A BENEFIT READING FOR BEDLAM

A Benefit Reading Event for:

BEDLAM

FALL RIVER FISHING

written by ZUZANNA SZADKOWSKI & DEBORAH KNOX

SEPTEMBER 27th @7:00pm EST

LIVE IN-PERSON READING at the

CONNELLY THEATER

220 East 4th St., NY, NY 10009

Attend IN PERSON
or STREAM LIVE via ZOOM

SUGGESTED DONATION: $50

Synopsis:

On August 4th, 1892 in Fall River, Massachusetts, Andrew Borden, a surly banker and a boomer of a dad was hatcheted to death in the face while napping on the sitting room sofa. Upstairs, his second wife, the much-maligned hot/bad stepmom Abby, is already slumped face-down dead in the guest room having taken seventeen blows to the back of her head. Somewhere in the house Lizzie, the unmarried, spoiled, self-obsessed and limitlessly deserving daughter, was heard ominously laughing. Or at least that’s what Bridget, the really good maid with big eyes who apologizes too much, told police before she fled. Lizzie was acquitted, trial-of-the-century style. Her infamy outlives her. Her enduring mystery is the stuff of legends and nursery rhymes and plays like this one. 

Fall River Fishing is a new Lizzie Borden story all its own, a darkly absurd comedy about what happened that day Lizzie did or didn’t murder her parents. It’s a story about broken Hollywood dreams, unrequited love, self-loathing, generosity, vanity and the mean things that step-moms say. Two brand new female playwrights join forces in this contemporary meditation on/war against a disappointing life. If we’re all made of our missed opportunities, this play is about laughing at how that feels. Also, if you like Ibsen’s A Doll’s House there’s some of that too.  

Part of our NEW WRITING at BEDLAM Fall series.

MEET THE CAST:

Zachary Fine headshot

ZACHARY FINE

Zachary Fine is an actor, playwright, director and teacher. Broadway credits include China Dollwith Al Pacino. Off-Broadway credits include The Acting Company, The Mint Theater, Pearl, Red Bull, Fiasco, Theater For A New Audience, New York Classical Theater. Regionally Guthrie, Folger (two-time Helen Hayes nominee), Playmakers, and many more. Director; Spanish language world premiere of El Bien Del Pais (Our Country’s Good) at Teatro Helenico, Mexico City; Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival; Key West Theater; Thin Air Shakespeare Festival, Tony nominee Bryce Pinkham’s Between The Moon and Me at Birdland and Playmakers Repertory Company. TV/Film; “Person of Interest,” “BlackBox” (recurring), “One Life to Live.” Writing his play Bewilderness was produced regionally at Playmakers Rep and has been in development with many theaters. His other writing has been supported by the Lark, EAT Festival’s One Man Talking, Space on Ryder Farm, IRT, The Acting Company, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival and Playmakers Rep. Apprenticed with Christopher Bayes and trained at Ecole du Phillipe Gaulier, The Circus Center in San Francisco, Spymonkey w/Aitor Basauri and received an MFA from the University of Tennessee and B.A. (Summa Cum Laude) Oberlin College. He teaches clown and games at NYU and holds workshops around the world.
susannah hoffman

SUSANNAH HOFFMAN

Susannah Hoffman began her career as a daffodil in an elementary school play and has been hooked on acting ever since. She studied at the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University and moved to New York City after receiving her MFA. She is currently based in Brooklyn.

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deborah knox

Deb Knox is thrilled to be back in NYC and back at Bedlam. W/ Bedlam: Fall River Fishing virtual workshop over COVID; Peter Pan. Other theatre: Provok’d Wife (A.R.T) & 1:23 (Cincinnati Playhouse)–both dir. Mark Wing-Davey; Deathvariations (59E59/Aquila); Spill the Wine (TBG/NYC); Amerika (Jeune Lune/A.R.T.); Spring Awakening (Moscow); Slasher (Zephyr/LA); Crimes of the Heart (Deb Aquila/LA); Master Builder (Wallace Shawn & Andre Gregory). TV/Film: Brothers & Sisters & In Plain Sight /The Rage:Carrie II; Marvel’s The Consultant (w/ Clark Gregg). B.A. from Dartmouth College; M.F.A. from A.R.T. Institute at Harvard. 

Rannells Headshot 2

andrew rannells

Rannells is best known for his work on Broadway, most notably for originating the role of ‘Elder Price’ in The Book of Mormon, for which he  received a Grammy Award and was nominated for both a Tony and Drama Desk Award. Rannells has also starred on Broadway in Hamilton, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Jersey Boys, Hairspray and most recently, The Boys in the Band. Rannells earned his second Tony nomination for his role in Falsettos in 2017. On television he can be seen on the Showtime comedy “Black Monday.” Rannells also played ‘Elijah’ in the HBO series “Girls.” Other television credits include “The Romanoffs,” “Will and Grace,” “The Knick” and “The New Normal.” His film work includes The Prom, The Boys in the Band, The Intern and A Simple Favor. His memoir, Too Much Is Not Enough, was published in 2019.

Zuzanna Szakowski headshot

ZUZANNA SZADKOWSKI

Zuzanna Szadkowski played Dorota in the CW’s “Gossip Girl.” She can be seen in HBO’s upcoming “The Gilded Age.” Other television credits include “Modern Love,” “Bull,” “Search Party,” “The Knick,” “The Good Wife,” “Elementary,” “Girls,” “Guiding Light” and “The Sopranos.” Film credits include “Worth,” “Minyan,” and “Loserville.” Theatre credits include Uncle Romeo Vanya Juliet (WSJ Performance of the Year 2018), The Crucible and Peter Pan with Bedlam, queens at LCT3, The Comedy of Errors as part of The Public Theater’s Mobile Shakespeare Unit, King Philip’s Head… with Clubbed Thumb, Love, Loss and What I Wore on Off-Broadway, The 39 Steps at ATL, and The Merry Wives of Windsor at Two River Theater.

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BEDLAM

Committed to the immediacy of the relationship between the actor and the audience, Bedlam creates works of theatre that reinvigorate traditional forms in a flexible, raw space, collapsing aesthetic distance and bringing its viewers into direct contact with the dangers and delicacies of life. In this new, fresh, active environment storytelling becomes paramount and the result is a kinetic experience of shared empathy.