Cast
Elizabeth Sawyer............LaPorscha Rodgers
Tom o' the Roads............Maranatha Leigh
Frank Thorney....................Taylor Morgan
Winnifride Hawley..........Bri Moe Gee
Sir Arthur Clarington....Deb Glassman
Bill Thorney..........................Caity Brown
Susan Carter........................Jessica Stahl
John Carter..........................Rafael Schneider
Peter Poldavis....................Charmaine Warrington
Tech
Director...................................Sarah Billings
Stage Manager..................Sophie Koester
Production Designer.....Sophie Porter-Hyatt
Sound Designer................Troy Schipdam
Costume Designer .........Sarah Billings
Fight Director ....................Maranatha Leigh
Scenic Carpenters............Nolan & Jim Maher
Art Assistants.......................Izzy Porter-Hyatt, Grace Reagan, Kate Hoffman, Arunika Das
Company
Artistic Director............................Kelci Schlierf
Associate Artistic Director.....Sarah Billings
Producer............................................Liz Zimmerman
Elizabeth Sawyer............LaPorscha Rodgers
Tom o' the Roads............Maranatha Leigh
Frank Thorney....................Taylor Morgan
Winnifride Hawley..........Bri Moe Gee
Sir Arthur Clarington....Deb Glassman
Bill Thorney..........................Caity Brown
Susan Carter........................Jessica Stahl
John Carter..........................Rafael Schneider
Peter Poldavis....................Charmaine Warrington
Tech
Director...................................Sarah Billings
Stage Manager..................Sophie Koester
Production Designer.....Sophie Porter-Hyatt
Sound Designer................Troy Schipdam
Costume Designer .........Sarah Billings
Fight Director ....................Maranatha Leigh
Scenic Carpenters............Nolan & Jim Maher
Art Assistants.......................Izzy Porter-Hyatt, Grace Reagan, Kate Hoffman, Arunika Das
Company
Artistic Director............................Kelci Schlierf
Associate Artistic Director.....Sarah Billings
Producer............................................Liz Zimmerman
Bio
LaPorscha Rodgers (Elizabeth Sawyer) is a Philadelphia native who is more than happy to be performing in her first stage production after a two-year hiatus. She made her stage debut as one of the “townspeople” in her alma mater’s (Penn State Abington) Spring production of To Kill a Mockingbird. For the rest of her college career, she continued to be in the Spring plays and was an active member of the Theater Club. Her acting venture didn’t stop there, for the past several years she went on to star in other productions, including To Death...A Mother’s Love and Clue: On Stage. The journey isn’t over though! LaPorscha hopes to never have such a long hiatus again and will continue seeking acting roles.
Maranatha Leigh (Tom o'the Roads, fight director) is a Philadelphia based storyteller, actress, writer, and educator. She specializes in educational devised theatre and stage combat. Along with being a full time high school English teacher for the North Philadelphia community, Maranatha Leigh also serves as Artistic Director/Resident Playwright for Unveiled Faces Artist Collective. Some of her favorite acting credits include Long John Silver (u/s) in Treasure Island (Arden Theatre), Rosa Bud in The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Regent University Theatre), Antonia in Much Ado About Nothing (Regent University Theatre), and Molly in Peter and the StarCatcher (Sketch Club Players).
Taylor Morgan she/her (Frank Thorney) is an up and coming actor in the Philadelphia area, originally from a small town in Delaware. She received her BFA in Acting from WVU’s School of Theatre & Dance. Some of her favorite roles include: Eurydice (Eurydice, Allen’s Lane Theatre), Mia (Sex Ed, Allen’s Lane Reader’s Theatre), Mary Warren (The Crucible, SALT Performing Arts) and Ashley (The Murder-Free Comedy Show, InterAct Theatre Company). She is thrilled to make her Sewer Rats debut as Frank Thorney in the world premiere of Edmonton. Much love to this company, cast and crew.
Bri Moe Gee (Winnifride) is a Philadelphia native establishing her career right here in the city. Her local theatre experience includes stage readings and performances with Philadelphia Dramatists Center such as davidbdale’s “The Sentence'' and PDC’s “Talk Dirty to Me” event. You might be even more familiar with some of her on-camera work in local commercials for Septa and Gettacar. A Meisner-trained actor, Bri has interests on both sides of the lens. She is a co-founder of Golden Pair Productions through which she has written and produced a limited drama series on Amazon Prime Video, “No Joke.” Her resume highlights include comedy appearances on Gilly & Keeves (Mad Brain Studios) and The Parody News Network (Port IX Productions); as well as her indie-film leads as Maffi (Soupe) and Alexis (The Cave: The Tale of the Woman in the Woods). Committed to her craft, Bri continues to train several hours a week both locally and in New York City. When she's not on stage or screen, you can usually find her working as a counselor amongst the addiction recovery community or reading and writing her way through the Marriage & Family Therapy doctoral program at Eastern University as a second-year student.
Deb Glassman (Sir Arthur Clarington) Deb Glassman returns to the stage Post-Covid with Edmonton. She has trained at HB Studio and the Walnut Street Theater and privately with Craig Bacon and Melanie Smith. Her recent stage credits include: See Amid the Winter Snow, Play On, Yoga Stories. Off Stage, Deb is a physician and yoga teacher. She would like to thank her family for their love and the cast and crew for sharing this incredible opportunity.
Caity Brown (Bill Thorney) is always excited to work on new pieces—even if the source material is quite old. She holds a degree in drama from Vassar College and has acted in some 50+ productions since earning that. Next up is Neighbourhood Watch at Barley Sheaf Players and Sense and Sensibility at Playcrafters of Skippack. Thanks to the cast and crew for their talent and professionalism.
Jessica Stahl (Susan Carter) Jessica is thrilled to be playing Susan Carter in Edmonton: A Supernatural Tragedy. Recent credits include She Kills Monsters: Virtual Realms at Temple University, abSolution for the Philadelphia Young Playwrights festival and various student film roles. She also began working for Without A Cue Productions this year doing murder mystery dinner theater around the Philadelphia area. Jessica enjoys roller skating and her hamster, King Caboose. She would like to thank her parents, roommates, and boyfriend for their endless support. Also thanks to Sarah and the whole Sewer Rats team for all of their hard work and she hopes you enjoy the show.
Rafael Schneider he/him/his (John Carter) is an actor, educator, musician, activist, rabble-rouser, and clown from Philadelphia. He is thrilled to be making his Sewer Rats debut. Recent credits include Twelfth Night (Antonio) and As You Like It (Touchstone), both with Indecorous Theatre Productions. Thanks to everyone for their incredible work!
Charmaine Warrington (Justice Peter Poldavis) has recently worked with writer, filmmaker, Michael Duff in the film, Virulent L'Amour. She played a crazed hippie who passionately believes in repentance for the Covid 19 Pandemic outbreak. She has played a workaholic real estate agent in writer, filmmaker, Dave Thompson's film, The Renter.
Her work continues as a haunt actor at Philadelphia's Fright Factory in the fall and winter seasons. She also continues building the bullying character of a corrupt court justice in Awoke: The Musical by Allen Clark and Karen L. Smith with a very talented musical cast.
Charmaine is presently working with Sewer Rats Production's play, Edmonton as Justice Peter Poldavis. She would like to thank the wonderful cast and crew for their help in shaping her so "spindly" character.
Her work continues as a haunt actor at Philadelphia's Fright Factory in the fall and winter seasons. She also continues building the bullying character of a corrupt court justice in Awoke: The Musical by Allen Clark and Karen L. Smith with a very talented musical cast.
Charmaine is presently working with Sewer Rats Production's play, Edmonton as Justice Peter Poldavis. She would like to thank the wonderful cast and crew for their help in shaping her so "spindly" character.
Matthew DeCostanza (playwright) is an actor, writer, and director based in New York and Connecticut. His play Penis Inspection Day, or, The Ape of Naples was recently produced as part the Yale Cabaret's 54th season (in a production he directed), and his short stories are regularly featured in Worthy Tales Magazine (including those stories concerning the continuing adventures of Téwae & David Derain). Favorite roles include
Akmos in The Gods of the Mountain, Headmaster Grasscourt in Penis Inspection Day, and Percy Pankenham in The Voyage of the Solinas. This autumn he will be going to grad school somewhere, earning a Masters degree in something. More at www.decostanza.com.
Akmos in The Gods of the Mountain, Headmaster Grasscourt in Penis Inspection Day, and Percy Pankenham in The Voyage of the Solinas. This autumn he will be going to grad school somewhere, earning a Masters degree in something. More at www.decostanza.com.
Sarah Billings (director, costume designer) is a writer, teaching artist, and theatre director. She studied theatre and playwriting at Barnard College and devised theatre at Bard College Berlin. She is also the co-founder and poetry editor of Worthy Tales Magazine, a quarterly publication of new, interesting fiction and poetry. Edmonton is her first full production with Sewer Rats and her first project as Associate Artistic Director of the company. She would like to express gratitude to the entire production team and the outstanding cast for their trust, sensitivity, patience, diligence, and skill. Thank you to Matt for the beautiful play, with all of its darkness and light.
Sophie Porter-Hyatt she/they (production designer) is a production designer//artist//craftsman based in Brooklyn, NY. Recent film credits include production design and miniaturist for horror short Mickey Dogface (dir. Zach Fleming) and production design for dark comedy Dodie Goes Boom Boom (dir. Liz Schack), both slated for release later this year. Special serious thank you to my sister Izzy Porter-Hyatt for her artistic assistance and emotional support through this process, without which I might not have survived.
Playwright's Note
I wrote Edmonton so long ago, and it has since been so constantly on my mind, that I've come to view it as being entirely different from Rowley, Dekker, & Ford's The Witch of Edmonton, from which is it loosely adapted. I love that play; I love this one more. There is an Elizabeth Sawyer in that play; she is not mine. There is a Frank Thorney in that play; I hardly know him.
Edmonton has occupied a space in my mind for so long that it has taken various shapes and has meant different things to me as the years have gone by. When I first began writing it, it seemed to me much to do with homelessness, as I was living in New York City at that time and was in constant contact with homeless people there. They have more stories to share than they have people willing to listen. I think of my friend John.
Then I became quite enamored of Tom and Frank, those twin visions of manhood in flower. You can, like Frank, try to do it the “right” way and attempt to be a son, a lover, a professional, a father, and more besides, and see for yourself the sick delight the world takes in your Sisyphean mission to be all at once.
Or, you can take another route, a route of transience, of willful poverty, of chance, of constant precarity and peril, and then witness what the smirking hand of fortune has in store for fickle rule-breakers such as you. (There is something of demon-haunted British myth in Tom, as he shares some of Tam Lin's cursed faerie loyalty, and yet there is something of American myth in him as well; its Joe Hills, its Huckleberry Finns, its Woody Guthries, and all its dust and all its roads.)
Lately I've been thinking a lot about Susan and Winnifride, who might've lived in harmony if they'd been born to a more loving world. But in the end, they are cursed as well-- Susan to a mysterious death, and Winnifride to an uncertain, pursued life, a broken man by her side in a vast and dangerous city. How much they then resemble Liz and Tom! Do you think it ever crossed their minds?
I love this play so dearly and I think of it so constantly, that it sometimes seems to me less like a play and instead like a velvet-lined jewelry box in which I've put a piece of my soul. The Child Ballads, the films of Cronenberg, Barker, Jarman, and Żuławski, the plays of the English Renaissance, cowboy ballads and blues songs and IWW jingles and all the times in my life I felt like I had to turn back and head out of town. It's all in there. Could you tell?
We enjoy lampooning Polonius for his ridiculous coinage of the “tragical-comical-historical-pastoral" genre. In returning to Edmonton over the years, and in gradually imbuing it with so many of my pet fascinations, I may have accidentally created the first “tragical-comical-historical-romantical-horrifical-antastical-Brechtian-Jarmanian-get-on-out-there-and-start-loving-each-other” play.
How do you like it?
Yours,
Matthew DeCostanza.
www.decostanza.com
Edmonton has occupied a space in my mind for so long that it has taken various shapes and has meant different things to me as the years have gone by. When I first began writing it, it seemed to me much to do with homelessness, as I was living in New York City at that time and was in constant contact with homeless people there. They have more stories to share than they have people willing to listen. I think of my friend John.
Then I became quite enamored of Tom and Frank, those twin visions of manhood in flower. You can, like Frank, try to do it the “right” way and attempt to be a son, a lover, a professional, a father, and more besides, and see for yourself the sick delight the world takes in your Sisyphean mission to be all at once.
Or, you can take another route, a route of transience, of willful poverty, of chance, of constant precarity and peril, and then witness what the smirking hand of fortune has in store for fickle rule-breakers such as you. (There is something of demon-haunted British myth in Tom, as he shares some of Tam Lin's cursed faerie loyalty, and yet there is something of American myth in him as well; its Joe Hills, its Huckleberry Finns, its Woody Guthries, and all its dust and all its roads.)
Lately I've been thinking a lot about Susan and Winnifride, who might've lived in harmony if they'd been born to a more loving world. But in the end, they are cursed as well-- Susan to a mysterious death, and Winnifride to an uncertain, pursued life, a broken man by her side in a vast and dangerous city. How much they then resemble Liz and Tom! Do you think it ever crossed their minds?
I love this play so dearly and I think of it so constantly, that it sometimes seems to me less like a play and instead like a velvet-lined jewelry box in which I've put a piece of my soul. The Child Ballads, the films of Cronenberg, Barker, Jarman, and Żuławski, the plays of the English Renaissance, cowboy ballads and blues songs and IWW jingles and all the times in my life I felt like I had to turn back and head out of town. It's all in there. Could you tell?
We enjoy lampooning Polonius for his ridiculous coinage of the “tragical-comical-historical-pastoral" genre. In returning to Edmonton over the years, and in gradually imbuing it with so many of my pet fascinations, I may have accidentally created the first “tragical-comical-historical-romantical-horrifical-antastical-Brechtian-Jarmanian-get-on-out-there-and-start-loving-each-other” play.
How do you like it?
Yours,
Matthew DeCostanza.
www.decostanza.com
Extra! Extra!
Historian, blogstar and anarchist researcher Charlie Allison takes us deeper into the world of Edmonton with this special edition blog post.
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Our Director Sarah encourages you to support this effort to heal our people today.
