January 27 & 28, 2022
7:30 PM
Smith Theatre
Matt August
Nicolas Giusti
Isaac Hurtado
Cee‑Cee Swalling
Peter D. Leonard
Peter Dean Beck
Janice Chan
Emily Beatse
Assistant Director
Julianne Riddle
Andrea Briscoe
Lillian Hanks
Lorenzo Emanuel
Tom Keck
Alex Malone
Scenery and Properties for this production are owned by Arizona Opera
Additional set dressing and props constructed and coordinated by the UVU School of the Arts Scene Shop
Cristina Villalobos
* Hanna Jenson
Daniel Perez
Linnea Mott
* Talia Diaz
Kade Bennett
Lance Merrell
* Travis Lunt
Bryan Wheatherston
* Josh Scribner
Joshua Scribner
* Lance Merrell
Anthony Ruiz
* Friday Performance
Chorus
**Meadow Alexander, Elyse Allen, Madalyn Barazoto, Kade Bennett, Courtney Brewster, **Andrea Briscoe, Talia Davis, Jonathan Francis, Louise Frazier, Megan Hahn, Christian Holden, Josh Hooker, Hannah Jenson, Lily Jones, Mallory Keele, Galo Lastra, Travis Lunt, Lance Merrell, Taci Miner, Linnea Miner Mott, Alice Packard, Daniel Perez, Sydney Pexton, Anthony Ruiz, Amy Shafer‑Larsen, Brittney Stradling, Zac Thompson, Cristina Villalobos, Bryan Weatherston
** Understudy
Children
Hobble Creek Singers
Directed by Leslie Walker and Leanna Crockett
Clara Allen, Clark Bills, Ben Christensen, Spencer Gee, Annika Jay, Aubrey Jay, Maci Nielson, Adele Ricks, Adelia Swan, Eden Throckmorton, Jude Walker
Soldiers
Garrett Huffaker, Dez Walker
There will be a brief pause
after Act I and Act III.
There will be a 15 minute
intermission after Act II.
Under the shadow of Sacré-Cœur cathedral, our bohemians are living a life of romantic squalor in the bustling Latin quarter of Paris. Rodolfo, a poet, is staring out the window, procrastinating writing while his friend Marcello tries to fix his subpar painting. Rodolfo uses a play he has written to light a fire for warmth. Two friends, Colline, a philosopher, and Schaunard, a musician, bring over food and wine. When Benoit the landlord interrupts to demand the last three month’s rent, the guys get him drunk and throw him out. Marcello, Colline and Schaunard go to the Café Momus to pick up women and get a bite to eat but Rodolfo stays at home to finish writing. Mimi, his neighbor, knocks on the door and asks him to light her candle. She is seized with a coughing fit and passes out on his floor. While Rodolfo helps revive her, he notices how beautiful she is. The two exchange their stories and Mimi asks to go to dinner with him. Rodolfo takes her arm and escorts Mimi out.
On Christmas Eve, a large crowd has gathered in the Latin Quarter to purchase treats and gifts from the vendors. The children add to the commotion as they anxiously await an appearance from Parpignol. Outside of the Café Momus, Rodolfo buys Mimi a bonnet, Colline buys a secondhand coat, Schaunard bargains over the cost of a horn and Marcello flirts with the girls. The four friends meet in the cafe and Rodolfo introduces them to Mimi. Musetta, Marcello‘s ex-girlfriend, arrives in the company of an old man, Alcindoro. Musetta teases Marcello and tempts him to get back with her. She sends Alcindoror off to buy some shoes and the two are reunited. As a military parade passes by, the friends sneak off, leaving the old man with their bill.
On a February day, outside of a tavern, at the toll gate at the Barrière d'Enfer: Rodolfo has moved to an inn where Marcello now resides with Musetta. Mimi arrives and tells Marcello that Rodolfo and she have broken up for good. She hides when Rodolfo appears and listens as Rodolfo tells Marcello he fears for Mimi's life, for she is sick with consumption and he cannot afford to give her the help she needs. Mimi is then given away by her cough. The lovers forgive each other. Musetta enters in a fight with the jealous Marcello and throws her key at him before storming off.
Back at Rodolfo’s place, the two friends reminisce on the wonderful times with their ex-girlfriends. Colline and Schaunard arrive and they laugh and joke in an attempt to forget their troubles. Musetta enters; Mimi is dying. Musetta sends Marcello out to sell her earrings for money to buy medicine, and she goes out in the search of a muff to warm her friend Mimi’s freezing hands. Colline goes off to sell his coat. The two lovers, left by themselves, remember their first time meeting and embrace in love. Their friends return to find Mimi dead. Grief stricken, Rodolfo throws himself on top of her.
Sam Brockman
Zachary Ballard
Lucinda Lai
Tristan Kaiser
Brecklyn Noble
Hannah Melville
Kaylie Walker
Cortnee Quist
Ryan Fallis
Greg Weiner
Ash Bassett
Aaron Tan
Dakota Burris
Walker Crum
Shad Doty
Brittany Thorson
Devon Parikh
David McKain
Daymen Goodwin
CONDUCTOR
Nicolas Giusti
REHERSAL PIANISTS
Ashley Vazquez
John Elam
FIRST VIOLIN
Leslie Henrie
Janice Vincent
Tamara Tanner
Mason Lunceford
Katie Jensen
Xinwen Chen
Rebecca Dalgleish
Sahara Parker
SECOND VIOLIN
Marcel Bowman
Morgan Smith
Jon Kahananui
Micah Fleming
Keanna Boss
Annalicia Loveridge
VIOLA
LeeAnn Morgan
Devan Maria
Randen Heywood
Serena Clement
Madi Riley
CELLO
Monika Rosborough‑Bowman
Jaantje Bowman
Kaitlin Booth
Noah Guzman
Clark Wilson
BASS
Denson Angulo
Emily Maddison
HARP
Mischael Staples
PERCUSSION
Nathan Jackman
Johannes Bowman
TIMPANI
Jake Lives
HORN
Anita Miller
Brendan Wiggins
Wendy Koller
Rachel Colton
TRUMPET
Bix Hollenbach
Lisa Verzella
Jaden Jones
TROMBONE
Adam Bean
Craig Moore
Nelsen Campbell
FLUTE
Lisa Whatcott
Kendra Hamblin
OBOE
Luca Florin
Drew Allred
CLARINET
Jeff O'Flynn
Bridger Bird
BASSOON
Jessi Vandagriff
Andrew Apgood
Matt August
Director
Matt August is a theatre and film director whose productions have broken box-office records on Broadway (Grinch), in London and the UK, played Off-Broadway, major Regional theatres, festivals, National Tours, the Grand Ol’ Opry, and three holiday seasons at Madison Square Garden. They’ve been featured on television, NPR and performed at the White House. He has directed World Premieres, American Premieres and Regional Premieres that have been recognized with nominations and awards from LA’s Ovation, Washington DC’s Helen Hayes, Arizona’s Mac, San Francisco’s Bay Area Critics, Broadway World, Utah’s Audience Choice and Australia’s Helpmann Awards. His work has appeared on Year End Top-Ten lists for the LA Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post, Arizona Republic, Oakland Tribune, Tucson Sun, San Jose Mercury News and NPR/KQED. He has been awarded fellowships and residencies from the Old Globe Theatre, Drama League, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Acting Company, Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center, the Juilliard School, and San Francisco’s Zen Center. In addition to theatre, he was awarded the Panavision New Filmmakers Grant and directed the award winning short family film How to Get to Candybar. Locally, his productions have been seen at the Capitol Theatre, Pioneer Theatre and at UVU. Regional Premiers include King Charles III and In the Heights; World Premieres of Discord - The Gospel According to Jefferson, Dickens and Tolstoy; The Fourth messenger; Two Dollar Bill, Sixteen WoundedS, Time Flies, Meet John Doe, Liberty Smith and many more, and the UK premier of How the Grinch.... Shakespeare productions include Much Ado About Nothing, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, Merry Wives of Windsor. He was the Associate Director to multi-Tony winning director Jack O’Brien on four Broadway productions, including being the Resident Director on Tom Stoppard’s The Invention of Love when both lead actors received Tony Awards, and on the Tony winning Henry IV (Best Director and Best Revival.) He is a scholar on the work of Howard Barker and Robert Wilson, and currently teaches directing at UVU. More info at MattAugust.com
Nicolas Giusti
Music Director/Conductor
Nicolas Giusti is an acclaimed Italian composer and opera conductor. He has had great success with many operatic productions, such as Die Zauberflote by Mozart, Colyseum Opera House of Oporto (Portugal), Gianni Schicchi (Orbetello Festival with protagonist Giuseppe Taddei); Tosca (with Silvano Carroli, transmitted on RAI radio3); and La Bohème by Puccini at the State Opera House of Izmir (Turkey), the first production of the century in that country. Recently, he has directed and performed in highly competitive opera tournaments.
Emily Beatse
Production Stage Manager
Emily Beatse is excited to be working at the Noorda Center as the Stage Manager for their production of La Bohème. She is a recent graduate from the University of Utah with a BFA in Stage Management. Her professional credits include: The Comedy of Terrors (2nd ASM, Utah Shakespeare Festival), Pirates of Penzance (PA, Utah Shakespeare Festival), Mary Stuart, the Lifespan of a Fact, and The Lion in Winter (2nd ASM, Pioneer Theatre Company). Her previous educational credits include: Tartuffe (SM, Studio 115), Songs for a New World (Livestream Director, Babcock Theatre), Henry V (APM, Zoom), Amahl and the Night Visitors Opera (ASM, The Grand Theatre), A Christmas Carol Opera (ASM, The Grand Theatre), Men on Boats (1st ASM, Studio 115), and Our Country’s Good (ASM, Babcock Theatre).
Peter D. Leonard
Lighting Design
Peter D. Leonard has designed over 300 productions for theaters and dance companies
nationwide. Multiple tours lighting the Dance Theatre of Harlem include:
Lincoln Center, Joyce Theater, Jacob’s Pillow, Kennedy Center, Sadler's Wells (London).
Perry Award nomination: Children of Eden MOC Musicals. Lighting designs for original
musicals: Singin’ Wid A Sword in Ma Han (Audience Favorite award NYC Fringe 2009),
The Deciders and Saddamn: The Musical for Smoke That Thunders, pre-Broadway workshop
of In My Life for Joe Brooks, Nucleo Eclettico at LaMama, Etc; Dorian Gray: The Musical
at NY Musical Theater Festival, Clark Gesner’s Animal
Fair NY premiere.
Cee-Cee Swalling
Costume, Hair and Makeup Design
Cee-Cee Swalling is thrilled to make her Noorda Center mainstage debut with La Bohème. Past design credits include: Ragtime, Peter Pan Jr, & Midsummer Night's Dream (Live Arts). She Kills Monsters, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and Urinetown (University of Virginia), Rent, Merrily We Roll Along, Parade, Urinetown, Snapshot, Secret Garden, Working (Sidwell Friends School). She was the Assistant Designer to Wade Laboissonierre at Ford's Theatre for Into The Woods and 1776. Her work can be found atcostumesbyceecee.com.
Janice Chan
Production Set & Props Designer
Janice Chan is a scenic designer based in Utah Valley and holds a B.F.A. in Theatre Arts with an emphasis in Scenic Design from Utah Valley University. She was awarded the 2020 School of the Arts Outstanding Student Award in Theatrical Design. Some of her UVU and NCPA credits include James and the Giant Peach (2021), Urinetown: The Musical (2019 - featured at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2019), and The Laramie Project (2019). Janice has collaborated with local organizations, such as Sundance Summer Theatre and Plan-B Theatre Company. She currently serves as the Director of Scenic & Props at non-profit, An Other Theater Company. See her work at janicechan.design.
The Director is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union.
Be prepared to be swept away. The arts possess the unparalleled power to inspire, educate, liberate, and transform. With roots stretching deep into the history of human culture, performances invite us to set aside the constant hum of our daily routines and gather together to envision, to imagine, and to be astonished.
After a period of reduced live performances, we are delighted to raise the curtains on an extraordinary season at The Noorda Center for the Performing Arts, the leading star of UVU’s campus and a hub for the arts in Utah County. There is a special energy in The Noorda, perhaps because it wasn’t long ago that a performing arts center was just a dream. Now in our third season (hopefully our first uninterrupted, in-person season), we are overjoyed to welcome you to our pristine and inspiring spaces.
The event you will experience tonight is the result of countless hours of practice, study, and rehearsal from acclaimed faculty, award-winning guest performers, talented students, and renowned guest artists. In the School of the Arts, we seek to educate and inspire audiences and communities through bold and compelling programming as well as world-class performances. All of this connects deeply to our academic mission.
On behalf of the performers and all those who worked so hard behind the scenes to make this event a reality, thank you for joining us. You are the reason we do what we do – your interest, your energy, your awe. Please enjoy the performance and don’t forget to allow yourself to be swept away.
Courtney R. Davis, J.D., M.A.
Interim Dean, School of the Arts
Utah Valley University acknowledges that we gather on land sacred to all Indigenous people who came before us in this vast crossroads region. The University is committed to working in partnership—as enacted through education and community activities—with Utah’s Native Nations comprising: the San Juan Southern Paiute, Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, Uintah & Ouray Reservation of the Northern Ute, Skull Valley Goshute, Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, Northwestern Band of Shoshone Nation, Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute-White Mesa Community, and urban Indian communities. We recognize these Native Nations and their continued connections with traditional homelands, mountains, rivers, and lakes as well as their sovereign relationships with state and federal governments. We honor their collective memory and continued physical and spiritual presence. We revere their resilience and example in preserving their connections to the Creator and to all their relations, now and in the future.
With this statement comes responsibility and accountability. We resolve to follow up with actionable items to make the School of the Arts at UVU and The Noorda Center for the Performing Arts an inclusive, equitable, and just space for all. There is much work to be done, and we are committed to putting these words into practice.
The Circle is an elite group of arts supporters at The Noorda. Our goal is simple: create a sphere of influence that unites those who wish to have a significant impact upon the performers, patrons, and students who are transformed in our center for true artistic collaboration. Your contribution and support will make this impact by enabling The Noorda to bring the greatest talent from across the world through its doors. While here, these performers and artists will collaborate with students, the community, and our youth. Many will set aside time to visit with Circle Members at exclusive VIP events.
Join The Circle today. Call 801-863-8345 or email Alex Malone [email protected] for more information.
Mr. & Mrs. Alan and Karen Ashton
Mr. Bruce Bastian
Mr. & Mrs. Darren and Lisa Bastian
Mr. & Mrs. Jeff and Cristi Bastian
Mr. & Mrs. Rick and Heather Bastian
Mr. & Mrs. Robbie and Amy Bastian
The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints
dōTERRA
Mr. & Mrs. Kem and Carolyn Gardner
Barbara Barrington Jones Family Foundation
The Ray and Tye Noorda Family Foundation
Nu Skin
OC Tanner
Mr. & Mrs. Scott and Karen Smith
Utah County Government
Mr. Kim Wilson and Mrs. Gail Miller Wilson
Zions Bank
Clyde Companies
Mr. and Mrs. Paul and Jeanette Clyde
Mayor & Mrs. Guy and Paula Fugal
Mr. & Mrs. Duane and Erlyn Madsen
Mr. & Mrs. Jeff and Nancy Flamm
Mr. & Mrs. Brent and Cheri Andrus
Ms. Mary Crafts
Mr. & Mrs. Brad and Becky Caldwell
Dr. Carolyn Rasmus
