ANN FRAN AND MARY ANN
A new play by Erin Courtney
Directed by Kate Bergsman
Cast
Ann Dawn L. Troupe
Fran Sarah Nina Hayon
Mary Ann Marcia Pizzio
Stage Directions Claire Alderfer
Sunday June 14 @ 7pm
Monday June 15 @ 3pm
ERIN COURTNEY (Playwright) an Associate Professor in the MFA in Writing for Screen and Stage program at Northwestern University. Her plays include the Obie Award winning A Map of Virtue, Demon Baby, I Will Be Gone and Ann, Fran, and Mary Ann. The Tattooed Lady, a musical co-written with Max Vernon premiered at the Philadelphia Theatre Company. She has written two musicals with Elizabeth Swados, The Nomad and Kaspar Hauser. She is an alumnus of New Dramatists, a MacDowell fellow, an affiliated artist with Clubbed Thumb, and she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2013.BA, Brown University. MFA, Brooklyn College.
KATE BERGSTROM (Director) is the Augustin Family Artistic Director at The Repertory Theater of St. Louis. Dedicated to enhancing community connectivity, she fosters engagement through exceptional storytelling onstage. Kate’s productions at The Rep include the critically acclaimed Ring of Fire, Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood, It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, and The 39 Steps. In addition to her time at The Rep, Kate has over ten years of experience directing everything from reimagined classics to new works across the country at Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Trinity Repertory Company, Marin Theatre Company, Ars Nova, Rattlestick Theater, Playwrights Center, Cleveland Playhouse, Curious Theatre Company, Los Angeles Theatre Center, Opera San Diego, Music Academy of the West, Redcat, LACMA, and more. Her recent world premieres include You Can’t Hide From Yourself (Playwright’s Horizons Soundstage) Oh To Be Pure Again (Actor Express) and Letters That You Will Not Get (American Opera Projects).
SARAH NINA HAYON (Fran) is a bi-coastal actress and three-time Drama Desk Award nominee, known for her commitment to new works, she has originated numerous off-Broadway and regional roles. Recent highlights: Macbeth (Liam Vincent, The Magic Theatre), The Other Americans, written by and starring John Leguizamo (The Public Theater, Ruben Santiago Hudson), English (Berkeley Rep, Mina Morita), Richard III (Shakespeare in the Park, Robert O'Hara), Wintertime (Berkeley Rep, Les Waters), Seascape (A.C.T., Pam Mackinnon TBA and BACC nominations). Film/TV credits: “Bullet Catch”, “The Other Two,” Fairyland, “FBI,” “For Life,” “13 Reasons Why” Succession.” A proud graduate of NYU’s Tisch and longtime member of LAByrinth Theater Company.
MARCIA PIZZO (Mary Ann) was last seen as Natasha in Tom Stoppard’s Rough Crossing at the Jewell Theatre. Other highlights of her Bay Area career: Anna in A Mother opposite Olympia Dukakis & Sarah in Round and Round the Garden directed by Tony Award winner John Rando (American Conservatory Theater), Mrs. Buchanan in Eccentricities of a Nightingale (Aurora Theatre/ TBA nomination), Claree in Steel Magnolias (TheatreWorks), Goneril in King Lear & Ariel in Tempest (California Shakespeare Theater), Toril in Oslo (Marin Theatre Company), Mary Ellen in The Happy Ones (Magic Theatre), Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra & Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (Marin Shakespear Company), Masha in Vanya, Sonya, Masha and Spike (Center REP), Mary Stuart in Mary Stuart (Pacific Repertory Theater), Eliza Doolitle in My Fair Lady (Mountain Play/ TBA nomination). Movie/TV credits: Bicentennial Man, Fruit of the Vine, Once a Week for Life / Chance, Trauma, Nash Bridges, Falcon Crest. Proud MFA graduate from the American Conservatory Theatre.
DAWN L. TROUPE (Ann) is an award-winning actress, director, and arts educator whose work spans Broadway, regional theater, television, and Voiceovers. A proud AEA member with a soaring alto/mezzo vocal range, Dawn’s performances are known for their emotional depth, precision, and powerful storytelling. She most recently appeared in Come From Away at TheatreWorks playing the role of Hannah and others. Broadway in 1776 The Musical (Roundabout Theatre) under the direction of Diane Paulus and Jeffrey Page. Her extensive credits include leading roles in Steel Magnolias (TheatreWorks), Black Odyssey (Cal Shakes), The Color Purple (Hillbarn Theatre), Sister Act, Anne of Green Gables, and multiple productions of Moby Dick with Rachel Chavkin at Berkeley Rep, A.R.T., and The Public to name a few. Dawn is a frequent collaborator with nationally recognized companies including TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Repertory Theater, Cal Shakes, Cleveland Playhouse, Ubuntu Theater Project, Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, and Shotgun Players. Her versatility ranges from powerhouse musicals like Once on This Island and Ragtime to dynamic dramatic works like Death of a Salesman and Safehouse. Her workshop and development credits include Labyrinth Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theater, and the New Black Theatre Festival. Her mission as an artist and educator is to tell stories that illuminate, uplift, and connect— whether on stage, in the classroom, or in the community.
CLAIRE ALDERFER (Production Coordinator and Stage Manager) she/they (Production Coordinator/Stage Manager) is a NYC-based stage manager for theatre and dance. Credits include Off-Broadway: And Then We Were No More (La MaMa); Regional: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Opera House Arts); The Count of Luxembourg, The Gondoliers, The Sound of Music, and Guys and Dolls (Ohio Light Opera).
STOP THE WIND THEATRICALS/CAROL OSTROW (Producer) is a Drama Desk award winning producer and the founder of Stop The Wind Theatricals, an independent production company dedicated to the development of new work for the American theater. Ostrow began her producing career when she developed and founded the Powerhouse Theater at Vassar, now in its 45th season. She went on to become the producing director of the award-winning Classic Stage Company, where she produced Sigourney Weaver and other notable artists in re-imaginings of the classics. In the wake of 9/11, Ostrow became the producing director of The Flea, where she produced over 150 world premieres, including plays by A.R. Gurney, Elizabeth Swados, Will Eno, Thomas Bradshaw, Adam Rapp, Taylor Mac, Mac Wellman and Sara Farrington, amongst others. While producing at The Flea, she spearheaded the construction of a three-theater performing arts complex in Lower Manhattan. Carol has also been an adjunct professor of theater at Vassar College, Chatham College and McGill University. Ostrow holds a BA from Vassar College and an MFA from the Yale School of Drama. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of Vassar College and also serves on the David Geffen Yale School of Drama Board of Advisors.
MAGIC THEATRE (Co-Producer) Since the company’s founding in 1967 by John Lion, the Magic Theatre has identified and cultivated writers on the cutting edge of American theatre, serving as a vital center for the creation and performance of new American plays. Sam Shepard developed and premiered his Pulitzer Prize-winning play and his seminal classics, forever altering the shape of American drama. The Magic Theatre is now about the last home standing of Regional Theatres committed to the development, creation, and premiere of new plays. The Magic has been in a new age with the appointment of Sean San José as the Lead Director in 2021. With this leadership the dedication has been to make the Magic Theatre a home to more people by rightfully centering People of Color throughout the organization, all the while focusing on invaluable creation and communing around new performances and plays. The Magic Theatre, while continuing to premiere bold and new plays, has expanded its vision and programming with creation and inclusion of the Resident Companies Program, which includes: Home Company Campo Santo, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Black Artists Contemporary Cultural Experience, Play On Shakespeare, Rainbow Zebra Productions and new companies: SFBATCO and San Francisco Civic Art Project (led by Erika Chong Shuch and Jonathan Moscone), as well as the home for the legendary Saint John Coltrane Church; and Resident Artists: Playwright In Residence Star Finch, Resident Curator Juan Amador, and designers Russell Champa, Tanya Orellana, Joan Osato, and Brittany White. The Magic Theatre has aesthetically shifted the whole space in ethos and activation of the spaces (lobby, cathedral, and theatres), including multiple new wall sized murals by local amazing artists Mister Bouncer (Miguel Perez), and Cece Carpio from the Trust Your Struggle collective, Adrian Arias, Ka’Halla, and a space filled with legendary Black art from the Saint John Coltrane Church by Emory Douglas, Mark Roman, and Deacon Mark Doox. The space is open year-round for engagement and entertainment, arts and activation from the plays to the people- the Magic Theatre is Home for bringing the City inside. This year the Magic Theatre will launch a new initiative towards paving a new way forward to continue to sustain and evolve.