Fun Home
Music by Jeanine Tesori | Based on the novel by Alison Bechdel
Book and Lyrics by Lisa Kron | Directed by Kirk Jackson
February 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, & 12, 2023
Fridays & Saturdays 7:30 PM
Saturdays & Sundays 2:00 PM
Tickets: $25 adults; $10 students 21 and under
Join us for Fun Home, the 2015 Tony Award winning musical Ben Brantley in The New York Times called: “A rare beauty, extraordinary and heart-gripping.” Adapted from Alison Bechdel’s groundbreaking graphic novel, Fun Home is a refreshingly honest, wholly original musical about seeing your parents through grown-up eyes. Contains adult content. Recommended for ages 15 and up.
About Fun Home
“Sometimes my father appeared to enjoy having children, but the real object of his affection was his house.” – Fun Home
“Looking back is an active journey forward.” – Playwright Lisa Kron
Hubbard Hall Center for the Arts and Education in Cambridge, NY is proud to present Fun Home, the groundbreaking and Tony Award Winning Best Musical from Broadway. Based on Alison Bechdel’s award-winning graphic novel, Fun Home explores how our childhood memories can define, haunt, and ultimately free us to be our best selves.
“I’ve known this show for over a decade, having worked with the writer Lisa Kron and seen the earliest workshops of this piece at the Public Theater ten years ago. I’m thrilled to produce it here at Hubbard Hall and share this important work with our community,” says David Snider, Hubbard Hall’s executive & artistic director. “We’ve put together an absolutely amazing creative team for this project, from all over the country and locally. Audiences will be blown away by these talents and the show itself.”
From director Kirk Jackson: “’Everything is balanced and serene, like chaos never happens if it’s never seen,’ sings the ‘typical family quintet’ at the center of our small-town story. The Bechdels are your neighbors. Welcome to their house on Maple Avenue. Of course, it’s not a typical house, it’s a ‘Fun Home,’ code for a Funeral Home. It’s where Alison simultaneously grows up, leaves, and returns in memories. Three actors play Alison, each in her own point in the plot. If, like me, you came of age in the 1970’s this play will unlock fond memories. And if, like me, you spent most of that decade in the closet, this play may help unlock that, as well.”
Fun Home creator Alison Bechdel wouldn’t consent to her award-winning graphic novel being made into a movie. Then playwright Lisa Kron approached composer Jeanine Tesori with the idea of making it into a musical, an idea Tesori only agreed to because she thought it improbable. Kron had never written lyrics or a book for a musical before. Bechdel was also drawn to the seeming odd fit and so – curiosity, daring, and guts produced the first all-female-team to win the Tony Award for Best Musical.
Watch a quick video about Fun Home
Watch Fun Home perform at the Tony Awards
Watch a video about the History of the show
Please Note: Masks are recommended but not required for audience members. Chairs are arranged closely together along risers and floor. Learn more.
Cast and Creative Team
Alison – Kate Pistone is thrilled to make her Hubbard Hall debut and to have a second opportunity to play the brilliant cartoonist Alison Bechdel. Kate earned her BA in Storytelling from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study and MA in Arts Administration from Kutztown University. She also completed the 2-year professional conservatory program at Atlantic Acting School in Manhattan. She is an accomplished cabaret singer and a member of the vintage vocal trio, The Swing Time Dolls. Kate is an audition coach at Acting Up, a drama specialist at The Swain School, and music director for productions in the Parkland School District in her hometown of Allentown, PA. Favorite roles include Alison in Fun Home, Halina in Indecent, Dr. Charlotte in Falsettos, Heidi in [title of show], Drood in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Madame in The Maids. She is honored to share this beautiful story with you. Many thanks to Ed Bara and to her partner Jason. www.katepistone.com
Helen – Liz Gurland is delighted to make her Hubbard Hall debut! Liz has appeared as Woman 3 in And the World Goes ‘Round, Fräulein Schneider in Cabaret, Angie in The Wedding Singer, Grandma in Pippin and Josephine Strong in Urinetown at The MacHaydn Theatre. Other recent credits include: Warwick in King Henry VI Part 3 (The Phoenix Theatre), Gatekeeper in Letters from May (Theatre Now New York), Jennifer Ross in Fielder’s Choice (The Players Theatre Short Play Festival), Fräulein Schneider in Cabaret (Gallery Players) and Osmina in Suor Angelica (New Jersey Verismo Opera). She created a one woman show in collaboration with the Emily Dickinson Museum. While earning her MFA at UC Irvine, she performed with Starlight Musical Theater in San Diego, Los Angeles Opera, Long Beach Opera and Aspen Opera Theater. MFA UC Irvine. www.lizgurland.com Instagram: @lizzielowereastside
Medium Alison – Milo Lis (they/them) got their early start in theatre at five-years-old. Right in their hometown of West Hartford, Connecticut they were at Connecticut Family Theatre for ten years, in addition to being heavily involved in Drama through middle school and high school, one of their most notable productions being The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Olive). They are currently a junior at Bennington College, studying Drama and Music. At Bennington, their acting credits include H&G: a great and terrible story (originating the role of The Witch), Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, She Kills Monsters (Agnes), The Drowsy Chaperone (Kitty), with additional scene studies such as Dryland (Amy), and Born Yesterday (Billie Dawn).
Small Alison/John – Abigail Weeden has been performing at Hubbard Hall’s Summer Youth Theater program since 2017 and at Hoosick Falls Central School’s Drama Club since 2021. She has appeared at Hubbard Hall as Wolffia in Peter Pan, Mrs. Trotter/Violet Funkshmeller/Ida Walters in James and the Giant Peach, and most recently as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. She has also appeared at Hoosick Falls Central School as Tessie in Annie, Amaryllis in The Music Man, and Les Fille de la Ville in Beauty and the Beast. She also has acted in the Summer Showcase at Hubbard Hall and the Winter Showcase at Hoosick Falls Central School. In her free time, Abbi enjoys reading, singing and researching Greek mythology.
Small Alison/John – Juno Catlin is a 7th grader at Greenwich Central School. She is 12 years old and so excited to be performing as Small Allison or John in our performance of the musical Fun Home. Juno has been in many performances at Hubbard Hall before. You may have seen her in The Wizard of Oz last year, or in previous plays for the past four summers. She thanks her family for getting her there in time for rehearsals, and her friends for supporting her along the way. She hopes everyone enjoys the show just as much as she does!
Joan – Grace Phipps (they/them) is from Richmond Virginia and is currently a sophomore at Bennington College with a focus in drama and dance. While at Bennington Grace has been seen in Sexual Perversity in Chicago (Bernie) as well as Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. This past term Grace was a part of Hannah Pereira’s play Gods Grape Juice. Grace is also an avid lover and student of improv and looks forward to continuing their studies at Bennington. Many thanks to Kirk Jackson and the Bennington drama faculty for their guidance and support.
Bruce – David Snider has been a professional actor for almost 30 years. Regional credits include Water, Water Everywhere at Oldcastle Theatre, A Walk in the Woods, The Glass Menagerie, and The Crucible at Hubbard Hall; Macbeth, Twelfth Night, The Importance of Being Earnest, Ah, Wilderness!, Ambition Facing West, Much Ado About Nothing. Off-Broadway: Cymbeline (dir. Andrei Serban, New York Shakespeare Festival), The Cherry Orchard, The Country Wife, Hamlet, and Napoli Milionaria (U.S. premiere) (Jean Cocteau Repertory); International work includes The Merry Wives of Windsor, Julius Caesar, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Revenger’s Tragedy, and Cowboy Mouth, amongst others, at the Maddermarket Theater in Norwich, England, and Chekhov’s The Bear at the Mendeleev Institute in Moscow, USSR. MFA from the NYU Graduate Acting Program, Tisch School of the Arts, where he performed in Macbeth, Many Colors Make the Thunderking (both with dir. Bart Sher), Uncle Vanya, Andorra (both with Liviu Ciulei), The Reluctant Doctor of Love and Awake and Sing! David is also the executive & artistic director of Hubbard Hall, and is a lecturer at Skidmore College in the Arts Administration Program. David is the author of two published books, Managing Arts Organizations and the upcoming Managing the Arts in Rural Areas.
Christian – Caleb Blackler is an 8th grader at Cambridge Central School. An enthusiast by nature, there is little in life that Caleb doesn’t like. He even enjoys his first official job: attempting to teach 3-5 year olds to ski. After a hard day of catching kids, he observed that the use of word “pizza” as a metaphor for stopping using the snow plow can be confusing, since school pizza is square. Caleb has been a member of the CCS drama club for two years playing the King in Cinderella and various characters in shorts plays. He recently joined the Home Made Theater in Saratoga for their production of Nine. Caleb is thrilled to join the cast of Fun Home. He hopes you enjoy the story.
Understudy Christian – Quentin Schneider is a 7th grade student at Cambridge Central School. This is his third season at Hubbard Hall. In addition to his interest in theatre, Quentin plays lacrosse, enjoys reading, gaming, and being on the water in the summer. He likes the social aspect of being in the Fun Home cast. He is grateful to work with old friends and new people. This opportunity has been exciting and fun.
Roy/Mark/Pete/Bobby Jeremy – Nathaniel Frederickson (any pronouns) is a young actor from Dallas Texas, A graduate from the Kim Dawson Conservatory (2020) they have trained under many incredible artists, and are now a student at Bennington College exploring the expanse of consciousness through poetics and language.
Kirk Jackson (Director) for Hubbard Hall has directed Stupid F*cking Bird, A Walk in the Woods, The Tarnation of Russell Colvin, The Book Club Play, and three operas: Rigoletto, Gianni Schicchi, and La Pizza con Funghi. As an actor he’s done several plays at Dorset Theatre Festival, including as Sherlock Holmes. He appeared with Living Room Theatre in Lucy’s Wedding, and an Irish Three Sisters; and staged A Doll’s House: Part 2 and, last summer, Constellations in an empty swimming pool at the Park McCullough house in North Bennington. For Oldcastle Theater he directed Sheepdog, last year. Kirk has performed on and off Broadway and regionally; has assisted Tony-award winning director Ivo van Hove on many productions including Scenes from a Marriage, The Little Foxes, The Misanthrope, Hedda Gabler, and More Stately Mansions. He is a founding member of the Obie Award-winning Cucaracha Theatre in NYC, and has taught at Princeton, NYU, CalArts, the University of San Diego, Binghamton University, and Bennington College (faculty since 2001). He holds an MFA in Acting from the Yale School of Drama.
Richard Cherry (Musical Director) has been the Musical Director for a number of theater companies in the region. He was the Musical Director for Sunday in the Park with George, Meet Me in St. Louis, Sweeney Todd, The Secret Garden, Man of La Mancha, Merrily We Roll Along, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Peter and the Starcatcher, The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the world premiere of He Who Gets Slapped as well as numerous children’s theatre productions for The Theatre Company at Hubbard Hall in Cambridge, New York. For the Dorset Players he has been Musical Director for Anyone Can Whistle, She Loves Me and The Fantasticks. For Home Made Theater in Saratoga Springs, New York, he was Musical Director for How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Curtains, Hair, Nine to Five: The Musical and A Chorus Line. For Channel Z Productions in Saratoga Springs he was Musical Director for Drood, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Runaways, Zombie Prom, The Robber Bridegroom and the regional premiere of The Last Five Years. He has been a faculty member of the Canberra School of Music, Canberra, Australia and of the Rockland Conservatory of Music and Blue Rock School, both in Rockland County, New York. He presently works in the Music Department at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York.
Richard MacPike (Costume Designer) previously designed costumes for Stupid F*cking Bird, A Walk In the Woods, and The Book Club Play here at Hubbard Hall. He is the Costume Shop Manager and Technical Instructor of Costume Production at Bennington College where he designed The Chechens, Dancing at Lughnasa, and Great Expectations. From 2001-2011 he managed the costume shop at Cornell University and prior to 2001 was a project manager at Parson-Meares, Ltd. in NYC producing costumes for Broadway, Feld Entertainment, and Walt Disney World. Regional production credits: Huntington Theatre Co., Alliance Theatre, Santa Fe Opera, and Glimmerglass Opera. MFA: Boston University.
Daniel Salzer (Lighting Design and Production Manager) is pleased to be a part of this extremely talented team. Daniel has worked as Stage Manager and Lighting Designer on multiple previous productions here at Hubbard Hall, including I Am My Own Wife and Faith Healer as well as Assistant Stage Manager on the Hall’s production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. In his time studying theater at SUNY New Paltz he has also worked on many shows such as In the Time of the Butterflies, She Kills Monsters, Eat, You Belong to Us, and The Wolves as a carpenter, electrician, and designer.
Maureen Cossey (she/her; Stage Manager) attended The Crane School of Music and SUNY Albany, majoring in music. She has been in numerous local productions, most recently: Little Shop of Horrors (Audrey II) and Bright Star (Mama Murphy) including those at Hubbard Hall Opera Theater. At Fort Salem Theater, Maureen has served as stage manager, lighting designer, sound designer, and music director, working on shows like Steel Magnolias, Pride and Prejudice, and Grease. Current engagements include music ministry director at three local churches, resident Stage Manager at Hubbard Hall, and vocal coach.
Hannah Pereira – Assistant Director (they/she) is a currently senior at Bennington College studying Drama with a focus in acting, directing, and playwriting. Hannah has written and directed their own play God’s Grape Juice, directed a scene from Skin a Cat, acted in the Chechens (Raisa), Dryland (Amy), and is looking forward to working with Kirk and Hubbard Hall!
