2004-2005 Season: Major Barbara

Written by George Bernard Shaw  /  Directed by Timothy Near

Cast

Artistic Collaborators

George Bernard Shaw (Playwright) was a playwright, essayist and pamphleteer, born in Dublin, Ireland. In 1876 he left office work in Ireland and moved to London. In 1882 he became a journalist, writing music and drama criticism and publishing critical essays. He began to write plays in 1885, and among his early successes were Arms and the Man (1894), Candida (1897) and The Devil’s Disciple (1897). There followed Man and Superman (1905), Major Barbara (1905), The Doctor’s Dilemma (1906) and several others, displaying an increasing range of subject matter. Later plays include the “religious pantomime” Androcles and the Lion (1912), and the “anti-romantic” comedy Pygmalion (1913). After World War I followed Heartbreak House (1919), Back to Methuselah (1921), and Saint Joan (1923). He wrote over 40 plays and continued to write them even in his 90s. In 1925 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Timothy Near (Director) Click here for bio.

Cast Profiles

Glynis Bell (Lady Britomart/Rummy Mitchens) Broadway: Amadeus, My Fair Lady, The Robber Bridegroom, Heartbreak House, and You Never Can Tell. Off-Broadway: Richard III and Blithe Spirit at Pearl Theatre, Pera Palas at 2 nd Stage, and Light Up The Sky at Roundabout. National Tour: The Vagina Monologues and The Acting Company. Regional: Kid Simple at The Humana Festival, Pera Palas at Long Wharf, A Delicate Balance at Two River Theatre, The Last Night of Ballyhoo at Indiana Rep, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at Great Lakes Shakespeare, Six Degrees of Separation at St. Louis Rep, and three seasons of Shakespeare at the Folger Theatre. On television, Ms. Bell has appeared on “Law & Order” and its offshoots variously as a mother, a judge, a lawyer, a gynecologist and others.


Tom Blair (Morrison/Peter Shirley/Bilton) has worked extensively in Bay Area theatre, including The Time of Your Life, The Constant Wife, Blithe Spirit, Enrico IV, The Threepenny Opera, Tartuffe, Indian Ink, The Guardsman, The Royal Family at A.C.T.; Holiday, Caine Mutiny Court Martial and Two Gentlemen of Verona at San Jose Rep; Wilder/Wilder/Wilder and Molly Sweeney at Marin Theatre Company; Revenger’s Tragedy and Tale of Lear at Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Spinning into

Butter at TheatreWorks; My Fair Lady at the Berkshire Theatre Festival; and Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting at Sacramento Theatre Company. Other regional theatre credits include productions at the Kennedy Center, Cleveland Play House, Blackstone Theatre in Chicago, and fifteen years at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre. Mr. Blair has also directed plays at many regional theatres and in Japan, and has appeared in feature films and on television.


Jennifer Erdmann (Sarah) is delighted to be making her first appearance at San Jose Rep. Recent credits include As You Like It with Woman’s Will (Touchstone/Amiens), Private Lives at Calaveras Rep (Amanda), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Marin Shakespeare Company (Helena). She has also performed with such Bay Area companies as American Musical Theatre of San Jose, the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Willows Theatre Company, City Lights Theatre Company, and the Pear Avenue Theatre. Her favorite roles include Kate in The Taming of the Shrew, Ruth in Table Manners, Philo mel in Polaroid Stories, and Andromache in Seneca’s Trojan Women. Ms. Erdmann is a graduate of Cornell University.


Rod Gnapp (Snobby Price) is a graduate of the American Conservatory Theatre. He has performed on stages throughout the Bay Area and around the country. Rod recently returned from New York, where he worked on Tony Kushner’s Homebody/Kabul at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Previously, he performed in the Steppenwolf Theatre’s production of Time of Your Life directed by Tina Landau. Rod also appeared in Sam Shephard’s The Late Henry Moss where he went on for Sean Penn several times. He was also Woody Harrelson’s understudy in the same production.


Jim Iorio (Bill Walker) recently appeared in San Jose Repertory Theatre’s The Underpants as Versati. His regional theatre credits include Arizona Theatre Company, the Guthrie Theater, Utah Shakespearean Festival, Missouri Repertory Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Pioneer Theatre Company, Asolo Theatre Company, GeVa Theatre, the Colorado and New Jersey Shakespeare Festivals, A Noise Within, Pacific Resident Theatre, Muhlenberg Summer Theatre, and Vineyard Playhouse. In New York City, he has appeared at Town Hall, New Dramatists, Musical Theatre Works, Abingdon Theatre, SoHo Rep and Bank Street Theatre. On television he has appeared on “Queens Supreme,” “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “One Life to Live,” “Another World,” “Loving” and “The Street.” Film credits include Petty Crimes. Directing credits include Monster Islandat the Abingdon Theatre in New York City, the premiere of Vincent at the New York International Fringe Festival (2003) and A Life in the Theatre at the Asolo. Mr. Iorio has an M.F.A. from New York University’s Graduate Acting Program and also trained with the Moscow Art Theatre.


Phoebe Moyer (Mrs. Baines) appears for the first time at San Jose Rep. Winner of numerous San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards and Dean Goodman Choice Awards, she has performed throughout the Bay Area for TheatreWorks, Aurora Theatre Company, Marin Shakespeare, Pacific Alliance, Theater Artists of Marin, Calaveras Rep, TheatreFirst, American Citizen’s Theatre, Angst Ensemble, Center-REP, Sierra Rep, Curtain Theatre, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Quicksilver II Theatre Company, Solano College, College of Marin, Actors Theatre of Sonoma, PCPA TheatreFest, PlayhouseWest, Willows Theatre and Woman’s Will. Some of her favorite roles include Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Phoebe Rice in The Entertainer (San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award 2002), Maria Callas in Master Class (SFBATCC Nomination 2000) and Daisy in Driving Miss Daisy (SFBATCC Award 1998). Phoebe has been a theatre/dance instructor at both the high school and college levels and is listed in “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.” She is currently a voice-over artist and acting coach.


Joy Osmanski (Jenny Hill) is delighted to return to the Rep and the Bay Area! Regional credits include The Matchmaker (San Jose Rep), Lily Plants a Garden (Mark Taper P.L.A.Y) and Be Aggressive (La Jolla Playhouse). She recently received her MFA from the University of California, San Diego. UCSD credits include The Three Sisters (San Diego Playbill Award), The Dumbwaiter, and Faust Fragments directed by Brian Kulick.


Mark Anderson Phillips (Stephen) is pleased to be making his San Jose Rep debut with Major Barbara. He was last seen as Ezra Chater in Arcadia at TheatreWorks. Other TheatreWorks roles include Hal in Proof (2003 Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award), Jack in Charley’s Aunt, Nick in Over the River and Through the Woods and Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath ( 2000 Critics Circle Award). For the Magic Theatre, Mark has appeared in True West (Austin) and the U.S. premiere of Stones in His Pockets (Jack). Recently, Mr. Phillips was seen as Simon in The Last Schwartz at Marin Theatre Company. Other Bay Area work includes roles with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, California Shakespeare Festival, and Word for Word.


Stacy Ross (Barbara) Ms. Ross was last seen in Cal Shakes’s The Comedy of Errors and Henry IV, Parts I & II. Recent credits include S mell of the Kill at the Playhouse, Man of Destiny at the Aurora, Arms and the Man at Cal Shakes, The Constant Wife at A.C.T., and Book of Days at TheatreWorks. Ms. Ross’s regional credits include The Green Bird and Cloud Nine at Berkeley Rep; Spring Storm and Candida at Marin Theatre Co.; Misalliance at Baltimore Center Stage; As You Like It and Twelfth Night at San Francisco Shakespeare Festival; and The Taming of the Shrew and Hamlet at Cal Shakes.


Matthew Schneck (Charles Lomax) Broadway: London Assurance at Roundabout Theatre Company (directed by Joe Dowling). Off-Broadway: A 12 lb. Discourse at the SoHo Rep (co-written and co-performed with Pete Simpson). Regional: The Little Foxes at the Shakespeare Theatre (directed by Doug Hughes), Much Ado About Nothing at the Shakespeare Theatre, The Beauty Queen of Leenane at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde at the Alley Theatre, Snakebit at TheatreFest, The Wild Duck at Great Lakes Theatre Festival, Lincoln’s Log at the Fulton Opera House, and A Dybbuk, Romeo and Juliet and A Christmas Carol at the Denver Center Theatre Company. Also in New York City: Ensemble Studio Theatre, Century Center for the Performing Arts, Center Stage, Dance Theatre Workshop and WestBeth Theatre Center. Mr. Schneck holds an M.F.A. from The National Theatre Conservatory.


Erik Singer (Adolphus Cusins) is delighted to be making his debut at San Jose Rep. Theatrical credits include the title role in The Hostage (Off-Broadway at the Irish Repertory Theatre), A Life in the Theatre (Two River Theatre Company), Greetings! (Virginia Stage Company), Stones in His Pockets (Tri-State Actors’ Theatre), national tours of Othello and The Taming of the Shrew (playing Iago and Petruchio), Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde (BoarsHead Theatre), and The Tempest (Vermont Stage Company). He has also appeared on “All My Children” and “As the World Turns,” and was the voice of Vincent Van Gogh in the recent “A&E Biography” about Van Gogh and Gauguin. He has narrated several audiobooks, including the best-sellers The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom, and The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst. Mr. Singer is a graduate of Yale University and the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.


Peter Van Norden (Andrew Undershaft) This is, happily, Mr. Van Norden’s seventh appearance with San Jose Rep, where audiences might remember him from The Odd Couple, Nixon’s Nixon, Mizlansky/Zilinsky, The Matchmaker, Enter The Guardsman and ‘ART’. His most recent regional theatre appearances were as John Barrymore in Mr. Shaw Goes to Hollywood at Laguna Playhouse, as Scrooge at San Diego Rep’s Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and as John Tarleton in Shaw’s Misalliance at Center Stage, Baltimore. On Broadway, he has performed in Little Johnny Jones (opposite Donny Osmond) and Saint Joan (with Lynn Redgrave). His numerous Off-Broadway shows include the role of 1st Gravedigger opposite Kevin Kline’s Hamlet, with Al Pacino in Brecht’s Jungle Of Cities, and with Meryl Streep in Henry V at the N.Y Shakespeare Festival.

Among his many L.A. theatre appearances, he won the first Backstage West Garland Award for his performance in Joe Orton’s Loot, and has appeared at The Mark Taper Forum, L.A.T.C. and just about every other L.A. venue. Film credits include The Accused, Police Academy 2, An Innocent Man, the Academy Award®-winning short Ray’s Male Heterosexual Dance Hall, and as the lead in the 1993 Cannes Film Festival selection Don’t Call Me Frankie. Most recently, he appeared in the Jennifer Lopez/Ben Affleck feature, Gigli. His many, many T.V. appearances include recurring roles on “L.A. Law,” “Murder, She Wrote,” “Life Goes On” and as Ralph Brentner in the eight-hour Stephen King mini-series, “The Stand.”