about the show.
David Rabe's The Orphan, is a comical but deeply disturbing modern retelling of Aeschylus’ Oresteia with overlays of metaphysics, the Manson Family and the inner workings of the brain. The story follows Agamemnon’s royal family through the devastation of the Trojan War and the repercussions of his murder. The Orphan deals with obsession, violence, and family. We are excited to introduce a new generation of theatre goers to the play as it has not had a major New York production since its premiere in 1973. David Rabe is the Tony award winning playwright of Hurlyburly and Sticks and Bones, and the screenwriter of films such as The Firm and Casualties of War.
This play presents an opportunity to see a rarely seen work from a significant and perhaps underappreciated artist at a time when one of the major themes of the play, the cost of violence, is a question of utmost importance in our country. We hope the show will provide a forum for thought and discussion on the role of violence in our society. We believe in the life-altering potential of great storytelling. Theatre provides us with a uniquely safe space in which we can to discuss issues that we wouldn’t otherwise confront. We believe in the theatre’s power as a catalyst for social justice and for understanding our world, each other and ourselves. Despite all the serious talk, the show is a funny, sexy, scary thrill ride. There will be music and Greek gods and a few hallucinogenic drugs. Come celebrate the shared experience that only theatre can create.
about the artists.
Aaron Sparks (Director): Aaron’s directing credits include The Jazz Age (plays by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker, and Floyd Dell) for The Dialectix Group, Jean Genet’s Deathwatch (FringeNYC), and Alex Fumero’s Blood Clots (NYC and The Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami). Acting credits include Good Good Trouble on Bad Bad Island and Exodus (FringeNYC) and performances in theater and cabaret venues throughout the city. Regional: Fiddler on the Roof and Oliver! (The MUNY). TV: I Married a Mobster (Discovery ID). Aaron holds a BFA in Drama from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Eric Tucker (Agamemnon): Off Broadway: Title role in Hamlet; Various roles in Saint Joan. Regional: Time Stands Still; Man of La Mancha; Twelfth Night; Closer; Angels in America Parts 1 & 2; Othello; Henry V; Henry IV Parts 1 & 2; Into The Woods; As You Like It; Burn This; True West; A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Macbeth. As Director: Off Broadway: Saint Joan (NY Times, Backstage Magazine critics pick; Best Revival 2012, Wall Street Journal), Hamlet (Time Out NY, Backstage Critics Pick), Tina Packer’s Women of Will: The Overview and Women of Will: The Complete Journey, The Libertine, The Belle of Belfast, 86’d. Off Off Broadway: Closer, The Libertine, 16 East. Regional: Hamlet (with William Hurt, Stella Adler Theatre, Los Angeles); Mate (The Actors’ Gang, L.A.), Macbeth (nominated Best Overall Production and Best Director by LA Weekly); Uranium and Peaches (with Ed Asner, L.A.); Pinter’s Mirror, Bad Dates, Women of Will the Complete Journey (Shakespeare and Co., Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Prague Shakespeare Festival, The Nora Theatre - Boston); Women of Will the Overview (Shakespeare and Co. and Mercury Theatre in Colchester, England); Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet (Trinity Repertory Company); Saint Joan (L.A. Critics Circle top 10); Antony and Cleopatra, Hamlet, Measure for Measure (Redlands Shakespeare Festival); Man of La Mancha, Sanctuary (North American Premiere, Veterans Center for the Performing Arts); Watership Down (World Premiere, Burning Coal); Macbeth, Closer (The Gamm); The Voyage of the Carcass (World Premiere, Brown Playwrights Festival); Angels in America Parts I & II, The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing, Richard III (Beowulf). The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (University of Utah). Eric received his M.F.A. from the Trinity Rep Conservatory and is a proud member of Actors Equity since 1996. He resides in New York City where he is Artistic Director of Bedlam theatre.
Dante Olivia Smith (Lighting/Scenic Design): New York: Stabat Mater Fabulosa (Morningside Opera) Love in Transit (the Shop) Trojan Women (Wide Eyed Productions), Modern Dance for Beginners (Cake Productions), Alternative Methods. Notable productions include: the first production of Tony Kushner’s The Henry Box Brown Play, various Mike Daisey Monologues and Umo Ensemble’s Final Broadcast. She has worked frequently with Robin Lynn Smith’s Engaged Theatre Tour a project which takes theatre into the men’s and women’s prison facilities around the Puget Sound. She holds a MFA in lighting design from NYU/Tisch Department of Design for Stage and Film and a BFA in lighting and scenic design from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, WA. She is an avid baseball fan (Go Mariners!)
Jennifer Lynn Jackson (Composer/Sound Designer): Jennifer received her MFA from Yale School of Drama. Design credits include Romeo and Juliet (Yale Repertory Theatre); and The Wizard of Oz (The Grand Theatre), as well as Assistant Sound Design for Compulsion, Rough Crossing (Yale Repertory Theatre); and Les Misérables (Pioneer Theatre Company). Sound Design and Original Music credits include Uncle Vanya, The Seagull (Yale School of Drama); Comedy of Errors, and Henry IV, Part I (Salt Lake Shakespeare). She is currently working on her second musical. jenjacksonsound.com
Jackie Gordon (Hair/Makeup/Mask Designer): Jackie has been working as a professional makeup artist for nearly 5 years. She studied theatre design at the University of Utah. Design credits include: The Pillowman, Une Saison en Enfer, The Rocky Horror Show and 2 productions of a Midsummer Nights Dream.
Natalie Blackman (Producing Director/The Girl): Natalie is an avid seeker of great conversations, laughter, beauty, truth and really tasty desserts. Theatre: Our Town, Dracula (Pioneer Theatre Company); The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (Circle in the Square);The Crucible (New Ohio); Master Class (Salt Lake Acting Company) The Music Man (Egyptian Theatre Company); A Funny Thing…Forum (The Grand Theatre). Film: 17 Miracles, The Jerk Theory. Natalie graduated summa cum laude from the University of Utah’s Actor Training Program. Natalie has also trained with Circle in the Square, Shakespeare and Company, Tectonic Theatre Project and Tisch School of the Arts.
Heidi Hackney: (Abundance Coordinator/Clytemnestra Two): Heidi is a proud founding member of CIB. A native Westerner, Heidi holds degrees in Psychology and Theatre from the University of Utah. Her theater life has taken her to France, London, and the stages of Pioneer Memorial Theatre, Pygmalion Productions, Salt Lake Acting Company, and Plan B Theatre companies of Utah. In New York Heidi appeared with CoffeeBlack Productions, and was the dramaturge for Pook’s Hill. Heidi will also appear in Binc Theater’s inaugural production of The Stonewater Rapture this spring. Heidi studies with Ken Schatz. www.oneononenyc.com/HeidiHackney
Carianne H Jones (Marketing Director/Iphigenia): Carianne is originally from Salt Lake City, Utah. She graduated Cum Laude from Weber State University with an emphasis in Musical Theatre. After a few years and some wonderful shows and a short film (Aching to Sneeze) in Utah she transitioned to New York in July of 2011. After long stints acting in other great cities and states she made the decision to dedicate some time to working and living IN New York!!! Since then she has taken the helm of Marketing and Acting with Children of An Idle Brain. She is an acting student of Ken Schatz. Favorite roles include Marian in the Music Man (Egyptian Theatre), Pickles in The Great American Trailer Park (Dark Horse Theatre), Anna in Charm (Salt Lake Acting Company), Marie in Is He Dead? (Pioneer Theatre), and Sandy in Grease (Jenny Wiley Theatre). www.cariannehjones.com
Ted Lewis (Aegisthus): Ted is a proud ensemble member of the Bedlam Theatre Company and has recently appeared in its acclaimed productions of “SAINT JOAN” (Charles, DeStogumber) and “HAMLET” (Polonius, Laertes, Horatio). Other roles: Sackville and Harris in “THE LIBERTINE” (Fools Theatre), Mark in “THE PHILADELPHIA,” Kafka in “WORDS, WORDS, WORDS” and Sir David Attenborough in “TIME FLIES” (Bang Theatre Collective), Oronte in “THE MISANTHROPE” and Pozzo in “WAITING FOR GODOT” (Pilot House Theatre). Ted can also be seen in Gregory Abbey’s web series “Marriage & Other Tragedies,” in addition to commercials for Olive Garden and Walmart(unless, of course, you blink. Then you’ll probably miss him. Oh, well...) Ted is very happy to be making his debut with Children of an Idle Brain and wishes everyone the best for their inaugural production!
Flor De Liz Perez (Clytemnestra One): NY: The Orphan (CIB); Jackson Heights Trilogy (Theatre 167); In the Time of the Butterflies (Repertorio Español); writer/performer in Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind (NY Neo-Futurists). Regional: Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England (Two River Theater); Nicholas Nickleby, In the Continuum, All My Sons, Pride and Prejudice, The Little Prince (PlayMakers Repertory). TV: Made in Jersey, NYC 2-2, The Good Wife. Film: The House That Jack Built (Feature). MFA-Acting: UNC Chapel Hill. Volunteer: 52nd Street Project. Proudly AEA/AFTRA/SAG. www.flordelizperez.com.
Andy Rindlisbach (Orestes): Andy is a recent transplant to the Big Apple from Salt Lake City, Utah. There he appeared in ten productions with Pioneer Theater Company, most recently The Philadelphia Story (Jenn Thompson, director). He also worked with Salt Lake Acting Company, Meat & Potato, Plan-B, Hale Centre Theatre, Salt Lake Shakespeare, and Naughty Zanni Productions. In 2009 he performed with Bobby McFerrin at Kingsbury Hall. TV: Disney’s Dadnapped and Minutemen. Film: 17 Miracles, One Good Man, and The Accidents. BFA from the University of Utah’s Actor Training Program. Andy is a proud member of Actors’ Equity.
Stacey Hull (The Speaker): Stacey received a BFA in acting from the University of Utah’s Actor Training Program. Among her credits are Children of Paradise; A play with Mime, Cherie in Bus Stop, the world premiere of Touch(ed) at Pioneer Theatre, The Rocky Horror Show, The Seagull, Time and the Conways, Henry IV Part I, Medea, and Rat Wives. Stacey is also a Samba dancer and Fire dancer who spent two wonderful years dancing and touring with Samba Fogo. Her voice over credits include commercials for Denver Winair, Zion and Lingotek. Stacey is a member of the Mime Guild.
Hannah Stone (Electra/Sally): Hannah Stone is a native of Louisville Ky and has been acting and working in the theater for over 12 years. She has a BFA in Acting from the University of Utah, apprenticed with Berkshire Theater festival and Theater West Virgina, and studied and worked with a variety of company’s and training programs across the northeast, including Shakespeare and Co. and ART’s summer intensive.
John Terry (The Figure): The Department of Labor defines the job of an actor as expressing ideas and portraying characters in theatre, film, television, and other performing arts media. “They interpret a writer’s script to entertain or inform an audience.” John Terry is an actor. He hopes to connect you, the audience, to one another for at least a moment with one common thread. Even if we are all lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, we still have each other. Please enjoy yourself.
Steve Jackson (Web Designer/Artistic Consultant): Steve’s produced writing credits include: The Winter of Ivan Lasivk, Mr. Perfect, Fallout, Liked, Return to Okrad, The Adventures of Super World, and Grape Logic. He has co-written two musicals, The Girl with the Golden Hair (Book), and Fallout (Book). Steve’s directing credits include: Nine Dragons, Dog Sees God, Liked, the Adventures of Super World, Exit the King. A few of his favorite acting roles are: Romainville in Ring Round the Moon, Klinglehoff in The Underpants, Hermann Van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank, Friar Francis in Much Ado About Nothing, and Shamrayev in The Seagull. Steve received his BFA in acting from the University of Utah. Steve is currently working on a musical with his wife set in the old west.