Saint Joan
in-the-round on the Tabor Stage
April 4-19
We are bringing G. Bernard Shaw’s masterwork of spiritual, political, and human inquiry, Saint Joan, to the Tabor Stage April 4-19.
Directed by Sarah Hankins and adapted by Stephanie Shine, Saint Joan is generously sponsored by Pat and Ernest Kelly.
Featuring the return of Erin Amlicke (Twelfth Night, The Importance of Being Earnest) in the title role accompanied by Lauren Gunn and a total ensemble of eight, the production transforms the Tabor Stage into a four-sided gallery for audiences in TSC’s inaugural in-the-round seating configuration.
Saint Joan chronicles the heroism of French army leader Joan of Arc, who, despite leading men to victory over the English, was sold to those she defeated to be burned at the stake in 1431 and was later convicted of heresy for professing to speak directly to God. Inspired by France’s 1456 overturning of that verdict, and Joan’s eventual canonization in 1920, Shaw creates an innovative Epilogue that brings the story into our daily lives.
Shaw wrote this play in 1923 in response to Joan’s 1920 canonization. He was entertaining his present-day, as well as future, generations with a deeply creative warning of what society historically does to “genius” when it appears in people who offer us innovation – shaking the foundations of established and controlling institutions.
Joan was a teenager, and as a woman the institutions surrounding her provided no place for her on the battlefield. She was a peasant girl who could neither read nor write. Yet, she heard the voices of three specific saints, and they guided her.
The Tabor Stage is reconfigured into a two-story gallery/courthouse that will afford audiences an intimate observation of ongoing evidence in the trial, along with Joan’s chorus. With literal light from above and below a spiritual platform of life and death, and with an original soundscape of the divine and the brutal, Joan finds herself transcending her brief time on Earth in a surprising Epilogue that is as provocative as we have come to expect from Shaw in his canon of great wit.
In addition to Amlicke, the cast features newcomers Austin Hannah (Robert de Baudricourt, Charles VII, The Inquisitor) and Chad Marriott (Bertrand de Poulengey, Archbishop, Brother Martin Ladvenu), as well as TSC veterans Lauren Gunn (La Hire, Warwick, Courcelles, Executioner), Marquis Dijon Archuleta (Dunois, D’Estivet), Lorraine Cotten (Bluebeard, Steward, Chaplain), Sarah Sakaan (Monseigneur de la Trémouille, Cauchon, Executioner), and recent TSC Apprentice Andrew Christenson (the Gentleman).
The design team includes Jeremy Allen Fisher (Lighting), Roger Hanna (Scenic), Joe Johnson (Sound/Music), Allison Brice (Costumes), and Melanie Mulder (Props). The production stage manager is Jasmine Simmers.
“I am so honored to have the opportunity to share this story about resilience, faith, and belief in oneself,” says Hankins. “Joan has an unrelenting desire to be seen as herself, not as society demands she be seen. Our production explores the political machinations of both the Court and the Church as these forces work together to attempt to tear down Joan’s legacy. There are no villains in the play, but rather individuals attempting to protect themselves and their institutions from change.”
Saint Joan’s discounted Preview performance ($22 tickets) is Friday, April 4 at 7:30 pm. Opening night is Saturday, April 5 at 7:30 pm, which includes a complimentary post-show reception with the actors. Subsequent performances are on Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm, and on Sundays at 3:00 pm through April 19. The closing date of April 19 features two performances: a matinee at 3:00 pm and a performance at 7:30 pm.
Friday performances on April 4, 11, and 18 are Free Will Kids’ Nights when up to four children 17 years and younger may attend for FREE when accompanied by at least one, full-price-paying Adult Guardian.
Artistic and Production Bios
Erin Amlicke (Joan) TSC:Twelfth Night,The Importance of Being Earnest. Recent credits: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Frankenstein (Greenbrier Valley Theatre); Vietato dare da mangiare (Paper Architects Collective), The Cherry Orchard (Burning Coal Theatre Company); The Comedy of Errors, Amphitryon, Antony & Cleopatra, Lysistrata (Theatre at Monmouth), The Revolutionists (Hangar Theatre), King Lear (The Brick), Boston Marriage (Smart Mouth Theatre). In September, Erin premiered her bilingual solo show, Kingdom Come, in Lima, Peru. She is a ’23-’24 Deceleration Lab Artist with The Assembly Theater and a graduate of the University of Houston with her MFA in Acting. @erinamlyes / erinamlicke.com
Marquis Dijon Archuleta (Dunois/D’Estivet/Page) TSC: Caesar in the Free Shout-Out Shakespeare Series production of Julius Caesar, Laertes in Hamlet, Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night. He is also a Master Teacher in The Romeo & Juliet Project. Acting: Sweeney Todd in Cutler Bros. Theater’s production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Allison Brice (Costume Designer/Costume Shop Manager) has been the resident costume designer and costume shop manager at TSC for the last three seasons. Her TSC design credits include The Importance of Being Earnest, Cyrano de Bergerac, Ada and the Engine, Macbeth, Henry VI: The War of the Roses, The Romeo and Juliet Project (2022 and 2023); also I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change (Germantown Community Theatre); The Mousetrap, Blithe Spirit, You Can’t Take it With You (Theatre Memphis); Pippin, Between Riverside and Crazy, The Day is Long to End (University of Florida); Caroline, or Change (Cape Fear Regional Theatre); The Secret World of Og (Sarasota Youth Opera); Smokey Joe’s Café, All My Sons, The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Theatre Raleigh). Education: M.F.A. in Costume Design from the University of Florida.
Andrew Christenson (Gentleman) TSC: Romeo and Juliet (Sampson, Paris), Twelfth Night (Fabian/Valentine; Asst. Stage Manager), Macbeth (Asst. Stage Manager), The Comedy of Errors (Asst. Stage Manager; Messenger). Other performance credits: Escanaba in Da Moonlight, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Little Women, The Seagull, Miracle on 34th Street, Annie Get Your Gun. Stage Management: Emerge 360, Silent Sky, Murder Ballad, Emerge Student Dance Concert. Andrew is a local Memphian and a recent University of Memphis graduate, earning a B.F.A. in Theatre with a concentration in Performance.
Lorraine Cotten (Bluebeard/Steward/Chaplain) TSC: The Importance of Being Earnest, The Taming of the Shrew, It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, and Co-Director of Romeo and Juliet (2015). Playhouse on the Square: Catch Me If You Can, The Prom, Gentleman’s Guide, Left Hand Singing, Memphis the Musical, Shakespeare in Love, and Tuck Everlasting, among others. Other credits: Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, Arkansas Rep, Barter Theatre, Tiffany Theatre (LA), Perry Street Theatre (NY Theatre Workshop), New Dramatists (NY). M.F.A. in Directing: The University of Memphis.
Jeremy Allen Fisher (Production Manager; Technical Director; Lighting Designer) has been with TSC since 2013, designing 30+ productions. An 18-year veteran in the entertainment business with multiple degrees and certifications, Jeremy is a member of Local USA 829 United Scenic Artists with experience in all aspects of lighting. Founding his design firm in 2019, he has worked on projects of all sizes across the country. He is the Resident Lighting Designer for Opera Memphis and Youngblood Studio. He recently redesigned Ballet Memphis’ annual production of Nutcracker and completed several major public art installations at St. Jude Children’s Hospital, Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, and Oregon State University. Since moving to Memphis in 2011, Jeremy has completed 200+ lighting designs in the city, been nominated for 12 Ostrander Awards with four wins, and in 2017 was awarded the TAC Individual Artist Award for his work in Lighting Design.
Lauren Gunn (La Hire/Warwick/Courcelles/Executioner) TSC: The Grace of Grace: Shining a Light through Shakespeare’s Broken Villains, Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Tempest, Cyrano de Bergerac, Macbeth, Henry VI, Romeo and Juliet, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, Ada and the Engine. Southern Arena Theatre: Boeing Boeing, I Hate Hamlet. New Stage Theatre: Constellations, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Crimes of the Heart, A Christmas Carol, Cat in the Hat. Fish Tale Group Theatre: Voice of Freedom Summer. Lauren is delighted and honored to continue serving military Veterans at the Memphis V.A. Medical Center with TSC’s Feast of Crispian-South program. She is a member and associate instructor with Dueling Arts International. Education: University of Southern Mississippi (M.F.A.).
Sarah Hankins (Director; Education and Outreach Program Director) is a director, AEA actor, teacher, and theatre administrator with a strong focus on collaboration, physical theatre, and heightened language. Sarah was most recently Artistic Director at Triad Stage, a professional regional theatre in North Carolina, prior to which she was a freelance theater artist in NYC. Sarah is also the former Artistic Director of the NYC eco-theatre Green Theatre Collective, as well as a former Associate Artist at Orlando Shakespeare Theatre. Sarah has taught theatre education programs from Maine to Florida for students ranging from kindergarten to college, including teaching and directing at The University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Greensboro College, Guilford Technical Community College, University of North Carolina Greensboro, and Guilford College. Sarah is a proud graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s M.F.A. Directing program, and of Davidson College.
Austin Hanna (Robert de Baudricourt, Charles VII, The Inquisitor) Recent credits: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth (Houston Shakespeare Festival); Twelfth Night, The Skin of Our Teeth, Julius Caesar, Circle Mirror Transformation, Marisol, Love’s Labor’s Lost (University of Houston); West Side Story (Houston Grand Opera); Arden of Faversham (The Hidden Room); The Lonesome West (Theatre Southwest); The Comedy of Errors, Richard II, Macbeth, As You Like It, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, Cymbeline (Shakespeare at Winedale). Austin has an M.F.A. in Acting from the University of Houston and B.A.’s in English and Plan II from the University of Texas at Austin.
Roger Hanna (Scenic Designer) TSC: Grace of Grace, The Importance of Being Earnest, A Streetcar Named Desire, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, The Glass Menagerie, and The Tempest. He has designed sets for theatre, opera, and dance in Japan, Israel, and across the U.S., including over 150 productions in NYC. Collaborators include Pulitzer Prize-winner Nilo Cruz, MacArthur “Genius” Susan Marshall, and 10-time Tony-winner Tommy Tune. Awards include a Lortel Award, two Drama Desk nominations, and a True West Award from the DCPA. As an educator, Roger has taught and designed at major schools including Manhattan and Mannes Schools of Music, NYU, and Yale. He is currently the Head of Set Design at Colorado State University.
Joe Johnson (Composer/Sound Designer) TSC: Cyrano de Bergerac and The Tempest, and many other shows elsewhere. Joe is a composer, sound designer, musician, and incessant doodler of circles. He enjoys making the absurd and bizarre feel like home. Visit semiaveragejoe.com for more.
Chad Marriott (Bertrand de Poulengey/Archbishop/Brother Martin Ladvenu) Credits: The Tempest (Caliban), The Keeper’s Voice (Horace Klein), Journey to the Center of the Earth (Professor), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bottom), The Importance of Being Earnest (Algernon), and Hamlet (Laertes), As You Like It (Touchstone), Doctor Faustus (Mephistopheles/Seven Deadly Sins), Blood Wedding (Leonardo), and The Importance of Being Earnest (Jack). He earned his M.F.A./MLitt in Shakespeare and Performance at Mary Baldwin University.
Melanie Mulder (Properties Designer) TSC: The Grace of Grace: Shining a Light on Shakespeare’s Broken Villains, Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors, The Importance of Being Earnest, A Streetcar Named Desire, Hamlet, Ada and the Engine, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. Additional credits: The Color Purple, Jelly’s Last Jam, A Song for Coretta, Ruined, In the Heights, and Once on This Island at Hattiloo Theatre. Melanie has served as Props Designer on productions for the Nashville Shakespeare Festival, Seaside Music Theatre (FL), Vineyard Theatre, Pearl Theatre, the New School for Drama, and The Signature Theatre (all NYC), Williamstown Theatre Festival (MA), Lake George Opera (NY), and Northern Stage (VT). Melanie is a native Memphian and received her B.F.A. in Theatre from the University of Memphis.
Sarah Sakaan (Monseigneur de la Trémouille/Cauchon/Executioner) NYC: Polybe+Seats: Art of Hijab, Kohl Black and the Right Way to Pray; Anna Asli Suriyah (I Come from Syria); History of Launching Ships; Thousand, Thousand, Slimy Things; Grenada; Zeit After Kurbisgeist Nachten; TMT: Yes, is for a Very Young Man; The Flea: Offending the Audience, Dawn, Post Mortem; Columbia: Corsaire; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; BlueBox: Connie in Detroit, The Stickies; Impulse Initiative: Sonnets for an Old Century; Balloon Heaven: King Lear; Boston: Game of Patience; Emerson: The Fabulous Invalid, Little Foxes, Vagina Monologues; Syrian-American actor and playwright. B.F.A. Acting, Emerson College.
Stephanie Shine (Script Adapter; Associate Producer) In 14 seasons with TSC, her directorial credits include Twelfth Night, Hamlet, The Importance of Being Earnest, Emily Dickinson: I Dwell in Possibility, which she co-created with Denice Hicks, Henry VI: Wars of the Roses, Macbeth, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, Henry V, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Julius Caesar, It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, Southern Yuletide, Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits, Shake(s), Rattle, and Roll, Shakespeare Said It, Lend Me Thy Sword, 12 productions of Romeo and Juliet, and 15 Literary Salons. On stage at TSC, she played the Abbess in The Comedy of Errors, Countess in All’s Well That Ends Well, the female roles in Unto the Breach, and Gertrude in Hamlet. Prior to joining TSC, she was Artistic Director of Seattle Shakespeare Company, a position she enjoyed for 13 years. Other directorial credits include King Lear and As You Like It for Houston Shakespeare Festival, The Taming of the Shrew and The Comedy of Errors for Colorado Shakespeare Festival, the award-winning one-woman internationally-touring Marilyn Monroe Biopic, Marilyn: Forever Blonde, and several new works for Seattle’s Book-It Repertory Theatre. Her production of I am of Ireland (which she also conceived and adapted) opened Book-It’s 25th Anniversary Season in 2014. As an actor, she has performed with the Oregon Shakespearean Festival, NYC’s Theatre for a New Audience, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Alley Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, ACT, The Empty Space, and Seattle Children’s Theatre, among others. Roles include Juliet, Rosalind, Lady Macbeth, Beatrice, Regan, Feste, Kate, Bianca, Dionyza, the Princess of France, Hero, Perdita, and the Chorus in Henry V. The Germantown Arts Alliance honored her with its 2016 Distinguished Arts and Humanities Medal for Performing Arts. Education: graduate of the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts; B.F.A in Acting from the University of Washington’s Professional Actor Training Program; M.F.A. in Directing from the University of Memphis.
Jasmine Simmers (Production Stage Manager) TSC: Stage Manager for Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors, Hamlet, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Macbeth Initiative; and Assistant Stage Manager for The Tempest. Other credits include La Bohème, The Rocky Horror Show, Back When Mike Was Kate, The Forever Question, and Le Nozze di Figaro. She holds a B.F.A. in Theatre, Design, and Technology from the University of Memphis.
Box Office
Tickets are $44.00 (Students $24.00/Seniors $39.00). The Preview performance on April 4 is $22.00 for all tickets. Friday night performances are Free Will Kids’ Nights: up to four children 17 years and younger may attend for free when accompanied by at least one, full-price-paying Adult Guardian, while seats last, and must be purchased either over the phone or in person.
Tickets may be purchased online here or by calling the Box Office at (901) 759-0604 Tuesday-Friday from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm, and one hour prior to curtain. TSC is located at 7950 Trinity Road, Memphis, TN 38018-6297. No refunds/exchanges. The house opens 30 minutes prior to curtain. Credit Card charges require a $1.50 per-ticket fee. Free Tabor Stage parking and covered drop-off at the front door are available. The cast and schedule are subject to change with notice.
Season 17 Sponsors
TSC’s generous sponsors of its season, productions, and Education and Outreach Program include FedEx, International Paper, Arts Midwest, ARTSmemphis, Tennessee Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, Mid-America Arts Alliance, Independent Bank, Evans Petree PC, First Horizon Foundation through an ArtsFirst grant, AutoZone, Nancy R. Copp, Pat and Ernest Kelly Anne and Mike Keeney, J. Walker Sims and the Sims Family Charitable Trust, Deborah Dunklin Tipton, Pete Pranica, Edward and Gloria Felsenthal, the Dunbar Abston Fund for Sustainable Excellence, the Barbara B. Apperson Angel Fund, and the Jack Jones Children’s Literacy Fund.
TSC’s season is funded under a Grant Contract with the State of Tennessee.
