The Recommendation

Jan. 21 - Feb. 26, 2012
WORLD PREMIERE
Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre
Conrad Prebys Theatre Center

By Jonathan Caren
Directed by Jonathan Munby
Scenic Design by Alexander Dodge
Costume Design by Linda Cho
Associate Costume Design by Erick Sundquist
Lighting Design by Philip S. Rosenberg
Original Music and Sound Design by Lindsay Jones
Movement by Tony Caligagan
Casting by Calleri Casting
Stage Manager, Diana Moser

Aaron is smart, charming and over-privileged.  Iskinder, his new college roommate, comes from a middle-class immigrant family and is under-connected.  Soon the best of friends, Aaron takes Iskinder under his wing, sharing his world of favors and fortune.  But the safe haven of college only lasts so long.  After a chance encounter with an accused felon sets off a chain of events that puts Aaron's life at risk, the two men are forced to rethink the meaning of friendship.  The Recommendation is a bold and candid look at modern friendship from an exciting new theatrical voice.  A World Premiere.
a a a


Production Photos
(from left) Evan Todd as Aaron, Brandon Gill as Iskinder and Jimonn Cole as Dwight in the World Premiere of Jonathan Caren's The Recommendation directed by Jonathan Munby, Jan. 21 - Feb. 26 at The Old Globe. Photo by Henry DiRocco.
(from left) Brandon Gill as Iskinder, Evan Todd as Aaron and Jimonn Cole as Dwight in the World Premiere of Jonathan Caren's The Recommendation directed by Jonathan Munby, Jan. 21 - Feb. 26 at The Old Globe. Photo by Henry DiRocco.
Evan Todd as Aaron in the World Premiere of Jonathan Caren's The Recommendation directed by Jonathan Munby, Jan. 21 - Feb. 26 at The Old Globe. Photo by Henry DiRocco.
(from left) Brandon Gill as Iskinder and Evan Todd as Aaron in the World Premiere of Jonathan Caren's The Recommendation directed by Jonathan Munby, Jan. 21 - Feb. 26 at The Old Globe. Photo by Henry DiRocco.
(from left) Jimonn Cole as Dwight and Evan Todd as Aaron in the World Premiere of Jonathan Caren's The Recommendation directed by Jonathan Munby, Jan. 21 - Feb. 26 at The Old Globe. Photo by Henry DiRocco.
(from left) Evan Todd as Aaron and Jimonn Cole as Dwight in the World Premiere of Jonathan Caren's The Recommendation directed by Jonathan Munby, Jan. 21 - Feb. 26 at The Old Globe. Photo by Henry DiRocco.
(from left) Jimonn Cole as Dwight and Evan Todd as Aaron in the World Premiere of Jonathan Caren's The Recommendation directed by Jonathan Munby, Jan. 21 - Feb. 26 at The Old Globe. Photo by Henry DiRocco.
Jimonn Cole as Dwight in the World Premiere of Jonathan Caren's The Recommendation directed by Jonathan Munby, Jan. 21 - Feb. 26 at The Old Globe. Photo by Henry DiRocco.
(from left) Evan Todd as Aaron and Brandon Gill as Iskinder in the World Premiere of Jonathan Caren's The Recommendation directed by Jonathan Munby, Jan. 21 - Feb. 26 at The Old Globe. Photo by Henry DiRocco.


Publicity Photos
(from left) Brandon Gill stars as Iskinder, Evan Todd as Aaron and Jimonn Cole as Dwight in the World Premiere of Jonathan Caren's The Recommendation, directed by Jonathan Munby, Jan. 21 - Feb. 26 at The Old Globe. Photo by Henry DiRocco.
(from left) Brandon Gill stars as Iskinder, Evan Todd as Aaron and Jimonn Cole as Dwight in the World Premiere of Jonathan Caren's The Recommendation, directed by Jonathan Munby, Jan. 21 - Feb. 26 at The Old Globe. Photo by Henry DiRocco.
(from left) actor Jimonn Cole, director Jonathan Munby, playwright Jonathan Caren and actors Brandon Gill and Evan Todd. The World Premiere of Jonathan Caren's The Recommendation, directed by Jonathan Munby, runs Jan. 21 - Feb. 26 at The Old Globe. Photo by Henry DiRocco.
(from left) Playwright Jonathan Caren and director Jonathan Munby. The World Premiere of Caren's The Recommendation runs Jan. 21 - Feb. 26 at The Old Globe. Photo by Henry DiRocco.
Playwright Jonathan Caren. The World Premiere of Caren's The Recommendation, directed by Jonathan Munby, runs Jan. 21 - Feb. 26 at The Old Globe. Photo by Henry DiRocco.
Jonathan Munby will direct the World Premiere of Jonathan Caren's The Recommendation Jan. 21 - Feb. 26 at The Old Globe. Photo by Henry DiRocco.
Playwright Jonathan Caren. Caren's The Recommendation will run Jan. 14 - Feb. 19, 2012 at The Old Globe. Photo by Elisabeth Caren.
Director Jonathan Munby. Munby will direct Jonathan Caren's The Recommendation, which will run Jan. 14 - Feb. 19, 2012 at The Old Globe. Photo courtesy of The Old Globe.
The Recommendation. Illustration courtesy of The Old Globe.


Cast and Creative Team

(click on image to download a high-resolution photo)
Jimonn Cole (Dwight Barnes) has appeared in the Off Broadway and National Tour productions of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter directed by Doug Hughes (New York Theatre Workshop), Pudd'nhead Wilson and Taming of the Shrew (The Acting Company), Iphigenia 2.0 directed by Tina Landau (Signature Theatre Company), The Conscientious Objector, Museum, Pullman Car Hiawatha (Drama Desk nomination for Best Revival of a Play) (Keen Company), The Last Black Cowboy written by Cole (New York International Fringe Festival) and The Exonerated directed by Bob Balaban.  His regional work includes A Raisin in the Sun (Crossroads Theatre Company), Ruined directed by Liesl Tommy, Twelfth Night directed by Darko Tresnjak, The Merchant of Venice directed by Bill Rauch (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Macbeth (New Jersey Shakespeare Festival), Gem of the Ocean (Arena Stage), Romeo and Juliet directed by Sir Peter Hall (Ahmanson Theatre) and Caliban in The Tempest directed by Garland Wright, Peer Gynt directed by Michael Kahn, The Merry Wives of Windsor directed by Daniel Fish and Roderigo in Othello starring Patrick Stewart (The Shakespeare Theatre Company).  His film credits include Spinning Into Butter and The Exonerated.  He received his B.F.A. from The Juilliard School. 
Brandon Gill (Iskinder Iudoku) is a graduate of The Juilliard School’s Drama Division.  He is a native New Yorker who also attended LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts.  He recently appeared as Franco Wicks in Superior Donuts (Pittsburgh Public Theater) and in Holler If Ya Hear Me directed by Kenny Leon.  He has also appeared as Jim Crow in Neighbors (The Public Theater) and Boy Blue in Cross that River choreographed by Donna McKechnie (New York Musical Theatre Festival ’09).  Gill’s most recent film credits include Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice with Nicolas Cage and the upcoming horror film Foreclosure with Michael Imperioli and Wendell Pierce.  His television credits include “Detroit 1-8-7”and “Are We There Yet?” 
Evan Todd (Aaron Feldman) is a recent graduate of The Juilliard School.  Originally from Kissimmee, Florida, Todd finished high school at the North Carolina School for the Arts before studying Shakespeare at The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts.  He has played Sorin in The Seagull, Lindner in A Raisin in the Sun, Sebastian in The Tempest, Porky in Broadway, Major Holmes in The Secret Garden and Matt Galloway in The Laramie Project.  His film and television credits include Vulture Island (NBC), Sydney White (Warner Brothers) and various commercial work.  In addition to acting, he is also the founder of artsINSIDEOUT, an arts-based outreach organization dedicated to empowering children affected by HIV/AIDS in Johannesburg, South Africa.  Todd is thrilled to be making his debut at The Old Globe and to be originating a role in such an exciting new play. 
  Jonathan Caren (Playwright) has had his plays featured at Manhattan Theatre Club (Ernst C. Stiefel 7@7 Reading Series), The Ensemble Studio Theatre (Octoberfest), Ars Nova (OUT LOUD, ANT Fest) as well as the Lark Development Center, The Flea, The Berkshire Playwrights Lab, The Elephant Theater and The Old Vic in London. Friends in Transient Places, directed by Evan Cabnet, premiered during The Juilliard School’s 2010 Playwrights Festival and his original drama Catch the Fish, directed by Kristin Hanggi, won Most Outstanding Play in the 2007 New York International Fringe Festival.  He is a 2011-12 Dramatist Guild Fellow, The 2011 New York Stage & Film Founder's Award recipient, a participant in the 2011 TS Eliot US/UK Exchange, a member of Partial Comfort Productions, a prime member of EST, a 2010/11 LeComte Du Nouy Prize winner, a Kennedy Center finalist and winner of the Theater Publicus Prize for Dramatic Literature.  Caren is a graduate of the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at The Juilliard School and Vassar College.  He is originally from Los Angeles and also works in television.  He is grateful to be a part of this season and thanks all the incredible people who helped him develop this play.
  Jonathan Munby (Director) recently directed Company (Crucible Theatre), A Number (The Fugard Theatre, Cape Town), ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Winter’s Tale (Guthrie Theater), White Devil (Menier Chocolate Factory), The Prince of Homburg and Life is a Dream (Donmar Warehouse), The Dog in the Manger (The Shakespeare Theatre Company, 2010 Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Director), 24-Hour Plays (The Old Vic), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare’s Globe), Henry V and Mirandolina (Royal Exchange Theatre), The Canterbury Tales (Royal Shakespeare Company: Stratford, West End and International Tour, including The Kennedy Center), Madness In Valencia (RSC: The Other Place), A Number, The Comedy of Errors and Bird Calls (Crucible Theatre), Nakamitsu (Gate Theatre), Noises Off (Arena Stage), Journeys Among the Dead (Young Vic), Bed Show (Bristol Old Vic), The Anniversary (Garrick Theatre), John Bull’s Other Island (Lyric Theatre, Belfast), Tartuffe (also National Tour), The Gentleman from Olmedo, The Venetian Twins, The Triumph of Love and Dancing at Lughnasa (Watermill Theatre), Troilus and Cressida, Love for Love, Festen and The Way of the World (Guildhall School of Music & Drama) and Numb (C venues, Edinburgh Festival Fringe).  His recent opera credits include Carmen (Opera Holland Park), Don Giovanni (English Touring Opera) and Sweetness and Badness (Welsh National Opera).  He will also direct the forthcoming production of Romeo and Juliet (Akasaka Act Theater, Tokyo).
  Alexander Dodge (Scenic Design) has designed the Globe productions of Rafta, Rafta…, The Last Romance, Sammy, The Pleasure of His Company, Bell, Book and Candle, The Sisters Rosensweig and Moonlight and Magnolias.  His Broadway credits include Present Laughter (2010 Tony Award nomination), Old Acquaintance, Butley and Hedda Gabler.  His West End credits include All New People as well as Manchester and Glasgow.  Off Broadway he has designed All New People, Trust and The Water's Edge (Second Stage Theatre), Maple and Vine and Rapture, Blister, Burn (Playwrights Horizons), The Understudy (Roundabout Theatre Company), Paris Commune and Measure for Pleasure (The Public Theater), Antony and Cleopatra (Theatre for a New Audience), Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme (Lucille Lortel Award) and Chaucer in Rome (Lincoln Center Theater) and Force Continuum and Sexual Perversity in Chicago (Atlantic Theater Company).  His regional credits include Alley Theatre, Arena Stage, CENTERSTAGE, Hartford Stage, Huntington Theatre Company, Gate Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, Guthrie Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Paper Mill Playhouse, The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Triad Stage, Williamstown Theatre Festival and Yale Repertory Theatre.  His opera credits include Il Trittico (Deutsche Oper Berlin), Così Fan Tutte (Minnesota Opera), Der Waffenschmied (Munich), The Flying Dutchman (Würzburg) and Lohengrin (Budapest).  Dodge trained at the Yale School of Drama.
  Linda Cho (Costume Design) is pleased to be returning to The Old Globe.  Her past productions at the Globe include Twelfth Night, Othello, Titus Andronicus, Macbeth, The Winter's Tale, Antony and Cleopatra, The Two Noble Kinsman, Much Ado About Nothing, All's Well That Ends Well and Pericles.  She has designed extensively across the country at places such as Guthrie Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Hartford Stage, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, CENTERSTAGE, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Goodspeed Musicals, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Huntington Theatre Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Dallas Theater Center, Long Wharf Theatre, Westport Country Playhouse, Arena Stage, LA Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Virginia Opera.  Her New York credits include Manhattan Theatre Club, Theatre for a New Audience, Asia Society, Second Stage Theatre, Vineyard Theatre, LCT3, New York Theatre Workshop and Classic Stage Company.  Internationally her work has been seen at Stratford Shakespeare Festival, the National Theater in Taipai, Royal Shakespeare Company and Can Stage in Canada.  She also served as the costume curator for the American Pavillion of the 2011 Prague Quadrennial.  Cho is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.
  Erick Sundquist (Associate Costume Design) is delighted to join The Old Globe with Linda Cho.  His Off Broadway credits include We Live Here (Manhattan Theatre Club).  His associate costume design credits include Kentucky Shakespeare Festival and Allyson Green's Los Noces.  His La Jolla Playhouse design assistant credits include Limelight: The Story of Charlie Chaplin, Little Miss Sunshine, A Dram of Drummhicit, Surf Report and Ruined (also at Huntington Theatre Company and Berkley Repertory Theatre).  He also served as wardrobe supervisor for the La Jolla Playhouse productions of Peter and the Starcatchers, Xanadu, Bonnie & Clyde and The 39 Steps.  His other credits with Cirque du Soleil, North Shore Music Theatre, San Diego Opera, Mo'olelo Performing Arts Company, Diversionary Theatre, ion theatre and Cygnet Theatre Company.
  Philip S. Rosenberg (Lighting Design) has designed Cactus Flower (Off Broadway), Liberty Smith (Ford's Theatre), The Winter's Tale (Guthrie Theater), The Heir Apparent (The Shakespeare Theatre Company), Noises Off (Dorset Festival), A Dram of Drummhicit (La Jolla Playhouse), Bus Stop and She Loves Me (Huntington Theatre Company), Summer and Smoke (Manhattan School of Music), [title of show] (George Street Playhouse), I Do! I Do! (Westport County Playhouse), Sweeney Todd (Barrington Stage Company), Bach at Leipzig (Portland Stage), The Memorandum (The Actors Company Theatre), The Lisbon Traviata (The Kennedy Center), Elizabeth Rex, The Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, Edward II, Amadeus and Cymbeline (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), Knickerbocker (Williamstown Theatre Festival) and Shanghai Moon and The Lady in Question (Bay Street Theatre).  Over the past 12 years Rosenberg has served as Associate Lighting Designer on over 35 Broadway and West End plays and musicals.
  Lindsay Jones (Original Music and Sound Design) is excited to be working on his 10th show here at The Old Globe.  His Off Broadway credits include Through the Night (Union Square Theatre and Westside Theatre), The Brother/Sister Plays (The Public Theater), The Burnt Part Boys (Playwrights Horizons), Top Secret (New York Theatre Workshop), The God of Hell (The Actors Studio), In the Continuum (Primary Stages), 1001 (Page 73), The Glass Cage (Mint Theater Company), Beautiful Thing (Cherry Lane Theatre) and many others.  He has designed regionally for McCarter Theatre, Arena Stage, Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Hartford Stage, Guthrie Theater, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, South Coast Repertory, CENTERSTAGE, American Conservatory Theater, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Northlight Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Geva Theatre and many others.  His international credits include productions with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford Shakespeare Festival as well as shows in Austria, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Canada and Scotland.  Jones has received five Joseph Jefferson Awards and 16 nominations, two Ovation Awards and three nominations, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle and San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Awards and nominations for Drama Desk, Henry Hewes Design, AUDELCO, Barrymore, LA Weekly, Connecticut Critics Circle, Austin Critics’ Table and Garland Awards.  He was also the first sound designer to win the Michael Maggio Emerging Designer Award.  His recent television and film scoring work includes Mama, I Want to Sing for 20th Century Fox, “Family Practice” for Sony Pictures/Lifetime Television and A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin (2006 Academy Award winner, Best Documentary, Short Subjects) for HBO Films.
  Tony Caligagan (Movement) appeared in the Tony Award-winning Broadway show Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, and he has appeared in national commercials and Off Broadway during his eight-year stint in New York City.  From 1988 to the present, Caligagan’s show choreography has been seen around the globe.  He has been a part of over 1,000 corporate events, fundraisers and special event shows.  His company, Event Entertainment, has received accolades from clients, organizations and institutions.  His other Globe credits include dance sequences in Odyssey, Kingdom and The Taming of the Shrew.  As directors and choreographers for San Diego Latin Allstars, he and his wife Maria are entering their 17th year on faculty at UC San Diego in the Department of Theatre and Dance.
  Calleri Casting (James Calleri, Paul Davis, Erica Jensen) also cast The Old Globe’s upcoming Anna Christie and Summer Shakespeare Festival.  They are currently represented by Venus in Fur on Broadway and the long-running Fuerza Bruta.  Some past Broadway credits include 33 Variations, A Raisin in the Sun, Chicago and James Joyce’s The Dead.  They have cast at Playwrights Horizons for 10 seasons and numerous seasons for Classic Stage Company including the recent Cherry Orchard and the acclaimed School for Lies and Three Sisters.  Their other theater credits include Williamstown Theatre Festival (’11 and upcoming ’12), Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Long Wharf Theatre, The Flea Theater, Soho Repertory Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Naked Angels, New Georges, the stageFARM, Epic Theatre Ensemble and Summer Play Festival.  Some long running productions include Fully Committed, Dinah Was and The Vagina Monologues (National Tour).  Their television credits include “Army Wives,” “Lipstick Jungle,” “Z Rock,” “Ed,” “Hope & Faith,” “Monk” and A Raisin in the Sun.  Their film credits include the 2011 Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize winner Another Earth, Yearbook, Merchant Ivory’s The City of Your Final Destination, Heights, The White Countess, Lisa Picard is Famous, Ready? OK!, Trouble Every Day, Peter and Vandy and Armless.  Their upcoming projects include That’s What She Said (Sundance ’12) and Refuge.  They have been awarded eight Artios Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Casting.  Member CSA.
  Diana Moser (Stage Manager) recently stage managed August: Osage County, Rafta, Rafta…, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Broadway Bound and The Whipping Man at The Old Globe.  Her additional credits at the Globe include Lost in Yonkers, I Do! I Do!, The Price, Opus, Six Degrees of Separation, The Pleasure of His Company, The Glass Menagerie, In This Corner, 2007 Summer Shakespeare Festival, Restoration Comedy, Christmas on Mars, A Body of Water, Lobby Hero, Fiction and The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow.  Moser's regional credits include La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego Repertory Theatre, Arena Stage, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, New York Theatre Workshop, Berkshire Theatre Festival, The Children's Theatre Company and Arizona Theatre Company.  Moser received her B.A. from Bard College and her M.F.A. in Directing from Purdue.  When not doing theater, she splits her time between Nova Scotia and the classic wooden sailboat Simba I.  Moser is a strong supporter of the Bard Prison Initiative, which provides a college education to inmates.