Chris J Handley, Executive Artistic Director

presents

WIPEOUT
BY
AURORA REAL DE ASUA

DIRECTED BY JOSIE DIVINCENZO

Featuring
Julie Kittsley
Diane McNamara
Christina Rausa
and Jacob Applegate

Scenic Design
BRYCE CUTLER

Lighting/Sound Design
EMMA SCHIMMINGER

Costume Design
ANN R. EMO

Movement Coordinator
ANNA KREMPHOLTZ

Technical Direction
EMMA SCHIMMINGER

Assistant Director
RYAN ADAM NORTON

Stage Manager
KIMBERLY NEISS

Season 45. Our 178th Production.
September 6 - 28, 2024
September 11, Opening Night

A breakout new play by Aurora Real de Asua, WIPEOUT was previously workshopped at Manhattan Theatre Club and Williamstown Theatre Festival. It was first produced as a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere by Rivendell Theatre Ensemble (Chicago, IL), B Street Theatre (Sacramento, CA) and Gloucester Stage Company (Gloucester, MA). For more information, please visit nnpn.org.

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 rights, and actionable under United States Copyright Law.

JOSIE DIVINCENZO
DIRECTOR

Excited to be back at the Alleyway, Josie last appeared here in THE FOLKS AT HOME in February. She directed for Alleyway’s BUFFALO QUICKIES during the pandemic - short plays produced in storefronts along Main Street with audience wearing headphones and watching from sidewalks.

Other directing includes for The Jewish Repertory Theatre (TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE, SISTERS IN LAW, THE YEAR MY MOTHER CAME BACK), Niagara University (SHAKESPEARE’S KINGS AND QUEENS). She won the Best Director Award at the NYS Theatre Festival for ELECTRA. 

An award-winning actress for both stage and film, (two Artie Awards, The Best of WNY, and The 48 Hour Film Project) Josie’s acting credits include those regionally in New York, Arkansas, and Los Angeles, and locally at Jewish Repertory Theatre, Irish Classical Theatre Co., Shakespeare in Delaware Park, The Kavinoky Theatre, Lancaster Opera House and Buffalo Laboratory Theatre. Her Film credits include those in DAREDEVIL, MARSHALL, BASHIRA, PLAN B, and on TV in 24, WEEDS, CSI, BECKER, BEVERLY HILLS 90210, E.R., FRIENDS, NYPD BLUE, to name a few. 

A private acting coach and higher education teacher, Josie has been an adjunct professor in Acting Styles at both Niagara University and SUNY Fredonia for the past 12 years. 

WIPEOUT is dedicated to those of us who have been holding out our whole lives to catch a wave.

BRYCE CUTLER
SCENIC DESIGN

Previous designs include Grand Horizons on Broadway; 2020 Pulitzer Prize finalist Soft Power at The Public Theater; along with world premieres by John Patrick Shanley, Dael Orlandersmith, Matt Aucoin, and Grammy Award winner Steve Mackey; Other projects include Samsung’s virtual reality television series Interpretation of Dreams; Feel The Pride, an AI powered audio-visual installation with St. Vincent; and a virtual reality arcade for Muse’s 2019 World Tour.

EMMA SCHIMMINGER
LIGHTING & SOUND DESIGN
ALLEYWAY PRODUCTION MANAGER & TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

Emma is an Artie Award winning theatrical designer and technician, specializing in lighting design and production/stage management. She is a Buffalo native who moved back to the area after spending a decade working in New York City. While there, she worked as a freelance lighting designer and at several private secondary schools in Manhattan as a designer, stage manager, technical director and faculty member. Emma also took time to travel to London in order to achieve her Master’s degree, and is still looking for an opportunity to travel there again.

Upon returning to Buffalo, she became Shakespeare in Delaware Park’s Resident Lighting Designer and has designed lighting for several other local theatre companies. Most recently, she was the Production Manager at UB’s Center for the Arts. Artvoice Artie award winner for Outstanding Lighting Design 2014, 2004 . BA:  State University of New York at Buffalo; MA: Royal Central School Of Speech And Drama, University of London.

ANN R. EMO
COSTUME DESIGN

Ann started her career in New York City after she received her M.F.A. from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She worked in the New York City area for many years, designing costumes for stage, dance, film, and opera. She was the resident costume designer for the Theater and Dance Alliance (TADA), a children's theater organization whose performers are children and young adults.

After moving to Buffalo in the early 1990s, Ann continued her work as a costume designer and technician with designs for over 10 productions for Studio Arena in Buffalo, co-productions with Syracuse Stage, several productions for GEVA Theater Center in Rochester, NY and locally at the Theater of Youth (TOY), Shakespeare in Delaware Park, Kavinoky, Irish Classical Theatre Company and the Jewish Repertory Theater. She is thrilled to add Alleyway Theatre to that list.

Until July 2022, Ann held the position of Full Professor and Chair of the Theater Department at Buffalo State University where she taught Costume Design, Stage Make-up and Technical Theater. In addition to course work and design, Ann mentored students in Independent Study projects and supervises Internships. She continues to be deeply committed to experiential learning, collaborative opportunities and the power of the arts for active communication.

KIMBERLY NEISS
STAGE MANAGER

RYAN ADAM NORTON
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER

Ryan is so excited to be back at Alleyway after last appearing in The Folks at Home (Brandon Littlefield-Harrison) earlier this year. Other local credits include American Idiot (Will) with Bellissima, The Sound of Music (Herr Zeller) with the Lancaster Opera House, and Guidebook (Hardy) with First Look Buffalo. Thank you to everyone at Alleyway and you for supporting live theatre!

I read Aurora’s play about a year and a half ago, and it’s been taking up space in my head since. Funny, poignant, theatrical – it’s exactly the sort of play that is right for the Alleyway. And I think you’re going to agree.

It’s also a play that is pretty rare -- featuring three women of a certain age in leading roles. Each season we consider about 1500 different scripts to ultimately choose our season. I can tell you first hand that the number of plays featuring a cast of this makeup is wildly rare. And if you were at our auditions, you’d understand how important it is to give these actors the opportunity. Our waiting room was a veritable who’s who of Buffalo theatre dames.

I am so proud of the cast Josie assembled, and the work these performers have done. We didn’t just ask them to carry the 90 minute plus show without leaving stage. No, we asked them to do it completely on surfboards. It’s so authentic to the play, and so theatrical in its own right. Plus the idea of turning our theatre 90º let our designers showcase the vastness of the Pacific.

WIPEOUT is something truly original. Aurora’s humor blends so beautifully and seamlessly into the touching moments of this story. Watching rehearsals over the last few days has made me consider the quote Aurora put at the beginning of her script:

You just gotta appreciate everything. I think that’s one of the most important things in life, is really appreciating it. Because we only get to do this once and it’s not for a long time, so enjoy.
- Jay Moriarity, Santa Cruz surf legend

If you’re like me, you’re moving non-stop from one thing to the next, and then when there’s a moment to rest, it ends up filled with doom-scrolling. To really stop and appreciate a moment, to acknowledge the fact that we only go around once is awesome. Awe-some. Awe-inspiring.

The fun these ladies have and the joy of their friendship is palpable and contagious. I hope you leave tonight and call friends you haven’t seen in a long time and make a plan for lunch.

Or, maybe make a plan to meet right here in November to see the very fast, very funny, very farce-y production of THE COTTAGE. I better start learning my lines!

Thanks for joining us tonight. Hang ten, my dudes.

Chris J Handley
Executive Artistic Director

producers circle
New York State Council on the Arts
Erie County
City of Buffalo
Cullen Foundation
The Shubert Foundation
Arts Services, Inc. of WNY

playwrights circle
Richard Lambert and the New Phoenix Theatre on the Park
M&T Bank

superstars
Anonymous

headliners
Anonymous
Dr. Samuel Goodloe, Jr.
Tom & Marilyn Handley
Maria Pendolino
David & Lora Sambora
Tom & Lee Ann Vogt

stars
Gail R. Arthurs
Dorie Drago
Jamey Quiram
Margaret & Bob Zak

troupers
Anonymous ( 8 )
Jeana Anastasi
Mary Rappl Bellanti
Drew Blum
Alissa Bornstein
Amy Burgmaier
Mary Charbonnet
Chris & Kristy Chilano
Steve & Kelly Copps
Diane &Tina DiBlasio
Jordan Feit
Alan Feller
Evalynn Ferraro
Janine Filippone
Abs Mac & Ian Fish
Fran & Tom
James & Cathy Gorlewski
Peter Hall & M.E. O’Leary
Chris J Handley
Mark Horowitz & Tom Staebell
Sue & Jerry Keppel
Paul Kochmanski
Theresa Quinn & Randall Kramer
Caitlin Littlefield
Issa Lopez
David Lundy
‍Natasha Marchewka
Jessica Marinelli
Sharon Martin
Robert Mazierski
Shazad Mustapha Mohammed
Kate Powers
Jennifer Read & Craig Colder
Brigid Reale
Tara Reimer
Pearl Rhein
David Roach
Maria & Alexander Rowan
Michael Russo
Sam Russo
Joey Schaljo
Charles Slisz
Deborah L. Spencer
Michael Starzynski
Lori Stilwell & Bob Anderson
Suzi Takahashi
Nikki Thomas
Isabella Tugman
Erikka J Veney
Tom Wilson
Edward & Michele Wright
Daniel Zak