Treadwell: Bright and Dark by Allyson Currin
(previous working title: The Amazing Sophie)

May 27-June 19

Theatre on the Run
3700 South Four Mile Run Drive
Arlington, VA

Please note this is not our usual performance venue; click here to create driving directions in Google Maps. Please note that there is no late seating for this show.

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The American Century Theater’s first original one-actor show, following the life and career of lawyer Clarence Darrow, continues to be produced and performed a decade later, most recently by the Olney Theater with its original TACT cast, Paul Morella. Now TACT is preparing its second World Premiere of a one-actor show, about a very different 20th Century figure, Sophie Treadwell. She will be portrayed by acclaimed Washington actress Melissa Flaim, and we hope the play will begin to restore the lost fame of this remarkable, fascinating woman.

The play is a new work by Helen Hayes-nominated playwright and actress Allyson Currin. She has undertaken the daunting task of exploring the complex personality and many faceted career of Treadwell, who throughout a long career fiercely applied her talents as a writer, poet, thinker and playwright to professions where women were neither respected nor welcome. Her triumphs included a sensational in person interview with the Mexican bandit, Pancho Villa, an expressionist stage masterpiece, Machinal, that is regarded as a classic (and was produced by TACT in 2004), and victory in a courageous lawsuit against actor John Barrymore, who had tried to steal one of her plays. But there were defeats and humiliations too, Sophie Treadwell battled personal demons that threatened her happiness and even her sanity. Throughout her long life, and often in her plays and novels, she wrestled with a question that still challenges women today: how can a woman in America fulfill all of the roles expected of her without losing herself?

American Century Theater audiences have a rendezvous with a brilliant, fearless and inspiring woman who has nearly been forgotten, yet is unforgettable.

The show’s director is Stephen Jarrett, who directed TACT’s acclaimed 2008 production of Cops. TACT Producing Director Sherri L. Perper has assembled a team of designers ready to create the mindscape of Sophie Treadwell: Ryan Wineinger (Scenic Design) and Paola Rodriguez (Lighting Design) (both of whom will be collaborating with TACT with the support of the Kennedy Center/Kenan Fund Performing Artists-in-Residence Program, a project of the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts), Rip Claassen (Costume Design), Edward Moser (Sound Design), and Anndi Daleske (Props Design, Master Carpenter). Erin Shannahan (Dramaturge) and David Olmsted (Stage Manager) complete the production staff.

Running time: 90 minutes, with no intermission. There will be no late seating for this show.