Cast

Maria

ANNABEL ARMOUR*

David

NOAH BENJAMIN*

Zenon

JOHN POKRZYWINSKI 

*member, Actors Equity Association

Design Team

Scenic Design

ARDEN WEAVER

Lighting Design

DREW CHECK

Costume Design

PATRICIA DENNIS

Sound Design

NICHOLAS GOSEN  

Staff

Production Mangager

IAN WALLIN

Production Stage Manager

KIAN ARNOLD

Associate Producers

MARYN CRUSER, JORDYN RODRIGUEZ, OLIVA ZASTROW

Associate Lighting Designer

LEXIE CRUZ

Properties Coordinator

OLIVIA ZASTROW

Venue Technical Director

JOHN JUSTAD

Language Coaches

PAWEL WASZCZUK, LUKASZ KORNAS

Dialect Coach

KATHY LOGELIN

Graphic Design

SEDGE CREATIVE 

Place

Maria's apartment in Szczecin, Poland

Time

January 2007

Jesse Eisenberg (playwright) is a writer, director and actor. As a writer-director, his films include A Real Pain, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2024 and will be released by Searchlight Pictures in October, and When You Finish Saving the World for A24. His plays include Asuncion, The Revisionist, The Spoils and Happy Talk. As an actor, he is known for his Academy Award nominated role as Mark Zuckerberg in the 2010 film The Social Network. He starred in the films The Squid and the Whale, Adventureland, Now You See Me, 30 Minutes or Less, The End of the Tour and Zombieland. He played Lex Luthor in the 2016 film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. On television, he stars as Toby Fleishman in Hulu’s Fleishman Is in Trouble. His short stories and humor pieces have been published in the New Yorker and McSweeney’s, as well as his 2015 collection Bream Gives Me Hiccups: And Other Stories from Grove Press.

Annabel Armour (Maria) Some favorites as an founding ensemble member at Chicago’s Remy Bumppo Theatre Company: The Year of Magical Thinking (Jeff Nominated), hang, Fallen Angels, The Clean House (Jeff Nominated), , Seascape, The Goat or, Who is Sylvia (Jeff Award), Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Power, A Delicate Balance, Top Girls, and Hapgood. Other favorites include: Cabaret (Marriott Lincolnshire/Jeff nomination), Clybourne Park (Asolo Rep), At Home at the Zoo (Victory Gardens/Jeff Nomination), Picnic (Writers’ Theatre), Pride and Prejudice (Cleveland Playhouse), Sunday in the Park with George (Chicago Shakespeare), Long Day’s Journey (Irish Rep & Galway Arts Festival), Before My Eyes (Victory Gardens), Angels in America I & II (Journeymen/Jeff Award), Grapes of Wrath (Ford’s Theatre D.C,) and The First Look Series (Steppenwolf). Film credits include: Fields of Green and Gold ( soon to be released), Amityville Horror, Conviction and Contagion. TV credits include: Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, What A Dummy, Chicago Justice. Annabel lives in Chicago and is the recipient of three Joseph Jefferson Awards and two After Dark Awards.

Noah Benjamin (David) is elated to be back playing at his old stomping grounds, the Depot Theatre. This theatre was a second home to him for almost a decade. He has been living and working in New York City for three years. He has recently completed a run Off-Broadway with Drunk Shakespeare. He is also the recurring voice of Yuma Tsukumo with the world renowned Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game franchise. Thank you to Mark for giving him this opportunity, and his family for always supporting him in all of his endeavors.

John Pokrzywinski (Zenon) is thrilled to be onstage with That Old Hillside. Favorite credits include The Arsonists; Death of a Salesman; Annapurna; Vanya, Sonya, Masha, and Spike/THE DULUTH PLAYHOUSE. The Realistic Joneses and Stones in His Pockets/ RENEGADE THEATER. Thom Pain, Based on Nothing/ FALLEN SPARROW. Hamlet/ WISE FOOL. The Food Chain/ DARK HORSE. John has directed at most theaters above as well as East High and Ordean East Middle schools. John has been a middle grades teacher for three decades.

Mark Armstrong (director) is a Brooklyn-based theater director and artistic director for The 24 Hour Plays. His 2023 production of Eric Bogosian’s Drinking in America (NYT Critic’s Pick) starred Andre Royo at Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre. Later that year, his acclaimed production of Will Arbery’s Heroes of the Fourth Turning re-opened the St. Louis County Depot Theater in his hometown of Duluth, MN. Highlights with The 24 Hour Plays: annual productions of The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway, The 24 Hour Musicals and partner productions worldwide. Playwright collaborators include Emily Mann, Christopher Shinn, Dan O’Brien + many more. Assistant professor, The New School for Drama.

Arden Weaver (Scenic Designer) served as Associate Dean at UMD, where he taught scenic design, designed scenery for many productions and mentored student designers. Special thanks to Megan Marie for furniture acquisitions! And thanks to Carol Lynn for design assistance throughout the creative process!

Drew Check (Lighting Designer) is a recent graduate from the University of Minnesota Duluth (BFA Lighting Design) and is happy to be back in The Depot space after designing for Heroes of the Fourth Turning last year. Thank you for supporting the arts and enjoy the show!

Patricia Dennis (Costume Designer) After a 40 year long career working within the Theatre Department at UMD, Patricia Dennis has been joyously continuing work as a costume designer on a variety of projects within Duluth over the past 5 years. She is so excited to be a part of this show along with many former colleagues and students.

Nicholas Gosen (Sound Designer) is the Resident Sound Designer and Technical Theatre Manager for Duluth Playhouse. His theatrical credits include productions with Wise Fool, Renegade, Take It With You, UWS, 7th House, and Duluth Playhouse. Besides theatrical sound design he also does location classical music recording, film sound design and recording mixing. He looks forward to what the future will bring.

Kian Arnold (Stage Manager) is thrilled to be back at the Depot! The recent UMD grad has worked back stage and in the booth for multiple local productions, including Stupid F##king Bird (UMD), Mr. Burns: A Post Electric Play (Duluth Playhouse), Newsies Jr (Duluth Playhouse), Sense and Sensibility (UMD), and POTUS (Zeitgeist Arts).

Olivia Zastrow (Associate Producer and Properties Coordinator) is a senior Technical Theatre major at UMD, studying as a technician, designer, and stage manager. She is Production Manager for Stage 2 at UMD. Olivia thanks her family for all of their support, and her busia Aggie for teaching her what it means to be Polish. Enjoy the show — Dziękuję!

Jordyn Rodriguez (Associate Producer) is a student at UMD with a Stage Management BFA. New to the producing side of things, she is grateful for the experience. Enjoy!

Thanks To Cat Miller, MarySue Taallerud, Cheryl Skafte, Carol Weaver, Jeff Brown, Scott Boyle, Rebecca Katz Harwood, Tracy Hansen

Special Thanks Ellen Martin, Mary Tennis, the Depot Foundation, Jason Young

About the Depot Foundation Since 1979, the Depot Foundation’s mission has been dedicated to preserving the St. Louis County Depot as a vibrant and welcoming forum for the arts, culture and history through managing and growing a permanent endowment.