A seductive portraitist, compelling storyteller, and superb concert pianist.
— American Theatre Magazine
REGIONAL PREMIERE

jan 10–feb 9, 2025

Music by SERGEI RACHMANINOFF
Book by HERSHEY FELDER
Hershey Felder’s newest musical play will feature him in the role of composer and pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff alongside British-Italian actor Jonathan Silvestri in the role of Tsar Nicholas II.  Having safely left Russia during the 1917 revolution, Rachmaninoff eventually made his home in Beverly Hills, but always longed for the Tsarist Russia that he knew and loved as a young man. Featuring Rachmaninoff’s most beloved compositions, this promises to be another mystical musical journey in the Hershey Felder style that patrons have come to know and love.   Hershey Felder: Rachmaninoff and the Tsar runs approximately one hour and forty minutes, with no intermission, and is followed by a brief talk back.

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Photos: Stefano Decarli

Special Events & Accessible Performances

  • Wednesday, January 15, 2025 @ 7:30pm
  • Wednesday, January 29, 2025 @ 7:30pm
  • Saturday, February 1, 2025 @ 8pm
  • Sunday, February 2, 2025 @ 2pm
  • Sunday, January 26, 2025 @ 2pm
  • Sunday, January 26, 2025 @ 7pm
  • Wednesday, January 29, 2025 @ 2pm
  • Tuesday, January 21, 2025 @ 7:30pm
  • Friday, January 17, 2025 @ 8pm
  • Saturday, January 18, 2025 @ 2pm
  • Sunday, January 26, 2025 @ 2pm
One of the funniest and most moving plays about friendship in years.
— TheaterMania
One of the funniest and most moving plays about friendship in years.
— TheaterMania
One of the funniest and most moving plays about friendship in years.
— TheaterMania

Cast

ALDO BILLINGSLEA*

ALDO BILLINGSLEA (Col. Archie Christie) previously performed at TheatreWorks in The Elephant Man, Radio Golf, Fallen Angels, and The Old Settler.  He’s performed at a number of theatres regionally and nationally, serves on the board of the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, and teaches Acting at Santa Clara University.

LUCINDA HITCHCOCK CONE*

LUCINDA HITCHCOCK CONE (Jane) appeared at TheatreWorks in Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Tuck Everlasting, Outside Mullingar, Big River, Clean House, Ragtime, and Cabaret. She played Linda Loman in Death Of A Salesman and Nancy in Grand Horizons at San Jose Stage Company. She was seen as Hattie in Follies at SF Playhouse. She appeared in the National Tour of Big River. Her regional credits include Hartford Stage, Arizona Theater Company, Indiana Rep., Portland Stage, Syracuse Stage, the Geva, St. Louis Rep., Folger Theater, Coconut Grove Playhouse, American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Rep., San Jose Rep., Sacramento Music Circus, Capital Stage, B Street Theater, Aurora Theater, Marin Theater Co., American Musical Theatre of San Jose, 42nd Street Moon, Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts among others. She has four Bay Area Critics Circle Awards and a DramaLogue Award. She studied Mime in Paris with Etienne Decroux.

WILLIAM THOMAS HODGSON*

WILLIAM THOMAS HODGSON (Le Detective) has performed with TheatreWorks in Calligraphy (Eamon Jameson), and recently choreographed Little Shop of Horrors (dir. Jeffrey Lo). His regional credits include four seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, It Can’t Happen Here (Berkeley Rep), El Henry and Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame (La Jolla Playhouse), An Octoroon (Mixed Blood Theatre), Cyrano (Aurora Theater Company), and I Am My Own Wife and Every Brilliant Thing (Oakland Theater Project). Recent directing projects include Passing Strange (Shotgun Players), Is God Is (Oakland Theater Project), and Ragtime, FunHome, and  Kinky Boots (Berkeley Playhouse). He received his MFA from UC San Diego, and is co-artistic director of the Oakland Theater Project.

NICOLE JAVIER*

NICOLE JAVIER (Lucy) has performed with TheatreWorks in tokyo fish story (Ama/Woman) as well as several seasons of the New Works Festival. She recently appeared in the world-premiere of The Heart Sellers as Luna at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre. Other regional credits include South Coast Repertory, La Jolla Playhouse, Shakespeare Orange County, Aurora Theatre Company, Crowded Fire, and A Noise Within, where she was a recipient of an LA Drama Critics Circle Award. Her television, film, and audio series appearances include Bosch: Legacy, Curtain Call, We’re All Gonna Die, and Your Horror Show. Ms. Javier earned her BFA from Chapman University and MFA from UC Diego, and is currently a resident artist at A Noise Within and facilitator with Red Ladder Theatre Company. Maraming salamat. 

KINA KANTOR*

KINA KANTOR (Nancy Neele / Chloe) is an actor, artist, cellist based in the Bay Area. She has previously performed in TheatreWorks' New Works Festival and is thrilled to be working on the main stage for the first time. She has also worked extensively with the San Francisco Playhouse (The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin - Sheila, The Great Khan - Gao Ming) The Magic Theatre, as well as with Berkeley Rep (The Great Wave - U/S Reiko), Crowded Fire, Word for Word, PlayGround SF and the San Francisco Mime Troupe.

Kina is also a company member of the Actor’s Reading Collective (ARC) and has taught at the Academy of Art University in SF.

JENNIFER LE BLANC*

JENIFER LE BLANC (Agatha Christie, she/her/hers) is grateful to return to TheatreWorks where she acted in Silent Sky (Margaret), 33 Variations (Clara), Sense and Sensibility (Elinor), and Opus (Grace).  Jennifer’s credits include working with Prague Shakespeare Company in Romeo and Juliet (Lady Capulet), Perspective Theatre Company and The Pear Theatre in Richard II (Aumerle), SPARC in Much Ado About Nothing (Beatrice), San Jose Stage Company in Meet John Doe (Ann Mitchell), Pacific Rep in School for Lies (Celimene), Capital Stage in The Thanksgiving Play (Logan), Denver Center for the Performing Arts in Book of Will (Alice), and Aurora Theatre Company in Fifth of July (June).  She received her MFA from the National Theatre Conservatory.  Jennifer is an associate artist with SPARC and Prague Shakespeare Company, and she is in PlayGround’s Writers Pool.  www.jenniferleblanc.com

ELISSA BETH STEBBINS*

ELISSA BETH STEBBINS (Charlotte (Carlo) / Mary, she/they) played the title character in TheatreWorks’ Nan and the Lower Body, and also appeared in several New Works Festival readings and two TheatreWorks Education school tours. Recent regional credits include Colonialism is Terrible but Pho is Delicious (Aurora), Becky Nurse of Salem (Berkeley Rep), Kings, Kiss, The Village Bike, and Caught (Shotgun Players), In Braunau (San Francisco Playhouse Sandbox Series), Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again., and You For Me For You for which she won a Theatre Bay Area award (Crowded Fire Theatre). Elissa is a Teaching Artist, and a co-founder of Analog Theatre, where she produces and devises physical theatre. Elissa graduated with honors from Santa Clara University, and is a lifelong student, continuing their training with Shakespeare and Company, Atelier Matteo Destro, and more.

MAX TACHIS

MAX TACHIS (William / Collins, he/him) has performed with TheatreWorks in The SantaLand Diaries (David/Crumpet) and as part of the 2018 New Works Festival in Something to Say: New Plays by Women (Various). His most recent Bay Area credits include Laughter on the 23rd Floor (Ira) at Hillbarn Theatre, Taking Steps (Tristram) at The Pear Theatre, and the world premiere of Waiting for Next (Marcus) at City Lights Theater Company. His voice can also be heard as part of the audience laugh track in Conan Without Borders: Greenland.

AMANDA PULCINI

AMANDA PULCINI (Female Understudy) is thrilled to make her Bay Area debut at TheatreWorks. Recently she performed in Boeing, Boeing (Gretchen) at Third Avenue Playworks. Regional credits include Legally Blonde (Chutney), Cats (Jennyanydots), Boeing, Boeing (Gloria) at Pittsburgh CLO, Titus Andronicus (Tamora/Ensemble) at The Shakespeare Forum, and Show Boat (Ellie Mae Chipley), Fiddler on the Roof (Female Swing/Ensemble) at Westchester Broadway Theatre. Educational credits include the U.S. premiere of Robert Icke’s Oresteia (Klytemnestra), Oedipus (Jocasta), and Twelfth Night (Olivia). TV credits include Chicago PD and The Big Leap. Film credits include Hey, I’m Home, Cheaters and The Source. She holds an MFA from DePaul University, BFA from Shenandoah Conservatory, as well as being a Certified Intimacy Coordinator through Intimacy Directors and Coordinators. AmandaPulcini.com

JOMAR TAGATAC*

JOMAR TAGATAC (Male Understudy)

CREATIVE TEAM

HERSHEY FELDER

(Book) has recently been named Artistic Director of Florence’s historic Teatro della Signoria as well as Florence’s Teatro Niccolini. Creator and President of FirenzeOnStage, an international theatrical and presentation house in Florence Italy, American Theatre Magazine has said, “Hershey Felder, actor, Steinway Concert Artist and theatrical creator is in a category all his own.” Following 28 years of continuous stage productions and over 6,000 live performances throughout the U.S. and abroad, Hershey Felder created Live from Florence, An Arts Broadcasting Company, based in Florence, Italy, which has produced more than eighteen theatrical films to date. They include the recently-released Noble Genius – Chopin & Liszt; The Assembly; Violetta, the story of Verdi’s Traviata; Dante and Beatrice; Mozart and Figaro in Vienna; the world premiere musicals Nicholas, Anna & Sergei; the story of Sergei Rachmaninoff; Puccini, the story of famed opera composer Giacomo Puccini; Before Fiddler, a musical story about writer Sholem Aleichem; Great American Songs and the Stories Behind Them, Leonard Bernstein and the Israel Philharmonic, a documentary, and the popular Musical Tales in the Venetian Jewish Ghetto. Two seasons of programming are currently available at www.hersheyfelder.net with season 3 being launched in spring of 2024. Hershey has given performances of his solo productions at some of the world’s most prestigious theatres and has consistently broken box office records. His shows include George Gershwin Alone (Broadway’s Helen Hayes Theatre, West End’s Duchess Theatre); Monsieur Chopin; Beethoven; Maestro (Leonard Bernstein); Franz Liszt in Musik, Lincoln: An American Story, Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin, Our Great Tchaikovsky, and A Paris Love Story and Monsieur Chopin. His compositions and recordings include Aliyah, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra; Fairytale, a musical; Les Anges de Paris, Suite for Violin and Piano; Song Settings; Saltimbanques for Piano and Orchestra; Etudes Thematiques for Piano; and An American Story for Actor and Orchestra, and the opera IL QUARTO UOMO that premiered in Fiesole, Italy in the summer of 2023 with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Hershey is the adaptor, director, and designer for the internationally performed play-with-music The Pianist of Willesden Lane with Steinway artist Mona Golabek; producer and designer for the musical Louis and Keely: ‘Live’ at the Sahara, directed by Taylor Hackford; and writer and director for Flying Solo, featuring opera legend Nathan Gunn. Hershey has operated a full-service production company since 2001. He has been a scholar-in-residence at Harvard University’s Department of Music and is married to Rt. Hn. Kim Campbell.

TREVOR HAY

(Director) directed the world premieres of An American Story for Actor and Orchestra, Abe Lincoln’s Piano, Hershey Felder as Franz Liszt in Musik, Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin, Our Great Tchaikovsky, and A Paris Love Story. He is associate director for Mona Golabek’s The Pianist of Willesden Lane, George Gershwin Alone, and Maestro. Former member of the historic Old Globe Theatre in San Diego where, at the age of nine, his first position was selling Old Globe memorabilia. Over the next 32 years, Mr. Hay went on to various aspects of production on more than 80 presentations.

JERRY PATCH

(Dramaturg) served as dramaturg on over 150 new plays, including the world premieres of Abundance, Freedomland, Golden Child, Intimate Apparel, Search and Destroy, Three Days of Rain, Ruined, and Wit. He was the founding project director for South Coast Repertory’s Pacific Playwrights Festival and artistic director of the theatre program of Sundance Institute. A professor of theatre and film, he was consulting dramaturg for Roundabout Theatre Company (New York) for nearly a decade and resident artistic director at The Old Globe in San Diego. He is now artistic consultant for Manhattan Theatre Club, where he served more than a decade as Director of Artistic Development, and is resident dramaturg at SCR.

STEFANO DECARLI

(Video Design), born in Florence in 1983, is an Italian filmmaker, editor, and producer. After graduating in 2010 in Agricultural Sciences and Sustainable Rural Development from the University of Florence, he worked in Iraq for two years for the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, coordinating international development and reconstruction programs in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of State. At the same time, he began his professional career in visual communication, specifically in photography and video production, which then became his main profession. Since then, he has been working across Italy and Europe on multimedia content, feature films, live theater shows, music videos, and corporate videos. Starting in 2020, he has filmed, co- directed, and edited shows, movies and documentaries in collaboration with renowned pianist, actor, director and producer Hershey Felder. In 2023 he worked together with American director Madison Kinsella on a short documentary about a group of Ukraine refugees in Italy, A Castle for Kyiv. The same year he also collaborated with Canadian director Jennifer Baichwal on the impact website insights following the 2022 documentary Into The Weeds. He’s also a professor of Multimedia Language at ISIA Firenze, the first university-level public institution for Design education in Italy.

ERIK S. BARRY

(Lighting Design) is a freelance lighting designer based in Chicago. He received the Non-Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for 2019 for The Displaced with Haven Theatre. His designs have been seen at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Hall, Seattle Rep, Harris Theatre (Chicago), and the Detroit Music Hall. He has done extensive gaffer/production electrician work, including multiple 2020 Presidential Debates and on Fox Sports Pre/Post show for the MLB World Series. MFA – Lighting Design: University of Wisconsin-Madison. eriksbarry.com

MARYSOL M. GABRIEL

(Costume Design), originally from Argentina and now based in Florence, Italy, is a seasoned costume and accessory designer with a rich background in theatre. She recently showcased her talents as a Costume Designer for the Quarto Uomo Lyric Opera at Estate Fiesolana and has contributed significantly to various productions at Fondazione Teatro Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, in addition to collaborating on projects with Sartoria Antonietta in Florence. Marysol’s expertise extends to the film industry, where she designed costumes for Chopin by Hershey Felder and supported numerous other Felder productions. Her creative journey is characterized by a harmonious fusion of innovation, meticulous craftsmanship, and unwavering dedication to her craft. Beyond costume design, Marysol excels in accessory design, having worked as an Accessory Designer Consultant for Flo Bags and as a Freelance Handbag Developer. Her proficiency in creating and prototyping bags and accessories has been invaluable to fashion students from prestigious institutions like Polimoda, IED, Marangoni, and Central Saint Martin, aiding them in preparing for their final fashion showcases. Notably, she spearheaded Sol Gabriel Concept Bags as the Owner and Senior Designer from 2004 to 2011, crafting distinctive, handmade bags. Furthermore, as a Senior Designer at Richmond Ltd., Marysol directed the evolution of a casual clothing line and orchestrated fashion exhibitions in Shenzen and Hong Kong.

ERIK CARSTENSEN

(Sound Design/ Production Management) has worked for Eighty-Eight Entertainment since 2008. He has served as sound designer on Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin, Our Great Tchaikovsky, A Paris Love Story, Maestro, Louis and Keely “Live” at the Sahara, An American Story, Beethoven As I Knew Him (Ovation Award winner), The Pianist of Willesden Lane (Ovation Award nomination), and numerous other productions. Formerly, he was the master sound technician at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego and was production engineer on over 60 productions.

JUDI LEWIN

(Wig and Makeup Design) is a seasoned makeup/wig/hair designer in and around the Los Angeles area. Judi moved to Los Angeles in 1990 with her family from Toronto, Canada. In Toronto, Judi worked primarily in Theatre and for the Canadian Opera Company, where she worked on such operas as Tosca and La Boheme. Since moving to Los Angeles, she incorporated television and film into her repertoire. Judi has designed two national tours, Happy Days The Musical and I Love Lucy Live on Stage. She also designed the European tour of the musical Sisterella. Judi has designed for many theatre companies, including Pasadena Playhouse, The Rubicon Theatre Company, The Fremont Theatre, Interact, The El Portal, The Blank Theatre, The Fountain Theatre, McCoy Rigby Entertainment, Sacramento Music Circus, The Wallis, Theatre 40, Group Rep, Reprise 2.0, Unbound Productions, Sierra Madre Playhouse and The Hollywood Bowl.

TAMMY GLOBERMAN

(Producer) Based in Los Angeles, Tammy joined the Hershey Felder Presents team in the summer of 2020. She worked with Hershey on his earlier projects in the late 1990s and 2000s before working with talent agencies specializing in below-the-line talent for film and television. After taking some time off to be with her two children, she is excited to be working again with Hershey and his team.

MAYA HERBSMAN, Intimacy Coordinator

MAYA HERBSMAN (Intimacy Coordinator) is an award-winning Middle Eastern Ohlone Land based intimacy professional and educator. Maya has been the first intimacy professional at theaters across Northern California including Berkeley Rep, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, San Francisco Playhouse, Shotgun Players, Golden Thread Productions, Z Space, Cutting Ball Theater, Crowded Fire Theater, San Francisco Opera and more. Her work has been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, J Magazine, and HowlRound. She is currently on faculty at American Conservatory Theater, The Urban School of San Francisco, and Stanford University. Recent TheatreWorks credits include In Every Generation, Gem of the Ocean, Sense and Sensibility, Ragtime, and Nan and the Lower Body.

JUDITH NIHEI, Artist Counselor

JUDITH NIHEI (Artist Counselor) is a San Francisco-based licensed psychotherapist in private practice. She consults for schools, nonprofits and community-based organizations, facilitating the incorporation of stress-reduction and cultural humility as an integral part of trauma-informed services. Clients have included Edgewood Center for Children and Families, Japanese Community Youth Council, and Theatre Communications Group, Inc.  As  a theatre director, dramaturg, writer, actor, and administrator, she worked with Asian American theatre companies in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, as well as The Seattle Rep, Cornish College of the Arts, and BRAVA.  She began her career in improv with The Committee and currently performs as one of The Bad Aunties.

JEFFREY LO, Casting Director

JEFFREY LO (Casting Director) is TheatreWorks’ Casting Director and Literary Manager, and has previously directed TheatreWorks’ productions of Little Shop of Horrors, The Language Archive, and The Santaland Diaries. A Filipino-American director and playwright, his additional directing credits include Vietgone and The Great Leap at Capital Stage, The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin and Hold These Truths at San Francisco Playhouse, and Between Riverside and Crazy at San Jose Stage Company. He is the first recipient of TheatreWorks’ Susan Fairbrook Playwright Fund for emerging playwrights, the Leigh Weimers Emerging Artist Award, the Arts Council Silicon Valley Emerging Artist Laureate, and Theatre Bay Area Director’s TITAN Award. In addition to his work on stage, Mr. Lo does work nationally promoting equity, diversity, inclusion, and access in the arts. He is a graduate of the Multicultural Arts Leadership Institute and a proud alumnus of the UC Irvine Drama Department. JeffreyWritesAPlay.com

 

 

TAYLOR MCQUESTEN*, Stage Manager

TAYLOR MCQUESTEN (Stage Manager, she/her) works internationally as a stage and tour manager, electrician, and stuntwoman. Select credits include ten seasons at Tony Award-winning TheatreWorks Silicon Valley (Resident Stage Manager), Production Stage Manager for Lizard Boy, Tour Manager for Evan Rachel Wood and Zane Carney’s band EVAN+ZANE, SF Sketchfest (Assistant Technical Director), California Shakespeare Theater (Production Electrician), Presidio Theatre (Interim Company Manager), Legion A/V (Head of Lighting), Playfaire Productions (Swordswoman), The Independent SF (Lighting Designer), Highlander Films (Production Assistant), American Conservatory Theater, Center REP, Cabrillo Stage, Hillbarn Theatre, and Magic Theatre. She also trains historic mêlée weapons at Davenriche European Martial Arts School under master swordsman, Sir Steáphen Fick.

EMILY ANDERSON WOLF*, Assistant Stage Manager

EMILY ANDERSON WOLF (Assistant Stage Manager, she/her) has been the Assistant Stage Manager for TheatreWorks’ Little Shop of Horrors, Archduke, Frost/Nixon, Fun Home, Crimes of the Heart, Jane Austen’s Emma, Triangle, Fire on the Mountain, Peter and the Starcatcher, Sweeney Todd, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Little Women, and Other Desert Cities. She was also the Assistant Stage Manager for threesixty Entertainment’s First National Tour of Peter Pan; Journey to the West at the New York Musical Theatre Festival, and with American Musical Theatre of San Jose. Ms. Wolf also works as a stagehand throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and is a proud member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. She holds a BA in Theatre, Cum Laude from Mount Holyoke College. 

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

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Tue–Sun : 12pm–6pm