Prayer for the French Republic
September 7-October 8, 2023
By Joshua Harmon
Directed by Huntington Artistic Director Loretta Greco
PRAYER FOR THE FRENCH REPUBLIC is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com
The Huntington Theatre
264 Huntington Ave. Boston, MA 02115
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Approximate run time: 2 hours and 50 minutes with one 10 minute intermission.
Content advisory: View content advisories here.
Notable Dates:
Opening Night: 9/13
Synopsis:
It’s 2016 Paris. The Salomon family has worked hard to make Paris into a warm and wonderful home after settling down in the turbulent 1940s. But when their son comes home beaten up because he was wearing a yarmulke, they are forced to question their safety and sense of belonging in the city they love. Artistic Director Loretta Greco directs Joshua Harmon’s major new American play, having originally produced a workshop of it at the Magic Theatre prior to its New York debut in 2022.
“Wonderfully acted under the pitch-perfect direction of Loretta Greco! Excellence and emotional power that renders you speechless” – The Boston Globe
“Miraculous! A fleet and ferocious production that demands to be seen!” –Joyce Kulhawik (Joyce’s Choices)
“A sprawling and staggering thing of beauty!” –Chris Ehlers (BTCA)
“Deeply resonant! Plays like this make theatre eternal” – Jared Bowen
“The Huntington’s ‘Prayer for the French Republic’ is a theatrical blessing” –WBUR
“An extraordinary evening of theater! This play opens our eyes and hearts” – Somerville Times
Cast & Crew
Amy Resnick
Marcelle
Amy Resnick
Amy Resnick Off Broadway: Death of Frank, I Think I Like Girls. National Tour: The Laramie Project and Laramie 10 Years Later (Tectonic). International Tour: Around the World In 80 Days (India).
Nael Nacer
Charles
Nael Nacer
Nael Nacer (he/him) The Huntington: Nassim, Leopoldstadt, Prayer for the French Republic, Romeo and Juliet, A Doll’s House, Bedroom Farce, Come Back, Little Sheba, Awake and Sing!, The Seagull, Our Town. Broadway: Prayer for the French Republic (Manhattan Theatre Club).
Tony Estrella
Patrick
Tony Estrella
Tony Estrella has been artistic director at The Gamm Theatre in Rhode Island for 22 seasons where he has appeared in or directed more than 75 productions. His favorite roles at The Gamm include George in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Frank in Brian Friel’s Faith Healer, Hamlet in Hamlet, Moe Axelrod in Awake and Sing! and Vanya in Uncle Vanya. Directorial highlights include Twelfth Night, Hangmen, Bad Jews, Assassins, JQA, True West, Festen, Sara Kane’s 4:48 Psychosis, A Streetcar Named Desire, and the U.S. premieres of Howard Brenton’s Paul and Sarah Waters’ The Night Watch.
Will Lyman
Pierre
Will Lyman
Will Lyman is well known to Boston audiences, for his work with Commonwealth Shakespeare Co. of which he is a founding Board Member (King Lear, Prospero, Claudius, Brutus and the upcoming Scrooge at the Emerson Majestic), Israeli Stage (Oh God, Ulysses on Bottles), The Huntington (Prayer for the French Republic, All My Sons, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Dead End), New Rep (Long Day’s Journey into Night, Exits and Entrances, Clean House, Ice Breaker,) Speakeasy (The Dying Gaul), Wheelock (To Kill a Mockingbird), Boston Playwrights’ Theatre (The Wrestling Patient in collaboration with Speakeasy, King of the Jews, A Girl’s War,) and the Nora (Equus, Operation Epsilon). Elsewhere in the U.S. he was a member of the inaugural company at the Denver Center, and has performed with Hartford Stage, Pennsylvania Stage, American Place, George Street Playhouse, NJ Shakespeare, and several Off Broadway productions in New York. He has narrated with the National Symphony (Ivan the Terrible,) and acted in conjunction with the BSO (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), the Cleveland Symphony (Every Good Boy Deserves Favor) and the Handel and Haydn Society (Medea.)
Joshua Chessin-Yudin
Daniel
Joshua Chessin-Yudin
Joshua Chessin-Yudin The Huntington: Prayer for the French Republic. Broadway: Prayer for the French Republic, The Sound Inside. Off Broadway: Prayer For the French Republic (MTC). Regional: We Swim, We Talk, We Go to War (Golden Thread); The Happiest Song Plays Last (Theater 22); Really, Really, My Mañana Comes (ArtsWest); Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth (Seattle Shakespeare Company). Education: BA, University of Washington. @joshua_zev joshuacy.com
Talia Sulla
Molly
Talia Sulla
Talia Sulla Regional: Mother, May I (Boston Center for the Arts: BYA); The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing (Prague Shakespeare Company). Education: BFA from Boston University’s School of Theater, with a concentration in Musical Theater.
Carly Zien
Elodie
Carly Zien
Carly Zien Off Broadway: Kaspar Hauser, Cato (The Flea). Regional: Network (Florida Studio Theatre), Trying (George St. Playhouse), One Slight Hitch (Totem Pole Playhouse), Buzzer (Cincinnati Playhouse), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Chautauqua Theater Company).
Jared Troilo
Lucien
Jared Troilo
Jared Troilo The Huntington: Prayer for the French Republic. SpeakEasy Stage: Jerry Springer: The Opera, Far from Heaven, Dogfight, Significant Other, The View Upstairs, Tj Loves Sally 4 Ever, The Prom. Regional: Lyric Stage, Moonbox Productions, Wheelock Family Theatre, Reagle Music Theatre, Palace Theatre, Greater Boston Stage, Winter Park Playhouse, Shadowland Stages, Umbrella Stage, TigerLion Arts, Company Theatre, and The Barnstormers.
Jesse Kodama
Young Pierre
Jesse Kodama
Jesse Kodama University: Elephant’s Graveyard (BU). Regional education program: Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night (Two River Theatre, A Little Shakespeare). Film: Laundry Day dir. Ted Doyle. Junior at Boston University’s School of Theatre.
Phyllis Kay
Irma
Phyllis Kay
Phyllis Kay The Huntington: Prayer for the French Republic, We All Fall Down. Regional: Macbeth, Lend Me a Tenor, Angels in America, The Beauty of Queen Leenane, The Cider House Rules, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Cherry Orchard, All the King’s Men, Cabaret, The Hunchback of Seville, Appropriate, Death of a Salesman, Into the Breeches!, Tiny Beautiful Things (member of Trinity Rep’s Resident Acting Company); King Lear (Dallas Theater Center); JQA (Arena Stage); The Children, Doubt (Gamm Theatre); Let’s Go, Olympia (Joe’s Pub).
Peter Van Wagner
Adolphe
Peter Van Wagner
Peter Van Wagner The Huntington: Two Men of Florence. Broadway: Grand Horizons (2nd Stage), A Thousand Clowns (Roundabout). Off Broadway: This Beautiful Future (Cherry Lane), Othello (Delacorte Theater), The Chimes (The Public Theater), Letters from Cuba (Signature Theatre), The Notebook (2nd Stage). International: West Side Story (Teatro Alla Scala), Das Phantom- (German Tour).
David Kelly
U/S Adolphe / Pierre
David Kelly
David Kelly The Huntington: Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. Off Broadway: Manahatta (Public Theater).
Mary Niederkorn
U/S Irma
Mary Niederkorn
Mary Niederkorn(she/her) The Huntington: Prayer for the French Republic. Regional: ThankYouForTryingToMakeMeABetterPerson(Theatre Row); Wit (Salem Theatre); Violet (ART); Kindness and Cruelty (Hudson Guild Theatre); Ragtime (The Baryshnikov Center); Iphigenia (The Drama League).
Zach Kelley
U/S Young Pierre
Zach Kelley
Zach Kelley Regional: The Normal Heart (New Rep); Gloria (Gloucester Stage). Education: BFA Acting (Boston University); Acting & Directing programs (The National Theatre Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center). @zachwkelley zachwkelley.com
Fady Demian
U/S Daniel / Lucien
Fady Demian
Fady Demian The Huntington: Prayer for the French Republic. SpeakEasy Stage: Wild Goose Dreams; As You Like It (Actors’ Shakespeare Project); Rocky Relationships (Moonbox Productions); Lorena: A Tabloid Epic and Incels & Other Myths (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre); Walls (Playback Theatre); Hamlet (Oxford Shakespeare Company); and The Taming of the Shrew (Prague Shakespeare Company).
Josephine Moshiri Elwood
U/S Elodie / Molly
Josephine Moshiri Elwood
Josephine Moshiri Elwood The Huntington: Prayer for the French Republic.SpeakEasy Stage: English, People, Places, & Things, Hand to God, The Whale. Regional: Vanity Fair (Central Square Theater); Onegin, Gabriel (Greater Boston Stage Company); Old Money (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company); Othello, God’s Ear (Actor’s Shakespeare Company); Long Ago and Far Away, The Cherry Orchard (Walking the dog Theatre).
Director
Joshua Harmon
Playwright
Joshua Harmon
Joshua Harmon’s plays include Bad Jews, Significant Other, Admissions, Skintight, and Prayer for the French Republic. He and Sarah Silverman co-wrote the libretto for The Bedwetter based on her memoir.
Dori A. Robinson
Assistant Director
Dori A. Robinson
Dori A. Robinson The Huntington: The Band’s Visit, Prayer for the French Republic. Directing credits include Silent Sky, Educating Rita, The Elm Tree, Fully Committed, A Bright Room Called Day, Julius Caesar, The Merchant of Venice, The Lion in Winter, Winter of Discontent, Peter and the Starcatcher, A Bintel Brief, The Chelmites Capture the Moon. Dori’s original plays have been produced in New York, Chicago, and Boston, and is a company member of Alight Theater Guild.
Andrew Boyce
Scenic Designer
Andrew Boyce
Andrew Boyce (he/him) The Huntington: Prayer for the French Republic, A Doll’s House, Part 2. Broadway: Dana H. Off Broadway: Lincoln Center Theater, Roundabout Theater Company, Atlantic Theater Company, New York Theater Workshop, Vineyard Theater, Primary Stages, among many others.
Alex Jaeger
Costume Designer
Alex Jaeger
Alex Jaeger Alex Jaeger (he/him) The Huntington: Leopoldstadt, Prayer for the French Republic, Rock ‘N Roll. Off Broadway: Two Sisters and a Piano (Public Theatre), Wiesenthal (Acorn Theatre). Regional: Mr. Burns (The Guthrie); Arcadia, The Homecoming, Maple and Vine, Major Barbara, Once in a Lifetime, Venus in Fur (American Conservatory Theater); Other Desert Stories, A Parallelogram (Mark Taper Forum)…
Christopher Akerlind
Lighting Designer
Christopher Akerlind
Christopher Akerlind (he/him) The Huntington: The Triumph of Love, Prayer for the French Republic, Indecent, Tartuffe, Sunday in the Park with George, All My Sons, Shining city, Well, The Young Man from Atlanta, Seven Guitars, The Piano Lesson. Broadway: Rocky The Musical, Sting’s The Last Ship, Indecent, Talk Radio, Shining City, Awake and Sing, Well, Rabbit Hole, A Touch of the Poet, In My Life, The Light in the Piazza, Reckless, The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, Seven Guitars, The Piano Lesson, and more.
Fan Zhang
Sound Designer
Fan Zhang
Fan Zhang (she/her) The Huntington: Prayer for the French Republic, Joy and Pandemic. Off Broadway: Good Bones, Jordans (Public Theater); What Became of Us, The Far Country, Paris (Atlantic Theater Company); At the Wedding (Lincoln Center); Snow in Midsummer (Classic Stage); This Land Was Made (Vineyard Theater); Our Dear Dead Drug Lord (Second Stage & WP); Pumpgirl (Irish Rep); Suicide Forest (Ma-Yi); Behind the Sheet (Ensemble Studio); On That Day in Amsterdam (59 E59).
Lee Nishri-Howitt
Voice Coach
Lee Nishri-Howitt
Lee Nishri-Howitt (he/him) The Huntington: Leopoldstadt, The Band’s Visit, Prayer for the French Republic, The Lehman Trilogy, Romeo and Juliet, The Art of Burning. Regional: Once, Allegiance (SpeakEasy Stage); The Book of Will, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (Lyric Stage); Oliver!, Hair, Trayf (New Rep); Little Women, James and the Giant Peach (Wheelock Family Theatre); All is Calm (Greater Boston Stage Company).
Kevin Schlagle
Production Stage Manager
Kevin Schlagle
Kevin Schlagle is the Resident Producer and has worked on over 40 productions in 14 seasons with The Huntington, many times as a stage manager, including Prayer for the French Republic, Joy and Pandemic, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, Witch, The Purists, Yerma, Merrily We Roll Along, Ripcord, Topdog/Underdog, Sunday in the Park with George, Milk Like Sugar, A Confederacy of Dunces, A Little Night Music, Smart People, Our Town, and Prelude to a Kiss.
Pat-rice Rooney
Stage Manager
Pat-rice Rooney
Pat-rice Rooney (she/her) The Huntington: Toni Stone, Prayer for the French Republic. Regional: Ain’t No Mo’ (SpeakEasy Stage / Front Porch Arts Collective); Soft Star (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre); The Hombres, Stew, Grand Horizons (Gloucester Stage Company); The Drowsy Chaperone, The Book of Will, Lyric Back Stage (Lyric Stage); As You Like It (Actors’ Shakespeare Project); Matilda (Wheelock Family Theatre); Torch Song, Rocky Horror Show (Moonbox Productions).
Misha Shields
Intimacy and Movement Coach
Misha Shields
Misha Shields The Huntington: The Lehman Trilogy, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, Witch, Yerma, Ripcord, A Doll’s House, Milk Like Sugar, I Was Most Alive With You. Off Broadway: Baghdaddy (Chita Rivera Award nominee for Best Choreography, St. Luke’s Theatre); Wonderland (Atlantic Theater Company); Who’s Your Baghdaddy? Or How I Started The Iraq War (The Actor’s Temple); The Orion Experience (XL Nightclub); also, Signature Theatre, Astoria Performing Arts Center, Dixon Place, Julia Miles Theater, The Zipper Factory, The St. Bart’s Players.
Rosalind Bevan
Line Producer
Rosalind Bevan
Rosalind Bevan The Huntington: Joy & Pandemic, Clyde’s, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Common Ground Revisited, Our Daughters, Like Pillars, The Bluest Eye, (Line Producer); Witch (Assistant Director); Dream Boston audio plays: Echoes and The 54th in ‘22 (Director).
Taylor Williams, CSA
Casting
Taylor Williams, CSA
Taylor Williams, CSA Broadway:The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window (BAM); POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive; Slave Play (Broadway remount and original, CTG, NYTW); Is This a Room and Dana H, What the Constitution Means to Me (NYTW, Barrow Street, Broadway, National Tour).
Katie Bickford
Musical Support Consultant
Katie Bickford
Katie Bickford Credits: Spring Awakening (Brandeis University); Sweeney Todd, Legally Blonde, The Music Man (Andover High School); Children of Eden (Voices of Hope); The Colored Museum (Umbrella Stage Company). Education: BM in Music Education (Ithaca College), MM in Music Education, with Autism Concentration (Boston Conservatory at Berklee College of Music).
ADDITIONAL STAFF FOR PRAYER FOR THE FRENCH REPUBLIC
Voice Coach……………………Lee Nishri-Howitt
Music Coach………………………..Katie Bickford
Intimacy and Movement Coach…………………… Misha Shields
Production Assistants……………….Ross Gray, Hannah Marks
Carpenters…………………………Hannah Ashe, Joe Ellard, Mitchell Gavin, Nick Robinette, Steven Asaro, Allie Zalewski, Frida Swallow
Deck Run Crew……………………..Charlie Berry
Scenic Artist…………………..Guthrie Morgan
Props Artisan…………………..Steven Doucette
Prop Artisan…………………………..Ian Thorsell
Stitcher……………..Stephanie “Sam” Martin
Wardrobe Run……………………..Jennie Fuchs
Wardrobe Swing……….Katherine Lawrence
Wig Run………………………………..Lia Maynard
Wig Run Swing…………………….Ellie DeLucia
Season Electrician…………Violet Gayzagian, Kevin Barnett, Dillion Brooks, Dean Covert, Jess Elliott, Sam Shotz, Ollie Rizzo, Heather Villani, Cindy Wade
Follow Spot Operator……….. Jemma Kepner
Audio Run (A2)…………………Lexie Lankiewicz
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