THIS LAND WAS MADE
A play by TORI SAMPSON
Directed by TAYLOR REYNOLDS
May 18 - June 25
Peace. Love. Liberation. History and imagination collide with vibrant humor and echo into our present moment in this stirring new play.
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May 18 - June 25
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SYNOPSIS
Oakland in 1967 is a powder keg of social activism ready to boil over into radical action. For the patrons of Miss Trish’s bar, it’s all just talking points — until the explosive and seductive force of the revolution walks through the door. History and imagination collide with vibrant humor and echo into our present moment in this stirring new play from Tori Sampson (NYT Critic’s Pick If Pretty Hurts, Ugly Must Be A Muhfucka) and directed by LPTW Lucille Lortel Award and 2023 Obie Award winner Taylor Reynolds (Tambo and Bones).
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CAST
ANTOINETTE CROWE-LEGACY
Sassy
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LELAND FOWLER
Drew
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MATTHEW GRIFFIN
Troy
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SEAN PATRICK HIGGINS
Officer Heanes
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YASHA JACKSON
Gail
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EZRA KNIGHT
Mr. Far
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JULIAN ELIJAH MARTINEZ
Huey
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CURTIS MORLAYE
Gene
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OLIVER PALMER
Officer Frey
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LIBYA V. PUGH
Miss Trish
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ANTOINETTE CROWE-LEGACY
Sassy
ANTOINETTE CROWE-LEGACY (Sassy) stars opposite Forest Whitaker in the EPIX series “Godfather of Harlem,” the third season of which is currently streaming on MGM+. Antoinette can also be seen opposite Anne Hathaway and Jared Leto in the WeWork limited series “WeCrashashed” for Apple TV+. Before that, she made her Broadway debut in the highly-acclaimed Slave Play at the August Wilson Theater, which also completed a limited run of the show in Los Angeles at the Mark Taper Forum. Antoinette can also be seen in Rebecca Hall’s feature Passing opposite Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga. The film made a near-record breaking sale to Netflix for over $16M at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Among Antoinette’s many theater credits, she played leading roles in both Tori Sampson’s play If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhfucka, which Leah Gardiner directed at Playwrights Horizons, as well as in Aziza Barnes’s play BLKS, directed by Robert O’Hara for MCC Theater. Antoinette graduated from Yale’s prestigious MFA Acting Program, where she received the 2018 Carol Finch Dye Award. Past winners include Meryl Streep and Frances McDormand. Antoinette Crowe-Legacy is based in New York.
LELAND FOWLER
Drew
LELAND FOWLER (Drew) Off-Broadway: Plays for the Plague Year, Henry V, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Public); one in two (The New Group); Novenas for a Lost Hospital (Rattlestick); If Pretty Hurts, Ugly Must Be a Muhfucka (Playwrights Horizons); Measure for Measure (TFANA). Regional: Williamstown Theatre Festival, Dorset Theatre Festival, St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, Westport Country Playhouse, McCarter Theatre Center, Yale Rep, Chautauqua Theatre Company, Alliance Theatre. TV: “City on a Hill.” Education: BA, Morehouse College; MFA, Yale School of Drama.
MATTHEW GRIFFIN
Troy
MATTHEW GRIFFIN (Troy) is thrilled to be a member of this incredible company and show. Credits include— Broadway: The Collaboration (u/s Jean-Michel Basquiat), Tina — The Tina Turner Musical (OBC), Off-Broadway: The New Yorkers at City Center, Born For This (Cutler Majestic), Cruel Intentions the Musical, Much Ado About Nothing, and others, TV Credits: “Inventing Anna” (Netflix, Co-Star), “Godfather of Harlem” (EPIX, Co-Star), Education: Circle in the Square Theater School. All Glory to God. Thankful for my family and friends, KMR Talent, Henry Russell Bergstein and Destiny Lily, and you.
SEAN PATRICK HIGGINS
Officer Heanes
SEAN PATRICK HIGGINS (Officer Heanes) Sean is returning to the Vineyard Theatre after the workshop production of This Land Was Made to bring the play fully to life. Off Broadway: Sleep No More (PunchDrunk NYC), A Clockwork Orange (New World Stages), Awful Event! (BAC). Regional: D’Artagnan in The Three Musketeers (Pennsylvania Shakespeare), Robin Hood in Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood (New Theatre), Macbeth in Macbeth (STL Rebel & Misfits) and 14 plays from Shakespeare’s cannon. TV/Film: “The Blacklist,” “Hyacinth,” “And Tomorrow The Entire World,” “Early Light,” “Dirty,” “White Flags,” “Small Dancing Particles,” among others. Certificate from Oxford (BADA). BFA, University of Wyoming. MFA, Yale School of Drama.
YASHA JACKSON
Gail
YASHA JACKSON (Gail) TV: “The Flight Attendant” (HBO Max, SAG Ensemble Award), “Love Life” (HBO Max), “Black Mirror” (Netflix), “Ray Donovan” (Showtime), “Run the World” (Starz), “Blue Bloods” (CBS), “Manifest” (Netflix) “The Get Down” (Netflix), “The Bold Type” (Freeform), “Helpsters” (Apple+), “Nurse Jackie” (Showtime) and “Law & Order: SVU” (NBC). Film: Space Cadet (upcoming), The Hating Game (BCDF Films/Hulu), Clifford the Big Red Dog (Paramount Pictures), A Killer Among Us, Either Side of Midnight, Little Boxes.
EZRA KNIGHT
Mr. Far
EZRA KNIGHT (Mr. Far) Vineyard debut. Broadway: Mean Girls, Pretty Woman (OBC) Cymbeline. Off-Broadway: Coal Country; Public Theatre/Audible Theatre (original cast), Toni Stone; Roundabout Theatre (original cast), Merchant of Venice; Tfana, Oroonoko; Tfana, Julius Caesar; Public Theatre. Regional: Ivo Van Hove’s A View From The Bridge; Goodman Threatre, Playing the Assassin; Penguin Rep/Theatreworks Hartford/DTC, Othello; The Acting Company. TV: “East New York,” “The Equalizer,” “Found,” “Ordinary Joe,” “Power Book3- Raising Kanan,” “Billions,” “Daredevil (season 3),” “The Blacklist,” “Law & Order.” Film: The Tender Bar, Lost Cat Corona, The Abandoned, Blood Sand & Gold, Symposium (Short Film).
JULIAN ELIJAH MARTINEZ
Huey
JULIAN ELIJAH MARTINEZ (Huey) Vineyard Debut. Broadway: Network. Off-Broadway: Sanctuary City (New York Theater Workshop); Anatomy of A Suicide (Atlantic Theater Company) Mud (Boundless Theater Company); Alligator (New Georges). Regional: King Lear (Shakespeare Theater Company); Father Comes Home From The Wars Part 1, 2, 3 (co-production Yale Rep and A.C.T); and 9 Circles (Forum Theatre, Helen Hayes nomination). TV: “Wu-tang: An American Saga;” “Law and Order: SVU;” “That Damn Michael Che Show;” “Prodigal Son;” and “Elementary.” Other: Company member of The Acting Company, co-founder of the Encompass Collective, Board member of Developing Artist. Training: MFA David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. julianelijahmartinez.com
CURTIS MORLAYE
Gene
CURT MORLAYE (Gene) recently completed production on the independent film Rob Peace, directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor. He can be seen in David Simon’s HBO limited series “We Own This City,” as well as in Season 3 of the Apple TV+ series “Dickinson” and the Showtime series “City On A Hill.” Recent theatre credits include Lockdown (Rattlestick Theater) and Wrong River (Flint Repertory Theatre).
OLIVER PALMER
Officer Frey
OLIVER PALMER (Officer Frey) feels incredibly blessed to be making his off-Broadway debut at the Vineyard Theatre. Regional: American Buffalo (Dorset Theater Festival), Two Gentlemen of Verona (Shakespeare in the Square). Film/TV: “FBI,” “Blue Bloods” (CBS), “Orange is the New Black,” “Daredevil” (Netflix). B.F.A. NYU Tisch Stella Adler/ Experimental Theatre Wing. Originally from Owensboro, Kentucky, Oliver Palmer is an award winning screenwriter dedicated to sharing southern stories. To Elizabeth: my heart, always. More at www.olivercpalmer.com
LIBYA V. PUGH
Miss Trish
LIBYA V. PUGH (Miss Trish) Theatrical credits include: Dot (Vineyard Theatre), Tami in How To Catch Creation (Geva Theatre), Nat in Roan at the Gates (Alley Theatre); Naomi in In the Book Of (Florida Studio Theatre); Francine/Lena in Clybourne Park (Alley Theatre); Valdemar/Others in The Complete Fictional Utterly True Final Strange Tale Of Edgar Allen Poe (Baltimore Center Stage). Film/Television: FBI, Kindergarten Teacher, Platinum Wigs, Love or Money (Pilot), One Life To Live, Law & Order: SVU, Dark Seed, Jack’s Big Music Show, Under the City, Positively, and Judy/Judy. Education at the University of Illinois-UC (MFA) and University of Louisiana (BFA).
Creative Team
TORI SAMPSON
Playwright
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TAYLOR REYNOLDS
Director
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TORI SAMPSON
Playwright
TORI SAMPSON is a native of Boston. By introducing her daughter to the genius that was Carroll O’Connor, Tori’s mother opened her eyes to the art and power of comedy for “goodness sake”. And it was on and poppin’ from there. Today, Tori focuses her imagination on creating comedies for the stage and screen. Her plays include This Land Was Made (Vineyard Theatre, 2023) If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must be a Muhfucka (Playwrights Horizons, 2019) and Cadillac Crew (Yale Repertory Theater, 2019).
Her plays have been developed at Great Plains Theatre Conference, Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s The Ground Floor residency program, Victory Garden’s IGNITION Festival of New Plays, Playwrights Foundation, Ubuntu Festival and Vineyard Theater. Tori is a 2017–18 Playwright’s Center Jerome Fellow and a 2018-19 Mcknight Fellow. Two of her plays appeared on the 2017 Kilroys List. Her awards and honors include the 2016 Relentless Award, Honorable Mention; the 2016 Paula Vogel Award in Playwriting from The Kennedy Center; the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award, Second Place; the Alliance Theater’s 2017 Kendeda Prize, Finalist; the 2018 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Finalist. Tori is currently working on commissions from Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, and Atlantic Theater Company. She holds a BS in sociology from Ball State University and an MFA in playwriting from Yale School of Drama.
Tori is currently a writer on “His & Hers” at Netflix. Other T.V. credits include “Citadel” at Amazon, “Three Women” at Showtime, “Hunters” at Amazon, and an episode for the Amazon anthology “Solos.” On the development front, she is currently co-creating an adaptation of the novel The Secret Lives of Church Ladies for HBO Max and an original animated series for Bad Robot. Prior to that she developed a drama with Anonymous Content and Drake, and wrote a comedy for HBO with Issa Rae producing. On the feature side, Tori wrote the movie 61 for Disney+ that tells the true story of Chris Paul.
TAYLOR REYNOLDS
Director
TAYLOR REYNOLDS is an OBIE-award winning director based in New York, originally from Chicago. Selected directing credits: Clyde’s (Berkeley Rep/Huntington Theatre), La Race (Page 73/Working Theater), Tambo & Bones (Playwrights Horizons/CTG), Man Cave (Page 73), The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, New York Times Critic’s Pick), Richard & Jane & Dick & Sally (Baltimore Center Stage/Playwrights Realm), Plano (Clubbed Thumb, Drama Desk nomination for Best Director), Songs About Trains (Radical Evolution), and Think Before You Holla (creator/deviser). Taylor has worked as a director, assistant, and collaborator with companies including Keen Company, Ojai Playwrights Conference, MCC, New Georges, MTC, Signature Theatre Company, and The 24 Hour Plays. She is the 2021 LPTW Lucille Lortel Award recipient, a New Georges Affiliated Artist, 2017-2018 Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellow, and Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab alum.
DESIGN TEAM
WILSON CHIN
Set Designer
Broadway: Cost of Living, Pass Over (Drama Desk and Lortel Award nominations), Next Fall. Off-Broadway: A Bright New Boise (Signature Theatre), the bandaged place (Roundabout Underground), The Thanksgiving Play (Playwrights Horizons), Space Dogs (MCC, Lortel Award nomination), Teenage Dick (Ma-Yi/Public), Sakina’s Restaurant (Audible). Opera: Turandot (Washington National Opera), Lucia di Lammermoor (Lyric Opera of Chicago), Eine Florentinische Tragödie/Gianni Schicchi (Canadian Opera, Dora Award winner). Film/television: Pass Over (dir. Spike Lee), “Game Theory with Bomani Jones” (HBO), “Blindspot” (NBC). Eastern Region Board member of Local USA 829. Instagram: @wilsonchindesign
DOMINIQUE FAWN HILL
Co-Costume Design
Broadway: Fat Ham. Regional: Hedwig and The Angry Inch, Rent (Portland Center Stage); Dark Girl Chronicles: CHRONICLE X (The Shed); 125th & FREEdom (National Black Theatre); Fat Ham (The Public Theater & The National Black Theatre); Tambo & Bones (Playwrights Horizons & CTG); Where the Mountain Meets the Sea (MTC). Awards and Nominations: Lucille Lortel Award Nominee, Obie Award, and the USITT/USA Prague Quadrennial Best Costume Design Award. Website: dominiquefhill.com
DESHON ELEM
Co-Costume Design
is an Afrofuturist/Afrosurrealist artist and designer from The Bronx, by way of Harlem. Her design career has been centered around working on shows that highlight and uplift Black stories and voices. They are excited to be collaborating with Dominique Fawn Hill and the Vineyard on this meaningful piece of theater art.
ADAM HONORÉ
Lighting Design
Broadway: Ain't No Mo', Chicken and Biscuits. Select Off-Broadway: A Man of No Importance (Classic Stage), Patience (Second Stage), Ain't No Mo' (The Public), Carmen Jones (Classic Stage). Select Regional: Trading Places (Alliance Theatre), The Bluest Eye (Huntington Theater Co), The Amen Corner (Shakespeare Theatre Co). Drama Desk, Elliot Norton, Henry Hewes, and Helen Hayes Award Nominee; AUDELCO Award recipient. @itsadamhonore
FAN ZHANG
Sound Design
Off-Broadway: The Far Country (Atlantic); At the Wedding( Lincoln Center); Snow in Midsummer(Classic Stage); Paris (Atlantic), Our Dear Dead Drug Lord (Second Stage & WP), Pumpgirl (Irish Rep), Suicide Forest (Ma-Yi), Molly Sweeney(Theatre Row), Behind the Sheet (Ensemble Studio), The Trail of the Catonsville Nine (Transport Group),On That Day in Amsterdam( 59 E59); Regional: Old Globe, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Berkeley Rep, Arena Stage, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Milwaukee Rep, Capital Rep, Artists Repertory Theatre, Long Wharf, Pittsburgh City Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Studio Theatre D.C., Yale Rep, Two River Theater, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Cincinnati Playhouse, Huntington Theater, and more. Head of the sound program at Purdue University. Education: MFA, Yale School of Drama. www.fanzhangsound.com
NIKIYA MATHIS
Hair & Wig Design
ActTRESSES Hair Consulting was created by stylist/actress Nikiya Mathis to specialize in natural hair styling for actors of color in film, TV and theater. Designs have appeared in productions at The Public Theatre, Signature Theatre, MCC, Soho Rep, Ars Nova, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Classical Theater of Harlem, National Black Theater, Hartford Stage, Huntington Theatre, Longwharf Theatre, Berkshire Theatre and Theatre Works, and on shows such as Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, She's Gotta Have It, Charmed. @ourblacktresses
ADESOLA OSAKALUMI
Movement Director
Good Grief (Vineyard), Skeleton Crew (Broadway MTC), Drinking in America (Audible), Cullud Wattah, Coal Country, Othello (Public Theater), runboyrun, Eyewitness Blues (NYTW), Jam on the Groove (Minetta Lane) and the film School of Rock. As an Actor: Skeleton Crew, Fela!, Equus (Broadway), runboyrun (NYTW), Syncing Ink (Flea/Alley Theater) and the films Red Pill, IBRAHIM, Enchanted, Across the Universe, and Sex and the City 2. TV: "Endgame", “Ice” , Blue Bloods. Awards: Bessie Award Recipient, Drama Desk & Antonyo Award Nominee. I give thanks to my Family for their constant support and love.
ALEXANDER WYLIE
Properties Supervisor
Broadway: Fat Ham, Into the Woods, Broadway Backwards 2023 - 2019. Off-Broadway: Richard III, Merry Wives (Shakespeare in the Park), Plays for the Plague Year, The Vagrant Trilogy, Ain’t No Mo’ (The Public), Parade (New York City Center), Black Odyssey, A Man of No Importance (Classic Stage Company), Amahl and the Night Visitors (Onsite Opera), I’m Revolting (The Atlantic),Twilight: Los Angeles 1992 (Signature Theatre), ONCE UPON A (korean) TIME, The Chinese Lady (Ma-Yi). Film: TROY. MFA: UNC School of the Arts. alexanderwylie.com
THE PRESS ROOM
Press Represenative
HENRY RUSSELL BERGSTEIN, CSA
Co-Casting Director
Most recently VP of casting at HBO Max. Theatre: Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway specializing in new American plays and musicals. Over 20 productions at Vineyard Theatre and numerous productions at Ars Nova, LCT3, Signature, Rattlestick and PS 122. Emmy nominated for HBO’s “Succession,” Netflix’s “Inventing Anna” Other television: “The Other Two,” “Mozart in the Jungle,” “Black Mirror,” “Ramy”(pilot). Film: Mass (Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award), Black Bear, The Kindergarten Teacher, Saturday Church, It Felt Like Love, Grandma, The Week Of, Love After Love and Vampires Vs. The Bronx. Podcasts: “Homecoming” and “Anthem: Homunculus.”
THE TELSEY OFFICE/DESTINY LILLY, CSA
Co-Casting Director
With offices in both New York and Los Angeles, The Telsey Office casts for theatre, film, television and commercials. The Telsey Office is dedicated to creating safe, equitable, and anti-racist spaces through collaboration, artistry, heart, accountability and advocacy.
ANNE McPHERSON
Production Stage Manager
Vineyard debut! Some Broadway: My Fair Lady, Once on this Island, The Iceman Cometh, M. Butterfly, Holiday Inn, Chicago, The King and I, Wicked, Les Misérables, Pippin, Motown, Mary Poppins, The Phantom of the Opera, The Coast of Utopia, Doubt, Absurd Person Singular. Some Off-Broadway: Suffs, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, The Rolling Stone, Hurricane Diane, Pacific Overtures, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Also: several National Tours, “This American Life: The Radio Drama Episode,” and lots of fun workshops and events. Head of Stage Management at Mason Gross School of the Arts (Rutgers University).
CAROLINA ARBOLEDA
Assistant Stage Manager
Broadway: A STRANGE LOOP, SLAVE PLAY. Off-Broadway: MAN CAVE (Page 73), WHAT TO SEND UP WHEN IT GOES DOWN (The Movement Theatre Company, BAM, Playwrights Horizon), NOVENAS FOR A LOST HOSPITAL (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater.) Regional: FANDANGO FOR BUTTERFLIES (AND COYOTES) (En Garde Arts / La Jolla Playhouse), A CHRISTMAS CAROL (The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis), LA EGOISTA (Actors Theatre of Louisville.) Virtual: AMERICAN DREAMS (The Working Theater) International: Festival de Teatro Alternativo, Festival de Mujeres En Escena Por la Paz. She is delighted to be collaborating with the Vineyard Theatre
ADAM COY
Assistant Director
is a director, curator of vibes and actor from San Antonio. Off-Broadway assisting Tambo & Bones, Selling Kabul, Wish You Were Here (Playwrights Horizons), The Coast Starlight (LCT), Mojada (The Public). Directing, Holes in the Shape of my Father (Under the Radar), What Else is True?, Crave, Zabelle (E&S). Adam is a member of Roundabout Directors Group, a TCG Rising Leader of Color and the ’21-22 Playwrights Horizons directing fellow. He is currently the Associate Artistic Director of Egg & Spoon Theatre Collective and serves on The Fled’s leadership circle. Education: Syracuse University, BFA Acting.
LAUREN KIELE DeLEON
Intimacy Director
is an American-Uruguayan intimacy professional from Miami, FL. She works at IDC as the Director of Community Education & Engagement. Selected credits include, Off Broadway: Eva Luna & La Conducta de la Via (Repertorio Espanol), Bloom Bloom Pow (Gural Theatre ART/NY). Regional: Hair & The Mountaintop (Weston Playhouse), Sleeper (BRIC), Blooms & SMART (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Queen of Basel (Theatreworks Hartford). TV: Bottoms Up (Pilot Episode, dir. Brandon Dermer). She holds a Master’s in Performance Studies from NYU, a BA in Directing from SUNY Purchase, and is intimacy trained by IDC. www.laurenkdeleon.com
PODCAST
Listen to Tori Sampson and Whitney White discuss their collaboration with The Vineyard and each other on the developmental lab production of THIS LAND WAS MADE.