THREE TALL WOMEN

EDWARD ALBEE'S
THREE TALL WOMEN
Directed by Diana LeBlanc

Audience Advisory »

JUST WHEN YOU THINK YOU KNOW SOMEONE . . .

By turns acerbic, anguished and sarcastically funny, an old woman known to us only as “A” lays bare her inner life in sometimes shocking detail to two others: a middle-aged caregiver identified only as “B” and a young legal professional, “C.”

Originally programmed for our 2020 season, Albee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, which he called an “exorcism” of his own troubled relationship with his adoptive mother, is a profound meditation on aging, death and the very nature of the self: who are we really, and how do we become who we are?

In keeping with our pandemic precautions, we present the play's two parts – the second of which brings a startlingly different take on its characters – as separate performances, scheduled to be seen on the same day.

Due to the intense nature of the play we regret that we are unable to re-admit anyone exiting during the performance. A TV monitor and audio receiver will be available in the lobby to view the remainder of the performance.

House Program: Three Tall Women

Runtime: Play 1 is one hour no intermission and Play 2 is one hour and 3 minutes no intermission.

Three Tall Women will be performed in two parts.
Book one ticket – it provides access to both parts on the same day.

CAST & CREATIVE

CAST

2021: A in Edward Albee's Three Tall Women. 47th season.

Martha Henry has been a member of the Stratford Festival company, on and off, since 1962. She had the great good fortune to meet Edward Albee a few times and found him to be a fascinating man: intelligent, brittle, very funny, and consistently surprising - not unlike his plays. She has had the immense opportunity to work on three of these plays here at Stratford: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (with the extraordinary Peter Donaldson), A Delicate Balance (with the great David Fox, directed by Diana Leblanc) and now the astonishing Three Tall Women (again directed by the brilliant Ms Leblanc.)

It helped to meet Albee. One found, in person, the same abrupt, sharp, metaphorical sock in the jaw that one encounters in the plays - the sudden turn of phrase, of meaning, of horror that, as you take a breath, so quickly turns into savage, gleeful humour - or makes you cry.

The pandemic has altered us. All of us. We don't think in exactly the same way anymore, do we? For instance, right here at the Stratford Festival, many of the shows this year, because of the pandemic, are being performed outside. The three of us (the four of us, with "the boy") are exploring this homage to Edward Albee's mother in a slightly different way than we have ever rehearsed. We are more… what… daring, somehow. Guided by Diana, we're less guarded. Less restricted. Our vanity has been stripped away.

Even this bio is different!

Come with us. We are so very glad you're here. Let's sail into this world together.

XO Martha

2021: B in Edward Albee's Three Tall Women. 34th season.

I am deeply grateful to be a part of this Extraordinary Season.

I wish you a very Warm Welcome.

Thank you So Much for being with us.

2021: C in Edward Albee's Three Tall Women. Fourth season. Stratford: Mary Warren in The Crucible, Childlike Empress in The Neverending Story, Miranda in The Tempest, Officer 1 in The Comedy of Errors and Teresa in Napoli Milionaria! Birmingham Conservatory: Arden of Faversham, King Lear, The Winter's Tale, Twelfth Night. Elsewhere: The Neverending Story (NAC). Training: NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre (Chicago Fellow). Proud alumna of the Young Adult Council at Steppenwolf. Awards: Guthrie Award - Dora Mavor Moore. Et cetera: I am beyond grateful to tell this story with two extremely tall women. Much love and gratitude to Mom and Dad.

2021: The Boy in Edward Albee's Three Tall Women. Fourth season. Stratford: Sir Henry Guildford in Henry VIII, Eribo, A Bully in The Neverending Story, Harold in An Ideal Husband, appeared in To Kill a Mockingbird and understudied in Julius Caesar. Elsewhere: Atreyu in The Neverending Story (National Arts Centre); Katurian K. Katurian in The Pillowman (Orlando Fringe 2016). Film/TV: Guest star on episodes of Reign (CW Network), Murder U (Discovery ID). Training: University of Windsor, Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre. Instagram: @thicctheband.

CREATIVE

2021: Director of Edward Albee's Three Tall Women. 14th season. Stratford Acting: Katharine (Henry V), 1966, 1980; Hero (Much Ado About Nothing); Lady Grey (Henry VI); Birdie (The Little Foxes); Mabel O' Neill (The Measure of Love). Stratford Directing: Taking Shakespeare, Long Day's Journey Into Night, Sweet Bird of Youth, Death of a Salesman, Romeo and Juliet, The Cherry Orchard, Macbeth, The Seagull, Ghosts, A Delicate Balance. Assistant director to Martha Henry, Robin Phillips. Elsewhere: Founding member, Neptune Theatre acting company. Artistic Director, actor/director, Théâtre français de Toronto. Founding member, actor/director, Soulpepper Theatre Company. Actor and director across Canada. Opera: Opera director, Canada and Amsterdam. Training: First graduating class of National Theatre School, where she met Martha Henry. Awards include: Prix Alliance Française; Genie Award: Albertine in La Maison Suspendue; Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement (2015).

2021: Designer of Edward Albee's Three Tall Women. 14th season. Stratford: Francesca has spent over 10 years working as a design assistant and designer at the Stratford Festival. Elsewhere: Francesca has worked as a designer and design assistant in Canada, the US and UK. While working in England as an art director for film and television (BBC and Channel 4), she also studied Architectural History at Oxford University and Historic Conservation at Oxford Brookes University, and she has worked for English Heritage, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, founded by William Morris, and for Condé Nast at The World of Interiors magazine.

2021: Lighting designer of Edward Albee's Three Tall Women. 35th season. Stratford: Over 60 productions including Henry VIII, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, All My Sons. At the time of the arrival of COVID Ms Guinand was working on the 2020 productions of Three Tall Women and All's Well That Ends Well. Elsewhere: Ms Guinand has designed lights for over 550 shows across Canada and the United States. Recent productions before the arrival of COVID include Rope (Shaw); Cinderella, I Call Myself Princess (Globe); Pinocchio (YPT). Training: A graduate of Queen's University and the National Theatre School. Awards: One Dora Award. Multiple award nominations across Canada. Louise was the recipient of the 2018 Bradley Garrick Guthrie Award. Other: Louise is within seven Shakespeare's of achieving her desire to light the entire Shakespearean canon.

2021: Composer and sound designer of Edward Albee's Three Tall Women. 27th season. Stratford: Composer and sound designer for Henry VIII. Composer for King Lear, Mother Courage, The Merchant of Venice. Elsewhere: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Love's Labour's Lost (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); The Tempest (The Old Globe, San Diego); A Christmas Carol (2010-2019), Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Merchant of Venice, Three Sisters, A Midsummer Night's Dream (1997, 2000, 2008, 2015), Julius Caesar, Much Ado About Nothing, The Cherry Orchard (Guthrie Theater); The Donnellys, Innocence Lost (NAC); The Drowning Girls, Gracie, Les Passants (GCTC); Category E (Coal Mine); Coeur de Chien, Les Nuits Blanches (Théâtre Français de Toronto); Red, Harvey (Segal Centre); 1979, Born Yesterday (Shaw Festival); 39 Steps, Butcher (Centaur); Mikveh, Rose (Harold Green Jewish Theatre); This London Life (Grand Theatre). Awards: Helen Hayes Award for Julius Caesar (Shakespeare Theatre, Washington, DC). Website: keiththomas.ca

2021: Stage manager of Edward Albee's Three Tall Women. 40th season. Stratford: Ann has worked in all four of the Festival's theatres on over 70 productions with Artistic Directors Michael Langham, Robin Phillips, John Neville, David William, Richard Monette and Antoni Cimolino. She also worked as personal assistant to Robin Phillips and coordinator of the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre under Martha Henry. This is her fifth production with director Diana Leblanc, her sixteenth with Martha Henry, her fourteenth with Lucy Peacock and her second with Mamie Zwettler and Andrew Iles. "And [she] loved it all." Ann has won two unsolicited Guthrie Awards, had an exhibition of her backstage photographs and is writing a history of Hart House Theatre (University of Toronto). Remembering my mother and my daughter always. And thanking Ross.

2021: Assistant stage manager of Edward Albee's Three Tall Women. 16th season. What a blessing to be in the rehearsal hall with this extraordinary group of artists for Three Tall Women. Stratford: Assistant stage manager of Henry VIII, The Tempest, Napoli Milionaria! and Timon of Athens. For the past five years she had the honour to serve as the coordinator for the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre with Stephen Ouimette. As a wig and makeup designer of over 90 shows for Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, she won two Jeff Awards. She was a member of the Stratford Festival wig department for 10 seasons. Melissa recently became the Head of Wigs and Makeup for Stratford's Studio Theatre. In 2019, Melissa received the Tyrone Award. This is for the women and the boy.

2021: Apprentice stage manager of Edward Albee's Three Tall Women. Second season. Stratford: Festival Theatre production assistant (2020). Elsewhere: Rehearsal assistant for The Resurrection (Opera Atelier); apprentice stage manager for Cinderella: The Panto (Capitol Theatre); rehearsal assistant for Don Giovanni (Opera Atelier); apprentice stage manager for August: Osage County (Soulpepper); stage manager for rochdale (SummerWorks); apprentice production manager for Twelfth Night (a Company of Fools). Training: York University, SM Arts. Et cetera: Caitlin would like to thank her mentors and family for all of their support.

2021: Production stage manager of the Festival Theatre Canopy and Studio Theatre. 25th season. Stratford: Shows include Chicago (interrupted by COVID), Billy Elliot, A Chorus Line, Crazy for You, Fiddler on the Roof, Camelot, Oklahoma!, West Side Story, My Fair Lady, Man of La Mancha, Hello, Dolly!, The King and I and others. Elsewhere: Over 40 years as a stage manager in live entertainment including gala events, music concerts, opening ceremonies and fundraising events including A Christmas Carol for the Stratford Hospice. Over 25 years with the Canadian Opera Company as a stage manager; production stage manager and resident director of Jersey Boys, Toronto; 25 years as a singer/dancer and choreographer in Canadian theatre; associate director/choreographer to her mentor, Alan Lund. Et cetera: Love to Paul, daughters Stephanie and Jennifer, son-in-law Andrew, and her grandchildren, Kennedy, Koston and Connor. I am so grateful to be back at work.