Regional Premiere
BAD BOOKS
by Sharyn Rothstein
Directed by M. BEVIN O’GARAº
Sharyn Rothstein’s poignant drama opens the 2026 Season with cunning humor and heartfelt dialogue in this regional-premiere directed by M. Bevin O’Garaº. Running from June 4 to 27, all performances are at the Natti-Willsky Performance Center – 267 East Main Street, Gloucester. Showtimes are Wednesdays – Saturdays at 7:30pm, with matinees Saturdays & Sunday at 2:00pm.
JUNE 4 – 27
Performances
7:30 pm, WED – SAT
2:00 pm, SAT + SUN
Preview Performances
June 4 + 5 @ 7:30 pm
Champagne Opening
Saturday, June 6 @ 7:30 pm
Artist Talk Backs
June 13 + 20 after the matinee
Critical Praise for Sharyn Rothstein’s Bad Books
Trailers and Behind the Scenes videos for The Garbologists
Meet the Creative Team
Sharyn Rothstein (she/her) / Playwright
Sharyn Rothstein is an award-winning playwright and television writer, whose work has been produced around the world. Her newest play Best For Baby (about the Johnson & Johnson talc litigation) will premiere this summer at Chautauqua Institution. Her play Bad Books is a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere play and winner of the David Goldman Prize for New American Plays. Bad Books was first produced by Florida Studio Theatre (Sarasota, FL), Round House Theatre (Bethesda, MD), Williamston Theatre (Williamston, MI), and Curious Theatre Company (Denver, CO) and will be produced at other theaters across America this year.
Sharyn is currently a writer and Co-Executive Producer on CBS’s new show “Einstein:. She has also written for “Suits LA”, the spin-off of the hit legal drama “Suits”, for which she wrote and produced for five seasons. She teaches writing at NYU and Columbia University. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, two kids, two cats and a mountain of laundry.
M. Bevin O’Garaº (she/her) / Director
Bevin O’Gara is an Associate Professor of Theatre at Boston Conservatory in Directing and Musical Theatre. She was the Producing Artistic Director at the Kitchen Theatre and spent much of her career at the Huntington Theatre Company in a variety of roles.
Directing credits include: Huntington Theatre Company, Dorset Theatre Festival, Kitchen Theatre Company, SpeakEasy Stage, Company One, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Lyric Stage Company, Central Square Theatre, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, New Repertory Theatre, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Cleveland Playhouse, Geva Theatre, Boston Conservatory, Emerson College, and others.
Bevin is the proud recipient of the Lois Roach Award for Outstanding Commitment to the Boston Theatre Community. She holds a BFA from Boston University. mbevinogara.com
Meet the Cast
Aimee Doherty* / The Mother
Aimee Doherty s excited to return to the Gloucester Stage after appearing in North Shore Fish. Other regional credits include: As You Like It (Rosalind) – Shakespeare & Company and the Maria Friedman directed production of Merrily We Roll Along (Gussie) – Huntington Theatre. Aimee soloed with the Boston Pops under the baton of Keith Lockhart and appeared in the film “Don’t Look Up.” She is a two-time recipient of the Elliot Norton Award and a three-time recipient of the IRNE Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical. www.aimeedoherty.net
Therese Plaehn* / The Librarian/The Manager/The Editor
Therese Plaehn is thrilled to be back at GSC where she last worked on North Shore Fish. Other credits include: the national tour of The Humans, The Heidi Chronicles (Broadway), Our Town (The Huntington), Paradise Lost (A.R.T), Blink (Chester Theatre), Dying City (Stonington Opera House), Crimes of the Heart (Theatreworks, Silicon Valley), Monsoon Season (Edinburgh Fringe / Rattlestick Theater NYC), A (radically condensed and expanded) Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again (after David Foster Wallace) (The Public Theater, Chocolate Factory, ArtsEmerson, Walker Art Museum), Family Play (1979– Present) (CollaborationTown / New Ohio), Anna Christie (The Wild Project). Various TV/Film including: “Defending Jacob” (Apple TV), “Julia” (HBO Max) “FBI” (CBS). MFA: A.R.T.
Meet the Production Team
Dahlia Al-Habieli / Scenic Designer
Recent credits include designs for the Wilma Theater, Trinity Rep, Dallas Theater Center, Virginia Stage Company, Playmakers Rep, and Gulfshore Playhouse. Dahlia has held faculty positions at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama, Albright College, and Wake Forest University. Learn more about her work as an artist and educator at www.eloquentaction.com.
Chris Daly* / Production Stage Manager
Chris is a NYC-based Stage Manager who is thrilled to be back at Gloucester. Regional works include The Glass Menagerie (GSC, Elliot Norton Award Nominee), Fahrenheit 451 (Bay Street Theater) and You Are Cordially… (CompanyONE). Other works include Once: The Musical, The Legend of Georgia McBride, Orlando, and Devil Girl (O’Neill NPC finalist). They have also worked with Juniper Street Productions on Buena Vista Social Club and Chess.
Colby Hairston / Assistant Stage Manager
Colby is a former apprentice of Gloucester Stage Company and is so excited to be returning to work with them as ASM for Bad Books! Recent works include Beetlejuice Jr. (Greater Boston Stage Company, PSM/Teaching Artist,) Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson, Apt. 2B, (ASM, Gloucester Stage,) The Garbologists (ASM, Gloucester Stage.) He’d like to thank his friends and loved ones for always supporting him everywhere he goes and always believing in him.
Chelsea Kerl / Costume Designer
Chelsea Kerl is a Boston based freelance artist and educator. Previous designs at Gloucester: Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson: Apt 2B, No Child…,The Hombres, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Tall Tales From Blackburn Tavern, Grand Horizons, Mr. Fullerton Between the Sheets, Tiny Beautiful Things, Native Gardens, Ben Butler, Madame Defarge, To Kill a Mockingbird, Man in Snow, Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!), A Measure of Normalcy, and Gloucester Blue. Chelsea is the costume shop manager and costume design professor at Wellesley College; she previously worked in the costume shop of the American Repertory Theatre. Select recent designs include- Huntington Theatre Company: Witch (Elliot Norton Award Winner, Outstanding Design: Large Theatre), Wheelock Family Theatre at BU: Willy Wonka; SpeakEasy Stage Company/Front Porch Arts Collective: Pass Over; Company One/American Repertory Theatre: Greater Good. More of her work can be seen at www.chelseakerl.com
Karen Perlow / Lighting Designer
Based in Boston for over 30 years, Karen has designed the lighting for over 200 productions. Her work has been seen at Boston Symphony Orchestra, Merrimack Repertory Theater, Speakeasy Stage Company, Lyric Stage Company, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Central Square Theater, New Rep, Boston Playwrights’ Theater, Boston Midsummer Opera, and Shakespeare & Company. Karen has taught Lighting Design at MIT and Northeastern University, and has been a guest designer at Boston Conservatory, Boston College, Brandeis University, and Emerson College. She is proud to serve as the treasurer of the Theater Community Benevolent Fund and is a member of the United Scenic Artists’ Union 829. She’s happy to be spending a little time in Gloucester again, having previously designed Dancing at Lughnasa, and Jaques Brel.
Omar Robinson / Fight Consultant
Omar Robinson has choreographed violence for Huntington Theatre Company, American Repertory Theater, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Trinity Repertory Company, Actors’ Shakespeare Project (ASP), Lyric Stage Company of Boston, SpeakEasy Stage Company, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, Teatro en el Verano, and Fresh Ink Theatre. He received an Elliot Norton Award for his Violence Design in ASP’s Edward II. He taught Stage Combat for several years at The A.R.T. Institute at Harvard University.
Emme Shaw / Props Designer
Emme has been associated with Gloucester Stage for many years as an actor and designer. She’s very happy to be working with Bad Books. Her last collaboration was Glass Menagerie.
Sophie Shaw / Movement Consultant
Sophie is thrilled to be working on Gloucester Stage‘s production of Bad Books! She recently graduated from The Boston Conservatory at Berklee obtaining her BFA in Musical Theater with a Dance Emphasis. Recent credits include; Hello, Dolly! (The Lyric Stage), Legally Blonde (Boston Conservatory), 42nd Street (The Palace Theatres), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Moonbox Productions), and Assistant Choreographer for Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (Boston Conservatory). Thank you to the team for this wonderful opportunity and enjoy the show!
Zoe Stanton-Savitz / Sound Designer
Zoe Stanton-Savitz (she/they) is a multi-disciplinary theatre artist based in NYC. She is so excited to be back at GSC after working as a stage management apprentice in the summer of 2023! Recent sound design credits include Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, The Skriker, The Bakkhai, and The Bog Queen (Columbia University), The Wolves (The New School), Little Katie (Harlot Productions), The Slide is the Negative (JCS Theatre), Recruiting Tomorrow’s Army Today! (The Tank), and Coriolanus (Nocturne Theater). She also worked as the sound intern at San Francisco Shakespeare Festival on Two Gentleman of Verona and served as the A/V student coordinator at Lenfest Center for the Arts at Columbia University. Zoe holds a BA in liberal arts from Sarah Lawrence College and an MFA in playwriting from Columbia University. https://www.zoestanton-savitz.com/
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA)
ºThe Director is a Member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC)
^Represented by United Scenic Artists, Local USA-829 of the IATSE
Bad Books was first produced as a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere by Florida Studio Theatre (Sarasota, FL), Round House Theatre (Bethesda, MD), Williamston Theatre (Williamston, MI), and Curious Theatre Company (Denver, CO) with additional support from The David Goldman Fund for New American Plays. For more information, please visit nnpn.org