This production is supported, in part, by
donations to The Producers Group, The
Friends of Theatre, and the Bunch Family
Guest Artist Fund. The Department of
Theatre gratefully acknowledges these gifts,
which assist theatre students in their
professional training.
BURIED CHILD
Killer Joe
By Tracy Letts | Robert Quinlan, director
University of Illinois | Department of Theatre
Thursday-Saturday, February 11-13, 2010, at 7:30pm
Wednesday-Saturday, February 17-20, 2010, at 7:30pm
Sunday, February 21, 2010, at 3pm
Studio Theatre
Director’s Note
“A man’s moral conscience is the curse he had to
accept from the gods in order to gain from them
the right to dream.”
—William Faulkner
Tracy Letts credits William Faulkner as one of his
chief inspirations. Indeed, for Killer Joe, he borrows
plot points and character names from Faulkner’s
complex portrait of a Yoknapatawpha County family
in As I Lay Dying. Both authors concern themselves
with the way that poverty can impact an individual’s
moral conscience and “right to dream.”
The members of Killer Joe’s Smith family live in our
real world of the American poor. They consume
a steady diet of fast food, game shows, and
infomercials. Their moral compass has not been
defined by organized religion or university study
but by the gods of television. The Smith family is
not cursed with fearing the consequences of its
actions and behaves accordingly.
Killer Joe
The events that flow from the play’s central crime
are as shocking to Chris as they are to the rest of his
family and those of us who watch from the audience.
The violent consequences are jarringly different from
the ones seen on the television shows inundating
the Smith trailer. In Killer Joe, Letts refuses to
sanitize our most brutal moments.
He makes us stare squarely in the face of what can
happen when we stop looking after our own—both
as a family and as a culture.
—Robert Quinlan
Playwright
Tracy Letts
Director
Robert Quinlan
Fight Director
Robin McFarquhar
Scenic Designer
Ian James Anthony
Costume Designer
Annaliese Weber
Lighting Designer
Darren W. McCroom
Sound DesignerElizabeth Parthum
Technical DirectorEmily Brainerd
Properties Master
Adriane Binky Donley
Scenic ChargeChristina Rainwater
Hair/Makeup Master
René Chadwick
DramaturgsCaroline Bunch
Michelle Salerno
Vocal & Dialect Coach
Robert Ramirez
Stage ManagerCody Chen
Chris Smith unwittingly forfeits his right to dream
when he enters into a bizarre plot to pay off his
gambling debts by hiring a hit man to murder
his mother. For the first time, the Smith family
encounters a moral enforcer—in the person of
killer-for-hire Joe Cooper. In Joe’s moral universe,
every injustice meets a swift, exacting penalty; the
punishment for a crime must be as brutal as the
crime itself.
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SCENE BREAKDOWN
CAST
Time: The very recent past
Chris Smith
Mike DiGirolamo
Sharla Smith
Monica Lopez
Ansel Smith
Nile Hawver
Dottie Smith
Anastasia Pappageorge
Killer Joe Cooper
Samuel Ashdown
Place: A trailer home on the outskirts of Dallas, Texas
Act I
Scene 1: Spring
Scene 2: Two days later
Scene 3: Two days later
20-minute intermission
Act II
Scene 1: A week later
Scene 2: The next day
Scene 3: Two days later
Scene 4: That evening
Produced by special arrangement with Samuel French Inc.
Special thanks go to Carpet One.
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Dramaturgs’ Note
PROFILES
In 2008, Tracy Letts was awarded the Pulitzer Prize
for Drama for his particular ability to represent
American life through the Westons in August Osage
County, an epic ensemble work that examines the
dysfunctional dynamics in family relationships. As
a playwright and actor, Letts is highly influenced
in his work by his productive association with the
Steppenwolf Theatre Company, of which he has
been a member since 2002.
modern life, one which focuses on the problem of
violence, the questioning of masculinity, the myth
of post-feminism and the futility of consumerism.”
The enduring influence of Letts’ play is a testament
to his skillful rendering of dark comedy and realism
tempering the overwhelming prevalence of shocking
violence. Into the 21st century, he has continued to
perfect his interpretations of the modern American
family.
Letts’ connection to Steppenwolf has endured for
over 20 years, and he recently concluded his 18th
production with the company, acting in the modern
classic American Buffalo. Even from his first play,
Killer Joe, Letts’ work has reflected Steppenwolf’s
commitment to ensemble performance,
collaboration, mutual respect, and the development
of artists through ongoing group work. With this
play, Letts became an important new voice in
American theatre through his adept use of violence
and humor. He is now regarded as one of the most
popular and acclaimed modern playwrights largely
because he has consistently entertained while still
challenging our idealization of the American family.
This year the Department of Theatre chose to
explore classic American works. Killer Joe, as the
most recently written play in the season, represents
a fresh take on the failures and foundational cracks
in American families so frequently explored by
great playwrights such as Eugene O’Neill, Arthur
Miller, and Sam Shepard. With Killer Joe, Letts
presents his own generation as media saturated,
disconnected, and morally bankrupt. His writing
recognizes our society’s dependence on television
as a substitution for genuine human connections
and echoes popular sitcoms in their language and
structure. With the advent of the Internet and global
communications, Killer Joe seems like a harbinger
of our society’s further fracturing as we navigate
the digitizing of human relationships. By depicting
a world predominately devoid of compassion, Tracy
Letts reminds us of the struggle against our most
base inclinations.
Killer Joe was an overwhelming success—from
its first Chicago production in 1993 to those at
the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, in London, and
in New York—and it quickly became a sensation
with its frank depiction of violence, nudity, and
poverty-induced desperation. The play synthesized
traditional American family drama with the British
In-Yer-Face theatre movement. Aleks Sierz describes
this kind of theatre as a “consistent critique of
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—Caroline Bunch and Michelle Salerno
Samuel Ashdown (Killer Joe
Cooper) is a first-year graduate
student in the acting program
at the U of I. Last semester, he
appeared as Reverend John
Hale in The Crucible. He recently
graduated from Southern
Oregon University with a BFA
in acting. At SOU, he appeared
in plays such as Ring ‘round the
Moon (Hugo/Frederic), The Jungle Book (Mowgli),
Ghosts (Oswald), Love’s Labour’s Lost (Boyet), Anna
in the Tropics (Cheche), The Philadelphia Story (C. K.
Dexter Haven), Phantom Tollbooth (Mathemagician),
and Hunting Cockroaches (Czesio).
Mike DiGirolamo (Chris Smith)
is a first-year MFA acting
candidate in the Department of
Theatre at the U of I. Killer Joe
marks his second appearance
in the Studio Theatre, and his
first one was in The Crucible.
Mike received a Bachelor of
Arts degree in theatre from
Arizona State University, where
he worked under the direction of the ensemble
members of SITI Company during their residency.
Mike is a member of the Voice and Speech Trainers
Association.
Nile Hawver (Ansel Smith) is a
first-year MFA candidate at the
U of I. He recieved his BFA at the
University of Rhode Island, where
he appeared in many plays,
most recently Oklahoma! (Curly),
The Foreigner (David), Little
Women: The Musical (Laurie),
and The Merchant of Venice
(Lorenzo). He has been seen at
the U of I as Ezekiel Cheever in The Crucible and as
Skszp in Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the Armory
Free Theatre. Nile has also performed at various
other venues, including the Granite Theatre in
Westerly, Rhode Island, where he played Matt in The
Fantasticks. When he is not acting, Nile loves singing
and playing the guitar in whatever band he can find,
building and fixing computers, and breakfast.
Monica Lopez (Sharla Smith) is a
first-year MFA acting candidate
who made her stage debut here
last fall as Elizabeth Proctor in
The Crucible. Her other credits
include performances with the
Goodman Theatre, the Writers’
Theatre, and the Silk Road
Theatre Project. In addition
to theatre work, she has also
appeared in various commercials and lent her voice
to radio spots and video games.
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Anastasia Pappageorge (Dottie
Smith) is working toward her BFA
in acting at the U of I. Her past
performances at Krannert Center
include Laurie Carlos’ Map Light,
How to Succeed in Business
Without Really Trying, and HipHop Project: Insight into the
Hip-Hop Generation by Steve
Broadnax.
Ian James Anthony (Scenic Designer) is premiering
his scenic design work at Krannert Center. His
previous credits include properties master for The
Crucible and Three Sisters in the Studio Theatre
as well as for A New Brain and The Rocky Horror
Picture Show at the Armory Free Theatre. He was
also the assistant scenic charge for Hip-Hop Project:
Insight into the Hip-Hop Generation.
Emily Brainerd (Technical Director) is in her first
year of pursuing an MFA in scenic technology at the
U of I. Prior to this, she spent four years working
as the technical director at Iowa State University in
Ames. She has also worked as the shop supervisor
at the American Players Theatre in Spring Green,
Wisconsin. Her previous credits at the U of I include
The Marriage of Figaro and Moonchildren.
Caroline Bunch (Dramaturg) is a second-year
PhD student in the theatre history program. She
received her master’s degree in theatre from Texas
A&M University-Commerce, where she worked on
multiple productions in various capacities. Caroline
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has previously served as a dramaturg, but this is her
first production at Krannert Center.
René Chadwick (Hair/Makeup Master) joined the
UI Department of Theatre faculty in the fall of 2004
to teach costume and makeup courses. At the
same time, she joined the staff of Krannert Center
as the director of the Wig and Makeup Studio.
René received a BS from the University of Utah in
organizational communication. While there, she
completed an internship in makeup and wigs with
the Utah Opera Company. She received an MFA in
costume design from the U of I. René has designed
professionally for the Nashville Ballet Company,
Nashville and Illinois Shakespeare Festivals,
Celebration Theatre Company, American Negro
Playwright Theatre, Epiphany Dance Company,
Hope Summer Repertory Theatre, and UI-based
Summer Studio Theatre Company. René’s academic
design credits include works for the U of I, the
University of Utah, Tennessee State University,
Belmont University, Tennessee’s Governor’s School
for the Arts, and Middle Tennessee State University.
Cody Chen (Stage Manager) is a second-year
student in the MFA stage management program at
the U of I. A Chinese native, Cody is enthusiastic
about multicultural theatre and desires to be an
international stage manager. His other credits
include stage manager for Amateurs (The Theatre
Lab, New York), Gum (Armory Free Theatre),
Tuesdays with Morrie (Summer Studio Theatre),
and Shango V: Transcendence (Xiamen University)
and assistant stage manager for November Dance:
SFX, Hip-Hop Project: Insight into the Hip-Hop
Generation, Three Sisters (all at the U of I), Diaspora
(Theatreworks, Singapore), and The Harlem
Renaissance Revue (Xiamen University).
Lincoln Center, La MaMa, Soho Rep., and the Joyce.
Darren W. McCroom is the lighting designer for the
upcoming world premiere of Thong of Blood at the
Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2010.
Adriane Binky Donley (Properties Master) is the
properties director at Krannert Center as well as an
assistant professor in the Department of Theatre
teaching properties crafts and management.
Originally from Florida, Binky was most recently an
assistant professor at Ithaca College heading the
areas of props and scenic art. She has also worked
as a prop master at the Actors Theatre of Louisville’s
Humana Festival and at the University of Virginia. As
a prop artisan, she has had the privilege to work at
the Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Alley Theatre,
the Hanger Theatre, Seaside Musical Theatre, and
Virginia Shakespeare, among other venues. She has
a BA from the University of South Florida and an
MFA from North Carolina School of the Arts. This is
her second year as a member of the Krannert Center
family.
Robin McFarquhar (Fight Director) is a professor
in the Department of Theatre and an accredited
fight director with the Society of American Fight
Directors. His credits on Broadway include Julius
Caesar with Denzel Washington and One Flew
Over the Cuckoo’s Nest with Gary Sinise (2001 Tony
Award for Best Revival). His regional credits include
the premieres of Lost Land and The Libertine (both
with John Malkovich); The Ballad of Little Jo, Time
to Burn, and The Berlin Circle for the Steppenwolf
Theatre Company; Hamlet, Troilus and Cressida,
Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Richard II, Pacific
Overtures (Chicago and London, 2004 Olivier Award
for Best Musical Production), and Henry IV, Part I
and Part II (Chicago and the Royal Shakespeare
Company) all for the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre;
the premieres of In the Penal Colony and Fair Ladies
at a Game of Poem Cards for the Court Theatre;
the premieres of Griller and All the Rage for the
Goodman Theatre; and the premiere of Among the
Thugs for the Next Theatre. His work has also been
seen at regional theatres throughout the country;
the Idaho, Illinois, Utah, and Virginia Shakespeare
Festivals; internationally on tours to England, Japan,
Cyprus, and Hungary; and the current national
tour of The Color Purple. He is the recipient of the
University Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
Award and the College of Fine and Applied Arts
Faculty Award for Research and was named a
Darren W. McCroom (Lighting Designer) has been
a professional lighting designer for 27 years. His
work has been seen throughout the United States,
Europe, and Asia. Some of his regional theatre
creadits include the Oregon Shakespeare Festival,
Utah Shakespeare Festival, Great Rivers Shakespeare
Festival, Crossroads Theatre, Indiana Repertory
Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Cleveland
Playhouse, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and Ford
Theatre in Washington, DC. Some of his New
York credits include the Juilliard School of Drama,
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University Scholar in 2003. He has received two
Jeff Award nominations (Chicago) for Excellence in
Choreography and a Helen Hayes Award nomination
(Washington, DC) for Outstanding Choreography.
Elizabeth Parthum (Sound Designer) is a first-year
MFA sound design student at the U of I. Originally
from Chesterfield, Virginia, she completed her
undergraduate degree at DeSales University in
Allentown, Pennsylvania. Killer Joe is her first
design production at the U of I. She assisted on
sound design for The Crucible and will be working
as an assistant sound designer on the upcoming
production of A History of the American Film.
Robert Quinlan (Director) most recently worked as
assistant director to Tina Landau on Steppenwolf
Theatre Company’s production of The Tempest
and the Broadway production of Superior Donuts
by Tracy Letts. For several years, he was the
associate artistic director (and an original company
member) of the Milwaukee Shakespeare Company.
His directing credits include plays by Thornton
Wilder, William Shakespeare, Federico García
Lorca, Martin McDonagh, William Inge, Irwin
Shaw, and José Rivera. He has taught theatre at
Willamette University, Seattle University, Seattle
Pacific University, and Illinois State University. Robert
collaborates frequently with the Looking for Lilith
Theatre, for whom he directed the original play Class
of Seventy in Louisville and New York City. He holds
an MFA in directing from Illinois State University and
a BFA in acting from the U of I (class of ’97).
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Christina Rainwater (Scenic Charge) received a BFA
in theatre from Missouri State University and an
MFA in scenic art from the North Carolina School
of the Arts. There, she developed the workshop “A
Distressing Subject” on distressing techniques for
new surfaces. She was the scenic charge artist at the
Flat Rock Playhouse in Flat Rock, North Carolina,
for two years and has worked as a scenic artist for
the past nine years. She has an ongoing working
relationship at Goodspeed Musicals, where she
had the pleasure of working on Half a Sixpence,
Camelot, and Happy Days the musical. She has
also worked for Feld Entertainment in Palmetto,
Florida, and participated in the production of Disney
Princesses on Ice and the Disney Playhouse Tour II.
Robert Ramirez (Vocal & Dialect Coach) has
performed with the New York, Utah, Illinois,
Alabama, Baltimore, and Wisconsin Shakespeare
Festivals as well as numerous theatres in the New
York City area. He has been an award-winning voice
artist and a narrator of audio books for the past 13
years and is a long-time member of the Recorded
Books Repertory Company. He appeared last year
at Krannert Center in Hamlet, directed by Kathleen
F. Conlin, and Three Sisters, directed by Brant Pope.
Previous dialect and vocal coaching projects at the U
of I include Measure for Measure, Necessary Targets,
In the Continuum, and, most recently, The Crucible.
Prior to his move to Illinois, he served on the voice
and speech faculty at Marymount Manhattan
College and the American Musical and Dramatic
Academy in New York City. Robert received his
MFA from the PTTP at the University of Delaware,
is currently on the Department of Theatre faculty at
the U of I, and is a member of the Voice and Speech
Trainers Association.
Michelle Salerno (Dramaturg) is a second-year
master’s degree student in theatre history and
is working on a graduate minor in gender and
women’s studies. She is an associate producer
for Spring Theatreworks in Brooklyn, New York,
where she directed her adaptation ARDEN: The
Lamentable Tragedie of a DUMBO Real Estate
Mogul and co-produced Poor Jacob’s Hamlet and
IBSEN/FOSSE 2009 at 59E59 Theaters. Her directing
credits include The End at Manhattan Theatre
Source, Mrs. Warren’s Profession at TSI/Playtime’s
Shaw Festival, a new translation of The Bear, and
the new works Seam and Breaking Point/Braking
Point. Michelle assistant directed Wordplay(s):
Gertrude Stein Cubed at the Theo Ubique Company
in Chicago. Her stage management credits include
Little Red: Lost in the Woods, Statements after the
Arrest under the Immorality Act (New York Fringe
Festival), Life without Parole, Please!, and The
Madman of Russia. Michelle served as a frequent
panelist for Elderhostel’s New York programs on the
avant-garde and New York theatre. Last spring, she
was the assistant dramaturg for the Department of
Theatre’s production of Necessary Targets. Michelle
recently directed Gum at the Armory Free Theatre.
designs include Always . . . Patsy Cline, The Golden
Age of Broadway: A Cabaret, and Broadway Today:
A Cabaret at the Post Playhouse Summer Rep in
Crawford, Nebraska. Other costume design credits
include Three Days of Rain at the Armory Free
Theatre and Yonder Mountain and The Longwood
Writers Show, both at Longwood University. She
has also served as an assistant costume designer for
Annie Get Your Gun and Hello, Dolly! at the Post
Playhouse and Hip-Hop Project: Insight into the
Hip-Hop Generation, Three Sisters, and Roméo et
Juliette at the U of I.
Annaliese Weber (Costume Designer) is a
second-year MFA candidate in costume design.
She received her BA in theatre from Longwood
University in Farmville, Virginia. Her most recent
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PROduction staff
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE
ILLINOISTHEATRE
2009-2010
Assistant Director
Calli Leventis
Assistant Stage Manager
Joshua Kaiser
Tech Assistant Stage Manager
Austin Lin
Assistant Costume Designer
Emily Harris
Assistant Lighting Designer
JP Ankrom
Assistant Scenic Charge
Zachary Serafin
Assistant Properties Master
Hee Kyong Kim
Properties Artisan
Niccole Powers
Master Electrician
Sean Wilson
Deck Crew
Kalyn Rivers
Lucy Chmielewski
Erin McPartlin
Christopher Davis
Stephanie Galvin
THE CRUCIBLE
By Arthur Miller; Robert G. Anderson, director
Oct 29-31; Nov 4-7; Nov 8 // Studio Theatre
Wardrobe Running Crew
Joseph Boersma
Katie Bellantone
Hair & Makeup Running Crew
Kalyn Rivers
KILLER JOE
By Tracy Letts; Robert Quinlan, guest director
Feb 11-13; Feb 17-20; Feb 21 // Studio Theatre
Audio Crew
So Young Kim
Lighting Running Crew
Mark West
Weapons Master
Hee Kyong Kim
BURIED CHILD
By Sam Shepard; Lisa Gaye Dixon, director
Oct 8-10; Oct 14-17; Oct 18 // Studio Theatre
HIP-HOP PROJECT:
INSIGHT INTO THE HIP-HOP GENERATION
By Steve Broadnax; Aaron Todd Douglas, guest director
Oct 15-17; Oct 22-24; Oct 25 // Colwell Playhouse
Department of Theatre
217/333-2371
KrannertCenter.com
217/333-6280
800/KCPATIX
217/333-9714 (TTY only)
500 S. Goodwin Ave.
Urbana, IL 61801
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A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN FILM
By Christopher Durang; Music by Mel Marvin; Tom Mitchell, director
Mar 4-6; Mar 11-13; Mar 14 // Colwell Playhouse
HE AND SHE
By Rachel Crothers; Deb Alley, guest director
Apr 1-3; Apr 7-10; Apr 11 // Studio Theatre
On Wednesdays and Thursdays,
get 2 tickets for the price of 1 for all shows!
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