Nostalgia Night

Sofya Levitsky-Weitz (Book) is a playwright and television/film writer who splits her time between Brooklyn and Los Angeles. She has written for Hulu’s The Dropout, FX’s The Bear, and Gaslit for Starz. Her play this party sucks (on the 2019 Kilroy’s List) was optioned by Mark Gordon Pictures for the stage and film/television rights and will be commercially produced on Broadway next year. Other plays include Cannabis Passover (PWC PlayLabs, 2020-2021 finalist for the O’Neill Playwrights’ Conference), be mean to me (semi-finalist for Premiere Stages at Keane), Gehinnom (semi-finalist for O’Neill Playwrights’ Conference, Playwrights’ Realm, and Princess Grace Award), and Intuitive Men (UCF Pegasus Playlab). She was a 2018-2019 Jerome Fellow and is a current core writer at the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis. She is an upcoming fellow at the MacDowell Colony and has attended Barn Arts and TOFTE. She has worked on several movies with Michael Showalter, including Fox Searchlight’s The Eyes of Tammy Faye. She got her M.F.A. in Writing for the Screen & Stage from Northwestern University, where she serves on the Advisory Board, and is a member of EST/Youngblood. www.sofyalevitskyweitz.com

Matthew McCollum (Music and Lyrics) is a composer, lyricist, and actor. His musical Black-Eyed Susan (Music/Lyrics; Book with Crystal Skillman) was selected for the 2017 ASCAP/DreamWorks Musical Theatre Workshop (f.k.a. “The Ballad of Brightwater”) and will be presented by New York Theatre Barn this April. Selected works: Crest (Music/Lyrics, Book: Sofya Levitsky-Weitz), 24-Hour Musicals; Songs for the Dead (Concept, Music/Lyrics), Feinstein’s/54 Below; The God Machine (Music/Lyrics, Book: Amanda J. Bermudez), in development; Twelfth Night (original music), Yale School of Drama; WTF Cabaret (vocal arrangements), Williamstown Theatre Festival. He has written songs for projects in development at Netflix and is the resident songwriter for the podcast Hero Club, now in its sixth season. A proud graduate of Yale School of Drama, he now splits his time between New York and his native Los Angeles. www.matthew-mccollum.com

Nostalgia Night takes place at a club called EnVideon. The place is Nevada – in a town on the way to somewhere else. The time is now – on the brink of an identity crisis.

Act I

• “When the Lights Come On” – Reby and Company
• “The Rulez!” – Kyle, Hannah
• “Who Needs an Entrance?” – Steph, Taylor
• “Big Bad Wolf” – Ruthie
• “Lit” – Kyle
• “Another Photograph” – Mel, Jade, Hannah, Ariel, Bryce
• “Forget about Me/Call Home” – Devyn, Bryce

There will be one 15-minute intermission between acts.

Act II

• “Just Be Real” – Bryce, Devyn, Taylor, Steph, Jade, Mel
• “Joybomb!” – Company
• “Shine” – Mickey
• “Hot on My Heart” – Reby, Mickey
• “Lockdown” – Company
• “Like You Never Had a Breakdown” – Hannah and Company
• “A Glass of Water” – Taylor, Kyle
• “Nostalgia” – Steph
• “A Perfect Ending” – Jade
• “Another Photograph” (Reprise” – Jade, Mel
• “Like You Never Heard a Reprise” – Reby
• “California” – Ariel and Company

John Simpkins (Director) is head of Musical Theatre at Penn State and a professional director specializing in new musicals. He has directed World Premieres of Love in Hate Nation (Joe Iconis/ Two River Theater); three-time Drama Desk nominated Bloodsong of Love: The Rock and Roll Spaghetti Western (Joe Iconis/ Ars Nova); The Black Suits (Joe Iconis/ Kirk Douglas Theatre); Legendale (Fredericia Theater, Denmark); Raging Skillet (Theaterworks Hartford); The Bus (59E59 Theatre); ReWrite (Urban Stages); The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks (Lucille Lortel); Things to Ruin (co-conceived and directed at Ars Nova, Second Stage). Regional: Quartet (Sharon Playhouse, starring Elizabeth Franz); Georgie (Sharon Playhouse, starring Ed Dixon); The Black Suits (Barrington Stage, starring Ben Platt); Merrily We Roll Along (Sharon Playhouse, starring Jason Tam, Lauren Marcus, A.J. Shively); Legendale (Dayton Human Race, starring Max Crumm); Damn Yankees (Engeman Theatre, starring Andre De Shields, Felicia Finley); Hairspray (NC Theatre); A Wonderful Life (Engeman Theatre); Annie & Cabaret (Sacramento Music Circus); Evita (Lyric Theatre Oklahoma). At Penn State, he has directed the new musicals Love in Hate Nation, The Last Day, and The Lucky Boy. john-simpkins.com

Richard Carsey (Music Director) has a varied career as conductor, pianist, actor and writer. He has been the music director for Disney on Classic, a concert tour of Japan, featuring 8 singers from the United States and the 50-piece Orchestra Japan. US national tours include The Phantom of the Opera, La Cage aux Folles, and Little House on the Prairie, the Musical. For many years he was artistic director and principal conductor of the Skylight Opera Theatre in Milwaukee, conducting over 60 productions, including several world premieres. He is a frequent guest conductor for symphony orchestras across the US, often working with Windborne Music, which presents classic rock and roll with orchestra. As an actor, Richard has appeared in the play 2 Pianos, 4 Hands in regional theaters across the US and Canada. As a pianist and arranger, he has performed in over 25 countries. At Lincoln Center Theater in New York he was music supervisor for the world premiere musical A Minister’s Wife. On Broadway he was music director for The House of Blue Leaves, starring Ben Stiller and Edie Falco. He is a conductor for The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, where he also conducted the revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel with Joshua Henry, Jessie Mueller, and Renée Fleming. His musical Not Even Remotely, co-written with Steve Kovaks, had its world premiere June-July 2021 at Northern Sky Theatre.

Jamie Johns (Associate Music Director) , composer/conductor/pianist, served as musical director of the North American tour of The Phantom of the Opera, was the resident music director at Skylight Music Theatre, director of Opera and Musical Theatre at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, and education director at Orlando Opera. Regional opera: Romeo and Juliette, Carmen, The Marriage of Figaro, La Traviata. Regional music theatre: Avenue Q; No, No, Nanette; Rent; Cabaret; The Last Five Years.

A. Kikora Franklin (Choreographer) is an associate professor of theatre/dance and teaches West African, hip hop, and Mojah dance. She has performed, choreographed, and taught in cities across the globe, including Linz, Austria; Grahamstown, South Africa; Dakar, Senegal; Minas Gerais, Brazil; and throughout China, Europe, and the United States. Franklin has also performed and choreographed for the Atlanta Hawks dance team. At Penn State, her creative work and research focuses on developing the Mojah dance technique, an original style that fuses modern (Horton and Dunham), jazz, West African, and hip hop movement into one form. Franklin’s interests also include studying the cultural and artistic expressions of the African Diaspora, the development and evolution of contemporary African and African-American concert and social dance, and using arts education as civic engagement. Franklin shares her passion for dance and culture with young students as the artistic director of Roots of Life, a performing arts ensemble based out of the State College Area School District.

Alexander Sage Oyen (Orchestrations) is an New York City-based songwriter/orchestrator/producer. As an arranger and producer he has worked with Nick Blaemire (A Little More Alive, available on streaming music platforms), Joe Iconis, Lauren Marcus, Timothy Huang (American Morning available on streaming music platforms) among others. As a songwriter his songs have over 10 million streams on Spotify and he is hard at work on several different musical theatre projects. His solo pop album, “If I Gave My Heart To You,” will be released by No Reverse Records on February 18. He has a beautiful wife named Rachel and the cutest dog ever named Cheddar Bay Biscuit, both of whom keep him going. AlexanderSageOyen.com | @AlexSageOyen

Mia Irwin (Scenic Designer) is a second-year M.F.A. candidate in Scenic Design from Durango, Colorado. Mia received her B.A. in Theatre Arts and a minor in Art and Design from the University of Northern Colorado in May 2020. She is an experienced scenic artist, having worked for several companies, including The Rev Theatre Company, The Little Theatre of the Rockies, Acomb, Ostendorf and Associates, LLC, Candlelight Dinner Playhouse, and continues to work as a scenic artist at Penn State. Her previous credits include the scenic design for The Wild Party (2021, Penn State Centre Stage), Dry Land (SOT), Eurydice (2019, UNC), associate scenic designs for Into the Woods (2019, Little Theatre of the Rockies), and The Drowsy Chaperone (2018, UNC). Upcoming projects include the assistant scenic design for the Penn State Capital Campaign. miairwindesign.com

Eleonore Maczura (Costume Designer) is a fourth-year student pursuing a B.F.A. in Costume Design and Technology. She has been fascinated with art, costumes, storytelling, and theatre since she was young, and she is thrilled to design her first show at Penn State Centre Stage. She has a lot of thanks to give: the actors, and design and production team, for their talent and drive; the costume shop and wardrobe team for their dedication and grace; her mentors Richard, Charlene, and Laura, for their support and words of wisdom; her parents, who nurtured her love for the arts; and to her sisters, friends, and partner, who have endlessly supported her through thick and thin! Her experiences in Costume Design and Technology include, but are not limited to The Wild Party (asst. costume designer), Brigadoon (first-hand), Angels In America (wardrobe supervisor), A Little Night Music (asst. costume designer), and more. See her past, present, and future works at eleonoremaczura.carrd.co Enjoy the show!

David Reingold (Lighting Designer) is a fourth-year student pursuing a B.F.A. in Lighting Design. He has a true passion for new and original works of theatre, and he couldn’t be more thrilled to engage in this beautiful piece of storytelling. “Many thanks to John for championing new musicals here at Penn State, and to John, Richard, Kikora, and Claire for creating a fun, exploratory rehearsal space and allowing me to drop by whenever I wanted! Thanks also to Quinn, Mason, Anna, and Ken for actualizing the lighting design and for not balking at the amount of LED tape we requested.” Up next you can see David’s work in Bone Play (March 25-27), an original play written by Penn State students about bodies, gender, death, and the future… davidreingold.net

Michael Aboah (Sound Designer) is a fourth-year student from the Washington, D.C. area pursuing Lighting and Sound design. Alongside theatre he is completing is IST degree with the intention of becoming an app developer for theatre. This is his first large-scale sound design along with it being a world premiere musical! Many thanks to the entire team production team but especially: Kyle, Maggie, Carlo, Michael Smedley, and Carter for helping bring the sound design to life. Michael’s past productions include A Midsummer’s Nights Dream (production audio), The Curious Incident of the Dog and the Night-Time (projections tech), The Last Five Years (projections tech), Dance Concert (sound designer), and Hooded… (sound board operator).

Sydney Smith (Projections Designer) , from Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, is going into his fourth and final year at Penn State as a B.F.A. Theatre Design and Technology candidate. He has had the opportunity to be a part of and design multiple shows like The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Hooded or Being Black for Dummies, the Dance Concert, and more. With his final show in the school he will show what he has learned throughout his time at Penn State.

Steven Rimke (Vocal Coach) teaches Voice and Speech for the B.F.A. Acting and Musical Theatre programs in the School of Theatre at Penn State. Steven has coached theatrical productions in Canada, England, Malaysia and the United States. Steven also provides coaching to members of the transgender community, aiding in their ability to have their voice safely match their preferred identity. You may have recently Steven clowning with colleague Malena Ramirez at the Happy Valley Latin Festival.

Claire Phillips (Production Stage Manager) is a third-year B.F.A. Stage Management student and could not be happier to be making her Penn State Centre Stage PSM debut with Nostalgia Night! She would like to thank her wonderful stage management and creative teams for making this process such a pleasure, her family and boyfriend for their endless support, and the entire cast and crew for all their incredible work. Previous credits include The Wild Party (ASM), Romeo and Juliet (ASM), Yerma (PSM), and Eurydice (PSM).

Evelyn Murphy-Welconish (Assistant Stage Manager) is a second-year B.F.A. Stage Management student from Boulder, Colorado. She is thrilled to be working in the Pavilion Theatre with such an amazing group of people! Favorite credits have been The Wild Party (ASM) and Seawall (ASM) at Penn State Centre Stage, SpongeBob Squarepants: The Musical (ASM/Calling SM) at The Spark, and High School Musical. Evelyn is excited to continue her growth in the stage management program and wants to thank all of those around her that support her! Be sure to look out for her in upcoming productions.

Emily Smith (Assistant Stage Manager) is a fourth-year student pursuing a B.F.A. in Stage Management and Sound Design. She is so excited to be working with such an amazingly talented and kind-hearted cast, crew, and production/design team! This is her first official ASM role in college and she couldn’t have asked for a better group to work with. Previous credits include The Wild Party (Production Audio), The Last Five Years (Sound Designer), and The Osaze Project (Sound Designer).

Cassidy Burke (Technical Director) is in the fourth year of her Design and Technology major with an emphasis in Technical Direction. She also pursued and received a Business Fundamentals Certificate through Smeal College of Business. She is very fortunate to have worked with such an amazing team for her final show before graduating in May. She would like to thank her family, friends, mentors, and partner for believing in her and always being there for her when she needed them all the most. Her past credits include but are not limited to assistant technical director for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and the co-technical director for the Spring Dance Concert Moving Forward 2021 at Penn State. Cassidy’s plans post-graduation include moving to Florida so she can pursue her dreams of working at Walt Disney World. You can see more of Cassidy’s work at cassburke527.wixsite.com/tech

Steven L. Herb

Centre Stage Council 2018–21
Council President 2019–20, 2020–21

Penn State Centre Stage appreciates Steve’s commitment, his wonderful, friendly, lightness, and inclusiveness of ideas and spirit.

“Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night till it be morrow.”

– Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene I

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