The Joy WheelDIRECTED BY

JASON ALEXANDER

STAGE MANAGERNICOLE MILLAR

SCENIC DESIGNJOHN IACOVELLI

PROPS MASTERDAVID SAEWERT

COSTUME DESIGNSARAH FIGOTEN

GRAPHIC DESIGNAMELIA MULKEY ANDERSON

SOCIAL MEDIAAUSTIN HIGHSMITH GARCES

PUBLICITYJUDITH BORNE

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR LAURA McRAE

ASST. STAGE MANAGER HAMILTON MATTHEWS

ASST. SCENIC DESIGNDAVID D'OLIMPIO

LIGHT & SOUND DESIGN EDWARD SALAS

CASTINGPAUL RUDDY

VIDEOGRAPHERNINA BRISSEY

STAGE HANDSKEVIN ALAIN &

BRANDON GOJCAJ

WRITTEN BY IAN McRAE

PRODUCERSJOHN RUSKIN & MICHAEL R. MYERS

Board of DirectorsDavid BassSusan HaydenEddie JaureguiChristine KaplanDylan McDermottCarole MiddletonJohn RuskinBarbara SchroederHoward SpectorLinda SullivanJR Wurster

Artistic DirectorJohn Ruskin

Managing Director Michael R. Myers

Honorary BoardEd Asner

Judi BarkerFred Deni

Patricia DoughertyEve Ensler

Rita FranciosaRobert Myers

In Memorium Wendy Brenninkmeijer

Anthony Franciosa Karen Landry

Barbara Tarbuck

CAST in order of appearance

Frank Conlin.............................................. Stella Conlin................................................Margie.................................................. Stew.......................................................

Dann FlorekGina Hecht

Lee GarlingtonMaury Sterling

ACT IScene 1 - Day 1 .....................................................................Scene 2 - Day 1.............................................Scene 3 - Day 2.....................................................................

HouseRetirement Party & House

Bunker

ACT IIScene 1 - One week later..............................................Scene 2 - Following day...........................................................Scene 3 - 8 months later...................................................

House & TheatreBunker

Night Outside Pool

IAN MCRAE (PLAYWRIGHT)Ian's plays have been produced in in New York and Los Angeles. Last year, The Ruskin Theatre produced his play The Alamo; The Last Great American Bar, where it ran for four months. It will open in Chicago in April. He would like to thank The Ruskin Theatre, cast, crew, and especially Jason Alexander for bringing this play to life.

JASON ALEXANDER*** (DIRECTOR)Jason has directed the feature films, For Better Or Worse and Just Looking. He won a Country Music Award for his direction of Brad Paisley’s “Online” video. TV direct-ing credits include: Seinfeld, Criminal Minds, Everybody Hates Chris and Mike and Molly. Jason directed The God of Hell(Geffen), Native Gardens(Pasadena), Broadway Bound(Odyssey) and the world premiere of Windfall at Arkansas Rep. Jason served as the artistic director

of Reprise where he also directed Damn Yankees, Fantasticks and Sunday in the Park. When not directing, he has occasionally tried acting. Some say he shows promise.

JOHN RUSKIN (ARTISTIC DIRECTOR/ PRODUCER)After graduating from the University of Colorado in Boulder, John continued his studies with the Yale School of Drama and the British American Drama Academy in Oxford, England. John then attended the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre and studied with Sanford Meisner and Richard Pinter. John then joined the acting faculty of the Neighborhood Playhouse at the request of Sanford Meisner and became his apprentice. Years later, John moved to Los Angeles where he founded his school of acting to continue to teach Meisner’s work.John founded the Ruskin Group Theatre Company with the goal of developing and producing great original works, powerful revivals, and to support and en-courage a creative artistic community. RGT is proud to provide outreach pro-grams to children in need with the “Healing Through the Arts" program. Recent-ly, we took our actors into Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA to work with and entertain the children. Past programs involved working with at risk youth , foster children, people in prison, and the elderly. John wants to thank everyone who volunteers, comes to support this theatre, and keeps the dream of small theatre alive. John is honored to work each day with every one of the amazing artists at the school and theatre. He is most grateful to his wife Amy and their sons Bodhi & Cooper for their constant love and support.

MICHAEL R. MYERS (MANAGING DIRECTOR / PRODUCER)Michael has produced more than 70 projects since 2002. He recently directed and developed the World Premiere of “Sneaky Ole Time the music of Paul Over-street” other World Premieres include, “Rainbow Bridge”, “Digging up Dad” and more. Mike produced and developed the world premiere production of Rex Pickett's "Sideways the Play". Since its world premiere at the Ruskin, “Sideways” has been produced at the La Jolla Playhouse under the direction of Des McAnuff and recently had its West End Premiere at the St. James Theatre. In 2008, the Santa Monica City Council appointed Mike to the Santa Monica Arts Commission and he has served as chair since 2010.

CAST*denonotes membership to

DANN FLOREK* (FRANK CONLIN) The Joy Wheel marks Dann’s debut with the Ruskin. He appeared in Jack O’briens production of The Front Page on Broadway. Other theatre credits include numer-ous productions with the WPA, Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, The Acting Company, La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, and Yale Rep. Film highlights include Sweet Liberty, Hard Rain, The Flintstone’s and Angel Heart. Television work includes L.A. Law, From

the Earth to the Moon, Roseanne, The Pentagon Wars, NYPD Blue, and 18 years as Captain Donald Cragen on Law & Order and Law & Order SVU.

GINA HECHT* (STELLA CONLIN) Gina's stage credits include starring in two productions of Neil Simon’s Broadway Bound (La Mirada and the Odyssey - the latter directed by Jason Alexander). Gina also had the pleasure of playing another Neil Simon lead-ing lady in Prisoner of Second Avenue, starring opposite Jason Alexander (this will be a recurring theme). Pro-ductions that did not involve Jason, were the award-win-ning Circle of Will, originally directed by Glenn Casale,

for which her performance was honored with an LA Weekly Award. She received Drama-Logue Awards for the Los Angeles premieres of Night Owls and another for Wrestlers, directed by Glenn Casale, and where she was fortunate enough to share the stage with Mark Harmon, George Clooney and Bryan Cranston. Gina has appeared in more than a dozen films, the first being Night Shift as Henry Winkler’s neurotic fiancée, and her television career spans four decades with re-curring roles on Mork and Mindy, Glee, Heartbeat, Everything’s Relative (where she co-starred with Jason Alexander), Life Goes On, The District, Any Day Now, Hung, and Seinfeld (Jason again). Gina would like to thank her husband, writer/producer/director Brian Herskowitz, and their two AHHH-mazing daughters, Maggie and Bailey, for all their love and support.

LEE GARLINGTON* (MARGIE) Lee won an Ovation Award for Best Supporting Ac-tress in “Risk Everything” at the Zephyr Theatre in 1999, and was "Pot Mom" in the long running hit at the CAST Theater. Other L.A. plays include the west coast premiere of John Ford Noonan's "Music From Down The Hill" at the Odyssey Theatre, the 1982-1984 multi-award winning "Last Summer at Bluefish Cove", the world premiere of “Placement” at the Black Dahlia.

Nominated for an Emmy last year for her role in the short form series “Broken”, she has appeared in over 200 television shows and 60 films including: Sum of All Fears, Sneakers, Field of Dreams, Cobra, The Babysitter, Lovely and Amazing, One Hour Photo, The Angriest Man In Brooklyn. Lee also moderates numerous panels for both the Los Angles SAG-AFTRA Conservatory & the SAG-AFTRA Foundation. Still madly in love with her husband of 28 years, Howard Nugent, they are both the proud parents of Cashay Wallace. www.leegarlingtontheac-tress.com

MAURY STERLING (STEW) Maury was born and raised in Mill Valley California. He is a founding member of the award winning Buffalo Nights Theatre Co. Theatre credits include Crazy Drunk, J.B., The Madman and the Nun, Firebugs, Modigliani, Out at Sea, Incident at Vichy, Meat, all performed with Buffalo Nights. He has also appeared in Measure for Measure at A Noise Within, Love and Understanding at the Lilian, Fedunn at the Odyssey, and Judgement

at Nuremberg at ICT. Shows at the Ruskin Theater include, All My Sons, The Amazing Harold, Mutiny at Port Chicago, and his solo performance in A Gam-bler’s Guide to Dying. Most recently he was seen on stage in Murray Med-nick’s Mayakovsky & Stalin at the Lounge Theater. Maury’s Film credits include Veronica Mars, Coherence, Kung Fu Panda 2, A-Team, Smokin Aces Assassins Ball, Smokin’ Aces, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, The Frolic, Frankie and Johnny Get Married, The Illusion, Hart’s War, Impostor, Bulletproof, and Outbreak. TV credits include Homeland, Girlfriend’s Guide to Divorce, Master’s of Sex, Ex-tant, the ABC Pilot Gilded Lily’s, In Plain Sight, Longmire, Private Practice, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Lie to Me, Dollhouse, Cold, Case, Close to Home, 24, ER, and numerous others. Maury is proud to be married to the beautiful Alexis Boozer Sterling and is grateful for her unending support.

CHRISTINE KAPLAN (MARGIE UNDERSTUDY) Christine graduated from Santa Clara University as a Theatre Major. She went on to work in Television Pro-duction in Los Angeles as a Writer’s Assistant and Script Supervisor on such shows as Beauty and the Beast, The Larry Sanders Show, and Seinfeld. She stopped working in order to raise 3 beautiful children. Later, in retro-spect, she realized she’d much rather be the person in the show rather than watching the show. So she studied

the Sanford Meisner Technique at the Ruskin Group Theatre in Santa Monica. She is thrilled to have the opportunity to understudy under Lee Garlington and work with Jason Alexander and the rest of the cast and crew. She is beyond grateful to John Ruskin and Mikey Myers for all their support.

JIM STAPLETON (FRANK CONLIN UNDER-STUDY) Jim is thrilled to be making his debut with the Ruskin Group Theatre. A native of New York City Jim’s early training included Freddy Kareman, David LeGrant, Julie Bovasso and Margot Moser. Jim’s credits include A Moon for the Misbegotten, Death of a Salesman, Marat/Sade, Company and Fiddler on the Roof. Much gratitude to John Ruskin and Mikey Myers for their support and

training at The Ruskin School. Jim is thankful to the support from his wife Ivy, his sons Matt and Sam and his dog Gracie.

MERCER BOFFEY (STEW UNDERSTUDY) Mercer was born in the Lower East Side of NYC. He went to LaGuardia High School of the Arts, then on to NYU Tisch for his BFA. He appeared off Broadway at Playwrights Horizons, and at the west side theater, as well as on TV in Ugly Betty, and Guiding Light while continuing his 2 year studies at Willam Esper Studios. Shortly after graduating he moved to LA and found a home on stage appearing in shows such as “Orange Flow-

er Water”, “Lonestar”, “Big ol’ Washing Machine”, and ”Reasons to Be Pretty”. Mercer is happy and honored to be a part of the Ruskin theater premier of “the Joy Wheel”.

Some other credits include: The Affair, Always Sunny in Philadelphia, NCIS: LA, House of Lies, Rake, Becoming Bond, Bachelor Lions, Impossible Monsters, and Mafia III.

PRODUCTION TEAM

NICOLE MILLAR (STAGE MANAGER) Nicole is a graduate of the Meisner two year program at the Ruskin School of Acting and continues her craft in the Graduate Master Class. She also studied level one UCB LA (2015, Second City (2014) with Paul Sand, Comedia d’el Arte with Danny Passer (2004). She graduated with a Merit Diploma from Hammer-smith & West London College in “Performing Arts & Media” (1991) England. Nicole then moved to the states to continue her acting career which now, also includes working in Stage Production.

Production credits at the Ruskin Group Theatre include: The World Premiere of; The Alamo, by Ian McRae; The Rainbow Bridge, by Ron Nelson; The Gun, by Jusitn Yoffe; It’s Time, by Paul Linke; Sneaky Ole Time, By Steve Mazur & Lyrics by Paul Overstreet; The Face In The Reeds, by Robin Russin; Talhotblonde, by Kathrine Bates; Paradise, A Bluegrass Musical, by Bill Robertson, Tom Sage & Music by Cliff Wagner; Sideway’s, the Play, by Rex Pickett; The Tragedy of the Commons, by Stephen Metcalf; and Come Sundown, by Tony Cronin. US Pre-miere; A Gambler’s Guide to Dying, by Gary McNair. The revival of The Paradise (2018) which then moved to the Austin Playhouse (2019); Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry; El Grande de Coca-Cola, by Alan Shearman & Ron House; West Coast Premiere productions include: Green Eyes, by Tennessee Williams and The Housing Room, by Conrad Bromberg. Other credits include: A Raisin in The Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry; Leaving Home, by David French; The Lone-some West, by Martin McDonagh; Siddown...Conversation’s with the Mob, by Sam Kass; and Ovation Award recommended A Memory of Two Monday’s, by Arthur Miller. Enjoy the show!

** Denotes membership to ***Denotes membership to

HAMILTON MATTHEWS (ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER) Hamilton is very happy to be working with such a talented group of people, on Ian McRae’s, Joy Wheel. Hamilton has been seen at the Ruskin Theatre in A Memory of Two Mondays, Sideways, Two Rooms, countless cafe plays and most recently as Cyndi, in Paradise. You can see him on screen getting tortured, dying (a lot), and swimming with sharks.

LAURA MCRAE (ASSISTANT DIRECTOR) Laura is happy to be back working at The Ruskin for the production of The Joy Wheel. Laura worked on their previous production of The Alamo as well. Laura loves working in the theatre and hopes to continue doing so in the future.

JOHN IACOVELLI** (SCENIC DESIGN) John previously collaborated with Jason Alexander directing The God of Hell Starring Brian Cranston at the Geffen. He designed The Alamo by Ian McRae last year here at the Ruskin. Broadway: Peter Pan starring Cathy Rigby (Emmy Award), The Twilight of the Golds. National Tour: Camelot. Regional: over 300 productions —Steppenwolf. Geffen Playhouse, South Coast Repertory, Pasadena Playhouse, Berkeley Rep, McCarter, Denver Center, Long Wharf and Seattle Rep. Center Theatre Group International: A Slight Ache in Barcelona, Casablanca in Beijing and Oedipus in Colonus in Delphi. Film: Production designer on Ruby in Paradise starring Ashley Judd. Art director on Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. TV: Beckett Directs Beckett: Endgame, The Old Settler starring Phylicia Rashad and Debbie Allen, The Gin starring Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke, Babylon 5, Ed, Resurrection Blvd., Lincoln Heights. MFA: NYU Tisch. Awards: LADCC for Career Achievement. Website: www.iacovelli.com.

DAVID SAEWERT (PROPS MASTER) As resident Props Master and Department Manager at South Coast Repertory Theater, David has done over 200 shows for SCR including: Amadeus, Once, The Tempest, Moby Dick, Chinglish, Sweeney Todd as well as several world premiers: Vietgone, Office Hour, Cambodian Rock Band. Other theater credits: A Mid-summers Night’s Dream (UCI), The Winters Tale (UCI), Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (The Chance), Shrek (Northwood), Big Fish (The Chance), The Little Foxes (Antaeus), Aladdin (Laguna Playhouse). Proud member IATSE and servers as a trustee on the Orange County School Board.

EDWARD SALAS (LIGHTING & SOUND DESIGNER) Edward has been designing lights and sound for the stage in the Los Angeles area

for over 25 years. He has toured the country as a production designer and has also had the pleasure of designing theater in Mexico and Scotland. He is currently on staff at Pierce College, and has been sharing his experience with students for 15 years. Some of his favorite designs include the LA premier of Durang Durang at the Hollywood Court, the world premier of Ian Forest at the Electric Lodge, the LA premier of Tennessee Williams’ American Blues at the Hudson, The world premier and tour of Nijinsky Speaks, Pantheon at the Ruby Theater, West Side Story at Pierce College and The Alamo here at the Ruskin. He is thrilled to be illuminating this talented work.

SARAH FIGOTEN (COSTUME DESIGN) Sarah has been a company member at the Ruskin since 2005, and has designed shows that include El Grande de Coca Cola (LA Weekly Nomination), A Raisin In the Sun, Sneaky Old Time, Cyrano de Bergerac, Paradise: A Divine Bluegrass Musical, and many more. Other costume design work has been seen at The Skylight Theatre, The Colony Theatre, and Theatre of NOTE. Directing credits include Chance Theater (Little Women, She Loves Me- LA Times Critics Choice), Theatre of NOTE (Hello Stranger), The Ruskin Group Theatre (The Face in the Reeds), Musical Theatre Orange County (Mary Poppins), Hollywood Fringe Fes-tival (Odilia), and Costa Mesa Playhouse (Jaques Brel). She served multiple times as an Assistant Director at South Coast Repertory, as well as assisting Tony Award winning Director Pam MacKinnon on the pre-Broadway work sessions for David Mamet's China Doll starring Al Pacino. www.sarahfwilson.com

The Ruskin Group Theatre is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Ange-les County Arts Commission. Also supported by a grant from

the City of Santa Monica

THANK YOU RGT SUPPORTERS!SAINTS $15,000 AND UP

CAROLE & FRED MIDDLETON, WENDY & TITUS BRENNINKMEIJER, ROBERT M. MYERS & LINDA SULLIVAN, ANONYMOUS DONOR, PATRICIA

DOUGHERTY, DUDLEY T. DOUGHERTY FOUNDATION, FRED DENI, KEVIN & GERIC FROST, CHEZ & ROSEANNE DI GREGORIO, ROBERT & SUSAN RUSKIN,

CITY OF SANTA MONICA DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS, LOS ANGELES COUNTY ARTS COMMISSION

BENEFACTORS $10,000-14,999DEENA BOSNAK & FAMILY, GLAD FOUNDATION, STABLE FOUNDATION,

JENNIFER FIELD, CHRISTINE & JORDAN KAPLAN, RACHEL POLLACK ,DAVID BASS, BARBARA SCHROEDER

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DONNA & THOMAS

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BAUM, PATRICIA STARK, THOMAS PROSSER, RYAN DEMESA, DAVID & KATIE SOROKO, MICHAEL NICKLIN, A NEW YORK MINUTE, VALARIE VANAMAN, OLIVIA LUA, JIMMY TANG, MAURICE LAMARCHE, ROBIN RUSSIN, NEWMAN AARONSON & VANAMAN,

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MARY MARLOWE, HOWARD & JANET SPECTOR

LOVERS OF THE STAGE $500-999BILLIE BERNHARD, JOHN FINN, DANTE & MARCELLA SPINOTTI, ROBIN & SARAH RUSSIN, AMANDA KEIDAN, CHRIS MULKEY & KAREN LANDRY, RITA & JOE CORRIGAN, WILLIAM JOSEPH, JOE RUSSIN, CHRISTIAN JARRY, BARRY SIEGAL & LISA LOOBY, PETER SHANE,

LORA T. KANE, TRINKA SOLOWAY, MARTA KRISTEN-KANE, LENA KANE, CODY ESQUIVEL, STEPHEN NATHAN, SPIRIT DANCE FOUNDATION

GREAT FRIENDS OF THE THEATRE $250-499JUDI BARKER, GAIL MEYER, HOWARD J. MORRIS, GREG AND TERISA MYERS, TODD

SIMON, ROMAINE MCCOY, VINNY THADHANI, STEPHAN MCILVAINE, SUSAN MILLMANN, STEVE CLARE, JOE RUSSIN, MARYANNE LAGUARDIA, ALAN WATENMAKER

FRIENDS OF THE THEATRE $25-249LEE & JUANITA ARMEN, CHRISTINA OLSON GARCIA, DR. SAMUEL & DIANE WAINGROW, JUDY GOLDSTEIN, STEVE HASKELL & MICHELLE HANER, FREDERICK & PAULA KUHNS, BARRY LEVITT, MARILYN & DONALD GRALLA, STEVEN & NANCY MINDEL, JAMES REB-

HORN, BOB & ROBIN EATMAN, WILLIAM ROTHBARD, SAMUEL M. SURLOFF, PETER & KEDREN WERNER, GWYNNE & LINDA JASSIM, ED HOROWITZ, DAVID BROOKS, JIM MALDONADO, DIANE SHERRY, SHARON GIRDNER, STUART, M. CHANADLER, CHRIS

& SUSIE PIOLARSKI, JUDITH BOURNE, EDDIE JAUREGUI, GINA PETERMAN, JULES HAIMOVITZ, KATIE GARLAND NOBLE, TED & CAROL SATTLER, RAY & VERONICA RE-

ISLER, RATNA JONES, AMAURY ARCE, ARTHUR TORETZKY, VIK CHATTERGEE, MICHAEL SEPLOW, EITAN GONEN, ROBERT PINE, DANIEL TAYLOR, AUDREY HAZEKAMP, WES MER-CHANT, RAUL DOURADO, AUBREY ANDERSON, MARIO DIDONATO, CHARLES STERLING,

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KRASNY, KEVIN HUDNELL, AMITY M JANOW, ANNA LOBELL, KELLY GULLETT, CHRISTINA BYRON, ANN AND VIRGIL SHIELDS, BERNIE AND LINDA FOX, DON GIRARD, MICHELLE

HOKR, RICHARD & JENNIFER STEETS, ASUKA HISA, CHIP BOLCIK, JOE OLIVIA, BRAM BAROUH, BILLY & CHRISTINE RUSKIN, MARCIA HARDY,

ELIZABETH AND WALTER WHITNEY, BERNARD AND LINDA FOX, REGGIE BULMAN, MONICA SUUA