WELCOME TO
ARTISTIC
DIRECTOR
TARELL ALVIN MCCRANEY
“Congrats! What’s next?”
This well-intentioned phrase—uttered by friends, family, sometimes your agent—can be terrifying for artists. Or anyone.
It asks us to forget what we know about the human condition: that most days we are just practicing being alive, and that a part of that practice must be failure, setbacks, and learning. In jumping from the realization of one hardearned success, (Congrats!) to the expectation of another, (what’s next?) you are barred from celebrating what’s happened and pressed into the nightmare of what’s to come.
And the pressure to do something again—not only to repeat, but to do it better—can be insurmountable; making the case that it’d be better to stop now than to try and top yourself.
Beth Hyland’s SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA summons our desire to succeed and our fear of falling short: not only of our own expectations, but of the bar set by those who came before. This
funny, scary, moving play, which invokes one of our most elusive writing ancestors in Sylvia Plath, walks us through the danger of meeting your heroes. But who do you call when you need inspiration for the next big thing? How do you answer “what’s next” without asking someone who’s done it before?
In chasing the ghosts of those who have been deified, we risk shunning the living and all its messy practice. If we are not careful, we spend our days communing with the perfect dead and missing the very alive world around us. This play reminds us that the practice of living is the art form. The love and care we give to ourselves and others in the brief life we have is what matters most. Besides, only until you truly live can you pour it into your work. A life well-lived on your own terms, on your own path, is always what’s new, you are living what’s next.
Tarell Alvin McCraney Artistic Director
PHOTO BY JEFF LORCH
Welcome to the world premiere of SYLVIA, SYLVIA, SYLVIA! It is a pleasure to write to you as the new Chair of the Geffen Playhouse Board of Directors. I want to start by thanking Adi Greenberg, Chair over the previous four seasons, for her leadership in supporting the Geffen. I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to work closely with her and am the beneficiary of her ongoing support. I am thrilled with this opportunity to continue to build for the future.
I am a long serving supporter and board member of the Geffen. I am proud of all this superb theater brings to our community—delivering world class productions that are second to none, its commitment to bringing theater to the many varied audiences of the greater Los Angeles area, supporting education and our veterans, providing opportunities to aspiring playwrights. I feel such gratitude to this organization, repeatedly finding that I receive in return much more than I give.
It is truly an honor and a privilege to be the Geffen Playhouse Board Chair in our 30th year and as we look to and plan for the LA28 Olympics and beyond. Thank you for your support of the Geffen, and I am excited to be sharing many more years of plays, programming, and incredible storytelling with you. Enjoy the show!
Mary Ann Cloyd Board Chair
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Mary Ann Cloyd CHAIR
Gil Cates, Jr.
Executive Director / CEO
Ellyce R. Cooper
Merle Dandridge
Dr. Brad Edgerton
Bonnie E. Eskenazi
Mark Fleischer
Susan Nahley Fleishman
Brenda Garcia
Patricia L. Glaser
Adi Greenberg Chair Emeritus
John Horn
Laura Kennedy
Carla Malden
Brian Mann
Tiffany Mayberry
Tarell Alvin McCraney
Artistic Director
Mary Osako
Danny Passman
Holly Rice
Linda Bernstein Rubin
Matt Shakman
Richard Sherman
Celine Parreñas Shimizu
Howard Tenenbaum Chair Emeritus
Miranda Tollman Vice Chair
JaHan Wang
Marc Weinstock
FOUNDING TRUSTEES
Harold A. Brown
Gilbert Cates† Founder
Kirsten Combs
Robert A. Daly
David Geffen
Herbert M. Gelfand†
Marcia Israel-Curley†
Quincy Jones†
Jeffrey Katzenberg Glorya Kaufman†
Audrey Skirball Kenis†
Charles Kenis†
Karl Malden†
Ginny Mancini†
Frank G. Mancuso Chair Emeritus
Ron Meyer
Jerry Moss†
Jerry Perenchio†
Bruce M. Ramer Founding Chair
Victoria Mann Simms
Andy Spahn
Steven Spielberg
Steve Tisch
Edie Wasserman†
Lew Wasserman†
Dr. Charles E. Young† † In Memoriam
LEGAL COUNSEL
Venable LLP
GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE STORYTELLING WORKSHOP FOR YOUNG ADULTS
10AM–12PM SATURDAYS MARCH 21–MAY 2, 2026
Geffen Playhouse invites emerging young artists ages 18-24 to apply for a FREE six-week creative writing workshop dedicated to cultivating bold voices and original storytelling.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Guided by two Geffen Education Teaching Artists, 12 participants will meet weekly at Geffen Playhouse where they will explore the full creative process, crafting original short compositions through writing, revision, and structured feedback. The workshop concludes on May 2 with a live presentation of these works for invited friends and family.
Geffen Playhouse Education & Community Engagement programs are made possible, in part by grants from Dwight Stuart Youth Fund and U.S. Bank Foundation.
SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA
WRITTEN BY BETH HYLAND
DIRECTED BY JO BONNEY
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR SARAH SHOWICH
PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER LIZ BROHM HANRAHAN
SCENIC DESIGNER STUDIO BENT COSTUME DESIGNER SAMANTHA C. JONES LIGHTING DESIGNER LAP CHI CHU ORIGINAL MUSIC & SOUND DESIGN BY LINDSAY JONES 2025/2026 SEASON SPONSOR
COACH PAUL WAGAR
OLIVIA O’CONNOR
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER JULIET PARK CASTING DIRECTOR PHYLLIS SCHURINGA, CSA
OPENING NIGHT
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2026
SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA
CAST OF CHARACTERS
(IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
Sally MIDORI FRANCIS
Sylvia MARIANNA GAILUS
Theo NOAH KEYISHIAN
Ted CILLIAN O’SULLIVAN
UNDERSTUDIES
u/s Sally SABRINA J. LIU
u/s Ted ALEXANDER MOLINA
u/s Theo ERIC MYRICK
u/s Sylvia SOPHIE NEFF
Understudies never substitute for listed players unless specified.
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.
SETTING/TIME
Sylvia and Ted’s apartment in Beacon Hill, Boston. 1958 and The Present.
RUNNING TIME
1 hour and 40 minutes, no intermission.
PLEASE NOTE
There is no photography or filming of any kind allowed during the performance. Please turn off all electronic devices, including cell phones. Thank you!
CONTENT ADVISORY
This production contains discussions of miscarriage, depression, and suicide.
If you or someone you know is in crisis or thinking about self-harm or suicide, there is help available. Call or text 988 for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Intimacy Director
Amanda Rose Villarreal
Understudy Director
Lexy McAvinchey
Casting Consultant
Jamila Webb
Assistant Scenic Designer
Ana Novacic
Assistant Costume Designer
Morgan Whittam
Assistant Lighting Designer
Yelena Babinskaya
Associate Sound Designer
Anna Hibbert
Production Assistant
Evelyn Pham
Script Assistant Lily Fitzsimmons
Automation Operator
Enrique Garcia
Scenery Built & Painted By F&D Scene Changes
Lighting Equipment Provided By Kinetic Lighting
Sound Equipment Provided By DnB Design
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Deck Crew
Oliver Brink, Sierra Haworth, Mason Irwin
Wardrobe Supervisor
Kassidy Klinesmith
Wigs
Haley Ruby
Light Board Operator
Nikki Alday
A2
Mo Tandrow
Carpenters
Dante Alanis, Oliver Brink, Liz Doubrovsky, Enrique Garcia, Grant Gerrard, Alejandro Hernandez, Mason Irwin, Greg Mueller, Claudia Peterson, Kalika Reece, Sam Sullivan, Becca Sundberg, Helena Taylor
Scenic Painter
Chandish Nester
Properties Artisans & Carpenters
Sigourney Chin, Danny Dolan, Ryan Howard
Stitchers
Trustin Adams, Lucy Black, Brenda Moreno
Lighting Programmer
Spencer Doughtie
Electricians
Christina Antolin, Bianca Bishop, Daniel Fernandez, Ezra Fisher, Juan Lozano, Angelica Mondragon, Ezra Muthiah, James Tatsch
Sound Technician
Mo Tandrow
PRODUCTION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Production Photographer
Jeff Lorch
Media Filming
Ramon Garcia
Design + Art Direction
Base Design
Photography
Corey Olsen
SPECIAL THANKS
UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television Scene, Prop, Sound, and Costume Shops; Emily Moler, Cate Scott Campbell, Sadie Friedman, Ty Molbak, Caitlin Sullivan, Lennox Duong, Alex Mickiewicz, Madeline Wise, Ella Pennington
This theater operates under agreement between the League of Resident Theaters and Actors Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.
The Stage Managers employed in this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
This theater operates under agreement between the League of Resident Theaters and Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, an independent national labor union.
The Director is a Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union.
The scenic, costume, lighting, and sound designers in LORT theaters are represented by United Scenic Artists Local USA-829, IATSE.
Geffen Playhouse is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Department of Arts and Culture.
Geffen Playhouse, a not-for-profit theater company, is proudly affiliated with the University of California at Los Angeles.
MIDORI FRANCIS
Sally
Fresh off the heels of completing a simultaneous three-season run in Mindy Kaling’s HBO Max hit series The Sex Lives of College Girls and as fan-favorite “Dr. Mika Yasuda” on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, Midori went on to star in Natalie Erika James’s feature Saccharine (Sundance and Berlin International Film Festival 2026). She then made a critically acclaimed return to the stage, portraying the iconic Marilyn Monroe role “Cherie” in Bus Stop at Classic Stage Company. Select Theater: Usual Girls at Roundabout Theatre Company (Drama Desk Award nomination), The Wolves at Lincoln Center theater (Obie Award and Drama Desk Award winner), Connected at 59E59 Theaters (NYIT Award), Before the Meeting at Williamstown Theatre Festival, and The Laramie Project at Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre. Select TV/Film: Netflix’s Dash & Lily (Emmy Award nomination), Universal’s Good Boys from producer Seth Rogen, Blumhouse/MGM’s Unseen, and Hilary Brougher’s South Mountain. Thanks to her partner, family, friends, and cats for their support. “Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light.”
MARIANNA GAILUS (she/her) Sylvia
Recently performed the one-person play Vanya (adapted from Chekhov by Simon Stephens) off-Broadway as Andrew Scott’s understudy. Broadway: “Katya/Compromised Journalist” in Patriots. Regional: “Hedda Gabler” in Hedda Gabler (Yale Repertory Theatre); “Lizzy Bennet” in Pride and Prejudice (Cleveland Play House). Other New York: cityscrape (Good Apples Collective, world premiere). Television: Law & Order. M.F.A., Juilliard Group 51 and recipient of the Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Prize in Acting for outstanding achievement and exceptional professional promise. Juilliard credits include “Halina, The Middle” in Indecent, “Masha” in Three Sisters, “Parolles” in All’s Well That Ends Well, and “Ren” in The Extenders (film). B.A., History, Yale University. She also studied maritime and global history at Pembroke College, Cambridge where, exactly fifty-nine years and eleven months earlier, Sylvia met “that big, dark, hunky boy” at the launch party for St. Botolph’s Review.
NOAH KEYISHIAN (he/him)
Theo
Off-Broadway: Franklinland (Ensemble Studio Theatre); Here There Are Blueberries (New York Theatre Workshop). Regional: Here There Are Blueberries (Berkeley Repertory Theatre); The Lehman Trilogy (Maltz Jupiter Theatre); Fiddler on the Roof (Olney Theatre Center); Love All (La Jolla Playhouse); Are You There? (44th Humana Festival); A Christmas Carol, Dracula (Actors Theatre of Louisville). Education: M.F.A. UC San Diego.
Ted
Cillian O’Sullivan has worked as an actor from a young age—originally on stage in New York as a child, then across theaters in Ireland where he was raised. With a long list of TV and film credits to his name since then, including as one of the leads of Netflix’s In From the Cold as “Chauncey Lew,” and most recently with a string of critically acclaimed roles in
CILLIAN O’SULLIVAN
shows like Daredevil: Born Again as “Devlin” (Disney+), and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds as “Dr. Roger Korby” (Paramount+).
SABRINA J. LIU (she/her) u/s Sally
Sabrina J. Liu is so excited to be making her Geffen Playhouse debut in SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA! Other Los Angeles Theatre: The Grown-Ups (Baby Teeth), The Winter’s Tale (Antaeus Theatre Company). New York Theatre: Half-Life (Moxie Arts New York/ HERE Arts Center). Regional Theatre: Here There Are Blueberries (La Jolla Playhouse), In Every Generation (San Diego Repertory Theatre), Electra (National Women’s Theatre Festival). Sabrina has extensive experience in new work development, having workshopped plays at Center Theatre Group, South Coast Repertory, Rogue Machine Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre LA, IAMA Theatre Company, Rogue Artists Ensemble, Chance Theater, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, The Old Globe, and San Diego Repertory Theatre. B.A. Cornell University, M.F.A. University of California San Diego. All gratitude to her beloved family.
Website: www.sabrinajliu.com
Instagram: @sabrinajliu
ALEXANDER MOLINA (he/him) u/s Ted
Alex is honored to be at the Geffen and to be part of such a vibrant theater community. He holds an M.F.A. from the A.R.T. Institute at Harvard University and has appeared in regional and off-Broadway productions, with favorite roles including “Brick” in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, “Yank” in The Hairy Ape, “Billy Flynn” in Chicago, “Joe” in Damn Yankees, and “The Prince” in The Light Princess He has come a long way since his football days and remains deeply grateful for the path that led him to the stage. In addition to his theater work, Alex is the co-founder of SPAM Pictures, where he develops and produces independent films. Tonight, however, he is simply thrilled to support this incredible story with such an extraordinary cast and creative team. He has boundless gratitude for his supportive team, loving partner, friends and family. www.alexandermolina.com
ERIC MYRICK (he/him) u/s Theo
Eric is thrilled to be making his Geffen debut! Film/TV: Good Trouble (Freeform), GLOW (Netflix), The Affair (Showtime), D-Day: A Workplace Comedy (ABC, writer/creator), A Royal Family Holiday (TV One). Theatre: Invincible (The Wallis), William Grant Still & the Harlem Renaissance (Walt Disney Concert Hall), Wilderness (Abbot Hall, Chicago). He can next be seen starring in upcoming thrillers Tina Town and ZELESTE, both of which are premiering at festivals in 2026. Eric is represented by Luber Roklin Entertainment and Aperture Talent. Proud alumni of the University of Michigan. Go Blue!
SOPHIE NEFF (she/her) u/s Sylvia
Sophie is thrilled to be making her Geffen Playhouse debut. Previously, she originated the roles of “Lady Witherton” and “Goo” in the world premiere of Selina Fillinger’s The Armor
Plays: Cinched & Strapped at Theatre Three. As a founding member of the site-specific theatre company Silencio, she has performed as “Anna” in the U.S. premiere of Simon Longman’s Gundog, “Runt” in Disco Pigs, and “Claire” in The Maids. Recent film credits include Make Me a Pizza (SXSW 2024), One of Those (Sidewalk Film Festival 2025), and Beach Logs Kill (SXSW 2024). She holds a B.A. in Theatre from Northwestern University and, in addition to her acting, is a published cartoonist.
BETH HYLAND (she/her) Playwright
Beth Hyland is a playwright and screenwriter. Her plays and musicals, which include SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA, Fires, Ohio, Baby Shower Katie, Anna K., Cancelina, Seagulls, and Clearing, have been produced and developed at Manhattan Theatre Club, Primary Stages, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Goodman Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Round House Theatre, The Hearth, and others. Her play SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA won the 2025 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award and the 2024 Weissberger Prize; her play Fires, Ohio won the 2025 Alliance/ Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Award and will receive its
world premiere at the Alliance Theatre in March. She currently holds commissions with Geffen Playhouse, Manhattan Theatre Club/Sloan, La Jolla Playhouse, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and Williamstown Theatre Festival. She is a two-time recipient of The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival’s Mark Twain Prize for Comic Playwriting and has been nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the Barrie and Bernice Stavis Playwright Award, and the Laurents / Hatcher Foundation Award. M.F.A. UC San Diego. Representation: Jamie Kaye-Phillips, Paradigm Talent Agency; Benjamin Blake and Anthony Ippolito, Heroes and Villains Entertainment. www.bethhyland.com
Director
Jo Bonney has directed the premieres of plays by Alan Ball, Hilary Bettis, Eric Bogosian, Eleanor Burgess, Hammaad Chaudry, Culture Clash, Eve Ensler, Jessica Goldberg, Isaac Gomez, Danny Hoch, Patricia Ione Lloyd, Neil LaBute, Warren Leight, Martyna Majok, Lynn Nottage, Dan O’Brien, Dael Orlandersmith, Suzan-Lori Parks, Darci Picoult, John Pollono, Will Power, David Rabe, José
Rivera, Abby Rosebrock, Seth Zvi Rosenfeld, Alexis Scheer, Christopher Shinn, Diana Son, John Turturro & Ariel Levy, Universes, Naomi Wallace, and Michael Weller. Plus plays by Caryl Churchill, Nilo Cruz, Anna Deavere Smith, Charles Fuller, Lisa Loomer, Paul Lucas, Carey Perloff, and Lanford Wilson. Tony Award nomination for Cost of Living, two Obie Awards for Sustained Excellence of Direction, Lucille Lortel Awards for Best Musical and Best Revival, Drama Desk nomination for Direction of By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, AUDELCO Award for Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3), Drama League and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations, Off-Broadway Alliance and Lilly Awards. Editor of Extreme Exposure: An Anthology of Solo Performance Texts from the Twentieth Century (TCG).
STUDIO BENT
Scenic Designer
Studio Bent unites designers Adam Rigg and Anton Volovsek in a collaboration devoted to bold, conceptually driven design for live performance and media. Combined and independent credits include: Broadway: Lincoln Center, St. James Theatre. Off-Broadway: Lincoln Center Theater, Vineyard Theatre, Soho Rep, Playwrights Horizons, New York Theatre Workshop, Atlantic Theater Company, The Public Theater, Manhattan Theatre Company, MCC Theater. Opera: Metropolitan Opera, Staatsoper Berlin,
JO BONNEY (she/her)
Paris Opera, Theater an der Wien, The Norwegian National Opera & Ballet, LA Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago. Regional: Williamstown Theater Festival, Guthrie Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, Center Theater Group. Awards: Tony Award nomination; Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, three times Henry Hewes Design winner. www.studiobentstudio.com
SAMANTHA C. JONES (she/her)
Costume Designer
Samantha C. Jones is excited to return to Geffen Playhouse as a part of this wonderful work. She is a Costume Designer and educator with previous design credits at Geffen Playhouse, Center Theatre Group, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Huntington Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Court Theatre, Paramount Theatre (Aurora), Steppenwolf Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Drury Lane Theatre, Writers Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre Company, Chicago Children’s Theatre, TimeLine Theatre, Porchlight Music Theatre, Jackalope Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Alley Theatre, Seattle Children’s Theatre, First Stage Theatre, Skylight Music Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Peninsula Players Theater, and others. Her work can be viewed at www.samanthacjones.com.
LAP CHI CHU (he/him)
Lighting Designer
Recent designs at the Geffen include The Mountaintop, Man of God, and Power of Sail Broadway credits include Camelot (Tony nomination), Yellow Face, Uncle Vanya, and Suffs (National Tour). Other New York design credits include The Public Theater, Roundabout Theatre Company, Lincoln Center Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Signature Theatre, Second Stage Theatre, Performance Space 122, and Kitchen Theatre Company. Regional designs for Mark Taper Forum, Williamstown Theater Festival, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Contemporary Theater, Goodman Theatre, American Repertory Theater, Arena Stage, Dallas Theater Center, and the Alley Theater. His awards include the Obie for Sustained Excellence in Lighting Design, the Lucile Lortel Award, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Angstrom Award for Career Achievement in Lighting Design, the Ovation Award, and multiple Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards. He is a professor and the Head of Lighting Design at University of California, Los Angeles. www.lapchichu.com
LINDSAY JONES (he/him)
Original Music & Sound Design Broadway: Slave Play (Tony Award nominations for Best Score and Best Sound Design of a Play), The Nap, Bronx
Bombers, and A Time to Kill. Off-Broadway: Privacy (The Public Theater), Bootycandy (Playwrights Horizons), Feeding the Dragon (Primary Stages), Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers (New York Theatre Workshop), and many others. Regional: Guthrie Theater, Goodman Theatre, Arena Stage, The Old Globe, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and many others. International: Noël Coward Theatre (London/ West End), Royal Shakespeare Company (England), Stratford Festival (Canada), and many others. Audio dramas: Disney, Marvel, DC, Penguin/Random House, Audible, Next Chapter Podcasts. Film/TV scoring: HBO Films’ A Note of Triumph (2006 Academy Award for Best Documentary, Short Subject) and over 30 other films. Awards: Webby, Signal (3), Ambies, Joseph Jefferson (7), Ovation (2), LA Drama Critics Circle. He is the co-chair of Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association, and teaches Music History at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. www.lindsayjones.com
SARAH SHOWICH (they/she) Associate Director
Sarah Showich is an LA-based director. Previous directing credits include Memory Lane is a Desert Road (Eight Ball Theatre), Dr. Mr. Science Boy (The Blank Theatre), and Fun Home (Musical Theatre Repertory at USC). They recently assistant directed a world
premiere trilogy, Rites of Passage, with Celebration Theatre and was a directing observer on Center Theatre Group and Deaf West Theatre’s American Idiot. They are proud to be the Literary Manager of Eight Ball Theatre, where they oversee the development of new work with LA-based writers. Along with their work at Eight Ball, she has developed new work with Celebration Theatre, The Blank Theatre, and the Rally Cat Theatre. Sarah is an alumnus of USC’s School of Dramatic Arts. www.sarahshowich.com
PAUL WAGAR (he/him) Dialect Coach
Trained in England and worked as an actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the New Shakespeare Company, the BBC, and in Canada with the Stratford Festival. As Artistic Director, he headed the Philadelphia Area Repertory Theatre and Ark Theatre Company in Los Angeles. Directing credits include The Taming of the Shrew for the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC; Cloud 9 in New York City, and The Lover in Chicago. He wrote the screenplay for, co-produced, and directed the film Shakespeare’s Merchant He wrote Acting With Text: A Classical Approach to Actor Training, and coaches for theatre, film, and television; film work includes Money Talks, Next Friday, and Cold Comes the Night with Bryan Cranston. He has coached numerous productions for the Geffen Play-
house, frequently working with Jo Bonney, and was the text and dialect coach for The Inheritance. He was head of Voice at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, taught for the British American Drama Academy summer program in Oxford for 9 years, and was for many years an Adjunct Professor in the school of Theater, Film, and Television at UCLA.
OLIVIA O’CONNOR (she/her) Dramaturg
Olivia O’Connor joined the Geffen as Literary Manager & Dramaturg in 2022. Her previous creative development experience includes staff positions at Pittsburgh CLO (Manager of New Work Development) and Roundabout Theatre Company (Artistic Associate), as well as dramaturgy and/or selection committee work with Pacific Playwrights Festival, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, the Ojai Playwrights Conference, City Theatre Company, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Bricolage Production Company, and the National Alliance for Musical Theatre. www.oliviaannoconnor.com
LIZ BROHM HANRAHAN (she/her)
Production Stage Manager
Liz is currently the Associate Production Manager / Resident Production Stage Manager here at Geffen Playhouse. Her affiliation with the theater goes back to 1999 with the company of Merton of the Movies. Other highlights include: The Reservoir; Man of God; Underneath
the Lintel; Thom Pain (based on nothing); Bad Jews; Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress; Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks; Looking for Normal; The Weir; and Wit. She is a lecturer in Stage Management at UCLA and holds an M.F.A. from UCSD. She would like to thank the incredible production staff and crew at Geffen and Juliet and Evelyn for being a part of team Stage Management.
JULIET PARK (she/her)
Assistant Stage Manager
Juliet Park is a Los Angeles based stage manager and is always delighted to return to the Geffen Playhouse. Most recently, she served as the Production Stage Manager for littleboy/littleman in the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater. Other select Geffen credits include Production Assistant for: Waiting for Godot, Fat Ham, The Mountaintop, The Inheritance, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Other regional credits include: The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals: Reprised!, Cinderella’s Castle (StarKid Productions); The Staircase (South Coast Repertory); Inherit the Wind, A Little Night Music, Uncle Vanya (Production Assistant, Pasadena Playhouse). She’d like to thank her friends and family for their continued support.
PHYLLIS SCHURINGA, CSA (she/her)
Casting Director
Phyllis is an Artistic Associate and the Casting Director for Geffen Playhouse. Recent productions include: The
Inheritance: Part 1 & Part 2 (Artios Award), Every Brilliant Thing, The Power of Sail, Witch, and Barbecue. Before joining the Geffen, she cast for Steppenwolf Theater Company in Chicago where her favorites include Frank Galati’s adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath (also La Jolla Playhouse, National Theatre in London, and Broadway, where it received the Tony Award for Best Play) and the original production of Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile. Broadway transfers include One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Tony Award for Best Revival), The Song of Jacob Zulu, and The Rise and Fall of Little Voice
(he/him)
Artistic Director
Tarell Alvin McCraney is Artistic Director of Geffen Playhouse. In this role, he is responsible for identifying, developing, and programming new works and re-envisioned classics. He sets the strategic artistic course for the Geffen’s Gil Cates and Audrey Skirball Kenis Theaters. McCraney is an award-winning writer, producer, and educator, best known for his acclaimed trilogy, The Brother/Sister Plays. His script In Moonlight Black Boys Look
Blue is the basis for the Oscar–winning film Moonlight directed by Barry Jenkins, for which McCraney and Jenkins also won a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. He is an ensemble member at Steppenwolf Theatre and a member of Teo Castellanos D-Projects in Miami, a graduate of New World School of the Arts, The Theatre School at DePaul University, and the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Warwick. He was recently Co-Chair of Playwriting at the David Geffen School of Drama, where he remains on faculty. He is an associate at the Royal Shakespeare Company, London, and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Writers Branch).
Executive Director / CEO
Gil Cates, Jr. is Executive Director / CEO of Geffen Playhouse. In this role, he is responsible for managing the Geffen’s day-to-day operations; developing new, ongoing theater partnerships and leading its mission to inform, entertain and inspire diverse audiences with live theater of the highest caliber. Prior to being named Executive Director in 2015, Cates served as Geffen
Playhouse Board Vice Chairman since 2012 and served as a producer and director in theater, film and television. His theater credits include the award-winning Names (Matrix Theatre Company) and Three Sisters and David Mamet’s A Life in the Theatre (both at Syracuse Stage). Cates’ film credits include The Surface (starring Sean Astin and Geffen Playhouse alumnus Chris Mulkey), Jobs (starring Ashton Kutcher, Josh Gad, Dermot Mulroney, as well as Geffen Playhouse alumni Matthew Modine and Ron Eldard) and the 2011 feature film Lucky (starring Colin Hanks, Ari Graynor and Ann-Margret). In addition, Cates co-produced and co-directed the critically acclaimed Life After Tomorrow, featuring Sarah Jessica Parker, which premiered on Showtime. His other films include Deal (starring Burt Reynolds, Bret Harrison and Charles Durning) and The Mesmerist (starring Jessica Capshaw and Geffen Playhouse alumnus Neil Patrick Harris). Cates’ television directorial debut was an episode of the NBC comedy Joey, starring Emmy winner Matt LeBlanc. He recently directed Displaced, a documentary short chronicling the journey of one of the first refugee families to flee Ukraine and arrive in the U.S. after escaping the Russian invasion. He studied at the National Theatre Institute in Waterford, Connecticut, and holds a B.F.A. in Drama from Syracuse University.
TARELL ALVIN M c CRANEY
GIL CATES, JR.
THE NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Supporting artists is central to the mission of the Geffen Playhouse, and play commissions are a cornerstone of that support. To commission a playwright to write a play means making a commitment to their voice, craft, and vision, with the hope of sharing the fruits of their work on our stage.
We are proud to have the following artists under commission:
LUIS ALFARO
MICHAEL GOLAMCO
NAZARETH HASSAN
BETH HYLAND
MEGHAN KENNEDY
KATIE LINDSAY, TOVA KATZ & ALEXANDRA KALINOWSKI
MATTHEW LÓPEZ
MARTYNA MAJOK
Co-Commission with Atlantic Theater Company
TARELL ALVIN
M c CRANEY & YORK WALKER
QUI NGUYEN
Co-Commission with Manhattan Theatre Club
STACY OSEI-KUFFOUR
JIEHAE PARK
SARA PORKALOB & BRIAN QUIJADA
ESPERANZA ROSALES BALCÁRCEL
JEN SILVERMAN
N’YOMI ALLURE STEWART
Co-Commission with New York Theatre Workshop, supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation
DAVID WIENER
LAUREN YEE
For more information on this program, please visit geffenplayhouse.org/newplays.
THE WRITERS’ ROOM
A group for Los Angeles-based playwrights, The Writers’ Room is a product of the Geffen’s deep commitment to supporting new plays and specifically to fostering bold, relevant work by the vibrant artistic community of this city. During this one-year residency, playwright members gather monthly at the Geffen to share their work and receive feedback from their peers and the Geffen’s artistic staff, culminating in a play reading series.
We are proud to have the following artists in the 2025/2026 Writers’ Room:
DIANA YIFEI DAI
LOUIS REYES
M c WILLIAMS
ZHARIA O'NEAL
FRANK PAIVA
RYN STAFFORD
HABIB YAZDI
The Writers’ Room is made possible through the generous support of the William Randolph Hearst Foundation.
For more information on this program, please visit geffenplayhouse.org/thewritersroom.
GEFFEN AT A GLANCE
CONTACT
Geffen Playhouse 10886 Le Conte Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90024
ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES
310.208.6500
Monday–Friday, 10:00am–6:00pm
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310.208.2028
Tuesday–Sunday, 12:00pm–6:00pm
Please visit geffenplayhouse.org for hours, parking and more information.
BOX OFFICE WINDOW
Tuesday–Sunday, 12:00pm–6:00pm, as well as on performance days up until 15 minutes after curtain.
Please note: the box office window is unable to process exchanges or future sales one hour prior to curtain time on performance days.
ACCESSIBILITY
Geffen Playhouse is fully committed to providing access to patrons with mobility, visual and hearing impairments. Parking spaces directly outside the theater are zoned for drop off and pick up, as well as disabled parking spots for patrons with appropriate placards and plates. For more information, visit geffenplayhouse.org/access or call Audience Services.
LATE SEATING
Should you arrive late to the theater or vacate your seat during the performance, please expect to be held in the lobby until an appropriate pause in the action on stage. Some productions or circumstances may not allow for late or return seating. To minimize disturbances to other patrons, you may be seated in the first available location by the house staff even if it is different from your assigned seat.
NO PHOTOGRAPHY
There is no photography or filming of any kind allowed during the performance. Please turn off all electronic devices, including cell phones.
UCLA SCHOOL OF THEATER, FILM AND TELEVISION
Geffen Playhouse is affiliated with the University of California at Los Angeles, specifically the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Geffen Playhouse values its role as an important educational resource by providing students with master classes, workshops and internships. Students are also able to work and learn from distinguished visiting Geffen artists in areas of directing, playwriting, acting, design, dramaturgy, management and production. Geffen Playhouse also draws upon the distinguished experts in the university to enhance the theater’s programs and research.
THE END IN THE BEGINNING: ON SYLVIA & TED
BY OLIVIA O’CONNOR, DRAMATURG FOR
SYLVIA PLATH AND TED HUGHES MOVED to Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood in September 1958. They were young, full of optimism and ambition. For the first time in their coupledom—and their lives—they intended to live off of writing alone.
Sylvia had been raised in Massachusetts: first in Boston, then in the seaside town of Winthrop, and finally in suburban Wellesley. Her father, Otto, died when she was eight, leaving Plath’s mother Aurelia to raise her two children alone. The grief of Otto’s death would eventually make its way into some of Plath’s most iconic writing, as would her close—and sometimes claustrophobic—relationship with her mother.
Sylvia published her first poem not long before her ninth birthday. A prolific young writer and exceptional student, she earned a scholarship to Smith College in 1950. There, she experienced the euphoric highs of college life, as well as crushing lows. Things came to a head in the summer of 1953, when Plath returned home from a guest editorship at Mademoiselle magazine in a fog of insomnia, depression, and writer’s block. In August, she attempted suicide. In September, she was admitted to McLean Hospital,
an upscale treatment center for psychiatric disorders in Belmont, Massachusetts. After four months at McLean, Plath returned to Smith. Years later, she would draw on the experience for her semiautobiographical novel The Bell Jar
Ted Hughes was born to a working-class family in Mytholmroyd, in the Calder Valley of West Yorkshire. With a worldview forged by camping, hunting, and fishing on the moors, Ted made nature central to his later writing. Like Sylvia, he had shown an aptitude for writing at a young age, publishing his first poem just before his sixteenth birthday. He earned the marks to gain an exhibition to Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 1949, but delayed his entrance to serve a mandatory National Service term. In 1951, he headed to Cambridge.
It was there that he and Sylvia met, in February 1956. She was in her first year at Newnham College, studying on a Fulbright Fellowship, and had already published in The Nation, Harper’s, and The Atlantic Ted, who had graduated in 1954, had as yet published only in college magazines—including one he co-founded, the St. Botolph’s Review. He and Sylvia
SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA
Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes at home in 1958. Photograph by James Coyne / Black Star.
met at the magazine’s release party, in an electric first encounter since fused into the couple’s mythology: Sylvia quoted Ted’s poetry to him, they drank brandy and kissed in a back room, Ted ripped Sylvia’s headband off her head and earrings from her ears, and Sylvia bit him on the cheek, drawing blood. The following month, Ted invited Sylvia to visit him in London, and their passion for one another took hold. They married on June 16, 1956, less than four months after their first meeting.
Plath and Hughes were voracious in their appetites: for reading, writing, eating, and each other. Each spoke of the other as a “genius,” and they were each other’s best critics and catalysts. Plath also applied her professionalism to Hughes’s poems, typing and submitting work on his behalf. She changed the trajectory of his career when, in November 1956, she decided to submit a collection of Ted’s poems, rather than her own, for a prestigious first book prize in America. Hughes’s collection, The Hawk in the Rain, won the competition (and publication), setting the stage for the couple’s move to the States. The award also shifted their professional standing, with Hughes anointed one of the most promising young poets of his generation and Plath still toiling as an accomplished, but unfamous, poet. However, Sylvia took immense pride in Ted’s success, claiming that she found more joy in his publication than she would have in her own.
The couple arrived in America in June 1957 to begin their new life. Sylvia had gotten a teaching job at Smith; the following spring, Ted began teaching at Amherst. They both struggled: Ted found American culture artificial, while Sylvia found teaching detrimental to her own writing. As a result, they made two plans for the future: one, they would leave teaching and spend a year in Boston, living off of their savings and whatever they could make from writing. Two, they would return to England, at least for a time, at the end of their Boston year.
Though the Boston era didn’t quite live up to its ideal (Sylvia ended up taking two part-time jobs), both writers published frequently. Ted wrote poems that would eventually appear in Lupercal, as well as prose, plays, and children’s stories. Sylvia wrote short stories and poetry, generated ideas for The Bell Jar, and worked on her lost novel Falcon Yard, which was inspired by her courtship with Hughes. There were happy times, but Sylvia sometimes worried that her creative work was suffering in the partnership. In September 1958, she wrote in her journal of
“the famed & fatal jealousy of professionals,” and wondered, “Do we, vampire-like, feed on each other? A wall, sound-proof, must mount between us. Strangers in our study, lovers in bed.”
The two returned to England in December 1959. They looked to be heading towards a period of abundance: Sylvia was pregnant with their daughter Frieda and had recently received an invitation from the publisher Heinemann to send a collection; the following year, it would be published as The Colossus and Other Poems. Ted’s fame was growing, and he’d received word that his second collection, Lupercal, would be published by Faber and Faber. They would join the literary scene of London with their professional stars on the rise and their domestic life blooming.
But the years that followed proved more complicated. Sylvia’s The Colossus and The Bell Jar had modest success; Ted’s Lupercal was met with rapturous reviews. They had another child, Nicholas, and moved to a country house in Devon. Ted undertook an affair that shattered the marriage, and Sylvia moved back to London and tried to start anew. She wrote career-defining poetry throughout the breakup: the celebrated poems of Ariel, which filtered autobiographical details through language that was symbolic, surreal, and full of life—a voice entirely Plath’s own. But she also faced daunting circumstances. Single motherhood loomed, with all of its social stigma and financial burden. Over the course of a historically cold London winter, during which she and the children were isolated and frequently sick, Plath’s mental health deteriorated. She died by suicide in February 1963, gassing herself in her apartment’s kitchen after making sure her children were safe, their window open and door sealed off in the bedroom above.
As we hear in SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA, “Looking back, you can always see the end in the beginning.” Plath’s end is often the prism through which her life and work is read. The same is true for Hughes, as well, though he lived another thirty-five years after Sylvia’s death. Even in his own poetry, his and Sylvia’s relationship is seen in retrospect: Birthday Letters, published just before his death in 1998, views their love as fated, doomed: ill-omened from their first meeting. In SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA, we see a glimpse of the couple before the myth took hold— and a glimpse of another couple, as well, whose myth has yet to be written.
To read the full-length version, visit geffenplayhouse.org/blog.
ANNUAL DONORS
Geffen Playhouse recognizes the following individuals and organizations for their generous support of our Annual Fund. Donors are listed at the Partner’s Circle level and higher for gifts made between November 1, 2024 and December 31, 2025. A full listing of our supporters can be found at geffenplayhouse.org/thankyou.
† Geffen Playhouse Board of Directors
^ Geffen Playhouse Founding Trustees
* Backstage at the Geffen 2025 Supporter
In appreciation, Annual Fund donors enjoy a host of special benefits including concierge ticketing services, complimentary drinks, receptions, and much more. For more information, please call Anika Waco at 310.208.6500 ext. 195.
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CHAIRMAN’S CIRCLE
The Chairman’s Circle acknowledges the historical contributions of the following individuals, whose support of Geffen Playhouse made the original vision of our founder, Gil Cates, Sr., possible:
Anonymous
Annenberg Foundation
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If your name has been misspelled or omitted from the list in error, please contact Anika Waco, Donor Relations Coordinator at 310.208.6500 ext. 195.
Tarell Alvin McCraney ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
ARTISTIC
Amy Levinson
Associate Artistic Director
Daniel Ionazzi
Producer
Phyllis Schuringa
Artistic Associate / Casting Director
Bella Luna
Company Manager
Olivia O’Connor
Literary Manager & Dramaturg
Lexy McAvinchey
Associate Producer
Dionn Richardson
Assistant to the Artistic Director
PRODUCTION
Matt Sweeney
Director of Production
Liz Brohm Hanrahan
Associate Production Manager / Resident Production Stage Manager
Melissa Hartman
Technical Director
Philip Rossi
Lead Scenic Carpenter
Greg Mueller
Stage Operator
Rick Gilles
Properties Master
Sarah Lindsley
Costume Shop Supervisor
Michayla Van Treeck
Costume Shop Coordinator
Spencer Doughtie
Lighting & Projection Supervisor
Jesus Cambero-Elias
Assistant Lighting Supervisor
James Grabowski
House Sound Supervisor
Bob Gilmartin
Resident A1
ADMINISTRATION
Sarah Sturdivant
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Erick R. López General Manager
Berenice Campos Director of Human Resources
Janice Gompers
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Youra Kim
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Jake Jones
Staff Accountant
Clay Dzygun
Office Coordinator
Chloe Shi
General Management Associate
DEVELOPMENT
Elizabeth Kegley
Director of Institutional Giving
Cody Metzger
Gil Cates, Jr.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR /
CEO
Grace Allen, Tori Eriavez, Peyton Fleming, Cat Hayes, Miranda Heath, Gabrielle Johnsen, Jeffrey Limoncelli, Kayla Page, Camila Robles Ruiz
Box Office Staff
Theater Direct
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OPERATIONS
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Zoila Lopez
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Brian Allman
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Mark J. Chaitin
Manager of Education & Community Engagement
Aja Houston
Education & Community Engagement Associate / Lead Teaching Artist
Sean Michael Boozer, Paris Crayton III, Sidney Edwards, Margot Fitzsimmons, Erròn Jay, BJ Lange, Tiffany Oglesby, Marta Portillo, Tara Ricasa, Ashley Denise Robinson, Gerry Tonella
Teaching Artists
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