OTR: Such Small Hands at Chance Theater

As a scenic and costume designer, Bruce has designed many shows for the Chance, as well as New York and regionally. On stage at the Chance he has appeared in Tribes and the final iteration of The Reindeer Monologues. Other roles, over the years, include a wide range, from Clove in Beckett’s Endgame, Zauberkönig in Odon Von Horvath’s Tales from the Vienna Woods, taking place at the eve of the Austrofacist takeover in the late 1930s, the Captain and Hennessy in Dames at Sea, and a Member of Parliament in Laura Wade’s Posh, among many others. He is the screenwriter for Mapplethorpe, about photographer, Robert Mapplethorpe, starring Matt Smith, developed at Sundance Labs and directed by Ondi Timoner and released by Sony Pictures Classics. Bruce is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, BFA, and Carnegie-Mellon School of Drama, MFA, and has served on the Design and Production faculties of Williams College, Montclair State College, and CSU, Fullerton (Chair, Department of Theatre and Dance).

Shelly Day is excited to be involved with Chance Theater. Some favorite theatrical roles over the years include THE WHALE (Mary) and BURIED CHILD (Halie) at the Costa Mesa Playhouse, CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (Big Mama) and PACK OF LIES (Barbara) at Long Beach Playhouse, STEEL MAGNOLIAS (M’Lynn) at P3 Theatre, CALENDAR GIRLS (Annie) and GOD OF CARNAGE (Annette) at Newport Theatre Arts Center, THE MIRACLE WORKER (Kate Keller) at the Attic Theatre, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (Eunice) and ON GOLDEN POND (Ethel) at the Mishler Theatre, ONE SLIGHT HITCH (Delia) at Stages Theatre, and LETTICE AND LOVAGE (Lettice), PLAZA SUITE (Karen, Muriel, & Norma), THE FULL MONTY (Jeanette), and THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE (Miss Flannery) at the Boal Barn Playhouse. She earned her M.F.A. in Acting at the University of Southern California and a Ph.D. in Communication and Performance Studies from Arizona State University.

ADAM SZYMKOWICZ’s plays have been produced throughout the U.S., and in Canada, England, Wales, The Isle of Man, Ireland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Greece, Mexico, Turkey, Switzerland, South Korea, Thailand, Sweden, Austria, Slovenia and Lithuania. His work has been presented or developed at such places as Portland Center Stage, MCC Theater, Ars Nova, South Coast Rep, Playwrights Horizons, LCT3, LAByrinth Theater Company, The Lark, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Primary Stages and The New Group, among others. Published plays include Deflowering Waldo, Pretty Theft, Food For Fish, Hearts Like Fists, Incendiary, Clown Bar, The Why Overhead, Adventures of Super Margaret, 7 Ways To Say I Love You, Rare Birds, Marian Or The True Tale of Robin Hood, Kodachrome, Mercy, The Book Store, Old Fashioned Cold Fusion, The Parking Lot, The Night Children, Clown Bar 2, The Wooden Heart, Stockholm Syndrome, 100 Things I Never Said To You, 100 Love Letters I Never Sent and Nerve. His plays are published by Dramatists Play Service, Concord/Samuel French, Playscripts, Broadway Play Publishing, Theatrical Rights Worldwide, Stage Partners and Original Works Publishing, and are featured in numerous Smith and Kraus and Applause books. His monologue book, Small Explosions comes out from Applause in 2023. He was the premiere Resident Playwright at Chance Theater in Anaheim, CA and the first playwright to participate in Bloomington Playwrights Projects’ Square One Series. He has been to The Orchard Project, Green Gulch, and to JAW at Portland Center Stage, served twice as Playwright in Residence at the William Inge Center, and twice as a Dramatists Guild Fund’s Traveling Masters. Szymkowicz received two grants from the CT Commission on Culture & Tourism, and has been commissioned by South Coast Rep, Rising Phoenix Rep, Texas State University, The NOLA Project, Single Carrot Theater, Majestic Rep, Chance Theater and Flux Theater Ensemble. Adam received a Playwright’s Diploma from The Juilliard School’s Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program and an MFA from Columbia University where he was the Dean’s Fellow. Szymkowicz is a two-time Lecomte du Nouy Prize winner, a member of the Dramatists Guild, Writer’s Guild of America, and was a member of Primary Stages’ Dorothy Strelsin New American Writer’s Group, the MCC Playwright’s Coalition and of the very first Ars Nova Play Group. For more, go to www.adamszymkowicz.com.

James Michael McHale is an actor, director, writer, and musician. As an actor, he’s had the pleasure to work with Tony Award winning director Kathleen Marshall at The Old Globe in Much Ado About Nothing, play Hamlet at the Lyceum Theater, and Buzz Aldrin in the World Premiere and National Tour of APOLLO 11 for Troika Entertainment. He received a Staged Scene LA Award for Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role for his work in Middletown at Chance Theater. Other theater credits include the musical Once at both California Center for the Arts Escondido and Lamb’s Players Theater (San Diego Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Musical and Best Ensemble). He recently directed the Regional Premiere of American Idiot at Chance Theater, where his directing credits also include the OC Premiere of Edges, and A Charlie Brown Christmas. He has written and directed a number of storytelling concerts for Pacific Symphony and presented at Segerstrom Concert Hall including, Beethoven: Trials to Triumph, A Dream of Tchaikovsky, Pacific Symphony and the Curious Case of the Vanishing Violin, and Music From the Movies and More! Connect with him on IG @jmcnavy, and at jamesmichaelmchale.com

Jenny Jacobs (she/her) is delighted to be working with Chance again! Jenny is a theatre artist and educator. Jenny’s theatrical work includes dramaturging, choreographing, and directing classic and contemporary musicals, plays, new works, and devised pieces; performing in ensemble and solo productions; leadership roles at regional and educational arts institutions in the LA, Orange, and Philadelphia areas; and lecturing and consulting for colleges and universities on the East and West Coasts. Jenny earned her Educational Doctorate with a dissertation about the value of the performing arts in education in 2019, and created a new translation of Moliere’s Tartuffe which premiered at Chapman University in 2021. All of Jenny’s work is connected to her personal mission to deepen appreciation for and connections to the performing arts. http://www.jennyjacobs.net.