Life is a Dream
Written by Pedro Calderón de la Barca
In a new translation by Andrew Saito
Directed by Paige Rogers
October 2 – November 1, 2015
The rightful prince Segismundo has been imprisoned by his father, the king following a prophecy: Segismundo will bring his country turmoil and his patriarch an untimely death. Yet suddenly the prince is set free. What is a young man to do in the wide world when he’s never known anything but his solitary tower? And is his fleeting freedom a reality – or is it just a dream?
Cutting Ball favorite David Sinaiko and son Asher Sinaiko, making his Cutting Ball debut, square off as King and Prince in Life is a Dream, their struggle fueled by live percussion scored for the production. Directed by Acting Artistic Director Paige Rogers and in a new translation by Resident Playwright Andrew Saito, Cutting Ball infuses fresh life and characteristic edge into Calderon’s lauded classic.
Artists
Asher Sinaiko (Segismundo) makes his professional theater debut in Cutting Ball’s Life Is a Dream. He has played La Fleche in The Miser, one of the Clowns in Hamlet, Sherlock Holmes, and Fagin in Oliver! He is a Junior at Marin Academy in San Rafael.
David Sinaiko (Basilio) is a Cutting Ball Associate Artist, appearing in many of their productions, including: Mount Misery; Ubu Roi; Krispy Kritters in the Scarlett Night; Strindberg’s Chamber Plays; Tenderloin; …and Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi; The Bald Soprano; Endgame; Taming of the Shrew; Macbeth; 365 Plays/365 Days; and Woyzeck. He is a founding member of Chicago’s acclaimed New Crime Productions (Heart of a Dog; The Balcony; Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas; Accidental Death of an Anarchist; Methusalem; and Alagazam!) and has been seen at Shotgun Players (Antigonick), Just Theater, The Goodman Theatre, The Actor’s Gang, Golden Thread, Crowded Fire, and SF Playhouse, and 10 seasons performing David Sedaris’ The Santaland Diaries. Film and television: The Grifters, Bob Roberts, Carnosaur and The Untouchables. David co-directs the theater program at Marin Academy.
Peter Warden (Clotaldo) is making his Cutting Ball Theater debut. He recently made his San Francisco debut with The Breadbox in their production of The Pillowman and has been seen in a number of productions in Sonoma and Marin County including The Servant Of Two Masters, Almost Maine, The Lonesome West and Other Desert Cities. He is a graduate from Sonoma State University with a B.A. in Theatre Arts with a concentration in Acting.
Sango Tajima (Rosaura) is making her Cutting Ball Theater debut. She is co-founder of a new producing ensemble Dirty Hands, member of a political theatre collective The Bonfire Makers, and Associate Artist of Ragged Wing Ensemble. After serving as the Artistic Direction Apprentice at Magic Theatre, she’s acted in various productions with Campo Santo, Impact Theatre, Bay Area Children’s Theatre, and New Conservatory Theatre Center. Recent roles include Orangutan in Dirty Hands’ Water by the Spoonful, Philipa in Impact Theatre’s Year of the Rooster, and Becky Lou in Campo Santo/ACT’s Holy Crime. BFA in Acting from the University of Michigan.
Grace Ng (Estrella) is a Bay Area native making her Cutting Ball debut. Past credits include: Fiddler on the Roof (Chava) with Berkeley Playhouse, Faulted (Noreen) and The Seeing Place (Antigone) with foolsFURY, One-Minute Play Festival with Playwright’s Foundation, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (Min Li) with Bay Area Children’s Theatre, The Bay Area One Acts Festival, and Spring Awakening (Martha) with San Francisco State University. She holds a BA from San Francisco State University’s Theatre Arts Program, and has trained with Circle in the Square Theatre School in New York.
Michael Wayne Turner III (Clarin) is an award winning actor and poet, with a background in modern contemporary dance. Past local credits include Chinaka Hodge’s Chasing Mehserle. Michael is a regular with the African American Shakespeare Theatre and the Bay Area Playwrights Foundation, and has also worked with ACT, Intersection for the Arts and Campo Santo.
Matthew Hannon (Astolfo) is a native of San Diego and makes his debut at Cutting Ball Theater. Regional theatre credits include Agamemnon in Aulis: An Act of Nihilism in One Long Act, Ben in Seascape with Sharks and Dancer, Juror No. 8 in Twelve Angry Men, Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest, Harker in Dracula, and Cradeau in No Exit, which Matthew also produced and directed. Upon completing his degree in Theater & Performance Studies at UC Berkeley, Matthew was awarded the Travis Bogard Memorial Prize, which celebrates the work of an actor who distinguished themselves in the arena of acting and performance.
Barry Despenza (Lead percussionist,guard) is proud to be apart of his first Cutting ball production. Barry has appeared in Yerna Buena’s children’s creativity theatre production of “Josephine and the sheep of Dreams” as the Sandman. Extra roles in “Steve Jobs” and NBA Pilot” He has also appeared in numerous student films and voice over projects. Barry loves busking on the streets and producing music. Currently attending San Francisco Art Institute as a New Genres major.
Paige Rogers (Director, Acting Artistic Director) is the co-founder of The Cutting Ball Theater. At CBT, she has directed Antigone, Tontlawald and Mud. She has performed in Bone to Pick, Diadem, The Bald Soprano, My Head Was a Sledgehammer, As You Like It, The Vomit Talk of Ghosts, Macbeth, Accents in Alsace, and The Taming of the Shrew. Rogers has been seen locally with Berkeley Opera, Lamplighters, Sonoma County Repertory Theater, and on tour with California Shakespeare Theater. Nationally, she has performed at The Kennedy Center, McCarter Theater, Trinity Repertory Company, and The Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Andrew P. Saito‘s plays include Mount Misery, La Lechera, El Río, finalist for the Princess Grace Award, Krispy Kritters in the Scarlett Night, featured at Cutting Ball Theater’s 2011 Risk Is This…Festival, and The Patron Saint of Monsters, selected for a 2012 Core Apprentice developmental reading at the Playwrights Center of Minneapolis. Other presenters include the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Brava! for Women in the Arts, Kearny Street Workshop, Asian American Theatre Company, La Peña Cultural Center, and Mixed Phoenix Theatre Company in New York. He has been twice commissioned by Handful Players, and has taught playwriting in rural Mayan villages in Guatemala, and with WritersCorps, Performing Arts Workshop, legendary Peruvian theatre collective Yuyachkani, and Montalvo Arts Center as a Teaching Artist Fellow. A two-time alternate for a Fulbright Fellowship in Creative Writing, as well finalist for as a Jerome Playwriting Fellowship, Andrew is a proud founding member of Cut the Rhino, a 5-member theatre collective formed by the 2011 graduating class of the Iowa Playwrights Workshop.
Michael Locher (Set Designer) is a longtime Cutting Ball artistic associate and resident set designer. Previous designs for the Cutting Ball include Ubu Roi, Krispy Kritters in the Scarlett Night, The Chairs, Strindberg Cycle: The Chamber Plays, The Tempest, Pelléas and Mélisande, Communique No.10, and Sidewinders. Elsewhere, recent/upcoming credits include designs for Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Guthrie, Cal Shakes, the Magic, Yale Rep, Great Lakes Theater, Centerstage (MD), CenterRep, and Northern Stage (VT). Faculty, San Jose State University. Michael is also a freelance graphic designer and illustrator specializing in artwork for theater companies. Education: University of California, San Diego; Yale School of Drama.
Courtney Flores (Costume Designer) is a Bay Area native. Recent productions include: Taming of the Shrew at San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Daylighting at Shotgun Players, Chasing Mesherle at Intersection For The Arts, James and The Giant Peach at Douglas Morrison Theatre, Medea at African American Shakespeare Company and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof at Los Altos Stage Company. Courtney received her AA in Fashion Design at College of Alameda and her BA in Theatre Arts at California State University Hayward. Courtney is also a member of Bay Area Latino Theatre Artists Network.
Hamilton Guillén (Lighting Designer) makes his Cutting Ball debut with this production. He is the resident lighting designer with Pacific Ballet Academy in Mountain View and with Contra Costa Civic Theatre in El Cerrito. PBA credits The Nutcracker; Spring Showcases. CCCT credits The Sound of Music; The Foreigner; Doubt, A Parable; To Kill a Mockingbird. Upcoming projects include Urinetown with Marin Academy and The Secret of Life with Indra’s Net Theater. Visit hamiltonguillen.wix.com/designs
Carissa Ibert (dramaturg) last worked with Paige Rogers on Cutting Ball’s production of Antigone after having worked as the Dramaturgy Fellow on the Hidden Classics Reading Series and RISK IS THIS. She earned an MLitt in Dramaturgy and Playwriting from the University of Glasgow in Scotland.
