Written by Lauren Gunderson
Directed by Jennifer Cooper
Performance Dates: 
September 10 – October 2, 2021
Run time: 2h 20m
(including intermission)

Our travels begin in Paris at the height of the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror. It’s 1793, and time to meet four beautiful, bad-ass women: former queen Marie Antoinette, assassin Charlotte Corday, playwright Olympe de Gouges, and Caribbean spy Marianne Angelle. This grand and dream-tweaked comedy is about violence and legacy, art and activism, feminism and terrorism, and compatriots and chosen sisters. The jury’s still out on who really runs the world, but these four ladies sure as hell changed it.

About the Playwright

Pick a week at any time of the year, and chances are a play by Lauren Gunderson is being produced somewhere in the United States by a regional or community theatre. Gunderson is a prolific author of more than 20 plays and musicals and was the most produced playwright in America in 2017 and 2019. She has won numerous awards for her writing, including two Steinberg/ATCA New Play Awards for I and You and The Book of Will, plus the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award. She was also a recipient of a genius grant from the McArthur Foundation. Colonial Players presented Gunderson’s Silent Sky to the acclaim of critics and our audiences in January, 2019.

About the Director

Jennifer Cooper is returning to direct a Colonial Players season production after previously directing The Babylon Line, recognized with a 2018- 2019 Ruby Griffith Award as First Runner Up for Outstanding Achievement in a Play. Her work was again acknowledged with a 2019-2020 Ruby Griffith Award as First Runner Up in a Musical for Mamma Mia! at Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre. With an undergraduate degree in theatre, Jennifer took a (long!) hiatus from the world of theatre to focus on her most important priority — her family. She returned to theatre with CP’s 2017 One Act Play Festival as director of David Ives’ The Universal Language, which went on to win awards for Excellence in Directing, Outstanding Production, and Technical Excellence at the 2018 Maryland Community Theatre Festival. Some of her previous directing work includes Agnes of God, Spoon River Anthology, and Tartuffe. Stage credits include Procne (The Song of Procne), Rizzo (Grease), Audrey (Little Shop of Horrors), Rita (Educating Rita), and Mary Poppins (Mary Poppins). “Thank you to The Colonial Players for this opportunity to be a louder part of the revolution, and to my cast and creative team for perseverance, bravery, dedication, and being my ‘who are we?’” To David and Noah — it is only, ever, and always because of you that I have any voice at all. For all my days I will try to make you proud xo.”

Director's Notes

It’s an odd thing, to make theatre during a pandemic. It’s odd to have to intentionally decide whether or not to even pursue theatre in a pandemic. Ultimately, you’re reading this because, decide we did. We thought it was THAT important, to hopefully in some small way give our audience relief, entertainment, distraction, and connection. Thank you for being here.

I didn’t mean to like The Revolutionists. It was begrudgingly read at the recommendation of a colleague (Thanks, Gwen!), and that’s all it took. I was quickly struck by its layers and its femalecenteredness. I started to think of my modernday revolutionary sisters fighting for rights and freedoms. It’s sobering to me to think how much these patterns deeply persist and how we have the same, only slightly altered fights, over and over again. Revolution is something that has always had a soundtrack in my mind. It is scored by punk and rock music and expressed in art. It is not quiet, or reserved, or polite. It is sometimes held together with ink and ribbons. And safety pins. It persists though. Mostly because it HAS to. Here’s to my sister revolutionaries for your perseverance despite fatigue, soul-numbing repetition, and seeming defeat. I see you. This is why we fight. Viva La Revolution!

— JENNIFER COOPER

The Cast

Carey Bibb (Charlotte Corday) – This is Carey’s debut performance with The Colonial Players and she is so excited to be acting in this production a mere 18 months after auditioning. She spent the last seven years as a teacher in Japan, Egypt, and China, and is thrilled to be back in the United States, able to perform again! She formerly acted in A Seussified Christmas Carol and Almost, Maine with The Newtowne Players in St. Mary’s County. During the pandemic Carey lent her voice to podcasts such as Starcrossed and Reap, and also acted in Zoom plays in order to keep honing her skills. She’d like to thank all of the badass women (and men) involved in this production, as well as all of the badass audience members who have come to see it! Hope you enjoy the show!

Samantha McEwen Deininger (Marianne Angelle) – Samantha is eager to be back on The Colonial Players stage after 10 years away! A professional singer and actor from Columbia, MD, she has performed in more than 40 musicals, plays, operas, and films throughout the country and received numerous awards. She is stepmom to two amazing children, Stuart and Eden, owns her own business, and belongs to the band, Scotch and Lies, alongside her wonderful husband, Stephen. Notable roles have included Nicki in The Bodyguard, Sour Kangaroo in Seussical, Queenie in Showboat, Sarah in Ragtime, Micaela in Carmen, Joanne in Godspell, Queenie in The Wild Party, Geneva in The 1940's Radio Hour, Erzulie in Once on this Island, Joanne in Rent, Fiordiligi in Così Fan Tutte, Jenny in Company, Reno in Anything Goes, Tituba in The Crucible, Suzanne in Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Eisa in Trojan Women 2.0, Pamina in The Magic Flute, Reba in You Can't Take it With You, 1st Soprano in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and her only other Colonial Players credit, Hallie/Marguerite in Inventing Van Gogh. Samantha is so grateful for the opportunity to do live theater again and over the moon to be sharing the stage with these BADASS ladies!

Ryan Gunning Harris (Marie Antoinette) – Ryan received her B.A. in Theatre Performance from the College of Charleston. She is thrilled to be returning to The Colonial Players in this incredible production. She was previously seen in The Colonial Players production of Nine. A huge thank you to Sam, Mary, and Carey for making me laugh and making me better as an actor and a badass woman. Special thanks to Jennifer and David and the rest of the team for their encouragement and trust in me for reasons beyond my understanding. “Thank you to Amy and Leigh for making me look incredible. To Meghan, Alex, and Patrick for all of your love and support. To Mom and Dad, for everything you’ve done for me. To my husband, Brad, for choosing me, loving me, and encouraging me to do things I didn’t think I could.”

Mary C. Rogers (Olympe de Gouges) – Mary is happy to be back on stage in this long-awaited production of The Revolutionists and to share the stage with three amazing women! Mary has worked onstage, backstage, and everywhere in between with a number of community theatres in Maryland. Some of Mary's favorite roles include Maggie in Red Herring, Aunt Bella in Lost in Yonkers (WATCH nomination), Lana Sherwood in It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, and Hilary in Tribute. Mary thanks her husband, Abner, for being amazing and dedicates her performance to four young badasses: Nanette, Grace, Annalise, and Emma. Three cheers to the crew and production staff for their incredible work!

The Production Staff

Amy Atha-Nicholls (Costume Designer) Maker of stuff, nonsense, and mischief by decree. Amy has worn many hats, including puppeteer, costumer, pyrographer, designer, short-film producer, playwright, archer, wench (when required), and assassin on occasion (specializing in heart attacks...). Amy is in awe of the absolute rockstars involved with this production and has loved every second of working with them. Love always to R, P, & K, evermore O.

Richard Atha-Nicholls (Set/Video Projection Designer) Richard loves a challenge and has had a lot of fun designing the set for The Revolutionists, including the projections. His last foray into set design at The Colonial Players was for Towards Zero, which also included projections. Usually he’s found working behind the computer and mixer doing sound design and engineering for local theatres, primarily at The Colonial Players, Bowie Community Theatre, and Laurel Mill Playhouse. His sound designs have garnered two WATCH nominations. Richard has appeared on area stages and in his spare time helps run Discworld conventions. Occasionally he has been known to direct. Love to C, A, P & K. Always in my heart, O.

Shannon Benil (Lighting Co-Designer) Shannon has mainly been seen performing at CP since starting here 28 years ago but recently decided to branch out by joining the Board as Treasurer. She also first-time directed the one-weekend-only musical I Love You Because earlier this year. Now she is testing the waters on the technical side as a first-time lighting co-designer. She thanks Jennifer for the opportunity and support.

David Cooper (Assistant Director/Sound Designer) David has been involved with The Colonial Players for the past several seasons. He was last seen on stage in Book of Days. Behind the scenes he has provided technical assistance and sound design for a number of shows. Most recently David helped to establish and run the system used for live streaming Maytag Virgin. Working with the badass women of The Revolutionists has been wonderful. “To Jennifer - my partner in everyday revolutions, I love you.”

Megan Henderson (Properties Designer/Set Decorator) Megan is happy to be back with CP after stage managing Love, Loss and What I Wore! She is a teaching artist, actor, director, stage manager, and wardrobe assistant. She has previously worked with Toby’s Dinner Theatre, Signature Theatre, Ford’s Theatre, Drama Learning Center, Red Branch Theatre Company, and Liberty High School. Megan holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Seton Hill University.

Leigh Rawls (Makeup/Hair/Wig Designer) Leigh is thrilled to be a part of her first CP production. Though she lives and works as a graphic designer in downtown DC, she’s usually found performing, directing, and designing at Silver Spring Stage (SSS) and Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre (ASGT), among others. She most recently created the set and five huge dragon heads for She Kills Monsters at SSS. Prior to the pandemic, she directed, costumed, and set designed SSS’s critically acclaimed production of Perfect Arrangement, a simultaneously comedic and heart-wrenching story about the struggle of LGBTQ+ individuals at the State Department in 1950s Washington, DC. In Annapolis, Leigh was last seen onstage in ASGT’s 9-to-5: The Musical (2018), Bullets Over Broadway (2018), The Full Monty (2017), and The Wedding Singer (2016). Outside of theatre and work, Leigh enjoys cosplaying, playing D&D, enjoying an overly-complicated cocktail, and being outdoors, preferably hiking or skiing.

Ernie Morton  (Stage Manager) When Ernie read the script for The Revolutionists he contacted Jennifer to beg her to let him work on this show. He is so glad that he did. The cast, staff, and crew have been phenomenal. The level of talent and commitment exhibited by everyone associated with The Revolutionists has been inspiring. Ernie has stage managed around a dozen shows at The Colonial Players, and even with two dozen “marines” in A Few Good Men, none of those shows has been this badass.

Robin Schwartz  (Producer) Robin is overjoyed that theatre-in-the round is back at The Colonial Players! After graduating from Goucher College with a B.A. in Theatre, she directed and produced plays at Red Branch Theatre Company and Drama Learning Center. Robin directed Love, Loss and What I Wore for CP this past summer. She was last seen on the CP stage as Ruth Hoch in Book of Days. Favorite credits include Dawn in The Universal Language (Outstanding Performance from the Maryland Community Theatre Festival), Thea Elvsted in Hedda Gabler, and Joan Dellamond in The Babylon Line. “So much gratitude to the whole CP team for the opportunity to create theatre with these amazing, and truly badass, artists.”

Ginny White  (Lighting Co-Designer) This is Gin’s first experience with lighting design at The Colonial Players. She is excited to be a part of such a creative artistic team. Gin has designed lighting and sound for several local community theatres and was the technical director at The Children’s Theatre of Annapolis for many years. When not behind the scenes, she has enjoyed being on stage and appeared most recently at The Colonial Players in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.