REPARATIONS

by James Sheldon

Content Warning:
This play discusses abusive sexual behavior

September 3 to September 19, Summer 2021

Reparations

by James Sheldon REGIONAL PREMIERE

Directed by Myriam Cyr

Ginny, a successful book editor, invites a young, Black aspiring author, Reg, to her apartment after a boozy book party. She wakes up to find that a night of tenderness and passion is turning into a tumultuous morning-after when he threatens to reveal a dark secret from the past. As family friends join for an ill-timed paella feast, all four are soon embroiled in whether the young writer is due reparation. Personal revelations lead to laughs, tears, and coming to terms with racial injustice and personal betrayal in this poignant new play by James Sheldon.

Reparations, directed by Myriam Cyr, will run September 3 through September 19. Performances are outdoors Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 pm and Saturday and Sunday at 3:30 pm at Windhover Performing Arts Center, 257R Granite St, Rockport, MA.

Show Run Time:
2hrs + 5min. w/ intermission

 

Angela Pierce* (Ginny Pleasance) Award-winning film, TV, stage, radio and voice actor. SAG-AFTRA/AEA. TV and Film include: Manifest; The Blacklist, NCIS New Orleans, The Deuce, Blue Bloods, Criminal Minds, Law & Order (SVU and Criminal Intent), 30 Rock, Love Life Private Practice and You Don’t Know Jack. On and Off- Broadway: Lincoln Center Theater; Manhattan Theatre Club; Roundabout; Circle In The Square; The Public; The Flea; The Mint. Obie Award winner; Boston Film Festival; Seattle Times; Arizona Theatre Award; Best Actress winner – Connecticut Critics Circle; Drama Desk. Angela is repped by CGF Talent and Jeff Berger Mgmt. She is also the Co-Host/Co-Creator of Someone’s Thunder Podcast @Someonesthunderpodcast found on @Applepodcasts @Spotifypodcasts For more info about Angela visit her website angelakpierce.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jason Bowen* (Reg Ambrose) previously appeared in A Raisin in the Sun (2013), Invisible Man (2013), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2011), Ruined (2011), Prelude to a Kiss (2010), and A Civil War Christmas: An American Musical Celebration (2009) at the Huntington. His regional credits include My Mañana Comes (The Playwright’s Realm), All The Way (Cleveland Play House), As You Like It and Black Odyssey (Denver Center for the Performing Arts), The Lake Effect (TheatreWorks Palo Alto), June Moon (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Ruined (La Jolla Playhouse), Love’s Labours Lost and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company), Twelfth Night, Othello, The Duchess of Malfi, and The Tempest(Actors’ Shakespeare Project), It’s A Wonderful Life: A Radio Play (Merrimack Repertory Theatre), and Groundswell (Lyric Stage Company). His film and television credits include What’s Your Number, “Law & Order: SVU,” and “Braindead.” Mr. Bowen was named Best Actor by Boston magazine in 2012.

 

 

 

 

 

Lisa Tharps* (DR. MILLICENT JACOBS) Chelle – Detroit ‘67, VA Stage; Nina – The Royale, Kitchen Theater and Geva Theatre; Medea – Medea, Boston Court Theater (Garland, LA Critics, LA Weekly NAACP nominations for Best Leading Actress); Broadway: Nurse – Romeo Juliet – New Victory Theater; Tonya (und) – King Hedley II, Virginia Theatre; Principal Player – Love’s Fire: Fresh Numbers – Public Theater, London’s Barbican Pit, Nat’l Tour; Off Broadway: Olivia – Twelfth Night – Boomerang Theatre; Paulina – The Winter’s Tale – NY Classical; Wit – MCC, Union Square, Nat’l Tour; Principal Player, The Vagina Monologues, Nat’l Tour; Titania – Midsummer Night’s Dream –  Shakespeare Theater of DC: TV: “Jessica Jones” (Det. Ruth Sunday), “Power”, “Madam Secretary”, “Elementary”, etc. Film: MADELINE’S MADELINE (Gotham’s/Spirit Awards’ noms for Best Feature, Cinematography); JONES (numerous film festival wins) UNC School of the Arts, Graduate. LisaTharps.com. Grateful.

 

 

 

 

 

Malcolm Ingram* (Alistair Jacobs) Broadway: The Rivals (Lincoln Center), Match (Plymouth Theatre). London: Half Life (National Theatre and Duke of York’s); Dirty Linen, New-Found-Land (Arts Theatre); Total Eclipse, The Fool, Trixie and Baba, The Enoch Show (Royal Court Theatre). Extensive UK Regional work. US Regional: The Christians (Chautauqua Theatre Company); Heisenberg, Comedy of Errors, Henry IV, Heroes, Red Velvet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Kaufman’s Barbershop, As You Like It, The Merry Wives of Windsor (Shakespeare & Company). Sherlock’s Last Case, Bedroom Farce (Huntington Theatre); Romeo and Juliet (Virginia Arts Festival); Hamlet (North Shore Music Theatre); Third (Hangar Theatre); All My Sons (Actors Theatre of Louisville); Hay Fever, Rat in the Skull (Berkshire Theatre Group); Someone to Watch Over Me (Stage West;) The Crucible, My Fair Lady (Syracuse Stage). TV and Film includes Chappelle’s Show (Comedy Central); The Camerons, The Story of Ruth, Beloved Enemy, Clapperclaw, Dr. Finlay’s Casebook (BBC); Fraulein Doktor (Paramount). Designated Linklater voice teacher. Associate Professor, Syracuse University Drama Department, 1985 – 2016. Malcolm will be appearing in Ionesco’s The Chairs from October 8th- 31st at Shakespeare and Company , Lenox,MA.

 

 

*Member Actor’s Equity Association

Veronica Barron (Sound Design) is an actor, musician, and puppeteer whose interdisciplinary works have earned support from the Casteliers Festival and Les Sages Fous (Canada), Puppet Showplace Theater, the Dance Complex, Cambridge Arts Council, and Apollinaire Theater/The Boston Foundation. As a composer and musician, she has been commissioned by Opera House Arts (Stonington, ME), Central Square Theater, and Whistler in the Dark. With Liars and Believers, she originated roles in Who Would Be King and ICARUS, for which she was praised as “the cast’s best voice” (Scott Heller, New York Times.) She directed and designed shadow puppetry for Pinwheel Collaborative’s The Magic Pearl, supported by Lincoln Center and New England Conservatory, and she tours internationally as a puppeteer on Kid Koala’s live-cinema-meets-music show Nufonia Must Fall. She leads street spectacle experiences with the 100-person-strong community brass band, the School of HONK!, and her recent album Sound Shadows combines voice, banjo, and percussive dance. veronicabarron.bandcamp.com / veronicabarron.com

Deirdre McCabe Gerrard (Costume Design) is excited to be designing her first show with Gloucester Stage Company. Previous credits include designing The Moors, Miracle on 34th Street, Miss Holmes, Jonah and the Whale, Neville’s Island, Seminar, Distant Music and Buddy Cop 2 (Greater Boston Stage Company); Cabaret (Midcoast Actor’s Studio), Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth (Bay Colony Shakespeare), The World Goes ’Round and Frankie and Johnny in the Clare de Lune (New Rep); Faustus (Wax Wings Productions); Twelfth Night, Rosencratz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Roxbury Latin Summer Festival Theater); Cunning Little Vixen (Boston Opera Collaborative); Treemonisha (Mssng Lnks); Hamlet (New Rep On Tour); and Cocktail Time in Cuba (Brandeis Theater Co. in cooperation with Primary Stages, N.Y.), as well as Bye Bye Birdie, Honk!, Legally Blonde, Assassins, Oklahoma!, Cats and Once on This Island (Young Company).

Logan Pitts  (Dramaturg) is a dynamic, in-demand director and highly-acclaimed performer based in NYC. In the past year, Logan held the Artist-in-Residence position as Guest Director with Vassar College, pioneering new forms of virtual and hybrid theater. This experimental space reinforced his artistic voice seen in pandemica works such as Dancing Through (The Tank/Allongé Film), Twilight LA (NYSEC), Iolanthe (NYGASP), Noir Femme Avengers (Harlem9), and In the Ramble (Gloucester Stage). Equally commanding onstage and an advocate for the development of new theatre, Logan has premiered original works such as Bran Castle (Signature Theatre), Bach & Bleach (LaMaMa), The Light Years by The Debate Society (Powerhouse Theater/NYSAF), I Am Antigone (Theater for a New City), and The Secret (NYNW, Theatre Row). Vocally, Logan has performed in major venues across the city such as Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Garden, and Symphony Space. Other favorite productions include Waxler’s On the Town, The Madison Theatre’s West Side Story, and the US tour of The Mikado.

Jon Savage (Scenic Design)  is very happy to be returning to Gloucester Stage. Past GSC credits include To Kill A Mockingbird, Lettice & Lovage, The Last Schwartz and Out of Sterno Other area credits include The Disappearing Number (Underground Railway); Imagining Madoff (New Rep Theatre); The Farm (Boston Playwright’s Theatre); All’s Well That Ends Well (Comm Shakes, Elliot Norton Award, Best Production, Large Company); Comedy of Errors (Comm Shakes, Elliot Norton Award, Best Design, Large Company) Ryan Landry’s “M” (Huntington Theatre). Regional credits include A Grand Night for Singing (Bucks County Playhouse); State Fair (Walnut Street Theatre); Is He Dead (Olney Theatre); Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Bay Street Theatre). Jon was the Associate Set Designer for the Broadway production of Hot Feet and has worked in television and film for productions on the History Channel and the HBO Miniseries, John Adams and served as a curator for the US National Student Exhibit at the Prague Quadrennial, 2007. Jon is currently on faculty at Boston University and is a member of United Scenic Artists.

Emme Shaw  (Props Design) Emme Shaw is very happy to be back at GSC and designing for Reparations. Previous collaborations as a Property Designer include Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery,  39 Steps, Native Gardens, 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 design work could be seen at Greater Boston Stage, 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.

Christopher Vu  (Sound Design) is a Boston-based composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music for concert hall and stage and a co-artistic director of Pinwheel, an artistic collaborative of musicians and theatre artists that produce original multidisciplinary works.  Son of a concert pianist, Chris draws from his diverse influences and interests as a performer, which include being a jazz pianist, a keyboardist in touring funk/rock/pop bands, being a featured soloist with Boston Pops in a sold out concert event, and a recurring member of new music groups like the Callithumpian Consort. Chris has been commissioned by Lincoln Center Education, the Callithumpian Consort, the Boston Percussion Group, SOLI Chamber Ensemble, [sunflower], Brezinski & Schap, and the Vietnamese American Society of Contemporary Art and Music. He most recently premiered with Pinwheel an original shadow puppet production with original music called Magic Pearl which sold out at Lincoln Center.  For more info: www.chrisvumusic.com

Kat C. Zhou  (Lighting Design) is a lighting designer for theatre, opera, and dance, and she is delighted to be returning to Gloucester Stage after designing Tiny Beautiful Things earlier this season. Theatre credits: Wolf Play (Company ONE), Marie and Rosetta (Greater Boston Stage Company), and The Book Club Play (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre). Opera credits: The Rake’s Progress (BU Opera Institute), the Run AMOC! Festival (American Modern Opera Company), The Cunning Little Vixen (BU Opera Institute/Glimmerglass), and The Marriage of Figaro (Harvard College Opera). She is the inaugural recipient of the Howell Binkley Fellowship. Formerly, she served as the artist-in-residence at the Signet Society (2018-2020), and was the president/managing director of the Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert and Sullivan Players (2013-2017). She holds an MFA in lighting design from Boston University and an AB in mathematics from Harvard College. More info: www.katzhoudesign.com 

 

 

 

 

Their back and forth elicits laughter, knowing head nods, and sometimes a few gasps.
What does justice look like? How much does it cost? Who should pay up? And once the debt is paid, does pain still prevail? Audiences will have to decide that for themselves.

 

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The Gloucester Stage Company’s current run of Reparations is underway at Windhover Performing Arts Center in Rockport, and it’s a challenging, thoughtful and often humorous production that asks us to dig deep into complex territory. The play, which ends it run on Sept. 19, is one of the last chances for locals to experience the idyllic, outdoor venue this season.

 

 

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Director Miriam Cyr smartly sets a brisk pace for the second act, and gets strong performances from her skilled cast.  Reparations is like an emotional hammer. One thing is sure, there will be plenty to talk about on the ride home from picturesque Rockport.

 

 

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MYRIAM CYR

Myriam Cyr is an international award-winning actress, theater director and critically acclaimed writer. Cyr originated the role of Barbarina in Julie Taymor’s production of The Green Bird at Theater for a New Audience and appeared as Ultra Violet in the film I Shot Andy Warhol and as Claire Claremont in Ken Russel’s Gothic.  Trained at the London Academy of Dramatic Arts and the Conservatoire d’art dramatique de Montreal, Ms. Cyr’s stage credits include Salome opposite Al Pacino in Arvin Brown’s production at Long Wharf Theatre, as well as the National Theatre Premiere of the Trial by Steven Berkoff as well as his production of Salome. The Women at the Royal Old Vic, Madame de Sade at the Almeida Theatre, and Constance in the London premiere of Goodnight Desdemona. Her films include, Le Secret de Jerome (Best Actress at the International Film Festival of Namur, Best Actress Award at the International Film Festival of Baie Comeau, Canada, Best Actress Huston Film Festival, Best Actress Louisiana Film Festival), Brothers (Best Actress Drama Film Festival of Greece), Salome for NHK Japan, and Species Two. 

She is a co-founder and artistic director of Massachusetts-based, Punctuate 4 Productions, a company that specializes in developing new works. Their 2019 inaugural season included the Michael Cormier and Myriam Cyr’s Saltonstall, One Man’s Stand Against the Salem Witch Trials that won 5 BroadwayWorld Boston awards of which best play and Best Director award. Off Broadway, Ms. Cyr directed Moving Bodies, a new play by Lorraine Liscio, that she will direct in London at the Playground Theatre in 2022, I am Antigone by Saudamini Seigrist, and Simon Says by Mat Schaffer. In May of 2019, she directed No Victors, No Vanquished, by Paul Saba. Myriam  directed The Battle Not Begun by Jack Beatty for the Never Dark Series at Gloucester Stage in 2020 that was developed by Punctuate 4 productions.

Ms. Cyr is the author of Letters of a Portuguese Nun, named Book of the Month in 2007 by The Guardian and translated into eight languages. A native of New Brunswick, Canada, she was honored as Poet Laureate of New Brunswick in 2008.

JAMES SHELDON

James’ other plays include Shiverman, produced at Theatre 503 in London, U.K. and nominated for Best Play of 2012 by the Off-West End Awards; A Model For Mankind, Cock Tavern Theatre, London, U.K.; The Bonus Room and 3-Hole Punch, both produced at The Grange Theatre, Copake, N.Y.; Tommers, staged a reading at The Players Club, New York; The Grand Adventure of Tom and John, also staged at The Players Club. His one-act play, Often As The Moon, was produced at the Pittsburgh New Works Festival and was a finalist for Best Short Play at the Tennessee Williams Literary Festival in New Orleans, LA. More information is available at SheldonPlays.com.

 

Picnic Box Dinners from Willow Rest

Order dinner ahead using the links below. Dinners are available Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday @7:30pm performances only. Dinner will be delivered to Windhover and ready for pickup at the Concessions Bar by 6:30pm each night (Be sure to select the correct performance night when you checkout!). Thank you to Willow Rest for this partnership!

REPARATIONS is presented through special arrangement with the Playwright.