Common Ground Revisited
May 31 - July 3, 2022
The Pulitzer Prize-Winning Classic Comes to Powerful Theatrical Life
Conceived by Melia Bensussen and Kirsten Greenidge
Adapted by Kirsten Greenidge
Directed by Melia Bensussen
Based in part on and inspired by the book Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families by J. Anthony Lukas
The Huntington Calderwood/BCA, 527 Tremont St.
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Approximate run time: Two hours and 30 minutes with one intermission.
Content Warning: Common Ground Revisited contains racial slurs.
Show Synopsis:
This riveting and intricately woven world premiere play brings Boston’s history to life in the 1960s and 70s, culminating in three families’ experiences in court-mandated busing. Diverse in both race and class, what can these families’ experiences tell us about our own time? Especially when Boston Public Schools are more segregated in 2021 than they were in 1974. Common Ground Revisited is inspired by Anthony Lukas’ landmark Pulitzer Prize winning book, which The New York Times praises as an “epic of American city life.” Developed with ArtsEmerson, this unique work comes from Obie Award winners Melia Bensussen and Kirsten Greenidge, reteaming for the first time since their acclaimed Huntington production of Luck of the Irish.
Originally commissioned and developed with ArtsEmerson.
Photo: Stan Grossfeld, Courtesy of The Boston Globe
COVID Safety Protocols: For the safety and comfort of all who attend our shows, masks must be worn at all times throughout the building unless actively eating or drinking concessions, available for purchase during intermissions. Learn more.
“PROVOCATIVE AND POWERFUL! An essential dip into Boston’s past that makes one consider how much the city has changed and how much it has remained the same.” – WBUR
“Common Ground Revisited offers a sharp, clear-eyed perspective of a challenging part of Boston’s history and in doing so gives insight into the city’s present problems.” – THEATRE MIRROR
“It’s not often that a play dives this deep into a city’s history, and even rarer that one sets out to foster the kind of dialogue that could — should — help that city better understand itself.” – THE BOSTON GLOBE
Cast and Crew
Melia Bensussen
Co-Conceiver and Director
Melia Bensussen
Melia Bensussen Huntington: We All Fall Down, Yerma, A Doll’s House, Awake and Sing!, Luck of the Irish, and Circle Mirror Transformation.
Kirsten Greenidge
Co-Conceiver and Adapter
Kirsten Greenidge
Kirsten Greenidge, she/her, is a Huntington Playwriting Fellow from 2007-2009 and the author of Our Daughters, Like Pillars, Milk Like Sugar and Luck of the Irish (The Huntington), as well as The View from Here (commission from The Huntington’s Education Department).
Marianna Bassham
Ensemble
Marianna Bassham
Marianna Bassham, she/her, Huntington: Hurricane Diane, Sweat, Romeo and Juliet, Yerma, Our Town, The Luck of the Irish, I Was Most Alive with You, and Becoming Cuba.
Kadahj Bennett
Ensemble
Kadahj Bennett
Kadahj Bennett Huntington: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. Regional: Recent local credits include People Places & Things, Passover (SpeakEasy), Hype Man (Company One/ART), The Charles Lennox Experience (New Rep), Isolated Incidents (Broadway Podcast Network), This Place Displaced (Actors Theater Boston).
Elle Borders
Ensemble
Elle Borders
Elle Borders is a Boston based Actress, Voiceover Artist, Writer and Educator. Recent credits: Genesis in The Light (WAM Theatre-Special Presentation), Mr. Joy (Kitchen Theatre CompanySpecial Presentation); We All Fall Down (Huntington Theatre Company).
Matthew Bretschneider
Ensemble
Matthew Bretschneider
Matthew Bretschneider, he/him, Huntington: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Romeo and Juliet, Tartuffe, Dead End, Ah! Wilderness.
Shanaé Burch
Ensemble
Shanaé Burch
Shanaé Burch, she/her, previously worked with the Huntington Education Department on A View from Here as a part of an antibullying initiative, and as Keera in Milk Like Sugar.
Kelly Chick
Understudy
Kelly Chick
Kelly Chick (she/her) is a Boston based actor and a graduate of the BFA Acting program at Emerson College.
Amanda Collins
Ensemble
Amanda Collins
Amanda Collins Regional Theater: Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley (Merrimack Rep); The Thanksgiving Play (Lyric Stage); Old Money (Commonwealth Shakespeare Co.); The 39 Steps, To Kill A Mockingbird, Out of Sterno, This is Our Youth (Gloucester Stage)
Lyndsay Allyn Cox
Understudy
Lyndsay Allyn Cox
Lyndsay Allyn Cox she/they (Zelda Shaw) Huntington: Our Daughters, Like Pillars, Witch, The 54th in ‘22 (Dream Boston audio play). Regional: Bright Half Life (Actors’ Shakespeare Project), Three Musketeers (Greater Boston Stage Company), Caroline, Or Change (Moonbox Productions), Winter People (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre)
Stacy Fischer
Ensemble
Stacy Fischer
Stacy Fischer Huntington: Our Town & A Month in the Country. Boston area credits include: The Pink Unicorn (SpeakEasy Stage), Photograph 51 (Central Square Theater), DinDin and Three Sisters (Harbor Stage Company).
Michael Kaye
Ensemble
Michael Kaye
Michael Kaye’s acting credits include appearances at New Repertory Theatre, SpeakEasy Stage Company, Boston Center for American Performance, The Huntington, Lyric Stage, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, and Boston Playwrights’ Theatre locally, as well as with PTP in New York City and Middlebury, Vermont, and the Olney Theatre Center in Maryland, among others.
Shannon Lamb
Ensemble
Shannon Lamb
Shannon Lamb, she/her, makes her Huntington debut. Selected Theatre Credits: Letters to Kamala (WAM), Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (UMASS Theater), It Happened in Little Rock, Because of Winn Dixie (Arkansas Repertory Theatre)
Karen MacDonald
Ensemble
Karen MacDonald
Karen MacDonald, she/her, Huntington: Ether Dome, M, Good People, Before I Leave You, Bus Stop, All My Sons, A Civil War Christmas. Broadway: Glass Menagerie.
James Milord
Understudy
James Milord
James Milord is a Boston born Haitian-American actor. This marks his debut at The Huntington. Regional: Premier of Young Nerds of Color (Central Square Theatre)m Pipeline (WAM, Front Porch, & Central Sq. Theatre), A Christmas Carol (Underground Railway), The Handmaid’s Tale (Boston Lyric Opera).
Maurice Emmanuel Parent
Ensemble
Maurice Emmanuel Parent
Maurice Emmanuel Parent Huntington: A Raisin in the Sun, Merrily We Roll Along, Skeleton Crew, Romeo and Juliet, Sweat.
Omar Robinson
Ensemble
Omar Robinson
Omar Robinson, he/him, Huntington: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Romeo and Juliet, Tartuffe.
Nick Sulfaro
Understudy
Nick Sulfaro
Nick Sulfaro (he/him) The Huntington: Witch, Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George and A Little Night Music, Home of the Brave (Breaking Ground Festival reading), and Sitting Still #1 (Emerging America Festival radio play).
Sara Brown
Set Designer
Sara Brown
Sara Brown (she/her) is a set designer for theater, opera, and dance. Selected designs include Champion with Boston Lyric Opera; The Day at Jacob’s Pillow; Hagoromo at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; Fellow Travelers and La Rondine at the Minnesota Opera.
An-lin Dauber
Costume Designer
An-lin Dauber
An-lin Dauber, she/her, New York: Paul Swan is Dead and Gone, What You are Now (The Civilians); H*tler’s Tasters (New Light Theater); Salesman 之 , June is the First Fall (Yangtze Repertory Company)
Brian J. Lilienthal
Lighting Design
Brian J. Lilienthal
Brian J. Lilienthal Huntington: Awake and Sing, Yerma, Quixote Nuevo. Off B’Way: Cherry Lane, La Mama, 59E59.
Pornchanok (Nok) Kanchanabanca
Sound Designer
Pornchanok (Nok) Kanchanabanca
Pornchanok (Nok) Kanchanabanca she/her (Sound Designer) Huntington Productions: Sweat. Off-Broadway: Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and A.R.T New York Theatres.
Rasean Davonté Johnson
Projection Design
Rasean Davonté Johnson
Rasean Davonté Johnson is a Chicago-based video artist and theatrical designer. New York: The March to Liberation (New York Philharmonic), Little Rock (The Sheen Center), Yemandja (The Office Performing Arts + Theatre)
J. Jared Janas
Wig, Hair, and Makeup Designer
J. Jared Janas
J. Jared Janas, (Wig, Hair, and Makeup Designer) Huntington: Man in the Ring, Indecent . Broadway: Jagged Little Pill, Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune, Gettin’ the Band Back Together, Bandstand, Indecent, Sunset Boulevard, The Visit, The Real Thing, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, Motown, Peter and the Starcatcher, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, All about Me, Next to Normal.
Neema Avashia
Co-Dramaturg
Neema Avashia
Neema Avashia, she/her, is a Civics teacher in Boston Public Schools, where she has worked since 2003. She was recognized as the city-wide Educator of the Year in 2013. As an Asian American teacher and writer, Neema has published several pieces focused on race, class, and inequities in education.
Emily F. McMullen
Production Stage Manager
Emily F. McMullen
Emily F. McMullen, she/her, has stage managed over 30 shows over the past eight seasons at the Huntington, including Hurricane Diane, Sweat; Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead; Indecent; Romeo and Juliet; A Doll’s House, Part 2; Man in the Ring; The Niceties; Top Girls; Bad Dates; Tartuffe; and Merrily We Roll Along.
Kevin Schlagle
Stage Manager
Kevin Schlagle
Kevin Schlagle he/him (Production Stage Manager) The Huntington: Over 30 productions, including Our Daughters, Like Pillars, Witch, The Purists, Merrily We Roll Along, Topdog/Underdog, Sunday in the Park with George, Milk Like Sugar, A Little Night Music, Smart People, Our Town.
Des Bennett
Assistant Director
Des Bennett
Des Bennett (they/them) is a theater maker, facilitator, and visual artist dedicated to continued learning, iterative experimentation, and collective care as the framework for their artistic endeavors.
Production Assistants: Jamie Carty, Lucas Bryce Dixon, Kendyl Trott
Assistant Set Designer: Jeffrey Petersen
Carpenters: Rachael Hasse, Kalika Reece, Harvey Sugiuchi, Brian Winsor
Stitcher: Brittany Meehan
First Costumer: Emily Keebler
Wardrobe Run Crew: Melissa Pierre Louis
Wardrobe Swing: Jennie Fuchs
Lighting Programmer: Maddie Hanley
Electricians: Jordan Barnett, Dean Covert, Violet Gayzagian, Sara Hutchins, Angela Mantel, Jonathan Rooney, Ryan Shepard, Cindy Wade
Audio Run Crew/A2: Lexie Lankiewicz Audio Crew Swings: Julie Beaulieu, Jessica Hawkins Program Book Designer: Morgan Barba
Special thanks to the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences.