Playhouse Theatre Group, Inc.

                 Executive Director- Tracy Flater           

  Artistic Director-Sean Harris

    Artistic Director-Darlene Zoller

  presents

LADY DAY AT EMERSON’S BAR AND GRILL
by
LANIE ROBERTSON

Director  Stephanie Pope Lofgren
Music Director  Nygel D. Robinson
Scenic/Lighting Designer  Johann Fitzpatrick
Sound Designer  Ethan Gueldenzopf
Costume Designer  Soule Golden
Props Master  Erin Sagnelli
Production Stage Manager  Dana Rudnansky

LADY DAY AT EMERSON’S BAR AND GRILL
is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals
www.concordtheatricals.com

THE VIDEOTAPING OR MAKING OF ELECTRONIC OR OTHER AUDIO AND/OR VISUAL RECORDINGS OF THIS PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTING RECORDINGS OR STREAMS IN ANY MEDIUM, INCLUDING THE INTERNET, IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED, A VIOLATION OF THE AUTHOR(S)’S RIGHTS AND ACTIONABLE UNDER UNITED STATES COPYRIGHT LAW. FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE
 VISIT: https://concordtheatricals.com/resources/protecting-artists

Billie Holiday
Danielle Herbert*   

Jimmy Powers 
Nygel D. Robinson*

Billie Holiday understudy 
Chelsea Pollard

*The Actor appears through the courtesy of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

The show runs 90 Minutes with no intermission

It’s midnight in March of 1959, the patrons of a seedy bar in south Philadelphia witness what will be one of Billie Holiday’s last performances.  Through her poignant voice, moving songs and soul bearing stories, one of the greatest jazz singers of all time shares her loves and losses.  Four months later, she will die of cirrhosis of the liver and heart failure in a hospital in Harlem.

I WONDER WHERE OUR LOVE HAS GONE
By Woodrow Johnson
All Rights Reserved.  
Used by permission of the publisher MUSIC SALES CORP.

WHEN A WOMAN LOVES A MAN
By Bernard Hanighen, Gordon Jenkins & Johnny Mercer
© 1938 All Rights Reserved.
Used with the permission of Chappell & Co., Inc. and Intersong-USA, Inc.

WHAT A LITTLE MOONLIGHT CAN DO
By Harry Woods
© 1934 – Harms, Inc.
Used by permission of the Publisher Warner Bros. Music.

CRAZY HE CALLS ME
By Bob Russell and Carl Sigman
Copyright by Major Songs Co. and Harrison Music Corp.  
All Rights Reserved  Used by permission.

GIMME A PIGFOOT (AND A BOTTLE OF BEER)
By Wesley Wilson
Published by Northern Music Co.  All Rights Reserved.
Used by permission of MCA Music, a Div. of MCA Inc.

BABY DOLL
By Bessie Smith 
© 1927 Empress Music, Inc.
© Renewal exclusively Empress Music, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
Used by permission of Frank Music Corp.

GOD BLESS THE CHILD
By Arthur Herzog, Jr. and Billie Holliday
© 1941 – Edward B. Marks Music Co.  Copyright renewed.
All Rights Reserved.  Used by permission.

FOOLIN' MYSELF
By Jack Lawrence and Peter Tinturin
All Rights Reserved. Used by permission of Chappell & Co., Inc.,
Intersong-USA, Inc. and M.P.L. Communications, Inc.

SOMEBODY'S ON MY MIND
By Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog, Jr.
© 1947 – Edward B. Marks Music Co.
Copyright renewed.  All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.

EASY LIVIN'
By Robin & Ralinger
Published by Famous Music Corp.  
All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.

STRANGE FRUIT
By Lewis Allan
© 1939 – Edward B. Marks Music Co.  Copyright renewed.
All Rights Reserved.  Used by permission.

Blues Break

TAINT NOBODY'S BIZ-NESS IF I DO
By Porter Grainger & Everett Robbins
Published by MCA Music, a Div. of MCA, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.  Used by permission.

DON'T EXPLAIN
By Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog, Jr.
Published by Duchess Music Corp.  All Rights Reserved.
Used by permission of MCA Music, a Div. of MCA, Inc.

WHAT A LITTLE MOONLIGHT CAN DO (Reprise)

DEEP SONG
By Douglas Cross & George Cory
Published by Northern Music Co.  All Rights Reserved.
Used by permission of MCA Music, a Div. of MCA, Inc.

When asked what my vision was for LADY DAY AT EMERSON’S BAR & GRILL, I answered that I wanted to bring light to all the darkness that surrounded Billie Holiday’s life. However, her life, for me, was so all encompassing I had a hard time sifting that vision down to one cohesive idea. So, let me first talk about what it is not. 

There is a tendency to define Billie Holliday by her addiction to heroin and alcohol... and subjectively view her as a victim. This one fact, of her having been an addict, does not and should not define her entire life. Her life was defined well before the addictions. 

For me, it is the rape at age 10 and being sent to a juvenile facility as punishment for that rape; the verbal and physical abuse by family members, and then later by many of the men in her life; her mother living in a brothel and introducing her to prostitution by age 13; the racism and sexism she faced traveling throughout the south as the only black female in the bands she toured with; the threat of being arrested for daring to sing Strange Fruit, a song about the brutality inflicted on black bodies she witnessed; being arrested and treated as a criminal because of her addiction rather than someone who might be in need of help. 

For me, these are the things that define Billie Holiday... as a person. And though these experiences may define her as a person....should they define her as an artist? 

With this play, I hope to shed light on why she may have chosen to deal with her many traumas in the manner she did. Our challenge is to neither romanticize nor pity Billie Holiday’s (or anyone else’s) addiction, but to acknowledge it for what it is - a way, by which, one chooses to escape physical or emotional pain. 

It is clear that the desire to escape or avoid pain is as prevalent and relevant now as it ever was....and may be closer to all of us than we might want to admit. We see this every day, from the rise in the tragic heroin/fentanyl related deaths and the oxycontin opioid crisis, to smoking pot, having a glass of wine after work or popping a CBD gummy before bed. 

Both in addition to and in spite of exposing what Billie Holliday faced, I hope the audience comes away with a deeper understanding of who she was - as a person; as a woman; as a black woman in a particular time and place in our history - and celebrate her ability to transform her pain into a voice, a sound, a style, that both informs and transcends that pain into music that resonates with all of us, continues to stand the test of time, and will live forever. 

Stephanie Pope Lofgren

Director 
Stephanie Pope Lofgren

Music Director 
Nygel D. Robinson

Scenic Designer 
Johann Fitzpatrick

Costume Designer 
Soule Golden

Costume Designer for Understudy
Lorraine Polizzi

Lighting Designer 
Johann Fitzpatrick

Sound Designer 
Ethan Gueldenzopf 

Properties & Set Dressing 
Erin Sagnelli

Production Stage Manager 
Dana Rudnansky

Assistant Stage Manager 
Vintage Kovel

Production Manager 
David Addis

Technical Director 
Johann Fitzpatrick

Scenic Carpenters 
Stephen Havrilla, Jordan Howey

Master Electrician 
Johann Fitzpatrick

Electrics Crew 
Robyn Joyce, Ben Pitz, Dwayne Wills

Scenic Charge 
Erin Sagnelli

Scenic Painter 
Rubi Torres

Dramaturg 
Liv Fassanella

Covid Compliance Officer 
Vintage Kovel

Lobby Design 
Darlene Zoller, Eileen Oconnor

Production Photographer 
Meredith Longo

Program Printing 
Budget Printers 

Program Production
Onstage Publications

Program Design
Liv Fassanella

Poster/Postcard Design 
Dornenburg | Kallenbach Advertising 

Poster Distribution
FAVARH

Webmaster 
Rick Fountain 

E-Newsletter 
Lisa Steier

Avery Heights Senior Living

Carolina Wine Brands

Edible Arrangements

Excel Fitness

Falcetti Pianos

Falcetti School of Music

FAVARH

Amanda Forker

Hoffman SummerWood Senior Living

Mandel Jewish Community Center

Mark Raymond

Jonathan Reuning-Scherer

Phyllis and Howard Small

Carole Wagner

Co-Founder/Executive Director- Tracy Flater

Co-Founder/Artistic Director- Sean Harris

Co-Founder/Artistic Director- Darlene Zoller

Company/Business Manager- Jonathan Katz

Interim Production Manager- David Addis

Technical Director/Master Electrician- Johann Fitzpartrick

Director of Marketing & PR- Natalie Noack

Literary Manager- Moira O’Sullivan

Dramaturg/New Works Coordinator- Liv Fassanella

Development Associate- Emma Mills-Cook

Director of Education- Jill Zarcone

Education Coordinator- Jasmine Calhoun

Education Faculty- Marie Altenor, Christina DeCarlo, Josh Karam, Nick Palazzo, Anna Ricciuti, Jill Zarcone

Front of House Manager- Tori Mooney

Box Office Administrators- Jasmine Calhoun, Cianna Costa, Liv Fassanella, Matthew Guerrera

Besty Udal- President

Peter Evans- Vice President 

Matthew Bragg and Richard Rubenstein- Co-Treasurers

Sarah Jakubowski- Secretary

Gaetano Albani

Paige Buade

Melanie Ellis

William Fish

Kate Houlihan

Andrew Lattimer

Gail Mangs

Susan Miller

Annie Scott

Rebecca Selig

Joanna Sprout

Vinod Sukhraj

Ruth Van Winkle

BOARD MEMBER EMERITUS

Matthew Bragg

Chuck Coursey, Founding VP

Bonnie Gauthier

Carol McCabe

Margaret Rattigan

Julianne Roth

Robert Rowlson*

Ron Roy

Richard Rubenstein

Robert Slifka

David Wurzer, Founding President

*Deceased

ADVISORY COUNCIL

Jim Bergenn, Valeria Caldwell-Gaines, Erika Cantin, Mayor Shari Cantor, Stefanie Chambers, Chris Conway, Anna Crawford, Matthew Cuddy, Kyra Dorsey, Kevin Doyle, Nina Elgo, Kenneth Elligers, Earl Exum, Dan Falotico, David Figliuzzi, Gail Frahm, Tracy Frankel, Kathy Frederick, Lisa Greene, Donna Haghighat, Bob Hilborn, Calida Jones, Susan King, Andy Lieberman, Dave Macri, Charles Mallory, Gloria Mengual, Mike Michaud, Tanya Penman-Sterling, David Polk, Mike Rouette, Wanda Seldon, Kim SIlcox, Amy Silverman, Jonathan Slifka, Howard Sovronsky, Rachel Spitzig, Brittany Stephenson, Nyaunu Stevens, Joe Waxman, Carol Waxman, Yvette Young