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On Golden Pond

September 6 - October 2

On Golden Pond

The Thayers, open-hearted Ethel and irascible Norman, return to their cottage on Golden Pond for their 48th summer. This year, however, their peace is disrupted by a visit from their divorced daughter Chelsea, who arrives with not only a big chip on her shoulder, but her new fiancé and his 13 year-old son, too. Generations collide in this funny and touching classic about a couple in the twilight years of a long and glorious marriage.

Runtime: 2hrs, 15mins
Age Appropriateness: Ages 13+

Written by Ernest Thompson
Directed by Skip Greer
Scenic Design by Robert Koharchik
Costume Design by B Modern
Lighting Design by Ken Smith
Sound Design by Dan Roach

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Produced with Support From:

First Niagara

EFP Rotenburg Warm 101.3

With additional support from: Bausch & Lomb

Performance Calendar

Click on the showtimes to check seat availability and to purchase tickets.

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M

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W

T

F

S

Sept 4

5

6

7:30 pm

7

7:30 pm

8

7:30 pm

9

8:00 pm

10

2:00 pm

8:00 pm

11

2:00 pm

7:00 pm

12

13

6:00 pm

14

7:30 pm

15

7:30 pm

16

8:00 pm

17

4:00 pm

8:30 pm

18

2:00 pm

7:00 pm

19

20

7:30 pm

21

7:30 pm

22

7:30 pm

23

8:00 pm

24

4:00 pm

8:30 pm

25

2:00 pm *

7:00 pm

26

27

7:30 pm

28

2:00 pm

7:30 pm

29

7:30 pm **

30

8:00 pm

Oct 1

4:00 pm

8:30 pm

2

2:00 pm

7:00 pm

3

4

5

6

7

8

* Audio description performance

** Sign-interpreted performance

Plan your visit

Running time: 2hrs, 15mins

Prologue: a pre-show lecture is offered free of charge one hour prior to every performance. (An abbreviated Prologue is given 30 minutes prior to curtain on Opening Night.)

Special events and services during this production

  • Audio-Described performance: Septempber 25, 2:00 pm
  • Sign-Interpreted performance: September 29, 7:30 pm
  • Sunday Salon: October 2, 2:00 pm

Dining & Entertainment

Click here to check out the Geva Café or look below for more options in the area!

Rick's Prime Rib House

Rick's Prime Rib
898 Buffalo Rd.
Rochester, NY 14624
(585) 271-5000

Pomodoro

The Pomodoro Grill
1290 University Ave.
Rochester, NY 14607
(585) 271-4910

Edibles Restaurant and Bar

Edibles
704 University Ave.
Rochester, NY
(585) 271-4910

Palladio Vu Restaurant

Palladio Vu Restaurant
125 E. Main St.
Rochester, NY 14604
(585) 546-1234

Gusto Ristorante

Gusto
277 Alexander St.
Rochester, NY 14607
(585) 232-7810

Tavern 58 at Gibbs

Tavern58 at Gibbs
58 University Ave.
Rochester, NY 14605
(585) 546-5800

Eros Restaurant and Bar

Eros Restaurant & Bar
37 Charlotte St.
Rochester, NY 14607
(585) 546-2230

Cast and Crew Bios

KATI BRAZDA (Chelsea Thayer Wayne) makes her Geva Theatre Center debut in On Golden Pond. In New York, she was recently seen as Mrs. Webb in David Cromer's critically acclaimed Off-Broadway production of Our Town at the Barrow Street Theater. Our Town received both Obie and Lucille Lortel awards, and was the longest running production in the show's 76-year history. Ms. Brazda will also be in the remount of Our Town at the Broad Theatre in Santa Monica, January 2012, starring Helen Hunt. Broadway credits include A Moon for the Misbegotten (u/s Josie) and Off-Broadway credits include Trying (Promenade Theatre). Regional credits include The Beauty Queen of Leenane, and A Moon for the Misbegotten (Palm Beach Dramaworks); Trying (Victory Gardens Theater. World Premiere, Joseph Jefferson Award nomination); Twelfth Night (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Dallas Theater Center); Enemies, A Love Story (Wilma Theatre); Bluish (Alliance Theatre); A Midsummer Night's Dream and Much Ado About Nothing (Nebraska Shakespeare Festival); The Story, The Death Of Bessie Smith and Finding The Sun (Goodman Theatre); Top Girls and The Secret Rapture (Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, After Dark Award). Ms. Brazda has worked with many other Chicago theatres and is the recipient of the Sarah Siddons Chicago's Leading Lady Award.

LARRY BULL (Bill Ray) returns to Geva Theatre Center, where his other appearances include The Music Man, Shear Madness, As You Like It, and A Christmas Carol. New York credits include Tom Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia at Lincoln Center Theatre, and Kenneth - What is the Frequency? at the 78th St Theatre Lab and Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Regionally he's worked with Denver Center Theatre (The Trip to Bountiful, A Christmas Carol), Actors Theatre of Louisville (The Mystery of Irma Vep), Shakespeare Theatre Company (Twelfth Night), the Huntington Theatre Company (Amphitryon), Trinity Repertory Company (The Music Man), Chautauqua Theatre Company (Arcadia), the Utah Shakespearean Festival (Our Town, Tartuffe), the Kennedy Center (Shear Madness), Cincinnati Playhouse and the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (Dracula), the Alabama Shakespeare Festival (The Count of Monte Cristo, Cymbeline), Gulfshore Playhouse (A View from the Bridge, A Doll's House) and Virginia Stage Company (Rough Crossing, Vaudeville). He won a Joseph Jefferson Award in Chicago for the role of Slim in Synergy Theatre's Of Mice and Men. Other Chicago credits include Northlight Theatre and the Amicus Theatre Company.

EOIN DENNIS (Billy Ray Jr) returns to Geva Theatre Center, where he performed the part of Randy in A Christmas Story. Other local appearances include Michael in Peter Pan with Rochester Children’s Theatre, and Lollipop Guild/Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz with Webster Theatre Guild. He has also been involved in numerous school and camp productions including Check Please, Alice in Wonderland Jr, Beauty and the Beast, the Tempest, Aristocats, and Annie Jr. Eoin (Gaelic for “Owen”) is a sixth grader at The Harley School. He loves to read, create art, has a flair for drama, and loves to entertain. Eoin sends thanks to his acting coach/mentor Johnnie Simmons, his drama teacher Linda Foster, and to all his family and friends for their support. Eoin is grateful to Skip Greer for this amazing opportunity to learn and grow under his direction.

BETH DIXON (Ethel Thayer) makes her Geva Theatre Center debut in On Golden Pond. Broadway credits include Major Barbara, Wrong Mountain, Royal Family (u/s Rosemary Harris). Off-Broadway credits include Wings, Vieux Carre, the Cripple of Inishmaan, Mary Stuart, Endpapers, Terese Raquin, Booth is Back, America Dreaming, Unbound and The Grille Room. Regionally, Ms. Dixon has appeared in Three Tall Women, Tartuffe, All My Sons, The Grapes of Wrath, The Glass Menagerie, Vincent in Brixton, The Constant Wife, Fuddy Meers, King Lear and more. Film and Television credits include Off- Ramp, Ballad of the Sad Café, Dark Tides, Storm of the Century, Queen, “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” and upcoming, Game Change.

PHILIP H. MILLIGAN (Standby for Billy Ray Jr.) makes his Geva Theatre Center debut in On Golden Pond. Philip is a home-educated eleven-year old. He loves to be on stage, a role forced upon him as soon as he could walk, to satisfy his sister’s compelling need to direct. One of his favorite roles was George in a MJT Stages production of School House Rock. Philip is an accomplished student of tap dance and TaeKwonDo. He loves playing electric bass and has performed at numerous events including occasionally sitting in with his Dad’s classic rock band. Philip loves science and in his free time can be found in his makeshift lab (the family garage) attempting to build the ultimate laser. He is grateful for the opportunity to work with and support this cast and would especially like to thank Skip Greer for believing in him and being an amazing mentor.

PATRICK NOONAN (Charlie Martin) was last seen at Geva Theatre Center in Almost, Maine and Our Town. A proud veteran of the longest running play in America, he starred in over 1,500 performances of Shear Madness and just finished another successful run this summer at the Kennedy Center. Look for Mr. Noonan this season in “The Onion News Network.” Other TV and film credits include: several “Law & Orders,” “30 Rock,” “Life On Mars,” “The Black Donnelly's,” “Hope And Faith,” The Princess Diaries, and the soon to be released horror movie Choose.

KENNETH TIGAR (Norman Thayer, Jr.) returns to Geva Theatre Center where he previously appeared in The Price. He is a familiar face from film and television. His credits span the distance from “Barney Miller” and the Lethal Weapon movies to “NCIS” and “Boardwalk Empire.” He has acted extensively in regional theatres, performing Salieri in Amadeus, Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, Joe Keller in All My Sons, and a world premiere at the Cleveland Play House. Recently he re-created his role in the off-Broadway production of Robert Clyman’s Secret Order at Houston’s Alley Theatre; and this spring he appeared off-Broadway as Squire Trelawney in Treasure Island. He has performed Old Wicked Songs in Vienna, Santa Barbara, Sarasota and Lake George, won a Los Angeles Drama Critics’ Circle Award, and appeared across the country in his one-man show I Must Be Mr. Boswell about the biographer of Dr. Johnson. He directed the national tour of The Gin Game with Academy Award winner Kim Hunter and is also an accomplished opera director. His translations of Brecht and Wedekind have been performed from Boston to Los Angeles.

ERNEST THOMPSON (Playwright) has authored several other plays in addition to On Golden Pond including The West Side Waltz (starring Katharine Hepburn), A Sense Of Humor (Jack Lemmon), Amazons In August, White People Christmas (which Mr. Thompson directed at LA's Zephyr Theatre), The Elixir (directed by and starring Mr. Thompson at the Isis Theatre Company in Idyllwild), the short play collections Answers, Valentines For Two, and The Penis Responds (which Mr. Thompson directed and starred in Off-Off- Broadway). Films include On Golden Pond (Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda, Academy Award, Golden Globe, Writers Guild Award), Sweet Hearts Dance (Susan Sarandon), 1969 (Robert Downey, Jr., directed by Mr. Thompson), The Lies Boys Tell (Kirk Douglas), Out Of Time (Showtime, Daytime Emmy nomination Best Director), The West Side Waltz (directed by Mr. Thompson with Shirley MacLaine and Liza Minnelli), and the live TV production of On Golden Pond (Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, directed by Mr. Thompson). Through his company, Whitebridge Farm Productions, he has directed and stars in Time and Charges, now in postproduction, and is about to direct and star in Heavenly Angle. At his farm in New Hampshire, Mr. Thompson teaches workshops for actors and directors and weekend boot camps for writers, eight of whom arrive on a Friday night with blank files and by Sunday afternoon are having their newly created plays read by professional actors in a front of a live audience. www.ErnestThompson.us or www.WhitebridgeFarmProductions.com.

SKIP GREER (Director) serves as Artist in Residence and Director of Education at Geva Theatre Center. His directing credits at Geva include Over the Tavern, Almost, Maine; the world premiere of The House in Hydesville; Doubt; American Buffalo; Inherit the Wind; Key West; Death of a Salesman; Lobby Hero; Below the Belt; The Weir; Women Who Steal; Beast on the Moon; Triumph of Love and Geometric Digression of the Species. He directed King Lear at Shakespeare Santa Cruz. Other regional directing credits include Studio Arena Theatre, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Sacramento Theatre Company, State Theatre of Austin and Gary Marshall’s Falcon Theatre, where he directed Golf with Alan Shepard starring Jack Klugman and Charles Durning. Mr. Greer has also been an actor at Geva appearing in The Music Man, (Mayor Shinn) Evie’s Waltz (Clay), Our Town (the Stage Manager), Hamlet (Ghost/Player King), 1776 (John Hancock), House and Garden (Giles), Art (Serge), Twelve Angry Men (Juror #1), A Girl’s Life (Ken and Louis Pasteur), Every Good Boy Deserves Favor (Alexander), The Illusion (Alcandre), Picasso at the Lapine Agile (Sagot) and State of the Union (Spike McManus). Regional credits include seven seasons in the resident acting company of Sacramento Theatre Company, San Jose Repertory Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, American Conservatory Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival and Pacific Conservatory of Performing Arts. Film and TV credits include “Bloodhounds,” “LA Law” and “VR5.” Mr. Greer has toured Europe, Africa, Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia and the Cook Islands, teaching and performing.

ROB KOHARCHICK (Scenic Design) returns to Geva Theatre Center where past designs include A Christmas Story, Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, Doubt, American Buffalo, Key West, Lobby Hero, and Pyretown. Other credits include designs for: the Indiana Repertory Theatre, Weston Playhouse of Vermont, the Cincinnati Playhouse, the Cleveland Playhouse and the Contemporary American Theatre of Columbus. Mr. Koharchik is an Assistant Professor of Design at Butler University and a founding member of ShadowApe Theatre Company.

B. MODERN (Costume Designer) returns to Geva Theatre Center for her fifteenth season. She is an Associate Artist and has designed over 20 productions including Over the Tavern, The House in Hydesville; A Christmas Story, Dial M for Murder, Death of a Salesman, The Brighton Beach Trilogy, Proof, Ghosts, The Miser; The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Importance of Being Earnest, Twelve Angry Men, My Fair Lady, The Illusion, The Comedy of Errors and A Christmas Carol. Ms. Modern is also an Associate Artist and has designed over 35 productions at Shakespeare Santa Cruz, CA. Regional theatre credits include costume designs for Oregon Shakespeare Festival; American Players Theatre, WI; Indiana Repertory Theatre; San Jose Repertory Theatre; TheatreWorks, CA; Asolo Repertory Theatre in Florida; The Globe Theatres, CA; Repertory Theatre of St. Louis; The Magic Theatre; Georgia Shakespeare Festival; Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Seattle Repertory Theatre; Syracuse Stage; Idaho Shakespeare Festival and Sacramento Theatre Company. Opera design credits include productions at Opera Theatre of St. Louis and Opera San Jose. Ms. Modern shares a home and studio in Santa Cruz, California with two cantankerous cats.

KENDALL SMITH (Lighting Designer) returns to Geva Theatre Center where he has designed Amadeus, Almost Maine, Key West, Death of a Salesman, Lobby Hero and A Christmas Carol. Theatre credits include Oregon Shakespeare, Indiana Repertory, Merrimack Repertory, Pioneer Theatre, North Shore Music Theatre, Studio Theatre in DC and Connecticut Repertory Theatre. As the Resident Designer for Michigan Opera Theatre for the last sixteen years, he has designed over 60 productions. Regional Opera companies include Florida Grand Opera, San Diego Opera, Opera Pacific, Boston Lyric Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City and Virginia Opera.

DAN ROACH (Sound Designer) has, since 1988, worked on sound for numerous productions at Geva Theatre Center, NTID’s Theatre for the Deaf, SUNY Brockport, and Keuka College. Most recent productions at Geva include Over the Tavern; Almost, Maine; Dracula, the Shape of Evil with PUSH Physical Theatre; Evie’s Waltz; Dial M for Murder; The Underpants; Nine Parts of Desire; Doubt and A Christmas Story. His projection designs include Triple Bill of Chamber Operas and The Secret Garden at Eastman Opera Theatre. He studied sound at Berklee College of Music in Boston and has been applying that knowledge to theatre over the past 22 years. He currently works full time for the Hillside Family of Agencies as their webmaster and is grateful for their flexibility in providing time to pursue his love of theatre and sound design. He is a resident of Brighton where he lives with his beautiful wife Jing.

ERIC EVANS (Dramaturg) is in his eleventh season with Geva Theatre Center and his sixth with Geva’s Education department. He has provided dramaturgical research for a number of Geva productions – recent productions include Over the Tavern, American Buffalo, Doubt, Rooms, Sweeney Todd and Fences. He has also served as a dramaturg for productions by Method Machine, The JCC of Rochester, University of Rochester’s Todd Theatre and the Irish Players of Rochester. He holds a B.A. in History/Communications from St. John Fisher College. He is also a published writer – samples of his work can be found at www.inkpublications.com.

KIRSTEN BRANNEN (Production Stage Manager) celebrates her eleventh season with Geva Theatre Center, over which she has stage managed The Music Man, Over the Tavern; Amadeus; Five Course Love; Underneath the Lintel; Souvenir; 3 Mo’ Divas; Fences; Sweeney Todd; A Christmas Story; Ella; Pride and Prejudice; Cabaret; Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure; Urinetown, the Musical; Our Town; Dial M for Murder; Inherit the Wind; Shear Madness; The Road Home: Re-Membering America; A Chorus Line; That Was Then; Broadway Bound; Camelot; Death of a Salesman; Biloxi Blues; 1776; 36 Views; Cookin’ at the Cookery; Convenience; Flyin’ West; Hibernatus Interruptus: A Festival of New Plays and A Christmas Carol 2001-2010. She was a stage manager for nine years at PCPA Theaterfest in Santa Maria, California. At PCPA, she served as the Production Stage Manager and taught the stage management curriculum. She was a stage manager for such productions as My Fair Lady, 42nd Street, Someone Who’ll Watch over Me, Gypsy, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, The Who’s Tommy and the World Premiere of The Daly News. Originally from Victor, she is very happy to again make her home in the Rochester area. Ms. Brannen is a graduate of Ithaca College and a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.

VERONICA AGLOW (Assistant Stage Manager) returns to Geva Theatre Center where she last stage managed Girls Night The Musical and assistant stage managed The Music Man, Over the Tavern and A Christmas Carol. Ms. Aglow recently stage managed the Philadelphia run of Girls Night at the Kimmel Center’s Innovation Studio, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Little Shop of Horrors at the Devon Theatre. Favorite credits include productions of Parade, Can-Can, and the world premiere of Broadway’s American Idiot. Ms. Aglow is a proud graduate of Point Park University. As always, she would like to thank her super-supportive parents, who have helped make her dreams a reality.

JULIE ANN MADONIA (Assistant Stage Manager) started at Geva Theatre Center as an Apprentice Stage Manager for the 1995-1996 and 1996-1997 Seasons. Her favorite shows during those seasons included Laughter on the 23rd Floor, A Christmas Carol, Later Life, Five Guys Named Moe and Antigone. She is also honored to have been a part of the opening season of the Nextstage, for which she stage managed Stop Kiss and Women Who Steal. Ms. Madonia has previously stage managed three years of Hibernatus Interruptus as well as Stars of Geva in conjunction with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Thanks to Derek, Mom & Dad for their continued love and support. Love to Michael and Lilly.