collaboratively devised by the ensemble
Ensemble/Performers
Gwen Grastorf, Mark Jaster, Sabrina Mandell, Sarah Olmsted Thomas & Alex Vernon.
Music arranged for original MOXIE production by
Karen Hansen (Updated for current production by The Ensemble with help from Craig Jaster)
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Set Design/Construction/Painting
Mark Jaster & Sabrina Mandell
Costume Design
Sabrina Mandell
Costume Construction
Nancy Mendez, Lois Dunlop & Sabrina Mandell
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Humanette Dolls
Nancy Mendez
Woody Dummy/Head Crank/Pierrot Puppet
Alex Vernon
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Show is approximately 75 minutes with no intermission
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Note from the Artistic Co-Directors
Before radio, film, TV and the new media, Vaudeville was the popular American entertainment, flourishing from about 1890 until around 1930, when it finally succumbed to radio and film. It featured a wide variety of acts, which toured nationwide circuits, often by train. Most towns of even modest size had a Vaudeville house with a proscenium stage. In its heyday, the industry is said to have employed over twelve thousand people at any given time. It provided a plethora of outlets for talented, skilled or eccentric performers of many backgrounds, including recent European and Asian immigrants and African Americans. Vaudeville’s rich history cannot be explored without encountering some deeply unsettling cultural stereotypes, especially in the use of blackface by both white and black performers. This legacy of the minstrel shows and that of other ethnic caricatures is a problematic part of America’s theatre history. Exploring these issues is not our mission. We have chosen instead, to re-imagine old Vaudeville, capturing the energetic spirit of its many performers and its style. Through our research, development and performance we have discovered how much we identify with Vaudevillians of the past and how much we subscribe to the idea of “Vintage Style, Not Vintage Values”, promoted by the incredible living band leader, Dandy Wellington.
- Mark Jaster & Sabrina Mandell
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Songs
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Moxie One-Step (1921) Norman Leigh & Dennis J. Shea
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Danny Boy (1913) Frederick Weatherly set to traditional tune "Londonderry Air"
The Pussy Cat Rag (1913) Joseph M. Daly & Thos. S. Allen
That Hypnotizing Man (1911) Albert Von Tilzer
I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside (1907) John A. Glover-Kind
Baby Sister Blues (1922) Henry I. Marshall & Marion Sunshine
Shine On Harvest Moon (1915) Nora Bayes-Norworth & Jack Norworth
O Sole Mio (1898) Eduardo di Capua & Giovanni Capurro
The Song Is Ended (1927) Irving Berlin
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Sources & Inspirations
American Vaudeville as Seen by its Contemporaries
by Charles W. Stein (1984)
American Vaudeville: Its Life and Times
by Douglas Gilbert (1940)
The Palace
by Marian Spitzer (1969)
PBS American Masters Series: VAUDEVILLE
by Greg Palmer, Produced by Rosemary Garner, Narrated by Ben Vereen (1997)
There are a couple of excellent contemporary responses to Minstrel Shows and African Americans in Vaudeville to check out: Spike Lee's film Bamboozled and LookingGlass Theatre’s (Chicago) production Thaddeus & Slocum: A Vaudeville Adventure by Kevin Douglas.
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Performer Bios
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Mark Jaster (Structure & Ground/Artistic co-Director/Ensemble) is Artistic Co-Director of Happenstance Theater with the abstract subtitle, “Structure & Ground.” He has co-directed and appeared in all Happenstance productions since its founding in 2006, winning Theatre Washington’s Helen Hayes/Robert Prosky Award for his performance in Impossible! A Happenstance Circus in 2016. He studied mime with French masters Etienne Decroux and Marcel Marceau, and served as Mr. Marceau’s teaching assistant in a 1980’s series of seminars in Michigan. Performance credits beyond Happenstance include 35 years as a featured act at the Maryland Renaissance Festival, 20 years with the Big Apple Circus’ Clown Care Unit, many years as Drosselmeyer in the Maryland Youth Ballet’s Nutcracker, performances with the Washington and Cambridge Revels, and frequent collaborations with world-class musicians: the late great jazz bassist Keter Betts, Celtic Harper Sue Richards, and Piffaro, the Renaissance band. He teaches frequently in artist residencies, theatres, and academic programs and has served as mime and movement consultant for many DC area theatres, including The Shakespeare Theatre, Ford’s, Round House, Theatre J, Olney, Constellation, Adventure Theatre, Imagination Stage, and Baltimore’s Center Stage.
Sabrina Mandell (Visionary Tornado/Artistic co-Director/Costume Designer/Ensemble) is the founder, Artistic Co-Director, Executive Director, and “Visionary Tornado” of Happenstance Theater. Sabrina has written, produced and performed prolifically since founding the company in 2006. She was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Actress in 2017 and has won two Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Costume Design. Sabrina performed for 10 years with the Big Apple Circus’ Clown Care Program in DC and Baltimore and has taught Theatrical Clown and Physical Comedy at the Shakespeare Theatre DC, Everyman Theatre in Baltimore, Round House Theatre, Duke Ellington School of the Arts, and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She is also a poet, visual artist, graphic designer and vintage clothing enthusiast.
Gwen Grastorf (Social Media Maven/Ensemble) is a performer and actor based in the DC metro area. She has been devising with Happenstance since 2009 and has been a company member since 2012. She is also the Social Media Maven for Happenstance. Gwen has worked elsewhere in DC with Constellation Theatre, Faction of Fools, Taffety Punk, Washington Revels, Rorschach Theatre, and the Tarot Reading. Gwen was raised in Frederick, Maryland, and got her degree at the University of MD, College Park.
Sarah Olmsted Thomas (Minister of Thoughtfulness/Ensemble) is a fifth generation performing artist. She has been a company member with Happenstance Theater since 2012. She is also half of the award-winning puppet theater company Alex and Olmsted which has toured festivals around the world. Sarah trained with the Pig Iron Theatre Company in Philadelphia, Bread and Puppet in Vermont, and Le Samovar, École de Clowns, in Paris. B.A., Sarah Lawrence College.
Alex Vernon (Lead Tinkerer/Ensemble) has been a Happenstance company member since 2012. He is an actor and puppeteer whose previous work has been seen with Constellation Theatre, Pointless Theatre, Imagination Stage, Adventure Theatre, WSC Avant Bard, and Washington Revels. He is also the other half of Alex and Olmsted, with which he creates original puppet works that have toured internationally.
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Happenstance Theater is a professional company dedicated to devising original, performer-generated, visual, poetic Theater. Happenstance has won 5 Helen Hayes Awards and been called “DC’s leading peddler of whimsy” by the Washington Post.
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Are you inspired?
MAKE A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION TO HAPPENSTANCE THEATER!
​Happenstance Theater is a fiscally sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Your donation helps us continue to make shows like POCKET MOXIE.
SPECIAL THANK YOU TO:
The Share Fund, Morgan Fund at Seattle Foundation, Nora Roberts Foundation, the Charles Hazlehurst Moura Family Foundation, Baltimore Community Foundation, Marilyn Meyerhoff and Sam Feldman, Nancy Rodriguez, Nancy Mendez, Lois Dunlop, April & Jerry Blum, Sharon Crissinger, Blonnie Brooks and WAGS MEDIA and Karen Hansen, and to all those who have donated to Happenstance Theater through Fractured Atlas.