The Matchmaker
By Thornton Wilder
Directed by Matthew Travisano
July 18 through August 16, 2008
"Director Matthew Travisano has added some nice touches to the Actors Ensemble production at Live Oak Theater" — The Berkeley Daily Planet
A homegrown literary hero, Thornton Wilder graduated from Berkeley High School in 1915 and hit the ground running. Years after his "Our Town" and "The Skin of Our Teeth" both won Pulitzer Prizes, he reworked an older play of his into the wild (pun intended) farce "The Matchmaker," opening it on Broadway in 1955. We missed our chance to present it then - by two years and tens of thousands of dollars - but we can now and are very proud to bring it back to our loyal Berkeley audience.
It's a farce with a lot of heart - along with slamming doors, mistaken identities, and hiding in closets and under tables - as the irrepressible Dolly Levi schemes to match the penny-pinching Horace Vandergelder with... herself. Vandergelder's young niece also hopes to marry a poor artist, but it's a union only Ms. Levi can make happen - or can she?
Cast (in order of appearance)
Louis Schilling
Jose Garcia
Matthew Travisano
Martha Luehrmann
Meira Perelstein
Justin Wheeler
Kevin Watkins
Maureen Coyne
Ariel Herzog
Mary Kidwell
Heather Morrison
Pennell Chapi
CREW
Alan Barkan. ...................................................................................Sound Mixing
Eric Carlson. ...........................................................................................Publicity
David Cohen. ..................................................................Light/Sound Production
Jose Garcia. ...................................................................................Stage Manager
Shu Ping Guan. ...........................................................................Graphic Design
Lauren Logan. ........................................................Props, Light/Sound Production
Adam Miller. .......................................................................................Set Design
Karen Oakley. ............................................................................Costume Design
Jessica Price. ................................................................................Lighting Design
Ingrid Saab. ...........................................................................Assistant, Costumes
Helen Slomowitz. ...............................................................Consultant, Costumes
Jerome Solberg. ......................................................................................Producer