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By the Way, Meet Vera Stark

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BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK

By Lynn Nottage

It’s the Golden Age of Hollywood. Aspiring starlet Vera Stark works as maid to Gloria Mitchell, an aging star grasping at her fading career. As Gloria fades more, Vera becomes more noticeable. Rubbing shoulders with studio heads and movie directors, Vera lands an outstanding role in a costume epic starring…her boss, Gloria. Vera’s portrayal of a slave turns out to be groundbreaking and career-making. However, decades later scholars and film buffs still argue about Vera’s legacy in Hollywood, and the impact that race had on her controversial career. Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage uses the pace and satire of 1930s movie comedies to take you on a seventy-year journey through Vera’s life and the cultural climate that shaped her.

  • February 3-5 & 10-12, 2023
  • Fridays & Saturdays- 7:30 PM | Sundays- 3:00 PM
  • Tickets- $21 Adults, $11 Students
  • Rated PG-13. Mature language and content.

BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK is presented by special arrangement with Broadway Licensing, LLC, servicing the Dramatists Play Service collection. (www.dramatists.com)

Director

Gordon M. Levine

Having split his time between the theater communities of SE Florida and in Mid-Michigan, Gordon has enjoyed for many years acting and directing in the theater community. From directing Music Man for the ABC Summer programs at John Glenn High School in the early 1980s to directing Godspell at the Bay City Players the summer of 1989, Gordon then went to Southeast Florida and enjoyed working in the theater community an actor and director. Some of Gordon’s favorite acting roles are Mr Bumble from Oliver, the rabbi from Fiddler on the Roof, Moon Martin from Anything Goes, Teddy Brewster from Arsenic and Old Lace, and Benny South Street from Guys and Dolls. Gordon was a founding member of Broward on Broadway a Theatrical Production company in Sunrise FL and sat on theatrical boards of director as well throughout South Florida. Gordon can’t wait to bring Little Shop of Horrors to the Mid-Michigan Theater community at the Bay City Players!

Assistant Director

Jenny Phibbs

Jenny’s past roles have included Tracy in Hairspray and the Witch in Into the Woods. She is a SVSU grad and majored in Theatre and minored in Music. Jenny has been the Soprano Leader of the Mid-Michigan Singers, danced competitively for 10 years, and sung at Carnegie Hall twice with the Worldwide Choir. She works as a stylist at Adore Hair and Nail Salon in Saginaw and in her free time she writes her own music, plays piano, and crochets.

Cast

VS Elise Huxtable

Vera Stark

Elise Williams

VS Megan Douglas

Gloria Mitchell

Megan Douglass

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Mr. Slasvick & Brad Donovan

Paul Oslund

VS Yolandie Hamilton

Anna Mae Simpkins & Afua Assata Ejobo

Yolandie Hamilton

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Maximillian Von Oster & Peter Rhys-Davies

Michael Curtis

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Lottie McBride & Carmen Levy-Green

Indigo Dudley

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Leroy Barksdale & Herb Forester

Aland Stamps