…a bold and imaginative production that embraces Thornton Wilder's signature blend of pathos and absurdity. Under Joe McGrath's direction, The Rogue Theatre's ensemble brings verve and precision…a provocative adventure.

—Robert Encila, Tucson Sentinel

…one of the most delicious dinners I had ever had.

—Dottie D., Audience Member

I want to thank you, and the company, for your thoughtful, engaging, meaningful, timely, and hilarious performance of a complex play.

—Rachel H., Audience Member

Trailer

Watch a short video trailer showing highlights from the play.

Click here to play video

Reviews

Rogue's Skin of Our Teeth is a provocative adventure in theatre;
Tucson company ought to be proud of its 20th season opener
Review by Robert Encila-Celdran on September 18 at TucsonSentinel.com

Surrealistic, seemingly-crazy Wilder concept comes to the stage in Tucson
Review by Kathleen Allen on September 10, special to the Arizona Daily Star

Give your brain a brisk walk in the park at The Rogue Theatre's sprightly production of Thornton Wilder's  Pulitzer Prize winning The Skin of Our Teeth
Review by Chuck Graham onSeptember 12 at Let The Show Begin! and TucsonStage.com

…there is comfort in being reminded that the long history of humanity can be seen as the chronicle of surviving...your efforts made Wilder’s sense of truth and hope come through to me yesterday, and it was a great thing.

—Gail E., Audience Member

…joyful and profound…

—Cheryl L., Audience Member

Thank you for reminding us again and again what good theater looks like and making us think.

—Laura K., Audience Member

Joseph McGrath (Director) is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Drama and is the Artistic Director for The Rogue Theatre. For The Rogue, Joe authored and directed Immortal Longings, and directed Love’s Labor’s Lost, Babette’s Feast, The Oresteia, Blithe Spirit, Much Ado About Nothing, The Grapes of Wrath, A House of Pomegranates, Uncle Vanya (2016 Mac Award for Best Director), The Bridge of San Luis Rey, By the Bog of Cats, The Lady in the Looking Glass, Dante’s Purgatorio, Mistake of the Goddess, Mother Courage and Her Children, As I Lay Dying, The Real Inspector Hound (2010 Mac Award for Best Director), The Decameron, Our Town, Red Noses, Endymion, The Maids (winner of the Arizona Daily Star 2007 Mac Award for Best Play), and The Balcony. Joe was most recently seen as First Voice in Under Milk Wood, King Argavan in The Left Hand of Darkness, Captain Shotover in Heartbreak House, Nick Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mr. Lockhart in The Seafarer, Magwitch/Jaggers in Great Expectations, Peter Walsh in Mrs Dalloway, F in Passage, Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, Malvolio in Twelfth Night, M. Ratignolle in The Awakening, Jaques in As You Like It, Jack in The Weir, Alfieri in A View from the Bridge, Captain Ahab in Moby Dick, James Tyrone in Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Deputy Governor Danforth in The Crucible, Ambassador in The Secret in the Wings, Voice Four/Rev. Peters in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Galileo in Galileo (2018 Mac Award for Best Actor), Lear in King Lear, Macbeth in Macbeth, Fitz in Penelope, in the ensemble of The White Snake, Roy Cohn in Angels in America Part One: Millennium Approaches, Mr. Taylor in Tales of the Jazz Age, a singing peasant in Miss Julie, as Claudius in Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Lord Henry Wotton in The Picture of Dorian Gray, Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, Vladimir in Waiting for Godot, Johnnie ‘Rooster’ Byron in Jerusalem, Myron Berger in Awake and Sing, Bernard Nightingale in Arcadia, Duke Vincentio in Measure for Measure, and Richard, Duke of Gloucester in Richard III. In 2009 Joe won the Arizona Daily Star Mac Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Tobias in A Delicate Balance. He has toured with John Houseman’s Acting Company, performed with the Utah Shakespearean Festival, and he was a frequent performer with Ballet Tucson appearing in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Cinderella, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Dracula and The Nutcracker. He has also performed with Arizona Theatre Company, Arizona Opera, Tucson Art Theatre, and Arizona OnStage.

Joseph McGrath’s direction of The Skin of Our Teeth is supported in part
by generous gifts from Denice Blake & John Blackwell and Jerry James

Director’s Notes

It is perhaps not too much of a stretch to say that The Skin of Our Teeth is a play about everything and everyone. It is the story of humanity in three moments of crisis as told by a theatre company itself limping through the performance grappling with its own inadequacies. It is funny, self-consciously awkward, and profound. And I hope we can fail up to snuff, since failure, far from being a bug, is a hilarious and moving feature of this play.

There are a great many themes that Wilder is working on in the play. This meal is no small helping. It is so full of ideas, that I’ve given up being concerned about whether we’re going to clean our plate in one sitting. You will have a lot to chew on. You will see apocalypse, repetition, Cain, human nature, family, and most of all, despair, and hope. And you will be asked to hold contradictory ideas in your mind at the same time. Is this George or Adam? Maggie or Eve? Henry or Cain? Is this setting today or the beginning of time? The answer to all these questions is “yes.”

It would be a bit of artistic malpractice not to observe not only the period when The Skin of Our Teeth was first performed, but the actual moment: October 15, 1942. Less than a year after the attack at Pearl Harbor brought America into the Second World War, news was leaking out that some kind of genocide was afoot in Europe. A bit of despair in that moment might easily be forgiven. Wilder’s audience had survived the Great War, a pandemic, the Great Depression, and was looking at yet another world war. Civilizational crisis was getting to be a habit.

Nevertheless, it is impossible to suppress Wilder’s optimism. In a play of recurring crises, and in the world of 1942, it would be easy to be gloomy about the state of the human project. Wilder looks at the world square in the face, with all its gruesome flaws, and has faith that it will once again be rebuilt. The play’s title “The Skin of Our Teeth,” has, baked into the expression, survival. Harrowing, but positive. Wilder tells us to calm down and have faith in ourselves. It’s a message that I find welcome in this campaign season.

I remember mentioning to Christopher Johnson last fall that I was reading The Skin of Our Teeth as a possibility for this season, and I said with trepidation that I found it terrifying. He said, “It sounds like our kind of thing.” Thanks for that reminder, Christopher. Yeah, it is our kind of thing.

—Joseph McGrath, Director
director@theroguetheatre.org

Supporting Materials

Free “Open Talk” Video

Click here to see the video

The Skin of Our Teeth: The Mad Dash to Survival

A Free Open Talk presented on Saturday, August 31 at 2:00 P.M.

Director Joseph McGrath provides helpful insight into the play, author, and our production. As always, actors from our production present a sneak preview of the play in action.

This open talk is supported in part by a generous gift from Jerry James, in memory of Kathleen McGrath.

Essay

For more background on the play, check out Jerry James’ essay

To Bring Something Good Out of This Suffering:
The Second Wold War and The Skin of Our Teeth

A Prop Master’s Guide to The Skin of Our Teeth

Click here to play video

A fun look behind the scenes as Production Artisan Christopher Pankratz walks us through some of the more challenging and unusual props and costumes currently being built by the designers at The Rogue in in preparation for the opening of The Skin of Our Teeth.

Poster

View the full-sized poster for the play

Playwright

Thornton Wilder (1897–1975), most famous for writing the American classic Our Town, was an American playwright and novelist. Thornton was born in Wisconsin but spent much of his childhood in China where his father was a U.S. diplomat. He graduated from Yale with a Bachelor of Arts degree and received his M.A. in French from Princeton in 1926. He taught at private schools and universities throughout his life and considered himself to be a teacher first and a writer second. He acted in his plays occasionally, most notably as the Stage Manager in Our Town on Broadway. In 1955, Tyrone Guthrie encouraged Wilder to rework The Merchant of Yonkers into The Matchmaker, which later became the basis for the hit 1964 musical Hello, Dolly! In 1962 and 1963, Wilder lived twenty months in Douglas, Arizona, apart from family and friends. There he started his longest novel, The Eighth Day. Wilder won three Pulitzer Prizes—for the novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927) and for the two plays Our Town (1938) and The Skin of Our Teeth (1942)—and a U.S. National Book Award for the novel The Eighth Day (1967).

For more information, please visit www.thorntonwilder.com and www.thorntonwildersociety.org.

Photo: Thornton Wilder as Mr. Antrobus in The Skin of Our Teeth, courtesy of Wilder Family LLC, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University.
https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/16592078

CAST

THE FAMILY
———————

CHELSEA BOWDREN*
Sabina

MATT WALLEY*
Mr. Antrobus

CARLEY ELIZABETH PRESTON*
Mrs. Antrobus

HUNTER HNAT*
Henry

SOPHIE GIBSON-RUSH*
Gladys

THE ENSEMBLE
in alphabetical order
———————

SHANNON ELIAS
Miss E Muse/Showgirl/Ivy

JOHN KEENEY
Homer/Broadcaster/Tremayne

RYAN PARKER KNOX*
Announcer/Refugee/Doctor/Conveener

MOLLY LYONS
Miss M Muse/Fortune Teller/Hester

STEVE MCKEE
Mammoth/Chair Attendant/Conveener/Fred Bailey

CHRISTOPHER PANKRATZ*
Stage Manager/Dinosaur

JACOB TOOLE
Telegraph Boy/Moses/Conveener/Audio Tech

———————

*Member of the Rogue Resident Acting Ensemble

Kate Scally, U/S for various roles

Biographies

Chelsea Bowdren (Sabina) is excited to be in her third season as a member of The Rogue Resident Acting Ensemble. She has previously performed on The Rogue stage as Maria in Love’s Labor’s Lost, Miss Myfanwy Price & others in Under Milk Wood, Obsle in The Left Hand of Darkness, Hesione Hushabye in Heartbreak House, Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Biddy/Camilla Pocket in Great Expectations, Jessie in Sweat, Miss Killman in Mrs Dalloway, Jenny/Miss Forsythe in Death of a Salesman, Maria in Twelfth Night and Rosalind in Immortal Longings. Chelsea received her BFA in Acting from the University of Arizona. For Archer, Eloise, and Felix.

Chelsea Bowdren’s performance is supported in part by generous
gifts from Ann & Andrew Lettes, Susan Tiss and Andy Watson

Shannon Elias (Miss E Muse/Showgirl/Ivy) got her first big break in theatre at age 11 when she was cast as the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz in school. After that first applause, she was hooked. She began at The Rogue Theatre as an usher in 2008, and volunteered in various roles until she was hired to the box office in 2018. She made her debut on The Rogue stage in The Oresteia in 2020 and has since appeared in Babette’s Feast, The Left Hand of Darkness, and the staged-readings of Everybody and The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window. She also worked backstage with The Rogue as Assistant Stage Manager for The Awakening, Mrs Dalloway, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Love’s Labor’s Lost. Shannon holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts from the University of Arizona with a minor in Special Education and Rehabilitation Psychology.

Shannon Elias’s performance is supported in part by a generous
gift from Judie Bronstein & Goggy Davidowitz

Sophie Gibson-Rush (Gladys) is a musician and actor based in Tucson, Arizona. She is proud to be a resident ensemble member with The Rogue Theatre and the front woman and primary songwriter for critically acclaimed alternative rock quintet Holy Faint. She attended Boston University and London Academy of Music and Drama where she earned a BFA in acting. She continued her education at Double Edge Theater studying devised theatre. Favorite acting credits include Polly Garter (& others) in Under Milk Wood, Katherine in Love’s Labour’s Lost, Marc Antony in Julius Caesar, Peggy in The London Cuckolds, and Thomasina Coverly in Arcadia. She's honored to be included in the Rogue ensemble- a group of people as kind as they are curious. She looks forward to her first full season acting with The Rogue Theatre, and can be found playing music on stages all around Tucson and Southern Arizona. Always for Jojo with love. IG: @soatgoat

Sophie Gibson-Rush’s performance is supported in part by
generous gifts from Gerald & Barbara Goldberg and John Wilson

Hunter Hnat (Henry) is grateful to be in his seventh season as a member of The Rogue Resident Acting Ensemble. Last season he appeared as Boyet in Love’s Labor’s Lost, Nogood Boyo in Under Milk Wood, Goss in The Left Hand of Darkness, and Randall Utterword in Heartbreak House. He has performed in over 30 shows with The Rogue, some notable favorites include Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Pip in Great Expectations, Happy in Death of a Salesman, Sebastian in Twelfth Night, Edmund Tyrone in Long Day’s Journey Into Night, and Christopher in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Other credits include Salomé (Scoundrel & Scamp), U/S in Romeo and Juliet (Arizona Theatre Company), and How the House Burned Down (Live Theatre Workshop). He is a U of A alumnus with his BFA in Musical Theatre, class of 2015. Enjoy the show!

Hunter Hnat’s performance is supported in part by generous gifts
from Carol Mangold and Paul Winick & Ronda Lustman

John Keeney (Homer/Broadcaster/Tremayne) is an interdisciplinary artist, thrilled to be working with The Rogue again. He has previously appeared on stage at The Rogue in Love’s Labor’s Lost, Heartbreak House, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, Galileo and Much Ado About Nothing, and with The Scoundrel and Scamp in There Is a Happiness that Morning Is, and as music director for Two Plays for Lost Souls. He provided guitar and vocals for The Rogue’s productions of The Weir and The Seafarer.

John Keeney’s performance is supported in part
by a generous gift from Vicki Ettleman

Ryan Parker Knox (Announcer/Refugee/Doctor/Conveener) had forgotten how many seasons he has been a member of the Rogue's Acting Ensemble, and with that blissful ignorance he's diving headfirst into his first full season since 2018-19. A South Dakota native, he has worked regionally in Minnesota, Ohio, Missouri, and Florida but he's glad to have found his home in the Old Pueblo. RPK brings his versatility into a number of challenging roles this season and can't wait to see where the journey takes him, creatively and personally. He would like to thank his lovely partner CM for her patience and support (but mostly her patience) and to his zoo of fur babies back at the house who all lovingly ensure that no one gets a good night sleep.

Ryan Parker Knox’s performance is supported in part by generous gifts
from Joan Warfield and Kathy Ortega & Larry Johnson

Molly Lyons (Miss M Muse/Fortune Teller/Hester) is an international actor, director, & teacher. Transplanted from Chicago, she now makes Tucson her home. Recent roles include: Rebecca & Anne – The Book of Will, 7 characters including Ela, Dora, Kyle – String of Pearls, Anna – The Standby Lear, Ellie – Sweet Texas Reckoning, Cabdriver – Hellcab, Quickly & Worcester – Father Ruffian, Nurse – Romeo & Juliet, Beatrice – Much Ado About Nothing, Titania – A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Molly toured internationally playing the last queen of Ireland in her original solo show, A Most Notorious Woman. Directing credits include: A Life in the Theatre, The Time is Out of Joint, Angels Fall, On the Verge, Twelfth Night, Julius Caesar, Barber of Seville, Magic Flute, Carmen, The Foreigner, Diary of Anne Frank, The Clearing, an award-winning Glass Menagerie. Molly’s education includes: Santa Clara University, California Institute of the Arts, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Second City.

Molly Lyons’s performance is supported
in part by a generous gift from Sue Pennington

Steve McKee (Mammoth/Chair Attendant/Conveener/Fred Bailey) has appeared at The Rogue in Heartbreak House, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, The Grapes of Wrath, A House of Pomegranates, Awake and Sing, Measure for Measure, Richard III, Mother Courage and Her Children and The Winter’s Tale. Steve has been fortunate to play several wonderful and diverse roles, from Alan in God of Carnage to Roger DeBris in The Producers. Steve also performs with The Gaslight Theatre as well as Live Theatre Workshop and has been featured in independent and student films. Thank you for supporting the arts!

Steve McKee’s performance is supported in part by a
generous gift from Martin Diamond & Paula Wilk

Christopher Pankratz (Stage Manager/Dinosaur and Property Master) Christopher’s Rogue acting credits include Love’s Labor’s Lost, Under Milk Wood, The Left Hand of Darkness, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Great Expectations, The Awakening, As You Like It, A View from the Bridge, Moby Dick, The Crucible, Much Ado About Nothing, King Lear, and The Grapes of Wrath. Christopher also directed An Enemy of the People and Constellations for the John and Joyce Ambruster Play-Reading Series. Christopher formerly taught theatre at Flowing Wells High School where he wrote and produced numerous new plays including The Longest Day of April, The Story Seller’s Tale, and You Can’t Make Wine from Raisins, which are available online for licensing and performance. While attending the University of Arizona, Christopher earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts, as well as a master’s degree from the College of Education.

Christopher Pankratz’s performance is supported in part by generous gifts
from Mona Mizell and Tim Wernette & Carolyn Brown
His work as prop master is supported in part by a generous gift
from Jill Ballesteros and Pam & Richard Duchaine

Carley Elizabeth Preston (Mrs. Antrobus) was last seen as The Princess of France in Love’s Labor’s Lost on The Rogue stage. Now in her sixth season as a member of The Rogue Theatre’s Resident Acting Ensemble, Carley has also appeared in Under Milk Wood, Heartbreak House, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Babette’s Feast, Sweat, Mrs. Dalloway, Passage, Twelfth Night, The Awakening, As You Like It, The Weir, A View from the Bridge, Blithe Spirit, and The Crucible. Carley received her BFA from the University of Arizona, where she was a member of the Arizona Repertory Theatre. Some of her other stage credits include Time Stands Still (Mac Award for Best Actress), Molly Sweeney, Enchanted April, and The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe. She would like to thank the love of her life, Jerrad McMurrich, and their pups, Loki Björn Hiddleston, Freyja Laveau, and Indiana Idris Jones, for supporting her theatre habit!

Carley Elizabeth Preston’s performance is supported in part by
generous gifts from Susan Dick and Kristi Lewis

Jacob Toole (Telegraph Boy/Moses/Conveener/Audio Tech) is excited to be making his Rogue Theater Debut! Jacob is a Senior at Salpointe Catholic High School and a lover of all in the performing arts, especially around Tucson. Selected Performance Credits: Into The Woods (Jack), Alice By Heart (Alfred/White Rabbit), Theory of Relativity (Ryan & Mike), The Book of Will (Ben Jonson), Heathers (Kurt Kelly), Peter and the Starcatcher (The Black Stache), Death by Design (Jack). A very grand thanks to Mom, Dad, Mrs. B, and Jesus.

Jacob Toole’s performance is supported in part
by a generous gift from Meg & Peter Hovell

Matt Walley (Mr. Antrobus) is a member of The Rogue Theatre Resident Acting Ensemble and was most recently seen as Don Armado in Love’s Labor’s Lost . Other appearances include Captain Cat & others in Under Milk Wood, Estraven in The Left Hand of Darkness, Boss Mangan in Heartbreak House, Francis Flute in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Richard in The Seafarer, Stan in Sweat, Stubb in Moby Dick, Dr. Bradman in Blithe Spirit, Thomas Putnam in The Crucible, Mr. Walley in The Secret in the Wings, Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing, Roger in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Matti in Galileo, Edmund in King Lear and Uncle John in The Grapes of Wrath. He enjoyed previous roles at The Rogue in Bach at Leipzig, Macbeth, Richard III, Journey to the West, The Winter’s Tale, Shipwrecked!, As I Lay Dying and Major Barbara. He also co-created and performed in Oaf at The Scoundrel and Scamp Theatre. He received an MFA from Dell’Arte International.

Matt Walley’s performance is supported in part by generous gifts
from Eloise Gore & Allen Hile and Peggy Houghton & Paul Garner

Music Selections

Preshow
Music for Flute and Bongos No. 1 by Alec Wilder
The Antrobus Family by Russell Ronnebaum
The Triumph of Ariadne and Dionysus by Lou Harrison

Production
Music by Russell Ronnebaum, unless noted 

Act 1: Slideshow
Where will we be?
Out to Pasture
Abel, My Son
Jingle Bells by James Pierpont
Tenting Tonight (Civil War Song) by Walter Kittredge, 1863
The Triumph of Ariadne and Dionysus by Lou Harrison

Act 2: Slideshow
On the Boardwalk in Atlantic City by Josef Myrow
CONGA!

Act 3: Air in G-minor by Lou Harrison
The Hours
Good Night

Russell Ronnebaum (Music Director & Composer) serves as The Rogue Theatre’s Director of Music and Resident Composer. He holds a Master of Music degree in collaborative piano from the University of Arizona and is the assistant director of music at St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church in Oro Valley. As a pianist, Russell often performs with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and various ensembles and choirs in the greater Tucson area. Russell made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2016, performing the music of Dan Forrest. Past Rogue credits include productions of *Love’s Labor’s Lost,*Under Milk Wood, *The Left Hand of Darkness, Heartbreak House, *A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Seafarer, *Babette’s Feast, *Great Expectations, *Mrs Dalloway, *Passage, *Death of a Salesman, Twelfth Night, *The Awakening, *As You Like It, The Weir, *The Oresteia, *Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, *A View from the Bridge, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, *Moby Dick, Blithe Spirit, Long Day’s Journey into Night, and *Much Ado About Nothing (*original score). Russell also composes the music for Rogue Radio, a radio play series produced in partnership with Arizona Public Media, NPR 89.1 FM. Recordings, videos, sheet music, and upcoming concert dates can be found at www.RRonnebaum.com.

Russell Ronnebaum’s music direction is supported in part by
generous gifts from Katherine Jacobson and Karen DeLay & Bill Sandel

Elizabeth Soflin (Percussionist) is so excited to be returning to the Rogue Theatre for her second production! She is a performer whose work focuses on interdisciplinary works for solo speaking percussionist and on collaborative chamber music projects. She was a 2022 recipient of the Arizona Commission on the Arts Research and Development Grant and performed “The Impostor Poems”, the resulting work for which she composed original music and poetry, at the Fall 2022 Percussive Arts Society International Convention. She has also recently appeared as an solo artist at the Tucson Fringe Festival, the Oh My Ears Festival, and the Transplanted Roots Percussion Symposium in Guanajuato, MX, as well as performing with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, True Concord Voices & Orchestra, and Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Soflin earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Arizona and holds performance degrees from The University of Tennessee and Central Michigan University. She is an artist endorser for Black Swamp Percussion.

Diana Schaible (Flute) is an award-winning flutist, guitarist, and music educator originally from Idaho Falls, Idaho, now based in Tucson. She received a bachelor’s degree in Music Performance from the University of Idaho in 2011 and received her master’s degree in Music Performance at the University of Arizona in 2013. While at UA, Diana was a part of the prestigious Fred Fox Graduate Wind Quintet and played principal flute in the Arizona Symphony and UA Wind Ensemble. More recently, Ms. Schaible was a prize winner in the 2020 Flute Society of Kentucky Young Artist Competition, and has also won prizes in classical guitar at several music festivals, including MusicFest Northwest in Spokane, WA, San Francisco Bay Area Guitar Competition and 1st prize at the Sierra Nevada Guitar Competition. She has performed internationally on both flute and guitar in Canada, Mexico, Ireland, and the United States. In addition to performing, Diana currently shares her passion for music as an instrumental Teaching Artist for Tucson Unified School District and maintains a private teaching studio.

Mike Padilla (Flute) is very excited to be making his Rogue Theatre debut. A Tucson native, Mike has worked in the arts community in multiple capacities here in Tucson, San Francisco, and Japan as Music Director, Pianist, Conductor, Vocal Coach, Actor, and Flutist. Mike spent 17 years in San Francisco as a Hairstylist by day and Cabaret pianist/singer and actor by night. Mike returned to Tucson in 2007 and was an Instructor and Music Director for the UA’s Arizona Repertory Theatre for four years and played keyboard/conducted in several shows at Arizona Theatre Company. Other credits include Invisible Theatre, Arizona Broadway Theatre, Great American Playhouse, Gaslight Theatre, Arts Express, and Saguaro City Music Theatre. Mike currently owns his own private hair salon suite (Chroma Studio) and plays flute with the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra. Other orchestral flute credits include Principal Flute with the San Francisco Civic Orchestra and Piccolo with the San Francisco Symphony Parnassus. This August Mike is playing with SASO for an opera festival in Medellin, Columbia.

Designers and Production Staff

Cynthia Meier (Costume Design) worked her way through college at Eastern Michigan University by assisting in the costume shop. Most of what she knows about Costume Design, she learned from Katie Holkeboer, the costume designer and professor at EMU. After graduating with her MA in Speech & Theatre, Cynthia stayed on at EMU to teach Costume Design, Costume Construction, Stage Makeup, and Introduction to Technical Theatre while designing the university mainstage plays and supervising the costume shop. She has designed costumes for each and every one of The Rogue plays since 2005. 

Cynthia Meier’s costume design is supported in part
by a generous gift from an anonymous donor

Joseph McGrath (Scenic Design) worked in the scene shops at West Virginia University and the Juilliard School of Drama while he was studying to become an actor. He served as Technical Director for Arizona Theatre Company from 1987–88, and opened his own scene shop, Sonora Theatre Works, in the 1990s. Joe has designed and built scenery for Ballet Tucson for most of their ballets for over 20 years, as well as various projects with UA Opera Theatre. He has designed each and every set for The Rogue since its inception in 2005.

Joseph McGrath’s scenic design is supported
in part by a generous gift from Gay Miller

Domino Mannheim (Lighting Designer) is a freelance Lighting Designer from Tucson, Arizona. She graduated from the University of Arizona in 2017 with a BFA in Technical Theatre and Lighting Design, and graduated in 2022 from Rose Bruford College in London with her Masters in Lighting In Performance. Some recent productions she has designed include Kiss Me Kate in Crawford, NE, Chicago, The Musical in Chicago, and Love’s Labor’s Lost here at the Rogue Theatre! As a traveling designer, she is very grateful to have the opportunity to work with such a talented team back in her hometown, and is excited to work on a Pulitzer Prize winning play!

Domino Mannheim’s lighting design is supported
in part by a generous gift from Bill & Nancy Sohn

Hannah Al-Baiaty (Stage Manager) is thrilled to be working with The Rogue Theatre again after previously stage-managing Love’s Labor’s Lost, Under Milk Wood, The Left Hand of Darkness, The Seafarer, Great Expectations, Twelfth Night and Passage. Hannah earned her BFA in Technical Theatre Production and Design from the University of Arizona. Her previous credits include Stage Manager for Under Construction Series: Ralph Lemon & Friends at Park Avenue Armory, Helen Simoneau Danse’s Flight Distance at Joyce SoHo, Tucson Folk Festival, Arizona Repertory Theatre’s productions of Avenue Q and Voice of the Prairie, Assistant Stage Manager for Eugene Opera's production of Nixon in China and Assistant Production Manager for Pipeline Theatre Company’s world premiere of Byuioo. She also spent five seasons as a Costume Technician for The Gaslight Theatre. Hannah would like to thank her husband, family, and friends for their endless support and love.

Hannah Al-Baiaty’s stage management is supported
in part by a generous gift from Clem & Sharie Shute

Shannon Wallace (Production Stage Manager) first came to The Rogue in 2015 to stage manage The Picture of Dorian Gray, and now serves as their Production Stage Manager and Operations Manager. She has worked on over 30 shows with The Rogue, some of her favorites include: The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, The Grapes of Wrath, Curious Incident, Much Ado About Nothing, Secret in the Wings, The Crucible, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, As You Like It and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She graduated from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, focusing on both stage management and lighting design. During her time in school she worked on over 25 productions with Arizona Repertory Theatre. She has also worked for Arizona Theatre Company, the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and the Contemporary American Theatre Festival. She spent a year living in Chicago and worked as the Operations Assistant for Mudlark Theater Company. She is grateful to be working full-time as a theater artist in her hometown.

Shannon Wallace’s production stage management is supported
in part by a generous gift from Paul Winick & Ronda Lustman

Peter Bleasby (Master Electrician) lit his first show at 13. Professionally, he was with BBC Television for several years, and was an assistant to the UK lighting designer Richard Pilbrow during the inaugural production of the National Theatre (Hamlet, directed by Olivier.) Although his career was in architectural lighting, he maintained some theatre lighting involvement on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2009, he volunteered for The Rogue’s initial season at the Historic Y. He has been master electrician at The Rogue for every show from 2013 to the present, supporting our lighting designers. He devised the system that enables lights to be quickly re-arranged, allowing more time for the creative process. Elsewhere in Tucson, he directed the technical and logistical aspects of fundraisers for the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation, including the fashion show Moda Provocateur.

Susan Collinet (House Manager) earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Creative Writing and English Literature from the University of Arizona in 2008. Decades before returning to college as a non-traditional student, Susan spent twenty years in amateur theater, mostly on the East coast, as well as in Brussels, Belgium in the American Theater of Brussels, and the Theatre de Chenois in Waterloo. She has worked in such positions as a volunteer bi-lingual guide in the Children’s Museum of Brussels, the Bursar of a Naturopathic Medical school in Tempe, Arizona, an entrepreneur with two “Susan’s of Scottsdale” hotel gift shops in Scottsdale, Arizona, and as the volunteer assistant Director of Development of the Arizona Aids Project in Phoenix. Susan continues to work on collections of poetry and non-fiction. Her writing has won awards from Sandscript Magazine, the John Hearst Poetry Contest, the Salem College for Women’s Center for Writing, and was published in a Norton Anthology of Student’s Writing. In addition to being House Manager, Susan serves on the Board of Directors for the Rogue.

Matt Elias (Assistant House Manager, Sound Engineer) is constantly seeking out art whether it be theatre, music, television or video games. He became enamored with live performance at The Rogue Theatre in 2014 while joining his wife, Shannon, as an usher. His experience as a touring musician, his penchant for audio production and his general obsession with how stuff works, makes him useful in all sorts of tight places throughout the production process. Nowadays you’ll see him as Assistant House Manager, trading off shows with Susan Collinet and you won’t see him sneaking a peek at each of those shows from the couch in the hallway or the back hallway behind the curtains. Matt has experience as a Master Bicycle Technician, Emergency Medical Technician, Fire/EMS 911 Dispatcher, and most recently a Production Brewer at Dragoon Brewing Company.

Woods Fairchild (Assistant House Manager, she/they) first met the Rogue by assisting their installation of “The Object” art piece in preparation for The Left Hand of Darkness. The Object’s designer, John Farrell, is a dear friend of Woods’ through her work with his wife, Carol Farrell, in costume design. John’s invitation to Woods to help assemble the art kindled an immediate friendship between Woods and the Rogue team. Woods formally joined the Rogue family in October 2023. In overlap with performance arts, Woods has an artistic background in dance and movement practice studies, as well as sewing and costume design. Woods also worked as a Project Manager with the Arts Foundation who manage public art projects, as well as distribute funding to support artists and arts organizations in Southern Arizona, including the Rogue Theater! Woods is a photographer, crafter, biker and her little old pickup truck is her true love. Grateful to be with the Rogue!

Thomas Wentzel (Box Office Manager, Program, Website) is a Scientific Programmer for the National Solar Observatory and holds a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Arizona. Previously he has worked as a Data Manager for several prevention programs in the Arizona Cancer Center and the Mel and Enid Zuckerman Arizona College of Public Health. He has served on the Board of the Tucson Men’s Cooperative, editing its newsletter for five years, and on the Executive Committee of Sons of Orpheus—The Male Choir of Tucson. He has sung with Furry Day Singers, Sons of Orpheus, AwenRising and Arizona Repertory Singers, and has performed with Tucson Art Theatre in Viktor Slavkin’s Cerceau and Clifford Odets’ Waiting for Lefty. Thomas has designed and built The Rogue Theatre Web site (with great assistance from Bill Sandel and Bryan Falcón in creating the 2020 Website update), and serves as Webmaster and Business Manager. He has also served on The Rogue’s Board of Directors since the founding of the theatre.

Our Thanks

Performance Schedule

Performance run time of The Skin of Our Teeth is 2 hour 25 minutes, including one 10-minute intermission.

The Skin of Our Teeth is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals
on behalf of Samuel French, Inc.
www.concordtheatricals.com