presents
SATURDAY’S CHILDREN
By Maxwell Anderson
Directed by Christopher Karczmar
Featuring
Kevin Blair, Frank Farrell*, Johnny Garcia,
Richard Henzel*, Alexandra Jaymes, Elizabeth Kelly
and Brittany Stock
*Denotes actors are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers.
Act 1
The Halevy’s Dining Room – June
Act 2
The O’Neil’s Kitchen-Dining Room – November
Act 3
A Bedroom in Mrs. Gorlik’s Boarding House in East 35th Street
-Three Weeks Later
Characters in Order of Appearance
Willy Sands…Johnny Garcia
Florrie Sands… Brittany Stock
Mrs. Halevy…Elizabeth Kelly
Bobby… Alexandra Jaymes
Mr. Halevy…Richard Henzel*
Rims O’Neil…Kevin Blair
Mrs. Gorlik…Elizabeth Kelly
Matty…Johnny Garcia
The Chauffeur…Frank Farrell*
Monday's child is fair of face, Tuesday's child is full of grace, Wednesday's child is full of woe, Thursday's child has far to go. Friday's child is loving and giving Saturday's child works hard for a living. And the child that is born on the Sabbath Day, Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.Old English Nursery Rhyme
WHO’S WHO IN
SATURDAY’S CHILDREN
KEVIN BLAIR (Rims O’Neil) he/him, is a Chicago based actor and creator. Recent stage credits include If This is the End (Theatre L’Acadie), Footholds Vol. 3 (Impostors Theatre Co.), and Moby Dick the Musical (Underscore Theatre). With First Flight Theatre Company, Kevin has been in readings of The Sea-Wife, The Masque of Queens, In the Garden of Live Flowers, and many more, including a production of White Desert. He has a passion for developing new theatre works with the In Bloom series at L’Acadie, as well as casting many of their projects. Kevin’s writing has been seen in Footholds Vol. 4 (Impostors Theatre Co.), and on the comedy series “I Hate You Too” on YouTube. BFA in Acting from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. kevinblair.net Thanks to family and friends for your continued support!
FRANK FARRELL (The Chauffeur & Artistic Director of First Flight) most recently directed First Flight Theatre Company’s productions of Shakespeare’s Ladies at Tea and Shakespeare’s Deaths in NYC and Little Women at The Hermitage in Bergen County, NJ. He was an actor in Chicago for 40 years receiving three Joseph Jefferson acting nominations and recently returned to NYC where he was born. While in Chicago he directed and produced plays for Free Shakespeare Theatre Company, Temporary Theatre, Shakespeare’s Herd, Steppenwolf Theater, Raven Theatre, Equity Library Theater Chicago, the North Lakeside Players and Theatre-Hikes. For Citadel Theatre in Lake Forest, IL he directed outdoor productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, Spoon River Anthology, Romeo and Juliet and Scapin. Frank has formed six theater companies along the way including Theatre-Hikes in Chicago and, in Grand Haven, Michigan, the Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company. In NYC he wrote, directed and produced Forgotten Soldiers from Our Forgotten War for the First Flight Theatre Company, the seventh theatre group he has formed. For First Flight he also coordinated several stage readings of Maxwell Anderson’s plays in New York City and Chicago. Frank directed and produced last summer’s production of Maxwell Anderson’s play Valley Forge at The Hermitage Mansion in Bergen County, New Jersey. His Zoom film In the Garden of Live Flowers recently won Best Biopic at the Green Academy Awards Film Festival.
JOHNNY GARCIA (Willy Sands & Matty) is honored to be doing this staged reading with such a talented group of artists. Johnny is a proud board member with First Flight. Previous productions include: Frankenstein with Oil Lamp Theater, The Humans with Redtwist Theatre where has been a company member since its inception. He has performed in a number of Zoom productions. Thank you for joining us.
RICHARD HENZEL (Mr. Halevy) is delighted to be working with Frank Farrell again with Saturday’s Children. Other collaborations have included “Free Shakespeare” productions of The Seagull and Frank’s theatre hike versions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and As You Like It in various outdoor settings including New York’s Central Park. Other Chicago Theatre Credits: Shaw Chicago: Dear Liar, Noel Coward In Two Keys, Heartbreak House, Misalliance, The Doctor’s Dilemma, James Barrie’s Quartets and Mark Twain In Person; Of Mice And Men at Steppenwolf; Return of the Hip Messiah at Second City Skybox; Feiffer’s America at North Light; 1984 at Lookingglass; Rap Master Ronnie at the Theatre Building; Huck Finn at The Goodman; Affluenza and The Action Against Sol Schumann at Victory Gardens; 1776, Grover's Corners, A Funny Thing...Forum, Pajama Game, and West Side Story at Marriott’s Lincolnshire, and Gypsy with Patti LuPone at Ravinia. Regional: On Golden Pond at The Purple Rose; Heroes at Stormfield Theatre, Death of a Salesman at Human Race; Copenhagen, A Walk in the Woods, and The Price at Madison Repertory; and Hanging Fire, A Murder, a Mystery, and a Marriage, and The Count at Florida Stage. Mark Twain In Person (Jeff Nomination Best Actor) at The Body Politic. He also provided the voice of Ernie Keebler the cookie baking elf, and of the morning DJ in Groundhog Day. Love love love to Jennie Sam and Fred.
ALEXANDRA JAYMES (Bobby) (she/her) is a Plainfield, IL native who received her BFA in Acting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Theatre credits include Cymbeline (Midsommer Flight), The Bachelor: The Unauthorized Parody Musical (Apollo Theatre), South Pacific (Dunes Summer Repertory Theatre), Macbeth, Midsummer Night's Dream, and Comedy of Errors (Janus Theatre). She is a company member with Theatre L’Acadie based in Chicago. Her TL credits include—Tennessee Williams’s The Two Character Play during their inaugural season and most recently If This is the End by Melanie Coffey. Alexandra has also been seen sprinkled throughout the several In Bloom Series shows including Come When I Call, G.O.A.T. Or Who Is Ximone, and A Midsummer’s Nightmare. She can also be seen in I Hate You Too (seasons 1 and 2), Common Vibes and Empire (Fox). When not in a show, Alexandra is also a choreographer, director, and teacher. She is an avid reader (ask her about her book club!), pilates girly, and when the weather allows, water baby. She would like to thank her family for their endless support and Kevin Blair for always being in her corner. Alexandra is represented by Big Mouth Talent. instagram: asjaymes website: www.alexandrajaymes.com
ELIZABETH KELLY (Mrs. Halevy & Mrs. Gorlick) is a Chicago-based actor since the 1980's and has worked with many of our off-loop companies, including Wisdom Bridge, Body Politic, Commons, Free Shakespeare, and Cave Painting Theater. Delighted to be working now with First Flight Chicago! Elizabeth spends her days with small children, teaching outdoor preschool, and working with curative puppetry.
BRITTANY STOCK (Florrie Sands, née Halevy) is delighted to be working on this reading with First Flight! She received her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from Hope College, and has worked throughout Chicagoland as an actor and teaching artist. Credits include work with the Chicago Musical Theatre Festival, Kokandy, Broken Nose, and About Face Theatre, among others. Brittany has spent nearly a decade in Chicago performing in a kids' band and teaching ballet, creative movement, gymnastics, and currently teaches theatre and dance at the Paramount School of the Arts.
CHRISTOPHER KARCZMAR (Director) After many years, Chris is absolutely delighted to be reunited with Frank Farrell and to have joined the First Flight Theatre Company. Chris’s directing credits include: Danny & the Deep Blue Sea at the Hamilton, Ontario Fringe Festival, Origins–NYS Summer School of the Arts, With You on the Journey (works with formerly incarcerated) –Portland Regional Arts Council, A Day in the Life-Ulster BOCES Arts High School, NY, and works with Actors and Writers in NY. Chris has taught technique for 20+ years. He earned his MFA and then taught at York University. Other teaching residencies have included: AAMDA, Portland Actors Conservatory, Shakespeare in Action, the NY Summer School of the Arts, and NY State Ed. A recipient of Joseph Jefferson and L.A. Weekly awards, Chris has performed at various regional theaters and in TV & Film. He is a long-standing member of Actor’s Equity, Canadian Actor’s Equity, and SAG-AFTRA.
MAXWELL ANDERSON (Playwright 1888 - 1959) His plays include White Desert (1923), What Price Glory (1924), First Flight (1925), Elizabeth the Queen (1930), Both Your Houses (1933), Mary of Scotland (1933), Valley Forge (1934), Winterset (1935), High Tor (1937), Knickerbocker Holiday (1938), Key Largo (1939); The Eve of St. Mark (1942), Truckline Café (1945), Joan of Lorraine (1946), Anne of the Thousand Days (1947), Lost in the Stars (1949), The Masque of Queens (1954), The Bad Seed (1954), Richard and Anne (1955) and The Golden Six (1961). Anderson also worked on numerous screenplays, including All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), for which he received an Academy Award nomination, Washington Merry-Go-Round (1932), Rain (1932), Death Takes a Holiday (1934), and So Red the Rose (1935). Plays of his that were turned into movies were Mary of Scotland (1936), Saturday's Children, which was filmed three times (once as Maybe It's Love), Winterset (1936), Elizabeth the Queen, which became The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), The Eve of St. Mark (1944), Knickerbocker Holiday (1944). Key Largo (1948), Joan of Lorraine, which became Joan of Arc (1948), The Bad Seed (1956), The Devil's Hornpipe, which became Never Steal Anything Small (1959), and Anne of the Thousand Days (1969). What Price Glory was made into a silent film in 1926 and was remade by John Ford in 1952. Maxwell Anderson published two books of poetry, "You Who Have Dreams" in 1925, and "Notes on a Dream," published posthumously in 1972. Anderson also published two collections of essays, "The Essence of Tragedy and Other Footnotes and Papers" (1939) and "Off Broadway Essays About the Theatre" (1947). His play Both Your Houses won the Pulitzer Prize in 1933 and Winterset and High Tor both won the Drama Critics Circle Award for 1935 & 1937.
The First Flight Theatre Company is devoted to presenting the plays of 20th century American playwright Maxwell Anderson as well as other playwrights who instill poetry in their writing. Saturday’s Children was Anderson’s sixth Broadway production in 1927 & 1928 and ran for 326 performances. The original cast included Ruth Gordon as Bobby and Beulah Bondi as Mrs. Gorlick. Humphrey Bogart joined the cast as Rims O’Neil when the production moved from the Booth to the Forrest Theatre in 1928.
For more about First Flight visit www.firstflighttheatreco.com
Email: firstflight2018@gmail.com
SPECIAL THANKS: Redtwist Theatre, Theatre L’Acadie and Rudolf Steiner Branch of Chicago
We wish to express our gratitude to The Performers' Unions: ACTORS' EQUITY ASSOCIATION, AMERICAN GUILD OF MUSICAL ARTISTS, AMERICAN GUILD OF VARIETY ARTISTS and SAG-AFTRA through Theatre Authority, Inc. for their cooperation in permitting the Artists to appear on this program.
A Poster from the Past for Saturday’s Children
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