Season Preview with Rebecca Bradshaw
May 28, 2024
By Chris Munkholm
An Interview with Rebecca Bradshaw, Artistic Director of Gloucester Stage
Rebecca Bradshaw, ready for the 2024 GSC Season.
Theater people often seem lit from within. Maybe it is showtime every day but even more so when all the scripts and parts are in place for the 2024 summer season at Gloucester Stage Company. Such was the situation during my recent chat with Rebecca Bradshaw, the charismatic and well-spoken artistic director of the company.
Another observation, theater - and dance people, my troupe - often seem unflappable, as if they had just aced the dress rehearsal and had no nerves about opening night. On this afternoon, Rebecca was relaxed and generous with her time, while operating in the epicenter of the pending 2024 season with a group of actors rehearsing on stage, as we spoke.
Rebecca with Managing Director Christopher Griffith, or “Judy & Punch”
Rebecca’s appointment as artistic director began mid-season 2023 after she arrived on a red carpet of theater chops. Boston’s Huntington Theatre Company, Lyric Stage, Greater Boston Stage Company, A.R.T. Institute, and many other stops needed to prepare her for the ultimate theater position.
The following synopsis of our April discussion begins with Rebecca’s arrival at Gloucester Stage Company, last year.
CM: Let’s start off with a look back before we get into the new season. Were there any surprises once you were officially part of Gloucester Stage Company? Or learnings that you would care to share?
RB: I made a real effort to personally meet our theater goers and learn more about what they liked from previous seasons.
CM: What were some of their favorite GSC plays?
RB: Many works came up. Tiny Beautiful Things and North Shore Fish. Spring Awakening – it was a musical. And others. Importantly, I learned that this is a community of theatergoers, and many know each other. These connections can inject a shared emotional experience when seeing plays together. And laughter shared can build emotional connection.
CM: In a region the size of Cape Ann - people cross paths. Whether in theaters, museums, or galleries, I find that acquaintances and real friendships can easily form. What else from last year?
RB: There was some concern that the 2023 plays lacked resolution. Left people a little befuddled. This year’s plays were selected to give a more hopeful view of life.
Where the sets are built.
CM, commenting after some hesitation: That does remind me of a 2023 play which I found painful to experience. In fact, it was excruciating by the end.
RB, with no reluctance asked: Which one?
CM: The Ding Dongs.
RB: Oh yes, that was a polarizing show, the underlying topics did strike a chord.
CM: What I found so perplexing was that the three women sitting in front of me laughed hysterically, the entire time. While I felt only threatened.
RB: Humor is often built on tension you know.
Left: In the wings. Right: Auxiliary lighting.
CM: Indeed, Rodney Dangerfield never let us forget that. Your first play of the 2024 season, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike – is described as comedy. One surprisingly derived from Chekhov’s play Vanya.
RB: The playwright Christopher Durang was a pioneer in using comedy to deal with difficult topics. In this narrative three siblings return home after their parents die.
CM: And this is a comedy?
RB: Think of Chekhov characters in a blender.
CM: I am amused. What is it like to direct comedy? It must be a challenge to preserve the comedic threads – after so many rehearsals. Wouldn’t the element of surprise disappear after a couple takes?
RB: Comedy has a rhythm and a bit of math, with three pieces - the setup, the tell, and then the landing. Oddly, a joke can become flat during rehearsals but have a great landing with the audience.
CM: How do you predict which way the joke will go?
RB: Two previews and opening night are the critical tests.
CM: Let’s move on to your second production, Wipeout, and a world premiere too. Is this wipeout a metaphor? Or are we going to see a beach on the stage of Gloucester Stage?
RB: There will be a simulated beach and three women in wetsuits, one celebrating a birthday with two best friends.
CM: With a goal other than wiping out?
RB: She wants to do something exciting, something beyond just living. Surfboards and a fine surfboard instructor are included, with no casualties.
CM: I can see the appeal.
RB: This play is having a rolling world premiere, beginning in Sacramento, moving on to Chicago, and finally arriving in Gloucester. The playwright is involved with each unique production.
CM: Sounds a little like starting a play on the road and bringing it home to Broadway, only this time Gloucester. From where do you recruit your actors?
RB: Theaters in the large cities are closed in the summer, which provides a wonderful population of actors interested in summer theater programs such as ours.
The tools of the trade.
CM: Do you hire only equity actors?
RB: It’s a mix of union and non-equity. And they love coming here, a wonderful summer retreat for city artists. We encourage them to explore Rocky Neck and elsewhere. We also have a network of housing donors, providing rooms or in-law suites.
CM: Sounds like an ideal arrangement for a Gloucester retreat. Moving on to your third production, Wish You Were Here, which I find particularly fascinating.
Mirror, mirror on the wall.
RB: The scenario is a group of young women, during the late 60s or 70s, preparing for a wedding, with its rituals and excitement. A scene that could exist anywhere in the world -- the universal experiences of being young women at the start of their lives. But in this case, they live in Iran. And their futures are encumbered with decisions about emigrating and the possible rise of fascism.
CM: A very troubling set of possibilities for the future. Theater is so effective in bringing to life a distant scenario which we could never directly experience.
RB: The Iranian American playwright Sanaz Toossi is considered on the rise, with her play English winning the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 2023.
CM: And for your fourth production of the season, one for the guys.
RB: Yes, for the guys! And a really fun play about stereotypes as a group of construction workers find themselves on a project located next to a yoga studio.
CM: I see possibilities.
RB: The Hombres addresses masculinity in an elegant way. Men can put up façades to save face.
CM: Can you tell us anything about the casting?
RB: There was no prior yoga training required, at least for the construction workers.
CM: I see more possibilities. I presume the construction workers end up in the yoga studio?
RB: Wink.
CM: Rebecca, thank you for this wonderful preview of the season. I’m feeling the excitement of pending rehearsals and opening nights. Now, may I ask one more question?
RB: Of course.
CM: Can I have a peek behind stage?
RB: Absolutely, let’s go!
For more information and tickets: 2024 Season | The Gloucester Stage Company
