Miss Witherspoon
- Written by Christopher Durang
- Directed by Emily Mann
Christopher Durang is a playwright whose plays include A History of the American Film (Tony nomination, Best Book of a Musical, 1978), The Actor’s Nightmare, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You (Obie award; off-Bway run 1981-83), Beyond Therapy (on Broadway in 1982, with Dianne Wiest and John Lithgow), Baby with the Bathwater (Playwrights Horizons, 1983), The Marriage of Bette and Boo (Public Theatre, 1985; Obie award, Dramatists Guild Hull Warriner Award), Laughing Wild (Playwrights Horizons, 1987), Durang/Durang (an evening of six plays at Manhattan Theatre Club, 1994, including the Tennessee Williams’ parody, For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls), Sex and Longing (Lincoln Center Theatre production at the Cort Theatre, 1996, starring Sigourney Weaver), and Betty’s Summer Vacation (Playwrights Horizons, 1999; Obie award). (As of November 2005)
His most recent works are Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge, which premiered at City Theatre in Pittsburgh in 2002. And the musical Adrift in Macao, with music by Peter Melnick and book and lyrics by Durang, which premiered at New York Stage and Film in summer 2002, and is under option for off-Broadway 2003-04.
Durang is also a performer, and acted with E. Katherine Kerr in the N.Y. premiere of Laughing Wild, and with Jean Smart in the L.A. production. He shared in an acting ensemble Obie for The Marriage of Bette and Boo; and with John Augustine and Sherry Anderson has performed his crackpot cabaret Chris Durang and Dawne at the Criterion Center, Caroline’s Comedy Club, Williamstown Summer Cabaret, and the Triad, winning a 1996 Bistro Award.
In the early 80s, he and Sigourney Weaver co-wrote and performed in their acclaimed Brecht-Weill parody, Das Lusitania Songspiel, and were both nominated for Drama Desk awards for Best Performer in a Musical.
In 1993 he sang in the five person off-Broadway Sondheim revue, Putting It Together, with Julie Andrews at the Manhattan Theatre Club. And he played a singing Congressman in the Encores presentation of Call Me Madam with Tyne Daly at City Center.
In movies, he has appeared in The Secret of My Success, Mr. North, The Butcher’s Wife, Housesitter, and The Cowboy Way, among others.
He has a B.A. from Harvard College, and an M.F.A. in Playwriting from Yale School of Drama.
In 1995 he won the prestigious three-year Lila Wallace Readers Digest Writers Award; as part of his grant, he ran a writing workshop for adult children of alcoholics. In 2000 he won the Sidney Kingsley Playwriting Award.
Grove Press publishes several of his plays. Smith and Kraus recently published two new collections: Christopher Durang: 27 Short Plays and Christopher Durang: Complete Full-Length Plays (1975-1995). Grove has recently published Betty’s Summer Vacation.
Since 1994 he has been co-chair with Marsha Norman of the Playwriting Program at the Juilliard School in Manhattan.
He is a member of the Dramatists Guild Council.
Director and playwright Emily Mann recently celebrated her 20th season as Artistic Director of McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ. Under her leadership, McCarter was honored with the 1994 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Directing credits include the world premiere of Edward Albee’s Me, Myself & I; Nilo Cruz’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Anna in the Tropics (also on Broadway); A Seagull in the Hamptons (also adapted); the world premiere of Christopher Durang’s Miss Witherspoon (also at Playwrights Horizons); Uncle Vanya (also adapted); All Over (also at Roundabout; 2003 ObieAward for Directing); and The Cherry Orchard (also adapted). Her plays include Mrs. Packard (2007 Kennedy Center Fund for NewAmerican PlaysAward); Execution of Justice (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle nominations; Helen Hayes, HBO awards); Still Life (six Obie Awards); Greensboro (A Requiem); and Annulla, An Autobiography. Ms. Mann wrote and directed Having Our Say, adapted from the book by Sarah L. Delany andA. Elizabeth Delany with Amy Hill Hearth (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle nominations; NAACP Award; Peabody and Christopher awards and WGA nomination for her screenplay). A winner of the Dramatists Guild Hull-Warriner Award, she is a member of the Dramatists Guild and serves on its Council. (As of August 2010)
In life, Veronica turned her back on religion – so why is she spending eternity in the netherworld with a Hindu spirit guide who calls her Miss Witherspoon? And why is she continually being sent back to earth to live lives she adamantly refuses to lead? Will she open herself up to enlightenment and learn her place in the world?
Miss Witherspoon is based on actual research conducted by the author in the netherworld. Or so he says.
Featuring
Lynda Gravátt
Mahira Kakkar
Kristine Nielsen
Jeremy Shamos
Colleen Werthmann
Playwrights Horizons: Miss Witherspoon. Broadway: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Doubt, 45 Seconds from Broadway, King Hedley II. Other Off-Broadway: Skeleton Crew (Drama League nomination), The Hummingbird’s Tour, The Little Foxes, Zooman and the Sign (Audelco Award), Diving the Estate, King Hedley II (Audelco nomination), Intimate Apparel (Audelco Award), Crowns (Audelco Award), If Memory Serves, The Old Settler (Theatre World Award). Television: “Madam Secretary,” “She’s Gotta Have It,” “Person of Interest,” “Elementary.”
Playwrights: Miss Witherspoon. Select Off-Broadway: Arturo Ui (CSC), Henry VI (NAATCO), The Winter’s Tale (TFANA), Harper Regan (Atlantic), Clive (New Group), Against The Hillside (EST). Select Regional: Berkeley Rep, Old Globe, Denver Center, Huntington, Cleveland Playhouse. Film: Hank and Asha; Hechki. TV: “New Amsterdam,” “Orange Is the New Black,” “Bite Me,” “Friends From College,” “Law and Order,” “Louie”. Training: Juilliard, Harold Guskin. Member: EST, Hero Theater Company, The Actors Center. mahirakakkar.com
(Updated July 2019)
Playwrights: Gus and Al, Betty’s Summer Vacation, Miss Witherspoon, Crazy Mary, Hir. WP Theater debut. Broadway: Gary, Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike, Present Laughter, and You Can’t Take It with You, among others. Nielsen has performed in numerous Off Broadway and regional theater productions, and has appeared on many TV series. She is currently in HBO’s The Gilded Age and just finished shooting Coup!, an independent film.
Broadway: Clybourne Park (Tony, Drama League and Lortel nominations), The Assembled Parties, Glengarry Glen Ross, Elling, Reckless, The Rivals. Off-Broadway: Dinner with Friends (Lortel Award), Engaged (Obie Award), Animals Out of Paper (Drama Desk nomination), We Live Here, Corpus Christi, The New York Idea, 100 Saints You Should Know, Miss Witherspoon, Gutenberg!, Observe the Sons of Ulster…, Shakespeare (Abridged), Race, The Alchemist, Hamlet, Cymbeline. Television: Recurring roles on “Better Call Saul” and “Nurse Jackie,” guest appearances on “Happyish,” “Elementary,” “The Good Wife,” “Unforgettable,” “Fringe,” “L&O: SVU” and "Criminal Intent,” “Damages.” Film: Alejandro Gonzales’s Birdman, Woody Allen’s Magic in the Moonlight, Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock. (As of April 2015)
Playwrights: Miss Witherspoon, Recent Tragic Events. With The Civilians: Canard Canard Goose?, Gone Missing, The Ladies, In The Footprint, Artificial Flavors, and many more. NY theater: Public, NYTW, Soho Rep, Elevator Repair Service, Colt Coeur. TV/film: The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Law and Order, SALT. Werthmann is also an Emmy-nominated comedy writer (The Daily Show, The Nightly Show, the Oscars, etc.).
Creative Team
David Korins
Scenic DesignerJess Goldstein
Costume DesignerJeff Croiter
Lighting DesignerDarron L. West
Sound DesignerAlison Cote
Production Stage ManagerIn two decades of creating omnidirectional experiences, David Korins and his eponymous New York City based creative studio has reached millions of people globally by helping brands, institutions, and artists bring their stories to life. David created the worlds for 25 Broadway shows, including the Tony Award-winning musicals Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, Beetlejuice: The Musical, and in 2023 will open Here Lies Love and The Who’s Tommy. Among numerous TV credits, David recently created the new design of HBO’s “The Big Brunch” with Dan Levy, “Last Week Tonight” hosted by John Oliver, was the Production Designer for the 91st and 94th Annual Academy Awards, and Grease: Live!, for which he received an Emmy Award. Korins is the Director of David Blaine’s newly opened Las Vegas residency, is the Global Creative Director of Lighthouse Immersive for whom he designed Immersive Van Gogh, the highest selling experience nationally in 2021, and in 2023 his work on “Disney Animation: The Immersive Experience” will open in multiple venues around the world. David also continues to hold the title of Theater Designer in Residence for TED's conferences internationally. Collaborators include David Blaine, Bruno Mars, Elton John, Lady Gaga, Mariah Carey, Andrea Bocelli, Sia, Robin Eley and Takashi Murakami. David’s work has been presented at Madison Square Garden, Coachella, Gagosian, Lollapalooza and SXSW. Brand partnerships include the NFL, Disney, Twitter, Google, Spotify, YouTube, Microsoft, Sotheby’s and ESPN.
Jeff Croiter is a New York based lighting designer whose experience includes work on Broadway, off-Broadway, dance, opera, special event, regional theatre, touring productions, TV, film, circus, magic, and restaurant design.
He has received Tony, Hewes, and Bass awards and has been nominated for Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Lortel, LA Drama Critics, Ovation, Irne, NAACP, and Audelco awards.
Jeff designed the lighting for Penn & Teller at the Rio in Las Vegas and The Big Apple Circus at Lincoln Center and has been the designer for Jennifer Muller The Works since 1996. He is a producer of the animated series, Light Humor, the hit web comedy Submissions Only, and was the producer and co-host of The Sunday Roundtable.
His work has been seen at New York theatres including Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Roundabout, MTC, MCC, Shakespeare in the Park, Signature Theatre, Second Stage, The Public Theatre, The New Group, Playwrights Horizons, The Atlantic, The Vineyard, Primary Stages, Ars Nova, New World Stages, The Westside Theatre, and The Joyce Theatre. Regional theatre credits include The Guthrie Theatre, The Shakespeare Theatre, Dallas Theatre Center, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Barrington Stage, McCarter Theatre, Kennedy Center, The Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, Center Theatre Group, The Huntington, The Alliance Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, George Street Playhouse, Trinity Rep, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Cincinnati Playhouse, Ford’s Theatre, Goodspeed Opera House, and NY Stage and Film.
Photos of (1) Mahira Kakkar, Jeremy Shamos, Kristine Nielsen, and Lynda Gravatt; (2) Kristine Nielsen and Lynda Gravatt; (3) Jeremy Shamos, Kristine Nielsen, and Colleen Werthmann; and (4) Jeremy Shamos and Kristine Nielsen by Joan Marcus.
Durang is an essential and affecting presence in the American theater.