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Light Shining in Buckinghamshire

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By Caryl Churchill
Directed by Rachel Chavkin

2017/18 Season

April 18, 2018—June 3, 2018

LIGHT SHINING IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE ran approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes including one intermission.
Read Synopsis

On the heels of her acclaimed production of Hadestown on our stage and her Broadway debut with Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, three-time Obie Award winner Rachel Chavkin returns to New York Theatre Workshop with Caryl Churchill‘s incisive drama LIGHT SHINING IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE. In 1647 England, power is shifting and, amid the chaos and confusion, revolutionaries across the country are dreaming of a new future.

Scenic Design Riccardo Hernández
Costume Design Toni-Leslie James
Lighting Design Isabella Byrd
Sound Design Mikaal Sulaiman
Properties Noah Mease
Original Music & Music Direction Orion Stephanie Johnstone
Stage Manager Jhanaë K-C Bonnick

CAST / CREATIVE

  • Vinie Burrows

    Performer

    VINIE BURROWS, a child actor on radio, made her Broadway debut with Helen Hayes. Six more Broadway shows followed with David Wayne, Mary Martin, Ossie Davis, and Eartha Kitt, among others. Dissatisfied with the roles offered black actors, she ventured out to create her first one-woman show, Walk Together Children, about the African American experience. The critical acclaim was instant and unanimous. The New York Times called her “a magnificent performer” and she earned a niche as a solo artist with thousands of college performances worldwide. Vinie’s role in the 2013 Foundry Theatre production of Good Person of Szechwan starring Taylor Mac brought her back to her revolutionary Off-Broadway beginnings with Jean Genet’s The Blacks. Among her many honors are AEA’s Paul Robeson Award, the Brecht Forum’s Bertolt Brecht Award and MIT’s McDermott Award.

  • Rob Campbell

    Performer

    Rob Campbell has premiered roles on Broadway and off for Caryl Churchill (Mad Forest), David Hare (Ivanov), Brian Friel (Translations), Suzan-Lori Parks (In the Blood and 365 Plays), Craig Lucas (The Singing Forest and Small Tragedy – Obie Award), Steve Martin (Wasp), Theresa Rebeck (Our House), George F. Walker (Tough!), Emily Mann (Cherry Orchard), Tom Babe (Downed American), Jez Butterworth (Mojo), Martin Crimp (The Treatment), David Eldridge (Under the Blue Sky), Chuck Mee (Snow in June), Robert Farquhar (Bad Jazz), David Greenspan and Stephin Merritt
    (Orphan of Zhao) and the Christopher Walken (Him). 12 seasons with the O’Neill Playwrights Conference. Romeo (Yale Rep), Hamlet (McCarter Theatre), Vershinin (Lake Lucille). Film and TV: Unforgiven, The Crucible, Boys Don’t Cry, Hedwig & the Angry Inch, Ethan Frome, The Stars Fell On
    Henrietta, Hostile Waters, Liberty, Snow Days, Normandie, Lone Justice, The Photographer, City of Ghosts, Rabbit Hole    , “Damages.” “Criminal Intent,” “Sex & the City,” “Law & Order,” “Hope & Faith,” “NY Undercover,” “Brotherhood,” “Law & Order SVU.” BA: Wesleyan. MFA: Yale Drama.

  • Matthew Jeffers

    Performer

    Matthew Jeffers is thrilled to be making his NYTW debut. Favorite previous credits include The Mysteries (The Flea), “The Blacklist” (NBC), Little Rooms (Ma-Yi), Washington Square Theater Project (Playwrights Horizons), and a particularly surly bomber in some Hearthstone commercials. Matthew is a Towson University Grad and a Baltimore native.

  • Mikéah Ernest Jennings

    Performer

    Mikéah Ernest Jennings: MASTER (The Foundry Theatre), Drowning and Funnyhouse of a Negro (The Signature Theater, NY), The Shipment (Sydney Opera House, The Barbican, The Kitchen, La Maison Des Arts, DeSingel), and PULLMAN, WA (Chelsea Theater, London) by Young Jean Lee, The Box (The Foundry Theatre), The Golden Toad (LaMama), Bellona, Destroyer of Cities (ICA Boston), World of Wires (La Maison Des Arts) by Jay Scheib. His regional credits include Platonov, Or The Disinherited by Jay Scheib (La Jolla Playhouse), I Promised Myself to Live Faster (Actors Theater of Louisville, Humana Festival), The Legend of Georgia McBride (The Arden Theater, PA). Mikeah has taught in the Department of Music and Theater at MIT, and is currently a member of the faculty at The New School.

  • Anthony Michael Lopez

    Performer

    NYTW: Othello. Off-Broadway: The Artificial Jungle, The Unexpected Guest. National Tour: The 25th Annual…Spelling Bee. Regional: The Penalty (The Public), Dog Gone Day (BAX), All The Rats & Rags (Joe’s Pub). Film & TV: Mapplethorpe (starring Matt Smith, Tribeca FF), Anomaly, “Broad City,” “Homeland,” “The Knick.”

  • Evelyn Spahr

    Performer

    Theatre: N’tl tour of Remarkably Normal, Reading of Slave Play (Playwrights Horizons) Film/TV: The Post, “Vinyl.” Training: B.F.A. NYU (Stella Adler Studio) She is a strong advocate of the science of self-compassion, particularly the findings of Dr. Kristin Neff and Brene Brown. In her spare time, Evelyn can be found perusing an interior design book or any other how-to book concerning making the world a more beautiful place. Miss Spahr would like to thank Rachel Chavkin for her mere presence, her best friends/parents for, like, everything they have ever done for her, Annette for her patience and loving support, and Ben for always being himself.

Caryl Churchill / Playwright

Stage plays include: Owners (Royal Court Upstairs, London); Objections to Sex and Violence (Royal Court); Light Shining in Buckinghamshire (Joint Stock UK tour, Royal Court Upstairs); Vinegar Tom (Monstrous Regiment, UK tour); Traps (Royal Court Upstairs), Cloud Nine (Joint Stock UK tour, Royal Court); Three More Sleepless Nights (Soho Poly and Royal Court Upstairs); Top Girls (Royal Court); Fen (Joint Stock UK tour, Almeida Theatre); Softcops (RSC at the Pit); A Mouthful of Birds with David Lan (Joint Stock UK tour, Royal Court); Serious Money (Royal Court, Wyndham’s Theatre); Icecream (Royal Court); Mad Forest (Central School of Speech and Drama, Royal Court); Lives of the Great Poisoners with Orlando Gough and Ian Spink (Second Stride UK tour, Riverside Studios, London); The Skriker (National Theatre, London); Thyestes translated from Seneca (Royal Court Upstairs); Hotel with Orlando Gough and Ian Spink (Second Stride UK tour, The Place, London); This Is A Chair (London International Festival of Theatre at the Royal Court); Blue Heart (Joint Stock UK tour, Royal Court); Far Away (Royal Court Upstairs, The Albery Theatre, London); A Number (Royal Court); a new version of Strindberg’s A Dream Play (National Theatre); Drunk Enough to Say I Love You? (Royal Court); Seven Jewish Children (Royal Court); A Ring A Lamp A Thing an opera with Orlando Gough (Linbury Studio, Royal Opera House); Love and Information (Royal Court); Ding Dong the Wicked (Royal Court); Here We Go (National Theatre); and Escaped Alone (Royal Court Theatre).

Rachel Chavkin / Director

Rachel is an Obie Award-winning, Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel nominated director, writer, dramaturg, and the Artistic Director of Brooklyn-based experimental ensemble, the TEAM (www.theteamplays.org), now in its 10th year. She recently made her Broadway debut with Natasha, Pierre, & The Great Comet of 1812 which stars Josh Groban and opened to rapturous reviews. The Great Comet originated Off-Broadway at Ars Nova before receiving two commercial transfers in New York and a sold-out run at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge. Other selected projects: Anaïs Mitchell’s new folk-opera Hadestown (NYTW), Bess Wohl’s Small Mouth Sounds (World Premiere – Ars Nova, Off-Broadway at the Signature Center), The Royal Family (Guthrie), Anything That Gives Off Light (a collaboration between The TEAM and the National Theatre of Scotland), Marco Ramirez’s The Royale (Lincoln Center Theater, The Old Globe), Anne Washburn’s new transadaptation of Euripedes’ Iphigenia in Aulis (CSC), Dave Malloy’s Preludes (World Premiere – LCT3), The TEAM’s RoosevElvis (PS122’s COIL festival, Tour to the Royal Court, Walker Art Center, A.R.T.), British artist Chris Thorpe’s Confirmation (World Premiere – Warwick Arts Centre and Battersea Arts Centre, 2014 Edinburgh Festival Fringe First Award, Top 10 Shows at the Edinburgh Fringe – American Theatre); Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 (Northern Stage, UK national tour); Meg Miroshnik’s The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls (Yale Rep); and multiple collaborations with Taylor Mac, including his extravaganza The Lily’s Revenge (World Premiere (Act II) – HERE). NYTW Usual Suspect, Artistic Associate at London’s Gate Theatre and Classic Stage Company, alum of Soho Rep’s Writer/Director Lab, Drama League Directors Project, Women’s Project Director’s Lab, and New Georges Affiliate Artist. She has also taught extensively at NYU, Pace, and other colleges. BFA NYU, MFA Columbia. Current and Upcoming: Sarah Gancher’s I’ll Get You Back Again at Round House Theatre, Hadestown at The Citadel in Edmonton, Canada and other projects with the TEAM.

Riccardo Hernández / Scenic Design

NYTW: Red Speedo, The Invisible Hand. Broadway: Indecent, The Gin Game, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess. Select Off-Broadway: Mlima’s Tale, Miss You Like Hell, Oedipus El Rey (The Public), Admissions (LCT), Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train (Signature). Obie Award Sustained Excellence. Faculty: Yale School of Drama.

Toni-Leslie James / Costume Design

Broadway: Nineteen Broadway productions including Come from Away, Jitney, Lucky Guy, The Scottsboro Boys.  Awards:  Two TONY award nominations, five Drama Desk nominations, six Lucille Lortel nominations, two Hewes Design Awards, Irene Sharaff Young Masters Award, and the 2009 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Costume Design.

Isabella Byrd / Lighting Design

NYTW debut. Do You Feel Anger?, God Said This (Humana Festival 2018), Angels in America (Actors Theatre of Louisville), Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey (City Theatre), Everybody (Juilliard), Sundown Yellow Moon (ArsNova/WP). Associate: Hundred Days, Othello (NYTW), The Hairy Ape (Park Ave Armory); A Life, The Flick (Playwrights Horizons/The National Theatre). Upcoming: Portland CenterStage and Williamstown.

Mikaal Sulaiman / Sound Design

NYTW debut. Othello (Trinity Rep), The Bluest Eye, Two Trains Running (Arden Theatre), Rape of the Sabine Women (Playwrights Realm), TIMe, Holoscenes (Early Morning Opera), Underground Railroad Game (Ars Nova), Fences (CalShakes), Zero Cost House (Pig Iron) among others. Upcoming projects: Time’s Journey Through a Room (Play Co.), Fairview (Soho Rep). www.mikaal.com

Noah Mease / Properties

NYTW: Hadestown. Broadway: …The Great Comet… (also A.R.T., Kazino). Off-Broadway: The Lucky Ones, Small Mouth Sounds (Ars Nova), John (Signature – OBIE Award), After the Blast (LCT3), An Octoroon (Soho Rep., TFANA), and multiple projects with The Debate Society. Playwriting: Omega Kids (NLTP), Republic (JACK/Hoi Polloi), Ars Nova Play Group 2018-19.

Orion Stephanie Johnson / Original Music & Music Direction

NYTW: debut. Co-director of Diana Oh’s {my lingerie play}: the Concert and Call to Arms!!!!!!!!! (Rattlestick), music supervisor and contributing composer for the TEAM’s Primer for a Failed Superpower. Songmaker for the stage and for the streets. Organizer/facilitator fiercely dedicated to our collective liberation. www.orionjohnstone.com

Jhanaë K-C Bonnick / Stage Manager

NYTW: Hadestown. Broadway: Six Degrees of Separation, The Cherry Orchard. Off-Broadway: Is God Is (Soho Rep), Sound House (New Georges), {my lingerie play}: Installation 9/10: The Concert and Call to Arms!!!!!!!!! (Rattlestick), Primer for a Failed Superpower (The TEAM), Memory Retrograde (Ars Nova/ UTR), MASTER (The Foundry). B.A. SUNY New Paltz.

NEWS

Video by Crystal Arnette

The New York Times

“Although this play is about a revolution that did not quite happen, there was so much profound hope in the moment. All these individuals were saying things are unjust, and they wanted to change that.” - Director Rachel Chavkin

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