A reading of “church & state” to benefit
SANDY HOOK PROMISE ~ SAFER COUNTRY ~ BRADY UNITED
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June 7, 2022
CAST
Judy Jerome (Sara Whitmore)
Judy is a lifetime member of The Actors Studio. Favorite stage roles include Lisa in Collected Stories, Flora in 27 Wagons Full of Cotton, and Sara Whitmore in Church & State. She just wrapped the indie film Four Seasons. Proud member of SAG/AFTRA and Actor’s Equity.
Keira Naughton(Alex Klein)
Broadway: The Rivals (LTC), Dance of Death, Three Sisters, All My Sons (Roundabout). Off Broadway: These Paper Bullets, The Jammer (Atlantic Theater Co.), Hunting and Gathering, Lucy andTesla’s Letters, Indoor/Outdoor, The American Clock. Regional: Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration's Company, Old Globe, McCarter, Geffen Playhouse, Arena Stage among others. TV: The Exorcist on Fox, 3 Lbs, Body of Proof, Law & Order SVU, Sex and the City, All My Children. Film: Blair Witch 2, Cradle Will Rock. Keira has directed plays at Berkshire Theater Group, Chester Theater, 92nd St. Y Lyrics and Lyricists. She is a singer and songwriter in the band The Petersons. MFA from NYU.
Andy Talen (Tom/Marshall/News Anchor)
New York: Sleep No More, Blue Man Group, Endlings (NYTW), Church & State (New World Stages), The Tempest, Iphigenia 2.0 (CSC), The Fallen (Abington Theatre), The Two Reds (CTH), Regional: Madison Repertory Theatre, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Shakespeare & Company: Love’s Labor’s Lost, Mother Courage, Richard III, Winters’ Tale, Julius Caesar. Television: Alma’s Way (PBS), The Guilded Age (HBO), A Crime To Remember. Video Game Characters: Red Dead Redemption II, Grand Theft Auto V. MFA Columbia University. Instagram: @andysgottalen
Emily Kratter (Stage Directions/Reporter)
Emily has performed and developed new works at Williamstown Theater Festival, The New Group, Playwrights Horizons, New Dramatists, Portland Stage, Labyrinth Theater Company, New Georges, The Playwright's Realm, The Lark, TerraNOVA Collective, Axis Theater Company, and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park for the world premiere of Deborah Zoe Laufer's ROOTED earlier this year. Emily recently starred opposite Karen Allen and William Sadler in the independent film, A Stage of Twilight, expected to be released in 2023. Other film/tv appearances include Unforgettable (CBS), Half Brother, and the newly released Life After You. www.emilykratter.com, IG: @emkratter
CREATIVE TEAM
Jason Odell Williams - Playwright / “Sen. Charles Whitmore”
Jason has been nominated for an Emmy Award, an Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best New Play, and an L.A. Ovation Award for Best Original Play. His plays Church & State and Handle with Care were both produced Off-Broadway, are published by DPS, have won a Henry Award and a Theatre Bay Area Award for Best Play respectively, and have collectively been produced over 100 times across the country. His work has been named a Semi-Finalist for the Thomas Wolfe Playwriting Competition and twice been named a Semi-Finalist for the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Festival. On television, Jason’s work as a writer and producer has been seen on National Geographic, the History Channel, Discovery, and Netflix. Jason is currently writing a new musical with his wife and long-time collaborator, Charlotte Cohn.
Charlotte Cohn - Producer / Director
Charlotte was born in Denmark and raised in Israel where she served in the Israeli Army as a commanding officer. She was the lead producer of The NY Times critics’ pick Handle With Care and the award winning Church & State, both written by her husband, Jason Odell Williams. Directing highlights include Best Friends at JAZZ at Lincoln Center and Church & State at Berkshire Theatre Group. Acting highlights include La Boheme and Coram Boy on Broadway. Charlotte is an Ovation Award Winner and was nominated for the Bay Area Critics’ Circle Award for her performance as ‘Hallelujah Lil’ in Happy End at A.C.T. She is currently writing a musical with her husband about her father’s escape from Denmark to Sweden during WWII.
PANELISTS
Michael Alexander Blake, Former New York State Representative
Michael Alexander Blake served in the Obama-Biden administration as the White House Associate Director of Public Engagement and Deputy Associate Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs coordinating outreach to the African American, Minority and Women Business Enterprises and state and county elected official communities. Blake also served as a three term Assembly Member in the New York State Assembly representing the 79th District in The Bronx, New York from 2014 to 2020, and as a Vice Chair at Large of the Democratic National Committee from 2017 to 2021.
Paul Friedman, Safer Country
Paul Friedman is the founder and executive director of Safer Country, a gun violence prevention non-profit focused on keeping guns out of unsafe hands. He is inspired by the memory of his great aunt, Elizabeth Shulkin, who was shot and killed at her hotel on a vacation in Florida on December 1, 1981. Visit https://safercountry.org/ for more information.
Josh Solomon, The Brady Campaign
Josh Solomon is one of the founders and current principal of the Business of Sports School. He serves on the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence national board and New York regional leadership council. As he tells it, "I got involved in the gun safety movement because I was tired of reading and hearing about the gun lobby manipulating the facts to sell more guns, even though public opinion was firmly behind reasonable limits that would increase safety, without limiting access." Visit https://www.bradyunited.org/ for more information.
