by the doubling and
tripling of situations and lines, suggesting that identity and allegiances are
unstable. Stoppard dedicated this exploration of desire and infidelities to his
second wife, Miriam, the mother of two of his four sons, one of whom is the
actor Ed Stoppard; yet in 1990 he would leave her for Felicity Kendal, who
originated the role of Annie in The Real Thing.
The play asks what “the real thing” is in love, political commitment,
and art. How do we know when love is real? Do political motives matter? Are
good writing and good music only a matter of taste, or is there an absolute
standard? Does theatre have its own kind of reality? The Real Thing revels in
dramatic tradition, as shown not only in scenes from Miss Julie and ’Tis Pity She’s
a Whore but in allusions to Hamlet, Othello, Private Lives, and perhaps Citizen Kane
and The Public Enemy. Henry, a sort of caricature of Stoppard, celebrates
language, but the play reflects the playwright’s more inclusive view, that theatre
is not a script but what he calls an “event” and involves set, costumes, music,
action, and all sorts of illusion. Paradoxically, it may be illusions that make a
play the real thing.
—Susan Petit
Who’s Who in This Production
Robert Sean Campbell (Billy) completed the Classical Acting Programme
for Post-Graduates and Professionals at the London Academy of Music and
Dramatic Art and graduated from Santa Clara University, where he was the
2007 recipient of the William H. Leahy Award. Credits include Trofimov
(The Cherry Orchard), Jake Quinn et al. (Stones in His Pockets), Merritt et al.
(Eat the Runt), Villars (Complete Female Stage Beauty), Joe Pitt (Angels in America Part One),
George Gibbs (Our Town), Adam (The Shape of Things), Jesus (The Last Days of Judas
Iscariot), Young Zeke Rowen (The Kentucky Cycle), Coriolanus (Coriolanus), and Romeo
(Romeo and Juliet). He is a proud member of TBA. www.robertseancampbell.
Michael Champlin (Henry) is happy to be back on stage once again at The
Pear, where he was recently seen in The Cherry Orchard. The Real Thing pushes
Michael into double-digits at The Pear, this being his 10th appearance!
Michael also directs and will be doing so again this season for The Apple
Never Falls, the sequel to 2011’s No Good Deed. He has acted and directed at
numerous other theaters throughout the South Bay, including TheatreWorks, Dragon
Productions, and Bus Barn Stage Company. Michael could not be more thrilled about
this role, this cast, this crew! Above all, though, he is happy to have his own “Real
Things”—his wife, Katie, and his son, Jack.
Brandon Leland (Brodie) is very pleased to be back at The Pear for The Real
Thing since last being seen here in Our Town! Past credits include George Hay
in Moon Over Buffalo and Cinderella/Prince/The Wolf in Into The Woods at
Westmont High School, Dingo in The Mystery Spot at SJ City Lights, and
Bobby in A Chorus Line. Outside of the theatre world, Brandon tours and
records with his band Till i Fall, performs in The Street Drum Corps, and works for
Mix 106.5.
Lucy Littlewood (Charlotte) is happy to be making her debut at the Pear!
Her most recent credits include Mary Smith in Run for Your Wife (Broadway
West Theatre Co.), Lucy Steele in the US premiere of Sense and Sensibility
(TheatreWorks), Sorel Bliss in Hay Fever (Broadway West), Harper Pitt in
Angels in America: Millennium Approaches (Bus Barn Stage Company), and Margot Wendice
in Dial M for Murder (Broadway West). Lucy is a graduate of the Foothill Theatre
Conservatory and a proud member of Theatre Bay Area. Thank you for choosing to
support live theatre today!
Madeline Napel (Debbie) is very glad to be making her Pear Avenue
Theatre debut. She can’t imagine a better way to spend the fall semester of
her senior year! She has appeared onstage at Menlo-Atherton High School
in productions of The Rimers of Eldrich (Eva Jackson), Pride and Prejudice
(Charlotte Lucas), and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
(Logainne). She would like to thank her friends, her family, and everyone involved in
this amazing production.

Fred Pitts (Max) is very pleased to be making his second foray onto the
Pear Avenue stage, where he last appeared in Pear Slices 2012. Other
recent roles include Mark Antony in Julius Caesar (African-American
Shakes), East, Lendall, and Randy in Almost, Maine (Bus Barn), Richard
Wright in Waiting for Giovanni (New Conservatory), and Matthew Foster in Private Eyes
(Dragon Productions). He has also performed with Hillbarn Theater, Custom Made,
Berkeley Rep, TheatreWorks, and Ross Valley Players, among others.
Carla Pauli (Annie) is absolutely delighted to be performing on the Pear
stage with such a fun and dedicated cast! Recent credits include Enron
(Open Tab Productions), Salvador Dali Make Me Hot (AlterTheater), and
Pelleas and Melisande (Cutting Ball); she has also worked with Woman’s Will, Golden
Thread, Brava, and The Magic. Carla studies at A.C.T. Studio. She would like to thank
director Ray Renati for his incredible patience and Lynne Soffer and Domenique
Lozano for their help in offering her the tools to grow into this role. Carla is a Teaching
Artist at Spindrift School of Performing Arts and a recipient of the TBA’s Titan Award.
Ron Gasparinetti (Scenic Designer) hails from Newark, NJ, but has lived in the Bay Area
for the past 15 years. Currently Ron is the production manager, technical director, and
resident scenic designer at City Lights (SJ). He has been a part of nearly 500 productions
in his 32-year-long devotion to theatre. Some favorite creations: Humble Boy (Dragon),
Proof (City Lights) The Clean House (Bus Barn) and Metamorphoses (Pear). His work has
also been seen at Los Altos Youth Theatre, Shady Shakespeare, 42nd St. Moon, and
New Conservatory. See more of his work at www.TheSetGuy.com.
Edward Hunter (Lighting Designer) has been doing theatre in the South Bay since he
moved here in 1985. This is his second design for the Pear; his first was for Three Tall
Women in 2007. Besides working at the Pear, Ed has worked with TheatreWorks,
Sunnyvale Players, Teatro Visión, Shady Shakespeare and Lyric Theater. When not
designing, he works in software at Juniper Networks.
Ray Renati (Director) Ray’s prior directorial credits at the Pear include the recent Mrs.
Warren’s Profession and the production of Death of a Salesman, as well as Speed-the-
Plow, Pick Up Ax, True West, The Baltimore Waltz, and Pear Slices 2005. This year
Ray was nominated for a Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award in Direction for
Death of a Salesman.
Sara Sparks (Stage Manager) has previously been the stage manager for Pear Slices
2012, Familiar Strangers, Fifth of July, Connecticut Yankee, and Death of a Salesman
here at The Pear. Other favorite positions include lighting designer for Crimes of
the Heart (Broadway West), production assistant for Every Christmas Story Ever
Told, light/sound board operator for Red, White, and Tuna (San Jose Stage
Company), and spotlight operator for Fly By Night (TheatreWorks). Sara
graduated from UCSC with a degree in theatre arts.
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KICKSTARTER: $11,291
The Pear offers a special thank-you to those who helped to make our Kickstarter
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of these backers:
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$1000 Anonymous David Stewart Zink

Still to Come at the Pear This Season
Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage 1/11 - 27
This prize-winning play was inspired by Nottage’s great-grandmother, an
African-American seamstress who, stitch by stitch, sewed her way out of
grinding poverty. A powerful portrayal of determination and resilience.
The Apple Never Falls by Paul Braverman 2/22 – 3/10
World Premiere
It’s 1964, and a Strangler stalks a terrified Boston. Frankie Payne, the gin-soaked
but not quite burned-out detective, struggles with toxic family ties and learns
the hard way that the apple never falls far from the tree.
Pear Slices 2013 by The Pear Playwrights Guild 4/5 – 28
We congratulate our Pear Playwrights Guild on their tenth Slices. What
wonderful new confections will they serve up this time? Always a treat, always a
surprise—don’t miss the next batch of these short new plays!
Hanging Georgia by Sharmon Hilfinger 5/24 – 6/9
Music by Joan McMillen
Legendary painter Georgia O’Keeffe and photographer Alfred Stieglitz join
forces in a combustible love story. Created by the BootStrap Theater ensemble
(originators of Tell It Slant), this new play marks the Pear’s 75 th production!
Superior Donuts by Tracy Letts 6/28 – 7/14
Arthur’s a Polish-American former draft resister, as run down as his Uptown
Chicago donut shop. Enter Franco, a young African-American man who
dreams of being a writer and making the shop a happening place. Endearing
comedy about the redemptive power of friendship.
NEXT UP AT THE PEAR
Intimate Apparel
by
Lynn Nottage
1/11 – 27
This prize-winning play was inspired by the author’s
great-grandmother, an African-American seamstress
who, stitch by stitch, sewed her way out of
grinding poverty. A powerful portrayal of
determination and resilience.
Save the Date!
Sunday, November 4, 7pm: Body Politic by Beverly Altschuler
Pear Avenue Theatre Playwrights Guild member Beverly Altschuler’s play Body
Politic will be the first of this season’s Developmental Readings. A modern reimagining
of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, Body Politic confronts the misuse
of power and a state’s imposition of moral and religious beliefs on individuals.
Tickets at the door; pay-what-you-can (suggested donation $10).