CAST

JAKE
Joey Mertes

FRANKIE
Lee Briggs*

BETH
Melissa Jones*

MIKE
Ryan Fries*

LORRAINE
Cambra Overend*

SALLY
Alison Delaney*

BAYLOR
Aaron Bokros*

MEG
Meagan Hooper*

Setting
California and Montana - the present

* Member of The Anthony Aston Players

Assistant Director
Ali Ayala*

Additional Research Assistants
Jonathan Horvath*, Andy Rigsby*

Assistant Stage Managers
Alexandra LeCrone, Jason Romaine

Technical Director
Douglas W. Brown

Master Carpenter
J. D. Stallings

Scenic Carpenters
Aaron Bokros*, Gideon Goff, Greg Herzog, Garrett Redmond, Madeline Smith*
John (JD) Stallings, Sarah Storminger*
Jonathan Watkins*, Lauren Wilde

Prop Master
Susan Martin*

Scenic Crew
Johnny Andris, Brian Baney
Kathleen Benson, Leighton Britton
Steve Haberstroh, Nick Jones, Anna Lea, Matthew Meany, Jason Pratt
Cardell Richardson, Mason Shelton
Ben Walker, Brian Woychik

Scenic Art Crew
Carrie duPont, Matt Gialanella
Allyson Hudson, Cecilia Jen, Kate Larado
Tracey McKinzie, Marisa Pagano
Boone Smith, Sara Wirsul

Costume Studio Assistants
Sarah Guthrie, Natalie Hines, Andrea Leutz Loren Sasser, Matthew Tomko

Wardrobe Supervisor
Julia Schmidt*

Master Electrician
Madeline Smith*

Electrics Assistants
Tom Clark*, Mike Kelly, Rebecca Lowry*

Electrics Crew
Patrick Baron, Jim Carroll, Scott Dickison, Lindsay Edwards, Tyler Jordan
Jonathan Kander

Chief Flyman
Aaron Bokros*

Grips
Tom Clark*, Jaclyn Heintz, Maria Sherwood Kristin Smith, Andrew Rinehart

Light Board Operator
Kate Lambert*

Sound Board Operator
Kate Roberts*

Poster Design
Frank Ludwig

Photography
Bill Ray III, Leslie Collins

Homepage Photography
Frank Ludwig, Mary Wayne-Thomas

Publicity
Meghan Chandler, Jessica Cunn
Courtney Dolkart, Chris Fitzgerald
Kelsie Johnson, Sarah Lisson, Kimberly Mowrey, Elizabeth Proctor
Christopher Seyer, Rebecca Sizelove
Chris Strappel, Adrianne Vodenichar
Kristin Washington, Lindy Zimmerman

Audience Services Coordinator
Leslie Collins

Box Office & Front of House Staff
Ali Ayala*, Rebecca Boswell
Caroline Clear*, Alison Delaney*
Alannah DiBona, Emily Johnson
Jonathan Loudin, Alexandra LeCrone
Esther Pesciotta, Lutrell Williams

* Member of The Anthony Aston Players

WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY THEATRE

Director
J.E.R. Friedenberg

Administrative Assistant
Carol Lavis

Technical Director
Douglas W. Brown

Costume Studio Supervisor
Lisa Weller

Audience Services Coordinator
Leslie Collins

Office Assistants
Caroline Clear*, Katie Henderson*
Cambra Overend*, Amber Wiley*

SPECIAL THANKS

Joetta Shepherd and the staff of Family Services
Dr. William Bell
Mark Cohen
Jim and Carol Lavis
The Wake Forest University Archie Fund
The Wake Forest University Science Research Fund
Dean Paul Escott
North Carolina School of the Arts
The Winston-Salem Little Theatre

Director's Note
I've wanted to work on this play since 1997, when I first coached a scene from it for two students in a beginning acting class. When I finally got the nod to direct A Lie of the Mind here, I realized that-though I felt strongly connected to the play-I didn't fully understand the world in which it took place. I'd read all I could about Shepard and the play, but I still wasn't sure I could conceive of how a truly violent family operated. This confusion led to an interdisciplinary study entitled "Families In Crisis" created with my friend and colleague, sociologist Dr. Angela Hattery. We hoped that, by interviewing men and women in violent relationships, we would come to better understand the phenomenon of family violence. And we knew that we were likely to unearth some valuable sociological data along the way to finding out how "right" Shepard had gotten the dynamics of two violent families.

The people we interviewed, thanks to the help of Family Services, were more open and accommodating than we could have hoped. Their experiences and insights, which they graciously allowed us to record, have been invaluable, helping the actors to be more specific, braver, and more emotionally connected. They also helped us uncover the irony in Shepard's description of the play as "a little love story," forcing us to consider the disturbing ability we have in this culture to confuse love with obsession. Angie and I were also struck by the amount of laughter we found in the interviews-and, incidentally, in rehearsing the play-a sure sign of human resiliency in the face of difficult lives.

Along with the interviews, and my usual binder-full of reviews and articles, Michael Taav's A Body Across the Map, and Angela Browne's When Battered Women Kill have been especially valuable sources for me. A random reference from an early review has also stayed with me throughout: the original title of the play was Blood Ties: A Lie of the Mind. In many of Shepard's early plays-notably A Curse of the Starving Class, Buried Child, and True West-he struggles to communicate the biological and/or historical hex his families face. They seem bound to their biological destiny, for better or worse. But here, in A Lie of the Mind, he seems to see the possibility of moving past our blood-past our family demons, cycles, and obsessions. He seems, as Michael Taav suggests, to allow many of these characters to "unseal their fates." This is not to say Shepard gives us a fairytale ending or even practical solutions, but he does ask us to consider how the cycle can be broken, if not healed. In the meantime, the play gives us the richest set of women characters you can find in Shepard-not to mention his usual bunch of complex men.

After five years, I can say that my experience with A Lie of the Mind has come full circle. Drawn to the play by young actors, this rehearsal process has reaffirmed the value-in fact, the vital importance-of exploring lives that might at first seem almost impossible for undergraduate actors to empathize with. They have met the challenge admirably. I'd like to dedicate this production to them, and to Angie Hattery, whose reliability, humor, and hard work have inspired me throughout this process. But most of all I'd like to offer this performance as a thank you to the women and men who gave so generously of their time and experience to make our "Families in Crisis" study a reality. This is for you.

- Cindy Gendrich