CTC Commission and World Premiere
The Witnesses
(formerly titled Tell Me You’re Dying)
Performance Dates: Aug. 9–23
The Witnesses compels us to question not only if we can change but if we have time to do so while the world appears to be ending. Infused with C.A. Johnson’s brutal honesty, exacting humor, and heartfelt exploration of human relationships, the story pulses with urgency, vulnerability and unexpected warmth.
While an apocalyptic plague rages, five individuals unite in their weekly support group to forge a sanctuary of care and companionship. Centering on the darkly funny and wildly magnetic Millicent and her chosen family of misfits, this play explores the undeniable physical urge for human connection.
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BY
C.A. Johnson
DIRECTED BY
Jade King Carroll
Ticket Price: $50–$60
Creatives
C.A. Johnson
Playwright
C.A. Johnson is a Brooklyn-based playwright originally from Metairie, Louisiana. Her plays include All The Natalie Portmans (MCC Theater), Thirst (2017 Kilroys List, CATF), The Climb (Cherry Lane Mentor Project, InterAct Theatre Company), An American Feast (NYU Playwrights Horizons Theater School), I Know I Know I Know, Somebody’s Body, and Tell Me You’re Dying. Most recently she was named a resident playwright with New Dramatists. She was previously the Tow Playwright in Residence at MCC Theater, the 2018 P73 Playwriting Fellow, The Lark’s 2016–17 Van Lier Fellow, a Dramatists Guild Fellow, a MacDowell Fellow, a member of The Working Farm at SPACE on Ryder Farm, a Core Writer at The Playwrights Center, and a 2018 Sundance Theatre Lab Fellow among other accolades. Her work has been commissioned by Manhattan Theatre Club, Seattle Rep, Page 73, and Chautauqua Theater Company. C.A. also has an active career in film and television, with several projects in development, including at ABC Signature and Searchlight Pictures. She has written for several television series, including projects helmed by Drew Goddard, Marielle Heller, and Jon Robin Baitz. BA: Smith College MFA: NYU
Jade King Carroll
Director
Jade King Carroll is the Producing Artistic Director of the Chautauqua Theater Company. She is a distinguished director specializing in new play development, with extensive collaborations with acclaimed playwrights like Dael Orlandersmith, Chisa Hutchinson, Inda Craig-Galván, Kate Hamill, Dominique Morisseau, and Sarah Gancher. She has fostered emerging writers at prestigious organizations such as the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Roundabout Theatre Company, Lincoln Center Institute, and more. Carroll’s directorial portfolio includes new audio dramas for Audible, Marvel, Broadway Podcast Network, and GEVA Theatre Center.
You-Shin Chen – Scenic Designer
Rodrigo Muñoz – Costume Designer
Amith Chandrashaker – Lighting Designer
Fan Zhang – Sound Designer
Bernita Robinson – Production Stage Manager
Otis Ramsey-Zöe – Dramaturg
Adriano Gatto – Fight Director
Lindsay Hunter – Intimacy Director
Cast
Nicholas Byers
Caleb
CTC: second season. Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine. Regional: Fences (Trinity Repertory Company); The Tempest (The Colonial Theatre); Ironbound (Brown/Trinity Rep); The Word Exchange (North Carolina Stage Company, World Premiere). TV/Film: The Night Courier. Education: MFA Brown/Trinity Rep.
Fig Chilcott
Emmanuelle
CTC: first season. Off-Broadway: 72 Miles to Go (Roundabout Theatre); The Weak and The Strong (LaMama); Last Days of Judas Iscariot (LaMama). Regional: Lost In Yonkers (Palm Beach Dramaworks). B.A. Chico State. MFA The Actors Studio Drama School. @figgie_smalls
Daniel Pearce
John
CTC: Seventh season. Reckless, Arcadia, Winter’s Tale, One Man Two Guvnors and New Play Workshops Close Up Space, Birthday Candles, Tell Me You’re Dying, and the co-production of Amadeus (Chautauqua Symphony). Broadway: Othello, Machinal, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.Off-Broadway: 12 Productions with The Public Theater, most recently Hamlet (Delacorte Theater); Timon of Athens (TFANA); The Most Deserving (Women’s Project); Falling (Minetta Lane); Passion Play (epic); The Picture of Dorian Gray (Irish Rep). Regional: The Shakespeare Theater DC, The Guthrie, La Jolla Playhouse, Denver Center Theater, Long Wharf, Great Lakes Theater Festival, Cleveland Playhouse, Detroit Public Theater, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and Pittsburgh Public Theater, Actor’s Theater of Louisville. International: Barbican Centre. Film/ TV: The Last Thing Mary Saw, Salt, An Invisible Sign, Clowns, Godzilla, “The Good Fight,” “Bull,” Murder of a President, “Law & Order:SVU “Law & Order: Criminal Intent, “Chappelle’s Show,’ and “Queens Supreme.” Other: Composed the live score for Michael Gaston’s solo show Low Expectations (Theater Aspen & Theatreworks Silicon Valley). MFA NYU. 2017 Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship, Excellence in Acting.
Alicia Pilgrim
Tori
CTC: first season. Off-Broadway: Cullud Wattah (The Public); I’m Revolting (Atlantic Theatre); The Wash (NFT x WP). Regional: Eden (YRT). Workshops: love i awethu further (EOPC); WJLB (NYTW); Furlough’s Paradise (MTC); What We Deserve (BAC); ‘tia pray a sound (BTB). Sound Curation: Guttah (GAP); Dream Machine (LC). Film/TV: A Thousand and One (Focus); “Random Acts of Flyness” (HBO); SKETTEL (FWMP); Rob Peace (Participant) Education: BFA Suny Purchase and DESA @atribecalledalicia
Nedra Marie Taylor
Millicent
CTC: first season. Broadway: The Book of Mormon (Eugene O’Neill); Marvin’s Room (Roundabout). Off-Broadway: minor.ity (WP Theater); Good Bones (The Public); The House That Will Not Stand (NYTW); The Underlying Chris (2nd Stage); Mr. Burns, A Life (Playwrights Horizons); Lost Lake (MTC). TV: Rose Callaway on “Invasion” (Apple TV+); “Brilliant Minds,” “Elsbeth,” “NCIS: New Orleans,” “Orange is The New Black,” “Random Acts of Flyness,” “Jessica Jones.” Education: MFA from the Actors Studio Drama School. @nedramarietaylor