SANTA MONICA REP READS Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw SUN / MAR 10 / 2:00 PM Yael Berkovich* ELIZA DOOLITTLE Troy Dunn* HENRY HIGGINS Ewan Chung* COL. PICKERING Beege Barkette MRS. HIGGINS / HOSTESS / BYSTANDER Jon Sperry* ALFRED DOOLITTLE/HOST/BYSTANDER Linda Larsen* MRS. PEARCE / MRS. EYNSFORD-HILL Mike Niedzwiecki THE HUNGARIAN Wade Gasque* FREDDY EYNSFORD-HILL Cecelia Sandoval CLARA EYNSFORD-HILL * This production is presented under the auspices of the Actors’ Equity Los Angeles Membership Company Rule. Sarah Gurfield DIRECTOR Adrienne Johnson-Lister STAGE MANAGER Theatre at The Broad Stage made possible in part by generous gifts from Bill & Laurie Benenson and Susan Stockel. Santa Monica Rep Reads at The Broad Stage made possible in part by generous gifts from James & Laura Maslon and the Attias Family Foundation. Support for Santa Monica Rep's Programming provided by Kiwanis Club of Santa Monica, City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs and Individual Donors PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE 16 ABOUT THE PROGRAM Inspired by the Greek myth of the same name, PYGMALION tells the story of Professor Henry Higgins’s attempt to transform Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle into a Society Lady. Cloaked in witty humor, Shaw examines the superficiality of class behavior, class distinctions and social mobility. Pygmalion remains Shaw's most popular play, transcending cultural and language barriers since its first production in 1913. Audiences also know it as the inspiration for the highly romanticized 1956 stage musical and 1964 film,My Fair Lady. GEORGE BERNARD SHAW (1856– 1950) was an Irish playwright, critic, his reputation as a dramatist was polemicist and political activist. secured with a series of critical and He wrote more than 60 plays, popular successes, including Major including Man and Superman (1902), Barbara, The Doctor's Dilemma and Pygmalion (1912) and Saint Joan Caesar and Cleopatra; in 1938, (1923). With a range incorporating Shaw won the Best Screenplay both contemporary satire and Oscar for his film adaptation of historical allegory, Shaw became Pygmalion. Scholarly and critical the leading dramatist of his opinion has varied about his works, generation, and was awarded the but Shaw has regularly been rated 1925 Nobel Prize for Literature. as second only to Shakespeare Influenced by Henrik Ibsen, he among British dramatists. The term sought to introduce a new realism Shavian has entered the lexicon as into English-language drama, using encapsulating Shaw's ideas and his his plays as vehicles to disseminate means of expressing them. his political, social and religious ideas. By the early 20th century, ABOUT THE ARTISTS Founded in 2010, SANTA MONICA REP has produced nearly 40 play readings, productions and special events, including co-presenting the SHINE Storytelling Salon, where hundreds of storytellers have shared their personal triumphs and tribulations. Community is at the heart of our work: Santa Monica Rep has served thousands of community members through our free Staged Readings at the Santa Monica Public Library and over two thousand public-school students through our SM Rep Reads collaborations with The Broad Stage. PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE 17.