Photos: Gerry Goodstein

The Legend of Georgia McBride - A music-filled comedy by Matthew Lopez
August 3 – 19, 2017

He’s young, he’s broke, his wife is having a baby. And now, Casey has lost his gig as an Elvis impersonator. When his club brings in a drag act led by Miss Tracy Mills, Casey is given the opportunity to trade one sequined outfit for another. A critic’s pick wherever it plays, this heart-warming, music-filled comedy celebrates finding your own voice and singing your own song.

Cast

Denny Dale Bess* (Eddie) is excited to make his Dorset Theatre Festival debut. He is a lifelong member of the Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York City. Bess has been seen in theatrical hits such as Year of the Rooster, The Sluts of Sutton Drive, Where the Children Are, and Phantom Killer. Denny has been seen on the big screen in feature films such as How He Fell in Love, The Suspect, The Umbrella Man, and soon to be released My First Miracle and Darcy. He has been seen on television in popular series such as Law and Order, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Public Morals,  Boardwalk Empire, and The Blacklist. He lives in Hell’s Kitchen with his beautiful wife Abigail and their two furry friends Zyplyn and Lulu. 

Vasthy Mompoint* (Jo) is so excited to make her Dorset Theatre Festival debut! Broadway: Good Vibrations, Hot Feet, Ghost, Mary Poppins, Soul Doctor, Ragtime, Rocky. She has danced with Michael Jackson, Gloria Gaynor, and for various TV shows and movies. Film: The Mystery of Laura, Better Off Single, A Banking Story. Proud owner of Broadway Babysitters, LLC. Broadwaybabysitters.com

Jon Norman Schneider* (Rexy/Jason) was last seen in Recent Alien Abductions at the Humana Festival/Actors Theatre of Louisville. New York: Awake and Sing! (NAATCO/The Public), The Oldest Boy (Lincoln Center), City Of (Playwrights Realm), Queens Boulevard (the musical) (Signature), Durango (The Public), A Map of Virtue (13P). International: Paper Dolls (London’s Tricycle Theatre). Regional: Alliance, Barrington Stage, Goodman, Huntington, Kennedy Center, Long Wharf, Magic, McCarter, The Old Globe. Film: The Girl in the Book, The Normals, The Rebound, HBO’s Angel Rodriguez. TV: Jessica Jones, Veep, The Electric Company, 30 Rock, Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Joey Taranto* (Casey)
is thrilled to be a part of Dorset Theatre Festival! Broadway: Kinky Boots (O.B.C.), Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark (O.B.C.), Rock of Ages (Drew). Regional: Little Shop of Horrors (Cleveland Playhouse), Rent (Le Petit Theatre). Instagram: @joeytarantula

David Turner* (Miss Tracy Mills) Broadway: Sunday in the Park with George, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Arcadia, The Ritz, In My Life, The Invention of Love. Off-Broadway: Pretty Hunger, The Good Person of Szechwan (The Public); Gutenberg! The Musical!, The Last Sunday in June, The Butter and Egg Man, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged). Regional: Buyer & Cellar (The Old Globe). TV: The Leftovers, The Good Wife, Lipstick Jungle, Baz Lurhmann’s The Get Down. Awards: Two Helen Hayes Award nominations and BMI’s Jerry Harrington Award for musical theatre songwriting. BA: Williams College and CELTA (teaching English to adults) through Cambridge University. David is a commercial pilot who flies for Angel Flight East, a nonprofit that connects pilots with patients in need of treatment far from home. He and his fiancé Aaron own and manage a small public airport in Pennsylvania called the Flying Dollar (FlyingDollar.com). Twitter: @iDavidTurner

Playwright

Matthew Lopez is the author of The Whipping Man, one of the most widely produced new American plays of the last several years. The play premiered at Luna Stage in Montclair, NJ and debuted in New York at Manhattan Theatre Club. That production was directed by Doug Hughes and starred Andre Braugher. The sold-out production extended four times, ultimately running 101 performances off-Broadway and garnering Obie and Lucille Lortel Awards. Matthew was awarded the John Gassner New Play Award from the New York Outer Critics Circle for the play. Since then, it has been received over 40 productions worldwide. His play Somewhere has been produced at the Old Globe, TheatreWorks in Palo Alto and most recently at Hartford Stage Company, where his play Reverberation received its world premiere in 2015. His newest play, The Legend of Georgia McBride, premiered at the Denver Theatre Center for the Performing Arts. His play The Sentinels premiered in London at Headlong Theatre Company in 2011. Matthew currently holds new play commissions from Roundabout Theatre Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, Hartford Stage, and South Coast Rep. Matthew was a staff writer on HBO’s “The Newsroom” and is currently adapting Javier Marias’ trilogy “Your Face Tomorrow” for the screen.

Creative Team

Stephen Brackett (Director) Off-Broadway: Caroline McGraw’s Ultimate Beauty Bible (Page 73), Jacob Yandura and Rebekah Greer Melocik’s Wringer (NYCCT), Bixby Elliot’s Sommerfugl (InViolet), Jonathan Tolins’ Buyer & Cellar (Rattlestick and Barrow Street Theaters/Westport Playhouse/National Tour/London’s Menier Chocolate Factory), Anton Dudley’s City Of (Playwrights Realm) Lucas Kavner’s Carnival Kids (Lesser America), The Lightning Thief (Theatreworks USA), Ken Urban’s The Correspondent (Rattlestick), Chad Beckim’s After (Partial Comfort), Dan Fishback’s The Material World (Dixon Place), Bekah Brunstetter’s Be A Good Little Widow (Ars Nova), and The Tenant (Woodshed Collective). Regional Theater: Tasha Gordon-Solmon’s I Now Pronounce (Humana Festival), Philip Dawkins’ Le Switch (About Face), Joe Tracz and Joe Iconis’ Be More Chill (Two River), David West Read’s The Great Pretender (TheatreWorks Silicon Valley).

Lee Savage (Scenic Designer) previously scenic designed Dorset Theatre Festival’s Dial M for Murder. New York: The Lightning Thief (TheatreworksUSA); Muscles in our Toes, Sunset Baby, Thinner than Water (Labyrinth); Collapse (Women’s Project); All-American (LCT3); The Dream of the Burning Boy, Ordinary Days (Roundabout); Oohrah! (Atlantic); punkplay (Clubbed Thumb). Regional: Asolo Rep, Chautauqua Theater Company, Dallas Theater Center, Glimmerglass Festival, Goodman Theatre, Guthrie Theater, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington National Opera, Westport Country Playhouse, Wilma Theater, Yale Repertory Theatre. International: The Gate (Dublin, Ireland), Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Awards: NAACP: Satchmo at the Waldorf (Wallis Annenberg); Helen Hayes: Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (nom), Richard III (nom) (Shakespeare Theatre Company); Connecticut Critics Circle: The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow (Yale Rep). Affiliations: Member of Wingspace Theatrical Design. Instructor: Yale School of Drama Design Department and Rhode Island School of Design. Training: Rhode Island School of Design: BFA; Yale School of Drama: MFA.

Bobby Frederick Tilley (Costume Designer) Costume designs for theatre: Broadway Bounty Hunter (Barrington Stage); Guards At The Taj, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, The Pinter Plays: The Collection & A Kind Of Alaska, Body Awareness, Birth and After Birth, The Butter and Egg Man (Atlantic Theatre Company); The Power Of Duff (Geffen Playhouse); Be More Chill (Two River); The Power Of Duff, Captors, Sons of the Prophet, Circle Mirror Transformation (Huntington Theatre Company); Queen For A Day (St. Clement’s); Taming Of The Shrew (Virginia Stage Company); Sons of the Prophet (Roundabout); All New People (2econd Stage); Thinner Than Water (LAByrinth); The Aliens (Rattlestick); The Aliens (Company One); Body Awareness (Speakeasy); Lizzie Borden (The Living Theater); Top Girls (MTC/Biltmore); Mel and El: Show & Tell (Ars Nova); The Ontological Detective (Blue Heron); Red Angel (Williamstown). Costume designs for Film and TV: Once In A Lifetime (Forthcoming); Hello, I Must Be Going; The Green; Four Lane Highway.

Zach Blane (Lighting Designer) is in his first season with Dorset Theatre Festival. Selected Off-Broadway: Too Much, Too Much, Too Many; Suicide Incorporated (Roundabout Theatre Company); Would You Still Love Me If (New World Stages); Charles Busch’s Cleopatra (TFANC); Wringer (City Center); The Siblings Play (Cherry Lane); Suitcase Under The Bed (Mint Theater Company); The Crusade of Connor Stephens (Jerry Orbach); The Eternal Space (Theatre Row); Soul Doctor (Actors Temple); The Good Girl (59E59); The Dork Knight (Abingdon); Sommerfugl, Holiday House (4th Street, NYTW). National Tour: Crane: On Earth, In Sky (Heather Henson). Regional: Barrington Stage Company, Olney Theatre Center, Bucks County Playhouse, Fiddlehead Theatre Company, Shubert Theatre, Adirondack Theatre Company, City Theatre, Engeman Theater, Will Rogers Center. Norwegian Cruise Lines (Fleet-wide Lighting Designer). Zach was named “Designer to Watch” by Live Design Magazine 2011. ZachBlane.com

Ryan Rumery (Sound Designer) is a musician, composer, and producer. His music is in the films Awake: A Dream from Standing Rock (Tribeca Fillm Festival 2017), How to Let Go of the World (And Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change) (Sundance 2016, HBO), and City of Gold (Sundance, SXSW 2015). Recent theatrical scores: End of Longing (MCC), The Emperor Jones (Irish Rep), Between Riverside and Crazy (Atlantic/Second Stage), and Fool For Love (Broadway). Ryan, Christian Frederickson, and the late Jason Noble recently released their album The Painted Bird – Amidst. Ryan was also the Sound Consultant for Sufjan Stevens’ Round Up at the Barbican and Edinburgh International Festival. He recently produced three albums for Jeremy Bass: The Greatest Fire, Winter Bare, and New York in Spring, the title track from which won the John Lennon Songwriting Prize. ryanrumery.com

Patrick McCollum (Choreographer) Credits include Oh, Hello! (Broadway and Cherry Lane Theatre); The Band’s Visit (Atlantic Theater Company); Man From Nebraska (Second Stage); The Lightning Thief (TheatreWorks); Blueprint Specials (Public Theater Under the Radar Festival onboard the Intrepid); Rain (Old Globe); Unknown Soldier (Williamstown Theatre Festival); Wilderness (Abrons Arts Center). As associate choreographer on Broadway: The Last Ship, Peter and the Starcatcher, and Rocky; Wicked (Dance Supervisor); Off-Broadway: Murder Ballad (Manhattan Theatre Club, associate choreographer); Permission (MCC, movement consultant). Upcoming: The Band’s Visit (Broadway).

Will Rucker* (Stage Manager) does theatre and events in New York City. As a stage manager of new plays, he’s worked on War (Yale Rep); A Delicate Ship (Playwrights Realm); The Ballad of Ella Mae (Working Theater); The Way of the World (Dorset Theatre Festival); Sagittarius Ponderosa, Cardboard Piano (Yale School of Drama). Will is a production stage manager for the New Voices Festival at The New School for Drama. He holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama, where he was an artistic director of the Yale Cabaret. Will has worked as a director, performer, producer, and production manager, and he has taught theatre in Virginia juvenile detention centers. He is a founding member of thepartylinepresents.org.

Judy Bowman, CSA (Casting Director) for DTF: Way of the World, I Hate Hamlet, Outside Mullingar, The Whipping Man, The Whore and Mr. Moore, Merton and the Movies and The Hollow.   Recent theater includes: Danai Gurira’s Familiar(Woolly Mammoth), Abigail/1702(Merrimack Rep/Tlaloc Rivas), Nibbler(Rattlestick/Amoralists).  FILM/TV:  Hurricane Bianca(Rattlestick/Amoralists), Lost Cat Corona, Gold Star and “The Big Dogs” TV series.  Adjunct Asst. Professor at Columbia University Film School’s MFA program. judybowmancasting.com.

*Member of Actors Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

Reviews

“McBride is Heartwarming” – Rutland Herald
“Dorset’s McBride Anything But a Drag” – Bennington Banner
“The Legend of Georgia McBride at Dorset” – Berkshire On Stage
“The Legend of Georgia McBride” – Berkshire Bright Focus

Advance Press

“Choreographer’s Confessional: Patrick McCollum’s First Time Working in Heels” – Dance Magazine
“The Legend of Georgia McBride at Dorset Theatre Festival” – WAMC’s The Roundtable
“The Legend of Georgia McBride” – More Theatre Talk
“A Comedy of Reinvention, Survival, and Doing Drag” – Berkshire On Stage
“McBride Opens at Dorset; Promises Dancing in the Aisles” – The Berkshire Eagle
“Think Elvis Impersonators are Wild?” – Rutland Herald
“The Play’s the Thing” – GNAT
“Kinky Boots‘ Joey Taranto to Lead The Legend of Georgia McBride at Dorset Theatre Festival” – Broadway World

“Dorset Theatre Festival 2017 Season” –More Theatre Talk
“Premiere, Stars Celebrate Dorset’s 40th” –Rutland Herald

Curious about The Legend of Georgia McBride? Peek into Geffen Playhouse’s production!

Special Events

Pre-Show Discussion:
Dragged on Stage: Cross-Gender Casting, Performances of Protest, and the History of Drag

Thursday, August 10, 2017 at 6pm
In the Playhouse Cafe

What do Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, traditional Japanese Theatre, and the Stonewall Riots have in common? Drag, of course! On Thursday, August 10 at 6pm, join dramaturgs Matt Kirby and Sam Levit in the Playhouse Cafe as they survey the origins and evolution of cross-gender performance. From Ancient Greek tragedy to  pre-revolutionary Chinese political theater to Matthew Lopez’s underdog tale of drag queens and Elvis impersonators, the story of drag is at once subversive, revolutionary, hysterical, honest, and complex.