Sponsored by Philip and Mary Oppenheimer
Well Intentioned White People
By RACHEL LYNETT
Directed by TIFFANY NICHOLE GREENE
After a racial incident she would rather forget, Cass is forced into “making an example of it” by her well intentioned roommate and the dean of her “hip” and liberal university. Looking to make tenure and not wanting to ruffle any feathers, Cass is pushed by her community to lead a diversity day on her own behalf and is asked to be the face of her race. This world premiere play is a poignant and surprisingly, funny look at race, friendship, and how in the pursuit of real change, “well intentions” are not always enough.
*Contains strong language.
Sponsored in part by Jude Sabot
Due to the demand for post-show discussions, we will be adding Cafe Chats:
Saturday, September 1 after the 7:30pm performance
Friday, September 7 after the 7:30pm performance
“89 minutes of excellent, accelerating drama..that fascinates from the first moment to the last.”
Berkshire Bright Focus
“Powerful.”
Berkshire Bright Focus
“Well-crafted…a strong and difficult play in a cohesive and trenchant production…the entire cast is strong.”
CurtainUp
“This social justice drama was a diamond in the rough.”
Berkshire Fine Arts
“The entire ensemble cast (all newcomers to BSC) deliver unquestionably high-quality performances. Each displaying a range of emotion and dynamics as their characters navigate the windy and often choppy waters with such strength and dexterity that there is not even a moment we doubt them.”
Broadway World
“Topical and courageous.”
In the Spotlight
“A splendid cast of Berkshire newcomers and an exciting new playwright …scorchingly topical and stubbornly enduring.”
The Valley Advocate
JUST ADDED! Cafe Chats:
Saturday, September 1 after the 7:30pm performance
Friday, September 7 after the 7:30pm performance
Previous:
PLAYWRIGHT SPEAKS SERIES
Timely Topics in a Changing World with Rachel Lynett
August 19th at 1pm
ANDREA CIRIE (Dean West) BSC debut! Off Broadway: The Cherry Lane Theater. Select Regional: Shakespeare Theatre of DC, Hartford Stage, The Old Globe Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Contemporary American Theater Festival, Florida Stage, Hudson Stage, The Olney Theatre Center, Merrimack Theatre, Capital Repertory Theatre Company, Virginia Stage, Hudson Stage, Alabama Shakespeare Festival and Playmakers Rep, among others. International: The Edinburgh Fringe Festival. TV: Blue Bloods, House of Cards (recurring role), Search Party, The Defenders, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, 30 Rock, Unforgettable. Film: Violet Tendencies, Gimme Shelter, Santa Con, Norman, Off the Rails, Flatbush Luck.
SAMY EL-NOURY (Parker) BSC debut! Samy is an actor, aerialist, pianist, puppeteer, and vocalist. Samy is also an activist and public speaker on the leadership team for the Baltimore Transgender Alliance, and works with various organizations on peer support, youth mentorship, and outreach for LGBTQ-identified individuals. Recent theatre credits include The Triumphant (Target Margin Theater), Pay No Attention to the Girl (Target Margin Theater), Love & Information (Forum Theatre), Swallow (Inis Nua Theater), The White Snake (Baltimore Center Stage). TV credits include Transparent (Amazon). A recent transplant from Baltimore, Samy now lives in Brooklyn. samyelnoury.com
VICTORIA FRINGS (Viv) BSC debut! Broadway: An Enemy of the People. Off Broadway: Tales from Red Vienna (MTC), Martin Luther on Trial (Pearl). Regional: Celimene in School for Lies (Emery Battis Award recipient—Shakespeare Theatre Co.), Marianne in Constellations (Old Globe) and Richard in Richard III (Allentown Shakespeare). Other credits include Baltimore Center Stage, St. Louis Rep, People’s Light and Theatre, Wilma, Arden, and the Kennedy Center. She is the founder of To-By-For Productions, dedicated to female-driven storytelling, and Distraction Lab, an experimental film collaborative. She has a BA in Environmental Science from UPenn. victoriafrings.com
MYXOLYDIA TYLER (Cass) BSC debut! Off Broadway: Agnés in The House That Will Not Stand (Spring 2017 Reading at Manhattan Theatre Workshop); the Narrator in Signature Theatre’s A Season to Unravel. Regional highlights: Fannie Lou Hamer/Coretta Scott King in All the Way (St. Louis Rep); Camae in The Mountaintop (Vermont Stage and Baltimore Center Stage). TV: Homeland (Season 6, Showtime). Voice over and commercial campaigns: Reckitt Benckiser, Golden Corral, Mercedes Benz and Pandora. She was last seen as Portia in Arkansas Rep’s The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (summer 2017). Upcoming: Chelle in Detroit ‘67, a co-production with McCarter Theatre and Hartford Stage.
CATHRYN WAKE (Mara) BSC debut! Broadway: Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812. Off Broadway: The Fantasticks. Regional: The Glass Menagerie (Pittsburgh Public), The Other Josh Cohen (Paper Mill Playhouse), The Seedbed (NJ Rep, World Premiere), The Second Girl (CATF), Loch Ness (Adirondack Theatre Fest). Other recent credits: Hello Girls (Workshop, Prospect Theatre Company), Agent 355 (LPR), Lincoln Center American Songbook Gala (Alice Tully Hall), Austen’s Pride (Workshop, New World Stages), Richard II, Hamlet (LAMDA). Television: Glee, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Featured Vocalist), America’s Got Talent, The Today Show, Good Morning America, The 71st Annual Tony Awards. BFA Pace University, LAMDA alum.
CREATIVES
RACHEL LYNETT (Playwright) is an Arkansas-based playwright and theatre artist. Her recent playwriting credits include Good Bad People presented as reading with Talk Back Theatre (2018) and as part of Jackalope Theatre’s Circle Up series (2017); Well Intentioned White People as the Downstage Left Residency with Stage Left (2017), part of Orlando Shakespeare New Play Festival (2017), and receiving honorable mention for the 2017 Kilroys. Her play, Abortion Road Trip, received a workshop production produced by Theatre Prometheus and was presented as a part of the 2017 Kennedy Center Page to Stage Festival.
TIFFANY NICHOLE GREENE (Director) is thrilled to be working with BSC for the first time! Originally from Houston, Tiffany now splits her time between Dallas, NYC and wherever her work takes her. MFA: Brown /Trinity; Soho Rep Directors Lab Alum; Lincoln Center Directors Lab Alum. Most recent work: Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Theatre Three); A Raisin in the Sun (Triad Stage); Skeleton Crew (Trinity Rep). Upcoming productions: Between Riverside and Crazy (SpeakEasy Stage); A Christmas Carol (Dallas Theater Center); Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. (Columbia University); Boudica (UMN-Guthrie); Origin Story (Water Tower Theatre). Tiffany is a lover of new plays and the development process and is a proud member of SDC. TiffanyNicholeGreene.com
JOEL ABBOTT (Sound Designer) BSC: Gaslight, Taking Steps. He has designed and assisted on shows on Broadway, Long Wharf, Theaterworks, McCarter Theatre Center, Roundabout, Ars Nova, Bay Street Theatre, Yale Rep, St. Michael’s Playhouse, Vermont Stage, Totem Pole Playhouse, and Manhattan Theatre Club. His television music has been heard on The Vampire Diaries, Southern Charm and Pawn Stars. He is originally from Atlanta, Georgia, and he received his MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
LUX HAAC (Costume Designer) is a New York-based costume designer working in theatre, film, opera and dance. Recent work includes: Ajijaack on Turtle Island (IBEX Puppetry/LaMama Theatre Club), The Review (Women’s Project Theater), Fall River (Penguin Rep Theatre), ¡Figaro! 90210 (The Duke at 42nd Street). Lux has also worked with: The Amoralists, The Garden Theatre, Amphibian Stage Productions, Juilliard School of Drama, New York University, The Director’s Company, No-Win Productions, Rhymes with Opera and Amerinda, among others. Upcoming: Romeo and Juliet (Hypokrit Theatre Company), Native Gardens (Syracuse Stage/Geva Theatre/Portland Center Stage) and Between Two Knees (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). MFA: NYU/Tisch. luxhaac.com
SCOTT PINKNEY (Lighting Designer) (BSC Associate Artist) is returning for his fifteenth season. Past designs include Typhoid Mary, 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. slpinkney.com
ADAM RIGG (Scenic Designer) 2015 Princess Grace Award and a three-time Henry Hewes Design finalist. Recent: The House That Will Not Stand (New York Theater Workshop), Is God Is (SOHO REP), Actually (Williamstown Theater Festival), Henry IV Parts 1&2 (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Breaking the Waves (Opera Philadelphia). Other credits include: The Public Theater, The Guthrie, Seattle Rep, Mark Taper Forum, REDCAT, Cincinnati Symphony, Manhattan Theatre Club, Yale Rep, A.R.T., Oper Zurich, The Foundry Theatre. BA UCLA, MFA Yale School of Drama. Upcoming: Fabulation (Signature Theater), Continuity (Manhattan Theater Club), Blue Ridge (Atlantic Theater Company) and Prism (LAOpera). adamriggdesign.com
HEATHER KLEIN (Production Stage Manager) BSC: Pirates of Penzance, Presto Change-o, His Girl Friday, Man of La Mancha. Recent New York: Emojiland (NYMF). Theatre C’s immersive new musical Cotton Candy & Cocaine and Radiant Baby at Joe’s Pub; Little Shop of Horrors (Baruch College); Tchaikovsky: None but the Lonely Heart (Ensemble for the Romantic Century). Regional: 14 Productions at Goodspeed Musicals (Resident Assistant Stage Manager 3 Seasons), Hartford Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, Resident Ensemble Players, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Fusion Theatre, McCarter Theatre Center, Yale School of Drama, and Berkshire Theatre Group. Training: BA Brandeis University.
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.