CAST (in order of appearance)

Mrs. Carrie Watts.................................................................................. PAT BOWIE*Ludie Watts.................................................................................BRYANT BENTLEY*Jessie Mae Watts................................................................JASMINE CARMICHAEL*Thelma.............................................................................KRYSTAL MILLIE VALDES*Houston Ticket Man.....................................................................MICHAEL COLLINSHarrison Ticket Man....................................................................RUSSELL JORDAN*Sheriff...........................................................................................STEVE CARROLL*

Stage Directions.........................................................................LAURA TURNBULL*

SETTINGHouston, Harrison, and a country place in Texas

March, 1953

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association the union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States

Directed by J. Barry Lewis ◊

◊The Director is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union.

JASMINE CARMICHAEL (Jessie Mae Watts) is a New Jersey-based director, actor, and teacher. She made her PBD debut in the virtual reading of Lynn Nottage’s Crumbs From the Table of Joy as Ernestine Crump. Regional acting credits include the IRNE award-winning production of Milk Like Sugar (Huntington Theatre Company), Jazz and Dance of the Holy Ghost (Baltimore Center Stage), and Tribes (Kitchen Theatre Company). Television and streaming credits include Sneaky Pete (Amazon), Blue Bloods, Chicago PD, and Law & Order: SVU. Jasmine has also starred in several award-winning indie features including Romeo and Juliet in Harlem, Runaway, and To the Flame. She recently made her directorial debut with Leni and Joseph (Rutgers Theater Company). Jasmine received her BFA from Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts.

KRYSTAL MILLIE VALDES (Thelma) is so grateful to be working with her PBD family once again. Other PBD credits include The House of Blue Leaves, and the One Humanity Tours of Live to Tell and Swagger. She was last seen as Nora in Brighton Beach Memoirs at Maltz Jupiter Theatre. A founding member of New City Players (NCP), Krystal’s other theatre credits include One Man, Two Guvnors (Actors’ Playhouse); The Amparo Experience (Broadway Factor/Bacardi); Peter and the Starcatcher (Slow Burn Theatre); The Glass Menagerie, Proof, Clybourne Park, Rabbit Hole, Little Montgomery (NCP); Tar Beach (Theatre Lab); Crooked (Thinking Cap Theatre); As You Like It (Paris tour), among others. Film: 93 Miles (Cannes Film Festival 2018 official selection), Pompano Boy (post-production, 2021), Laconic (post-production, 2021). Music: Folk singles Dear John and Ayúdame (Spotify, Itunes, Spring 2021 album). Krystal has a BFA from New World School of the Arts, and is an AEA actress. Thank you to J. Barry Lewis and all involved for this glimmer of hope during this dark time. Love you, Ian. krystalmillievaldes.com.

PAT BOWIE (Mrs. Carrie Watts) has been seen at PBD as Ethel Thayer in On Golden Pond, Lena Younger in A Raisin in the Sun, and two Drama(in the)works readings on Zoom. She was the understudy for Cicely Tyson (and a member of the ensemble) in the 2013 Broadway revival of The Trip to Bountiful and appeared in the original Broadway production of Horton Foote’s Dividing the Estate. Off-Broadway, she was seen in the 2019 Signature Theatre production of Foote’s The Young Man from Atlanta and the company’s 2009 world premiere of his The Orphans’ Home Cycle. Pat was a principal actor at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre for a decade, and a short list of her other regional credits includes Hartford Stage, Alliance Theatre, Court Theatre, Milwaukee Rep, Huntington Theatre Company, Alley Theatre, The Old Globe, and Caldwell Theatre Company. She has worked extensively in London, both onstage and for BBC radio. Recent TV credits include Blue Bloods and Ray Donovan. Thanks to Bill Hayes and his wonderful team for their diligent work. BRYANT BENTLEY (Ludie Watts) is a native of Dayton, Ohio and now resides in Columbus. He’s been a professional actor for 20 years, and is excited to be a part of this reading. Bryant made his PBD debut as Gabriel in August Wilson’s Fences and was recently seen in the Zoom reading of Lynn Nottage’s Sweat. Other credits include Bono in Fences at American Players Theatre; The Watsons Go to Birmingham, Indiana Repertory Theatre; Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Between Riverside and Crazy, Studio Theatre; Pipeline, Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati; as well as The Piano Lesson, Topdog/Underdog, Detroit ’67, Blues for an Alabama Sky, and many more. Film and television credits include the CBS series One Dollar; The Killing of a Sacred Deer; All or Nothin’; and most recently The Public, written and directed by Emilio Estevez.

STEVE CARROLL (Sheriff) previously appeared at PBD as stable owner Harry Dalton in the acclaimed production of Equus. South Florida audiences have also seen him at Maltz Jupiter Theatre (Newsies, Gypsy, Kiss Me, Kate and The King and I), The Wick Theatre (Funny Girl and Crazy for You), Thinking Cap Theatre (King Lear), and the Plaza Theatre (Luv and Breaking Up is Hard to Do). New York credits include featured roles Off-Broadway in Design for Living, Deathwatch, Romeo and Juliet, A Loss of Roses, The Infernal Machine, and a stint as Dr. Matt Rawlins on ABC-TV’s One Life to Live. When not appearing in regional theatre, Steve tours nationally in his one-man play Charles Lindbergh: The Lone Eagle, which he wrote, and with the Shakespeare Troupe of South Florida. He sends special thanks to wife Elaine and dog Rocky for their constant love and support. charleslindberghplay.com

LAURA TURNBULL (Stage Directions) is delighted to participate in another of PBD’s virtual play readings. When the pandemic closed all the theatres, she was in rehearsal for Suddenly Last Summer at Island City Stage. Prior to that she appeared in successful runs of Brighton Beach Memoirs at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Doubt at Actors’ Playhouse, and The Children at GableStage. Other recent credits include Indecent (PBD), The Pink Unicorn (Primal Forces), Be Here Now (Theatre Lab), and Wrongful Death and Other Circus Acts (Zoetic Stage). Laura has worked at nearly every professional theatre in South Florida as well as on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in national tours, regional theatres, television, and film. She is a proud, long-standing member of Actors’ Equity Association, and has received several Silver Palm and Carbonell awards.

MICHAEL COLLINS (Houston Ticket Man) has previously been seen at PBD as the Doctor in A Streetcar Named Desire, Hank in The Night of the Iguana, Rodney/Morris in 1776, Simon Stimson in Our Town, Arnold in The Boys Next Door, Peter in The Zoo Story, Daddy in The American Dream, Bruce in Beyond Therapy, Jake in Early One Evening at the Rainbow Bar & Grille, and Jay in The Smell of the Kill. Michael has also appeared in Nice Work If You Can Get It at Stage Door Theatre, Sister Act at the The Wick Theatre, and Barefoot in the Park at Maltz Jupiter Theatre. Favorite roles include Will Rogers in Will Rogers Follies, Albin/Zaza in La Cage aux Folles, Billy Flynn in Chicago, and Mack in Mack and Mabel. Michael is currently a resident artist of The Dramaworkshop.

RUSSELL JORDAN (Harrison Ticket Man) was nominated for a 2020 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Performer - Visiting Production for his portrayal of Luigi in Vivian’s Music, 1969, presented in 2019 by The Essential Theatre in Washington, DC. He is reprising his role of Luigi in upcoming virtual performances of the play. PBD: The Bleeding Class (Drama(in the)works). Off-Broadway: Vivian’s Music, 1969 (59E59 Theaters). Planet Connections Theatre Festivity: Dash (Outstanding Actor in a Staged Reading), Dig Infinity! (Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Musical or Play with Music). Other theatre: Street Theater (The Other Side of Silence), New York Innovative Theatre Award nomination for Outstanding Ensemble. TV: FBI, The Blacklist, Dietland, Dangerous Book for Boys. Member of New York Madness Acting Company. Owner of The Harlem Camerata. Training: City University of New York and life. Twitter and Instagram: @russjordan

J. BARRY LEWIS (Director) For PBD: A Streetcar Named Desire, The House of Blue Leaves, Indecent, Equus, The Little Foxes, The Cripple of Inishmaan, Arcadia, Outside Mullingar, The History Boys, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, Buried Child, Our Town, Tryst, Old Times, Of Mice and Men, Dancing at Lughnasa, Talley’s Folly, The Fantasticks, The Pitmen Painters, All My Sons, Dinner With Friends, Candida, The Gin Game, Three Tall Women, Copenhagen, Private Lives, The Weir, The Chairs, Souvenir, Benefactors, The Fourth Wall, Side by Side by Sondheim, Betrayal, The Smell of the Kill, That Championship Season, Berlin to Broadway, The Boys Next Door, Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, and No Exit. He is honored to be a recipient of the Richard Fallow Award for Excellence in Professional Theatre presented annually by the Florida Professional Theatres Association. He is also the recipient of five Carbonell Best Director awards. J. Barry was honored by PBD in 2018 with the Shelly Award, given “In recognition of exceptional commitment, support and advocacy on behalf of the Theatre.”

HORTON FOOTE (Playwright) began his prolific, 68-year career with Texas Town, which was produced Off-Broadway in 1941. Since then, his work has been produced on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, and at theatres across the country and abroad. His plays include The Young Man from Atlanta (Pulitzer Prize), Dividing the Estate, The Chase, The Traveling Lady, Tomorrow, and his nine-play epic, The Orphans’ Home Cycle. He received Academy Awards for his screenplay adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird and his original screenplay, Tender Mercies, and received an Oscar nomination for his screenplay of The Trip to Bountiful. During the Golden Age of Television, he wrote numerous, notable live television dramas. He won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing of a Mini-Series for his 1997 television adaptation of William Faulkner’s Old Man. Foote was elected to the Theatre Hall of Fame in 1996, was a recipient of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal of Drama, a PEN/Laura Pels Foundation Award for Drama, and the National Medal of Arts Award, presented by President Bill Clinton. His memoirs, Farewell and Beginnings, are published by Scribner’s. His biography, Horton Foote: America’s Storyteller, by Wilborn Hampton, is published by Simon & Schuster. Foote died in 2009, 10 days shy of his 93rd birthday.