Cherry Docs

February 20, 2019 - March 17, 2019 | Bowne's Lab Theatre

A neo-Nazi skinhead is charged with murder, and Legal Aid has assigned him a Jewish lawyer. Over the course of developing a defense for the skinhead, his new lawyer is forced to examine the limits of his own liberalism and its underlying demons. This drama is an unblinking examination of hatred, the explosive eﬀect it has on our society, and the hurdles that confront us as we set about eradicating it.

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CREATIVE

CAST

Danny | Drew Hirshfield*
Mike | Tom Patterson*

* Denotes member Actors’ Equity Association. The Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

DREW HIRSHFIELD (Danny) Previously at FST: Hand to God. Regional credits include plays at Magic Theater, Huntington Theatre Company, Geva Theatre Center, Premiere Stages, American Conservatory Theater, New Harmony Theatre, Alley Theatre, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, among others. New York credits include new plays with Ensemble Studio Theatre, Collaboration Town, New York Stage & Film, 59E59 Theaters. Broadway National Tour: The Lion King. Drew was even once nominated for a Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award, but didn’t win. He teaches acting at the New York Film Academy. He earned his MFA from American Conservatory Theater.

TOM PATTERSON (Mike) Previously at FST: Hand to God, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and Shotgun (dir. Kate Alexander). Broadway: 1984. Regional: Constellations (Studio Theatre, Helen Hayes Award – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play); Ether Dome (Hartford Stage and Huntington Theatre Company); Sideways (La Jolla Playhouse); Murder on the Nile, Bedroom Farce (The Barnstormers); Of Mice and Men (Northern Stage). Tom also performed at La Jolla Playhouse’s WoW Festival in David Jacobi’s Cornerstone. Film: Thorp. AEA. Training: UCSD (MFA). He is originally from South Bend, Indiana.

KATE ALEXANDER (Director) is the Associate Director At-Large of FST and the Founder of the FST Theatre School with its acting method of training. Ms. Alexander has directed numerous productions and premieres on the FST stages including Straight White Men; Always...Patsy Cline; The Things They Carried; Native Gardens; Heisenberg; The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey; brownsville song (b-side for tray); Clever Little Lies; Alabama Story; Outside Mullingar; Over the River and Through the Woods; Chapatti; Dancing Lessons; Becoming Dr. Ruth; Freud’s Last Session; Thurgood; South Beach Babylon; The Columnist; Talley’s Folly; Jericho; Next Fall; The Savannah Disputation; Ghost-Writer; Two Jews Walk into a War...; I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change; Sylvia; Shotgun; The Miamians; Brooklyn Boy; The Exonerated; Wit; Proof; Lobby Hero; and Ten Unknowns. Ms. Alexander has also been a resident actress for over 25 years. Some of her leading roles were in the plays: Edward Albee’s The Goat; Filumena; Master Class; Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women; The Occupant; The Play About the Baby; Golda’s Balcony; and Taking Shakespeare. Ms. Alexander is the recipient of numerous acting, directing, and public service awards, including FAER, She Knows Where She’s Going Award (Girls, Inc.), The Woman of Light Award, National Council of Jewish Women Award, The Woman of Power Award, the Sarasota County Arts Leadership Award, Education Award, Sarasota Manatee Jewish Federation, The Unity Award, and most recently, the One World Award. Ms. Alexander leads the FST Forums Series and developed the Blue Butterfly Theatre Program, a program for teens suffering from grief through loss. She created the Art of The Gesture program at Ringling College of Animation and is the co-author of The Animated Short, with Karen Sullivan, now in its 2nd edition.

BRUCE PRICE (Scenic Designer) joined the FST staff in 2002 as the Production Stage Manager. In 2004, he was promoted to Production Manager. Over the past 17 years, he has stage managed over 38 productions and overseen the technical aspects of over 100 productions here at FST. During his 30 plus years in theatre, Mr. Price has designed sets, lights, and costumes for dozens of productions. Mr. Price has worked regionally at The Alley Theatre and Stage Repertory Theatre both on stage and backstage, but he has found his home here at FST.

ADRIENNE WEBBER (Costume Designer) is the current Florida Studio Theatre Costume Shop Manager. She has designed and coordinated costumes for The Barter Theatre, The Barter Players, Chautauqua Opera, FSU MFA film and video program, FSU MFA acting program, Asolo Children’s tour program, Sarasota Players, and Anna Maria Island Players. This season she was the Costume Coordinator for A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. Her most recent designs include: Blue Suede Shoes; Mack the Knife: The Bobby Darin Songbook; The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey; and Grounded. She is happy to be back in Sarasota with her new FST family.

NICK JONES (Lighting Designer) returns to FST after designing lights for this season's Hand to God and Snow White. Having designed in Sarasota and New York, credits span numerous companies and projects such as Asolo Rep, Dog Days Theatre Company, and Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe. Additionally, he serves as a lighting assistant on the New Year’s Eve Times Square Celebration. For a full list of works, visit his website at standbylx.net.

THOMAS KORP (Sound Designer) As FST’s Sound Supervisor, Thom does more than wrangle rogue microphones. Sound design credits include: Straight White Men, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Once, A Chorus Line, Spamalot, Native Gardens, How to Use a Knife, The Columnist, Talley’s Folley, and The West Side Waltz. Mixing Credits: Next to Normal, Smokey Joe’s Café, The World Goes Round, Tango: Buenos Aires, We Will Rock You.

SPECIAL THANKS TO: Rabbi Simon, The Hon. Laurence Eger, Captain David Scott

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

"Provocative"

"Deeply involving"

Sarasota Magazine

"Hard-hitting drama"

"Impassioned"

"Asks where hatred begins, and if it can be stopped"

"Raw, gripping, honest"

"A counterpoint of passion and self-reflection"

"Directed with fire and ice"

"[It] will touch your soul"

INTERVIEWS

Breaking Down Hatred: An Interview with Tom Patterson (Mike) | READ

Facing Your Demons: An Interview with Drew Hirshfield | READ

ARTICLES

A Mile in Blood-Spattered Boots by Michael Nichols and Becca Jennings | READ

Hate and Healing | READ

America's Pain: Coming to Terms with Hatred | READ

ADDITIONAL ARTICLES

Find out what inspired David Gow to write Cherry Docs and how the play has evolved over the past two decades | LEARN

Why does Cherry Docs matter in today’s world? | WATCH

David Gow’s play was adapted into the 2006 film, Steel Toes | WATCH TRAILER