Cast & Creative Teams Announced For South Carolina New Play Festival

The South Carolina New Play Festival (SCNPF) has announced the full casting and creative teams for its 2025 season, taking place August 7-10.  SCNPF is a festival like no other, presenting a multi-day lineup of developmental readings of new plays and musicals, outdoor variety shows and street fairs, cabarets, workshops and masterclasses, and a musical theater scholarship contest that transforms Greenville into a hub of theatrical innovation from Thursday, August 7, to Sunday, August 10. 

Mariah, or the Passageway, a poignant and compelling new play by Rachel Bonds (NY: Jonah) will be directed by Linsay Firman. The production will be led by Francesca Fernandez as Mariah (Steppenwolf: Bald Sisters), with Daniel Abeles (NY: Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again), Nate Miller (BWAY: Peter and the Starcatcher), Ariel Woodiwiss (NY: Goodnight Nobody, Ultimate Beauty Bible), Chip Egan, Marshall Spann, and Mimi Wyche. Jamaica Brewster will read stage directions. 

The South Carolina New Play Festival is helmed by Executive Director, West Hyler, and Artistic Director, Shelley Butler.  Casting is by Geoff Josselson, C.S.A. 

Broadway World Press Release.

Exotic Deadly: or the MSG Play - 2 WEEKS LEFT!

Exotic Deadly: Or the MSG Play at SF Playhouse February 5-March 8, 2025
By Keiko Green • Directed by Jesca Prudencio

It’s 1999, and Ami is an awkward Asian American high schooler whose world comes crashing down with a terrible discovery: her family is responsible for manufacturing MSG, the mysterious ingredient getting all the kids hooked! Meanwhile, a cool new girl arrives from Japan, and she’s not playing by the rules. In Keiko Green’s new play, Ami vows to redeem her family name and save the world from MSG. This whimsical, time-traveling adventure is a riotous and hilarious romp through wild teenaged crushes, family legacies, and the magical properties of instant ramen!

Reviews:

”Embodying MSG as a human character, played by Francesca Fernandez…encapsulate how MSG and by extension immigrants from Asia have had to stretch and warp themselves in different ways over time to pursue white American acceptance.” SF Chronicle

"....there are excellent performances. Most of the cast play multiple roles; all have perfect comic timing... Francesca Fernandez as tough, influential new-girl-in-school Betsy finds clever nuances. " - SF Gate

"The character most interesting to the story is Exotic Deadly, taken on by Francesca Fernandez. Just notice the way Exotic bursts through the doors with unapologetic ferocity, only to be ripped down by society as she quietly moves back to her perceived place in the world. She lives in a duality, initially shattering the model minority myth while being forced to retreat all the while as time marches forward." - Marin Independent Journal

Production Team:

EXOTIC DEADLY: OR THE MSG PLAY
By Keiko Green
Directed by Jesca Prudencio
Assistant Director: Nick Ishimaru
Stage Management: Ada May, Kaya Lehr-Love , Sam Hattersley, Justin Hammer
Set: Heather Kenyon
Lights: Michael Oesch
Sound: James Ard
Costumes: Kathleen Qiu
Wigs: Amber loudermilk
Props: Laurel Enos
Fight Choreography: Phil Wong
Casting: R. Réal Vargas Alania (Casting Collective)
Trailer: Adam Elder Montanaro
Photos: Jessica Palopoli

Cast:
Ana Ming Bostwick-Singer
Francesca Fernandez
James Aaron Oh
Nicole Tung
Phil Wong
Edric Young

Understudies:
Dian Sitip Meechai
Thomas Nguyen
Vivienne Truong
Nico Jaochico

House of Telescopes at A.R.T./NY produced by Pipeline Theatre Co. runs till April 21

House of Telescopes by Kairos Looney
Directed by Lyam B. Gabel
Original Music by Aya Aziz
April 2-28, A.R.T./NY

“House of Telescopes features a strong ensemble embodying a wonderful mosaic of identity, journey, discovery, and knowledge…House of Telescopes is a beautiful piece, wonderfully designed and fabulously performed and crafted.  Filled to the brim with questions and experiences around trans identity, it is universal in its message of acceptance, love, and embracing every piece of yourself to truly find the beautiful and unique you.” - Brittany Crowell, Front Row Center

Get comp tickets for all performances here!

PC: Marcus Middleton

See JONAH at Roundabout Theater Company February 29 at the Laura Pels!

Thursday, February 29 at 7p, Francesca will be performing her understudy track in JONAH by Rachel Bonds and directed by Danya Taymor at Roundabout Theater Company. She will cover the Tony nominated actor Gabby Beans in her extraordinary portrayal of Ana at the Laura Pels Theater (111 W 46th St, New York, NY 10036). The show is a NYT Times Critics Pick and runs till March 10! Learn more about this “absorbing, always-fascinating new play” below:

NYT Review: In ‘Jonah,’ Trust Nothing, and No One

Show Score: List or Reviews for JONAH

Ms. Holmes & Ms Watson - Apartment 2B by Kate Hamill at the Dorset Theatre Festival

Currently runs August 11 - 26 at the Dorset Theatre Festival.

Fast-paced and wildly entertaining, this brilliantly theatrical take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous sleuth and sidekick re-examines the classic adventure stories you love through a bold new female lens. In this highly theatrical, small-cast escapade, oddball female roommates Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Joan Watson join forces to emerge from the pandemic fog as a deeply codependent, quasi-dysfunctional, Odd Couple adventure duo… careening from caper to caper until they come face to face with a supervillain who seems to have all of the answers. Get ready for a rollicking murder mystery that packs in non-stop laughs and hijinks galore!

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"Francesca Fernandez’ plays her as a sexy and sultry femme fatale who lights up the stage with her sexiness and bawdy wit.... Ensemble work is excellent throughout.” - Rutland Herald

"Francesca Fernandez is truly marvelous and inventive in a trio of roles. As Sherlock’s housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson, she is in a continual farcical panic. As the mysterious Mrs. Drebber she fully embraces a Jekyll/Hyde character. Fernandez is outstanding as the famous Holmes character, Irene Adler—she is completely in control of a character who is glamourous, sexy, and lethal."  - Berkshire On Stage

“It seems to me that she never for even a moment was still on the stage, but physically kept being seductive and comical and raw, all at the same time. I loved this actress’s work." - The Berkshire Edge

CAST

SARA HAIDER: Sherlock Holmes
NESSA NORICH: Joan Watson
MICHAEL FREDERIC: Lestrade/Moriarty/Monk
FRANCESCA FERNANDEZ: Irene Adler/Mrs. Drebber/ Mrs. Hudson

PRODUCTION TEAM

KATE HAMILL (Playwright)
ANEESHA KUDTARKAR (Director)
SARAH KARL (Scenic Design)
MARIKO OHIGASHI (Costume Design)
JACKIE FOX (Lighting Design)
MICHAEL COSTAGLIOLA (Sound Design)
CHARLOTTE BYDWELL (Movement Director)
JUDY BOWMAN, CSA (Casting Director)
ROBBIE ARMSTRONG III (Stage Manager)

Smart at Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST) extends through April 30

Ensemble Studio Theatre presents the play which explores the benefits and pitfalls of technology in the responsibility of caregiving. Previews began March 30 for the Off-Broadway work which opened April 6, and was set to run through April 23 and extended to April 30. Learn more about the show here.

Elaine is responsible for taking care of her cranky and ill mother Ruth. Ruth doesn't want aides in the house, but Elaine needs help so she can go to work. Enter "Jenny," a smart device Elaine buys to babysit and keep her mom company that gives Elaine a way to check on Ruth. Jenny becomes part of the family—but who else is listening? Starring are Christine Farrell, Francesca Fernandez, and Kea Trevett.

PRODUCTION TEAM:

Director - Matt Dickson
Playwright - Mary Elizabeth Hamilton
Production Stage Manager - Lauren Nicole Jackson
Scenic Designer - Ant Ma
Props Designer - Caitlyn Murphy
Lighting Designer - Colleen Doherty
Costume Designer - Megan Rutherford
Sound Designer - Josh Samuels
Casting Director - Stephanie Yankwitt, TBD Casting Company

“Mary's play is about new tech and privacy, about loneliness and connection in the city, about mothers and daughters—she ties those threads together with humor and warmth, and an ache that stays with you long after the play is over,” said EST's Co-Artistic Director Graeme Gillis in a statement. “We've been working on this play with Mary for nearly five years, but the story it tells is very much of this moment. It's very much a play about life right now."

Smart marks Hamilton's Off-Broadway debut. The play is so-produced with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. It was originally commissioned and developed through the EST/Sloan Project, a program organized by the Off-Broadway theatre and the foundation.

Bald Sisters at Steppenwolf runs till January 15!

“BLINK ONCE FOR BURIAL. BLINK TWICE FOR A FRIDAY FUNERAL. BLINK THRICE IF YOU HATE MY GUTS.”

ABOUT THIS SHOW

Ma is dead; now what happens? Vichet Chum’s world premiere follows two sisters—at odds since birth—as they settle the affairs of their strong-willed, wise-cracking mother while reconciling their family’s Cambodian heritage with its ever-so-complicated American present. Where’s the will? A burial or cremation? And what do we do with Ma’s teeth? Bald Sisters is an irreverent, comedic and ultimately poignant examination of the ties that bind multigenerational families of immigrants together: history, spirituality and humor. 

Playwright Vichet Chum
Director Jesca Prudencio
Dramaturg Polly Hubbard
Scenic Design Andrew Boyce
Costume Design Izumi Inaba
Lighting Design Stacey Derosier
Sound Design & Original Music Pornchanok Kanchanabanca
Projection Design Mike Tutaj
Company Voice & Text Coach Gigi Buffington
Producing Director Tom Pearl
CSA Casting Director JC Clementz
Production Stage Manager Laura D. Glenn
Assistant Stage Manager Jaclynn Joslin
Script Supervisor Emma Sipora Tyler
Assistant Director Karina Patel
Assistant Lighting Designer Erica Lauren Maholmes
Assistant Projection Designer Parker Molacek
Fights & Intimacy Courtney Abbott
Fights & Intimacy Greg Geffrard
COVID Safety Manager Lauren Casson
Tech Cover Lauren Littlejohn
Run Crew Joe Creen
Cultural Consultant Sami Ismat, Thavary Krouch & Sophoan Khoeun

Cast
Coburn Goss
Jennifer Lim
Nima Rakhshanifar
Wai Ching Ho
Francesca Fernandez
Omar Bader
Cheryl Hamada
Jennifer Jelsema
Matt Miles
Stephanie Shum

Joel Moorman and Brandon Jones: Video.
Photo cred: Michael Brosilow

Video

Interview with Vichet Chum
Rehearsal Trailer
The Big Shave with Francesca
Audience Response

Reviews

Chicago Sun Times: “Multigenerational worlds collide in moving, funny and powerful ‘Bald Sisters’ at Steppenwolf Theatre” by Steven Oxman. Review

Chicago Reader: “Mourning and celebrating in the same breath” by Irene Hsiao. Review

Around the Town: By Alan Bresloff. Review

New City Stage: “As American as Buh-Bah Sok-Moin: A Review of “Bald Sisters” at Steppenwolf Theatre” by Tristan Bruns. Review

Chicago Theatre Review: “People are Bitches.” Review