Content Warning
Viewer discretion is advised. Arlington [a love story] shows themes of mental illness, suicide, and physical abuse. It may not be suitable for all audiences. Please take this into consideration before experiencing the show.
Arlington by Enda Walsh, is a dystopian love story about a young girl named Isla who is imprisoned in a tower. She spends her days isolated and waiting to be released. Walsh, the Tony Award winning author of the musical Once, invites the audience to examine Isla’s intense isolation. After a mysterious changing of guards, Isla finds companionship emerge from out of the darkness.
Arlington for NAMI
Enjoy free admission and please consider donating to National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)!
NAMI is “the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness.” (https://www.nami.org/Home). As a production team, we decided that fundraising for this organization aligned the most with the themes and subject matter of Arlington. Isolation, suicide, grief, and trauma are all present in this play, and we wanted to support those who suffer from these and other mental illnesses. Through Davis Shakespeare Festival, we hope that you take a moment to consider donating to this organization that helps over 650 communities nationwide.
LAND AND LABOR ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The production team of Arlington [a love story] are from varying areas across the United States. Thus, we would like to take a moment to recognize and acknowledge the following indigenous tribes that previously resided on the land which we occupied throughout our production process; the Shawnee (shaw·nee), Osage (ow·seij), Ojibwe (oh·jib·way), Odawa (ah·dough·wah), Bodewadmi (bah·dough·wahd·me), Patwin (pat·win), and the Muscogee (muh·scoh·gee) Creek Nation.
While a land acknowledgment is only scratching the surface, in regards to rectifying the past wrongs of our nation, it is an important step towards social justice and decolonization, that allows us to promote Native and Indigenous peoples, and their cultures. Let this land acknowledgment be an opening for those who read it to contemplate ways to help indigenous movements for sovereignty and self-determination, as land acknowledgments are a step in the right direction, but land back is the ultimate goal.
The production team of Arlington [a love story] would also like to take a moment to make a formal labor acknowledgment.
In the spirit of land acknowledgment and in efforts towards decolonization, we would like to recognize the labor that built the foundation of this occupied land. Millions of enslaved Africans were held in captivity and forced to endure torture and intense dehumanization. These enslaved peoples’ only value was through their labor potential, and this relationship between Black social status and Black labor defines the systemic racism experienced today.
Even after the technical abolishment of slavery, African Americans still continue to suffer from the repercussions of its existence, and the preserved racist mindsets and systems that have allowed for the oppression of Black people to persist. Black, Indigenous, and all other people of color, have a similar struggle, thus their fights tend to mirror each other, and often overlap. We encourage you to consider what decolonial behavior you can enact as accomplices to Black and Indigenous liberation.
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Walsh was born Born in North Dublin, Ireland in 1967. His first big success was in 1997 when he won both the George Devine Award and the Stewart Parker Award for his play Disco Pigs. His Subsequent plays The Walworth Farce and The New Electric Ballroom each won Fringe First Awards at two consecutive Edinburgh Festivals in 2007 and 2008. “In 2011 Once, Enda’s adaptation of the film by John Carney, opened off-broadway. Critically acclaimed, it moved to Broadway in 2012, where it picked up eight Tony Awards, including Best Book for Enda. The West End run of Once opened in April 2013.” Walsh has had a “strong relationship with Galway City and the Galway International Arts Festival from the very beginning of his writing career.” Two of his plays, Misterman and Ballyturk were produced there.Walsh collaborated with David Bowie for the musical Lazarus in 2015. The musical is inspired by the 1963 novel The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis. Lazarus premiered at the New York Theatre Workshop from 18 November 2015 until 20 January 2016 and sold out in record time. The show then played a limited sell-out season at the purpose built King’s Cross Theatre in London from 25 October 2016 – 22 January 2017.Most recently Enda wrote the book for a musical adaptation of the 2016 film Sing Street by John Carney which was due to open on Broadway in spring 2020. In TV Enda is currently working on Troubles with Blueprint Pictures and This House with Nexus Studios.His latest opera, The Second Violinist, premiered at the festival in July 2017. Enda is currently working on Troubles with Blueprint Pictures and This House with Nexus Studios
CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM
Pablo Lopez
Pablo Lopez (he/him/his) is a storyteller-performer from Los Angeles. He performed at the American High School Theatre Festival in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with his high school performance of The Crucible in 2011. He placed second and first several times for the English Speaking Union. He was awarded the Herb Alpert Emerging Young Artist Award in 2012 by the California State Summer School for the Arts. He participated in the Los Angeles Regional August Wilson Monologue Competition in 2012 and 2013, and took second place for the National AWMC in 2013. After attending UC Davis for a year, Pablo joined the wonderful DSE community for four seasons in 2014-2017, performing and Associate Producing for the shows She Loves Me, Twelfth Night, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Cyrano de Bergerac and Bells Are Ringing. He went on to earn a BFA in Theatre Original Works at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, WA from 2015-2018. In Seattle, he has premiered many new plays, like The Journey of the Saint and querencia: an imagined autobiography about forbidden fruits with ESE Teatro 2017 & 2018. He also performed at 12th Avenue Arts with The Strawberry Theatre Workshop in their 2016 production of Lydia. He fostered conversation as a dramaturg for the Cornish production of Wild Kate, and is a budding playwright and poet. He hopes you enjoy the show!
Kelley Ogden
Kelley is thrilled to work with Davis Shakespeare again, where she was last seen in THE TENTH MUSE. Her most recent performance was in a live-streaming production of POLAR BEARS, BLACK BOYS AND PRAIRIE FRINGED ORCHIDS with Celebration Arts, and she has performed locally with Capital Stage (BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY, SWEAT), Sacramento Shakespeare Festival (TWELFTH NIGHT), Theater Galatea (JULIUS CAESAR, MACBETH), Main Street Theater Works (MAMA WON’T FLY), and KOLT Run Creations (ADORATION OF DORA, THERE IS A HAPPINESS THAT MORNING IS), an award-winning site-specific theater company she founded with her wife and producing partner, Lisa Thew. After receiving her BFA from The Theater School at DePaul University in Chicago, Kelley worked with theaters all over the country before settling down in Sacramento.
Analisa Sabo
Analisa is a Bay Area native who grew up training and performing at Ballet San Jose under the direction of the Dennis Nahat. Credits include The Nutcracker, Swan Lake as corps de ballet, The Firebird, Giselle, and Cinderella. During her teenage years she performed with Opera San Jose in Jose Maria Condemi production’s of La Rondine and La Traviata. She went to further her arts education at AMDA College and Conservatory of the Performing Arts in Los Angeles where she graduated magna cum laude with a BFA in Performing Arts. Since graduating, you can find Analisa dancing down Main Street USA at Disneyland, or performing with Anaheim Ballet as part of their company productions. On top of dancing, Analisa also has a huge passion for acting for film and screenwriting.
Alix Curnow
Alix (she/they) is a Senior at the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre and Dance. They are incredibly excited to present ‘Arlington’ through Davis Shakespeare Festival’s Digital Internship Program!
Kenny Giles
Kenny (he/him/his) is a Senior at the University of Arizona pursuing a degree in Arts, Media, and Entertainment with additional focus in Global and Intercultural Understanding. Based out of Orange County, CA he has danced semi-professionally with both the Antelope Valley Ballet and Anaheim Ballet. Most recently he was seen in Musical Theatre Orange County’s production of Mary Poppins.
Jaucqir LaFond
Jaucqir (he/they) is a Junior acting major at Howard University. Jaucqir joins the DSF Digital Internship Program from Atlanta, GA and hope that you all enjoy experiencing Arlington as much as they enjoyed developing it.
Madison Morrow
Madison (she/her) is a first-year Master of Arts Management candidate at Carnegie Mellon University. She has had experience in artistic direction, production and stage management, scenic design, sound design, and playwriting. She has joined the Davis Shakespeare Festival team with great excitement and is very happy to be able to help in producing Arlington [a love story] to everyone who tunes in!
Enoca Jones
Enoca (she/her/hers) has a zeal for acting, directing, and producing creative content. She is currently a sophomore at the illustrious Howard University, where she is pursuing a bachelors degree in television and film. She has done PR for various nonprofits in the past, including Advocates for Diversity In Our Schools, and the Circle of Rainbow Sisters.
Anaya Green
Anaya is a recent graduate of The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Theatre and Dance with a B.A. in Playwriting and Directing. She wrote and directed her first theatrical piece, oUr rooTs in 2019 for the Cohen New Works Festival. Following that, she wrote her second play Asking For a Friend in 2019. She is so grateful for the opportunity to work with Davis Shakespeare Festival, having the opportunity to craft, explore and make new discoveries through theatre-making.
Sammy Sussman
Sammy Sussman (b. 1999) is a composer, bassist and reporter from Bedford Hills, NY. Though currently on a gap year due to the pandemic, he will be a senior composition major in the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance in 2021. Sammy studies composition with Evan Chambers and bass with Marion Hayden. Some of his previous teachers include Kristin Kuster, Paul Schoenfeld, Michael Daugherty, David Conte, Narcis Bonet, Michel Merlet, Kyle Blaha and Becki Advocate.
Sammy‘s compositions have been recognized by the American Composers Forum, the Foundation for Modern Music and the National Association for Music Education. His music also received an honorable mention in the New York Philharmonic’s New World Composition Challenge. Recent composition projects include a two-act comedic musical, “Diseducated,” with book, music & lyrics by Sammy Sussman and Allison Taylor.
As a reporter, Sammy has written for The Michigan Daily, Bridge magazine, VAN, Groundcover News and the Detroit Jewish News. His reporting has been featured in the Columbia Journalism Review, the Detroit Free Press and The New York Times. He is currently writing a nonfiction book about the life of his great-grandfather, an Austrian Jew who reported on the fall of Austria in 1938 under a pen name for a Belgian newspaper.
BLOG POSTS
Inspiration: Arlington (Themes, Ideas, & Images That Influenced Us)
Each member of Arlington’s artistic team brought in their unique ideas and references to incorporate into our storytelling. Through lots of discussion and collaboration, we were able to create a cohesive narrative that brought in each team member’s individual perspective. Here is a collection of images and cultural texts utilized by our production team that inspired us throughout the process of creating our virtual production of Arlington, A love Story. Performance Artist: Martin O’Brien At the beginning of our production process, we were inspired by the work of British performance artist Martin O’Brien. His work explores ideas surrounding trauma, sickness, and isolation which we felt spoke to some of the major themes ...
THE DANCE OF DEATH: Exploring Scene Two of Enda Walsh’s Arlington
If the intricate poetry and grimly whimsical imagery of Arlington’s first and last scene weren’t enough to highlight its progressive theatrical form, Enda Walsh includes a mid-show scene without dialogue. For twenty minutes jammed in between the love story of Isla and Young Man, “Scene Two'' allows the audience to observe a young woman’s last minutes, dancing them away in her tower cell. As she dances, she is able to shed the confines of captivity for a brief moment, before she ultimately escapes the tower in her death. In a 2017 New York Times article, Brian Seibert explores the original production of the dance in Arlington’s run at St. Anne’s Playhouse. Preceding ...
The Sound of Dystopia: Creating the music of Arlington
Team Arlington is excited for you to see the performance and witness the brilliant work of Sammy Sussman, our composer, for yourself.