Featuring Marcy Agreen, Crystal Beth, Parker Leventer*, Stephen Conrad Moore*, Matthew Park, Devere Rogers*, Hansel Tan, Keona Welch*

To lay her brother's soul to rest, a young refugee must escape the relentless Man on the Horse, chased through the wilds of Sudan down into the landscape of her own mind. With riveting action, surprising humor and elegant puppetry, We in Silence Hear a Whisper explores the redemptive power of connection and how the greatest tragedies only happen when we look away.

WE IN SILENCE HEAR A WHISPER was performed October 5-23, 2011, at The Theater at the 14th Street Y located at 344 East 14th Street between First and Second Avenues.

Press Representation by David Gibbs/DARR Publicity.

This program was supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

This program was also made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State agency.

We in Silence Hear a Whisper was made possible by generous grants from the following foundations:

The Dramatists Guild Fund

The Josephine Foundation

SaveDarfur:

For this production, the RFTC chose to partner with SaveDarfur.

Unity Statment for SaveDarfur:

We stand together and unite our voices to raise public awareness and mobilize a massive response to the atrocities in Sudan's western region of Darfur.

Responding to a rebellion in 2003, the regime of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and its allied militia, known as the Janjaweed, launched a campaign of destruction against the civilian population of ethnic groups identified with the rebels. They wiped out entire villages, destroyed food and water supplies, stole livestock and systematically murdered, tortured and raped civilians. The Sudanese government's genocidal, scorched earth campaign has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives through direct violence, disease and starvation, and continues to destabilize the region. Millions have fled their homes and live in dangerous camps in Darfur, and hundreds of thousands are refugees in neighboring Chad. Violence continues today. Ultimately, the fate of the Darfuri people depends on establishing a lasting and just peace in all of Sudan and in the region.

We are committed to the goals that the Save Darfur Coalition advocates for, including:

• Ending the violence against civilians;
• Facilitating adequate and unhindered humanitarian aid;
• Establishing conditions for the safe and voluntary return of displaced people to their homes;
• Promoting the long-term sustainable development of Darfur; and
• Holding the perpetrators accountable.

We call on the United States, other governments, the United Nations and regional organizations to focus their efforts on ending this crisis.

The situation in Darfur is very complex and constantly changing; more detailed information is available in the Learn section of our site.

The press loves WE IN SILENCE HEAR A WHISPER !!

Martin Denton of nytheatre.com claims, "We in Silence has a fine, fine cast....with [Jon] Kern's constantly surprising script and director Melanie Moyer Williams' splendid realization of it." He praises the play as "...both a thrilling celebration of the magical power of storytelling and a riveting and jolting examination of the destructive power of hate and intolerance. I highly recommend it."

Cast Bios:

Marcy Agreen, Puppeteer

Marcy is proud to be making her NYC debut with this wonderful show. She received a BA in Theater from Temple University, and has just moved here from Los Angeles. Favorite roles include Monteen in the LA premiere of "Parade," Gwendolen in "...Earnest," and Mitzi in "A Murder is Announced." She would like to thank her friends and family for their unending support, and everyone here tonight for keeping this great art alive and thriving.

Crystal Beth, Puppeteer

Crystal has been performing as a puppeteer since 2005 when she worked on the Off-Broadway show, The Little Prince. She has also had success in a wide variety of comedic rolls ranging from Druce in Red Noses and Lydia in Pride and Prejudice. This is Crystal's first time performing with the Red Fern Company and is looking forward to future endeavors with them!

Parker Leventer*, Helene, et al

We In Silence Hear a Whisper is Parker's first production with Red Fern. Parker has acted with Columbia University, Full Stop Collective, Manhattan Theatre Source, The Lark and The Working Theater in New York, and regionally at Trinity Repertory and Magic Theatre. She narrates for Audible.com and AudioGo. Favorite roles include Claire in The Maids, Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol, Inez in No Exit, and Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Parker trained at the Dell'Arte School of Physical Theatre, then worked with the Dell'Arte Company, FoolsFury, Precarious Theatre, and Woman's Will, all in Northern California. She hosts a new plays reading series called Play Party Park Slope. Parker graduated from the Brown/Trinity MFA Acting program.

Stephen Conrad Moore, Man on the Horse

Mr. Moore was most recently seen as Ajax in the NY Premiere of Ajax in Iraq with the Flux Theatre Ensemble. NEW YORK THEATRE: The Civilians, Classical Theatre of Harlem, Working Man's Clothes, The Playwright's Theatre, Bone Orchard Theatre Company, The Lark Theatre, Columbia Stages. REGIONAL: Philadelphia Theatre Company's, Shakespeare Theatre in D.C. , Kansas City Rep, Arizona Theatre Company, Virginia Stage Company, O'Neill Theatre Center, Yale Repertory Theatre, Hope Repertory Theatre, The Ensemble Company for the Performing Arts. HONG KONG: Lion King. FILM: Margaret (dir. Kenneth Lonergan), Wedding Daze (dir. Michael Ian Black) and The Painting. Mr. Moore is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.

Matthew Park, Emilie, et al

Matt Park has been seen on-stage at The Present Company, LaMAMA Playwriting Lab, Chashama, the Ohio Theatre, The Public Theatre, Joe's Pub, The People's Improv Theatre, UCB, and Arlene's Grocery in NYC. Matt has a BFA in Acting from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and studied improv and sketch writing at the Magnet Theater. He wrote the music for Radio Deluxembourg, which was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Devere Rogers*, Chidi, et al

So excited to be making my Red Fern debut with such an amazing play! Broadway Workshop: Up Here National: Five Guys Named Moe. Off Broadway: STEP! The Musical, Dance Dance Revolution, For Flow. Regional: Ain't Misbehavin', The Wiz, Five Guys Named Moe, Little Shop of Horrors, Ragtime, and many more! Film: For Flow, Pour amiere Encore Commercial: NY Lottery Education: New York University B.F.A. Theatre. If you are loyal to the craft, everything will fall in place.

Hansel Tan, Man on the Horse Puppeteer

Hansel Tan hails from the sunny isle of Singapore, and has enjoyed a performance career spanning some four continents to date, before residing in New York. Previous productions - Off-Broadway: The Ohmies: Morning Wish Garden (Daryl Roth Theatrical Management); NY Theater: Will Sing (Ma-Yi Theatre Co.), Future Anxiety (The Flea Theater), Crossing Over (National Asian Artists Project), Paper Angels (Direct Arts), We Can't Reach You, Hartford (The Assembly), American Realism (The Invisible Dog), The Lewis Carroll Project (Fresh Ground Pepper); International: tick... tick... BOOM! (Maple Giant Theatre, UK), Into The Woods (PCMS Prod., UK), The Academy: A Musical Comedy (Parabox Prod., UK), The Tempest (Oneohone Prod., UK), Own Time Own Target, Happy Endings: Asian Boys Vol. 3, Homesick (W!LDRICE Theatre Co., SG), Man of Letters: The Musical (Singapore Repertory Theatre, SG), H is for Hantu (STAGES, SG), Never The Sinner (The Stage Club, SG), The Real Inspector Hound (BUDS Theatre, SG), Lord of the Flies (ACSian Theatre, SG), Twelfth Night (ACSian Theatre, SG). He is a graduate of Wesleyan University, and is a current resident "Bat" actor at the Flea Theater. www.HanselTan.com>

Keona Welch, Halima

Keona Welch is a native of Washington DC. Her New York credits include Colored People's Time and Savanna Black & Blue with the Negro Ensemble Company; Subway Love at The Actors' Playhouse; The Cold Chill of Winter for The Strawberry Theatre Festival; and NPTC's The Ritual. Her Film Credits include Candy, and Girl. She has appeared on Law and Order, and Law and Order SVU. She attended Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington DC, and has trained under the late Israel Hicks at Rutgers University, where she obtained her B.F.A in Theatre Arts. She has also received classical training at The Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London, England. Keona recently starred as Sophie, in the Philadelphia Theatre Company's production of Ruined.

Production Team:

Jon Kern, Playwright

Jon Kern's full-length works include Modern Terrorism, or They Who Want to Kill Us and How We Learn to Love Them, Do Not Disturb: a hotel experience, Telefonesis: The Art of Mental Murder, and We in Silence Hear a Whisper. His short plays have been performed at Ensemble Studio Theater, The Brick, The Flea, City Theatre's Summer Shorts festival, and in the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival. Graduate: University of Chicago (BA), Columbia University (MFA). Member: the Ma-Yi Writers Lab, the Civilians R&D Group, The Old Vic New Voices Network, and Ars Nova Play Group. Alumnus: EST/Youngblood. Awards & Grants: 2010-2011 Van Lier Fellowship in Playwriting from New Dramatists, 2010 Alfred P. Sloan Commission, 2010 Heideman Award finalist, 2010-2011 travel grant from the Netherlands-America Foundation.

Katherine Akiko Day, Scenic Design

Katherine has a B.A. in Art History and Film Studies from Dartmouth College and an M.F.A. in Stage Design from the Yale School of Drama. Regional: The Master Builder (costumes) Yale Repertory Theater, The Servant of Two Masters (set) Yale Repertory Theater, The Flea and The Professor (Associate Set) Arden Theater, The Servant of Two Masters (set) Shakespeare Theater DC. NYC: Good Egg (costumes) 14th St. LABA, Gentrifusion (set and costumes) 14th St. LABA, A Shot Away (set) 14th St. LABA, The Odyssey (costumes) Wing's Theater, Wanderlust (set and costumes) The Movement Workshop Group, Barriers (set and costumes) HERE, Walled-In (set) IRT. Film: Half the Perfect World (Assistant Art Director), Emoticon (Prod. Designer)

Sydney Arndt, Assistant Director/Rehearsal Stage Manager

This is Sydney's debut production with Red Fern; she is extremely proud to be collaborating with such generous people for this inspiring piece. Sydney is a recent transplant from Florida, where she studied theatre performance at Florida State. You can usually find her on the stage, but as of late she has been exploring the creative side of things. She is on a mission to create work that is meaningful and insightful; so stay tuned!

Elizabeth Barrett Groth, Costume Design

Selected Credits: Set and Costume Design- Sparkling Object (Canal Park Playhouse), Muse, Late: A Cowboy Song, One for the Road, The Five Fists of Science (Yale Cabaret). Set Design- Up Up, Down Down (NYTE), Circus in a Box (Canal Park Playhouse), Macbeth, American Catnip (Yale School of Drama). Costume Design- Eclipsed (Yale Repertory Theatre), Jelly's Last Jam (Yale School of Drama), The Maids, 4:48 Psychosis, Fly By Night, The Mystery of Irma Vep (Yale Cabaret). Costume Design and Assistant Costume Design at the Folger Elizabethan Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Huntington Theatre Company, Boston University Opera Institute, A.R.T. Institute, and the Berkshire Theatre Festival. She received her MFA in Design from the Yale School of Drama.

Julie Foh, Dialect Coach

Julie Foh is a NYC-based voice coach and teacher. She holds an MFA in Voice and Speech from the American Repertory Theater's Institute for Advanced Theatre Training where she coached over a dozen productions. At the A.R.T., she coached the premiere of Charles Mee's play Cardenio, directed by Les Waters. At the Institute, she coached the world premiere of Ellen McLaughlin's play Ajax in Iraq, directed by Scott Zigler. Other coaching credits include Awake and Sing! (The New Jewish Theatre); Equus (HotCity Theatre); King John (Actors Shakespeare Project); The Little Tragedies (I.A.T.T. and the Moscow Art Theatre); Clocks and Whistles (Origin Theatre Company). She has taught at the American Repertory Theater, Harvard University, the Moscow Art Theatre School, Webster University, The Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and the Heifetz International Music Institute. She currently teaches Voice and Speech in the BFA Acting Program at Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts. As a member of the NYC-based Anonymous Ensemble, she has performed at Ars Nova, The Chocolate Factory, Galapagos, The Ohio Theater, The Pyramid Club, and the Brisbane Festival (Australia). She also holds a BA in Theater Studies from Duke University and is an Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework®.

David Gibbs, DARR Publicity

David's clients include The Red Fern Theatre Company, The Adaptations Project, The Amoralists, Boston University's InCite Arts Festival, Company XIV, Ice Factory Festival, La MaMa, the New Ohio Theatre, PTP/NYC and The Queen's Company. He has publicized shows at the Atlantic Theater, Walkerspace, The Flea, PS 122, Playwrights Horizons, Cherry Lane, HERE, The Town Hall, New World Stages, 3LD, The Chocolate Factory & the NY Int'l Fringe Festival. www.darrpublicity.com

Ken Hall, Managing Director

Ken Hall (Managing Director) - Ken’s theatre credits include: Managing Director, Red Fern Theatre Company; Dramaturg: A Shot Away (Red Fern Theatre Company); Production Stage Manager: Mother Lolita, Circumference of A Squirrel, The Sweepers (as Resident Stage Manager, Urban Stages), The Conjureman Dies (New Federal Theater); Assistant to the Producing Director, Urban Stages; Assistant to the General Manager, Richards/Climan, Inc.; General Management Intern: Theatre Previews at Duke and Ford’s Theatre, Washington, D.C. Ken holds a Bachelor’s degree from Duke University and a Master’s Degree from Lehman College. Ken is currently a third grade teacher on Long Island where he produces and directs a musical with fifth and sixth graders.

Kel Haney, Artistic Producer

Kel has developed new work with such theatres as Ensemble Studio Theatre, Youngblood, New Dramatists, Ars Nova, The Directors Company, 52nd Street Project, Ma-Yi Theater Company, Vampire Cowboys, Desipina & Company, NY Fringe Festival & Westport Country Playhouse. She has collaborated with such playwrights as Robert Askins, Laura Maria Censabella, Carla Ching, Emily Conbere, Dorothy Fortenberry, Jon Kern, Matt Schatz and composer Michael Kooman. www.kelhaney.com

Laura Luciano, Production Stage Manager

Laura is excited to be involved in another Red Fern Theatre production! Recent stage management credits include Gentrifusion (Red Fern Theatre Company), +30NYC (Red Fern Theatre Company), All Through The Night (Red Fern Theatre Company), Love and Sex (Turtle Shell Productions) and Miss Evers' Boys (Red Fern Theatre Company). Laura received a BA in performance and design technology from SUNY New Paltz.

Sara Lyons, Assistant Director

Sara Lyons is a director, performer, and applied theatre artist. Directing: The Trash Menagerie (Primary Stages Detention Series), Tulpa, or Anne & Me (Planet Connections Theatre Festivity), Pin (Ensemble Studio Theatre Showcase), Dog Sees God, Come and Go, The Vagina Monologues, others. She is currently AD/dramaturg on the original piece Trafficked (Project Girl Performance Collective). She has performed original work with the KNEAD Ensemble at P.S. 122 and Mobius Space (Boston), and created applied theatre with students of all ages around the globe.

Amelia Mathews, Puppet Designer

Amelia Mathews is an actress, photographer, and maker of beautiful things. Currently, she is splitting her time living in New York City and Toronto, although her artistic journey has taken her to Serbia, Italy, Bali and Japan. Amelia has a B.A. in Theatre & East Asian Studies from Wittenberg University, and she recently graduated with her M.F.A. in Acting from the University of Tennessee, headed by Jed Diamond. Amelia has studied at the Actor's Center, interned at the Juilliard School, and has worked extensively in New York & regional theatre. Amelia is a proud member of the Actors' Equity Association. Check her out at www.ameliamathews.net or www.etsy.com/people/ameliamathews.

Colin J. Whitely, Sound Design

Colin's credits include Beirut by Alan Browne (Athena Theater Company), Factory Girls by Frank McGuinness (Atlantic Theater Company), Breakfast with Mugabe by Fraser Grace (Centenary Stage Company), Henry VI: Part III by William Shakespeare (Wide Eyed Productions), Paternity by Winter Miller(Cherry Lane Theater) Letters to the End of the World by Anton Dudley (At Hand Theater Co.), True West by Sam Shepard (The Athena Theater Company) and much more.

Melanie Moyer Williams, Director and Executive Artistic Director

Melanie, a cum laude graduate of Duke University, is also Founder and Executive Artistic Director of the Red Fern Theatre Company. Her credits for the company include the New York Premiere of Shirley Lauro's ALL THROUGH NIGHT, the world premiere of A SHOT AWAY: Personal Accounts of Military Trauma; +30NYC, MISS EVERS' BOYS (production received NYIT and AUDELCO Nominations), AN IDEAL HUSBAND, A PIECE OF MY HEART, WHO WILL CARRY THE WORD?, THE EXONERATED, THE LONG CHRISTMAS RIDE HOME, FOUND A PEANUT, TWO ROOMS, AND PATIENT A. Melanie has also directed a staged version of Handel's MESSIAH for Pocket Opera NY and worked with Shirley Lauro on a reading of her new play, THE RADIANT at the Actors' Studio and Ensemble Studio Theatre. Other NY Credits include MEMORIAL DAYS and the World Premiere of HENRY KISSINGER (FringeNYC) by John Attanas; MEDEA excerpts for CYPRECO and the New York Public Library; FIVE WOMEN WEARING THE SAME DRESS, WHEN THE WORLD WAS GREEN and ICARUS'S MOTHER. She directed THAT IS THE QUESTION in the Philadelphia Fringe Festival (named one of the Best in the Festival). Internationally, she has directed A TRIBUTE TO ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER with the Youth Symphony Orchestra of El Salvador in El Salvador with Wanderlust Theatre Company. Prior to moving to New York, Melanie was also a founder and Managing Director of the Camden Shakespeare Company in Camden, Maine.

Marie Yokoyama, Lighting Design

Credits: (M)asking Questions (California Repertory Theater), King Cat Calico (Son of Semele), Compulsion (Yale Repertory Theatre), Celebration (TheatreHAN), Walkabout Yeolha (Columbia University), Sparkling Objects (Canal Park Playhouse), Gentrifusion (Red Fern Theatre), The Rubber Room, (Artistic New Direction) and Eclectic Shorts. (Artistic New Direction) Lobby design credit: Haunting the Reynosos (Theatro IATI). Set design credit: Dream Babies. (Riant Theatre) She is a graduate from Yale School of Drama with a M.F.A.