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Return to Blackbird
Cast and Creative Team
 David Harrower (Playwright) Harrower’s first play, Knives in Hens, which premiered at Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre in 1995, was considered a critical and popular success. It deals with a relationship triangle in a rural setting, and a woman’s internal quest to find out what she wants from life. Subsequent plays include Kill the Old Torture Their Young (Traverse, 1998), a city play following a disparate group of characters across Edinburgh, mixing realism with poetry and fantasy. Presence (Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, April 2001) takes another look at the Beatles’s legendary residency at the Star Club in Hamburg on the eve of their success, and Dark Earth (Traverse, August 2003) begins as a broad comedy and turns into a speculation about the meaning of history and the land. Harrower has also written adaptations including: The Chrysalids (1999), adapted from John Wyndham’s novel, for the National Theatre’s Connections project; a version of Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author (Six Characters Looking for an Author (2000)), first staged at the Young Vic in 2000; Chekhov’s Ivanov (2002), performed at the National Theatre; and Buchner’s Woyzeck, performed at the Edinburgh Lyceum in 2002. He has also translated The Girl on the Sofa (2002), a new play by Jon Fosse, presented in a joint production by the Edinburgh International Festival and the Schaubuhne, Berlin, and Schiller’s Mary Stuart for the National Theatre of Scotland/Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh/Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow. In 2005, his play Blackbird was produced by the Edinburgh International Festival, directed by Peter Stein and transferred in February 2006 to the Albery Theatre in London’s West End.
 Beth Duda (Director) Ms. Duda has been affiliated with FST since 1991 as an actress, playwright, teacher, and director. Most recently, Beth directed UNDER SIX, the compilation of winning plays written by elementary school students. As Associate Director of Youth Education, Ms. Duda teaches classes in Monologue, Scene Study, Play Production, Musical Theatre and a class for students with special needs. She has written, co-written, and conceived several one act plays. Through her work at Florida Studio Theatre, Beth helped lead a program that taught thousands of economically challenged students to write short plays. After teaching thousands of workshops, in which she instructed and cajoled the students to take the risk of writing their ideas down, Beth took her own advice and wrote her first full length play, Up to Home. Up to Home was selected as a semi-finalist in the 2008 National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center and is currently under development at Florida Studio Theatre.
CAST
 Dan Patrick Brady* (Ray) Dan is overjoyed to celebrate his first visit to Florida by being in this incredible play at this wonderful theatre. Off-Broadway: Fubar (D.C.), Curse of the Starving Class (Wesley), Women and Football (Vinnie). NYC Revivals: Journey of the Fifth Horse (Zoditch), The Norman Conquests Trilogy (Norman), The Lover (Richard). Regional: The Grapes of Wrath (Tom), To Kill a Mockingbird (Bob Ewell), Heathen Valley (Harlan), Orphans (Treat). Film and Television: All My Children, Loving, Shoot First: A Cop’s Vengeance, Paradise Falls, and a couple of embarrassing horror flicks too stupid to mention.
 Sarah Stockton* (Una) An Asolo graduate, Sarah is thrilled to be back in Sarasota and honored to be working with FST. New York theatre credits include Rokhele in the world premiere English adaptation of Sholem Asch’s With the Current (Center Stage) as well as Celie in Language of Angels and Sarah in JB (78th Street Theatre). Film/TV: Amy in 3lbs and Adelle in the feature film The Unidentified. Prior to graduate school, Sarah was awarded Best Actor at the American College Theatre Festival nationals, held at the Kennedy Center in DC.
Production Staff
Production Manager...........................................Bruce Price
Company Manager.............................................Rob Thomas
Production Stage Manager.................................Julie Stemmler*
Costume Design.................................................Marcella Beckwith
Scenic Design....................................................Lauren Feldman
* Denotes member Actors’ Equity Association.
The Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
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