FIASCO

THEATER
presents
William Shakespeare’s

CYMBELINE

Access Theater
Nov. 18th-Nov. 22nd
8pm

www.fiascotheater.com
 About Fiasco
The mission of Fiasco Theater is to offer dynamic,
actor-driven, joyful productions of classic and new plays,
and to offer high-level theatrical training through class-
es and workshops. Our goal is to create a new model of
fiscal sustainability whereby we remunerate our artists
for their valuable work and offer our performances and
training at low or no cost to our audiences and students.
Why Fiasco
Legend has it the word “fiasco” was first used to de-
scribe a Commedia dell’Arte performance that went horri-
bly (and hilariously) wrong. While we hope to avoid on-stage
disasters, we do believe that only when artists are brave enough
to risk a fiasco can they create the possibility of something spe-
cial. We chose the name Fiasco to remind ourselves to brave
the huge leaps in the hopes of discovering huge rewards.

The Guerrilla
Shakespeare Project
presents

THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN

at the Medicine Show The-

atre
549 West 52nd Street
January 7th - 17th

For more information visit

www.GuerrillaShakespeare.com
 Directors Note
There is a wild eclecticism at play within Cymbeline that makes it both
alluring and challenging to stage. By turns brooding, wickedly comic, and
macabre, and based upon English history, Cymbeline refuses to fit snugly
within any of the major dramatic genres. It contains elements of History,
Tragedy and Comedy, and though undoubtedly Shakespeare’s work, the
language is very different: many characters lacking the rich interior life and
imagery one often expects from Shakespeare. For much of the play it feels as
though a great tragedy is being constructed, every event seeming to draw our
characters closer toward cataclysm. But it’s all a brilliant feint, as each and
every “problem” in the play is actually necessary to bring about the ultimate
reconciliation and to restore order to a broken world. If Romeo and Juliet
is the comedy gone wrong, perhaps Cymbeline is the tragedy gone right.
By 1609, when Cymbeline was performed, Shakespeare had
created masterpieces of all three dramatic styles. Having dedicated the
previous six years to writing tragedies such as Othello, King Lear and
Macbeth, perhaps he felt he had achieved all he could in the Tragic mold.
Or maybe a middle-aged creative genius just needed a break from the
darkness of witching-hours and blasted heaths. Whatever his motivations,
Shakespeare chose the genre we call Romance for the final phase of his career.
Before this production we might have described Shakespeare’s
Romances as merely those plays which scholars couldn’t neatly
define as Comedy, Tragedy or History. Cymbeline contains plot and tonal
elements, both tragic and comic; it’s dark, but often ridiculous;
densely plotted but containing characters that are stock archetypes. In fact,
what these elements describe is the very specific genre of the Romance.
Examples of the Romance abound: Don Quixote and The Faerie Queene in
Shakespeare’s time, Harry Potter, The Princess Bride and the Lord of the
Rings in our own. In Cymbeline, as in Harry Potter, action and character
rule the form. But not even Romantic convention could prevent Shakespeare
from endowing his heroine, Imogen, with poetry, depth and pathos. As with
all the other genres, in Romance, Shakespeare set the mark “beyond beyond.”
With this production, Fiasco has tried to embrace the eclecticism
of Cymbeline. By allowing each scene, each moment to be whatever
it is—be it comic, tragic, gothic or melodramatic —we hope to honor
Shakespeare’s intent. And with just six actors to resolve the twisted
fates of fourteen characters, we hope to heighten the spirit of misadven-
ture and mistaken identity that abounds within the world of Cymbeline.

Thanks for joining us,

Noah and Ben
 Fiasco Theater gratefully acknowledges
the support of our donors:

FOUNDATIONS
Somerled Charitable Foundation, Shay Charitable Trust

CORPORATIONS
MidOcean Partners, DirecTV, Office Depot

INDIVIDUALS
Joseph Allen, Robin Ambler, Neil and Nancy Austrian, Neil Jr. and
Kathy Austrian, Julie Berger, Joshua Berrett, James Berry, John Bloom-
field, Tim Brownell, George Burns, Pannill Camp, Joyce and Frank L.
Coffey, Martin Cooper, Brenda Gardner, Jesse Geiger, Thom Jones,
Justine Kalka, Jonathan Karpinos, Joanna L. Cole, Merv Lapin, Kar-
en Mayer-White, Darcy Plimpton-Sims, Dhuanne Tansill, Robert Wal-
ter, Margie and Bruce Warwick, Laurie Williams, Robert Zwaschka

MATCHING GRANT IN EFFECT!

Every dollar you donate between now and the end of 2009 will be matched
thanks to our generous friends at The Somerled Charitable Trust.

Please join us in our effort to grow. Fiasco Theater is a 501(c)3

non-profit organization. Your donations are fully tax-deductible.

For information on how to donate please visit:

www.fiascotheater.com
 Fiasco Theater presents
William Shakespeare’s

CYMBELINE
Directed by Noah Brody and Ben Steinfeld
Jessie Austrian* –Imogen
Noah Brody* – Posthumus Leonatus / Roman Captain
Paul L. Coffey* –Pisanio / Philario / Caius Lucius / Guiderius
Andy Grotelueschen* – Cymbeline / Cloten / Cornelius
Ben Steinfeld* – Iachimo / Arviragus
Emily Young* – Queen / Frenchman / Belaria

*appears courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association

Production Stage Managed by Emily Glinick*

Assistant Stage Managed by Joy Martin
Trunk Designed and Built by Jacques Roy
Costumes by Whitney Locher
Lights by Tim Cryan
Fight Choreography by Noah Brody
Musical Direction by Ben Steinfeld
Program by Adam Kaynan, Barbara Harrison, Jessie Austrian
Graphic Design by Joe Varca
Photography by Kathleen Schmal, Henning Fischer

Special Thanks to
The Austrians, Samantha Brahms, Ceil Brody, Margaret Daly,
Marguerite Day, The Gallatin School of Individualized Study
at NYU, The Guerilla Shakespeare Company, Kate Hewitt, Jef-
frey Horowitz, Stephen Speights, Bob and Wendy Macdonald, M.
Gabe Aulles, Jordan Reeves, Tom Schwans, and Susanne Wofford.
 WHO’S WHO
Jessie Austrian
For FIASCO: Two Gentlemen of Verona. Off-Broadway:
The Marriage of Bette and Boo at the Roundabout Theatre
Company. Regional credits include: Jane Eyre at the
Guthrie Theater, My Fair Lady at Virginia Stage Company,
Actors Theater of Louisville and Cleveland Playhouse, The
Mystery of Edwin Drood at Trinity Repertory Company, and
Cabaret & Main at the Williamstown Theatre Festival.
Most recently she perfected the art of moustache-acting in
Is He Dead? at the Pioneer Theatre in Salt Lake City. Jessie has worked as a dialect
coach at Williamstown, Actors Theater of Louisville and Babel Theater; she coaches
voice, speech and acting privately in NYC. She proudly holds an MFA in acting from
the Brown/Trinity Consortium.

Noah Brody
For FIASCO: Two Gentlemen of Verona. Regional: Portland
Stage Company, the Shakespeare Theater of NJ, Madison
Rep, and Trinity Repertory Company. Touring: Noah has
toured internationally with the Reduced Shakespeare Com-
pany. Television: Law and Order, All My Children and As
the World Turns. As an adjunct faculty member at NYU and
the Stella Adler School of Acting he taught Voice & Speech,
Scene Study, and directed. Noah is a fight choreographer
and the author of the plays The Vexed Question and Cold.
Noah is a proud graduate of the Brown/Trinity Consortium, MFA Acting program.

Paul L. Coffey
For FIASCO: Twelfth Night. New York: The Public,
Ars Nova, HERE, Rattlestick, Ensemble Studio The-
atre, The Mint, blessed unrest, Theatre Lila, Gorilla Rep,
Aquila Theatre Co. Regional: Trinity Repertory Co.,
Pig Iron Theater Co., The Vineyard Playhouse, The
Theater at Monmouth, BoarsHead Theater, The
Peterborough Players and The Berkshire Theater Festival.
Paul received his M.F.A. in acting from the Brown/Trinity
Consortium where he was a Stephen Sondheim Fellow.

photos by K. Schmal
 WHO’S WHO
Andy Grotelueschen
For FIASCO: Twelfth Night. Touring: Andy has toured nation-
ally with the Guthrie Theater and the Acting Company (Henry
V/The Spy, dir. Davis McCallum) and internationally with the
Glass Contraption. New York: Lucy Thurber’s Monstrosity
(13P, dir. Lear deBessonet),The Scariest (The Exchange, dirs.
Ari Edelson/Meredith McDonough), The Glass Contraption’s
The Amazing Ted Show! (Ars Nova), Clowns. (The Public/NY
Clown Festival, dir. Christopher Bayes), Don Cristobal, Billy Club Man (St. Ann’s Ware-
house, Here, dir. Erin Orr), Girls Just Wanna Have Fund$ (Women’s Project). Regional cred-
its include the Guthrie, Arizona Theatre Company, and Trinity Rep. (Moliere Impromptu,
dir. Christopher Bayes). Andy is a graduate of the Brown/Trinity Rep. Consortium (MFA).
He is currently apprenticed to Christopher Bayes studying the Clown, and he’s from Iowa.

Ben Steinfeld
For FIASCO: Two Gentlemen of Verona, Twelfth Night. Off-
Broadway: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Public Theater),
Fantasy Football: The Musical? (NYMF). Regional: Center
Theatre Group, Portland Center Stage, Williamstown The-
atre Festival, Bread Loaf Acting Ensemble, SpeakEasy Stage
Company, and ten shows with Trinity Repertory Company
(IRNE Nomination for the world premiere of Charles Strou-
se’s You Never Know). Television: Law & Order: Criminal
Intent. Ben is an adjunct professor at NYU’s Gallatin School
of Individualized Study, and has twice narrated the NJ Sym-
phony’s young people’s concerts at NJPAC. He is a graduate
of Brown University and the Brown/Trinity Rep Consortium
MFA Acting Program. Please visit www.bensteinfeld.net
Emily Young
New York: Theatre Breaking Through Barriers’ Romeo and
Juliet at Theatre Row (Juliet, Mercutio, Paris and five oth-
ers); staged readings of Back to Methuselah: Part 2, The
Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet and Major Barbara with
Project Shaw at The Players; Summer Play Festival’s Colo-
rado (Tracy) Regional: King Lear (Cordelia), Much Ado
About Nothing (Hero) at the North Carolina Shakespeare
Festival; Loves Labor’s Lost (Katherine), Henry V (Al-
ice), Much Ado About Nothing (Margaret) at the Illinois
Shakespeare Festival; Cherry Orchard (Anya) at Trin-
ity Rep, Emma (Emma) at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage. Emily also re-
cently completed work as the lead in the short musical film, Manhattan Melody, which
will be released this winter. Training: Brown University/Trinity Rep Consortium.
 WHO’S WHO
Emily Glinick (PSM) Off Broadway: County of Kings (Public Theater/Culture
Project), Things of Dry Hours (NYTW), workshops of Prophecy, The Bacchae, Fur-
tiva Lagrima (Public Theater/NYSF), Looking Up! (TNC), Semi-Permanent (Audible
Productions). Regional: Far East, Bad Dates, Intimate Apparel, Trying, Nobody’s Heart
(Stamford Theatre Works); Paris by Night, A Christmas Carol, Richard III, Much Ado
About Nothing, Two Gentleman of Verona, But for the Grace... (Trinity Repertory Com-
pany); The Cherry Orchard, Twelfth Night, Ah, Wilderness!, Much Ado About Nothing,
Death of a Salesman, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and workshops of Vaidehi and Varia-
tions on a Theme (Chautauqua Theater Company); workshop of Shoe Story (NYSAF).
Stage manager for the Sweden tour of County of Kings. Proud member of Actors’ Equity
Association.

Joy Martin (ASM) is a recent college graduate of Florida State University with
a Bachelors in Theatre. Her New York credits include Turtle Shell Production’s off-off
broadway Fall Playwright’s Festival.

Full service
Off premise Catering
Gourmet Menu
Chef, Servers & Sommelier
available

30 Doughty Street
Somerville, NJ 08876
908-725-0264 908-725-3035

Ray Cockill, Executive Chef