Top Girls Top Girls
By Caryl Churchill By Caryl Churchill
Welcome to BU’s SOT!
A NOTE FROM THE SCHOOL OF THEATRE DIRECTOR
The School of Theatre is overjoyed to welcome you to our 2025-2026 season. This year all of our work explores the themes of Renew and Reuse, an invitation for all of our resident theatre practitioners here at SOT to present work that takes a story or theme that may seem somewhat familiar, use the storytelling power of theatre to examine those themes anew. For some of our projects such as Dream this entails adapting a play that has been mounted perpetually since its first incarnations and re-shaping it to push the boundaries of live performance through its exploration of technology on stage, or, not so perpetual, such as Islander and its exploration of sound. For our many instances of new work–The Eleanors, Thumbprint, Calf Scramble, Flowers for Mrs. Harris, Flight, and our Next Stage Workshops and Springboards– this re-envisioning takes the form of new and emerging artists re-considering essential queries of what it means to be human during our brief period of time on this earth together. For pieces such as Top Girls, Fefu and Her Friends, 12 Angry Jurors, and contemporary adaptations of Roméo and Juliette, Medea and The Oresteia, this can mean rediscovering work by playwrights who have demanded audiences contemplate the forces that bind, or otherwise threaten to tear us apart. We are also delighted to revisit offerings that appear each year in our season–namely our collaboration with Boston University's Dance Theatre Group Aurora Borealis and Director’s Project. We hope, however, that you will experience all of our pieces as a celebration of community and collaboration, forces that have proven time again, to instill meaning not only in our work, but the processes that we share to bring that work to life.
Kirsten Greenidge Director of the School of Theatre, Boston University
TOP GIRLS
CARYL CHURCHILL
FLORESTAL
NOVEMBER 23 & 24, 2025
Boston University College of Fine Arts
855 Commonwealth Ave. Boston, MA
Runtime
The show runs 2 hours and 30 minutes with one intermission Caution
This production contains blood, mentions of sexual violence, and foul language.
Juliane Ethel Leilani Miller Studio Theatre
CAST
MARLENE
ISABELLA BIRD/MRS.
KIDD/JOYCE
LADY NIJO/WIN
DULL GRET/ANGIE
POPE JOAN/LOUISE
THE WAITRESS/KIT/SHONA
PATIENT GRISELDA/NELL/JEANINE
Chloe McFarlane
Sydney Jackson
Maggie Shen
Olivia Kelly
Stephanie Vaughn
Jordan Berke
Thalia Gerloff
DESIGN & PRODUCTION TEAM
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR/STAGE
MANAGER
COSTUME DESIGNER
SCENE DESIGNER
FACULTY PROJECT ADVISORS
Nirah Michel Sara Mathew
Kara Zacharewicz
Tasia Jones
Tori Sweetser
PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS PRODUCTION CREW
Jj Richards
Renee Dvorske
Miranda Souki
PLAYWRIGHT & DIRECTOR
Caryl Churchill (PLAYWRIGHT)
Caryl Churchill was born on 3 September 1938 in London and grew up in the Lake District and in Montreal. She was educated at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Downstairs, her first play written while she was still at university, was first staged in 1958 and won an award at the Sunday Times National Union of Students Drama Festival.
Pascale Florestal (DIRECTOR)
Pascale Florestal is a first generation Haitian American Queer Woman. She is an Elliot Norton Winner for Outstanding Musical for her production of Next to Normal with Central Square theater and The Front Porch Arts Collective. She is a Director, Educator, Dramaturg, Writer and Collaborator based in Boston, MA. Recent Credits: No Child with Gloucester Stage To The People Like Us with White Snake Projects, Is This America? with White Snake Projects, Your Town with Central Square Theater, Next to Normal with Central Square Theater and The Front Porch Arts Collective, MidSummer; Kinda? Written and Directed by Pascale Florestal at Suffolk University, World Premiere of Phaedra Michelle Scott’s DIASPORA! with New Repertory Theater, Magic Flute with MassOpera, Fairview with SpeakEasy Stage, Spring Awakening at Brandeis University, The Colored Museum with The Umbrella Performing Arts Center, Once On This Island with SpeakEasy Stage, This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing with Emerson Stage, Everybody with Boston Conservatory and others. As an Assistant to the Director she has worked with Timothy Douglas, Liesl Tommy, Billy Porter, Paul Daigneault and M. Bevin O'Gara. Pascale served as the Associate Director to Gil Rose on X:The Life and Times of Malcolm X with Odyssey Opera and Kimberly Senior on Our Daughters, Like Pillarsat The Huntington Theater. Pascale also served as the Associate Director for The Broadway National Tour of Jagged Little Pill. In 2021 Pascale was named one of the WBUR ARTery 25 Artists of Color Transforming the Cultural Landscape in Boston. In 2020 she won the Inaugural Greg Ferrell Award for her excellence in teaching and supporting young people. She serves as the Associate Artistic Director for The Front Porch Arts Collective and is an Assistant Professor of Theater at Boston Conservatory at Berklee College of Music and is currently the Monan Professor in Theatre Arts at Boston College. SDC
MEET THE CAST
Chloe McFarlene (MARLENE) is a wide-ranged artist pursuing a B F A in Theatre Arts, concentrating in Playwriting, Movement Direction, and Acting, at Boston University. Previous acting training includes intensives at Atlantic Theatre Company, HB Studio, Stella Adler, and the British American Dramatic Academy. Last year she was thankful to have taken part in the feature film Mr.Santa (Amber) and thrilled to solo in Boston University's Aurora Borealis last fall.
Sydney Jackson (ISABELLA BIRD/MRS. KIDD/JOYCE) (she/her) is a Theatre Performance Core major at Boston University School of Theatre. She is a member of Bassline, BU’s premier POC allgender a cappella group. Sydney would like to her friends and family for their support!
Maggie Shen (LADY NIJO/WIN)is an international actress from Shanghai, China. Her passion for acting and the support from her family guided her to travel across half the world, exploring and deepening her acting work with supportive faculties and wonderful classmates here at Boston University School of Theatre Maggie has been in productions "Significant Other" and "The Seagull" here at BU. She learned a lot in both of these production processes. Chekhov's mindset and techniques, taught by Christine Hamel, shape the way she performs and the way she sees the world. She would like to thank her parents for supporting her in pursuing her dream. Peace and love.
Olivia Kelly (DULL GRET/ANGIE) is a sophomore theater arts major. When they aren't in classes or rehearsals they are spending their time writing. She is also a part of BU EMS and enjoys photography and going to bed.
Stephanie Vaughn (POPE JOAN/LOUISE) (she/her) is an actress from Atlanta, Georgia, and student at the Boston University School of Theatre. She's previously enjoyed roles in shows such as The Seagull and Significant Other, and is excited to keep working and learning! She would like to thank her family for supporting her and her friends for also doing that but with less of a financial stake in the whole thing.
Jordan Berke (THE WAITRESS/KIT/SHONA) (she/her) is so excited to be a part of this beautiful show and the amazing cast and creative team of talented women. She is from Westchester, New York, and is a Theatre Arts Performance Senior with a Musical Theatre concentration and a minor in Dance Her past BU productions include Museum and Entry (or, you think you know me) Jordan is honored to be working with the fabulous director, Pascale Florestal, and thrilled to share this womenempowering story with audiences. Hope you enjoy the show!
Thalia Gerloff (PATIENT GRISELDA/NELL/JEANINE) is Brooklyn-based actor thrilled to be pursuing an Acting BFA at Boston University! Credits at BU include The Seagull (Nina/Medvedenko), Mercutio Loves Romeo Loves Juliet Loves (Britt), and Significant Other (Vanessa). She is also known for her film credits in Hulu's Summer of 69 (Gamer Stacey) and The Foo Fighters, 'Waiting on a War' music video. When she's not in rehearsals, she's working on improv with Spon Com, or her original play, Proof 2: Hal's Revenge. She wants to thank her friends, family, professors, Zuri Agency, and Ricky. instagram @thaliagerloff roblox @thalliummm
MEET THE PRODUCTION TEAM
Nirah Michel (ASSISTANT DIRECTOR/STAGE MANAGER) (she/her) is an actress from Tampa, Florida. She is a Performance Core student in the Boston University School of Theatre Class of 2028 and has enjoyed working on productions of All My Sons and Mean Girls She would like to thank her mom, her cousins, and her friends Isha and Makenzie for their support.
Frankie Kraus (LIGHTING DESIGNER) is a Theatre Arts student concentrating in Lighting Design and Technical Production He is excited to contribute to this production at Boston University and proud of all the work this team has done for the show.
Kara Zacharewicz (SCENIC DESIGNER) is a third-year BFA Scenic Designer. Their past productions at BU include properties coordinator for "Siren Song" (2024) and assistant scenic designer for "Emilia" (2025) as well as the upcoming Opera Institute production of "Roméo et Juliette" (2026). They would like to thank the cast and crew of "Top Girls" for all of their support throughout this process!
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
I was first introduced to Top Girls during my first semester of undergrad, when my alma mater opened the 2009 season with it as the first show. At the time, the world of the play felt distant and unfamiliar to me. Now, almost sixteen years later, I see more clearly than ever how deeply relevant and vital this work still is.
Caryl Churchill presents a world where women may have reached positions of power, yet the structures of male dominance remain firmly in place. During our table work, we often discussed how the world of the 1980s reflected in the play feels strikingly similar to our own today—a reminder that history’s pendulum can swing backward, and it’s up to us to guide it again toward justice and peace.
Churchill reminds us that success always comes at a cost, regardless of gender—but for some, that cost is far greater. As a Black Queer woman, I’ve witnessed firsthand how success can weigh heavily on women, especially those whose voices are already devalued by society. Top Girls serves as a powerful reminder that even in 2025, we still wrestle with believing that women and non-male people are as capable as men. My hope is that sixteen years from now, that truth will finally be self-evident.
- Pascale Florestal, Director
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