THE 39 STEPS

by Patrick Barlow, John Buchan

July 5 to July 28

THE 39 STEPS

Adapted by Patrick Barlow, From the novel by John Buchan

From the movie by Alfred Hitchcock

Directed by Robert Walshº

A fast paced, witty, and comedic mystery, The 39 Steps follows Richard Hannay, who feeling stricken with a boring life, sets out for adventure. He quickly gets swept up in a murder, espionage, and romance – Now he must save the entire United Kingdom from peril. You’ll get whiplash watching just four actors bring to life this imaginative stage adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic thriller. An all-star cast featuring Lewis Wheeler*, Amanda Collins*, Paul Melendy*, and, Gabriel Kuttner* all return to Gloucester Stage for this indomitably funny play.

Artistic Director, Robert Walshº directs Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps – running from July 5 through July 28. Performances are Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 pm and Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 pm. at Gloucester Stage Company, 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA.

Runtime: 2 Hours including a 15 minute intermission

BUY TICKETS

AMANDA COLLINS* (Annabella Schmidt / Pamela / Margaret)
Previously at Gloucester Stage: To Kill A Mockingbird, The Totalitarians, Out of Sterno (IRNE Nomination, Best Actress), This Is Our Youth and 9 Circles. Regional theatre: Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley (Merrimack Rep – Elliot Norton Award, Best Actress); Old Money (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company); Back the Night, Elemeno Pea (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre); Women Who Mapped The Stars, The Life of Galileo (Central Square Theater); A Behanding in Spokane, The Bald Soprano, Speech and Debate, Shortstack, Colorado, What Then (Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater); The Seagull (Harbor Stage/Modern Theatre); Fun Home, Men on Boats, My Name Is Asher Lev (Cape Rep); Taste of Sunrise (Wheelock Family Theater); When The World Was Green, An Ideal Husband (American Stage, Florida); Jester’s Dead (The Outfit in NYC). She was a founding member of Harbor Stage Company. Television: Olive Kitteridge (HBO), Castle Rock (Hulu) and Boston’s Finest (ABC Pilot). Film: Sea of Trees.

LEWIS D. WHEELER* (Richard Hannay) Lewis is absolutely chuffed to return to GSC where he appeared in To Kill a Mockingbird (IRNE nomination, Best Actor), The Totalitarians, Gloucester Blue, Doubt: A Parable, An Ideal Husband, and directed Kenneth Lonergan’s This Is Our Youth. Recent credits include Between Riverside and Crazy, Hand to God (SpeakEasy Stage); Nat Turner in Jerusalem, Richard II (Actors’ Shakespeare Project); Ideation, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Muckrakers (New Rep); Finish Line (Boston Theater Company); Blood on the Snow (Bostonian Society), and five seasons with Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre. Regional: American Repertory Theatre, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Lyric Stage, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, Nora Theatre, Underground Railway Theatre, Greater Boston Stage Company, Huntington Theatre, American Stage (FL), Publick Theatre, Wheelock Family Theatre, Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse, Cape Rep. Lewis was a founding member of Harbor Stage where he performed in The Seagull and Hedda Gabler, and directed David Rabe’s Sticks and Bones. Film/TV: Manchester by the Sea, Black Mass, Pink Panther 2, The Company Men, Louisa May Alcott (PBS), Brotherhood, City on a Hill. Upcoming: Honest Thief and Greta Gerwig’s Little Women. Lewis is a member of Theatre Espresso, performing interactive, historical dramas about social justice for students. He also participates in improv-based training programs at Boston Children’s Hospital, helping clinicians practice challenging situations. BA Cornell University and MFA American Film Institute.

PAUL MELENDY* (Clown) This is Paul’s fifth consecutive year with Gloucester Stage and he couldn’t be happier!! Previous performances include last year’s “Cyrano”, following “Bank Job”, “The Last Schwartz”, and “Sweet and Sad”. Recent New England stage performances include the title role in “Noir Hamlet” (Centastage), which he’ll be taking to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this coming August, playing as Narrator for “Peter and the Wolf” with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra (Symphony Hall), and “A Confederacy of Dunces” starring Nick Offerman (Huntington Theatre Company). He can be seen regularly onstage in Boston’s ongoing “Shear Madness” as Tony at the Charles Playhouse and remembered on television screens in a popular Bernie and Phyl’s ad as The Naked Guy. Currently, he can be seen as The Unicorn in a string of Citizen’s Bank web spots. Some upcoming theater collaborations include “The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberly” (Merrimack Repertory Theatre) directed by Shana Gozansky of GSC’s own “Barefoot in the Park”, and “Miss Holmes Returns” with Greater Boston Stage Company (2020). Film credits include Father of the Year (w/David Spade(Netflix)), Unfinished Business (w/Vince Vaughn), The Pink Panther Deux (w/Steve Martin), and The Makeover (w/Julia Stiles). Check him out on his website: paulmelendy.com. Paul loves Gloucester Stage so very much and he wants to thank YOU for patronizing this wonderful theater by the sea!

GABRIEL KUTTNER* (Clown) is a Boston-based actor, educator, producer and director. He has worked with Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Lyric Stage, New Rep, Stoneham Theatre, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, Israeli Stage, Publick Theatre, WHAT, Harbor Stage and others. He has performed across the US and Europe. He was a founding member of Orfeo Group, whose work was thrice recognized by the Elliot Norton committee. As an actor, he has twice been the recipient of the IRNE award (Solo Performance and Best Supporting Actor). Gabriel has served on the faculty of Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Salem State University and Northeastern University, where he has taught acting, public speaking, dialect and producing. He lives in Cambridge with his wife, Lori, and their two children, Alex and Lula.

*Member of Actors Equity Association (AEA)

Robert Walsh (Director) GSC: My Station in Life, Cyrano, The Rainmaker, Bank Job, Songs For A New World, The New Electric Ballroom, North Shore Fish, Fighting Over Beverley, The Widow’s Blind Date, The Primary English Class, Our Town. GSC (Actor): Gloucester Blue, Sins of the Mother, The Subject Was Roses, The Barking Sharks, Two for the Seesaw. Producing Artistic Director, American Stage Festival: Bus Stop, Intimate Exchanges, Jacques Brel…, and Lend Me a Tenor, among others. Artistic Associate: Actors’ Shakespeare Project: Richard III, As You Like It, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Coriolanus, Twelfth Night, Measure For Measure. Other productions directed include: Othello (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey); Round and Round The Garden, Table Manners, K2, Later Life, Holiday Memories (Merrimack Rep); Rancho Mirage, Race, Speed-The-Plow, True West (New Repertory Theatre); The Secret of Sherlock Holmes, The Goatwoman of Corvis County (Shakespeare & Co.); Misalliance, A Life in the Theatre (Two River Theatre Co.); I Hate Hamlet (StageWest); The Little Foxes (Barter Theatre); and Of Mice and Men (Greater Boston Stage Co.), among others. Roles in recent feature films include Black Mass, Patriot’s Day and the upcoming, A Ring for Christmas. Robert directed the on-field ceremonies for the ’99 All-Star Game at Fenway Park. He is on the faculty at Brandeis University.

MADISON COOK-HINES (Assistant Director, Apprentice) just graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a Theatre BFA in Directing and Stage Management. During her senior year, she received a grant to research, write, direct, design, build, manage, and produce Daughters of Lavinia, a puppet-filled play that uses Lavinia from Titus Andronicus to tell the story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Women’s Suffrage Movement. Madison also spent the year as a TA for the Sophomore Acting Class, a job she’ll miss dearly. Her favorite on-stage role (at URI and of all time) was playing the Provost in Measure for Measure. She adores making the most out of the littlest characters. But a close second favorite was performing in The Wolves. Madison is over the moon to be jumping in at Gloucester Stage and can’t wait to learn something different from everyone. She hasn’t had spare time in several years, but if she did, she might go hiking.

MIRANDA GIURLEO† (Costume Design) Previous Gloucester Stage credits include: Dancing at Lughnasa, True West, The Effect, Flight of the Monarch, Totalitarians, Lettice and Lovage, The New Electric Ballroom, Fighting Over Beverly, Ponies, Dear Liar, Our Son’s Wedding, The Heidi Chronicles, The Wind in the Willows, Calvin Berger; Other regional credits include: Native Gardens, The Royale, A Christmas Carol, Chill (Merrimack Repertory Theatre); (Gloucester Stage Company); The Scottsboro Boys (IRNE Award for Outstanding Costume Design), School Girls, Allegiance (SpeakEasy Stage Company); The Convert, Matchless/The Happy Prince, Matt and Ben, Roots of Liberty (Central Square Theatre); Leftovers, Dry Land, Shockheaded Peter, She Kills Monsters, Love Person, Neighbors, GRIMM, The Good Negro, After the Quake (Company One); Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Midsummer Night’s Dream (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s 2nd Stage); Richard III, Measure for Measure, As You Like It, Two Gentlemen of Verona (Actor’s Shakespeare Project). Miranda has also designed and built costumes for the U.S.S. Constitution Museum’s original production Sailor’s Wives and Sailor’s Lives. She is currently on the faculty at Bridgewater State University where designs include: Gypsy, Young Frankenstein, Assassins, Pilgrims of the Night, The Foreigner, Conference of the Birds, ThreePenny Opera, and multiple immersive productions.

JENNA MCFARLEN LORD (Scenic Designer) GLOUCESTER STAGE COMPANY: Resident set designer from 2002-2013, continued to design at GSC every year 2014-2019. Selected GSC Credits: Out of the Mouths of Babes, Man in Snow, New Electric Ballroom, Spring Awakening, Living Together, Table Manners, Trying, Breath of Life, Doubt: A Parable, The Belle of Amherst, My Old Lady, Dinner with Friends, LifeX3, Spinning into Butter, The Loman Family Picnic Other Area Credits: In the Heights (Wheelock Family Theatre) Shakespeare in Love, Men On Boats, Grand Concourse, Bootycandy, Big Fish, The Color Purple, In The Heights, The Drowsy Chaperone, The Great American Trailer Park Musical, The Mystery of Edwin Drood (SpeakEasy Stage Company); Twelfth Night, The Roommate, Warrior Class, Groundswell, November, This Wonderful Life (Lyric Stage) Something’s Afoot, Steel Magnolias, The Porch, Guys on Ice, The Mousetrap (Stoneham Theatre); Paradise, The Convert (Elliot Norton for Best Production 2016) (Central SquareTheatre); Collected Stories, Cherry Docs (New Repertory Theatre); The Merry Wives of Windsor, Macbeth (Actors Shakespeare Project); Three Penny Opera, The Full Monty, Twelfth Night, Cosi Fan Tutte (Boston Conservatory) Don Giovanni (New England Conservatory); Off-Broadway: The Secret of Mme. Bonnard’s Bath (New York Playwrights’ Lab) Man in Snow (La Mama). Ms. McFarland Lord is currently the set design teacher at the Boston Arts Academy, Boston’s public high school for the arts.

EMME SHAW (Props Design) is very happy to be back at GSC and designing for 39 Steps. Previous collaborations as a Property Designer include last season’s Cyrano and 2017’s Out of the Mouths of Babes. Acting credits with GSC include Lebensraum ( work premiere) and Jump/Cut (Nina Beeber). More of Emme’s recent design work could be seen at Greater Boston Stage’s last two seasons, which included the IRNE nominated world premiere of Salonnieres. Emme is a founding member of Pittsburgh Theater Labs, and recipient of the West Coast Drama Clan Alumni Award in Acting from CMU Drama, where she trained. Thank you to Phoebe. Thank you to the 2019 apprentice team.

MARSHA SMITH* (Stage Manager) is very excited to return to Gloucester Stage. She has worked a great deal here over the years on shows like Cyrano, Doubt, Widow’s Blind Date, Tender, The Flick, Spring Awakening, and Man in Snow. She has also done many shows at Boston Playwrights Theatre, most recently Laughs in Spanish; and with Actors’ Shakespeare Project, including the rep project last fall of Macbeth and Equivocation. Marsha is a graduate of Emerson College with a degree in Stage Management and lives on her family’s farm in southern New Hampshire.

RUSS SWIFT† (Lighting Design) GSC: Resident Lighting Designer for the past 12 years. Productions include: Cyrano, Bank Job, The Effect, The Rainmaker, Out of the Mouths of Babes, Sweet and Sad; Out of Sterno; The New Electric Ballroom; The Flick; Jacques Brel; Fences; Spring Awakening; North Shore Fish; Carnival; “Master Harold” . . . and the Boys; The Most Happy Fella; Fighting Over Beverley; Table Manners; Trying; The Breath of Life; Sins of the Mother; Billy Bishop Goes to War; Going to St. Ives; Dear Liar; The Belle of Amherst; Ponies; The Widow’s Blind Date; The Secret of Mme. Bonnard’s Bath; The Price; The Heidi Chronicles, Long Day’s Journey Into Night; My Old Lady; Spinning into Butter. Boston-area (select): The Hobbit (Wheelock Family Theatre); Scarlett Letter (Worcester Foothills); It’s All True (Lyric Stage Company of Boston); Rags (The Boston Conservatory); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, 2010 and 2012 Gala (Boston Arts Academy). Other: Mr. Swift has designed for Tri-Cities Opera, the Jewish Theatre of New England, the Publick Theatre, Chamber Theatre Productions, Boston Lyric Opera, the Worcester Forum Theatre, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, the Theatre of Newburyport, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Bristol Riverside Theatre, American Ensemble Theatre, Stephan Petronio Dance Company, the Caldwell Theatre, KewPee Corporation and the Trinidad Theatre Workshop. Mr. Swift has been on the faculty or staff at Northeastern University, Emerson College, Endicott College, Westfield State University, Eastern Connecticut State University, Salem State University, Community College of Rhode Island, and Groton School. He is currently the production manager for the Theatre Department at Boston College. Russ thanks his wife, Mayre, and daughter, Michaela.

DAVID WILSON† (Sound Design) has designed lighting or sound for over 350 productions of opera, theater, concert and dance. He has served on the faculty of Brandeis University heading the graduate program in sound design, and has designed and taught at Boston College, Boston Conservatory of Music, Bowdoin, Emerson, Harvard, New England Conservatory, Tufts, Suffolk and UMASS-Lowell. Regional credits include Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Boston Playwrights Theater, Central City Opera, Commonwealth Shakespeare, Company One, Deborah Abel Dance, Dibble Dance, Israeli Stage, Lyric Stage, Merrimack Rep, Moonbox, New Rep, The Nora, North Shore Music Theater, Reagle Music Theater, SpeakEasy Stage, Stoneham Theater, Shakespeare and Co, Underground Railway Theater, WHAT and Wheelock Family Theater. He has received multiple nominations and awards for his work, most recently the IRNE award for Frankenstein at Central Square Theater. dw-design.com

PAT-RICE ROONEY (Assistant Stage Manager, Apprentice)is wicked pumped to be joining Gloucester Stage Company as a Stage Management Apprentice for this season. She is currently a senior seeking her B. F. A. in Stage Management at Millikin University in Decatur Illinois, after transfering from Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Future and recent credits include: Production Manager, Pipe Dreams Studio Theatre: 2019-2020 Season, Production Manager, Millikin University School of Theatre and Dance: Fall 2019. Stage Manager: The Guide to Being Single with Pipe Dreams Studio Theatre, The Medium and Hand of Bridge with Millikin University’s School of Music, and Julius Caesar with Millikin University’s School of Theatre and Dance. She would like to thank everyone at Gloucester Stage Company for this incredible opportunity, Emily for her for her energy, the mom’s for their unyielding support, and Meg for always being there.

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA)

ºMember of Stage Directors & Choreographers Society (SDC)

†Represented by United Scenic Artists, Local USA-829 of the IATSE