The Red and the Bright

by Liz Neerland

Dramatis personae

This production runs 90 minutes, no intermission

Voiceover talent: Heidi Berg, Nicole Goeden, Song Kim, Laura Mason

The roles of Ronz and Krill are played by:

December 4: Cockroach and Kari Hammer
December 5: Jeffrey Goodson and Jeremy Wendt
December 9: Delta Giordano and Cate Jackson
December 10: Nicholas Nelson and David Tufford
December 11: A. Milkman and Derek Meyer
December 12: Tara Lucchino and Special Guest
December 13: Nissa Nordland Morgan and Zach Morgan
December 16: Samuel Ahern and Ernest Briggs
December 17: Erin Denman and Song Kim
December 18: Derek Dirlam and Sam Landman
December 19: Josh Cragun and Liz Neerland

Set Crew: Gaea Dill-D’Ascoli, Amanda Fineran, Brian Hesser, Ariel Pinkerton, Corinna Troth, Carl Lundstrom, Jenny Moeller, Naomi Duke, Scott Gilbert, Kevin Dwyer, Genevieve Dwyer, Betsy Faber, Norah Semsar, Becca Malmstrom, Brittany Pooladian

This show is dedicated to the memory of Jim Barri and George Healy, two nimbus stalwarts who we lost in 2020.

Biographies

Ursula K Bowden is a freelance set and properties designer and scenic charge in the Upper Midwest. A BFA Technical Theater and Theatrical Design degree holder from Drake University, Bowden has been a full time theater artist for over a decade. In addition to ~30 shows with nimbus, her work has been seen in various incarnations on the stages of Park Square Theater, New Native Theatre, Chameleon Theatre Circle, Theatre Pro Rata, Swandive Theatre, Fortune's Fool Theatre, Freshwater Theatre, Theatre Unbound, Frank Theatre, Theatre Latte Da, the Guthrie Theater, and others. She also works as a theater educator around the Twin Cities. Ursula’s eye for detail was featured in American Theatre Magazine in 2014 for her scenic design for Swandive Theatre’s An Outopia for Pigeons. At home she enjoys spending time with her husband and young sons.

Sal V Cloak is a full-time freelance and independent artist, musician and storyteller. He has worked on local as well as international film, game, print and theater projects for over 15 years. Across his span of tools and skill sets, Sal's strengths lie in creative problem solving, spotting and making opportunities which emphasize the narratives of whatever he happens to be working on. He thrives most when collaborating with others to bring artistic visions to life. He also works as a creative consultant and mentor.

Alex Clark is a freelance lighting designer and photographer with an MFA in lighting design from the University of Minnesota and a BA in theatre, social science, history, and international relations from the University of Minnesota – Morris. He is blessed and cursed with an insatiable curiosity about everything and a fascination for how light interacts with our world. Lighting designs since the end of The Lockdown include: Miss Richfield 1981 (Illusion Theatre), Puffs (Anoka High School), Anastasia (Hutchinson High School), and The Uncertainty Principle (Open Eye).

Josh Cragun is a writer who fell into the company of theater artists at a young and impressionable age, and fortunately, has never been quite the same. This led to a series of questionable decisions, one of which took place in 2001 when he formed nimbus with a fellow writer known as Cockroach. He has been creating new theater with the company ever since. In that time he has written thirteen original works of theater for the company. In addition he has directed, as well as designed video, costumes, properties and sets for the company over the years. In one way or another, he has contributed to all of the company’s productions.

Classically trained, Faith Culbertson has played roles from a Lemur King to a Wicked Witch and lots in-between. Local appearances include Walking Shadow Theatre, Guthrie Theater, and Stage Theatre Company. She most recently appeared in Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach at Stages Theatre Company.
Additional credits include: Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka, Dreamworks Madagascar: A Musical Adventure, The Nightingale and The Hobbit. Faith has also appeared in community productions at Out of the Box Theatre, Homeward Bound Theatre Company, and AGLOW Theatre, where she received the Distinguished Thespian Award.
Special thanks to my love, Alan, who has supported me and my mentors that have pushed me to achieve more and never give up.

Mitchell Frazier attended University of Minnesota studying Theater and Speech with a minor in African American History. He is nimbus company member and has collaborated with them as an actor (American Noise, Emerald and the Love Song of the Dead Fisherman, From Darkness, the Red and the Bright and more); as a Lighting designer (Mail Order Bride, The Year of Magical Thinking, The Lower Depths, The Golden Ass, Happy Birthday Wanda June, Storms of November, and The River Becomes Sea); and as director (Nacirema: Stories of Color, Redemption). Mitchell is also an Independent Lighting Designer and resident lighting designer at Youth Performance Co., St. Paul Academy. He is also the Technical Director for the MN Fringe Festival and Roseville High School.
His greatest joys are introducing technical theater to young people and enjoying as much time as can be spent with his granddaughter Maya, and his son David and his wife Linnea. Mitchell is also a practitioner of Martial Arts. He has received a Second-Degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. He enjoys watercolor painting and swimming when he has carved out free time.

A 1999 Carnegie Mellon graduate, Forest Godfrey has been a freelance sound designer in the Twin Cities ever since and is excited to be back for his second nimbus show (also, excited to be back in the theater at all)! Selected credits include: nimbus: In the Age of Paint & Bone; TheatreX: A Sherlock Holmes Christmas Carol, The Haunting of Hill House; Theatre Coup d’Etat: Rogue Prince, Tempest, Marisol; Theatre Uncorked (co-producer with his wife Kari): Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf; Segue Productions: Laughing Wild; The Chameleon Theatre Circle (50+ productions): Vanishing Point, Spring Awakening, Little Shop of Horrors, Avenue Q, Macbeth; Lakeshore Players Theater: The Tempest, Goodnight Desdemona/Good Morning Juliet; Expensive Wino Productions: The Last Redshirt; The Mound Theater: It’s an Honorable Life, Klingon Christmas Carol; ABTech Midwest: Theatre 101; Theatre Mu/Guthrie: Yellow Fever. Film: “To Be or Not To Be: Klingons and Shakespeare” (released by Paramount Home Video: Star Trek VI BluRay Bonus Feature). When not behind a sound console, Forest is a computer architect at Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

Caitlin Hammel is a filmmaker in the Twin Cities. Her work has been shown at screenings and film festivals nationally and internationally. She has worked in documentary, narrative, and projection, but always with the purpose and passion to find the story of the people involved and use film to illuminate that journey. She is so proud to be a company member of nimbus and to have performed on the nimbus stage. She is also an enthusiastic educator at the Bakken Museum.

Brian Hesser received a BA in Theatre Arts from Augsburg college. For the past 2 decades he has worked for a plethora of professional theater companies and educational institutions as an Actor, Scenic Designer, Technical Director, Carpenter, Scenic Painter, Director, Fight Choreographer, Teaching Artist, & volunteer. Most recently working as a carpenter building and installing sets for The Play That Goes Wrong at Old Log Theater & Christmas of Swing at The History Theatre.
The Red and the Bright marks his 10th time appearing in a nimbus production as an actor. He officially became a company member serving in the role of Technical Director in 2009. In addition to performing and building things, he has designed sets and choreographed violence for many nimbus productions. He directed Woyzeck for the company in 2011.
He would like to thank Josh and Liz for letting him hitch his wagon up to this crazy ride. He loves the unique process of collaborative theater making they have developed and is thrilled to be a part of this 50th production!!
It has been an amazing and challenging rollercoaster transforming a big empty warehouse into a theater space (for a second time) especially during the theatrically dark days and uncertain times of 2020 & 2021. Brian is excited to continue that process as he looks forward with great anticipation and optimism about what the future holds for live theater. Thanks for checking out The Crane, hope to see you again.

Monique Lindquist is a native of Cincinnati and a graduate of the University of Minnesota with a BS in Aerospace Engineering and an MA in Education from Hamline University. She has been involved with nimbus for many years as a set builder, box officer, and general volunteer, and stepped into the role of Production Manager with the 2013 season. In her spare time (what spare time???) Monique is an avid hockey player and triathlete.

Liz Neerland is a native of Minneapolis and a graduate of Grinnell College. Since 2002, she has had a hand in writing, directing, designing, or producing every nimbus show. Recent writing credits include A Life of Days, The Kalevala, and In the Age of Paint and Bone. In addition to her co-Artistic Director Duties, she also serves as the company's Managing Director. In her "spare time" she enjoys cooking, motorcyling, spending time on the North Shore, and managing her dogs' Instagram account.

Ariel Pinkerton is an actor, director, storyteller, lighting designer and general theatrical ne’er-do-well. She is Co-Artistic Director of Fortune’s Fool (performing in Stop Kiss, Dog Act, and The Skriker) and company member of Freshwater Theater and Wonderlust. Previous nimbus credits include Orestes, TV Men, and Bohemian Flats. Next you can see her (should you desire a winter vacation) in the Tucson Fringe Festival in January and as Mary Lincoln in Freshwater’s Lincoln’s Children in September, 2022.

Rubble&Ash is the name that captures the collaborative design and production work of Andrea M Gross and Barb Portinga. For the past dozen years they have challenged and supported one another as costume designers, pattern makers, and storytellers. As Rubble&Ash, their work has been seen at nimbus in A Life of Days, The Pathetic Life and Remarkable Afterlife of Elmer McCurdy the Worst Robber in the West, The River Becomes Sea, and The Kalevala; at Park Square Theatre in Jefferson Township Sparkling Junior Talent Pageant; and the History Theater with Superman Becomes Lois Lane. 
Barb has been making her living solely via her varied costume skills since graduating from Augsburg College in 1990. Her design work has been seen throughout the Midwest, from Utah to Door County, WI.
Andrea made her Twin Cities debut with nimbus (Propaganda for the Converted in 2005) and has collaborated on nearly 100 productions with companies and directors all over Minnesota since.
Rubble&Ash melds pieces from existing stocks of costumes; thrift, antique, and fabric stores; and purpose builds garments to combine elements in unexpected ways. The intention is always to support the story and creation of character with skill and ingenuity.

Boo Segersin is glad to be back for her second nimbus production. She is a performer who has been working in and around the Twin Cities since the age of 6. She has worked with many wonderful companies including The Winding Sheet Outfit, Theatre Pro Rata, Transatlantic Love Affair, Stages Theatre Company, and others. Boo graduated from Augsburg College with a B.A in Theater Arts: Performance and enjoys cats, whiskey, and her husband Tom. Hi Tom! Find her on Instagram at @aboointhetheatre or check out her page on Minnesota Playlist to sign up for her newsletter.

Alyssa Thompson has been working as a Stage Manager/ASM around the Twin Cities for the past six years. She is the Company Stage Manager for nimbus, and loves the devising process and creating new work. She spends her days marketing travel to Scandinavia, Africa, and (her favorite) Antarctica. Her stage management credits include River Becomes Sea, Ludlow, The Kalevala, and Storms of November, with nimbus and Pioneer Suite and Mrs. Charles with Freshwater Theatre.

Dana Lee Thompson, originally from Kansas City, MO, earned her BFA in Theatre Performance at Missouri State University in 2005. She relocated to St. Paul in 2009.
This is Dana's 4th production with nimbus; previously seen in Redemption, Perilous Night, and Nacirema – Stories of Color.
Other local theatre credits include: History Theatre, Lyric Arts Main Stage, Frank Theatre, Little Lifeboats, Underdog Theatre, Mixed Blood, Artistry, Wonderlust Productions, Girl Friday, 20% Theatre, Gadfly Theatre, CLIMB Theatre and more.
Next: Jungle Theatre: REDWOOD

Corinna Troth has worked on numerous theater productions in a range of capacities, including set and prop design and construction, stage management, and even very occasionally, acting. In addition to nimbus, she has worked with many Twin Cities companies including Segue Productions, Theatre in the Round, Freshwater Theatre, Theatre Pro Rata, The Chameleon Theatre Circle, and Fortune’s Fool.

Playwright’s notes

I kept saying this was a play about a wolf long after it became something very different.

It’s still a play about a wolf, in that a wolf is central to the action of the show, but we’re a far cry from the story of a killer wolf in Bemidji that originally inspired me.

This play has also been a journey in every way possible. I took the journey from original idea into a realm of fiction and fantasy, creating a whole new world along the way. Our cast and design team (in various configurations) came from table work to performance across countless hurdles and setbacks.

And we’ve all gone to places we never would have imagined in the 20 months since we first started rehearsing this show. We are thankful and humbled to still be here and healthy. We are grateful that our venue and theater company still exist after months of shutdown and uncertainty. We bow our heads in remembrance to those who have been lost - to Covid-19, to violence at the hand of those who are supposed to protect us, to the cancer that took two members of the greater nimbus family in the last year.

In preparation for this show, I’ve been combing through our archives of the past 20 years and 50 shows. Getting to this opening night isn’t just the journey of this one production, but of the 49 before it, and how it shaped the artists we have become today. I can not express my gratitude for the hundreds (thousands?) of people who got us here. I would not be the writer I am today without them.

This world is for all of you. Thank you.

Special thanks

Sarah Gullickson and Guthrie Props, Rebecca Malmstrom, Anissa Gooch, Emily Pike

About nimbus

nim-bus, n.

1. a : A bright cloud, or cloudlike splendor, imagined as investing deities when they appeared on earth.
b : a cloud or atmosphere about a person or thing

2 : A bright or golden disk surrounding the head of a drawn or sculptured divinity, saint, or sovereign

3 : a rain cloud

nimbus has been creating original theater in the Twin Cities since 2001. Their unique process for the creation of playwright-led collaborative work combined with their passion for creating bold, eclectic theater has been dazzling audiences for over 15 years. A company founded and led by playwrights and run by the artists themselves, we are dedicated to creating theatre that crosses boundaries, promotes imagination, and ignites new conversations.

How we create our work

All of our work is created collaboratively using a process we have been refining since 2001. Our casts and design teams work with a director, dramaturg, and playwright to create original theater together. Often starting with a simple idea or concept, the entire team participates in researching and discussing the ideas, characters, and locations the play will focus on.

After several weeks of intensive research, the team enters a period we call ‘script work.’ During this time, the cast and director improvise and work with text provided by the playwright. Over time, a script takes form. After a staged reading as well as editing and finishing work by the playwright, rehearsal begins.

Unlike traditional American theater, our process allows the design concepts, characters, and narrative to develop together. Although our process is new, it is not extremely different from the way that Shakespeare or Moliere created their work. Our work is always evolving and changing, and we welcome your input in improving it.

nimbus Company members

Josh Cragun – Artistic Director
Liz Neerland – Artistic Director
Mitchell Frazier – Master Electrician
Andrea Gross – Company Manager
Caitlin Hammel – Video Manager
Brian Hesser – Technical Director
Monique Lindquist - Production Manager
Carl Lundstrom - Front of House Manager
Alyssa Thompson - Company Stage Manager
Alex Meyer - Volunteer Coordinator

Thank you to all of our 2021 financial contributors:

Andrew Troth, Barbara and Bob Gaertner, Bill & Sara Stout, Boo Segersin, Brook D. Carl, Bruce Abas, Carol Clarke, Cora M. Berg, Daniel Pinkerton, Dave & Mary Moehring, David and Suellen Buck, Diane Kepner, Glenn Kalpperich, Jim Larson, John W. and Suzanne Ursu, John Ward, Josh Cragun & Liz Neerland, Karen Crouch, Kathy Krenik-Minkler, Lucie Holzemer & Wally Mattson, Mark Oyaas, Mary Sandberg, Mat and Monique Lindquist, Melissa & Marcus Lienhard, Meri Golden, Nora Lonnquist, Pam Kaufman and Dennis Keierleber, Penny Cragun, Robert Gardner, Ron & Mary Mattson, Sarah Lanners, Scott Pakudaitis, Vincent & Sarah Olivieri, Warren & Carolyn Kime

As of November 30, 2021