THE MARSH UNVEILS NEW GUEST LINE-UP FOR STEPHANIE’S MARSHSTREAM Programs added through February 18, 2021 Available to stream LIVE every Thursday at 7:30pm

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (19 January 2021) – The Marsh welcomes a diversified line-up of guests for Stephanie’s MarshStream – from an acclaimed playwright to a leader at the forefront of curriculum education, Bay Area-based actors, a longtime public radio journalist, and more. The Marsh Founder/Artistic Director Stephanie Weisman will explore topics that include when artists can bend ethics for art’s sake, how to navigate online dating in the 21st century, the unforeseen impact of technology on culture and lifestyle, the incredible influence of Nelson Mandela, and much more. Weisman will be joined by Wayne Harris (Jan. 21); Lynne Kaufman, Julia McNeal, and Charles Shaw Robinson (Jan. 28); Darryl Van Leer (Feb. 4); Antonia Kasper (Feb. 11); and Laura Sydell (Feb. 18) for exclusive interviews, performance excerpts, and Q&A throughout the course of this Thursday series. For more information, the public may visit www.themarsh.org/marshstream.

7:30pm, Thursday, January 21 Special guest Wayne Harris. Hosted by Stephanie Weisman. Award-winning solo performer, writer, educator, curriculum innovator, and musician Wayne Harris has accumulated an impressive body of work over the years that include five full-length plays, presentations for schools, directing and designing for pageantry groups as well as various musical projects. In 2013 Harris was asked by the U.S. State Department to perform and hold storytelling workshops in Jerusalem and the West Bank, where he premiered The Letter, his piece about Martin Luther King in Birmingham. Since then his latest play, Mother’s Milk: A Blues Riff in Three Acts, has played to enthusiastic audiences winning “Best of Fringe” at the 2014 San Francisco International Fringe Festival. Harris was the Director of Marsh Youth Theater and a Resident Teaching Artist for Stagebridge, an intergenerational theater located in Oakland. With the help and assistance of Bay Area educators, he has performed traditional and

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new tales of America’s most famous African American mythological character, developing a standards-based curriculum and performance that explores the power of myth and storytelling. In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, this interview will be focused on The Letter.

7:30pm, Thursday, January 28 Special guests Lynne Kaufman, Julia McNeal, and Charles Shaw Robinson. Hosted by Stephanie Weisman. Stephanie Weisman interviews playwright Lynne Kaufman about her new work, Divine Madness, along with its stars, Julia McNeal and Charles Shaw Robinson, who will perform a short excerpt from the play. Divine Madness will be presented January 30 and 31 on MarshStream. Kaufman is the author of 20 full-length plays that have been produced in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and Louisville at such theatres as Magic Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, and many more. Three of Kaufman’s works, Acid Test, Two Minds and Who Killed Sylvia Plath, have premiered on stage at The Marsh, while two of her other works, Exposing Margaret Mead and Who Killed Sylvia Plath, have appeared on The Marsh’s digital platform, MarshStream. Her plays have won many awards including the Glickman Award for Best New Play (The Couch), the Kennedy Center’s Fund for New American Plays Award (Speaking in Tongues), and the Neil Simon Festival New Play Award (William Blake in Hollywood). Actors McNeal and Robinson are favorites on local stages. McNeal has appeared at the Magic Theatre, American Conservatory Theater (ACT), Shotgun Players, SF Playhouse, Marin Theatre Company, and others, and been seen in multiple television and film projects. Robinson is well-known for leading roles at SF Playhouse, Marin Theatre Company, California Shakespeare Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, among others, and has appeared at major regional theaters across the US.

7:30pm, Thursday, February 4 Special guest Darryl Van Leer. Hosted by Stephanie Weisman. Kicking off Black History Month, Darryl Van Leer joins Stephanie Weisman for an exclusive interview, performance excerpts, and Q&A prior to his Solo Performer Spotlight performance of Mandela: Let Freedom Reign on February 6. Over his career, Van Leer has shared the screen with James Earl Jones, Samuel Jackson, Gregory Harrison, Rue McClanahan, and Beau Bridges. Among his starring roles, Van Leer was a tough-love father in the movie, First Time, the story of

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Jackie Robinson, and co-starred with Gregory Harrison in Aaron Spelling’s weekly series Safe Harbor. He became one of four finalists in TLC’s The Messengers series devoted to America’s great inspirational speakers, has co-starred in TV shows including One Tree Hill and Sheena, and been featured in the HBO original movies, The Second Civil War and Up Against the Wall, Fox’s Steel Chariots and NBC’s Witness to the Execution.

7:30pm, Thursday, February 11 Special guest Antonia Kasper. Hosted by Stephanie Weisman. Prior to her Solo Performer Spotlight performance of 45 Coffee Dates on February 13, writer, producer, actress, and director Antonia Kasper joins Stephanie Weisman for an exclusive interview, performance excerpt, and Q&A. Kasper has performed stand-up at Gotham Comedy Club, Broadway Comedy Club, and has studied at Circle in The Square Theatre School and The Actors Studio. Throughout her career, she has written, produced, directed, and performed theatrical projects throughout the United States as well as in Europe. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kasper founded The Solo Artists’ Mastermind Group, which meets monthly via Zoom and helps seasoned solo performers stay creative, supportive, and accountable in their artistic pursuits. Her production company, Kasper Productions, focuses on women-geared material. Since writing 45 Coffee Dates, Kasper has made guest speaker appearances as a dating expert and formed The Dating Smart Workshops for both men and women.

7:30pm, Thursday, February 18 Special guest Laura Sydell. Hosted by Stephanie Weisman. Longtime public radio journalist Laura Sydell joins Stephanie Weisman for an exclusive interview and Q&A. Over her career, Sydell has covered politics, arts, media, religion, and entrepreneurship. Her work focuses on the ways in which technology is transforming our culture and how we live. Before joining NPR in 2003, Sydell served as a Senior Technology Reporter for American Public Media’s Marketplace, where her reporting focused on the human impact of new technologies and the personalities behind the Silicon Valley boom and bust. Her reporting on race relations, city politics, and arts was honored with numerous awards from organizations such as The Newswomen’s Club of New York, The New York Press Club, and The Society of Professional Journalists. American Women in Radio and Television, The National Federation of Community Broadcasters, and Women in Communications have all honored Sydell for her long-

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form radio documentary work focused on individuals whose life experiences turned them into activists. She is currently the Digital Culture Correspondent for NPR’s , , , and NPR.org.

ABOUT STEPHANIE WEISMAN Stephanie Weisman founded The Marsh in 1989, and has been the Artistic/Executive Director since its inception. Under her leadership, The Marsh has grown from a one-night-a-week performance series to producing 600-700 shows annually on its four stages. Over the years, Weisman has received the Meritorious Achievement Award from the Bay Area Theatre Critic’s Circle and was named A Local Hero by the San Francisco Bay Guardian for her work at The Marsh. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Weisman pivoted to digital content and launched MarshStream, The Marsh’s digital platform with varied daily programming.

After receiving her MA in Creative Writing, Weisman started The Marsh to develop her own solo performance. For the first decade she supported the development of thousands of new performances. In 2006 she premiered her opera, Aphrodisia, written for a 20-woman chorus, a chamber ensemble, solo performer, and dancer. Since then she premiered Breed & Rescue, a solo performance musical about breeding and rescuing dogs and children. She is currently working on another solo, Planet DoReMi, and reimagining Aphrodisia with Wei Wang for the digital black box. Weisman lives in Oakland and the Trinity Alps with her husband Richard and three American bulldogs Trinity, Junior, and Marsha.

ABOUT MARSHSTREAM The program launched in April 2020 and has received overwhelmingly enthusiastic response, garnering over 75,000 viewers in its first nine months. Notable MarshStream moments thus far include the debut of MarshStream International Solo Fest, The Marsh’s first-ever digital festival, and the U.S. premiere of The Invisible Line, a new documentary about one of the world’s most famous social experiments gone wrong.

MarshStream programming varies daily, with Monday Night MarshStream (short performances by a variety of artists), Wild Card Tuesdays (everything from book/writer discussions, sing-a- longs, Tell It On Tuesday, to Sound Healing and Restorative Yoga), Wednesday Solo Arts Heal (offering stories of health, advocacy, and inspiration), Stephanie’s MarshStream on Thursday nights (interview and performance excerpts, moderated by The Marsh Founder/Artistic Director Stephanie Weisman), BINGO! hosted by Josh Kornbluth, and weekend Solo Performance Spotlight featuring live full-length performances. MarshStream also offers performance development classes, a noon series that includes CJ’s FitnesSing weekly singing lesson/fitness class, and a Zoomba Room. Content is typically offered at 7:30pm nightly, and mid-day throughout the week via Zoom and YouTube LIVE. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic MarshStream has hosted 451 LIVE streams, providing some 200 performers a platform to continue developing and producing art.

MarshStream viewers are asked to contribute whatever they can afford. Donations can be made by joining The Marsh’s membership program and via a virtual “tip jar” with funds going to support The Marsh and its artists. For more information, the public may visit

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www.themarsh.org/marshstream. NOTE: Most performance streams from earlier MarshStream dates are also available on the website for viewing.

In addition to nightly program offerings on MarshStream, The Marsh has also launched Marsh Youth Theater (MYT) MarshStream, classes offered at 4:00pm daily taught by MYT instructors. From Creative Dramatics to Storytelling, Dancing, and more, class types, instructors, and age levels vary for each class. For weekly class schedules and additional information, please visit themarsh.org/mytmarshstream.

ABOUT THE MARSH The Marsh is known as “a breeding ground for new performance.” It was launched in 1989 by Founder and Artistic Director Stephanie Weisman, and pre-COVID hosted more than 600 performances of 175 shows across the company’s two venues in San Francisco and Berkeley. A leading outlet for solo performers, The Marsh’s specialty has been hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “solo performances that celebrate the power of storytelling at its simplest and purest.” The East Bay Times named The Marsh one of Bay Area’s best intimate theaters, calling it “one of the most thriving solo theaters in the nation. The live theatrical energy is simply irresistible.”

For Calendar Editors

WHAT: The Marsh welcomes a diversified line-up of guests for Stephanie’s MarshStream – from an acclaimed playwright to a leader at the forefront of curriculum education, Bay Area-based actors, a longtime public radio journalist, and more. The Marsh Founder/Artistic Director Stephanie Weisman will explore topics that include when artists can bend ethics for art’s sake, how to navigate online dating in the 21st century, the unforeseen impact of technology on culture and lifestyle, the incredible influence of Nelson Mandela, and much more. Weisman will be joined by Wayne Harris (Jan. 21); Lynne Kaufman, Julia McNeal, and Charles Shaw Robinson (Jan. 28); Darryl Van Leer (Feb. 4); Antonia Kasper (Feb. 11); and Laura Sydell (Feb. 18) for exclusive interviews, performance excerpts, and Q&A throughout the course of this Thursday series.

DATES: Stephanie’s MarshStream is available to stream LIVE! at 7:30pm every Thursday:

January 21: Wayne Harris January 28: Lynne Kaufman, Julia McNeal, Charles Shaw Robinson February 4: Darryl Van Leer February 11: Antonia Kasper February 18: Laurel Sydell

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______MEDIA CONTACT: SYDNEY ALBIN, CARLA BEFERA & CO. Email: [email protected]

PRESS: Contact Sydney Albin, Carla Befera & Co. [email protected]

PHOTOS: Downloadable high-res photos are available here: http://cbpr.co/press/marshstream

______MEDIA CONTACT: SYDNEY ALBIN, CARLA BEFERA & CO. Email: [email protected]