Directed by
Jason Alexander

Executive Producer
Barbara Herman

Producing Underwriters
Carrie Chassin & Jochen Haber, Sheila & Alan Lamson,
The Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Foundation, Pnina & Rabbi Daniel Bouskila,
Carol & Robert Haymer, Laurel & Robert Silton, Rabbi Anne Brener, Marianne Weil**

**Of Blessed Memory

Produced by
Stephen Sachs, Simon Levy, James Bennett

Originally Produced in New York City by Roundabout Theatre Company
(Todd Haimes, Artistic Director; Harold Wolpert, Managing Director;
Julia C. Levy, Executive Director; Sydney Beers, General Manager)
at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre / Laura Pels Theatre on February 22, 2017.

Roundabout Theatre Company

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) was founded in 1965 and has grown from a small 150-seat theatre in a converted supermarket basement to become one of America’s most significant producers of theatre. This not-for-profit company, with more than 44,000 season subscribers, is committed to producing definitive productions of classic plays and musicals alongside new plays by today’s writers, ensuring that audiences and artists alike have access to high-quality, professional stagings of important works of world literature. With three distinctive homes, the American Airlines Theatre, Studio 54, and the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre/Laura Pels Theatre/Black Box Theatre, Roundabout has the unique opportunity to showcase these works in a venue perfectly suited to enhance the production. Since moving to Broadway in 1991, Roundabout productions have received 150 Tony nominations, 135 Drama Desk nominations, and 154 Outer Critics Circle nominations. Production highlights include ANNA CHRISTIE (Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Revival), SHE LOVES ME (Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, and Olivier Awards for Best Revival of a Musical), NINE (Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Revival of a Musical), ASSASSINS(Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Best Revival of a Musical), INTIMATE APPAREL (Outer Critics Circle and Audelco Awards for Best Off-Broadway Play), TWELVE ANGRY MEN (Drama Desk and Outer Critic’s Circle Awards for Outstanding Revival of a Play), THE PAJAMA GAME (Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical), and CABARET (Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Revival of a Musical), one of the longest running musical revivals in Broadway history. Since 1995, when Roundabout expanded its repertoire to include premieres of new plays, the company has produced works by such talented writers as Brian Friel, Paula Vogel, Richard Greenberg, Lynn Nottage, Beth Henley, Harold Pinter, and Jon Robin Baitz. THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER, the first production at the American Airlines Theatre on 42nd Street in 2000, and the star-studded production of THE WOMEN in June 2002 have been seen on channel Thirteen/WNET and other PBS stations nationally. Beyond its work on stage, Roundabout is recognized as a national leader in audience development and offers a comprehensive program of initiatives, including the Social Series, the Early Curtain Series, the Wine Series, the Gay and Lesbian Series, HIPTIX (targeting young professionals), and related humanities events and publications. Roundabout launched ACCESS ROUNDABOUT, a program which offered over 22,000 dramatically discounted tickets during the 2007-2008 season. In addition, through arts education programs, Roundabout reaches more than 7,000 New York City public high school students and their teachers each year. With a focus on in-depth programming, these activities range from partnerships with two New Century High Schools (a NYC Department of Education Initiative) and professional development for teachers to in-school year-long residencies and student matinees at its Broadway and Off-Broadway theatres. Through national tours, live broadcasts, education and outreach programs, and its work on three stages, Roundabout touches the lives of millions of theatergoers, students, and artists across the country.

CAST

* Member of Actors Equity Association
the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States

IF I FORGET is presented in 2 hours and 45 minutes with one 15 minute intermission.

TIME AND PLACE
A white, upper-middle class neighborhood in Northwest Washington, D.C.
After the end of the twentieth century.

FROM THE DIRECTOR

I consider myself a man of the theater and yet both this play and this theater are new to me. And both are glorious discoveries. I love plays in which I see reflections of myself and of people, places and times that I have known. This play is full of those. People struggling with identity, with family and with community. People wanting to make a difference. People trying to find home. This is a play written a few years ago about a time a few years before that - but it is so prescient of our current challenges, politics, and social trends. It is filled with wisdom, hope, ignorance, and despair. And laughter. Because there is always laughter in the darkest places.

For me, this play asks a simple question – can we truly disconnect our lives from our past? And if so, at what gain or what peril?

The Fountain Theater is a challenging place to mount this play. It normally takes place in several rooms of the Fischer family home. But the confines of this theater make the realistic setting of that impossible. So, I have been given the liberty by both our artistic director, Stephen Sachs; our producer Simon Levy; as well as the playwright, Steven Levenson to re-imagine this play as a memory piece. It invites a stylistic approach to the setting that I hope you will enjoy. They have also allowed me to bring a character to life that normally exists only in name in the play. And for their generosity and faith, I am deeply grateful. Necessity is occasionally the mother of wonderful invention. And I hope that we have collaborated to bring a fresh and engaging approach to this play that honors all its original intentions. I also want to thank Rabbi Daniel Bouskila, whose love for this play is the origin and heart of it coming to our theater.

In Hebrew, there is a single word for hello (and goodbye) and peace. The word is “shalom”. We are delighted you are here with us. Shalom, shalom.

WHO’S WHO

SÍLE BERMINGHAM (Ellen Manning) is delighted to be a part of Steven Levenson’s If I Forget directed by the wonderful Jason Alexander. Other theater credits include The Ruffian on the Stairs, Loot, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Richard the III, A Touch of the Poet, Good Bobby (NY & LA) Crimes & Crimes, Exiles, The Beauty Queen of Leenane. Bermingham stars in the indie film Waiting for the Miracle to Come opposite Charlotte Rampling and Willie Nelson. Other screen credits include A Kiss and a Promise, which opened the Dallas International Film Festival; 2:22 in which she starred opposite Gabriel Byrne and Val Kilmer; Lookin’ Up with Steve Guttenberg and Played. A lover of story and the spoken word, Bermingham narrates audio books for authors such as Maeve Binchy, Joanne Harris, Marian Keyes and many more. Bermingham has studied and taught drama extensively from her native Dublin to London, New York and Los Angeles where she now resides. Sile Bermingham is a life time member of The Actors Studio. Bermingham is repped by Sovereign Talent Group.

RICHARD FANCY (Lou Fischer)  appeared on Broadway as Roscoe Dexter in Singin’ in the Rain at the Gershwin Theatre and Off Broadway as Lou Perrino in Julia at 59e59th. In 2018 he played Lou Fischer in If I Forget at the Studio Theatre in Washington, DC.  He began his career in regional theatre: some of his credits include Claudius in Hamlet, Iachimo in Cymbeline (Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival), Wild Bill Hickok in Indians (Syracuse Repertory Theater) Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire (Peterborough Players.) He’s lived for the last thirty five years in Los Angeles acting in intimate theater. At Pacific Resident he’s played Joe Keller in a long run of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons (closing in March 2019), Halvard Solness in The Master Builder, Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, Robert in Betrayal, and Galileo in a workshop production of Brecht’s play.  At the Odyssey he played Moe in Clifford Odets’ Awake and Sing and then, thirty years later, he played Uncle Morty in the same play for which he got an LADCC Award. His movie and television credits include Seinfeld, The District, Nixon, Lords of Salem, Hollywoodland, and General Hospital. He studied with Uta Hagen, George Morrison and Kristin Linklater in New York, at LAMDA in London, and with John Lehne in Los Angeles. He’s a member of the Actors Studio.

CARIBAY FRANKE (Abby Fischer) is an actor, dancer, and choreographer from Caracas, Venezuela. Her career includes a rather eclectic host of projects from music videos Illusion (Foreign Air), to virtual plays Corpses and Chupacabras (Skylight Theatre), to operas Postcard from Morocco (Thorton School of Music). She even had a stint as a professional nightclub dancer at Flaming Saddles in WeHo. However, she is particularly known for choreographing and directing movement-based theatre: Metamorphoses (Crosstown Players), Men on Boats (Son of Semele Ensemble), Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play (USC School of Dramatic Arts), Cock (Hollywood Fringe Festival). Caribay is also a very proud member of DIAVOLO’s second company. She’s been dancing with the highly athletic, acrobatic dance company since 2019 in productions of S.O.S., This is Me, Calavera, and most recently, DIAVOLO & The Veterans Project at the Wallis Annenberg Center. Caribay is thrilled to join this lovely group of storytellers for her Fountain debut.

SAMANTHA (SAMI) KLEIN (Sharon Fischer): Fountain debut. Regional: The Last Schwartz, Their Eyes Saw Rain, On Emotion, Trip to Bountiful, Into the Woods, Chapter Two, Company, just to name a few. TV: ICarly (current season on Paramount +), Physical (current season on Apple TV), Modern Family, Veronica Mars, You’re the Worst, Masters of Sex, Gamer’s Guide to Pretty Much Everything, Game Shakers, and many others. BFA from Chapman University. Proud SAG/AFTRA member. Thanks to family (hi mom!), friends, Sandy, and this incredible cast and crew. Jason, thank you for everything. For Brett. www.samiklein.com or sweetsamiklein on IG/Twitter. 

LEO MARKS (Michael Fischer) recently played every resident of Bedford Falls in a one-man It’s a Wonderful Life with Rogue Machine. Other credits include Everything That Never Happened and The Missing Pages of Lewis Carroll at Boston Court, Mysterious Circumstances at the Geffen Playhouse, How to Write a New Book for the Bible at Berkeley Rep and Seattle Rep, A Perfect Wedding at the Kirk Douglas, Jessica Kubzansky’s production of Hamlet, as well as productions at South Coast Rep, North Coast Rep, The Old Globe, D.C.’s Shakespeare Theater, Cleveland Playhouse, Actors Theater of Louisville, Pasadena Playhouse, Ahmanson Theatre, The Intiman, PICT, Playwright’s Arena, ACT’s The Strand, Alley Theatre, and Playwrights Horizons. Founding member, New York’s Elevator Repair Service, and proud member of Antaeus. Awards include an Obie (Heather Woodbury’s Tale of 2Cities). TV/Film includes the lead in the award-winning indie feature film The Maestro, now streaming on Amazon Prime.

VALERIE PERRI (Holly Fischer) Broadway Nationals. Evita, Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, Indecent. Off-Broadway. Diamonds (Circle in the Square) Angry Housewives (Minetta Lane Theater) On the Swing Shift (Manhattan Theater Club) Southern California and Regional. Ragtime (Pasadena Playhouse) Man of La Mancha (Reprise)The World Goes ‘Round (Reprise 2.0) The Graduate (Laguna Playhouse) Hello Dolly ( 3D Theatricals) Sunset Blvd (Carpenter Performing Arts Center, Moonlight Amphitheater) Closer than Ever, The Sweepers (International City Theater) Admissions (Good Theater, ME.) The Last Schwartz (Zephyr Theater) Serrano (Matrix Theater) TV. Criminal Minds, Brooklyn Bridge (CBS) ER, Another World (NBC)  Who’s the Boss, Geppetto (ABC) Film. Grease, The Out of Towners, Dickie Roberts (Paramount) George of the Jungle (Disney) Recording. Valerie Perri: Sweet Conversation. Married to International photographer Cliff Lipson. Twin sons, composer/musician/vocalists Jack and Benny Lipson. Representation: AMT Artists valerieperri.com  imdb.me/valerieperri, Facebook & Twitter@valerieperri Insta:@vperrimusic

Jerry Weil (Howard Kilberg) is a long time member of Neo Ensemble Theatre, Jerry was last seen on stage in the world premiere of Representational Misbehavior at GTC. He has spent the past two years performing frequently over zoom, playing everything from William Shakespeare in Sorry, Shakespeare to a wasted marijuana dispensary owner in Neighborhood Newsies. Television: Elemental, Without A Trace, CSI, Babylon V.  Film: Behind the Red Motel Door, The Last Gamble, and the upcoming films American Sangre and Birthday Suit (which he also wrote and directed). Jerry stars in the webseries Bill The Therapist. His gluten-free/vegan cookbook Not Just Desserts is available on Amazon.

JACOB ZELONKY (Joey Oren) has been entertaining audiences since birth, when he was born on TV’s A Baby Story. Zelonky grew up in Memphis, TN where he resided until being cast in the Broadway national tour of Billy Elliot the Musical, which he performed in for 2 years. He attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and studied improv at the Upright Citizen's Brigade. Zelonky now resides in Los Angeles where he works as a musician and actor, most recently appearing in the final season of Modern Family. He’s a passionate advocate for mental health education and services, as well as inclusion and disability awareness. In addition to his real family, he thanks the Jews in his life who have been like family to him: the Lief, Hyman, Pearlman, Lutz, Schwartz, Dvir, and Glaser/Lauer families, and the incredible company of If I Forget for their unwavering support and guidance.

CREATIVE TEAM

STEVEN LEVENSON (Playwright) plays include The Unavoidable Disappearance Of Tom Durnin (Roundabout Theatre Company, Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Memorial Playwriting Award), Core Values (Ars Nova, Drama Desk Nomination for Outstanding Play), The Language of Trees (Roundabout), Seven Minutes In Heaven (Colt Coeur; Emerging America Festival/Huntington Theater Company), and the book for Dear Evan Hansen, with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Second Stage, OBIE Award for Musical Theatre, Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Book and Best Off-Broadway Musical, Drama League Nomination for Best Musical; Arena Stage, Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Musical). His play, If I Forget, premiered at Roundabout in Spring, 2017. His plays are published by Dramatists Play Service and Playscripts. A graduate of Brown University and former Artist in Residence at Ars Nova, he has received new play commissions from Roundabout, Lincoln Center, MCC, and Ars Nova. Currently a writer and producer on Showtime's Masters Of Sex, he is a founding member of Colt Coeur and an alumnus of MCC's Playwrights Coalition and Ars Nova's Play Group.

JASON ALEXANDER (Director): Though best known for his award-winning career as an actor on stage, film and television - including his iconic portrayal of George Costanza in Seinfeld, Jason has been a sought-after director in all medium. Directing credits include the feature films For Better or Worse and  Just Looking. Television directing: Seinfeld; Criminal Minds; Everybody Hates Chris; Remember WENN; Franklin and Bash; Mike and Molly - plus commercial campaigns for Jenny Craig and PSA’s for second-hand smoking. For the theater: Sunday in the Park; Damn Yankees; The Fantasticks; Broadway Bound; God of Hell; Windfall; The Last Five Years. Jason has several projects in pre-production for Broadway including an adaptation of War of the Roses by Peter Tolan and The Cottage by Sandy Rustin. Jason was also the artistic director of the Reprise Theatre Company for five wonderful years.

ALLISON BIBICOFF (Assistant Director & Dance Composition) is a Director, Choreographer, and Intimacy Coordinator for theatre, film & TV. Favorite credits include choreographing The Who’s Tommy (LADCC Award nomination), directing Mark Brown’s 5 actor/39 character Around the World in 80 Days (LA Times Critic’s Choice), assistant choreographing four time Tony nominated Xanadu on Broadway, swing dancing at The Hollywood Bowl with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and directing two readings for the ASCAP/Dreamworks new musical theatre workshop. As a choreographer, she specializes in partner dancing (swing, salsa, etc.) and in working with non-dancers. She is a Garland Award winner and a two time LA Weekly Award nominee. Allison studied intimacy coordination with three companies in three countries. She is Mental Health First Aid Certified, and is currently studying ASL (American Sign Language). Allison has also executive produced two TV movies for Hallmark. Working with this team has been an honor and a pleasure. www.AllisonBibicoff.com 

SHAWNA VORAGEN (she/her) (Production Stage Manager) is a Los Angeles based stage manager and proud member of Actors' Equity. Select stage management credits include: Citizen: An American Lyric, In The Red And Brown Water, The Brothers Size, The Ballad of Emmett Till [Digital Remount], Reborning (Fountain Theatre); King Lear, Witness Uganda, A Christmas Carol, UNMASKED: A Theatrical Celebration of Black Women’s Liberation (The Wallis); Paradise Blue (Geffen Playhouse); Medusa: The Musical, The Window [Staged Reading] (Deaf West Theatre); 33 Variations, Steel Magnolias, A Body of Water (Actors Co-Op); Hocus Pocus: A Musical Cocktail Experience, A Christmas Carol Cocktail Spectacular (After Hours Theatre Company); Next to Normal (Triage Productions); and the acclaimed remount of Citizen: An American Lyric as part of CTG’s inaugural Block Party. Love and thanks to Marianne and Katie!

LEXIE SECRIST (Assistant Stage Manager) This is Lexie's first show at The Fountain Theatre and she is so happy to be working with so many incredible, talented and respected artists. She is a recent graduate from California State Polytechnic University of Pomona where she did Stage Management work for Mr. Burns : A post electric play, The Thanksgiving Play, Fefu & Her Friends, and Men on Boats. Her previous involvement includes Stage Management work for The Laramie project, The Importance of Being Earnest, Urinetown, A Servant of Two Masters and more. She would like to say thank you to her parents for their never-ending support and her sister Allison, for being an inspiration.

DONNY JACKSON (Lighting Design) is an award-winning Lighting Designer based in LA. Work highlights: New York premiere of Four Clowns (La Mama), When God Looked Away, starring Al Pacino (Macha Theatre), In the Heights (La Mirada Theatre), KJAZZ Concert 2017 (Wallis Annenberg), Arrival & Departure-BroadwayWorld Award (Fountain Theatre) and Transition-NAACP Award (Lounge Theatre). His design work for Into the Woods was featured on TV during ABC's "Encore". Recent projects: The Christians (Actors Co-op), A Doll’s House, part 2 (ICT Long Beach) and A Little Night Music (Greenway Court). He is Head of Technical Theatre at Cypress College and holds an MFA in lighting from UCLA. www.DonnyJackson.com

SARAH KRAININ (Scenic Design) Selected Los Angeles credits: Detained (Fountain Theatre); different words for the same thing (Kirk Douglas Theatre / Center Theatre Group); Cowboy Elektra (Rogue Artists Ensemble at the Getty Villa); Our Class (Son of Semele Ensemble); Invisible Cities (object design, The Industry at Union Station); Clouded Sulphur (AUTOMATA-LA); Trojan Women and The Persians (props artisan, SITI Company at the Getty Villa). Sarah directs original works of object theatre that challenge perceptions of everyday objects and develops “living” scenery for Torry Bend’s original puppet theater productions, including Paper Hat Game (3-Legged Dog Art & Technology Center) and Dreaming: Little Nemo in Slumberland (LaMAMA). Other New York credits: Richard Foreman’s King Cowboy Rufus Rules the Universe and The Gods Are Pounding My Head AKA Lumberjack Messiah (props artisan, Ontological-Hysteric Theatre). Sarah is Head of Design in the Department of Theatre and New Dance at Cal Poly Pomona. www.SarahKrainin.com

Katelyn M Lopez (Props Lead) is a Technical Designer, currently earning a BA in Technical Theatre at California Polytechnic Institute who has experience both on and off the stage. An artistic designer, Katelyn debuted as a Costume Designer for The Thanksgiving Play at Cal Poly Pomona. She continued her career as Costume Assistant for Detained, Props Lead for Detained, and is excited to share her second production as Props Lead for If I Forget for The Fountain Theatre. 

CRICKET S MYERS (Sound Design) On Broadway, Cricket earned a Tony Nomination and a Drama Desk Award for her design of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. Regional designs include La Jolla Playhouse, The Ahmanson, The Mark Taper Forum, The Denver Center, Milwaukee Rep, Shakespeare Theatre Company of DC, The Kirk Douglas Theater, Pasadena Playhouse, and the Geffen Theater. She has earned 24 Ovation Nominations, as well as winning The Ruth Morley Award from the League of Professional Theater Women, The Kinetic Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatrical Design, an LADCC and a Garland Award in Los Angeles. www.cricketsmyers.com

A. JEFFREY SCHOENBERG (Costume Design) has been designing costumes for L. A. area theaters for almost 40 years.  His recent designs have been Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing for Shakespeare by the Sea; 3 Days in the Country for Antaeus; Resolving Hedda for the Victory Theater; and The History of Comedy (abridged) at the Falcon Theater. Other recent designs include Candide for the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music ; Kiss Me Kate for Cabrillo Music Theater;  Always … Patsy Cline for Sierra Madre Playhouse; Hamlet for L. A. Women’s Shakespeare; Elmina’s Kitchen for Lower Depths Theatre; Bach at Leipzig for the Odyssey Theater; The Dead, The Time of Your Life, and Threepenny Opera for the Open Fist Theater; and NoHo Arts Center’s Elizabeth Rex (Ovation winner). For the Colony Theater, he designed over 35 productions, including Dames at Sea, Side Show (Ovation winner), The Ladies of the Camellias, and The Laramie Project. He has been the resident designer for Musical Theatre Guild for the past 7 years. Jeffrey is the owner and designer for AJS Costumes, Renaissance Dancewear, and Mr. Alan Jeffries Fine Gentlemen’s Apparel. Special thanks to: Michael R. Cabler, Deborah Ash, The Costume House.