Directors’ Welcome
From Diane Paulus
A.R.T. Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director
Co-Director, 1776
WELCOME TO 1776!
When 1776 was first suggested to me, I only knew it as the show that beat out HAIR at the 1969 Tony Awards for Best Musical. But as soon as I read the script, I understood that this musical could speak powerfully and directly to our lives today. In dramatizing the events surrounding the writing of the Declaration of Independence, 1776 points to the contradictions built into our nation’s founding—the ideals of equality and liberty celebrated and heralded in a document that achieved unanimous endorsement only after the anti-slavery clause in Jefferson’s original draft was edited out.
The reason why I do theater is to ask big questions. One of A.R.T.’s core values is inquiry, and working on this production has catalyzed a journey of learning and growth. In our creative process, we asked: How can we hold history as a predicament versus an affirming myth? How does an honest reckoning with our past help us move forward together? I hope these questions will be alive for you as you experience our production. These questions also resonate deeply with Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery, the landmark report which the university recently released to the public.
This project has centered collaboration with Co-Director and Choreographer Jeffrey L. Page and Associate Director Brisa Areli Muñoz. With the support of the estates of Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone, this production features an extraordinary cast of performers who reflect multiple representations of race, ethnicity, and gender, and who identify as female, trans, and non-binary. We invite you, the audience, to hold multiple realities at the same time: both this historical narrative and the identities of this company of artists alive in 2022. In this process, we hope that you will see the events that took place in Independence Hall in new ways.
As the professional theater company at Harvard University, the A.R.T. has the unique opportunity to collaborate with scholars and students as part of our research and development. I urge you to explore this digital program, which highlights our interactions with Harvard faculty, including Annette Gordon-Reed, whose remarkable scholarship on the Hemings family of Monticello influenced this production. You can also learn how our show includes, for the first time, the text of a letter written by Abigail Adams in March 1776, in which she urged her husband, John, to “Remember the Ladies” in the creation of a new American government. The educational mission of this production has been at the core of our journey, and has extended to our programs Declaration Reclamation and We Declare Boston, which invites local students to connect their own lives to the long sweep of history, grapple with its inherent contradictions, and advocate for the society in which they wish to live. Lastly, I encourage you to visit the We the People mural just off of our lobby, created through a collaboration with Artists for Humanity.
We have been waiting for two years to bring this production to our stage. As we finally welcome you to 1776, I am overwhelmed with gratitude—to all the artists and A.R.T. staff who have persevered through this difficult time, and to you, our audience and our community, who have endured this long journey with us. Thank you for joining us.
Diane
From Jeffrey L. Page
Co-Director and Choreographer, 1776
We often think of words, and of history, as finite and immovable things. Working on 1776, however, I’ve been reminded that there is an innate flexibility in our understanding of the past: the words and symbols of our cultural memory take on very different meanings through the act of reframing. Think, for example, of the portraits of the so-called founding fathers. Often, these paintings feature only one face—or a collection of very similar faces. But when we shift the gaze, even just a little bit, the picture changes.
When we look beyond the traditional limits of our foundational myths, we find other faces, other voices, other perspectives on what this country means. In this production, I’m interested in asking “Who gets to tell the story? Who gets the privilege of embodying cultural memory?” When we ask these questions, the familiar can become strange—we can blur the lines between the occluded and the included. We can illuminate new dimensions of our national story. After all, just outside the frame, we know that the lives of these “great men” intersected with, depended upon, and severely limited the lives of many others. The systems of power that brought these men to national prominence had international implications that continue to this day.
As a director and a choreographer, I’m interested in a tonal and gestural repositioning of the past. History is communicated not only in text and oral tradition, but in the body itself. Often, the body necessitates a reframing of the written word. We know this instinctually, through the recent years’ dependence on Zoom and FaceTime—a message sent to a friend changes dramatically based on the tone of voice, the face, the body’s position. Written text or even spoken words can’t seem to manifest fully without human representation.
A musical can make us laugh while also prompting reflections that provoke change. I am interested in examining how gesture, choreography, and physical action can come together to reveal the ineffable. The body can be a source of alternative narratives and clandestine signifiers. I’m curious about the idea of doubles—how can the oppressed and the erased start to rhyme with the “propertied” and powerful? I know that choreography is larger than the catchy two-step in the background; I believe that the human body is a carrier of significant information.
I am writing this note just a few days after a man with a camera strapped to his head and an XM-15 semi-automatic assault rifle gripped in his arms went on a shooting rampage in Buffalo, New York, the barrel of his gun inscribed with anti-Black racist slurs. The shooter killed 10 Black people. New York Magazine called this atrocity “American Exceptionalism.” I can’t help but think about the fact that this musical opened in 1969, in the midst of the Civil Rights Era—and for me, this musical highlights that “1776” means very different things to different people. I hope that all of us will keep our gaze trained on the bandaged place. “Don’t turn away,” as Rumi once said: “that is where the light enters.”
Thanks so much for taking this journey with us.
Jeffrey
American Repertory Theater and Roundabout Theatre Company
Present
1776
Creative Team
Production support of 1776 is provided by Katie and Paul Buttenwieser, The Linda Hammett Ory & Andrew Ory Charitable Trust, Allison Johnson, and Serena and Bill Lese.
Support for 1776 education and engagement programming is provided by the Ford Foundation.
Additional production support is provided by Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine, Janet and Irv Plotkin, Professor Mark V. Tushnet, and National Endowment for the Arts.
Additional education and engagement support is provided by Bank of America, Fresh Sound Foundation, Klarman Family Foundation, and Mass Humanities.
Media Support is provided by WBUR.
Production support of the run of 1776 at Roundabout Theatre Company is provided by Elizabeth Armstrong.
First performance at the Loeb Drama Center on May 17, 2022.
Original Production directed by Peter Hunt
Originally Produced on the Broadway Stage by Stuart Ostrow.
1776 is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. mtishows.com
A.R.T. has been inspired by the scholarship of the following Harvard faculty members, who contributed to the creative process through a range of presentations and conversations: Danielle Allen, Vincent Brown, Annette Gordon-Reed, Jane Kamensky, Jill Lepore, Timothy Patrick McCarthy, David Moss, John Stauffer, and Mark V. Tushnet. |
Runtime: Two hours and forty-five minutes, including one fifteen-minute intermission.
This production contains stylized representations of racialized violence, particularly related to enslavement. Additionally, this production contains sexually suggestive themes, occasional strong language, haze, a brief strobe effect, a non-firing replica firearm, and a gunshot sound effect.
Any video and/or audio recording of this production is strictly prohibited.
Company
Cast (in Order of Appearance)
John Adams (MA)
Crystal Lucas-Perry
John Adams (MA)
Crystal Lucas-Perry
(she/her) A.R.T.: Debut. Off-Broadway: A Bright Room Called Day (Zillah; Antonyo Award nomination), Ain’t No Mo’ (Passenger 5, Lucille Lortel Award), The Public Theater; Bull in a China Shop (Felicity), Lincoln Center Theater; Little Children Dream of God (Madison), Roundabout Theater. Regional: The Taming of the Shrew (Petruchio), Chicago Shakespeare Theater; A Sign of the Times (Tanya), Delaware Theatre Company. TV: “Law and Order: SVU” (Aneeka Coleman), “The Last O.G.” (T’era). Film: Goodnight Mommy (Sandy Liddell), Amazon Studios; Frank and Azalee Austin (Azalee, Craft Acting Award). Education: MFA, Tisch Graduate Acting, New York University; BFA, Acting, Western Michigan University.
Actors’ Equity Association member
Robert Livingston (NY)
Gisela Adisa
Robert Livingston (NY)
Gisela Adisa
(she/her) A.R.T.: Debut. Broadway: Beautiful (Lucille), Sondheim. Regional: Shoebox Picnic (Odette), Alabama Shakespeare Festival; Lights Out (Eartha Kitt; Best Actress Nominations, Ovation and Barrymore), Geffen Playhouse and People’s Light; Man of La Mancha (Aldonza, Best Actress Nomination, CT Critics Circle), Westport Country Playhouse; Once on This Island (Erzulie), Actors Theatre of Louisville. TV/Film: “Nanny” (Sundance Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic); “FBI,” “Raising Kanan,” “Jigsaw,” “Pretty Little Liars,” ”Younger,” “Ridley Jones.” Education: BA, Drama, African Studies, Fordham.
Actors’ Equity Association member
George Read (DE)
Nancy Anderson
George Read (DE)
Nancy Anderson
(she/her) A.R.T.: Debut. Broadway: Sunset Boulevard (u/s Glenn Close), Wonderful Town, A Class Act. London: Kiss Me, Kate (Olivier Nomination). Tours: Kiss Me, Kate (Hayes Nomination), Doctor Dolittle. Off-Broadway: Lily Dare, Primary Stages; Yank!, York Theater; Fanny Hill (Drama Desk Nomination), Jolson & Co. (Drama Desk Nomination). Television: “The Gilded Age,” “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “The Other Two,” “Madam Secretary,” Kiss Me Kate CD: Ten Cents A Dance. Nancy is from Needham, MA.
Actors’ Equity Association member
Col. Thomas McKean (DE)
Becca Ayers
Col. Thomas McKean (DE)
Becca Ayers
(they/she) A.R.T.: Debut. Broadway: South Pacific, My Fair Lady, revivals at Lincoln Center; Addams Family, Avenue Q, Les Misérables (first revival original cast). Off-Broadway: Dear Evan Hansen, Dogfight, Giant, Sarah, Plain and Tall. They have songs on all streaming platforms under their name (Becca Ayers) and with their band, baby goes bang. BeccaAyers.com
Actors’ Equity Association member
Andrew McNair (Congressional Custodian)
Tiffani Barbour
Andrew McNair (Congressional Custodian)
Tiffani Barbour
(she/her) A.R.T.: Debut. Tiffani Barbour is thrilled to be making history with this production of 1776. As a Baltimore native, she got her start at the Arena Players Inc. and continued her training at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Theater credits include: Mamma Mia!, North Shore Music Theater; How to Catch Creation, Baltimore Center Stage/Philadelphia Theater Company; Hit the Wall, Barrow Street Theater. TV/Film: “The Leftovers,” Rabbit, Law and Order. tiffanibarbour.com
Actors’ Equity Association member
Stephen Hopkins (RI)
Allison Briner Dardenne
Stephen Hopkins (RI)
Allison Briner Dardenne
(she/her) A.R.T.: Debut. Broadway: Bright Star, Mamma Mia! National tours: Bright Star, Mamma Mia!, Follies, Titanic, White Christmas, Les Misérables. Off-Broadway: Listen To My Heart, Return To The Forbidden Planet, Jacques Brel…, Forbidden Broadway and Hollywood, Southern Comfort, Song Of Singapore. Regional: Into The Breeches (Celeste); Steel Magnolias (M’Lynn); Ring Of Fire (June), Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Regional credits include: Berkshire Theatre Festival, PaperMill Playhouse, The Old Globe, Actors Theatre Of Louisville, The Cape Playhouse, Westport Country Playhouse, Syracuse Stage. Concerts: Featured soloist in Indianapolis Symphony’s North American tour of Pops Goes Vegas. Television: “The Carrie Diaries,” “Law and Order: SVU,” “All My Children,” “One Life To Live.” Recipient of San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle award for Outstanding Supportive Performance, Female for Tinyard Hill at TheatreWorks, Palo Alto, CA.
Actors’ Equity Association member
Abigail Adams/Rev. Jonathan Witherspoon (NJ)
Allyson Kaye Daniel
Abigail Adams/Rev. Jonathan Witherspoon (NJ)
Allyson Kaye Daniel
(she/her) A.R.T.: Allyson Kaye Daniel is originally from Washington, DC, where her love for music and theatre blossomed at the prestigious Duke Ellington School of the Arts. She attended Penn State, where she received her BFA in Musical Theatre. Allyson has worked all over the country at regional theatres, in TV/Film, taught elementary through high school music, and performed on several cruise lines and in New York City. She is very pleased to be living the life she’s always wanted!
Actors’ Equity Association member
Thomas Jefferson (VA)
Elizabeth A. Davis
Thomas Jefferson (VA)
Elizabeth A. Davis
(she/her) A.R.T.: Once (Tony Award nomination), NYTW, Broadway. Select: John Doyle’s Allegro (Drama Desk nomination); Buzz, Alabama Shakespeare Festival; Indecent, Center Theatre Group, Huntington Theatre Company; My Name’s Not Indian Joe, Davenport; The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Caucasian Chalk Circle, Classic Stage Company; Zorba!, City Center; Rain, Old Globe; 39 Steps, New World Stages. TV: “Law & Order: SVU,” “New Amsterdam,” “Blue Bloods,” “The Jim Gaffigan Show,” “Taxi Brooklyn,” “Fringe.” Writing: The Apple Tree (album), Child(less) (play).
Actors’ Equity Association member
Charles Thomson (Secretary)
Mehry Eslaminia
Charles Thomson (Secretary)
Mehry Eslaminia
(she/her) A.R.T.: Debut. Regional: Twelfth Night, Appoggiatura, A Christmas Carol, Denver Center for Performing Arts; The Corpse Washer, Actors Theatre of Louisville; You Can’t Take It With You, Noises Off, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Indiana Repertory Theatre/Syracuse Stage; Hamlet, Indianapolis Shakespeare Co; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Illinois Shakespeare Festival; The Happiest Song Plays Last, Curious Theater Co.; Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Guys and Dolls, Creede Repertory Theater.
Actors’ Equity Association member
John Dickinson (PA)
Joanna Glushak
John Dickinson (PA)
Joanna Glushak
A.R.T.: Gloria: A Life. Broadway: leading roles in War Paint, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Sunday in the Park with George, Les Misérables, Hairspray, The Sweet Smell of Success, Urinetown, Rags, Conversations with My Father, Welcome to the Club, After the Night and the Music. Tour: Finding Neverland, First National. Off-Broadway: Gloria: A Life, Daryl Roth Theatre. TV: “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Younger.” Education/Training: Yale School of Drama. JoannaGlushak.com
Actors’ Equity Association member
Richard Henry Lee (VA)
Shawna Hamic
Richard Henry Lee (VA)
Shawna Hamic
(she/her) A.R.T.: Debut. Broadway: The Last Ship (Mrs. Dees). Broadway National Tours: Les Misérables (Madame Thénardier), Kinky Boots (Trish). Off-Broadway: Miss You Like Hell, The Public Theater. Regional: My Paris, Goodspeed; Hello Dolly, Sacramento Music Circus; Twist, Alliance Theater. TV: “Orange is the New Black” (C.O. Ginger), “The Time Traveler’s Wife” (Isabelle), “Halston” (Pat Ast), “Russian Doll” (Nurse Reba), “New Amsterdam” (Inmate Charly Yarborough). Film: BRUISED (Directed by Halle Berry).
Actors’ Equity Association member
Martha Jefferson/Dr. Lyman Hall (GA)
Eryn LeCroy
Martha Jefferson/Dr. Lyman Hall (GA)
Eryn LeCroy
(she/her) A.R.T.: Debut. Broadway: Eryn LeCroy was most recently seen on Broadway as Christine Daaé in The Phantom of the Opera. National Tour: Jekyll and Hyde (Emma Carew). Off-Broadway: Sweeney Todd (Joanna), Barrow Street Theatre; Assassins, City Center Encores!. International: Sousatzka (world premiere, Young Sousatzka). Regional: Brigadoon (Pittsburgh CLO, Fiona). Eryn is a National YoungArts Foundation alumna and Presser Scholar. Education/Training: BM, Oklahoma City University. erynlecroy.com, Instagram: @erynlecroy.
Actors’ Equity Association member
John Hancock (President, Congress)
Liz Mikel
John Hancock (President, Congress)
Liz Mikel
(she/her) A.R.T.: O.P.C. Broadway: Lysistrata Jones (Hetaira). Off-Broadway: Lysistrata Jones, Transport Group; Fruit Trilogy, Abingdon Theatre. Regional: V to the Tenth (The Vagina Monologues), Louisiana Superdome; Spring Awakening, Theatre Under The Stars; Seussical, Hairspray, All Shook Up!, MUNY Theatre; Little Women (Marmie), Old Globe Theatre. International: Blind Lemon Blues, Forum Meyrin (Switzerland), Maison des Cultures du Monde (Paris, France). Resident Company Member, Dallas Theater Center. TV/Film: “Friday Night Lights” (Corrina Williams), Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins, Get On Up!, Miss Juneteenth. Ten Chimneys Lunt Fontanne Fellow.
Actors’ Equity Association member
Benjamin Franklin (PA)
Patrena Murray
Benjamin Franklin (PA)
Patrena Murray
(she/her) A.R.T.: Gloria: A Life, Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3). Other credits: Lemon Girls, La MaMa; Gloria: A Life, McCarter Theatre Center, Daryl Roth Theater; Men on Boats, Baltimore Center Stage; The Oresteia, Shakespeare Theatre Company; Masculinity Max, The Winter’s Tale, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Public Theater; Venus, The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, Signature Theatre; Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1,2 & 3), Mark Taper Forum. Film/TV: “New Amsterdam,” Daddy, ” The Sopranos,” “Law & Order.”
Actors’ Equity Association member
Joseph Hewes (NC)
Oneika Phillips
Joseph Hewes (NC)
Oneika Phillips
(she/her) A.R.T.: Debut. Broadway: FELA! (Production: Tony Award, Drama Desk nomination), Eugene O’Neill Theatre; Spongebob Squarepants (Production: Tony Award), Palace Theatre; Amazing Grace: The Musical, Nederlander Theatre; Violet (Asst. to Choreographer), American Airlines Theatre. West End: FELA!; West Side Story (Anita), Sadler’s Wells. Off-Broadway: Black No More, Signature/The New Group. Tours: FELA! First and Second National, International; West Side Story (Anita), International. Dance: Forces of Nature Dance Theatre.
Actors’ Equity Association member
Samuel Chase (MD)
Lulu Picart
Samuel Chase (MD)
Lulu Picart
(she/her) A.R.T.: Debut. National Tour: Rodger+Hammerstein’s Cinderella. Off-Broadway: Disenchanted (Lortel nomination). Regional: Man of La Mancha, Westport Country Playhouse; Man of La Mancha, freeFall Theatre; 9 to 5, North Carolina Theatre; Wit, American Stage; Finding Nemo: the Musical, Walt Disney World. TV/Film: Going in Style, Frozen Blu-Ray, “Welcome to Flatch.” Creative consultant: The Choir of Man, Norwegian Creative Studios, Walt Disney World. Podcast host: The Daily Happy, 10K Dollar Day. Education: BA, Political Science, Stetson University; MBA (Leadership Studies), University of South Florida.
Actors’ Equity Association member
Edward Rutledge (SC)
Sara Porkalob
Edward Rutledge (SC)
Sara Porkalob
(she/they) A.R.T.: Dragon Mama (2019 Elliot Norton Awards for Best Original Script, Best Solo Performance); Dragon Lady. Sara Porkalob is an award-winning artist-activist, cultural worker, and creator of the Dragon Cycle, a trilogy of matrilineal musicals about her Filipino American gangster family, with one play for each generation built around a central female protagonist. Dragon Lady premiered at Intiman Theatre and was the recipient of three 2018 Gregory Awards (Outstanding Sound/Music Design, Outstanding Actress in a Musical, Outstanding Musical Production). Dragon Mama premiered at the A.R.T., which has commissioned the third play, Dragon Baby. saraporkalob.com, @sporkalob.
James Wilson (PA)
Sushma Saha
James Wilson (PA)
Sushma Saha
(pronoun inclusive) A.R.T.: Debut. Off-Broadway: Interstate, Theatre Row. Regional: 7 Minutes (English-language premiere), Waterwell; Girlfriend, The Drama Leage DirectorFest; Interstate, Mixed Blood Theatre (world premiere), development at MCC, NYSAF, NAMT, DGF Fellows Festival, Pride Plays, Playwrights Horizons; The Wolves, Actors Theatre of Louisville. Sushma is a queer South Asian-American artist who graduated with a BFA in musical theatre from Ithaca College. They won “Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role” at NYMF 2018. Instagram: @sushmasahahaha
Roger Sherman (CT)
Brooke Simpson
Roger Sherman (CT)
Brooke Simpson
(she/her) A.R.T.: Debut. Brooke Simpson is a powerhouse vocalist who is passionate about music, people, and her culture. Brooke is full-blooded Native American and is a member of the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe. Brooke has had the opportunity to work with artists including Miley Cyrus, Sia, Bishop Briggs, and more. She was a top three finalist on NBC’s “The Voice” and even more recently was a top four finalist on “America’s Got Talent!” Brooke has released multiple singles including “Little Bit Crazy,” “Stick Like Honey,” and her newest release, “Haliwa.”
Courier
Salome B. Smith
Courier
Salome B. Smith
(she/her) A.R.T.: Debut. Salome is originally from Birmingham, AL. Salome studied theater at Alabama State University, where she received a BFA and also studied Musical Theater at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, where she received her MFA. She was last seen in the Off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors and is so excited to be making her A.R.T. debut in the revival of 1776!
Actors’ Equity Association member
Dr. Josiah Bartlett (NH)
Sav Souza
Dr. Josiah Bartlett (NH)
Sav Souza
(they/them) A.R.T.: Debut. Regional: Other World, Delaware Theatre Company; Lempicka, Williamstown Theatre Festival; The Elementary Spacetime Show, Playwrights Downtown; Falsettos, 11th Hour Theatre Company. Concerts: We Start In Manhattan: A New Queer Musical, The Green Room 42. Education: BFA, Musical Theatre, University of the Arts. Sav is also a musical theatre writer & lyricist, passionate about lifting up queer and trans stories. They are currently developing We Start In Manhattan: A New Queer Musical with their writing (and life) partner, Ariella Serur. Social media: @saaaavv
Actors’ Equity Association member
Caesar Rodney (DE)
Jill Vallery
Caesar Rodney (DE)
Jill Vallery
(she/her) A.R.T.: Debut. Broadway: Fela! (Dance Captain, Astaire Award, ACCA Actor Equity Award), Eugene O’Neill. Off-Broadway: Fela! A New Musical, 37 Arts; Cullud Wattah (Movement Director), The Public Theater; And My Name Ain’t Peaches, Theatre Outlet. TV/Film: “She’s Gotta Have It” (Jubilee Jones); Lifted (Lead Dancer). Education/Training: The Ailey School.
Actors’ Equity Association member
Standby
Ariella Serur
Standby
Ariella Serur
(she/they) A.R.T.: Debut. Regional: RENT, Redhouse Arts Center; Grand Concourse, Theatre Horizon; Gypsy, Hangar Theatre. Workshops: Queer Baby Jesus, Dixon Place; War Of The Worlds, The Rev Theatre Co. Concerts: We Start In Manhattan: A New Queer Musical, The Green Room 42; Drew Gasparini at Joe’s Pub, Joe’s Pub; Zack Zadek’s On We Go, Feinstein’s 54 Below. Education: Musical Theater B.F.A., Ithaca College. Ariella is also a queer dating coach, traveler, and composer currently developing We Start In Manhattan: A New Queer Musical with their partner in writing and life, Sav Souza.
Actors’ Equity Association member
Standby
Grace Stockdale
Standby
Grace Stockdale
(she/her) A.R.T.: Debut. Grace is honored to be part of this truly extraordinary group of artists. Broadway credits include: Waitress (u/s Jenna). First National Tour (Original Companies): Kinky Boots (Nicola), Waitress (u/s Jenna, Dawn); Off-Broadway: Atomic (Mae), The Acorn Theatre; Songs For A New World (Woman 1), Radial Park. Grace is also an accomplished Photographer, and her continued work can be viewed at @songbirdstudionyc. For Nick, CGF, and the Stockdale/Anton Family.
Actors’ Equity Association member
Standby
Imani Pearl Williams
Standby
Imani Pearl Williams
(she/her) Imani is beyond excited to be making her A.R.T. debut! Tours: Pretty Woman (Swing), Pippin (Ensemble, u/s Leading Player). Select Regional: Memphis (Ensemble, u/s Felicia), Footloose (Rusty) Other: Montréal Complètement Cirque (Vocalist). Huge thank you to ATB Talent, my mom, and all the folks in my life who make me feel safe, celebrated, and loved! @imanipearlz
Actors’ Equity Association member
Standby
Rose Van Dyne
Standby
Rose Van Dyne
(she/her) A.R.T.: Debut. Rose Van Dyne is a mixed Asian-American actor, music director, and educator who is thrilled to be making her A.R.T. performance debut! Recent credits include: Interstate (World premiere), Mixed Blood Theatre; Cambodian Rock Band, All’s Well That Ends Well, Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Spring Awakening, Argyle Theatre. Education: MFA, Boston Conservatory at Berklee (expected 2023); BA, University of Northern Colorado. Endless gratitude to all loved ones.
Actors’ Equity Association member
Standby
Sabrina K. Victor
Standby
Sabrina K. Victor
(she/her) A.R.T.: The Donkey Show; Miss You Like Hell, Company One. Sabrina K. Victor is a Haitian-American performance activist. Other regional credits include School Girls; or, the African Mean Girls Play, SpeakEasyStage. She is honored to rejoin the A.R.T. family! Sabrina is currently an MFA Acting Candidate at Columbia University, and holds two Bachelor’s Degrees in Theater and Journalism, and a Multicultural Theater Practice Certificate from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. sabrinakvictor.com
Understudies
Understudies never substitute for listed players unless a specific announcement for the appearance is made at the time of the performance.
Band
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Synthesizer Programming by Billy Jay Stein and Hiro Iida for Strange Cranium Productions, Inc. Associate Synthesizer Programmers—Fuso Murase and Naoya Iwaki |
Additional Staff
Special Thanks
Nicole Brown, Alyssa Mt. Pleasant
Diane Borger, Nadia DiGiallonardo, Rich Mercurio, Meghan Toohey
Melissa D’Anello, Archon Fung, Anthony Saich, Tova Wang, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation; Catherine Allgor, Sara Martin, Massachusetts Historical Society; Museum of the American Revolution; Revolutionary Spaces; Royall House & Slave Quarters
Jane Kamensky’s HIST 1776 students at Harvard: Chinaza Asiegbu, Desmond Goodwin, Liz Hoveland, Nithyani Karthiga, Ben Sorkin, Oliver Sughrue, Michael Wallace, Sarah Wexner, Harry Sage; A.R.T. Summer 2019 Artistic Interns: Ruva Chigwedere, Ece Hakim, Allie Jeffay, Genevieve Lefevre, Chloe Levine, Lindsay McAuliffe, and Eli Troen; The students of TDM 194; David Moberg, Emma Rogers
Buffer Trenouth Physical Therapy and Wellness
Additional Lighting Equipment provided by Christie Lites.
Additional Sound Equipment provided by Sound Associates, Inc.
Additional Projections Equipment provided by Sound Associates, Inc.
Rehearsed at the New 42nd Street Studios
Image Credits, used with permission:
Dennis Bratland; Canton Becker; Funcrunch Photo; Bob Navarro; Lorie Shaull; State Library of Louisiana; Washington National Cathedral; 1973 Sylvia Rivera Archival Material Courtesy of LoveTapesCollective and L.O.V.E. Collective with special thanks to the Lesbian Herstory Archives.
The actors and stage managers employed in this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.
The Director and Choreographer of this production are members of the STAGE DIRECTORS AND CHOREOGRAPHERS SOCIETY, a national theatrical labor union.
United Scenic Artists represents the designers and scenic painters for the American Theatre.
The musicians employed in this production are members of the American Federation of Musicians.
Musical Numbers
ACT 1
Sit Down, John: John Adams, Company
Piddle, Twiddle, and Resolve: Adams, Company
Till Then: John and Abigail Adams
The Lees of Old Virginia: Lee, Franklin, Adams
But, Mr. Adams—: Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, Sherman, Livingston
Yours, Yours, Yours: John and Abigail Adams
He Plays the Violin: Martha Jefferson, Franklin, Adams
ACT 2
Cool, Cool Considerate Men: Dickinson, Hall, Hewes, Read, Rutledge, Wilson
Momma, Look Sharp: Courier, McNair, Company
The Egg: Franklin, Adams, Jefferson
Molasses to Rum: Rutledge, Company
Yours, Yours, Yours (Reprise): Abigail Adams
Is Anybody There?: Adams
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For the first time in a professional production of 1776, the script includes—with the permission of the Stone and Edwards estates—an excerpt of Abigail Adams’ March 31, 1776 letter to John Adams: I long to hear that you have declared an independancy—and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebelion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation. For more of the correspondence between John and Abigail, please visit The Adams Papers Digital Edition, published by the Massachusetts Historical Society. |
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Inspired by the scholarship of Annette Gordon-Reed, this production features a depiction of Robert Hemings—the enslaved fourteen-year-old (and half-brother of Martha Jefferson) who accompanied Thomas Jefferson to the Second Continental Congress as a servant. From Gordon-Reed’s The Hemingses of Monticello (W.W. Norton & Company, 2008): Throughout the early days at Monticello, Robert Hemings traveled extensively with Jefferson in Virginia, and in 1776 the fourteen-year-old lived with Jefferson in Philadelphia when he was a member of the Continental Congress and wrote the Declaration of Independence. Robert Hemings is portrayed here by Imani Pearl Williams. For more information about the Hemings family, please see the Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia, published digitally by Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. |
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1776 Guide
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We Are the People
In conjunction with 1776, A.R.T. invited Artists For Humanity teens to design a visual representation of their answers to the production’s Four Essential Questions.
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In conjunction with 1776, A.R.T. invited Artists For Humanity teens to design a visual representation of their answers to the production’s Four Essential Questions.
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We Declare
We Declare is an opportunity to engage with the essential questions posed by 1776, created in collaboration with our artists and educators, with the hopes that we engage together in a dialogue around what matters to us in the United States of America.
Visit We Declare
We Declare is an opportunity to engage with the essential questions posed by 1776, created in collaboration with our artists and educators, with the hopes that we engage together in a dialogue around what matters to us in the United States of America.
Visit We Declare
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