Billie Holliday and Too Much, Too Much, Too Many

Sometimes when working on a play you pick music that reflects the characters or themes for the story. For Too Much, Too Much, Too Many, one of those songs is sung by the always fabulous Billie Holiday.

The song is from the musical St. Louis Woman and was written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer. Arlen is probably best know for writing the song "Over the Rainbow" for the Wizard of Oz, while Jerry Mercer is known for such hits as "Jeepers Creepers" and "Hooray for Hollywood," among other songs. 

For our purposes, it's a good look into the relationship between Rose, and her dearly departed husband James, and harkens back to the beginnings of their romance. 

Too Much, Too Much, Too Many: Meet The Design Team

Nancy McClymont (Director) Nancy McClymont most recently directed Jerry's Girls at South Bay Musical Theater and produced both The Genius of Leonard Bernstein and Broadway by the Decade-2015. With her own little company, i.e.Presents, she produced & directed Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years at Theater on San Pedro Square in San Jose. That production was honored as Standout Musical of 2014 by the Silicon Valley Small Theater Awards. Nancy has served as Assistant Director to C. Michael Traw, and Shannon Self at SBMT and CMT San Jose, respectively on such shows as Funny Girl, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Fiorello, and Doctor Dolittle.

Connecting artists with projects is something Ms. McClymont deeply enjoys doing. Nancy is thankful for the professional, innovative, kind team of people she has had the privilege of working with here. Special thanks to Meredith, Karen, Taylor, Kim, and Linda for the A list support and for the phenomenal opportunity the 2nd Stages Series is.

A longtime arts educator, performer, writer, speaker, and helping professional, Nancy loves to create experiences that impact people. She finds theatre to be highly therapeutic on every side of the equation and trusts that this piece will start a hundred needful conversations…

Jesse Ploog (Stage Manager/Props Master) Jesse graduated from the University of Arizona this past May and has been loving her time in California since she moved out here. Jesse’s previous Dragon credits include Sunlight (Scenic Designer and Stage Manager), Or, (Props Master and Assistant Stage Manager), The Voice of the Prairie (Scenic Designer and Assistant Stage Manager), Take Me Out (Assistant Stage Manager), and The Birthday Party (Assistant Stage Manager). Her UA credits include Assistant Scenic Designer for Frankenstein; Charge Artist for A Little Night Music, and This; Assistant Charge Artist for The Man Who Came to Dinner, Oklahoma!,and Boing! Boing!; and Scenic Artist for shows such as Avenue Q, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lend Me A Tenor, and The Full Monty. She would like to thank Dragon for another wonderful opportunity in this theatre, her fiance for supporting her through her crazy life, and her family for being awesome, even from Arizona.

Drew Jones (Assistant Director) TM3 is Drew's second show with the Dragon, previously appearing on stage in An Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein. Drew graduated with a BA in Theatre Arts at San Jose State University. Some of his favorite roles include Caleb in The Whipping Man, Malvolio in Twelfth Night, and Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors. Special thanks go to Nancy, the Dragon, and the secret muffin ingredient for this wonderful opportunity!

Kelly Battcher (Production Assistant) is thrilled to be joining the Dragon family for this beautiful show!  Locally, she has performed with Santa Clara Players (Claire in Proof), Actors Theatre (Margaret Glass in Happy Birthday, Brian Glass), Walking Sideways Theatre Company (Bette in The Marriage of Bette and Boo), and she recently did voice-over work for SJCC's production of Love and Information. Kelly earned her degree in theatre and stage management from University of the Pacific and has worked behind the scenes for San Jose Rep, Center Rep, and CMTSJ. Thank you to the cast and production team of TM3 for this incredible experience, and big hugs to my family for their endless love and support!

Ting Na Wang (Scenic Designer) A graduate of BA Fine Arts from San Jose State University, Ting Na is a scenic designer, painter and props designer for local theaters including Pear Theatre, Los Altos Stage Company, Silicon Valley Shakespeare, Sunnyvale Community Players, Renegade Theatre Experiment, I.E.Presents, Opera San Jose, Children’s Musical Theater, and Palo Alto Players. Outside her life in the theater, she is also an art teacher at Drawn2Art Los Altos, and a collector/reseller of Mid-century Modern designs.

Edward Hunter (Lighting Designer) Ed has been involved in  theater in the South Bay since he moved here in 1985. He has worked with Palo Alto Players, Theatreworks, Lyric Theater, Teatro Vison, Sunnyvale Players, Shady Shakespeare, Pear Theater and Sunnyvale Players. Some recent designs include: Big Fish, Death of a Salesman and Miss Saigon (PAP). The Abduction from the Seraglio (WBO). The Real Thing and Fool for Love (Pear). Evita, Pippin, and Mystery of Edwin Drood (SCP). When not in the theater Ed is a director of software at Juniper Networks.

Lance Huntley (Sound Designer) has designed sound for several Dragon productions and is pleased to be doing so again.

Evelyn O’Donnell (Costume Designer) This is Evelyn’s first show with Dragon productions.

Beje Schweitzer (Hair/Makeup Designer) After graduating from Albion College in Michigan, Beje began teaching - mainly in high schools in Speech, Dramatics, Debate, English, Phys. Ed. and Music.  Her teaching career spanned 7 states. In the Bay Area she taught at Valley Christian H. S., Abraham Lincoln H.S and Luther Burbank Schools.  She has written and directed several plays and musicals as well as a collection of poetry.  Except for ushering for 4 theatre groups, this is first time (except in teaching) that she has not been involved supporting one of her 4 kids or daughter-in-law on stage.

Graphic Designer: Morgan Elizabeth Lewis

Composer - “Catharsis Theme in Four Movements”: Sam Nachison

Too Much, Too Much, Too Many: Meet the Cast

Felix Abidor (Pastor Hidge) is a recent arrival in the Bay Area. He came here for college and intends to stay for quite some time, thank you very much. This is his first production with Dragon and he is thrilled at the opportunity to perform for you!

Kelly Battcher (Emma) is thrilled to be joining the Dragon family for this beautiful show!  Locally, she has performed with Santa Clara Players (Claire in Proof), Actors Theatre (Margaret Glass in Happy Birthday, Brian Glass), Walking Sideways Theatre Company (Bette in The Marriage of Bette and Boo), and she recently did voice-over work for SJCC's production of Love and Information.  Kelly earned her degree in theatre and stage management from University of the Pacific and has worked behind the scenes for San Jose Rep, Center Rep, and CMTSJ. Thank you to the cast and production team of TM3 for this incredible experience, and big hugs to my family for their endless love and support!

Mary Price Moore (Rose) was last seen at Dragon Productions Theatre of The Columnist as Susan Mary Alsop. Other Bay Area roles include: Veta Louise in Harvey at Palo Alto Players, Julia in Lend Me a Tenor at the Hillbarn Theatre, Berthe in Boeing Boeing at Palo Alto Players, Jeanette in The Quality of Life for The Pear Theatre, Mama in Distracted at Portola Valley Conservatory Theatre, M’Lynn in Steel Magnolias at the Hillbarn Theatre, City Her in The Gifts of the Magi at the Douglas Morrisson Theatre, Arlene in Baby at Pacifica Spindrift Theatre and Rose in The Secret Garden at Los Altos Stage Company. In addition to theatre, Mary enjoys working on-camera in television and film and was recently spotted on the red carpet at the Tribeca Film Festival for the film BARE (2015).

W. Scott Whisler (James) W. Scott Whisler’s recent roles include King Arthur in Spamalot, Joe Boyd in Damn Yankees, Elwood P. Dowd in Harvey, and Sigmund Freud in Freud’s Last Session. In a previous century he played Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar, Koko in The Mikado, and Austin in True West. His directing credits include The Beaux’ Stratagem, Talley’s Folly, and Pippin. Scott was a founding faculty member of the Idyllwild Arts Academy, and designed scenery and lights in London, Monte Carlo, and even Oklahoma City. He is currently the Executive Director of Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts.

Meet Too Much, Too Much, Too Many

Too Much, Too Much, Too Many is playwright Meghan Kennedy's first play. It was originally produced Off-Broadway at the Roundabout Theatre in New York City in the fall of 2013.  Below is a video that was filmed at the original Roundabout Theatre opening night and it gives you a little glimpse of what the story is, who first created it, and why we all fell in love with the script:

The regional premiere of this beautiful story starts in one week on March 25th at the Dragon Theatre in downtown Redwood City. Tickets and details can be found online at www.dragonproductions.net.