The Christians

September 07–October 08

The Christians
By Lucas Hnath
DIRECTED BY HANA S. SHARIF
Directed by Hana S. Sharif

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE LOSE FAITH IN OUR LEADERS?

Does absolute tolerance require tolerance of the intolerant? Can a divided head find a way to lead? When the stakes are eternity, what happens if your pastor is wrong? These are the questions that arise in a present-day American megachurch in The Christians, a new play about the seemingly insurmountable distance that exists when people of the same religion hold different beliefs. Stunning in its theatricality, this production will feature multiple choirs from area churches. Prescient in its investigation of the commercialization of religion, this play spotlights the sensitive and challenging obstacles of all successful organizations.

2016 Outer Critics Circle Award Winner

“This nonjudgmental show, which offers a safe place for good people to disagree and even, possibly, evolve spiritually, is a tonic for tough times.” –Dallas News

“[Hnath is] one of the brightest new voices of his generation.” –New York Times

Feature choirs from area churches:

Greater Baltimore Church of Christ Choir
(performing Sep 7–17)

Community Choir of Baltimore Center Stage
(performing Sep 19–Oct 1)

New Psalmist Baptist Church Choir
(performing Oct 3–8)

Content Advisory: This poignant drama about personal faith and organized religion tackles big questions and subjects that may interest audiences in middle school and up.

Approximate runtime is 1 hour and 37 minutes. There will be no intermission.

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MADE POSSIBLE BY

DLA Piper

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Cast

Lawrence Clayton*
Elder Jay

Jessiee Datino*
Jenny

Adam Gerber*
Associate Pastor Joshua

Howard W. Overshown*
Pastor Paul

Nikkole Salter*
Elizabeth

Baltimore Center Stage: The Christians. Broadway—The Color Purple (Revival); Bells Are Ringing; It Ain’t Nothin’ but the Blues; The Civil War; Once Upon a Mattress; High Rollers Social and Pleasure Club; Dreamgirls. Opera—Carnegie Hall and Sydney Opera House: Jerry Springer the Opera. Off Broadway—Second Stage: Crowns (Man); The Public Theater: Saturn Returns; Romance in Hard Times; The Paramount Theater: Jesus Christ Superstar. Regional—Ordway: Damn Yankees (Joe Boyd); Two Rivers Theatre and NJPAC: The Music Man (Mayor); Papermill Playhouse and 25th Anniversary National Tour: Les Miserables (Jean Valjean). Film/Television—Homeland, The Good Wife, The Big C, Deadline, Law and Order CI, All My Children, Another World, As the World Turns, One Life to Live, Mary and Rhoda, Santa Baby. Recordings—Broadway cast albums of The Color Purple (Revival), Bells Are Ringing, Once Upon a Mattress, and Adam Guettel’s Myths and Hymns. Awards—Emmy Award for Best Musical performance in a Daytime Program.

Baltimore Center Stage: The Christians. Off-Broadway—credits include The Actors Company Theatre: The Late Christopher Bean. Regional—credits include Geva Theatre: Other Than Honorable (world premiere); Barrington Stage Company: Kimberly Akimbo; Kansas City Rep: Angels in America: Parts I and II; Chicago Shakespeare Theatre: King Lear; Duel Theatre: Tape; Cape Playhouse: Moon Over Buffalo; Pennsylvania Centre Stage: Hay Fever, The Dining Room, Lend Me a Tenor; Heart of America Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet; Actors Theatre KC: Talley’s Folly, Talley and Son. Education—MFA: Penn State Univ. jessieedatino.com

Baltimore Center Stage: 2015 Young Playwrights’ Festival, Marley, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. New York—Manhattan Theatre Club: Yellow Man; Lincoln Center Theatre: Julius Caesar (starring Denzel Washington); CSC: Orlando; John Houseman Theatre: Never the Sinner; Epic Theatre Co.: Beauty on the Vine; BAM: Richard III (starring Kevin Spacey); Roundabout Theatre Company: Blue (starring Phylicia Rashad). Regional—Folger Shakespeare Theatre: Richard III, Much Ado About Nothing; Pioneer Theatre: Clybourne Park; Arena Stage: Passion Play (world premiere); Shakespeare and Co.: Hamlet; Alabama Shakespeare Festival: Macbeth. Film/TV—The Affair, Allegiance, Law and Order, Elementary, Unforgettable.

Baltimore Center Stage: The Christians. Off-Broadway—Perry Street Theatre: In the Continuum; Playwright’s Horizons: Inked Baby; Paradise Factory: Tough Titty; Lincoln Center: The Royal. International—Traverse Theatre, Market Theatre, Baxter Theatre: In the Continuum. Regional—Shakespeare Theatre: Macbeth; Berkeley Rep: Head of Passes; Huntington Theatre: Luck of the Irish; Cincinnati Playhouse: Gee’s Bend; Luna Stage: The Old Settler; Arena Stage/Huntington Theatre: Stick Fly; Kansas City Rep: Gee’s Bend; Kirk Douglas Theatre, Yale Rep, The Goodman, Cincinnati Playhouse, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth: In the Continuum. Film/Television—Moesha, The Unit, Pride and Glory, The Architect, Last Night. Education—MFA: NYU; BFA: Howard University; British American Drama Academy at Oxford University. Awards—OBIE, NY Outer Critics Award, Helen Hayes Award, Independent Reviewers of New England Award (nom.), Acclaim Award. nikkolesalter.com

Creative Team

Lucas Hnath
Director

Hana S. Sharif
Director

Michael Carnahan
Scenic Designer

Gavin Witt
Production Dramaturg

Michael Alan Stein
Costume Designer

Jen Schriever Lighting Designer
Lighting Designer

Hana S. Kim
Projection Designer

Pat McCorkle
Casting

Katja Zarolinski
Casting

Tiffany Fulson
Assistant Director

Danielle Teague-Daniels*
Stage Manager

Genevieve Ortiz*
Assistant Stage Manager

Nathan Roberts
Original Music / Arrangements / Sound Design

Jaret Landon
Music Director / Original Music / Arrangements / Keyboards

Charles Coes
Original Music / Arrangements / Sound Design

Edward Goldstein
Music Contractor

Todd Harrison
Drums

Max Murray
Bass

Michael Raitzyk
Guitar

Lucas Hnath’s plays include Hillary and Clinton, Red Speedo, The Christians, A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney, Isaac’s Eye, and Death Tax. His work has been produced at Actors Theatre of Louisville/Humana Festival of New Plays, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Gate Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, New York Theatre Workshop, Playwrights Horizons, Royal Court Theatre, Soho Rep, Traverse Theatre, and Victory Gardens. He has been a resident playwright at New Dramatists since 2011. He is a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre and a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect. He has received the Kesselring Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Whiting Award, two Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award Citations, an Outer Critics Circle Award for Best New Play, and an Obie. His work is published by Dramatists Play Service and Overlook Press.

Baltimore Center Stage Associate Artistic Director Hana S. Sharif is a director, playwright, and producer. She served as Associate Artistic Director, Director of New Play Development, and Artistic Producer at Hartford Stage; recently as Program Manager of the ArtsEmerson Ambassador Program; and as Developmental Producer/Tour Manager of Progress Theatre’s musical The Burnin’. Hana also served as co-founder and Artistic Director of Nasir Productions, which brings theater to underserved communities. Her directing credits include: Baltimore Center Stage: The Christians, Les Liaisons Dangereuses; Pride & Prejudice (DCArts: Best Director/Best New Play); Regional: Sense & Sensibility, The Whipping Man, Gem of the Ocean (six CCC nominations), Gee’s Bend (CCC Award Best Ensemble, two nominations), Next Stop Africa, Cassie, The Drum, and IFdentity. Hana has directed numerous developmental workshops, including Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder’s The Chat and Chew Supper Club, Janine Nabers’ A Swell in the Ground, and Marcus Gardley’s The House That Will Not Stand. Her plays include All the Women I Used to Be, The Rise and Fall of Day, and The Sprott Cycle Trilogy. Hana is the recipient of the 2009–10 Aetna New Voices Fellowship and Theatre Communications Group (TCG) New Generations Fellowship. She serves on the board of directors for the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance and the Sprott Foundation.

Center Stage: Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Detroit ‘67. Off-Broadway—Atlantic Theater Company: Skeleton Crew; 59E59: I and You; Second Stage: The Happiest Song Plays Last; Signature Theatre: The Piano Lesson, The First Breeze of Summer; Life Could Be A Dream, The Marvelous Wonderettes, Three Mo’ Tenors, Pygmalion, Howie the Rookie, Brando. Tours—Cheers, Live On Stage; A Christmas Story The Musical. Regional—credits include Arena Stage, American Conservatory Theater, McCarter Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Pasadena Playhouse, Two River Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Laguna Playhouse, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Northlight Theatre, Signature Theatre, Bucks County Playhouse, Ogunquit Playhouse, Arsht Center, Musical Theatre West, San Jose Repertory, Center Rep. Associate scenic designer credits include: Broadway—Allegiance, The River, Peter and The Starcatcher, ANN: The Ann Richards Play, Cyrano de Bergerac, The Importance of Being Earnest, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, All About Me, White Christmas, Curtains. michaelcarnahandesign.com.

Director of Dramaturgy and Associate Director Gavin Witt came to Baltimore Center Stage in 2003, after nearly 15 years in Chicago as an actor, director, dramaturg, translator, and teacher—and co-founder of the classically based greasy joan & co theater. Among his translations and adaptations are a half-dozen Shakespeare plays, including a Jeff-nominated version of Pericles and the BCS production of As You Like It; Jeff-nominated translations of Beaumarchais’ The Barber of Seville and Ionesco’s Macbett; and the BCS adaptation of The Voysey Inheritance. A graduate of Yale and the University of Chicago, he is currently on the Humanities faculty at Peabody Conservatory, having previously taught at the University of Chicago, DePaul, and Towson; has served on the advisory boards of several theaters; and spent more than a decade as a regional vice president of LMDA, the national association of dramaturgs, before recently joining its board.

Baltimore Center Stage: The Christians, Detroit ’67, Stones in His Pockets. Broadway—Danai Gurira’s Eclipsed (starring Lupita Nyong’o); John Leguizamo’s Ghetto Klown (also filmed for HBO). Off Broadway— Roundabout: On the Exhale; Playwrights Realm: The Moors; Signature: Night Is a Room; Second Stage: Mala Hierba, American Hero; The Public: Eclipsed, ToasT, A Second Chance; Labyrinth: Sunset Baby; Woman’s Project: Bright Half Life. Regional—ART: Fingersmith, In the Body of the World; Goodman: Rapture Blister Burn; Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Beauty and the Beast; The Merry Wives of Windsor; Goodspeed: Theory of Relativity; Studio Theatre: Between Riverside and Crazy; Woolly Mammoth: Guards at the Taj, Marie Antoinette; Signature: Sunday in the Park with George; Two River: Hurricane Diane; Williamstown: Poster Boy; American Hero. Dance—Liz Lerman: Healing Wars. Opera—Metropolitan: Pearl Fishers, Die Fledermaus; Mariinsky (Russia): La Traviata, Faust, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Professional—Adjunct Professor, Purchase College.

Baltimore Center Stage: The Christians, The White Snake. Regional—Public Theater: Eve’s Song (dir. Jo Bonney); A.C.T: Sweat (dir. Loretta Greco); Geffen Playhouse: Untranslatable Secret of Nikki Corona (dir. Jo Bonney); South Coast Rep: Little Black Shadows (dir. May Adrales); Magic Theater: Gangster of Love, Grandeur, Dogeaters, Every Five Minutes (all dir. Loretta Greco). Opera—LA Opera: Wonderful Town (dir. David Lee); New York City Opera and Long Beach Opera: Fallujah (dir. Andreas Mitisek). Video Art Installation—Annenberg Space of Photography: Pearls of the Planet; Baryshnikov Arts Center in NY: Emille. Awards—Princess Grace Award in Theater Design, Helen Hayes Award, Theater Bay Area Critics Circle Award, StageScene LA Award, Stage Raw Award, Ovation Awards (multiple nominations). Education—UCLA School of Theater Film and Television. IG @hana.s.kim

Baltimore Center Stage: A Wonder in My Soul, King of the Yees, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, SOUL The Stax Musical, Mobile Unit Twelfth Night, Animal Farm, Skeleton Crew, Lookingglass Alice, The Christians, Jazz, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Detroit ’67, As You Like It, Pride and Prejudice, Marley, One Night in Miami…, Amadeus, Wild with Happy, Twelfth Night, A Civil War Christmas. Broadway—Amazing Grace, On the Town, End of the Rainbow, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, The Glass Menagerie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Amadeus, She Loves Me, Blood Brothers, A Few Good Men, etc. Off-Broadway—Clever Little Lies, Dr. Ruth, Stalking the Bogeyman, Freud’s Last Session, Tribes, Our Town, Almost Maine and Driving Miss Daisy. Over 50 regional theaters—Guthrie, George Street Theatre, Connecticut Rep, Pittsburgh Public, Barrington Stage. Over 60 films—Senior Moment, Year by the Sea, Child of Grace, Premium Rush, Ghost Town, Secret Window, Tony and Tina’s Wedding, The Thomas Crown Affair, The 13th Warrior, Madeline, Die Hard III, School Ties. TV/Web—Planned Parenthood series Talkin’ About, Twisted, Sesame Street, Californication (Emmy nom), Max Bickford, Hack, Strangers with Candy, Barbershop, Chappelle’s Show. mccorklecasting.com

Baltimore Center Stage: The Christians, Twisted Melodies. Regional—University of Illinois at Chicago: Passing Strange The Musical, As You Like It, Clybourne Park, The Bluest Eye; Madison Street Theatre: In My Head; Journeyman Company/Gallery 37: Cats, Thirteen The Musical, The Wiz; Oregon Shakespeare Company: Sense and Sensibility; Pegasus Theatre Chicago: Shakin the Mess Out of Misery. Director credits—UIC: The Angry Brigade, A Woman’s World, and an original adaptation of Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman. Professional—Teaching artist at Steppenwolf, Timeline Theatre, and Northlight Theatre; Program Director at TimeLine South and August Wilson Monologue Competition Outreach Chicago. Education—BFA: University of Illinois at Chicago (Theatre Performance); Arcadia University for Global Studies in London, England.

Baltimore Center Stage: How to Catch Creation, A Wonder in my Soul, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, SOUL The Stax Musical, The Christians. For the past 18 years, she has worked and reprised her role as SM with many companies including: Actors Theatre of Louisville, Clubbed Thumb, 3LD, Lee Strasberg Institute, LAByrinth Theater, Rising Circle Theater Collective, Big Apple Circus, NYU Steinhardt and New Dramatists. She’s also wrapped up Bello Mania at the New Victory Theater on 42nd St. She has also worked on two Broadway Bound workshops: The Donna Summer Project (La Jolla Playhouse) and Ain’t Too Proud (Berkeley Rep). Danielle also worked on Michael Kors’ fashion show in Shanghai, China.

Baltimore Center Stage: The Christians. Recent credits include—Rattlestick/The SOL Project: Seven Spots on the Sun; New Georges/The SOL Project: Alligator; The Working Theater: The Block; The Public Theater: Pretty Hunger; The Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater: The Sun Shines East; WorkShop Theater Company: The Golden Year; Actors Shakespeare Company at NJCU: The Winter’s Tale; The Players Club: Oleanna (starring Austin Pendleton); Mint Theater: Ghost Dancer; Abingdon Theater: Lost on the Natchez Trace; How I Fell in Love; Phantom Killer; Beachwood Drive; Greek Holiday; Rum & Coke; My Deah. Additional NYC credits include—NY Fringe Festival 2012: Songs of Love: A Mixtape; New York Musical Theater Festival: This One Girls’ Story; BRIC Arts New Black Fest: Morgan Street (dir. Anika Noni Rose).

Baltimore Center Stage: Fun Home, Animal Farm, The Christians, Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Off Broadway: WP Theatre: Natural Shocks; TFANA: The Servant of Two Masters, The Acting Company: Julius Caesar, Macbeth; The Playwrights Realm: Crane Story, Dramatis Personae; HERE: Olives and Blood. Regional: Oregon Shakespeare Festival: The Way the Mountain Moved, Sense and Sensibility; The Old Globe: Tokyo Fish Story; Ford’s Theatre: The Widow Lincoln, Our Town; Yale Repertory Theatre: Assassins, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, The Servant of Two Masters; Hartford Stage: Twelfth Night, The Tempest; Long Wharf Theatre: It’s a Wonderful Life. Other: designs and builds musical instruments, with a special emphasis on flutes and hurdy-gurdies. Education: MFA, Yale School of Drama. Professional: Lecturer, Theatre Studies, Yale University.

Jaret Landon is a composer/arranger, music director, and educator. He’s composed and arranged music for film, musicals, and recorded albums. Favorite theater credits include Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill (Porchlight Music Theatre), 15th-anniversary new production of Crowns (Co-Production – McCarter Theatre and Long Warf Theatre), Black Odyssey (Denver Theatre Center, Denver CO.), and The Black Clown (American Repertory Theatre). Landon is excited to return to Baltimore Center Stage after previously music directing The Christians in 2017. Special thanks to Daniel and Hana and the entire Center Stage Family. Landon dedicates his work on Wonder to his mother, who passed away last year after a valiant battle with cancer. Love and Light to all! Social Media @jaretlandon

Baltimore Center Stage: Ed began contracting in 1993 for Lady Day at Emerson’s Pub and has since worked on 30 productions here. Additional credits include—playing with and contracting for The Who, The Moody Blues, Mel Tormé, Henry Mancini, Sarah Vaughan, Jose Carreras, Phyllis Diller, the Smothers Brothers, and many others. Tubist—Principal Tubist in Annapolis Symphony Orchestra (44 seasons). Other tubist credit include—soloing with banjo virtuoso Buddy Wachter with 12 major symphony orchestras including performances at Ravinia and Carnegie Hall. Author—Associate Editor of the Tuba Source Book, published by Indiana University Press, which is acknowledged as the most comprehensive research project chronicling any instrument. Professional—on faculties of eight colleges including the Peabody Institute, Towson University, and George Washington University. Membership—Ed is a founding member and director of the Peabody Ragtime Ensemble and the Baltimore Jazz Orchestra. Awards—first Lifetime Achievement Award given by the Peabody Institute Alumni Association. He is a frequent guest on WBJC’s program “Face the Music.”

Todd is a freelance performer, clinician, and arranger in the Baltimore/DC area. For 20 years, he was the drummer, percussionist, clinician, and arranger for the US Army Jazz Ambassadors (official touring jazz band for the US Army). He has performed with major symphonies including Detroit, Cincinnati, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, Curtis, and Pittsburgh. He has performed with many artists, including Marvin Hamlisch, Conrad Herwig, George Garzone, Kirk Whalum, Dick Oats, Rich Perry, Chris Vidala, US Army Blues, Slide Hampton, Clark Terry, Ernie Watts, Bobby Shew, The Alan Baylock Jazz Orchestra, Chris Potter, Wynona Judd, Kevin Mahogany, Shelly Berg, Ingrid James, Bill Watrous. He studied Classical Percussion Performance at Houston Baptist University and Jazz Theory and Composition with Shelly Berg at San Jacinto Jr. College in Houston.

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association

In the Press

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Reviews

“An exquisite performance.”— The Baltimore Sun

“A timely, powerful piece.”— DC Metro Theater Arts

“A soul and conscience-stirring production.”— DC Theatre Scene

“In short, go see it.”— Baltimore Style

“Though it is bound to resonate with Christians, its inquiries transcend church, extending into the idea of institutions in general, as well as the risks and rewards of belonging to a community.”— Baltimore Style

“AN ALMOST MIRACULOUS FEAT—ADDRESSING MATTERS OF FAITH WITHOUT CONDESCENSION, MANIPULATION, OR BELITTLING.”— The Baltimore Sun

In the News

09.18.17: The Baltimore Sun—Mega-church drama of 'The Christians' gets incisive production at Center Stage
09.18.17: DC Metro Theatre Arts—Review: ‘The Christians’ at Baltimore Center Stage
09.18.17: Baltimore Style—Review: The Christians
09.19.17: DC Theatre Scene—The Christians at Baltimore Center Stage

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