Project Title: The People's Temple
Recipient Organization: Z Space Studio
Lead Artist: Margo Hall
Genre and Date Awarded: Performing Arts, June 2002
To Be Presented: April 15, - May 29, 2005, Berkeley Repertory Theatre

On November 18, 1978, nearly 1,000 expatriate Americans died in Jonestown, Guyana. All were members of the People’s Temple, and the majority of them had emigrated a little more than a year earlier. The San Francisco Bay Area had been home to the Temple for years and the majority of the dead were former residents of the region. On the occasion of the 25^th anniversary of their deaths, an ensemble of theater artists, led by actor/director Margo Hall and playwright Leigh Fondakowski, is collaborating with the Z Space Studio to develop a new play created out of the individual stories behind the tragedy.

As one of the survivors told the artists, “You cannot set out to tell ‘the story’ because there are thousands of stories, not one. What you can do is reveal the complexity of our stories and invite the audience in to consider in that context and from their own lives.” The artists seek to reclaim those many stories behind the collective memory. Their process is based on extensive interviews with survivors, family members, and others touched directly by the Jonestown story. Playwright Leigh Fondakowski was producer of The Tectonic Theater’s The Laramie Project, exploring the death of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming and the ensemble’s collaboration will echo the process used for that groundbreaking work. The project also engages the California Historical Society, which recently received more 100,000 archival documents about Jonestown. These archives include diaries and personal correspondence, FBI and CIA documents, papers of the Concerned Parents and Families—the group that eventually convinced Congressman Leo Ryan to intervene, passport photos for every member of the Jonestown community, letters home; bank statements, and real estate records for the Temple’s holdings around the world.

Lead artist Margo Hall is an accomplished actor and director. A founding member of the ensemble Campo Santo, Hall also is a frequent participant in the Z Space Studio’s Word for Word ensemble. She has directed world premieres by Greg Sarris and Erin Cressida Wilson, among others and earned numerous awards for performances around the country, including a remarkable performance as Anita Hill in the Magic Theatre’s Unquestioned Integrity, a text drawn verbatim from the Clarence Thomas Congressional hearing transcripts. Playwright Leigh Fondakowski divides her time between the East Bay and her duties with the Tectonic Theater Project in New York. In addition to serving as the lead playwright on the verbatim-text plays Gross Indecencies and The Laramie Project, Fondakowski conceived, wrote, and directed I Think I Like Girls with San Francisco’s Encore Theater Company in 2001. She is a pioneer in the verbatim non-fiction performance techniques this project will employ.

The volume of material and extent of the tragedy present exciting challenges for the collaborating artists. Their collaboration marks a first time attempt to combine historical documents with contemporary interviews in a “verbatim theater” format. Having gathered substantial material, the ensemble will work with the artistic and support staff at the Z Space Studio to craft a theatrical event. The finished work will include a world premiere performance, an exhibit of Temple materials, and a media/educators kit.

The Z Space Studio is an acclaimed new play laboratory. Since its inception in 1993, the Studio has been the incubator for more than 100 new plays performed in theaters all over the world. Studio-developed works have earned dozens of local and national new play awards, including two Pulitzer Prize nominations. AfroSolo, Amy Freed, Anne Galjour, Josh Kornbluth, Cherylene Lee, Stephen Pelton Dance Theater, and Randall Wong are among the hundreds of artists and ensembles developing work at the Studio.

Also a partner, the California Historical Society is the state’s official historical society. The Society collects, interprets, publishes and exhibits materials about California history. It has become the official archives of the Jonestown tragedy, home to more than 150 cartons of documents relating to the People’s Temple. The Society is providing the support and direction necessary for the ensemble to conduct its research, working to acquire a fully processed archives for the anniversary.

LEAD ARTIST

Margo Hall is an award-winning actress and director, a founding member of the acclaimed ensemble Campo Santo and a frequent participant in the Z Space Studio’s Word for Word ensemble.

RESUME HIGHLIGHTS

Directing Experience

• Mission Indians, CO-directed with Nancy Benjamin, Campo Santo, Intersection for the Arts
• Blithe Spirit, Assistant Director to Charles Randolph-Wright, American Conservatory Theatre
• SPUNK, Chabot Little Theatre, Chabot College
• Hotel Angulo, Campo Santo, Intersection for the Arts
• Open Your Arms I’m Jumping, Encore Theatre Company, Hastings Studio
• Funnyhouse of a Negro, Intersection for the Arts
• Confessions of a Thespian, When Spirit and Theatre Collide, Kim McMillon, Julia Morgan Theatre
• Friend of My Youth, Word for Word, The Magic Theatre and Tour of France
• Simpatico, Campo Santo, Intersection for the Arts
• Tartuffe, Assistant Director to Charles Randolph-Wright, American Conservatory Theatre
• The Trail of Her Inner Thigh, Campo Santo, Intersection for the Arts
• Joy Ride, Campo Santo, Intersection for the Arts

Stage: Title (role), director, theater

• Bethlehem (Mrs. Dewey), Octavio Solis, Intersection for the Arts
• 17 Reasons Why (various roles), Delia McDougall, Intersection for the Arts
• Floating Weeds (Gloria), Loy Arcenas, Intersection for the Arts
• References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, (Cat), Hector Corera, Intersection for the Arts
• Oak and Ivy (Alice Dunbar-Nelson), Charles Randolph-Wright, Arena Stage
• Hecuba (Chorus Leader), Carey Perloff, American Conservatory Theatre
• A Streetcar Named Desire (Eunice), Richard Seyd, American Conservatory Theatre
• The Blues I’m Playing (Oceola Jones), Ellen Sebastian Chang, Magic Theatre
• Polaroid Stories (Semele/Persephone), Delia McDougall, Intersection for the Arts
• Hurricane (Katy Longstreth), Delia McDougall, New Langton Arts
• Sanctified Church (Zora Neale Hurston), Ellen Sebastian Chang, Miami Tour
• The Roof’s on Fire (Demeter), Ellen Sebastian Chang, Teatro Mission
• Giants Have Us in Their Books (Woman/Mother/Teacher), Roberto Varea, Magic Theatre
• Unquestioned Integrity: The Hill/Thomas Hearings (Anita Hill), Ellen Sebastian Chang, Magic Theatre
• Playboy of the West Indies (Alice), Tazewell Thompson, Arena Stage
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Moth), Liviu Ciulei, Arena Stage
• The Man Who Came to Dinner (Sarah), Doug Wagner, Arena Stage
• Two Gentlemen of Verona (Sylvia), Norman Walker, Olmstead
• The Secret Rapture (Rhonda), Jim Petosa, Olney Theater
• As You Like It (Hymen), Glynn Wickham, Hartke Theater
• Getting Out (Arlie), Jamie Cousins, Source Theater
• Our Town (Rebecca), Doug Wagner, Arena Stage

Awards

• Marian Scott Actor’s Achievement Award for Oceola Jones in The Blues I’m Playing
• San Francisco Weekly Black Box Award for Outstanding Direction for Joy Ride
• Drama Logue Award for Outstanding Direction for The Trail of Her Inner Thigh
• Bay Guardian GOLDIE award 1998

Teaching

• Currently teaching Introduction to Theatre and Improvisation at Chabot College, Hayward Campus, and Acting at Berkeley Repertory School for Theatre

Leigh Fondakowski

Writing

• The Laramie Project (Head Writer), Tectonic Theater Project, New York, New York (1998-2000); Denver Center Theatre Company, Denver Colorado (2000); Union Square Theater, New York, New York (2001); Berkeley Repertory Theater, Berkeley, California (2001); La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego, California (2001)
• I Think I Like Girls, (Writer) Encore Theatre, San Francisco, California (2001)
• The Laramie Project (Screenplay), HBO Films

Books Published

• The Laramie Project, Vintage Books

Director

• The Laramie Project, Berkeley Repertory Theatre (2001); La Jolla Playhouse (2001)
• I Think I Like Girls, Encore Theatre Company (2001); New Georges, (World Premiere) New York, New York (2000)
• La Voix Humaine, by Jean Cocteau, Quantum Theatre/Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (2000)
• Steve by Stephen Belber, Le Gamin Productions, New York, New York (1998)
• Gloria’s Visit (New York Premiere) by Nancy Dean, Women’s Playwright Collective, New York, New York (1998)
• Gwen John, adapted from the novel by Jane Warrick, Lincoln Center Theater/HERE, New York, New York (1997)
• Agatha by Marguerite Duras, The French Institute/NADA, New York, New York (1996/1997)
• Happenings: Certain Instructions, HERE/Avant Garde Festival, New York, New York (1995)
• Letters to Myself, Harold Clurman Theater, New York, New York (1995)
• Night Swim by Julia Jordan, Samuel Beckett Theater, New York, New York (1994)

Workshops with Tectonic Theater Project

• Marlowe’s Eye, by Naomi Iizuka (1996)
• Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, by Moises Kaufman (1997)
• Brecht’s Galileo (1998)
• The Laramie Project (1998-2001)

Awards and Residencies

• Member, Lincoln Center Theater Directing Lab, 1997
• Independent Artist’s Challenge Program, The Field, 1997
• Sundance Theatre Laboratory Resident, 1999
• Summer Residency, New York Theatre Workshop, 1999
• Artistic Associate, Tectonic Theater Project

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