A C T I N G P H O T O S & R E V I E W S
Relativity with Riverside Theatre, 2017
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In 1902, Albert Einstein's daughter was born. In 1904 she disappeared and Einstein never spoke nor wrote of her again. What happened? With playfulness and intensity, Relativity imagines one theory that bridges the Einsteins: the beloved public figure to the perplexing private man and the father to the lost child.
Relativity is directed by Angie Toomsen, and stars Saffron Henke (who wowed local audiences in Syringa Tree and Venus in Fur), Kristy Hartsgrove Mooers (recently seen in A View from the Bridge), and Cedar Rapids arts organization leader, director, and actor Jim Kern in his Riverside debut. Riverside Theatre, Iowa City April 14-30th, 2017 Reviews: Relativity Review, The Gazette |
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Merry Wives of Windsor with Richmond Shakespeare Company, 2017
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Produced by Richmond Shakespeare Festival in 2017
Producing Artistic Director: Patrick Flick Director: Kristin Clippard Scenic Design/Technical Director: Michael White Costume Design/Costume Shop Manager: Cate Hudson Lighting Design: Kyle Jarvis Stage Manager: Scott Slucher Sir John Falstaff is up to his usual tricks. Convinced that two local women are enamored of him, he writes identical love letters to Mistress Page and Mistress Ford, intending to gain access to their husband's wealth. Mistress Page and Mistress Ford decide to teach him a lesson, but unbeknownst them, their husbands have learned of Falstaff’s plans. Down home hilarity ensues in this modern production that will have you stomping your boots and begging for more! |
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Cymbeline with Richmond Shakespeare Company, 2017
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Producing Artistic Director: Patrick Flick
Director: Patrick Flick Scenic Design/Technical Director: Michael White Costume Coordinator: Lena Morrow Lighting Design: Kyle Jarvis Stage Manager: Alexander Allen Shakespeare's epic fairy tale is a sweeping story of love, laughter, betrayal and redemption. Evil queens, forbidden love, mistaken identities, banishment, magic portions and poison fill the stage in this story book adventure. After brave Princess Imogen is falsely accused of adultery and escapes her father’s court, she sets forth on a treacherous and miraculous journey to reclaim her place in society and reunite with her true love. |
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The Seagull
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Abundant Happiness: The Music of Robert and Clara Schumann
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June 2015, The Englert Theatre Music IC
An interdisciplinary piece about the music, love, and letters leading up to the marriage of Robert and Clara Schumann. The piece included the Solera Quartet, pianist Yi-heng Yang, and soprano Megan Brus. Saffron played both Robert and Clara. Written by Jennifer Fawcett, Working Group Theatre. |
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The Kreutzer Sonata: A Play in Five Tiny Movements with Working Group Theatre & Music IC, 2014
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June 20, 2014 at the Englert Theatre Written by Jennifer Fawcett and directed by Sean Christopher Lewis of Working Group Theatre. Musicians: Tricia Park, Riko Higuma, Robin SCott, Maurycy Banaszek, Andrew Janss Actors: Saffron Henke and Sean Christopher Lewis Two actors and five musicians explore the connections between Beethoven’s violin sonata, dubbed “The Kreutzer Sonata.” Tolstoy’s novella of the same name that was inspired by the Beethoven work, and Janacek’s string quartet, also called “The Kreutzer Sonata,” that was inspired by Tolstoy’s novella. Plans to workshop and tour are forthcoming. Learn more about Working Group Theatre » |
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Private Lives with Old Creamery Theater, 2014
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March 27 – April 13, 2014 By Noel Coward, directed by Sean McCall A rocky marriage ended in divorce for Elyot and Amanda. But fate had more in store for them. Reunited on their respective honeymoons five years after their divorce, Elyot and Amanda are flabbergasted— even in Paris they cannot escape the skeletons in their closet. Come watch sparks fly in this classic comedy! Read more » "Henke, as Amanda, is charming and complex, revealing this splendidly complicated character piece by piece with careful physicality, perfect inflection and a sometimes catty petulance that contrasts neatly with her grace and independent wild side." REVIEWS: |
All photos by Lily Allen-Duenas
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Venus in Fur with Riverside Theatre, 2013
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All photos by Bob Goodfellow
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September 6 – September 29, 2013 By David Ives, directed by Sean Christopher Lewis Featuring Saffron Henke and Jess Prichard "Thomas, a director and playwright, has adapted a juicy 19th century novel into a sizzling modern play- but it needs the perfect actress - seductive, clever and powerful. The last audition of the day with an unknown named Vanda forces Thomas to embody the roles in ways he had only dared to imagine. A sexy, whip-smart comedy." Learn more at riversidetheatre.org » REVIEWS: |
The Broken Chord with Working Group Theater, 2013
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It's been a year-long process to create The Broken Chord, a collaboration with Hancher that opened in April at The Englert Theatre. Thanks to APAP, the Met Life Foundation, the Iowa Arts Council and others for their support. Check out the videos to find out more.
Watch the trailer » Watch the full play » REVIEWS:
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Syringa Tree at the Riverside Theater, 2011
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"The Syringa Tree is unlike any one person show I’ve ever seen or read. The magic of this play has a lot to do with one performer making all these transitions. The best part of doing this show is that as a performer, the show works on you. You end up being the conduit for the play." - Saffron Full Riverside Theater interview with Saffron on The Syringa Tree » REVIEWS:
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Photos by Bob Goodfellow
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The Clean House at the Iowa Summer Rep, 2009
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"When married doctors Charles and Lane hire stand-up comic Matilde as their live-in maid, they get anything but a clean house. Sure, it looks spotless, but it's soon filled with the dirty laundry of Charles' affair with an older woman, Lane's depression, her sister Virginia's identity crisis and Matilde's struggle to find the perfect joke in a house full of dark secrets." University of Iowa News Release » |
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Dead Man's Cell Phone at the Iowa Summer Rep, 2009
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"A spooky comedy about the unanticipated consequences of contemporary technology. In a quiet cafe, an unsuspecting young woman (played by Kristy Hartsgrove) answers an insistently ringing cell phone, after discovering that its owner has "entered a dead zone." Her fateful act dials her deeply into the dead man's mysterious business." University of Iowa News Release » |
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US Drag at the Furious Theatre Company, 2008
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The Typographer's Dream
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What the Butler Saw at the B St. Theatre, 2007
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“It’s a spoof of detective mysteries, sex farces, and the whole idea of self-important institutions, including (but not limited to) the field of psychiatry, legal systems in general, theater itself, dogged detectives, and well-meaning civil servants." |
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A Perfect Wedding at the University of Iowa Theatre, 2007
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"Loosely based on Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Mee's play takes off when a groom on the brink of his wedding flees into a forest, with the bride and the entire wedding party in pursuit. Out in the mysterious wilds, the nature of love, marriage and other rituals of passage -- even death -- are explored, discussed and turned on their heads before the play concludes joyfully with not one wedding, but three." |
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Electricidad at the Sacramento Theatre Company, 2007
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"Electricidad is heady theater. Its powerful story is consciously modeled on ancient Greek tragedy--Electra, among others. Alfaro’s setting is his hometown, where a tough girl named Electricidad is mourning her father, El Rey, a fallen gang leader." REVIEWS: |
Photos by Rudy Meyers
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The Peculiar and Sudden Nearness of the Moon at the Sacramento Theatre Company, 2006
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"Dark secrets come to light when Sydney Spencer’s baby is born. Dark like the color of her newborn’s skin, which doesn’t match the paleness of either parent. Dark as the accusations from her Irish husband when he sees the coffee-colored skin and curly black hair of his firstborn. And dark as a family vault holding a generation of secrets." REVIEWS:
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Photos by Rudy Meyers
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Amadeus at the Sacramento Theatre Company, 2006
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"Many people remember Milos Forman’s 1984 film Amadeus. It was a critical and box office success. But Peter Shaffer’s play – now on stage at the Sacramento Theatre Company – is a different kind of treat."
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Photos by Rudy Meyers
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The Taming of the Shrew at the Sacramento Theatre Company, 2006
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"Petruchio (Matt K. Miller) is a gambler who, inexplicably, never handles a deck of cards. He’s seeking a bride who comes with money attached, and he doesn’t care that she’s renowned for her sharp tongue. The object of Petruchio’s desire—“love” is too grand a term—is Kate (Saffron Henke). She comes on tough, dealing with male adversaries the way a Chinese princess dispatches ordinary thugs in a kung-fu film." REVIEWS:
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Photos by Rudy Meyers
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Syringa Tree at the Sacramento Theatre Company, 2005
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"An autobiographical recreation of life in and around Johannesburg during the turmoil and bloodshed leading to the end of the apartheid. Elizabeth Grace, the focal character, lives through almost 30 years of love and pain, beginning at about the age of six."
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Photos by Rudy Meyers
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“Henke gives an amazing, non-stop performance, rising to the challenge of the material again and again, shifting convincing from one character to another.”
-Capital Public Radio, Sacramento
A Christmas Carol at the Sacramento Theatre Company, 2004
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"The Sacramento Theatre Company’s Carol is a revisit to its traditional musical version. The staging is done through overlapping narration, with the large cast delivering Charles Dickens’ descriptions of Scrooge on his journeys to past, present and future Christmases. The costumes and sets are handsome, and the troupe is enthusiastic and energetic." |
Photos by Rudy Meyers
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Arranged Marriage at the Sacramento Theatre Company, 2004
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"A young Indian woman prepares for her arranged marriage, to be followed by emigration to the United States, in this stage adaptation of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s short story, which includes Indian poetry and dance."
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Photos by Rudy Meyers
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Tartuffe at the Sacramento Theatre Company, 2004
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"Tartuffe packs a sting—and belly laughs—nearly 350 years after Molière wrote it, the Catholic Church banned it and the King of France sustained it. (He was flattered by the finale. Clever Molière!) It’s still a daring, exceedingly funny play. Indeed, Tartuffe’s, ahem, climax is one of the great groin teasers of all time."
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Photos by Rudy Meyers
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Idiot's Delight at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, 2002 - 2003 season
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"A form of solitaire that is virtually impossible to win, Idiot's Delight is an inspired metaphor for the war that is bearing down in 1935 on an odd assortment of people trapped by passport problems in the cocktail lounge of the Hotel Monte Gabrielle in the Italian Alps, near the borders of Switzerland and Austria."
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