Sunny Afternoon

Ray Davies CBE, one of the most successful and influential songwriters to emerge from the British Invasion of the 1960s, founded the rock band The Kinks with his brother Dave in London in 1964. The band’s string of 14 top ten international hits began with “You Really Got Me,” followed by “All Day and All of The Night,” “Tired of Waiting,” “Set Me Free,” “Dedicated Follower of Fashion,” “Sunny Afternoon,” “Waterloo Sunset,” “Lola,” “Apeman,” and “Come Dancing” among many others. Davies has released two solo albums, a choral collection of Kinks classics and his collaborations album See My Friends saw him return again to the top ten working with the likes of Metallica, Bruce Springsteen, and Mumford and Sons. Davies collaborated with Barrie Keeffe in 1981 on his first stage musical, Chorus Girls, and in 1988 wrote 80 Days with Snoo Wilson, which was produced at the La Jolla Playhouse. He returned with his third musical, Come Dancing, in 2008 at Stratford East which won the WhatsOnStage Best Off-West End Musical award. In between the musicals Ray penned his unauthorized autobiography, X·Ray, from which he featured readings, during his Storyteller tour. August 2012 saw him perform at the London Olympics followed by his most successful solo tour to date. Ray returned in 2013 with his second autobiography, Americana, focusing on his time spent in the United States which the band first conquered in 1965 but were banned from shortly after by the Musicians’ Union until 1969. It takes the story through to the band’s second wave of success in the 1980s and up through Ray’s shooting by a mugger in New Orleans at the beginning of 2004. 2014/2015 sees the Kinks 50th Anniversary with a new box set.  

2014 saw the opening of Ray’s fourth musical Sunny Afternoon which made its world premiere at the Hampstead Theatre, London, before transferring to London’s West End’s Harold Pinter Theatre, where it went on to win four Olivier Awards including Best New Musical. Ray’s radio play Arthur The Decline And Fall of the British Empire was aired on BBC Radio 4. In 2021, the one-man show The Money Go Round was performed at Upstairs at The Gatehouse starring Ben Norris. 2022 saw Ray’s radio play of Lola v Powerman being performed on BBC Radio 4. 2023 saw The Journey Part 1, which was the first instalment of the BMG trilogy The Journey, once again starring Ben Norris at Upstairs at The Gatehouse. 2024 saw the 60th Anniversary of The Kinks and the re-release of the band’s first ever number one “You Really Got Me” which 60 years later was back in the UK charts at number 3. The trilogy of The Journey albums went on to see part 2 being released in November 2023 with the final album due for release later in 2025.

Joe Penhall lives in London. His plays include The Constituent; Mood Music (Old Vic); Sunny Afternoon (Hampstead Theatre and West End 2014) for which he won an Olivier Award for Best New Musical 2015; Birthday (Royal Court Theatre, 2012); Haunted Child (Royal Court Theatre, 2011); Landscape with Weapon (National Theatre, 2007); Dumb Show (Royal Court Theatre, 2004); Blue/Orange (National Theatre, 2000), winner of the Evening Standard Best Play Award, the Olivier Award for Best New Play and the Critics’ Circle Award for Best New Play; The Bullet (Donmar Warehouse, 1998); Love and Understanding (Bush Theatre, 1997); Pale Horse (Royal Court Theatre, 1995) which won the Thames Television Best Play Award; Some Voices (Royal Court Theatre, 1994) which won him the John Whiting Award. His film and television work include King of Thieves, crime thriller MINDHUNTER, which he created for Netflix in 2017; Birthday, which he adapted from his stage play for Sky Arts, winner of Best Screenplay at Zoom Festival de Ficcio in Barcelona in 2016; Moses Jones, an original three-part crime drama for BBC2, winner of Best Screenplay at the Roma Fiction Festival 2009; his adaptation of The Road from Cormac McCarthy’s award-winning novel; the screenplay Enduring Love based on the novel by Ian McEwan; the feature adaptation of his play Some Voices for Film Four; and the BAFTA nominated The Long Firm for BBC2. 

Acclaimed theater, television, and film director Edward Hall joined CST in October 2023. In February 2024, he directed his debut production as Artistic Director—Richard III starring Tony nominee and Paralympic champion Katy Sullivan. In the 2024/25 season, he is directing Henry V, Short Shakespeare! A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Sunny Afternoon. He previously directed the Jeff Award-winning Rose Rage trilogy at CST in 2003. Edward has built his love of Shakespeare around original interpretations of the Bard’s plays, staging acclaimed productions in London’s West End and on tour around the globe. He led the UK’s Hampstead Theatre for nearly a decade, transforming it into one of the nation’s most successful theaters for new work development, with over 100 world premieres. He was the founder and Artistic Director of Propeller Shakespeare for twenty years touring across the US, Europe, Asia, and beyond. He has served as an Associate Director at the National Theatre and Old Vic in London. His extensive film and television credits include The Heist Before Christmas starring Timothy Spall, Blithe Spirit starring Dame Judi Dench, multiple HBO and BBC series, and the season 4 finale for Downton Abbey. This season, Hall directs CST’s productions of Henry V, Short Shakespeare! A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Sunny Afternoon. He is a member of the Arts Club of Chicago and Economic Club of Chicago. 

Ware was the music supervisor, music director, arranger, and orchestrator of the original production (Hampstead Theatre), West End (Harold Pinter Theatre), and UK Tour of Sunny Afternoon. He was co-musical director, keyboard player, and string arranger for The Who, performing Quadrophenia at the Royal Albert Hall, and has appeared with artists including Alice Cooper, Brian May, and Roger Taylor of Queen. He was music supervisor/director for Mrs. Doubtfire (London); We Will Rock You (Dominion Theatre, Toronto, UK Tour); Rock of Ages (Shaftesbury Theater, Garrick Theatre, UK Tour); Footloose (Playhouse Theatre); The Rocky Horror Show (UK Tour); Get Up, Stand Up workshop using music of Bob Marley; and Ordinary World workshop using music of Duran Duran. He has been the keyboard player for singer/songwriter Jim Diamond, West End productions of Wicked, Spamalot, Zorro, The Sound of Music, and UK Tour of Flashdance. Other work as music supervisor, music director, and keyboard player include performances on TV and radio for Comic Relief, The Andrew Marr Show, Children In Need (BBC); Dancing On Ice, Al Murray’s Happy Hour with Queen (ITV); Dancing With The Stars (RTE); The London Music Awards at The Roundhouse, BBC’s World Cup ’66 Live at Wembley Arena, Weekend Wogan (BBC Radio 2); Gaby Roslin (Radio London); numerous concerts, music festivals, and recordings. EDUCATION: Royal Academy of Music. 

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. CHOREOGRAPHY CREDITS: La Cage aux Folles, Mata Hari The Musical, Tootsie, Drei Männer im Schnee (Gaertnerplatz Theater, Munich); The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein (Semperoper, Dresden); On The Town (Theater St Gallen, Munich); The Merry Widow (Munich), Sunny Afternoon (Hampstead Theatre, West End, U.K Tour); On Your Toes (Leicester Haymarket Theatre, Royal Festival Hall, Japan tour). DIRECTING CREDITS: The Pirates of Penzance (Gaertnerplatz Theater Munich); Candide (Gaertnerplatz Theatre Munich, Oper Köln); The Rake’s Progress (Gaertnerplatz Theater Munich); Grand Hotel (University of Oklahoma); Shall We Dance (Sadlers Wells London); Simply Cinderella (Curve Theatre Leicester); Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Japan tour, Sadler’s Wells Theatre London). AWARDS: Critics Circle Award for Best Choreography for On Your Toes. EDUCATION: Arts Educational School and the Royal Ballet School. 

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. BROADWAY: Stranger Things: The First Shadow, To Kill a Mockingbird, Patriots, Prima Facie, Three Tall Women, King Lear, A Doll’s House, Part 2. OFF-BROADWAY: The Jungle (St. Ann’s). INTERNATIONAL: Unicorn (West End); Kyoto (Royal Shakespeare Company, West End); The Fear of 13 (Donmar Warehouse); The 47th (Old Vic); Women Beware the Devil, Shipwreck, Spring Awakening (Almeida Theatre); The Cherry Orchard (International Theatre Amsterdam); Chariots of Fire (Hampstead Theatre, West End); Earthquakes in London, The Effect (National Theatre); The Trial, Wild Swans (Young Vic); What If If Only, Love and Information, Sucker Punch (Royal Court). OPERA/DANCE: Festen, Aida, Anna Nicole (Royal Opera House); Wozzeck (Festival d’Aix); Jungle Book Reimagined (Akram Khan Company). AWARDS: 2023 Olivier Award for Best Set Design and Critic’s Circle Award for Stranger Things: The First Shadow; three-time Tony Award nominee for Prima Facie, Three Tall Women, and To Kill a Mockingbird; two-time Evening Standard Award for The Jungle, Earthquakes in London, and Sucker Punch; Critics Circle Award for Wild Swans. 

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. BROADWAY: Billy Elliot, Inspector Calls. CHICAGO: The King and I (Lyric Opera). INTERNATIONAL: Sunny Afternoon at the Hampstead Theatre, West End, and UK tour; Porgy and Bess (China); The World of Abdulhussain (Kuwait); San Xing Dui musical (China); Into the Woods, Carousel (Royal Academy of Music); Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (Mumbai); Giselle (National Ballet of Japan); UK tour of An Inspector Calls, Middle (National Theatre UK). OPERA: Rigoletto (Dublin); Pagliacci, Traviata, Tosca (Miami); Les Troyens (Monteverdi Soloists); Semele (Glyndebourne); Le Prophete, The Silent Woman (Bard, NY USA); Carmen (Opera North); Sweeney Todd in San Francisco, Houston and Paris; 27 operas for Santa Fe Opera over 20 years. AWARDS: Fisher has won a Tony Award and Drama Desk, for Billy Elliot on Broadway, and a Helpmann Award for Billy Elliot in Sydney. He has also won two Olivier Awards for Best Lighting Design for his work at the National Theatre and a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for An Inspector Calls. Fisher is a Fellow of the Association for Lighting Production and Design. 

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. WEST END: Made in Bangkok, The House of Bernarda Alba, A Piece of My Mind, Journey’s End, Tango Argentino, When She Danced, Misery, Murder Is Easy, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Macbeth, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, A Life in the Theatre, The Lieutenant of Inishmore (and on Broadway), Singing in The Rain, Major Barbara, Filumena, Kafka’s Dick, Amadeus (and on Broadway), Sunny Afternoon. INTERNATIONAL: Family Reunion, Henry V, The Duchess of Mafli, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Royal Shakespeare Company); Oh What A Lovely War, A Christmas Carol, Sweeney Todd, Company, Merrily We Roll Along (Derby Playhouse); The Seagull, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Master and Margarita, 9/11, Nicolas Nickleby, Putting It Together, The Gondoliers, Music Man, Oklahoma, Babes in Arms (Chichester Festival Theatre); After Miss Julie, Days of Wine and Roses (Donmar Warehouse); King Lear, Resurrection Blues (Old Vic). AWARDS: Olivier Award Best Sound Design nomination for Sunny Afternoon. 

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. BROADWAY: The Book of Mormon. TOUR: The Book of Mormon. REGIONAL: Singin’ in the Rain, Winter Wonderland, Solitary Man: A Tribute to Neil Diamond (Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse); Tuck Everlasting (The Spotlight Theatre); Catch Me If You Can (Quad City Music Guild). NEW YORK: Masked: The Musical (54 Below). @bluesinmossflat. 

Mason celebrates his twenty-third year at CST as Artistic Associate/Casting Director, where his credits include over 150 productions and programs and thirty-five plays in Shakespeare’s canon. In addition to numerous productions with Chicago Shakespeare founder Barbara Gaines, other productions of note include: a host of Sondheim musicals (Follies, Sunday in the Park with George, A Little Night Music, Passion, Road Show, Gypsy, directed by Gary Griffin); SIX (CST, Broadway, A.R.T., Ordway Center, the Citadel); Ride the Cyclone directed by Rachel Rockwell (CST, off Broadway at MCC Theater, Fifth Avenue Theatre/American Conservatory Theater, Alliance Theatre); Rose Rage: Henry VI, Parts 1, 2 and 3, directed by Edward Hall (CST, The Duke on 42nd Street). He also directed and co-created Shakespeare Tonight with Beckie Menzie, as part of CST’s Shakespeare 400 Festival. Prior to casting, Mason enjoyed a career as a Joseph Jefferson Award-winning actor and singer and has been a visiting educator for Northwestern University, the School at Steppenwolf, the Guthrie Theater BFA program, Acting Studio Chicago, DePaul, Columbia, Roosevelt University, and multiple university programs across the country.

BROADWAY: Elf (Skate Instructor); The Ferryman (Infant Casting); Pippin (Co-Casting Director). Casting Associate: Hamilton (OBC); Come From Away (OBC); Sister Act (OBC); Kinky Boots, The Last Ship, Motown The Musical, Hand to God, Wicked, Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark. OFF BROADWAY: Lazarus (New York Theatre Workshop); Titaníque (Original Casting); RENT (New World Stages); Cloud Nine (Atlantic Theater Company); Hamilton (The Public Theater, Casting Associate). REGIONAL: New York Stage and Film, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Old Globe, Paper Mill Playhouse. FILM: Fire Island (Hulu); She’s Clean (Vimeo). TELEVISION: High Maintenance (HBO, Casting Director); Sex Education (Netflix, US Casting); Russian Doll (Netflix, Casting Associate); Red Oaks (Amazon Prime, NY Casting); Stranger Things (Netflix, NY Casting); GLEE (Fox, NY Casting). Casting Assistant: Smash (NBC); Looking (HBO). COMMERCIALS: Olay Musical Commercials. Fem was the inaugural recipient of the Rosalie Joseph Humanitarian Award for their community organizing. (they/them) 

Christopher Chase Carter is the former Artistic Director of Mercury Theater Chicago. Under his artistic direction Mercury Theatre accumulated a record breaking number of awards and Jeff nominations. Before Moving to Chicago Christopher studied in Michigan, where he began his theater career performing, directing and choreographing award-winning community and college productions. Carter is a graduate from Grand Valley State University achieving his bachelor of arts while on scholarship. In 2019 Carter directed and choreographed the pilot production of “Scottsboro Boys” working closely with Musical Theater International (MTI) and Susan Stroman at the International Thespian Festival. Which was followed by his groundbreaking production of “Legally Blonde” at Northwestern University. Christopher has been honored with many awards and scholarships throughout his career. In 2005 he moved to Los Angeles where he was awarded a scholarship to the Debbie Allen Dance Academy. He also studied abroad in Kingston, Jamaica to further his training and education at The Edna Manley School.  In 2007 Christopher started his own scholarship, The Christopher Carter Arts Scholarship, to help underprivileged artists pursue their dreams. With a true passion for creativity and art Christopher is excited about the future of theater and looks forward to being part of the evolution of performance and artistry. 

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Judgment Day, Comedy of Errors. CHICAGO: Turret (A Red Orchid Theatre); Into the Woods, Little Shop of Horrors (Paramount Theatre). STUNT COORDINATION: Soldier Survivor Sinner Saint, Best In The World, The Big Audition, Bayfield. EDUCATION: BFA, Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. Fabian holds the Advanced Actor Combatant certification with Fight Directors of Canada from Rapier Wit in Toronto, Ontario as well as multiple weapon forms with the Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD). 

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. REGIONAL: As You Like It (Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Voice and Text Director); Leroy and Lucy (Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Voice Coach); Inherit the Wind (Goodman Theatre, Dialect and Voice Coach); Chicana Legend (SheATL Theater Festival, Dialect and Accent Consultant). EDUCATIONAL: The Winter’s Tale (Illinois Theatre); Electricidad (CSU Fresno); Sonnets for an Old Century (SSU); Avenue Q, Nunca Olivdare, On the Verge; Or, the Geography of Yearning (Texas Tech University School of Theatre and Dance). TEACHING: Assistant Professor of Acting, Voice, and Speech at The University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. EDUCATION: MFA in acting, The Theatre School, DePaul University. Ramirez Downing is the author of Chapter: Performance of Identity: A Practice, Latinx Actor Training Book (2023 Routledge). Her professional affiliations include Designated Linklater Voice teacher (The Linklater Center), Voice and Speech Trainers Association, Shakespeare & Company (Lenox, MA) Voice Faculty. www.marieramirezdowning.com  

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. THEATRE CREDITS: Dance Captain in Kiss Me, Kate (Barbican Theatre); Dance Captain/Cover Judy in White Christmas (Sheffield Crucible); Ensemble in The Third Man (Menier Chocolate Factory); Mona in Chicago (International Tour); Associate Choreographer for Gypsy (Royal Exchange Theatre); Associate Choreographer for Witches of Eastwick (Swedish Premiere); Ensemble/ Cover Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls (Théâtre Marigny); Assistant Choreographer/Suzanne in Sweet Charity (Nottingham Playhouse); Assistant Choreographer/Dance Captain in Oklahoma! (Grange Park Opera); Dance Captain/Young Christine in Follies (National Theatre); 42^nd Street (Théâtre du Châtelet); Thoroughly Modern Millie (Kilworth House Theatre); Associate Choreographer/Dance Captain in Mrs Henderson Presents (Noel Coward Theatre, Royal Alexandra Theatre); Movement Captain for Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (Birmingham Rep); Assistant Choreographer/Peggy in Sunny Afternoon (Hampstead Theatre, Harold Pinter Theatre); Kiss Me Kate (BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall); Dance Captain in Evita (UK tour); My Fair Lady (Sheffield Crucible); Jesus Christ Superstar (Slovenia, Bronowski Productions); Wonderful Town (Royal Exchange Theatre with the Halle Orchestra); Wizard of Oz (London Palladium); Donna in Dreamboats and Petticoats (UK tour); White Christmas (Plymouth Theatre Royal, Manchester Lowry);  Rumpleteaser in Cats (German tour, Cologne Musical, Dome and Frankfurt Alte Opera). FILM: That Day We Sang (BBC); Blitz (Apple TV). EDUCATION: Corraine Collins Dance Studios, Bird College. 

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Henry V, Beauty and the Beast. CHICAGO: Come From Away, An Act of God (Paramount Theatre); Indecent, The Revolutionists (Northwestern University); The Moors (A Red Orchid Theatre); Finding Nemo, The Magic School Bus, James and the Giant Peach, Hello Dolly (The Marriott Theatre); A Tale of Two Cities (Shattered Glove Theater); Cold Town/Hot Line (Raven Theater); Wolf at the End of the Block (Teatro Vista); Spamilton (Forbidden Broadway); Pinocchio (Neverbird Project, Chicago Children’s Theatre). TOUR: associate scenic designer on The King’s Speech. INTERNATIONAL: associate scenic designer on The Prince of Egypt (Dominion Theatre London). EDUCATION: BA in theatre design, Columbia College Chicago; MFA in theatre design, Northwestern University.  

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. CHICAGO: The Thanksgiving Play, Describe the Night, BUG, MS. BLAKK FOR PRESIDENT, La Ruta, Downstate, The Doppelgänger (an international farce), The Minutes, Linda Vista, Constellations, The Flick, John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, The Herd, Airline Highway, The Motherf**ker with the Hat, American Buffalo (also at McCarter Theatre), The Tempest, The Seafarer, The Diary of Anne Frank, after the quake, Cherry Orchard (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); 2 Hands, 4 Pianos, Stones in his Pockets (Northlight Theatre); Fraulein Else, Scapin (Court Theatre); Arabian Nights, Vanishing Twin, S/M (Lookingglass Theatre Company); Songs for a New World, Violet, Big River, Once on This Island (Apple Tree Theatre). REGIONAL: Ragtime, Chicago, The Mystery of Irma Vep, My Fair Lady, Of Mice and Men (The Weston Playhouse, Weston, VT). EDUCATION: BFA in stage management, The Theatre School at DePaul University. Freeburg is an Assistant Professor and the Head of Stage Management at The Theatre School at DePaul University. 

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Avaaz, Pericles, Henry V, Short Shakespeare! Romeo and Juliet, Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks. CHICAGO: Two Trains Running, The Lady from the Sea, The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, The Mousetrap, Oedipus Rex, King Hedley II (Court Theatre); The Steadfast Tin Soldier (Lookingglass Theatre Company); The Music Man, Ah, Wilderness! (Goodman Theatre); Revolution (A Red Orchid Theatre); new play workshops for Steppenwolf Theatre Company. NEW YORK: Black Swan (workshop). TOUR: Hamilton (Philip Company Tour). EDUCATION: The Theatre School at DePaul University, Interlochen Arts Academy. Fender is one of the owners of The Understudy Coffee and Books, a theatre bookstore and specialty coffee shop located in Andersonville.

D&J Arlon, founded by Deke Arlon and his wife Jill together with their son Jamie, have represented some of the biggest names in rock, pop, theatre, and television for over 40 years and have produced many award-winning theatrical musical shows and television series. Deke began his relationship with Ray Davies back in the ‘60s.
Later, Deke became advisor and personal manager to Ray and The Kinks, guiding Ray’s early solo theatrical career with his musical Come Dancing, followed by the
Off-Broadway production of his one man show, Story Teller, which resulted in Sunny Afternoon.

CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Richard III, The Odyssey with A.B.L.E. CHICAGO: Love Song, Blues for an Alabama Sky, Galileo’s Daughter (Remy Bumppo Theatre Company); Uncle Vanya in an operating titanium factory (New Theatre Project); Coronation (Refracted Theatre Company); Toni Stone (Goodman Theatre); Carousel, The Producers (Music Theater Works); Buried Child, The Language Archive (AstonRep Theatre Company); The F*ck House, Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins 2022, Tarot Card Play (Strawdog Theatre Company). REGIONAL: Murder on the Orient Express, Over the River and Through the Woods (Cortland Repertory Theatre); Pericles, The Comedy of Errors (Utah Shakespeare Festival). EDUCATION: BFA in theatre management, Auburn University. Vu is an Associate Artist with Remy Bumppo Theatre Company. https://vuanna.weebly.com