PLEASE NOTE:
Theatreworks USA is
currently touring two
companies of this
production. Please
contact Paula Marchiel at
212.647.1100 x121 to
ensure that your program
information accurately
reflects the cast
appearing at your venue.
FREEDOM TRAIN RED SPRING 2010 – UNAPPROVED BY ACTORS
Program Information
Theatreworks USA
Barbara Pasternack
Ken Arthur
Artistic Director
Producing Director
Presents
FREEDOM TRAIN
By Marvin Gordon
Scenic Design by
Music Direction by
Hal Tiné
Jeannine Otis
Traditional Music Arranged by
Orchestrations by
Garrett Morris & Ron Burton
Harrison Fisher
Original Staging by
Stage Manager
Gloria Jones Schultz
Sarah Caddell
Directed by
Joy Kelly
CAST
(alphabetical by role)
Ben................................................................................................................................ John Lyndsay Hall
David................................................................................................................... Anthony DeSean Stokes
Harriet .....................................................................................................................Ashley Samona Baker
Jacob ..................................................................................................................................... Jed Peterson
Overseer.............................................................................................................................Anthony Comis
Rit.......................................................................................................................................... Sophia Sharp
The taking of pictures and/or making of visual or sound recording is expressly forbidden.
Please check the houseboard for any program changes.
The activities of Theatreworks USA are made possible in part with public funds from
the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency,
and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
The actors and stage manager employed in this production are
members of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional
actors and stage managers in the United States.
Target is the national tour sponsor of
Theatreworks USA’s production
of Freedom Train.
MUSICAL NUMBERS
“Follow the Drinking Gourd/Go Down Moses” .......................................................................................................................................... Company
“Mary Had a Li’l Baby” ............................................................................................................................................................................................Rit
“Hidin’ Place” ............................................................................................................................................................................................... Company
“Steal Away” ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................Ben
“Hush, Hush” ..................................................................................................................................................................................Rit, David, Harriet
“Wade in the Water”................................................................................................................................................................ Rit, Harriet, Company
“Another Man Done Gone” .....................................................................................................................................................................................Rit
“Good News, the Chariot’s A-Comin’” ......................................................................................................................................................Rit, Harriet
“Lovely Ben, Won’t You Come Out Tonight”.........................................................................................................................................................Rit
“Get on Board”............................................................................................................................................................................................. Company
WHO’S WHO IN THE CAST
(alphabetical by role)
JOHN LYNDSAY HALL (Ben) is very happy to be a part of
this wonderful production. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, this
Army brat now calls New York City home. Theatre credits:
Well, The Little Foxes, Freedom Train, Once on This Island,
Dreamgirls. TV/Film credits: “Effections” (TV pilot due out in
2010), Detention, The Devil Wears Prada, “Homicide,”
“America’s Most Wanted,” “Law & Order,” “Guiding Light.”
John was a Krooze Komic aboard Royal Caribbean’s Explorer
of the Seas, Adventure of the Seas, and the Voyager of the
Seas, and lead storyteller for Umoja Sasa Storytellers. He
loves to cook (and eat) and is grateful for his supportive family
and friends. Thank you Lord.
ANTHONY DeSEAN STOKES (David) earned his BA in
Dramatic Art and Journalism from UNC-Chapel Hill. He’s a
former state champion in poetry interpretation (“Freedom
Train” by Langston Hughes). Other credits include The Time
of Your Life (Shakespeare Theatre of NJ), Footloose (CFRT),
“Corpulent Power” (ABC) and “Get the Hook Up” (TV-One).
Love to family/friends. Stay in touch: deseanstokes.com
ASHLEY SAMONA BAKER (Harriet) Originally from Atlanta,
GA, Ashley is thrilled to embard on her first national tour with
Freedom Train. A graduate from Columbia University’s MFA
Acting program, Ashley is a company member of both the Flea
Theater and Horsetrade Theatre in NYC. Credits include:
Julius Caesar, Three Penny Opera, Intimate Apparel, and
Miss Julie. For Mom and Jeanie!
JED PETERSON (Jacob) trained at the Moscow Art Theatre
School under Oleg Tabakov. He was born and raised in New
York City where he attended the LaGuardia High School of
Performing Arts. His work has been seen at the Utah
Shakespearean festival, McCarter Theatre, Shakespeare
Theatre of NJ, Summer Theater of New Canaan, Prospect
Theater, Woodstock Theatre Co., and Sundance Theatre
Lab, among others. AEA.
ANTHONY COMIS (Overseer) is proud to be a part of
Freedom Train. Off-Broadway: Shafrika, The White Girl at the
Vineyard Theatre. Other credits include: Jacob in Finger
Paint at the HERE Arts Center, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,
Brighton Beach Memoirs, Guys and Dolls and Almost Maine.
Thank you to Theatreworks USA and AEA. Graduate from
UMiami, BFA in Musical Theatre.
SOPHIA SHARP (Rit) A native of Youngstown, OH, Sophia is
a veteran TV and film actress with such credits as “Nash
Bridges,” “Cherish” and “King of the Bingo Game.” Sophia’s
theatre credits include For Colored Girls When the Rainbow Is
Enuf, Dreamgirls, San Francisco’s own Beach Blanket
Babylon and the Off-Broadway hit STOMP. She feels very
blessed to be a part of the Theatreworks USA family and to be
able to perform Freedom Train on tour.
The late MARVIN GORDON (Author) wrote Don't Walk on the
Clouds, The Now Show, Streets of Gold, and Will Rogers, the
Cherokee Kid. A popular director, choreographer, and
teacher, Mr. Gordon made his mark on and Off Broadway and
in regional theatres both here and in Canada. As a dancer, he
worked with such notable artists as Bob Fosse and Agnes De
Mille. He also founded and led his own company, Ballet
Concepts.
JOY KELLY (Director), a graduate of Wellesley College, is
also an actress and storyteller. Her Theatreworks USA credits
include Freedom Train, Martin Luther King, Jr., and her own
storytelling show River Tales. She has also performed in
regional theatres in Florida, Massachusetts and Michigan, and
has directed the Floating Hospital Repertory Theatre, The
Titans Theatre, and the New Ensemble Actors Theatre. In
addition, she has created and performed four of her own
cabarets in New York City. Television credits include “Late
Night with David Letterman,” “All My Children,” and “One Life
to Live.”
GLORIA JONES SCHULTZ (Original Staging) received a
Tony nomination for best actress in Does a Tiger Wear a
Necktie?, one of her most prominent Broadway roles. She
was also featured in the television production of the highly
acclaimed To Be Young, Gifted, and Black. Ms. Schultz has
been a teacher and performer at the Negro Ensemble
Company and served as Vice President of OPERATION
KIDS, a multi-media, multi-racial child development
organization.
JEANNINE OTIS (Music Director) The musical roots of singer
and pianist Jeannine Otis are founded in the pure sounds of
Gospel, Rhythm & Blues, Jazz and Classical. She is a
graduate of Wellesley College, where she was the only
African-American to be named a Presser Music Scholar. She
also holds a Masters degree from Emerson College in Boston
where she was a teaching fellow. She has worked with Kool
and the Gang, Grover Washington Jr., Donald Byrd, Pete
Seeger, and Eliot Goldenthal, and her recordings include
“Magic Song” with the Helsinki Orchestra and a rendition of
“Over the Rainbow” which topped the dance charts in the UK,
Italy and Australia. Acting credits include This Joint Is
Jumpin’ (Supper Club, New York), and Porgy and Bess
(internationally). She teaches music at the Trinity Lutheran
School in Staten Island, and is the Director of Music at St.
Mark’s Church in New York.
SARAH CADDELL (Stage Manager) works as a freelance
Stage and Production Manager for such companies as the
York Theater (Off-Broadway), Disney Event Productions,
Opera Colorado, Nashville Opera, International Radio
Festival, Music Theater Louisville, and Seattle Children’s
Theatre, Stage One and AXXIS Inc. She is excited about her
debut with Theatreworks USA and would like to thank her
mom and dad for showing her the stage door and her bravehearted husband for agreeing to marry her.
ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION, founded in 1913,
represents more than 45,000 actors and stage managers in
the U.S. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions,
providing a wide range of benefits, including health and
pension plans. Equity seeks to foster the art of live theatre as
an essential component of our society. www.actorsequity.org
THEATREWORKS USA (Producer), founded in 1961, is
America’s foremost professional theatre for young and family
audiences. Its mission is to create imaginative and thoughtprovoking shows that are educational, entertaining and
thought-provoking.
Their 2009-2010 touring repertoire
includes Charlotte’s Web; A Christmas Carol; Click, Clack,
Moo; Freedom Train; Henry and Mudge; If You Give a Pig a
Pancake & Other Story Books; Junie B. Jones; The Lion, the
Witch & the Wardrobe; Max & Ruby, Nate the Great,
Seussical; and We the People. Theatreworks’ honors include
a Drama Desk Award, Off-Broadway’s Lucille Lortel Award,
the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award, the
William M. Dawson Award for Programmatic Excellence given
by the Association of Performing Arts Presenters and the
Medal of Honor from the Actors’ Fund of America.
www.TWUSA.org