Événement

Bartlett Theater's Production of Johnna Adams' GIDION'S KNOT

Over the course of a parent/teacher conference, a grieving mother and an emotionally overwhelmed primary school teacher have a fraught conversation about the tragic suicide of the mother's son, Gidion. Gidion may have been bullied severelyor he may have been an abuser. As his story is slowly uncovered, the women try to reconstruct a satisfying explanation for Gidion's act and come to terms with excruciating feelings of culpability.

"resonant[a] particularly eloquent study of people caught between the competing demands of reason, morality and familyharrowinga narrative that is as elegant as it is chilling." Washington Post.

"heart-stoppingthe show has pathos and suspense in bucketloadsWithin a lean 80 minutes, the show raises profound questions about parenting and education and documents the gut-wrenching force of maternal loyalty." Washingtonian.

"GIDION'S KNOT is as sad as life itself, and as funny and startling as wella beautiful, disturbing story." DCTheatreScene.com.

Artist Biographies

Bryan Conger(Director)is a freelance director who has spent much of his professional career working in professional regional and educational theatre. He served as artistic associate at Triad Stage and as Interim Artistic Director at Cape Fear Regional Theatre. Most recently Bryan directed Young Frankenstein at East Carolina University. Select directing credits include The Miracle Worker, Skeletons, Caroline; Or Change, The Mystery of Irma Vep, Godspell, Deathtrap, Dirty Blonde, Pump Boys and Dinettes, and My Fair Lady. He has his MFA in directing from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Bryan is thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Bartlett Theater. Find out more about him at bryanconger.com.

Lakeisha Coffey (Corynn) is a Raleigh resident who made Durham debut in The Overwhelming at Manbites Dog Theatre. Other Manbites Dog appearances include The Best of Enemies, brownsville song: a b-side for Tray, and Spirits to Enforce. Some of her favorite roles include I Love My Hair... and I Love My Hair...the Remix (FORTY/AM), The Mountaintop (Justice Theater Project), For Colored Girls... (SheCow Productions/Burning Coal Theatre Second Stage), A Raisin in the Sun (Raleigh Little Theatre), The Waiting Room (Raleigh Little Theatre), and Boston Marriage (Ghost & Spice). As a Little Green Pig company member, she has performed in productions such as Night Beast, The Jade City Chronicles Vol. 1, Richie, Our Town and Tarantino's Yellow Speedo. She also served as stage manager for Black Ops Theatre Companys production of The Typographer's Dream.

Shannon Malone* (Heather) happily resides in Hillsborough, North Carolina after growing up in Atlanta, and living in New York and Los Angeles for many years. She holds a BFA from UNC-Greensboro and an MFA from A.C.T in San Francisco. Her credits span Theatre and Opera, Film and TV. Favorite roles include Amanda in The Glass Menagerie (Bartlett Theater) and Jane in Blue Sky (Burning Coal). Shannon co-owns her own production company, TapirCo Productions LLC, with her husband, and is a proud member of Bartlett Theater and the Durham Community Chorale.

Johnna Adams (Playwright) is an Astoria, NY-based writer who recently received her fifth off-off production from Flux Theatre Ensemble (of her play World Builders, prior productions include Sans Merci and The Angel Eaters Trilogy). Other recent NYC shows include a premiere and revival of her rhyming, Alexandrine verse play, Lickspittles, Buttonholers, and Damned Pernicious Go-Betweens, by Boomerang Theatre, and the 59E59 production of Gidions Knot (directed by Austin Pendleton). Johnna received a Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association Citation for Gidions Knot (2013). She is a past recipient of the Princess Grace Award and a 2012 Finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Award. Gidions Knot was published in 2012 in American Theatre Magazine. The Contemporary American Theatre Festival premiered Gidions Knot in Shepherdstown, WV, in 2012 and more than 40 productions have taken place in the last few years, including productions at InterAct Theatre (Philadelphia), Profiles (Chicago), Kitchen Dog (Dallas), Stages (Houston), Aurora (Berkeley) and Furious Theatre Company (Los Angeles). Johnna graduated from the DePaul University Theatre School with a BFA in Acting and received an MFA in Playwriting from Hunter College under professor Tina Howe. Three of her plays are published with Dramatists Play Service and five are published by Original Works Publishing.