Current Production
Welcome to our first Alumni Project Production!
When our alumni asked if Groundworks Theatre would produce one of their favorite plays, Lovers by Brian Friel, we said, “YES!” and created the Alumni Project. We are so excited to offer a space for alumni to come together to produce theatre they love.
Lovers is a 1967 play written by Irish playwright Brian Friel and is a play broken into two parts, "Winners" and "Losers"; we will be producing “Winners”. Joining our production will be two of San Diego’s finest stage actors, Max Macke and Kym Pappas. Directed by Heather LaForge, Ph.D., Lovers is the ideal play for our alumni to explore.
Would you like to support this project? If so, please donate HERE and write “Alumni Project” in the memo.
PRODUCTION INFO
PERFORMANCES
Saturday July 6 2pm - Tickets HERE
Saturday July 6 7pm - Tickets HERE
Sunday July 7 2pm - Tickets HERE
PRODUCTION LOCATION
116 S Kalmia St
Escondido, CA 92025
THE STORY OF BRIAN FRIEL’S LOVERS: WINNERS
This free-flowing cascade of dialogue will introduce you to a 17-year-old girl and a boy half a year older on their way to meet upon a hilltop to study before examinations and perhaps talk about marriage. She is bubbling with life and can’t wait to start living it while he is earnest and has a total and touching belief in the value of education. Commentators watch and share with us that the young lovers will soon be in a fatal accident. We discover the effects of this tragedy that will be and see the lovers not only in this moment but in all time. For despite the coming accident, they are, as the title suggests, winners.
CAST
DUNCAN ENGEL, He/Him, (Joe) is a San Diego-based Actor. Some of his theatre credits include Sisters on the Ground, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Radium Girls (Groundworks Theatre), James and the Giant Peach, Tuck Everlasting (San Diego youth theatre). He advocates for teen arts access as an Artistic Influencer on the La Jolla Playhouse Teen Council and has found a love for language through learning Spanish and becoming Certified Bilingual. He is on track to pursue a BFA in Acting upon graduating from High School.
ISA FITZGIBBONS, She/Her, (Mag) is a San Diego based actor and dramaturg currently studying acting in her sophomore year of college. Some of her credits include Titania in A Misummer Nights Dream, Adriana in A Comedy of Errors (Dramaturg) (Groundworks Theatre), Ensemble & Leonata U/S in Much Ado About Nothing, and Catherine Connolly/Others U/S in The Laramie Project (Dramaturg) (Arizona Repertory Theatre). She invites you to come fall in love with us, and Brian Friel, this summer! For Margaret. And Mamma, as always.
MAX MACKE (Man) is so excited to make his debut with Groundworks Theatre. The San Diego native was last seen at New Village Arts in The Ferryman. Max was a founding member of Poor Players Theatre Co., with whom he appeared in over a dozen Shakespeare plays including Hamlet, Macbeth, Henry IV pt. 1, Much Ado About Nothing, & A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Other Favorite credits include, Enron, Eurydice, Voyeurs De Venus (Moxie). The Birthday Party (New Fortune). Of Mice and Men, The Outsider (NCR). Awake and Sing, To Kill a Mockingbird, Wait Until Dark, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (NVA).
KYM PAPPAS (Woman) is thrilled to be working with Groundworks Theatre! Directing credits include Fun Home (New Village Arts); Church, Revolt. She said. Revolt again., Gideon’s Knot, Seminar, Fat Pig, Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, and Disappearing Act (InnerMission Productions); Well and Plot Points in Our Sexual Development (Diversionary Theatre); Aftermath (Bodhi Tree Concerts); Sonnets for an Old Century (UCSD); The Kid Thing, and The Diary of Anne Frank (MOXIE Theatre). Favorite acting credits include The Ferryman, Doubt (New Village Arts); Ordinary Days, The Taming of the Shrew, Swimming in the Shallows (InnerMission Productions); How I Learned to Drive, Persuasion, Godspell, Pride and Prejudice (OnStage Playhouse); The Car Plays (La Jolla Playhouse/Moving Arts); Marat Sade (ion Theatre); and The World Was Round (Sledgehammer Theatre). Kym is a member of the Pasadena Playhouse Directors Lab West. Big Love to our creative team and to Jyl.
Past Productions
Sisters on the Ground
by MAX POSNER
Directed by Heather LaForge, Ph.D.
march 2024
The Comedy of Errors
by William Shakespeare
Directed by Heather LaForge, Ph.D.
july 2023
Pride & Prejudice
by Kate Hamill
Directed by Summer Neilson Moshy, Ph.D.
July 2023
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
by William Shakespeare
Directed by Heather LaForge, Ph.D.
july 2022
Radium Girls
by D.w. Gregory
Directed by Heather LaForge, Ph.D.
March 2022
