played its final performance january 28
Four women. Forty years of friendship. One afternoon that could end it all. And a bond that connects these women who meet once a year to have their pictures taken in a ritual that chronicles their changing (and aging) selves as they navigate through love, careers, children, and the complications of history. But, when these private photographs have the potential to go public, relationships are strained, forcing the women to confront who they are, what they’ve become, and how they’ll deal with whatever lies ahead. From the author of My Left Breast, Susan Miller’s 20th Century Blues is the sharply funny and evocative new play that questions our place in the world and with one another.
CAST & Creative
Beth Dixon
Beth Dixon
Most recently: Clubbed Thumb. The New Line Humana Festival 2017. Broadway: Major Barbara, Wrong Mountain. Off-Broadway: City of Conversation (Drama Desk and Lortel nominations), Rapture Blister Burn, Wings, Vieux Carre, The Cripple of Inishmaan, Mary Stuart, Endpapers, Terese Raquin, Booth is Back, America Dreaming, Unbound, The Grille Room. Regional: Long Day’s Journey into Night, On Golden Pond, Three Tall Women, Tartuffe, All My Sons, The Grapes of Wrath, The Glass Menagerie, Vincent in Brixton, The Constant Wife, etc. Film and Television: Non Stop, Zero Hour, Off-Ramp, Ballad of the Sad Café, Dark Tides, “The Good Wife,” “The Blacklist,” Incredible Polar Bear, “Storm of the Century,” “Law and Order,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”, Game Change.
Franchelle Stewart Dorn
Franchelle Stewart Dorn
has performed at the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Arena Stage, the American Conservatory Theater, Yale Rep, Long Wharf, George Street Playhouse, Great Lakes Theater Company, Cleveland Playhouse, Arizona State Theatre, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Chautauqua Theatre, the Guthrie, OSF, CATF, off Broadway at Red Bull and at The State, Zach and Austin Shakespeare theaters in Austin. She played Dr. Rita Madison on NBC’s “Another World.” She was nominated for seven Helen Hayes Awards, and won three. She also received The Austin Critics’ Circle Award for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Edge of Peace, and Medea.
Polly Draper
Polly Draper
has worked extensively as a New York theatre actress, originating over thirty roles on and off Broadway (NY Magazine Best Broadway Actress Award) and equally extensively in film and television, most notably for her starring role in the groundbreaking series “thirtysomething” (Emmy nomination), and most recently in the highly critically acclaimed independent feature Obvious Child, the Steven Soderbergh film Side Effects, upcoming features Demolition, Dynamite: A Cautionary Tale and Jane Wants a Boyfriend. On television, she has recently recurred on the CBS series “The Good Wife” and “Golden Boy”. Other recent television includes “The Mysteries of Laura.” She wrote, produced and starred in the feature film The Tic Code. She has a BA in English from Yale University, and an MFA in Acting from the Yale Drama School.
Kathryn Grody
Kathryn Grody
was born in Los Angeles, which was a cosmic error she corrected 45 years ago by moving to NYC. Joe Papp and Gail Merrifield became life long mentors and she won OBIEs for Top Girls and The Marriage of Bette and Boo, as well as a Drama Desk nomination for her three-character solo show, A Mom’s Life, all at the Public. Most recently, she created Lola in Donald Margulies’ The Model Apartment, directed by Evan Cabnet, and this summer co-created An Unlikely Bunch of Characters at Dartmouth with NYTW and two South African theatre makers, Bulelani Mabutyana and Xolisa Kapakati. She is an advisory member of The Team, on the board of Noor Theatre, a Usual Suspect at NYTW and works with IRC and Search For Common Ground.
Ellen Parker
Ellen Parker
Original Broadway productions include The Heidi Chronicles, Plenty and Equus. Off-Broadway: Aunt Dan and Lemon, Plenty, Fen at the Public; Translations etc., through House/Garden at MTC; LCT3, Atlantic, MCC, LaMama,CSC, Playwrights Horizon, WPA. Regional: Long Wharf, Yale Rep, Cap Rep and O’Neill. Emmy for “Guiding Light.” Television: most recently, “Black Box,” and “Leftovers.” Various film appearances. OBIE for “Sustained Excellence of Performance.”
Charles Socarides
Charles Socarides
Earlier this year, Charles was a lead on the ABC miniseries “When We Rise.” Other recent film and television credits include “Madam Secretary,” “The Good Wife,” and the feature Bad Hurt. His theatre credits include Kings (Women’s Project), Sons of the Prophet (Roundabout), Red (opposite Tim Daly, Dorset, Broadway World Best Actor), Trust (Second Stage), The Marriage of Bette and Boo (Roundabout), Indian Blood (Primary Stages), Twelfth Night (Pig Iron), Guadalupe in the Guest Room (Two River) and Colt Coeur’s production of How to Live on Earth. Charlessocarides.com
Susan Miller
is a two-time OBIE Award winner and Guggenheim Playwriting Fellow, known for her critically acclaimed one person show, My Left Breast, which premiered in Louisville’s Humana Festival and has been performed across the U.S, Canada, and France. She also received the coveted Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, as well as The Pinter Prize, for her play, A Map of Doubt And Rescue. Miller’s work has been recognized with a Rockefeller Grant and two NEA’S. She has been a Core Writer at The Playwrights Center in Minneapolis and her plays, which include Nasty Rumors and Final Remarks (OBIE), Average American, Flux, Confessions Of A Female Disorder, Cross Country, The Grand Design, Arts And Leisure, For Dear Life, It’s Our Town, Too, and Reading List have been done at The Public Theatre, Second Stage, Naked Angels, New York Stage & Film, The Mark Taper Forum, Theatre J, Trinity Rep, Walnut St. Theatre, The O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Ojai Playwrights Conference, and Contemporary American Theatre Festival, among others. Miller was a Consulting Producer/Writer on Showtime’s “The L Word” and ABC’s “thirtysomething.” She won the Writers Guild of America Award for her hit Indie Web Series, Anyone But Me, which has earned over 50 million views worldwide.
Emily Mann
has overseen 150+ productions as Artistic Director and Resident Playwright of the Tony Award-winning McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, New Jersey. Her McCarter directing credits include the world premieres of: Ken Ludwig’s adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express, her co-adaptation with Pierre Laville of Baby Doll, Rachel Bonds’ Five Mile Lake, Danai Gurira’s The Convert; Sarah Treem’s The How and the Why; Christopher Durang’s Miss Witherspoon; and Edward Albee’s Me, Myself & I. This spring, Mann will direct the McCarter-commissioned world premiere of Chris Durang’s Turning Off the Morning News. Broadway: A Streetcar Named Desire, Anna in the Tropics, Execution of Justice, Having Our Say. Her plays: Having Our Say, adapted from the book by Sarah L. Delany and A. Elizabeth Delany with Amy Hill Hearth; Execution of Justice; Still Life; Annulla, An Autobiography; Greensboro (A Requiem); Meshugah; Mrs. Packard, and Hoodwinked (A Primer on Radical Islamism). Adaptations include: Baby Doll, Scenes from a Marriage, Uncle Vanya, The Cherry Orchard, A Seagull in the Hamptons, The House of Bernarda Alba, and Antigone. She is also writing a play with Gloria Steinem to premiere fall of 2018. Awards include: Peabody, Hull Warriner, NAACP, OBIEs, Guggenheim fellowship; Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle nominations; a Princeton University Honorary Doctorate of Arts, a Helen Merrill Distinguished Playwrights’ Award, and the Margo Jones Award given to a “citizen-of-the-theatre who has demonstrated a lifetime commitment to the encouragement of the living theatre everywhere.”
Lida Orzeck
In 1977, Lida Orzeck (Producer) co-founded Hanky Panky, the coveted apparel brand which revolutionized the intimate apparel landscape with itsWorld’s Most Comfortable Thong®. Dedicated to American manufacture and ethical business practices, the company’s success has allowed Lida to support her interest in the arts and concern for social justice and educational equality. She is a board member of the Southern Poverty Law Center, and a trustee of Barnard College, where she endowed the Distinguished Artist-in Residence Fund in 2015. Lida is a past board member of Doug Varone and Dancers. 20th Century Blues is her first and probably only producing credit. She loves good theater!
Eva Price
is a Tony Award-winning producer whose credits include over 15 Broadway plays, musicals, and concerts. She is a member of The Broadway League’s Board of Governors and was named one of Crain’s NY 40 Under Forty Rising Business Stars. Current and notable productions include: Dear Evan Hansen (6 Tony Awards); On Your Feet! (The Story of Gloria and Emilio Estefan); Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons on Broadway!; Peter and the Starcatcher (5 Tony Awards); Colin Quinn Long Story Short (directed by Jerry Seinfeld); Annie (Tony-Nominated Musical Revival); The Merchant of Venice starring Al Pacino (Tony-Nominated Play Revival); Carrie Fisher’s Wishful Drinking; The Addams Family (starring Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth); as well as several solo shows and critically acclaimed concerts starring The Temptations & The Four Tops; Kathy Griffin; Lewis Black; and Hershey Felder. Recent off-Broadway projects include KPOP (Ars Nova), Cruel Intentions The Musical (Le Poisson Rouge) the Drama Desk-nominated Found (Atlantic Theater Company & Philadelphia Theater Company); Benjamin Scheuer’s award-winning The Lion (Drama Desk winner, Off-West End winner for Best Musical); and Bess Wohl’s critically acclaimed Small Mouth Sounds (Outer Critic’s Circle Award). International and Touring Credits include: The Hip Hop Nutcracker, featuring Rap Icon Kurtis Blow, Carefree: Dancin’ with Fred and Ginger (Directed/Choreographed by Tony Winner Warren Carlyle), as well as The Magic School Bus, Live! The Climate Challenge; Ella, a bio musical about the life and music of Ella Fitzgerald; ‘S Wonderful: The New Gershwin Musical; Tomie dePaola’s Strega Nona The Musical; Irving Berlin’s I Love A Piano (National Tour and Japan); The Great American Trailer Park Musical; Private Jokes, Public Places (London). For five years Eva worked as an assignment editor and coordinating producer for special projects at ABC News, spending her last year producing and reporting on stories relating to Broadway for ABCNEWS.COM. Upcoming: Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill.
Beowulf Boritt
Broadway: Act One (Tony Award), The Scottsboro Boys (Tony nomination), Therese Raquin (Tony nomination), Come from Away, A Bronx Tale, Prince of Broadway, Sunday in the Park With George (2017), Hand To God, One The Town, Sondheim on Sondheim, …Spelling Bee, LoveMusik, Rock of Ages, Chaplin, Bronx Bombers, Grace, The Two and Only. Off-Broadway: 100 shows including The Last Five Years, Sleepwalk With Me and Miss Julie. 2007 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence.
Jennifer von Mayrhauser
has designed costumes for Broadway (recently Disgraced), Off-Broadway (recently Linda and Prodigal Son at Manhattan Theatre Club and Domesticated, Dad Woof Papa Hot at Lincoln Center Theater). She was awarded an Obie for Sustained Excellence. She has designed over 40 plays with Emily Mann directing. She has designed for film and television: “The Sinner,” “Seal Team,” “The Slap,” “Unforgettable,” “Under the Dome,” “Law & Order” (Emmy nomination), Ballad of Jack and Rose, Pippa Lee, Mystic Pizza, Lean on Me, etc. jennifervonmayrhauser.com
Jeff Croiter
Broadway: Bandstand; Falsettos; Holiday Inn; Something Rotten!; Disaster!; Penn & Teller; Newsies; Peter and the Starcatcher (Tony Award); Mothers and Sons; A Time to Kill; Soul Doctor; Jekyll & Hyde; The Anarchist; The Performers; The Pee-wee Herman Show; Next Fall and Kiki & Herb. Off-Broadway: F**king A, Sweet Charity, Tiny Beautiful Things, All the Fine Boys, Head of Passes, The Robber Bridegroom, Last Five Years, Ordinary Days. Other: Penn & Teller Las Vegas and Jennifer Muller/The Works.
Darron L West
is a Tony and Obie Award-winning sound designer whose work for dance and theatre has been heard in over 600 productions all over the United States and internationally in 14 countries. His accolades include the Drama Desk, Lortel, Audelco and Princess Grace Foundation Statue awards.
David Caperelliotis
Current and upcoming Broadway: Junk (Lincoln Center Theater); Meteor Shower, Three Tall Women, Saint Joan (MTC). Select Broadway: A Doll’s House, Part 2; Jitney; The Little Foxes; The Glass Menagerie; The Front Page; Les Liasions Dangereuses; Blackbird; Fish in the Dark; It’s Only a Play; An Act of God; Disgraced; Casa Valentina; Holler If Ya Hear Me; The Trip to Bountiful; Fences. Also, Signature Theatre, Atlantic Theater Company, Ars Nova, The Old Globe, Goodman Theatre, Arena Stage, McCarter Theatre and others. Film/TV: “American Odyssey” (NBC). “How to Get Away With Murder” pilot (ABC), “Ironside” pilot (NBC), “Steel Magnolias” (Sony for Lifetime).
Samantha Flint
Broadway: Venus in Fur (MTC). Off-Broadway: Him (Primary Stages); Measure for Measure, Jump, IN the Wake, The Winter’s Tale, The Brother/Sister Plays (The Public Theater). Regional: McCarter Theatre, Bucks County Playhouse, Two River Theater, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Hartford Stage, Westport Country Playhouse. Education: The Theatre School at DePaul University.
Mary Duffe
has collaborated on over 50 Broadway musicals, plays, tours, Off-Broadway and international productions over the past 20 years. Current and recent projects include 20th Century Blues; Hot Mess; Harry Clarke, Ernest Shackleton Loves Me; Can You Forgive Her?; This Day Forward.
Sam Rudy Media Relations
DR Advertising
is a full service boutique advertising agency dedicated to serving live entertainment in NY and on the road. Current productions: Home for the Holidays (Broadway), 20th Century Blues, Gazillion Bubble Show, Stuffed, Hot Mess and The Playwrights Realm and MasterVoices’ 2017-18 seasons. DarylRothAdvertising.com
Leanne Schanzer Promotions, Inc.
A full-service boutique marketing agency creating innovative strategic campaigns for 35 years across all platforms, specializing in print, digital, broadcast & outdoor media available on full & partial trade to deliver maximum value, promotional partnerships, ticket selling initiatives, grassroots outreaches & special events. LSP has delivered heightened brand awareness & effective sales driven campaigns for 450+ Broadway & Off-Broadway productions, theater companies & entertainment venues. LeanneSchanzerPromotions.com
Maximum Entertainment
is a producing, developing and management company founded by Avram Freedberg, Mary Beth Dale and Eva Price; and is joined by managing director/general manager Carl Flanigan. Select credits on Broadway, Off-Broadway and on tour include Small Mouth Sounds; Cruel Intentions: The Musical; Verso; Carefree; Dancin’ With Fred & Ginger; Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons on Broadway!; The Lion; The Hip Hop Nutcracker; 50 Shades! The Musical; Ivy + Bean The Musical; Voca People; and Colin Quinn: Long Story Short. www.MaximumCompnay.com
