Eleanor Burgess’s plays include The Niceties, Wife of a Salesman, Start Down, Chill, Sparks Fly Upward, and Galilee, 34. Her work has been produced at theaters across the United States, including Manhattan Theatre Club, South Coast Rep, Geffen Playhouse, McCarter Theatre Center, Huntington Theatre Company, Writers Theatre, Milwaukee Rep, Merrimack Rep, Geva Theatre Center, InterAct Theatre, the Alliance Theatre and the Contemporary American Theatre Festival. Eleanor has been a member of the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group at Primary Stages, Page 73's writers' group Interstate 73, The Civilians’ R&D Group, and New York Theatre Workshop’s 2050 Fellowship. She has also written for film and television, including work on Perry Mason for HBO, WeCrashed for Apple TV, and Interview With The Vampire for AMC, and screenplays for Bad Robot, Amblin, and Anonymous Content. Originally from Massachusetts, she studied history at Yale College and Dramatic Writing at NYU/Tisch.
Galilee, 34
The healer from Nazareth is dead—and his followers are determined to keep sharing his message. The problem is the Roman Empire wants them out of the picture. And they don’t have a leader. And they can’t quite agree on exactly what that message is. With wit and intelligence, one of the country’s most exciting writers takes us back to the start of a world-changing movement for a deeply personal look at those who made it happen.
Featuring: Eric Berryman, Amy Brenneman, Christopher Cruz, Teresa Avia Lim, Sharon Omi, Benjamin Pelteson, Jeremy Rabb and Raviv Ullman
Previews: Apr. 21-25, 2024
First Night: Apr. 26, 2024
Regular Performances: Apr. 27 - May 12, 2024
American Sign Language Performance: Sunday, May 5 at 2 p.m.
Recommendation: Ages 16+
Running Time: Approximately two hours, plus one 15-minute intermission.
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Photos by Robert Husky
About the Creative Team
Eric Berryman* (Yacov of Nazareth) (he/him) is a Baltimore-born, Brooklyn-based actor who is involved in work he believes his great-grandmother would dig. On stage, he was last seen off-Broadway in Get Your Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me (Wooster Group). On screen, he was last seen in the final season of the hit TV show “Atlanta” (FX), episode 8, “The Goof Who Sat by the Door,” portraying “short-lived Disney CEO” Thomas Washington. Other select theatrical credits include The B-Side, “Negro Folklore from Texas State Prisons” a record album interpretation (Wooster Group, Drama Desk nomination); Primary Trust—Audelco Award—and Toni Stone (Roundabout Theatre); Detroit Red (ArtsEmerson, Elliot Norton Award); Private (Mosaic Theater); Scene Partners (Vineyard Theater); Moby Dick, A Musical Reckoning (American Repertory Theater); and Steel Hammer (SITI Company). His recent film and television credits include “Godfather of Harlem” (Epix/MGM+); “Ramy” (Hulu); “Bonding,” Marriage Story (Netflix); “Evil” (Paramount+); “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Empathy, Inc. (Amazon); and Motherless Brooklyn. He received his training at Carnegie Mellon University.
Amy Brenneman* (Miriam of Nazareth) can currently be seen in “The Old Man” opposite Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow, and “Shining Girls” with Elisabeth Moss. Her large body of film work includes Casper, Fear, Daylight, Heat, Friends and Neighbors, The Jane Austen Book Club, Peel, The Look of Love, Words and Pictures, Nine Lives, Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her, and Mother and Child. She created, executive produced, and starred in “Judging Amy” (two TV Guide Awards, three Golden Globe nominations, Producer’s Guild nomination, three Emmy Award nominations, People’s Choice nomination, and a SAG nomination). Most recently, she starred in The Sound Inside at The Pasadena Playhouse (Best of 2023, Los Angeles Times), Power of Sail (Geffen Playhouse), as well as in the world premiere of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated Rapture, Blister, Burn (Playwrights Horizons, Geffen Playhouse) and in the world premiere of Rules of Seconds directed by Jo Bonney. Brenneman was a founding member of the award-winning Cornerstone Theater Company, which specializes in site-specific community-based theater on themes of social justice. Favorite Cornerstone roles include Juliet (Romeo and Juliet), Natasha (Three Sisters), Clytemnestra (The Oresteia), and Solveig (Peer Gynt). Other theater: CSC Rep, Lincoln Center Theater, LA Theater Works, LATC, Williamstown Theater Festival, En Garde Arts, American Repertory Theater, and Yale Rep.
Christopher Cruz* (Linus/The Stranger) (he/him/his) has worked at Cygnet Theatre in the West Coast premiere of El Huracán (dir. Daniel Jáquez); at The Old Globe in Thinking Shakespeare LOVE!, (dir. Barry Edelstein) and Twelfth Night (dir. Jesse J. Perez); at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival in So Please You (dir. Zack Fine), Measure for Measure (dir. Davis McCallum), and As You Like It (dir. Gaye Taylor Upchurch). He holds an MFA from The University of San Diego Old Globe Shiley Classical Acting Graduate Program, an MFA from the University of Iowa (Iowa Arts Fellow) and a BA from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a Naval veteran who worked with 1st BN, 8th Marines 2nd Marine Division Camp Lejeune as a Fleet Marine Force Hospital Corpsman. He is beyond thrilled to work on this amazing production with some of his heroes! He is eternally indebted to his Mother and his manager, Kacie Newport.
Teresa Avia Lim* (Miri of Magdla) is making her SCR debut. On Broadway she appeared in Ayad Akhtar’s Junk at Lincoln Center. Her other work includes Shakespeare in the Park’s all-female production of Taming of the Shrew; National Asian American Theatre Company’s Awake and Sing and Macbeth; Call and Response with the Mobile Shakespeare Unit at The Public Theater; Knight of the Burning Pestle with Fiasco and Redbull Theater; Once Upon a Korean Time with Ma-Yi Theater; and Snow in Midsummer at Classic Stage. Lim originated her roles in Peerless, Water by the Spoonful, Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them, and Concerning Strange Devices From the Distant West. Television credits include “Bupkis” on Peacock, “Monsterland” (Hulu), “The Code” (CBS), “Ray Donovan” (Showtime), “Group,” “Blue Bloods” (CBS), “Limitless” (CBS), “Unforgettable” (CBS) and “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (NBC). Film credits include The Woods are Real, Moonskin Fever and NYX. She is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and an inaugural Recipient of the Jerome L. Greene Foundation Scholarship.
Sharon Omi* (Elishiva) works in theatre, film, and television, and has appeared in plays at Ahmanson Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, American Conservatory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, East West Players and Playwrights’ Arena, among many others. Recent theatre credits include My Home on the Moon at the San Francisco Playhouse, The Great Wave at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Tales of Clamor at USC, and No No Boy and Innocent When You Dream at L.A. Theatre Works. She starred in the film Eat with Me (streaming on Amazon/Peacock/Tubi!) for which she won an award for best actress at the Out on Film Festival in Atlanta. She also appeared in the films Yellow, Terminal USA and Only The Brave. Her recent television credits include “The After Party,” “Maggie,” “I Think You Should Leave,” “General Hospital,” “Forever,” “The First,” “Young Sheldon,” “The Resident,” “How to Get Away With Murder” and “Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders,” among many others.
Benjamin Pelteson* (Shimon of Bethsaida) (he/him) has appeared onstage in NYC at Playwrights Horizons, Second Stage, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and Ars Nova, and on stages across the US, including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (five seasons), Denver Center Theater Company, Actors Theatre of Louisville (three seasons), Shakespeare Theatre Company, George Street Playhouse, Wilma Theater, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and many others. His television credits include “Law & Order,” “The Blacklist,” “Homeland,” “Unforgettable,” “StartUp,” and the ESPN 30 for 30 film Silly Little Game. He has a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and is a Barrymore Nominee for Best Supporting Actor in a Play as Louis in Angels in America. benjaminpelteson.com
Jeremy Rabb* (Mattityahu/Ezra) is delighted to be making his SCR debut. A resident artist at A Noise Within, Rabb has appeared there in over 35 productions, including Sweeney Todd, The Book of Will, Animal Farm (LA Drama Critics Circle Award), Noises Off, King Lear, Arcadia and Endgame. He was in the original cast of Rock of Ages, and toured the country in Julie Taymor’s The King Stag, which enjoyed a residency at London’s Barbican Theatre. Regional credits include Yale Repertory Theatre, American Repertory Theater, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Virginia Stage Company, Maine State Music Theatre, Ritual Theatre Company, Theatre at St. Clement’s and Boston Center for the Arts, among others. Film and television credits include Her, “Night Court,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “Goliath,” “Grey’s Anatomy” (3 seasons), “Silicon Valley,” “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” “The Odd Couple,” “Hot in Cleveland,” “Southland,” “Off The Map” and “Weeds.” He is a graduate of Princeton and the A.R.T. Institute at Harvard. jeremyrabb.com @jjrabb92
Raviv Ullman* (Saul of Tarsus) is thrilled to be making his SCR debut with this incredible team. Theatre credits include Usual Girls (Roundabout Theatre Company), Sticks & Bones, Russian Transport (New Group), Loneliness of The Long Distance Runner (Atlantic Theater Co), Bad Guys (Second Stage), Dead End (Center Theater Group), Bad Jews (Geffen Playhouse), Choice (Huntington Theatre), Deathtrap (Bucks County Playhouse), and Haunted Life (Merrimack Repertory). He has been seen in more than 100 episodes of television, including “Broad City,” “Phil of The Future,” “Law & Order: SVU and CI,” “Rita Rocks,” and “House.” Ullman has directed work for Boston Lyric Opera, Long Beach Opera, Opera Omaha, and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He is currently in development as a writer and director with both The Jim Henson Company and Jersey Films 2A and in post production on a feature documentary. For Velvel.
Davis McCallum (Director) is in his 10th season as the Artistic Director of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival in Garrison, NY. Notable productions in New York include Greater Clements and The Harvest (Lincoln Center Theater); Lewiston/Clarkston (Rattlestick – Drama Desk nomination for Best Play); Stupid Fucking Bird (Pearl Theatre); Fashions for Men and London Wall (Mint Theater - Drama Desk and Lortel nomination for Best Revival); The Whale (Lortel Award for Best Play, and Calloway nomination for Best Director) and Pocatello (Playwrights Horizons); Water by the Spoonful (Second Stage – Pulitzer Prize for Drama); and February House (The Public Theater). Other NYC credits include Signature Theatre, 13P, Clubbed Thumb, Play Company, Page 73, and the New Victory. Regional credits include the Denver Center, Dallas Theater Center, Old Globe, Guthrie Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the O’Neill, Williamstown and Humana festivals, among others. He graduated from Princeton and Oxford (Rhodes Scholarship) and trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
Sandra Goldmark (Scenic Design) has designed for theatres around the country, including Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Transport Group, Shakespeare and Co., Syracuse Stage, and many more. She teaches circular and sustainable design and production practices at Barnard College, and serves as Senior Assistant Dean for Interdisciplinary Engagement at the Columbia Climate School. Goldmark is a co-creator of the Sustainable Production Toolkit, a free sustainability resource for performing arts organizations. From 2013-19, she founded and operated Fixup, a series of pop-up repair shops staffed by theatre artists in NYC. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, the BBC, The Sunday Times of London, The Daily News, Salon.com, and many more. A graduate of Harvard College and Yale University, Goldmark is the author of Fixation: How to Have Stuff without Breaking the Planet. sandragoldmark.com
Dina El-Aziz (Costume Design) (she/her) is making her SCR design debut. Her regional credits include Lost Girl (Dartmouth); Selling Kabul (Northern Stage); English (Barrington Stage); Disgraced (American Stage); A Distinct Society (TheaterWorks); Layalina (Goodman Theatre); A Distinct Society (Pioneer Theater); English (Studio Theater); Selling Kabul (Seattle Rep); Unseen (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); When Monica Met Hillary (Miami New Drama); This is Who I Am (OSF, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Co., Guthrie Theater, American Repertory Theater, PlayCo); 9 Parts of Desire (Portland Center Stage); King Lear (Northern Stage); Noura (The Guthrie, The Old Globe); and Selling Kabul (Williamstown Theatre Festival). Off-Broadway, her designs have been seen in Munich Medea, Weightless (WP Theater); The Vagrant Trilogy (The Public Theater); Spindle Shuttle Needle (Clubbed Thumb); Heartland (Geva Theater/59E59); First Down (Noor Theater/59E59); and Hindsight (Fault Line Theater). Other theatre credits include One Night, P*ssyc*ck Know Nothing, Marjana and the Forty Thieves and Pay No Attention To The Girl (Target Margin Theater). She earned her Design for Stage and Film MFA at New York University Tisch School of the Arts. dinae.me
Josh Epstein (Lighting Design) returns to SCR, where his credits include The Canadians and M. Butterfly. Other notable local productions include The Inheritance (Geffen Playhouse), Little Shop of Horrors (Pasadena Playhouse), November (Mark Taper Forum), and The Legend of Georgia McBride (Geffen Playhouse). Additionally, his work has been seen in theatres across the country including the Guthrie Theater, Goodman Theatre, Arena Stage, Trinity Repertory Company, Cincinnati Playhouse, Baltimore Center Stage, and Alliance Theatre. In addition, Epstein is an ensemble member at IAMA Theatre Company and is on faculty at Chapman University. He is an LA Ovation and Knight of Illumination Award winner and a Helen Hayes Award nominee. He was a recipient of the NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Designers and a Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference Artistic Council member. He received his MFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three daughters. joshepsteindesign.com
Bray Poor (Sound Design) returns to SCR after having designed Completeness by Itamar Moses. His Broadway credits include Appropriate, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, Take Me Out, True West, The Glass Menagerie, The Real Thing, In the Next Room or the vibrator play and American Plan. Off-Broadway, he most recently designed The Ally by Itamar Moses at The Public Theater. Other productions include designs at Playwrights Horizons, New York Theatre Workshop, Soho Rep, Manhattan Theatre Club, Second Stage, Signature Theatre, Atlantic Theater Company and others. In addition, his designs have been seen regionally all over the country, as well as productions in Europe and Latin America, including an Art Residency for two years in Mexico. He has received Lucille Lortel Award and Drama Desk nominations as well as an Obie for Sustained Excellence in Sound.
Charles Haugland (Dramaturg) production dramaturgy credits include world premiere productions at Huntington Theatre Company by Eleanor Burgess, Lenelle Moïse, Kirsten Greenidge, Melinda Lopez, Craig Lucas, Gina Gionfriddo, and Lydia Diamond, along with co-creating the audio play series Dream Boston. His dramaturgy has appeared in publications by TCG Books, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and in the New England New Play Anthology. Haugland has worked as a freelance dramaturg for theatres, including the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, Trinity Repertory Theatre, and Company One.
Michael Polak (Fight Consultant) is thrilled to be back at SCR having previously choreographed Quixote Nuevo, Appropriate, and The Little Foxes. He has choreographed stage violence for La Mirada Theatre, North Coast Repertory, 3-D Theatricals, New Swan Shakespeare Festival, Cal State Fullerton, Concordia University, The Electric Company Theatre and others. As an actor, his New York credits include Solider’s Wife at the Mint Theatre. Regionally, he has appeared at Rubicon Theatre Company, International City Theatre, Pioneer Theatre Company, Ensemble Theatre Company, Northern Stage, Delaware Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Caldwell Theatre Company (New Times Award winner and Carbonell Award Nomination for the role of Shane Mugitt in Take Me out ), Shakespeare Theatre Company, Hartford Stage, Playmaker’s Repertory Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, Cape Playhouse, and the California, San Francisco, and Texas Shakespeare Festivals, among others. His film and television credits include Mid-Century, 86 Melrose Avenue, “Bel-Air”, and numerous soaps, web series, and shorts. Polak received his M.F.A. from Pennsylvania State University, and his B.A. from California State University, Fullerton. michaelpolakactorfd.com
Darlene Miyakawa* (Production Stage Manager) at SCR: A Raisin in the Sun, Coleman ‘72, Sheepdog and Ella Enchanted. A member of Actors’ Equity Association and the American Guild of Musical Artists, she has worked around the U.S. in opera and theater, including Geffen Playhouse, The Old Globe, LA Dance Project (in Qatar), Getty Villa, Geva Theatre Company, Barrington Stage Company, The Watermill Center Festival, Opera San Jose, Long Beach Opera, Piedmont Opera, Playwright’s Arena, East West Players, California Symphony, Fort Worth Opera, Tri-Cities Opera, Opera Memphis, New York City Opera, OPERA San Antonio, LA Philharmonic and LA Opera.
Jessica Keasberry-Vnuk* (Assistant Stage Manager) is thrilled to be working on her first show at SCR! Past credits include A Weekend with Pablo Picasso (LA Theatre Works Tour); 2024 LA Writers’ Workshop Festival, A Christmas Story, A Transparent Musical, The Secret Garden, 2:22 A Ghost Story (Center Theatre Group); Inherit the Wind (Pasadena Playhouse); The Gardens of Anuncia (The Old Globe); Curie, Curie (Transversal Theatre Company Tour); Ghosts, Orlando (Williamstown Theatre Festival); Peter Pan and Tinker Bell (Lythgoe Family Panto); Driving Miss Daisy, Clybourne Park, King of the Road (Laguna Playhouse); and The Glass Menagerie (International City Theatre). She received her BA in Drama and Certificate in Arts Management from the University of California, Irvine.
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.