Typhoid Mary

By MARK ST. GERMAIN
Directed by MATTHEW PENN

This is the true story of Mary Mallon, known better as Typhoid Mary. As one of the most infamous women in America, she was incredibly stubborn, ambitious, and in fierce denial of any wrongdoing. This searing drama captures the controversy surrounding Mary and her steadfast conviction in her beliefs. Master storyteller Mark St. Germain (Freud’s Last Session and Dancing Lessons) has brilliantly captured the woman behind the myths while exploring the battle between science and religion.

Sponsored in part by Judy and Martin Isserlis

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REVIEWS

“The heart and soul of the show is Tasha Lawrence in the title role… Riveting and heartbreaking, it’s the season’s first must-see performance.” — Valley Advocate

“St. Germain’s taut, compelling dialogue and distinctively hewn characters satisfy theatrically and intellectually” — Albany Times Union

“BSC’s 24th season is off to an excellent start with this play.” — Berkshire Bright Focus

“A merit-worthy production…educates and sustains.”— Talkin’ Broadway

“This tautly-directed, well-cast production is filled with contemporary medical, political, and social resonances… Director Matthew Penn has directed this timely play at just the right pace and put together a flawless team of artists. A wonderful start to Barrington’s 24th season.” — ArtsFuse

“Penn’s production is tight and efficient.”— Berkshire Eagle

“Tasha Lawrence crackles in the title role.”— Berkshire On Stage

“Tasha Lawrence’s Mary is stunning— a riveting and moving performance… Matthew Penn’s direction is superb… a startling evening of theatre.” — WBRK AM Pittsfield

CAST & CREATIVE

CAST

FRANCES EVANS (Sarah) is proud to be in her second production at Barrington Stage Company, having played Little Girl in last season’s hit musical Ragtime. Former credits include the role of Vivi alongside Oscar winner Marisa Tomei in Williamstown Theatre Festival’s 2016 production of Tennessee Williams’ play The Rose Tattoo. Frances has also participated in BSC’s KidsAct! program for the past three years. She is finishing the fourth grade in June. Frances would like to thank her family, Mrs. Elder and her friends at WES.

MILES G. JACKSON (Father Michael McKuen/Martin Frazier) is so glad to be back at BSC after playing Dan in Tribes (2016). Other stage credits include Miss Bennet…Pemberley (The Rep of St. Louis), My Name is Asher Lev (George Street Playhouse), 4000 Miles (Capital Rep) and Mad Forest (Williamstown). TV/Film: In Reality (dir. Ann Lupo), Flora (dir. Sasha Vukovic) and The Last O.G. on TBS (recurring). Up next: Timothy in Hand to God at TheaterWorks Hartford. Thanks to Julie, Matt and Mark for their ordainment, and this incredible cast for being a blessing. www.milesgjackson.com

TASHA LAWRENCE (Mary Mallon) Broadway: Good People (MTC), Wilder Wilder Wilder (Circle in the Square, Willow Cabin), Proof (Nat’l tour). Off Broadway: Pipeline (Lincoln Center); If I Forget (Roundabout); Lost Girls (MCC); The Few (Rattlestick); The Whale (Drama Desk Nom—Playwrights Horizons); Ashville, Bhutan (Cherry Lane Theatre). Also: Confederates (TheatreWorks Silicon Valley); A Great Wilderness (Williamstown Theatre Festival); The Roommate (Humana Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville); Bad Dates, Human Error (City Theatre); Dangerous Liasons (Huntington); Clover Road (CATF). Film: Romance and Cigarettes (dir: John Turturro), Hangnail (Slamdance), Pooka, Irma and Floyd. TV: Looming Towers, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Law and Order (Classic, SVU, Criminal Intent, Third Watch [recurring]), Deadline, Kevin Hill, Royal Pains, Life with Boys, The Line (ACTRA—Gemini Nominations, Best Actress).

KEVIN O’ROURKE (Dr. William Mills) is thrilled to return to BSC, having appeared in Camping with Henry and Tom and last season’s Gaslight. Kevin has performed on Broadway in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Spoils of War and Alone Together, as well as The City of Conversation at Lincoln Center, The Night Alive at John Drew, and productions at Manhattan Theatre Club, The Public, Second Stage, Playwrights Horizons, Roundabout, Long Wharf, Primary Stages and Williamstown Theatre Festival. TV credits: Outsiders, Veep, Remember Wenn, Sopranos, Law and Order, Bluebloods, Madam Secretary and Boardwalk Empire (SAG Award, Ensemble). Feature Films: Vice Versa, The Aviator, Freeheld and the upcoming Martin Scorsese project, The Irishman, starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. As a Director: the NY premiere of Abi Morgan’s Tender, Soldier at HERE Arts Center and The Physicists at Williamstown Theatre Festival. Kevin lives full time in Williamstown and works with the Williams College Theatre Department as a career mentor and director of the summer program STUDIO’62.

KERI SAFRAN (Dr. Ann Saltzer) BSC: 2018’s 10X10; Lina Lamont in Singin’ in the Rain (Zach Theatre); the new musical City of Light (SheNYC, directed by Cady Huffman, opposite Valarie Pettiford); As You Like It, Hamlet (Montana Shakes); Speakeasy (Transcendence); The Curse of Oedipus (Antaeus Theatre, directed by Casey Stangl); Moon Over Buffalo (GTC); Spring Storm (Actors Rep of TX, directed by Michael Bloom); multiple workshops of Stu For Silverton, a new musical about the first transgender mayor elected in America. TV/Film: Richard Linklater’s $5.15/hr, The Blacklist, The Real O’Neals, HIMYM, Ray Donovan, NUMB3RS, Before the Sun Explodes, Dollhouse, et al. Alum of The Groundlings Sunday Company; Dialect Coach. www.kerisafran.com. IG: @kerisafran.

CREATIVES

MARK ST. GERMAIN (Playwright) For BSC: Camping With Henry and Tom (2016—Outer Critics Circle and Lucille Lortel Awards), Dancing Lessons (2014), Scott and Hem in the Garden of Allah (2013), Dr. Ruth, All the Way (2012), The Best of Enemies (2011), Freud’s Last Session (2009/2010), The Collyer Brothers/Period Piece (2008), The God Committee (2004) and Ears on A Beatle (2003). The Best of Enemies received its world premiere on the Mainstage at BSC in 2011 and became the theatre’s best-selling play of all-time. His newest play, Relativity, premiered at TheaterWorks in Hartford starring Richard Dreyfus (2016). Mark wrote Freud’s Last Session, which became Barrington Stage Company’s longest running play and moved Off Broadway where it played for two years. Other plays include Out of Gas on Lover’s Leap. With John Markus, Mark wrote the musical comedy The Fabulous Lipitones. Mark co-wrote the screenplay for Carroll Ballard’s Warner Brothers film, Duma. He directed and produced the documentary My Dog, An Unconditional Love Story, featuring Richard Gere, Lynn Redgrave and Glenn Close among many others, which was shown on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Television credits include Writer and Creative Consultant for The Cosby Show, Life Stories and Dick Wolf’s Crime and Punishment. With Randy Courts, he has written the musicals The Gifts of the Magi and Johnny Pye and the Foolkille, both premiering at the Lambs Theatre, NY. His musical, Stand By Your Man, The Tammy Wynette Story, was created for Nashville’s Ryman Theater and has toured nationally. Mark wrote the children’s book Three Cups, illustrated by April Willy and published by Thomas Nelson. He is member of the Dramatists Guild and the Writers Guild East. Mark is also a Founding Board Member of the Barrington Stage Company.

MATTHEW PENN (Director) is an Emmy nominated director who has worked extensively in single camera film, multi-camera tape and on the American stage. Penn has directed and/or produced over 200 hour-long dramatic television shows. He has worked for every major network as well as most of the significant cable channels. Penn’s recent credits include: The Mist, Queen of the South (Co-Executive producer/director), Orange is the New Black, Blue Bloods, Damages, Royal Pains, Secrets and Lies as well as classic series like The Sopranos, NYPD Blue and Law and Order. Penn began his television career at Law and Order where he earned an Emmy nomination and became the show’s Executive Producer. Theater credits include: The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike and Mother of the Maid by Jane Anderson. He is Co-Artistic Director of the Berkshire Playwrights Lab in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Over the last 11 years, BPL has premiered over 50 new American plays.

ELIVIA BOVENZI (Costume Designer) is thrilled to be returning to Barrington Stage Company this season. At BSC, she has designed costumes for The Birds, peerless and Kunstler. She has designed an extensive repertoire of Shakespeare including Much Ado About Nothing, The Rape of Lucrece, Hamlet and Titus Andronicus (New York Shakespeare Exchange), Macbeth and Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare on the Sound). Assistant design credits: Broadway revivals of My Fair Lady and Fiddler on the Roof; and for The Father and Incognito (MTC); Plenty (Public Theater); War Paint (Goodman Theatre); Kiss Me, Kate (Hartford Stage) and My Heart Is In The East (LaMaMa). MFA: Yale, where her credits include An Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Yale Rep/Berkeley Rep), Cloud Nine and Richard II. www.eliviabovenzi.com

SCOTT PINKNEY (Lighting Designer) (BSC Associate Artist) is returning for his fifteenth season. Past designs include American Son, Gaslight, This, Best of Enemies, Muckrakers, The Crucible, Whipping Man, Carousel, Streetcar Named Desire and Follies. On Broadway, he designed Harvey Fierstein’s Tony Award-winning Torch Song Trilogy. Off Broadway credits include Vincent, Becoming Dr. Ruth, Majestic Kid, Divine Fire and The World is Made of Glass. Regional designs include: MALA for The Guthrie, Don Juan for Denver Center (Denver Critic’s Circle Award), Comedy of Errors for Commonwealth Shakespeare (Elliot Norton Award), Balkan Women for Bristol Riverside Theatre (Barrymore Nomination) and My Fair Lady for TheatreVirginia (Phoebe Award). Internationally, he has designed for Singapore Rep and Club Mohamed-Ali in Cairo. www.slpinkney.com

BRIAN PRATHER (Scenic Designer) BSC Associate Artist and designer of BSC productions: Ragtime, American Son, Breaking the Code, Engagements, Dr. Ruth: All the Way, The Memory Show, Freud’s Last Session, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Burnt Part Boys and many others. Recent Off Broadway: Daniel’s Husband, Widowers’ Houses, A Christmas Carol, Becoming Dr. Ruth, The Memory Show, Freud’s Last Session, Nymph Errant, The Burnt Part Boys. International: Chung-mu Hall (South Korea). Regional and other: Alley Theatre, Goodspeed Musicals, TheaterWorks Hartford, Virginia Rep., Broad Stage, Mercury Theatre, Delaware Theatre Co., Shakespeare on the Sound, Capitol Rep. Regional Emmy nominee, Jeff Award and BTCA Award winner. www.brianprather.com

ALEXANDER SOVRONSKY (Sound Designer/Composer) is a Berkshire-based theater artist whose design credits include BSC: 10×10 New Play Festival (2017, 2018). Broadway: Cyrano de Bergerac (starring Kevin Kline). Off Broadway: Bottom Of The World (Atlantic); Women Beware Women (Red Bull Theatre); King Lear, Three Sisters (Classical Theatre of Harlem); As You Like It (Happy Few Theatre Co); Cyrano de Bergerac (Resonance Ensemble). Regional: Shakespeare & Company, Berkshire Theater Festival, WAM Theatre, Hartford Stage, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Wharton Salon, Connecticut Repertory Theatre, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival. Alexander is also an accomplished actor/musician, and teaches workshops on the dramatic function of music & sound in Shakespeare’s plays. www.AlexanderSovronsky.com

TRENT PCENICNI (Wig Designer) is a costume, wig and makeup designer whose work has been seen all over the US and the world including Avenue Q (Off Broadway), The Phantom of the Opera (International tour), Gateway Playhouse, Triad Stage, Open Space Café Theatre, Ogunquit Playhouse, City Arts Drama Center, The Wick Theatre, Twin City Stage and Greensboro Opera. He has an extensive film and video resume, including projects for the History Channel, Showtime Television Network, NYU School of Film and Soomo Publishing. He designed the costumes and hair for the Emmy award-winning short Bad Romance: Women’s Suffrage. His passion for non-western theatre has taken him to Dubai, China, Thailand and Indonesia, where he was able to continue his research and collaboration with theatre artists from around the globe.

GEOFF BORONDA (Production Stage Manager) is absolutely thrilled to be a part of Barrington Stage Company’s season. Credits include: New York: Ain’t No Mo’, Mobile Unit: Romeo & Juliet, Mobile Unit: The Comedy of Errors, Buzzer, Ping Pong, Under the RadarFestival, The Urban Retreat, The Great Immensity, Fortress of Solitude (The Public Theater); The Undertaking (The Civilians); generations (Soho Rep). Regional: Shakespeare in Love, Jazz (Baltimore Center Stage); A View from the Bridge (Center Theatre Group); Hamlet, A Doctor in Spite of Himself (Yale Repertory Theatre); Appropriate (Westport Country Playhouse). Education: MFA Stage Management from the Yale School of Drama.

MCCORKLE CASTING LTD; PAT MCCORKLE, Katja Zarolinski (Casting) (C.S.A.) Casting actors for Barrington Stage for 15 years. Pat McCorkle is pleased to be an Associate Artist at BSC. Broadway: Over 50 productions including On the Town, Amazing Grace, End of the Rainbow, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Amadeus, She Loves Me, A Few Good Men. Off Broadway: highlights — Clever Little Lies; Sheer Madness; Tribes; Our Town (Barrow Street); Freud’s Last Session; Toxic Avenger; Almost, Maine; Driving Miss Daisy. Feature film: Premium Rush, Ghost Town, The Thomas Crown Affair, Die Hard with a Vengeance, School Ties, etc. Television: Twisted, St. George, Sesame Street, Hack, Californication, Max Bickford, Chappelle’s Show, Strangers with Candy, Barbershop, etc. mccorklecasting.com

CHARLIE SIEDENBURG (Berkshire Press Representative) joined the Barrington Stage family in 2005 and has represented over 80 BSC productions. His work has led to features in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, USA Today and American Theatre Magazine. He began working as a publicist in 1990 at the Barn Theatre in August, MI, working with folks like Marin Mazzie and Tom Wopat. His many PR credits include the Metropolitan Opera (Live in HD), Paper Mill Playhouse (1999-2004), George Street Playhouse, Hartford Stage, Goodspeed Musicals, Long Wharf Theatre and Two River Theatre Company. Charlie is personal publicist to Broadway’s Leslie Kritzer and Patrick Page. Charlie serves as National Press Rep for Chautauqua Theater Company, Project Shaw, Surflight Theatre and Wagner College Theatre. Charlie is a 1995 Theatre/Arts Administration graduate of Wagner College on Staten Island, where he currently teaches Theatre Appreciation.