Directed by
Donald H. Wolfe

Scenic Design by 
Darwin Reid Payne

Costume & Hair Design by 
Patricia Mueller
 
Lighting Design 
Jonathan Christman 

Acting Coaching by 
Cynthia Gendrich

Stage Manager
Cate Calhoun*

Produced by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.

CAST  

Vandergelder
Randall Chou*

Ambrose Kemper
John Bull

Joe Scanlon
Mark Sherriff

Gertrude
Heather A. McClain*

Cornelius
Adrian Greene

Ermengarde
Bentley DeGarmo

Malachi Stack
Darren Linvill

Mrs. Levi
Jennifer Blevins

Barnaby
George J. Kayiales

Mrs. Malloy
Sarah Brewer

Minnie
Sona K. Tatoyan

Cabman
Jacob M. Montgomery

August
Joe Gera

Rudolph
Bryan Johnson

A Gypsy
Robert Shaw

Miss Van Huysen
Kelly J. Williams*

Cook
Anita Woolley

* Member of The Anthony Aston Players 

Costume Shop Supervisor  Lisa Weller  

Audience Services Coordinator  Shanda Smith  

Assistant Stage Managers
Erica Grace, Katie Venit, Amber Wiley 
 
Master Carpenter Eddie Childress* 

Show Carpenter  Brian Fuller 

Props Chief  Tafana Fiore  

Scene Shop Assistants 
Aaron Bokros, Eddie Childress*, Fiona Findlay, 
Tafana Fiore, Amer Kahn, Daniel Krajc, Heather McClain*, Katie Rief 

Scenery & Props Crew 
Thomas O. Allen, Stephen Burns, Tarren Clark, Marguerite Corvine, Tate Decker, Teresa Foster, Cameron Grant, John Gregory, Chris Heffer, 
Joshua Munz, Brian Singleton, Sarah Storminger, 
Brent Thomas, Heather Wilkie, Matt Wrynn 

Cutter/Draper  Lisa Weller 

Costume Shop Assistants  
Kirstin Johnson, Erin Korey, Kate Lewis 
Melissa Osborne, Pamela Yeager 

Costume Construction Crew  Courtney Cantwell, 
Cara Castellino, Allison Darwin, Donna Dobbins, Elizabeth Graff, Jennifer Harrison, Melissa Hazen 
Lindsay Hoppe, Sarah Lucas, Stephanie Marshall, Amanda Riddle 

Wardrobe & Wigs  Kelly Murdoch-Kitt, Liz Page,
Aileen Socrates, Julie Stone*

Master Electrician  Darren Linvill* 

Electrics Crew Stephen Gov, Geoff Greene, Bill Keefe, George Lawson, Paul Perason, Kristin Schaeffer, Robert Eshleman, Matt Fuller, Nick John* 

Lightboard Operator  Aaron Bokros

Sound Engineer & Board Operator  Matt Fuller 

Grips Ryan Adkins, Cat Saulniers 
Erin Wade, Anne-Marie Wesolowski 

Poster Design Jimmy Hilburn*

Photography  Bill Ray III

Homepage Photography by Jonathan Christman

Box Office & Front of House Staff 
Ali Ayala, Sarah Brewer, Jonathan Crosson, 
Jenny Ellison, Leah Hohman, Jennifer Snow, 
Cammie Wilson 

Box Office Crew 
Vincent Azzolina, Joey Dickson, Ian Gibbs, Chris Rekucki, Jamie Scott, Kristin Sutika, Ira Williams, 
Anna Worley

Theatre Office Assistants Ashleigh Ellsworth, 
Sarah Kutner, Jen Phillips, Sarah Storminger, 
Amber Wiley 

* Member of The Anthony Aston Players 

Thornton Niven Wilder was born 101 years ago on April 17, 1897, an event commemorated last year by the U.S. Postal Service which honored Wilder as the first in its American authors series. The handsome stamp depicts the pensive author against a background that includes a New England church. The design clearly refers to the best known of Wilder’s plays Our Town. Yale University’s symposium Thornton Wilder: A Centennial Celebration and the Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Thornton Wilder Rediscovered – the 1997 edition of ATL “Classics in Context symposia— attracted enthusiastic groups of Wilder scholars and aficionados. Whether or not Wilder really requires rediscovering is moot. His centennial gave us a wonderful opportunity to revisit his work and discover its relevance to our own age.

And Thornton Wilder’s legacy is relevant. If Our Town is a microcosm of human life and relationships wherever they occur, then The Skin of our Teeth embraces the entire history of the human race. Both plays raise major philosophical issues. The earthy farce of The Matchmaker avoids the introspective en-deavor of the other two plays, but its philosophical message – to live life to its fullest — is just as significant. Wilder based The Matchmaker on an English farce entitled A Day Well Spent (1835) by John Oxenford. In 1942, Johann Nestroy produced a German language version entitled Einen Jux Will Er Sich Machen (literal translation, “He Wants to Make a Joke’). It was this play that inspired Wilder to write a farce as an antidote to the American theatre which, in his opinion, had become “too soothing.” The character of Dolly Levi is Wilder’s own invention and exemplifies his exhortation to seek adventure in life. A facile genius, Wilder managed to endow the play with thoroughly American values. Winston-Salem author, Penelope Niven, who is currently working on a new biography of Thornton Wilder, read papers at both Yale and Actors Theatre of Louisville. When she learned that our theatre planned to produce the Matchmaker, she volunteered to organize a short symposium bringing together a group of writers, scholars and even relatives to spread the Wilder legacy more broadly than ever. The symposium takes place in Scales Fine Arts Center on September 25 and 26, 1998. Wilder Symposium Program