Smart and moving.
— Chicago Sun Times
IN EVERY GENERATION
January 18–February 12, 2023
By ALI VITERBI
Directed by MICHAEL BARAKIVA
“Why is this night different from all other nights?”
It’s Passover, and the multi-generational, multi-cultural Levi-Katz family finds they all have different answers as they struggle with questions of race and religion that have yet to be resolved. Is trauma generational, or genetic? What does it mean to be free? Is vegan brisket even kosher? A celebration of Jewish tradition, this exciting new play follows one family through four millennia of Passover dinners, going from the personal to the eternal, musing on how and if humanity will ever evolve.
At TheatreWorks we offer a variety of accessible programming with each production.
Cast
MICHAEL CHAMPLIN
MICHAEL CHAMPLIN (Davide Levi) has performed once previously with TheatreWorks as an Understudy in Pitmen Painters (George/Lyon). Mr. Champlin received a 2022 SFBATCC award for Principal Performance - Drama (300+ seats) for his performance in A Doll’s House, Pt. 2 (Torvald) at Palo Alto Players. He recently appeared at Los Altos Stage Company in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Roger) and Thom Pain (based on nothing) (Thom). He has performed throughout the Bay Area for the past 15 years as both an actor and director at multiple theater companies. He is currently the Education Director at Los Altos Stage Company.
CINDY GOLDFIELD
CINDY GOLDFIELD (Valeria Levi) was last seen at TheatreWorks in Another Midsummer Night, where she wore a drum machine as a skirt. Regional credits include work at American Conservatory Theater (including 17 seasons of A Christmas Carol and most recently, Fefu and Her Friends), CenterREP, San Jose Rep, Broadway by the Bay, Marin Theatre Company, and 42nd Street Moon. New York credits: D’Arcy Drollinger’s Project: Lohan, and Mr. Irresistible, at La MaMa E.T.C. Goldfield also works extensively in cabaret, collaborating with Scrumbly Koldewyn (Goldfield & Koldewyn) and David Aaron Brown (One Night Stand.) In addition to her performing credits and awards, Goldfield has two Theatre Bay Area awards for Best Direction (Trog! and Once) and next, is directing tick, tick...Boom! for the New Conservatory Theater Center.
OLIVIA NICOLE HOFFMAN
OLIVIA NICOLE HOFFMAN (Yael) is thrilled to be making her TheatreWorks debut. Regional credits: The Wolves (#7) at TheaterWorks Hartford receiving a Connecticut Critics Circle Award for Best Ensemble and Third (Emily), Oklahoma! (u/s Ado Annie/ Aunt Eller/ Ensemble) at Goodspeed Opera House, Romeo and Juliet (u/s Lady Capulet/ Ensemble) at Hartford Stage, Angels in America (the Angel) at Playhouse on Park, and Two Gentlemen of Verona (u/s Julia/ Ensemble) at Commonwealth Shakespeare Co. Film/TV: Two Tickets To Paradise (Hallmark), Magnum P.I. (CBS) and The Cobblestone Corridor (PBS/CPTV). Upcoming film: Suspension. Olivia earned her BFA from Emerson College and her MA from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Love to her family and Diego. Thanks to JLC Entertainment Group.tiktok: @itsmeoliviahoffman
SARAH LO
SARAH LO (Devorah (Dev) Levi-Katz) is elated to return to the Bay Area where she grew up, and to make her TheatreWorks debut! Regional credits include Today is My Birthday (Yale Repertory Theatre). Chicago credits include Murder on the Orient Express (Mary Debenham) and South Pacific (Liat) at Drury Lane Oakbrook, In Every Generation (Devorah) and Cambodian Rock Band (u/s Neary/Sothea) at Victory Gardens Theatre, Deck the Hallmark (Courtney, 2021) at The Second City, Mlima’s Tale (Ensemble) at Griffin Theatre, and M. Butterfly (Kurogo dancer) at Court Theatre. TV/Film credits include The Chair (Netflix), Candyman (Monkeypaw/ Universal), Chicago Med (NBC), Utopia (Amazon), Christmas Again (Disney Channel), and Station Eleven (HBOMax). Sarah is a proud graduate of the School at Steppenwolf and the University of Chicago. She is represented by Gray Talent Group. Enjoy the show!
LUISA SERMOL
LUISA SERMOL (Paola Levi) is delighted to return to TheatreWorks after It’s a Wonderful Life (Lana Sherwood), They Promised Her the Moon (Helena, et al), and Archduke (Sladjana). New York credits include Broadway: Roundabout Theatre Co. (Hamlet), Lincoln Center (Tennessee and His Women), Classic Stage Co. (Macbeth). Regional work includes Portland Center Stage (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Williamstown Theatre Festival (Romeo and Juliet, A Little Night Music, The Maids), Artists Repertory Theatre (The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart, The Humans, Cuba Libre, The Goat, Sideman, Three Sisters, Master Class, The Night of the Iguana). Other Bay Area credits: City Lights (The Siegel), Hillbarn Theatre (Noises Off, It’s Only a Play). Film/TV include: Grimm, Leverage, Zero Effect, Insect Poetry. A graduate of The Juilliard School, she holds an MAT, is a teaching artist, and is a founding member of the Actors’ Reading Collective (ARC).
CREATIVE TEAM
ALI VITERBI, Playwright
ALI VITERBI (Playwright) is a playwright, television writer, and educator from San Diego. In Every Generation was a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere production, premiering at Victory Gardens Theater in 2022. Ali’s work has been developed and/or commissioned by Geffen Playhouse, The Kennedy Center/ NNPN, La Jolla Playhouse, Round House Theatre, San Diego REP, HERE Arts Center, The Barrow Group, and North Coast Repertory Theatre, among others. Ali won the 2019 National Jewish Playwriting Contest and has developed projects in TV. She was a member of the Geffen Playhouse Writers’ Room, and she was the associate artistic director of the annual San Diego Jewish Arts Festival. Ali received her B.A. from Yale University and her M.F.A. in Playwriting from UC San Diego.
MICHAEL BARAKIVA, Director
MICHAEL BARAKIVA (Director) is an Armenian/Israeli-American director, writer, and producer who splits his time between Hell’s Kitchen, NYC and Mexico. He is the Founder and Creative Director of Novel Readings (www.novelreadings.com), a company that uses the performance of text to produce social justice events and develop writers’ work, and served as the Artistic Director of the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, NY (2015-2020). Michael has directed new and classical works all over the country and world. His novels, One Many Guy and Hold My Hand, have received numerous LGBTQ+ and YA awards. His third book, These Precious Stones, will be published in May 2024. He is a graduate of Vassar College and the Juilliard School, where he studied as an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in Directing. For Haim Bar-Akiva, 1930-2022. michaelbarakiva.com
NINA BALL, Scenic Design
NINA BALL (Scenic Design) recently designed TheatreWorks’ production of Nan and the Lower Body. She is an award-winning scenic designer whose work has been seen at American Conservatory Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, California Shakespeare Theater, Shotgun Players, San Francisco Playhouse, Marin Theatre Co., Aurora Theatre Co., among many others. Ball is also a production designer and has worked on numerous film, TV, and commercial productions. She is the Scenic Design Core Lecturer at Stanford University, a long time company member at Shotgun Players, and a member of United Scenic Artist Union 829.
BEATRICE BASSO, Italian Consultant
BEATRICE BASSO (Italian Consultant, she/her) is an interdisciplinary theater artist from Italy, moving between performing, writing, and curating. Recently, Basso performed at Cygnet Theatre, made a piece for The Front Gallery, workshopped The Aurelia Diaries with Novel Readings and consulted for the Oscar-nominated Pixar film Luca. Her translations have been produced by American Conservatory Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Santa Cruz Shakespeare. Basso was A.C.T.’s Director of New Work and instigated Práctica, a platform for artists across the Tijuana-San Diego border. She is the Creative Director of San Diego’s Italian Cultural Center, lectures in the Department of Theatre & Dance at UCSD, and holds degrees from the University of Padova and the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance.
SUZANNE CHESNEY, Costume Design
SUZANNE CHESNEY (Costume Design) is a Brooklyn based costume designer with two decades of experience in theatre and television. Suzanne’s artistic home is at the Ensemble Studio Theatre, where she has designed numerous world premieres including Photograph 51 by Anna Zeigler, Isaac’s Eye by Lucas Hnath, and most recently Travisville by William Jackson Harper directed by Steve Broadnax. Regional credits include Next to Normal, To Kill A Mockingbird, Blithe Spirit, and Turn of the Screw at Syracuse Stage; Clybourne Park, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Humans, The Glass Menagerie, Between Riverside and Crazy at Pittsburgh Public Theatre; Third, Degage, Chicago and A Christmas Carol at The Hangar Theatre. www.SuzanneChesney.com (www.novelreadings.com), a company that uses the performance of text to produce social justice events and develop writers’ work, and served as the Artistic Director of the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, NY (2015-2020). Michael has directed new and classical works all over the country and world. His novels, One Many Guy and Hold My Hand, have received numerous LGBTQ+ and YA awards. His third book, These Precious Stones, will be published in May 2024. He is a graduate of Vassar College and the Juilliard School, where he studied as an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in Directing. For Haim Bar-Akiva, 1930-2022. michaelbarakiva.com
DEREK A. GRAHAM, Composer
DEREK A. GRAHAM (Composer) is excited to work with TheatreWorks for the very first time! Recent composer credits: Toni Stone (Milwaukee Repertory Theatre/Alliance Theatre); Protocol (Portland Center Stage); The Chinese Lady (Artists Repertory Theatre). Works in sound design: Detroit ’67 (Baldwin Wallace University Theatre); I Shall Not Be Moved/Your Negro Tour Guide (Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati); Kill Move Paradise (Dobama Theatre). BA: Music at Elizabeth City State University. MFA: Sound Design at Ohio University. Co-founder of Life By Design Media & Production with spouse and life-partner, Jessica.
NICOLE HELFER, Movement Consultant
NICOLE HELFER (Movement Consultant) is an award-winning choreographer, director, and performing artist who has worked with many well-known bay area theatre companies such as San Francisco Playhouse, 42nd Street Moon, Broadway By the Bay, Center REP, Contra Costa Musical Theatre, Ray of Light, Mountain Play, Lamplighters Music Theatre, and Pacific Coast Repertory Theatre. Most notable choreography work includes Indecent, Follies, Cabaret (SFBATCC Award), Twelfth Night (SFBATCC Award), She Loves Me (SFBATCC Award), West Side Story (TBA Award), and In the Heights (TBA Award). Nicole holds a BA from San Francisco State University along with a teaching credential and currently teaches at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts.
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 Sense and Sensibility, Ragtime, and Nan and the Lower Body.
RASEAN DAVONTÉ JOHNSON, Projection Design
RASEAN DAVONTÉ JOHNSON (Projection Design) is delighted to work with TheatreWorks. A Chicago-based video artist and theatrical designer, he has had the opportunity to work regionally with institutions such as The NY Philharmonic, The Public Theatre, Studio Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, The Olney Theatre Center, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Seattle Rep, Portland Playhouse, Portland Opera,Yale Opera, Toledo Opera, The Opera Theatre of Yale College, Folks Operetta, Manual Cinema, and internationally with the The Edinburgh Fridge Festival (Scotland), Ningbo Song and Dance Theatre (China) and B-Floor Theatre (Thailand). Additionally his video and installation work has been seen at the Bay Street Theatre, Yale Art Gallery, and the Logan Center for the Arts. MFA in stage design, Yale University School of Drama. raseandavontejohnson.com
KURT LANDISMAN, Lighting Design
KURT LANDISMAN (Lighting Design) is pleased to return to TheatreWorks to light this production of In Every Generation. Previously he designed Lighting for The Joy Luck Club, Once on This Island, and The Heidi Chronicles, which received the BATCC Award for Best Lighting Design. His designs have been seen throughout the Bay Area, represented at American Conservatory Theater, San Jose Rep, San Francisco Opera, Berkeley Rep, Marin Theatre Co., Center Rep, Magic Theatre, and many others. His work has been seen in New York with the World Premiere of Sam Shepard’s Fool For Love. He has designed for productions throughout the US, as well as productions in Tokyo, Singapore, and Shanghai. His designs have received 22 Bay Area Critics Circle Awards. Kurt is delighted to be collaborating again with Director Michael Barakiva.
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 recipient of 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
RANDALL K. LUM, Stage Manager
RANDALL K. LUM (Stage Manager) was recently the associate director of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Stanford University and production stage manager on for Old Vic’s production of A Christmas Carol. Selected TheatreWorks credits include Nan and the Lower Body, Sense and Sensibility, They Promised Her The Moon, Pride and Prejudice, The 39 Steps, Archduke, Fun Home, Hold These Truths, Finks, Skeleton Crew, Around the World in 80 Days, The Prince of Egypt, Constellations, Rags, Outside Mullingar, Confederates, The Velocity of Autumn, Jane Austen’s Emma, The Country House, Fallen Angels, The Lake Effect, Peter and the Starcatcher, Time Stands Still, Other Desert Cities, and Once on This Island. Other companies: Oregon and San Francisco Shakespeare Festivals, Denver Center Theatre Company, La Jolla Playhouse, Center Theatre Group, The Old Globe, American Conservatory Theater, California Shakespeare Theatre, Berkeley and Seattle Repertory Theatres, Laguna and Pasadena Playhouses, and South Coast Repertory.
JUDITH NIHEI, Artist Counselor
JUDITH NIHEI (Artist Counselor) is a San Francisco-based licensed psychotherapist in private practice. She has been a theatre director, dramaturg, writer, actor, and administrator. A founding member of Seattle’s Northwest Asian American Theatre, she returned home to work with San Francisco’s Asian American Theatre Company and began a long career in improv with The Committee. 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. She continues her improv career as one of The Bad Aunties.
SHARATH PATEL, Sound Design
SHARATH PATEL (Sound Design) is an Oregon based designer who works internationally focusing on experimental, commercial, academic, political and socially conscious theatre. Recent designs: A.C.T., The Alley Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, Portland Center Stage, Alliance Theatre, Milwaukee Rep, Indiana Rep, Artists Rep, Asolo Rep, American Rep, Seattle Rep, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Cal Shakes, Alabama Shakes, Seattle Children’s Theatre. Additional work in New York City, San Francisco, L.A., D.C., Boston, Norfolk, Raleigh, Aspen, India, France, England, Germany, Romania, Vietnam. Affiliations: USA829 IATSE, Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association, Arts Envoy for the U.S. Department of State, National Respondent for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, Resident Artists at Artists Rep. BFA: Ohio University. MFA: Yale School of Drama. sharathpatel.com
PENNY PENDLETON, Assistant Stage Manager
PENNY PENDLETON (Assistant Stage Manager) is grateful for this wonderful production and everyone involved! Penny trained in Stage Management at the Pacific Conservatory of Performing Arts. Recent Stage Management credits include Panto in the Presidio: Sleeping Beauty (Presidio Theatre), Oklahoma! - North American Tour, Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Astronomy Bizarre (Orpheum Theatre), Nigella Lawson’s Cook, Eat, Repeat (Sydney Goldstein Theatre), Sense and Sensibility (TheatreWorks), A Christmas Carol (Golden Gate Theatre). XOXO, P²
RONEET ALIZA RAHAMIN, Assistant Director / Judaic Consultant
RONEET ALIZA RAHAMIN (Assistant Director / Judaic Consultant) is a theatre artist native to the Bay Area. Some directing credits include: The Thanksgiving Play - City Lights Theater Company, Twelfth Night - Palo Alto Players, Fully Committed - Los Altos Stage Company, and Macbeth - Dragon Productions Theatre Company, which she also produced. Consulting credits include Oslo - Los Altos Stage Company and multiple productions of The Diary of Anne Frank. Ms. Rahamim was a TBA Award recipient in 2017 for her performance as Anne Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank with Palo Alto Players. She is a resident artist with Golden Thread Productions. Roneet.com
HEATHER STERLING, Hair and Wig Design
HEATHER STERLING (Hair and Wig Design) has been designing wigs and makeup for theatrical productions for the past 20 years. Recent designs include Nan and the Lower Body for TheatreWorks; La Scala di Seta. Tosca, and La Traviata for Opera Santa Barbara; Une Education Manquee/Le Docteur Miracle, The Enchanted Pig, and La Clemenza di Tito for San Francisco Conservatory of Music; Madame Butterfly for The Atlanta Opera; and The Marriage of Figaro for Opera San José. Upcoming productions are The Consul and L’enfant et les sortileges for SFCM, An American Dream, and Die Walkure “The Valkyrie” for OSB. She is also a theatrical makeup educator at SFCM and assistant director at Studio 10 Dance in San Jose.
EMILY ANDERSON WOLF, Assistant Stage Manager
EMILY ANDERSON WOLF (Assistant Stage Manager) 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.