Category: Season 28

Directed by Jerome Davis
Music Director Christian Stahr
Lighting by Matthew Adelson
Scenery by Joe Johnson
Costumes by Stacey Herrison
Properties by Samantha Gallup
Production Stage Manager – George Waller

CAST

• Dylan Bailey
• Natalie Blackman
• Terri Crymes
• Logan Hammersley
• Byron Jennings
• David Keats
• Phillip Kim
• Clayton Mack, III
• Astrid Maldonado
• Katie Milligan
• Nunna Noe
• Natalie Reder
• Emma Roe
• Daniel Ryder
• Gabriella Terrero
• Natalie Turgeon
• Matt Verner
• Sarah Winter

Scott Lane, Percussion
Susannah (Suz) Longest, Double Bass
Adah Morton , Trumpet
Christian Stahr, Keyboard

Digital Program

About the Playwrights

Stephen Sondheim (1930-2021) was one of the most prolific and beloved composers of the 20th century and is credited with reinventing the American musical. His musicals frequently tackled unexpected themes and addressed darker elements of the human experience than many musicals choose to highlight. Sondheim began his career as a lyricist for the musicals West Side Story and Gypsy. Later in his career, he went on to write both music and lyrics for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, and Assassins. Over the course of his illustrious career, Sondheim won eight Tony Awards, eight Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, an Olivier Award, and the Pulitzer Prize, among other awards. Many of his works have been adapted into films, and his final work for the stage, Here We Are, made its Off-Broadway premiere in 2023, two years after his death at the age of 91.

George Furth (1932-2008) was a librettist, actor, and playwright, best known for collaborating with Stephen Sondheim on Merrily We Roll Along and Company. Furth won both the Tony and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical for Company and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play for his play, Precious Sons.

Themes

• Friendship
• The cost of success

This production contains discussions of:

• Alcoholism

Being Chaka created by TÉA Artistry; written by Tara Amber, Chuk Obasi, and Nalini Sharma/ March 13-30th, 2025

Directed by Vieve Price and Chuk Obasi

Stage Manager — Julianna Frasca

Lighting Designer — Julianna Babcock

Sound Designer — Juan Isler

ASM #1 — Roseanne Wagner

ASM #2 — Skylar Symonds

ASM #3 — Venezia Catlett

Painter — Meredith Riggan

TD/ME — Barry Jaked

CAST
Joey Brenneman

Andrew Price Carlile

Hunter Crone

Christa Irby

Amanda Marikar

Gabby Morell

Jarred Pearce

Joseph Reese

Emma Stone

Miriam Tabb

Nikki Dublin Turner

Reviews

Talkin’ Broadway by Garrett Southerland

Triangle Review by Kurt Benrud

Triangle Review by Dani Daniela

View the DIGITAL PROGRAM HERE

Want to learn more about the production history, themes, and social context of Being Chaka? Check out the STUDY GUIDE created by Eric Kildow.

About the Playwrights

A New York Native, Chuk Obasi is a playwright, actor, director, and choreographer. He is also an educator and a multi-disciplinary artist who works in theater, film, television, dance, and poetry performance. He is the Co-Director of TÉA Artistry. 

Nalini Sharma is a writer, actress, and clown comedian known for her work on NCIS, The Rookie, Modern Family, and her absurdist clown show Until Death.

Tara Amber is a playwright, actor, and musician. She played Kunzang in the original cast of Being Chaka and is also known for her work on Law and Order and Awaken.

Themes

• Coming of Age
• Systemic Inequality
• Loss
• Friendship

This production includes discussions of:

• Racism
• Loss of a child

CAST

Ali Goins
Monica Hoh
Julie Oliver

TEAM

Directed by Flora Bare

Production Stage Manager:  Wade Wood

Scenic & Lighting Designer: Stephen White

Costume Design: Beth Gargan

Props:  Carolyn Gaul

Sound Design: Juan Isler

Reviews

Talkin’ Broadway by Garret Southerland

Triangle Review by Kurt Benrud

Triangle Review by Dani Daniela

CVNC by Byron Woods

Check out the  DIGITAL PROGRAM 

Check out the STUDY GUIDE (spoilers ahead)

About the Playwright

Chelsea Woolley is a playwright and arts educator native to Toronto. She is the author of several plays, including Paint Me this House of Love, Enormity, Girl, and the Earthquake in Her Lungs, The Only Good Boy and These Peaceable Kingdoms. She is a graduate of the playwriting program at National Theatre School of Canada. Wooley is the founder of the Mixed-Arts Performance Partnership Program which gives young artists living in precarity professional mentorship. She has won several awards, including RBC Emerging Playwright at Tarragon Theater, the SureFire List from The Playwright Guild of Canada, the Ellen Ross Stuart Opening Doors Award and the Toronto Fringe New Play Contest. Currently, Woolley is the head of drama at the Canadian Children’s Opera Company.

Themes

• Family relationships
• Escapism
• Generational Trauma

This production includes discussion of:

• Abortion
• Mental Illness
• Miscarriage

CAST

Preston Campbell
Andrew Carlile
John Jimerson
Carl Martin
Dan Oliver
Jim Roof
Laurel Ullman

TEAM

Director: Steven Roten

Production Stage Manager: Jeremy Vance

Set Designer: Jordan Jaked Carrier

Lighting Designer: Valentina Moya

Sound Designer: Juan Isler

Costume Designer: Beth Gargan

Technical Director: Barry Jaked

Check out the DIGITAL PROGRAM HERE

Reviews

Talkin’ Broadway, by Garrett Southerland

Triangle Review, by Pamela Vesper

About the Playwright

N. Richard Nash was born Nathan Richard Nusbaum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 8th, 1913. He was the youngest and only male amongst six children. His father would often take him to political meetings while his mother managed the family grocery store through the Great Depression. He dedicates his success to the protection and care throughout his childhood from his older sister Mae, who inspired the character Lizzie in The Rainmaker.

Nash attended the University of Pennsylvania and later taught drama there, as well as Bryn Mawr and Haverford College. He worked on screenplays and Broadway plays, continuing to write plays until he died in 2000. He took the pseudonym, John Roc during the 70s as American theatre changed. Some of his other well-known works are A Handful of Fire, The Vicious Years, and Cry Macho. 

Themes

• Family
• Gender roles
• Economic struggle

Directed by Jerome Davis
Lighting by Chris Popowich
Scenery by Xinyuan Li
Costumes by Matt Snellgrove
Sound by Juan Isler
PSM – Jessica Regehr
Tech Director – Barry Jaked

CAST
Lynda Clark
Ian Finley
Brian Linden*

*denotes membership in AEA

Check back soon for study guides, programs, and reviews

About the Playwright

Born September 8, 1933, Michael Frayn is an English playwright and novelist best known for his farce Noises Off and the dramas Copenhagen and Democracy. His extensive body of work ranges in form as well as genre, spanning plays, novels, translations, memoirs, and television. After graduating with a degree in Moral Sciences from Emmanuel College of Cambridge in 1957, Frayn went on to work in journalism, writing for The Guardian and The Observer, where he segued into the production of plays and novels. He achieved both popular and critical success for his writing, receiving a Tony Award for Best Play, two Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Comedy, and six London Evening Standard Awards, among numerous other accolades. Frayn’s most recent work, Among Others: Friendships and Encounters, published just before his 90th birthday, reflects on a lifetime of relationships and the lasting effects they have imparted. He has two children and is currently married to fellow writer Claire Tomalin. He remains one of the more beloved literary forces in England.

Themes

• War
• Nationalism
• Memory
• Friendship

• War
• Genocide
• Nuclear Weaponry

Join us after the show on Sunday, October 20th for a post-show discussion, presented by Carolina Public Humanities. The event is free and open to the public. For more information and to RSVP, click HERE.