THE OBERLIN COLLEGE THEATER DEPARTMENT PRESENTS

THE DEATH OF MIDAS

by Owen Anderson

NOVEMBER 17-20th, 2022

CONTENT WARNINGS: Death, Implied Violence, Flashing Lights, Loud/Sudden Noises

CAST

Karah Innis as King Midas, Gilded

Gaby Castillo as Sinner, Talking Head

Liz Hawk as Sinner, Preacher

Peter Fray-Witzer as Sinner, Reporter

Puck Hartsough as Prince Midas, President

Mai Hoang as Mother, Starlight

Mac McKinzie as River/Wildfire

Belle Pflanz as River/Wildfire

Kendra Dwyer as River/Wildfire

Owen Anderson as Politician, Comedian

Kate Heffernan as Comedian, Politician

Tseli Mathebula as Revolutionary

ARTISTIC Team

Owen Anderson (Playwright)

Graciela Fernandez (Director)

Kat Christie-Mizell (Assistant Director)

Ani Adell (Stage Manager)

Loretta Wilson (Assistant Stage Manager)

Rachel Kessler-Weinstein (Props Manager)

Lucas Draper (Lighting Designer)

Lauren O'Hear (Scenic Designer)

playwright'S NOTE

"The entire process of The Death of Midas has been a collective creation. From the moment I shared the earliest dreams of the script with Graciela a year ago, this show has not been mine alone. That was my hope from the beginning because I don’t believe anything in this show is completely original. That does not make this story any less meaningful to me. Midas is an old character. The Purple Flower is from Marita Bonner. This is a story that is ours because others have shared it with us.

The Death of Midas has been an opportunity to grow as a writer and performer, like I had hoped, but really it has become an excuse. This production has been an excuse for me to collaborate with people. I feel as if I have known each member of the production, cast, and crew for forever, even though some of us met only months ago. I deeply admire all of them as individuals and as artists. How can I possibly thank you all? I will simply have to thank you again, and again, and continue to give back energy that seems so small in comparison to you giants. I believe the performance that we have created together shows all our efforts. Here we are; some on stage, some backstage. Others are beyond our place of performance because their work was done before the final show. And, for those who are recovering, we wish them health and rest.

In Ms. Caroline’s class last year, I began writing The Death of Midas. I continued in Professor Barclay’s class, and I have not stopped writing since. I did not know where the journey would lead, or the story we would tell. Our collective will to complete this journey is impressive to me, let alone this place that we now find ourselves at the end. You may never know the full power of our collective will, but you will see its memory in our performance, and even that fingerprint may be overwhelming. When describing this show, “overwhelming” seems, to me, to be the best word. Despite the challenges and physical distance we are all in this show, one way or another.

Whatever you take away from The Death of Midas, I hope that you take comfort in the fact that, even as the playwright, I cannot hope to fully understand the entire story. Whatever The Death of Midas is to you, let it be, as we have done. And please, take a breath… and exhale."

ARTISTIC TEAM BIOS

Owen Anderson (Playwright) is a fourth-year from Baltimore, Maryland, and a student representative for the Theater Department. Owen is double majoring in Theater and Creative Writing, and pursuing an Integrative Concentration in Peace and Conflict Studies. He is excited for the opportunity to produce the first staged production of his original work, The Death of Midas, as his Honors Project in Theater, and perform as a member of the ensemble. He made his acting debut at Oberlin in The Aliens (Evan), and has worked on the Oberlin Mainstage in Olympus (Stage Manager), The Misanthrope (Assistant Stage Manager), and AtGN (Light Board Operator). Owen is grateful for the care and energy put into the production by the entire team to create The Death of Midas, and for the support of his family and friends.

Graciela Fernandez (Director) is a third-year psychology major and dance minor. The Death of Midas is her directorial debut, and she is incredibly grateful to Owen for trusting her with this monster of a production. She last served as assistant director and hair designer for Chicago. Graciela switches between both sides of the table and was previously seen in The Misanthrope (Eliante), Big Spender (Mein Herr), Ordinary Days (Claire), and Olympus (Tesia). She would like to thank her parents for their continued support.

Kat Christie-Mizell (Assistant Director) (he/him) is a fourth year Theater major from Nashville, TN. He has worked on several Oberlin theater productions, such as OLYMPUS, Professor Caroline Jackson-Smith’s The Word and the Beat, Black Arts Workshop, and the up-coming production of Ophelia: A Prism. He would like to thank every single person who had a hand in seeing this production come to life, and make sure they know it couldn’t be done without them. He can’t wait for you to see the show.

Ani Adell (Stage Manager) is a first-year from Los Angeles, California interested in studying psychology and statistics. This is her first show at Oberlin and her first time stage managing. She is constantly inspired by the work and talent of everyone involved in The Death of Midas and she is so grateful to the production team for giving her this opportunity to stage manage such a wonderful production.

Loretta Wilson (Assistant Stage Manager) is an undeclared first-year student from Los Angeles. She is so excited to be assistant stage managing this production of The Death of Midas! Shoutout to the cast and crew and wonderful stage manager Ani Adell!

Rachel Kessler-Weinstein (Props Manager) is a first-year student hailing from Salt Lake City, Utah. She is considering majoring in theatre, gender studies, psychology, or a combination of all three. Although Rachel has acted in many plays — in high school, at the University of Utah Youth Theatre School, and, most recently, in Oberlin’s student production of Portal — this is her first time managing props! Rachel has loved this new experience and hopes to continue working behind the scenes in the future. She would like to thank the wonderful production crew for this opportunity.

Lucas Draper (Lighting Designer) is a fourth-year Computer Science and Theater major from Melbourne, Australia. He has worked on a variety of shows across campus, sound designing Olympus, Funny Girl, and Big Spender, Stage managing The Aliens and Shayna Punim, and lighting designing various dance shows including the student dance showcase and senior dance capstones.

Lauren O’Hear (Scenic Designer) is a fourth-year theater major and creative writing minor from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At Oberlin, she has designed costumes for A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (Oberlin Musical Theater Associaion), She Loves Me (OMTA), and Chicago (OMTA), and has assistant stage managed Peter and the Starcatcher (Mainstage) and The Moors (Mainstage). Lauren would like to thank her friends and family for their support and encouragement, as well as everyone who came out to see this exciting production!

CAST BIOS

Gabriela Castillo is a fourth-year Theater and Biology double major and Africana Studies minor from New York City. She is incredibly excited for everyone to see this production and has loved being apart of it. Gabriela was previously in Oberlin's Mainstage production of AtGN (Congregation) last fall. Apart from acting Gabriela has worked tech for both the Word and the Beat and the Juneteenth productions during the summer of 2021. She was also an Assistant Stage Manager for the Mainstage production Olympus this past February and this coming Winter Term, she will be stage managing Ophelia: A Prism. For now, she hopes you all enjoy the show!

Peter Fray-Witzer (he/him) is a third-year Comparative Literature major from Lexington, Massachusetts. This is his first time performing at Oberlin, and he would like to thank this wonderful cast and crew for all their support!

Kate Heffernan (she/her) is a first-year prospective Theater major from Los Angeles, California. She is so grateful to the Death of Midas cast & crew for their constant creative and emotional support throughout this magical process. She would like to thank her family and friends for being really cool people!

Matsediso Mathebula is a third year Theater major with an Education Studies concentration. They are of South African descent and were raised in Atlanta, GA, and Inglewood, CA. Most recent Oberlin productions include Olympus (Ensemble), AtGN (Tiresias), Fires In the Mirror, and the student directed piece Sankocho (Abuelo). Tseli is especially thankful for the opportunities to make Black, community centered art— outside of theater they are involved in OSLAM and choreographing for step teams. They give endless love and gratitude to family and friends from home, and hope you enjoy the show!

Mai Hoang is a fourth year psychology major with minors in English and theater. She has also previously performed at Oberlin in Equilibrium (dir. Cyril Amanfo), Olympus (dir. Prof. Caroline Jackson-Smith) and Sankocho (dir. Gabe Gomez). She would like to thank the talented cast/crew for such an amazing experience, Graciela for the endless support/guidance and of course Owen for creating such an incredible work of art. She hopes you enjoy the show!

Puck Hartsough is a fourth-year Classical Civilizations and Creative Writing major from San Francisco. At Oberlin, they have previously performed in the Winter Term 2020 production of Martin McDonagh's The Pillowman. They hope you enjoy the show!

Kendra Dwyer (she/her) is a third-year Theater and Africana Studies major. During her time here at Oberlin she has performed in Olympus (dir. Prof. Caroline Jackson-Smith), Spring Back (2022), and Fall Forward (2022). She wants to express much love and admiration for the cast and crew of this production and she hopes you enjoy!

Liz Hawk is a third-year Psychology and Dance double major from New Jersey. Previous Oberlin credits include Hamlet (Guildenstern) and Spring Back. They are incredibly excited to be performing in this amazing show and want to thank the Cast, Crew, and Director for creating such a disability-friendly space!

Mac McKinzie is a second-year majoring in English.

Karah Innis (she/her) is a fourth-year, and a Comparative Literature major. She recently appeared in Cyril Amanfo's Olympus, as Enyo, Goddess of War, Dance of Hands, as Lloyd, and she was part of Underground Shakespeare’s production of Twelfth Night, as Sebastian. She would like to thank her friends and family for supporting her in this endeavor, and she hopes that you enjoy the show!

Isabelle Pflanz is a third-year Theater and Dance Student from NYC. Pre-college performance credits include a number of shows with Theater of the Apes, Firebird Youth Theater, and in the Narnia Music Festival. Recent work outside of Oberlin includes co-adaptor and performer credits in several interactive productions in New York. This is Isabelle’s acting debut at Oberlin after working as an ASM for OMTA’s production of At the End of the World. Isabelle is so thankful to have had the chance to work with such lovely and brilliant folks on this show!

SPECIAL THANKS

Caroline Jackson Smith, Kari Barclay, Sayanth Shajith, Daniel James, Laura Carlson-Tarantowski, The RCT’s Free Store, Will and Laurie Anderson

THEATER DEPARTMENT FACULTY

ERIC STEGGALL, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF THEATER, DANCE, AND OPERA

KARI BARCLAY, VISITING ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF THEATER

MATTHEW WRIGHT, PROFESSOR OF THEATER, CHAIR OF THEATER

ANJANETTE HALL, VISITING ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF THEATER

PRESTON CROWDER, VISITING ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF THEATER

JOE NATT, SENIOR TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

JEREMY BENJAMIN, VISITING INSTRUCTOR/LIGHTING DESIGNER

LAURA CARLSON-TARANTOWSKI, SCENIC DESIGNER AND LECTURER IN THEATER

DAVID BUGHER, ASSISTANT TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

CHRIS FLAHERTY, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF THEATER

Central ticket service & publicity

BOX OFFICE MANAGER: Stephanie King

PUBLICITY: Maeve Hogan, Lizzy Griffin, Nova Gomez, Kathryn Von Coelln

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