By SHARON EBERSON
When Witch arrives at Carnegie Stage on March 7, it will mark seven years since the team behind the drama Orphans have presented a follow-up theatrical event.
Just as before, actor Max Pavel brought a play to Ken Bolden, his former teacher at the University of Pittsburgh, and they have recruited Ingrid Sonnichsen to direct. Missing the reunion of what was called Aftershock Theatre in 2018, is Dylan Marquis Meyers, currently among the stars of Pittsburgh Public Theater’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Also this time around, Bolden is not in the cast, which includes Shammen McCune in the title role, Pavel “as an enterprising devil who comes to town to bargain for souls,” along with Matt Henderson, Ryan Patrick Kearny, Brett Kennedy and Lorna Lominac.
with director Ingrid Sonnichsen. (Courtesy of Max Pavel)
Bolden’s role this time has been making it all happen, as producer, assistant director, promoter and all-around den father of Witch.
As described by Concord Theatricals, the play is, “An inventive retelling of a Jacobean drama. [Playwright] Jen Silverman‘s sharp, subversive fable debates how much our souls are worth when hope is hard to come by.”
The original Witch of Edmonton, by the trio of Thomas Dekker, William Rowley and John Ford, made its appearance in 1631, in the midst of the Thirty Years War that consumed much of Central Europe. The play features a charming devil, who arrives in a quiet village to bargain for the souls of its residents. Elizabeth (McCune), an outcast who has been labeled a witch, resists the devil’s temptations, causing “passions to flare, alliances to form, and the village to be forever changed.”
“It’s witty and funny and profound,” said Bolden, who read the original play and found “it is still a pretty viable piece.”
Silverman, he added, has “taken elements of that play and characters and transformed them into something that speaks a little more directly to our time. using the Jacobean story. I loved that kind of thing. I think I’m a misplaced Jacobean myself.”
Bolden points out that Carnegie Stages and off the wall Productions founders, Hans and Virginia Gruenert, had a mission to support women playwrights telling women’s stories, and this play, “by one of America’s hot playwrights right now” – her play The Roommates is currently on Broadway – fits the bill.
Besides Sonnichsen, the play’s lighting (Julie Adams), set (Jennifer Bechak) and costumes (Rikkilee Rose) are designed by women. Randy Kovitz is choreographing fight scenes.
Another repeat of the Orphan’s experience has been prepping for the play with Cotter Smith, an instructor in Stanislavsky’s Active Analysis, an acting method that combines script analysis with physical action.
When Pavel brought the play to Bolden for his consideration, “He didn’t really have to say a whole lot,” Bolden said. “I trust his taste in plays, and I want to support him, and we’ve got a really good cast.”
Another plus this time around is being in a theater venue that is easy to reach and boasts available parking. In 2018, as Aftershock Theatre, the collaborators mounted Orphans in what amounted to a pop-up space in Lawrenceville. In both cases, the team organized under a Project Code agreement, allowing Actors Equity members to participate in the show.
Although there is no acting role for Bolden, he becomes impassioned speaking of the production and this collaborators.
“Max is somebody who I consider the son I never had. I just admire him so much. I’m good friends with Ingrid and Cotter and Randy, so I really believe in all their work, and the play that we’ve chosen. So that’s driving me,” said Bolden, who has planned the experience to begin the moment patrons walk through the doors.
Performing in the Carnegie Stage lobby will be performance artist Lilith DeVille, along with pop-up shopping from local artists, a themed cocktail and other surprises, in keeping with the mystical nature of Witch. In addition, Bolden will moderate a talkback with Ed Simon, local author of the recently published book The Devil’s Contract, on March 16. “We’re trying to make this into a different kind of theater experience than just going to a play,” Bolden said. “Even our program is going to be stuffed with information and things to read. So we’re trying to do a whole package here, and make it an event, from start to finish.”
TICKETS AND DETAILS
The independent production of Witch produced by a group of Pittsburgh artists, and hosted by Carnegie Stage, 25 W. Main Street, Carnegie, March 7 – 22, 2025. Tickets: Visit https://www.carnegiestage.com/
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