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Gloria: A Life

By Emily Mann
Directed by Holly Twyford
March 8 – April 2, 2023

HISTORY. HER STORY. OUR STORY.

Gloria: A Life is more than a play—it’s a celebration of human connection. Five decades after Gloria Steinem began raising her voice and championing the voices of others, her call for equality is as urgent as ever. In this exploration of the iconic feminist’s extraordinary legacy and the women who inspired her (including Dorothy Pitman Hughes, Flo Kennedy, Coretta Scott King, and Wilma Mankiller), the first act tells her story, and the second invites the audience to share their own. Gloria Steinem’s stirring and uplifting narrative is a necessary reminder of the importance of speaking up and speaking out. Directed by Holly Twyford (Becoming Dr. Ruth), Gloria: A Life honors one of the most inspiring women of our time.

“Emily Mann’s play is equal parts biography, history lesson, TED talk and call to action– The Wrap

Running time is approximately 100 minutes with no intermission

Thank You to Our Production Angels:

Michele and Allan Berman
Johanna Chanin and Randall Levitt
Myrna Fawcett
Mindy Gasthalter
John and Meg Hauge
Arlene and Martin Klepper
Sherry Nevins
Arnold and Diane Polinger
Ilene and Steven Rosenthal
Richard Solloway
Betsy Karmin and Manny Strauss

This production is supported in part by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

This production is sponsored by:

Morgan Stanley

THE BRALOVE GROUP
AT MORGAN STANLEY

Susan Lynskey*
Awa Sal Secka*
Debora Crabbe
Sherri L. Edelen*
Erin Weaver*
Sydney Lo
Sydney Lo
Mani Yangilmau
Mani Yangilmau

*Appearing through an Agreement between this theater, Theater J, and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States

Director: Holly Twyford

Set Design: Paige Hathaway+

Costume Design: Moyenda Kulemeka+

Lighting Design: Colin K Bills+

Projection Design: Danny Debner

Sound Design: Sarah O’Halloran+

Props Design: Pamela Weiner

Casting Director: Jenna Place

Dialect Coach: Leigh Wilson Smiley

Production Stage Manager: Anthony O. Bullock*

Assistant Stage Manager: Allison Poms-Strickland

Assistant Stage Manager: Margaret Warner

 

*Appearing through an Agreement between this theater, Theater J, and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States
+Member of United Scenic Artists Local 829

THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 8:00 PM  |  Pay-What-You-Choose Preview
FEATURED RESPONDER: Dr. Laura Meyers
Dr. Laura Meyers is currently CEO of Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington. Prior to joining PPMW in 2008, Laura was CEO of Planned Parenthood of Western New York. Dr. Meyers currently serves on the Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s Board of Directors as well as the Vice Chair of Affiliate Risk Management Services board. She is also the former Chair of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association’s Board of Directors.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 7:30 PM  |  Pay-What-You-Choose Preview
FEATURED RESPONDER: 
Alli Tombros Korman
Alli (she/her) is the Senior Operations and Strategy Director for the DC Abortion Fund, which for 27 years has been making grants to pregnant people living in or traveling to the DC area for their abortion care. Alli brings to DCAF twenty years’ experience in public health and nonprofit management. Prior to joining DCAF, Alli served as founding Executive Director of Culture of Respect, a leading national initiative to end campus sexual violence.
SATURDAY, MARCH 11, 8:00 PM  |  PREVIEW
FEATURED RESPONDER: Michelle Liu
Michelle Liu is a women’s human rights lawyer and a professor of law at Georgetown University. She is originally from China but grew up in Connecticut and considers herself a New Yorker at heart. Through her role as the Deputy Director of the Human Rights Institute at Georgetown Law, Michelle hopes to inspire students take up the challenge of fighting sex discrimination in laws and policies and in our everyday lives.
SUNDAY, MARCH 12, 2:00 PM  |  PREVIEW
FEATURED RESPONDER: Betsy Griffith
Betsy Griffith is an academic, activist, and author.  Her Elizabeth Cady Stanton biography, “In Her Own Right,” praised by both Oprah and the Wall Street Journal, was the basis of a Ken Burns’ documentary. The New York Times has called her most recent work, “Formidable: American Women and the Fight for Equality,” a “tour de force.”
MONDAY, MARCH 13, 7:30 PM  |  Opening Night
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 12:00 PM  |  PREVIEW
FEATURED RESPONDER: Connie Morella
Morella served as U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris from 2003-2007. From 1987 until 2003 she represented Maryland’s 8th Congressional District in the US House of Representatives, known as a leading advocate for women, children, families as well as a promoter of economic growth through science and technology. Prior to the US Congress, she was elected to the Maryland General Assembly, serving 8 years.
THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 8:00 PM
FEATURED RESPONDER: Natalie Randolph
Natalie Randolph is currently the Director of Equity, Justice & Community at the Sidwell Friends school. Prior to her role at Sidwell Friends, Natalie served as the Senior Women’s Administrator and Title IX Coordinator for the DC State Athletic Association where she oversaw Title IX compliance for the District’s public and public charter school athletics programs. Before entering into the DEI space, Natalie was science educator with DC Public Schools where she also served as one of the first female head football coaches in the country at Calvin Coolidge High School.
SATURDAY, MARCH 18, 2:00 PM
FEATURED RESPONDER: Dr. Melanie A. Adams
Melanie A. Adams, PhD, currently serves as the Roger Ferguson and Annette Nazareth Director of the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum.  Before joining the Smithsonian, Dr. Adams served as the Deputy Director for Learning Initiatives at the Minnesota Historical Society overseeing the state’s 26 historic sites.  Prior to Minnesota, she spent twelve years at the Missouri Historical Society as the Managing Director for Community Education and Events.  Dr. Adams is an active member of the museum community.  She currently serves on the board of Museum Hue and served on the board of the American Association for State and Local History and the Association of Midwest Museums.
SATURDAY, MARCH 18, 8:00 PM
FEATURED RESPONDER: Yolanda Savage-Narva
Yolanda Savage-Narva (she/her) is the Assistant Vice President of Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (REDI) for the Union for Reform Judaism. For more than 20 years, Yolanda collaborated with Tribal governments to strengthen public health systems, promoted pedestrian safety and advocacy and coining the phrase, “Walking is a civil right,” and advancing health equity in states and territories. Most recently, Yolanda was the executive director with Operation Understanding DC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting understanding, cooperation, and respect while fighting to eradicate racism, antisemitism, and all forms of discrimination. Yolanda is an alumna of the Union for Reform Judaism’s JewV’Nation Fellowship and a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., as well as an immediate past member of the Religious Action Center’s Commission on Social Action
SUNDAY, MARCH 19, 2:00 PM
FEATURED RESPONDER: Marjuan Canaday
Marjuan Canady is a Mom, Broadway Producer and award-winning Caribbean-American writer, director, performer, entrepreneur, educator, and literacy advocate. A native Washingtonian, her work spans theater, film, television, children’s media and literature. She recently served as a Co-Producer on the 2022 Broadway production, Death of a Salesman. She was the 2021-2022 inaugural Front Row Productions Fellow / Adjunct Research Scholar at Columbia University Theatre Management and Producing Program. She is the Founder of her production company Sepia Works and non-profit, Canady Foundation for the Arts. Canady is a graduate of Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Fordham University and NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
SUNDAY, MARCH 26, 2023 7:30 PM  |  Open Captioning

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