Last Seen, 2005-06 Production

Isabel having settled into comfortable middle age with husband Walter begins feeling that she is slowly“disappearing”. Anxiety and confusion force her off the living room sofa and onto the psychiatrist’s couch, the beginning of a journey she is sorely unprepared for. Maybe invisibility is better. Isabel must decide.

Recommended for age 15 and older.

Production Staff

Director . . . . .Sharon L. Sullivan
Set Light and Costume Design . . . . . . Tony Naylor
Scenic Shop Supervisor. . . . . Lynn Wilson
Assistant Director . . . . . D.J. Zimmerman
Stage Manager. . . . . Tomas Toledo
Assistant Stage Manager. . . . . Joshua Sievers
Shop and Running Crew . . . . . Andrew Brown, Shannon Berry,
Nick Johnson, Roberto Ramirez, Carmen Swanson, Eric Michael, Ashley Wilson, Melany Milligan
Last Seen Art . . . . . Barbara Waterman-Peters
Publicity . . . . . Paul Prece
Box Office/House . . . . . Lori Meador

The Cast

Isabel . . . . . Marianne Kearns
Walter . . . . . Tom Kennedy
Marguerite . . . . . Beverly Johnston
Psychiatrist . . . . . Jeanne Chinn
Lolita . . . . . Shanna Carlson
Mr. Burgess. . . . . Marcus Miller
Sammy . . . . . Tomas Toledo

Playwright Penelope Weiner says that she was long intrigued with the common metaphorical complaint, "What am I, invisible?" Then, she says, she crossed over the line, from youth to middle age, and experiences invisibility for real. "I was in the Union one day when I saw one of my fovorite students, sitting in a group of students," she says. "I called and waved to her, and she looked in my direction, and I swear, she looked right through me. She literally did not see me." All middle-aged women can tell their own version of the story, often described paradoxically as both devastating and liberating. —Margy Stewart

About the Playwright
Penny Weiner is an assistant professor in the Theatre department where she teaches playwriting, history and performance classes. Prior to full-time, Penny served as an adjunct in Theatre for a number of years. she holds a BS in education from the University of Kansas and an MFA in Playwriting and Directing from the University of Missouri, Kansas City. Her work as a director has been seen at Washburn in such productions as Wit, The Laramie Project, Lysistrata, Pterodactyls, Kindertransport and last season't Sunday Father. She has also directed at the Lawrence Community Theatre and in Kansas City for In Play Theatre Company where she directed her original play Fullout, last year.

About the Director
Sharon L. Sullivan is an assistant professor and costume designer in the Theatre department where she teaches history, Introduction to Theatre and in the Women's suidies program. She holds a BA from smith College, an MA from washington University and her Ph.D. in Theory and Criticism from the University of Kansas. She has designed costumes for numerous productions including Lysistrata, Bat Boy, Time Flies, Sunday Father and Pterodactyls. She also directed Agnes of God and was responsible for a local fundraising production of The Vagina Monologues. She has also designed costumes for Seussical, The Musical, Pump Boys and Dinettes, In the Beginning and The Spitfire Grill, at the Helen Hocker Theatre.