The Team
Catch as Catch Can
by
Mia Chung
Director's Note
I first directed a reading of this play for Echo Reads in 2020 and immediately fell in love with this thorny script—its characters who defy easy good-or-bad categorization and its mind-bending theatrical doubling.
I had never seen a play which so accurately portrayed anti-Asian racism: how it is distinct from other forms of racial prejudice and how it is shaped by the scarcity (or complete absence) of Asian people in large sections of the country. I am part Japanese, but I pass as white which gives me a unique access to conversations like the ones in this play—the ones that happen when “no one Asian” is around. Mia Chung paints a portrait of an America deeply saturated in Asian culture—from Japanese sudoku, to Chinese astrology and Korean kimchi—but conspicuously devoid of Asian people and bodies.
But like all good plays, Catch as Catch Can refuses to be confined to one theme. The title comes from a wrestling term meaning “any and all holds are permitted,” evoking the struggle at the core of any great American family drama. Parents grapple with who their children have grown up to be and those same children wrestle with the limitations of their parents’ expectations and worldview.
Chung specifies that one actor embodies both a parent and their adult child, bending generational and gender divides in a kaleidoscope of identity as a challenge for both actors and audience.
I invite the audience to approach this play with curiosity: how does this doubling create meaning around family? Gender? Mental health? Inheritance? And the ultimate question:
How will you know that you are your “right” self?
-Eric Berg
Thanks to Echo Theatre's Season 27 sponsors.
Mia Chung
Playwright
Mia Chung’s plays include: Catch as Catch Can (Playwrights Horizons, 2022; Page 73, 2018); Ball in the Air (NAATCO/Public Theater, 2022); Double Take (Playwrights Horizons Almanac, 2021); This Exquisite Corpse (multiple awards); You for Me for You (Royal Court, National Theatre Company of Korea, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, multiple regionals; published by Bloomsbury Methuen). Awards, commissions, residencies include: Clubbed Thumb, Hedgebrook, Helen Merrill, Huntington, Loewe Award in Music-Theatre, MTC/Sloan, NYTW, Playwrights' Center/Jerome, Playwrights Horizons/Steinberg Charitable Trust Commission, Playwrights Realm, South Coast Rep, SPACE/Ryder Farm. She is an alum of Ma-Yi Writers Lab and New Dramatists.
Eric Berg
Director
Eric Berg is a director, actor, producer, and storyteller of German and Japanese descent. He is currently based in NYC, but spent over eight years creating theatre for DFW audiences. Directing credits: I and You; in a word (Echo Theatre); Eurydice (SMU) and over a dozen readings for Kitchen Dog Theater, Junior Players, IMPRINT Theatreworks, Echo, and SMU. He has served as associate/assistant director at TheaterLab (NYC), Dallas Theater Center, AT&T PAC, Stage West, Jubilee Theatre, and Kitchen Dog. Select acting credits: Eugene, Biloxi Blues and Brighton Beach Memoirs (Theatre Arlington); Thurio, Two Gentlemen of Verona (Shakespeare Dallas); Det. Parker, Split Second (Jubilee); Boy, US/THEM (Echo); Danny, CLAWS (Candle House Collective NYC). While serving as Associate Producer for Echo, Eric produced 8 productions, 20 readings, and co-founded/produced the Echo Offstage Podcast, which is entering its seventh season of interviewing women+ theatre-makers, such as Lynn Nottage, Lauren Gunderson, and many more! He has worked as a teaching artist with The Playground Acting Program, Theatre Arlington, Broadway Dallas, and Amphibian Theatre. Training: BFA SMU.
Jovane Caamaño
Tim / Theresa
Jovane Caamaño is thrilled to be telling stories with Echo Theatre again!
Other regional theatres with which he’s worked include Amphibian Stage, Kitchen Dog Theatre, Stage West Theatre, Circle Theatre, Undermain Theatre, Theatre Three, Hip Pocket Theatre, Danielle Georgiou Dance Group, Theatre Arlington, and Second Thought Theatre. He also performed in three seasons of the Trinity Shakespeare Festival, as well as in Wishing Star Productions’ national tour of Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer the Musical.
Jovane earned his BFA in Theatre with an emphasis in Musical Theatre from Texas Christian University and is passionate about his work teaching theatre and other fine arts at Key School and Training Center and with Story Stage.
Jovane would like to thank Echo for having him, and his family, friends, and partner, Levi, for all their amazing love and support.
Brandon Whitlock
Robbie / Roberta
Brandon Whitlock is a local actor happy to make his first appearance with Echo Theatre. He was most recently seen playing Pompey in Measure for Measure with Shakespeare Dallas, where he also appeared in The Odyssey, Two Gentlemen of Verona, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and as Cassius in Julius Caesar. Other local credits include playing Hamlet for Auriga Productions; The Winter’s Tale, Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet with Shakespeare Everywhere; Hit the Wall with WaterTower; Madame Bovary with Undermain; Jungal Book with Dallas Children’s Theater; The Three Musketeers with Theatre Britain; and The Dimension of Death! with Pegasus Theatre.
Kim Winnubst
Lon / Daniele
Kim Winnubst (Lon/Daniela) is honored to make her debut with Echo Theatre for the regional premiere of “Catch as Catch Can.” Thanks to Eric, Olivia, and her castmates for their fearless commitment to this piece. Most recently seen at MainStage Irving in Deathtrap, she has appeared locally in productions at Teatro Dallas, Pegasus Theatre, Pocket Sandwich Theatre, Auriga Productions, Theatre Britain, and more. In a show that's all about family, she'd be nowhere without her blood family, chosen family, and Nick, who has her whole heart.
Carrie Viera
Kuroko / Stage Hand
Carrie is ecstatic to be part of another production at Echo Theatre! She was most recently in the ensemble for the production of The Amazing, Fabulous, and Spectacular Untruths of Juan Garcia at Amphibian Stage and The Sum Of Us at Bishop Arts Theatre. She would also like to give a special thanks to her loved ones and E. Their support means the world.
Olivia Dickerson
Stage Manager
Olivia Dickerson is thrilled to be working on her first production with Echo Theatre! Other stage management credits include Plenty of Time (Jubilee Theatre), Constellations (Poetic Thespian Productions), Hay Fever, Night, Mother (Tarrant Actors’ Regional Theatre), and Men on Boats (Onstage Bedford). Olivia is a founding board member for Parker County Theatre Company and has a BFA in Technical Theatre from Texas Wesleyan University. This spring, she will be stage managing Thunder Knocking on the Door for Jubilee Theatre.
Leslie Patrick
Co-Producer
Bio
Stephanie Oustalet
Co-Producer
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Natalie Rose Mabry
Set Design
Bio
Elijah Reed
Lighting Design
Rebecca McDonald
Sound Design
Rebecca McDonald is excited to work with Echo Theatre! She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Art and Performance from the University of Texas at Dallas and a Master of Arts in Drama (Directing) from Texas Woman’s University. She is also an alumnus of the Collin College Theatre. She has had the privilege to perform, choreograph, design, and direct internationally and around the DFW Metroplex. She is currently the director of the Raider Theatre and Choreographer/Coach of the international award-winning Raider Heat Step Team at North Garland High School. Recent design credits include Black Nativity (Bishop Arts Theatre), The Sum of Us (Bishop Arts Theatre), An Evening With Penis (Pegasus Theatre), Tales From The Late Night Kroger (Pegasus Theatre), The Search For Signs For Intelligent Life In The Universe (Water Tower Theatre), and Shakespeare In Love (Garland Civic Theatre). With a track record of successful collaborations and critically acclaimed productions, she is excited to continue her artistic journey with Catch As Catch Can.
Jasmine Woods
Costume Design
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Claire Fountain
Intimacy Director
Claire Fountain, she/they, is an intimacy director, actor, and playwright based in Dallas. Recent intimacy directing credits include Debbie Does Dallas at Theatre Three, Almost, Maine and Calendar Girls at Allen Contemporary Theatre, How I Learned to Drive at Sundown Collaborative Theatre, and A Moon for the Misbegotten and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at Theatre Denton. She recently played Skids/Jamie in Jet Fuel at Bishop Arts Theatre Center where she also served as intimacy captain. She wants to thank her mom for her love and support.
Liz Ware
Box Office Manager
Liz is pleased to return to the theater after a long absence. She has been a director and producer, and spent many an evening at the Bath House Cultural Center.
Hadley Shipley
Marketing & Social Media
Hadley Shipley (they/them) is a queer, non-binary marketing professional, playwright, actor, and director from Orlando based in the DFW area. Hadley has had a blast working on marketing for Echo Theatre’s production of Catch as Catch Can thanks to the awesome support of the creative crew and cast – especially to Eric, Stephanie, Kateri, Zack, Olivia, and Liz! They are so grateful to be working with folks who value their work and their identity, thank you Echo for doing the work you do!
Caleb Daves
Carpenter
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