ALICE - Sarah Wisterman

JOAN - Madeline Bernhard

SUSAN - LaRose Washington

MARGERY - Mindy Shore

JACK - Josh Razavi

ELLEN - Caroline Kidwell

BETTY - Hannah Antman

GOODY - Theresa Liebhart

MAN/DOCTOR/PACKER - Sean William Kelly

ALICE/SUSAN/BETTY (u/s) - Maya Pierce

JOAN/ELLEN (u/s) - Kelsey McGrath

MARGERY/GOODY (u/s) - Katharine Jordan

JACK/MAN/DOCTOR/PACKER (u/s) - Erik Schiller

BASS - Max Cohen

GUITAR - Roy Gonzalez

DRUMS - Tom Ronningen

Click here for full cast bios.

Director - Clare Brennan*

Stage Manager - Mary Townsend Cahoon

Original Music - Max Cohen & Roy Gonzalez

Fight & Intimacy Design - Jamie Macpherson

Sound Design - Sebby Woldt

Costume Design - Jennifer Susan & Haleigh Kent

Lighting Design - Derryll

Set & Props Design - Wyatt Kent* & Andy Cahoon*

Casting Director - Becca Holloway*

Producer - Wyatt Kent*

Click here for full production team bios.

*denotes Red Theater company member

Reader Recommended! “I don’t think I’ve witnessed a more seamless marriage of [Churchill’s] words and a thematic overlay than what’s on display in director Clare Brennan’s 90s riot grrrl-inspired take on Vinegar Tom with Red Theater. “

- Dan Jakes for the Chicago Reader. Read the full review here.

“Director Clare Brennan and composers Roy Gonzalez and Max Cohen pour on just the right amount of battery acid for Churchill’s ever-timely examination on the patriarchy’s simultaneous fascination with and repulsion for women.”

- Patrick O’Brien for Chicago Musical Theatre. Read the full review here.

When Sleater-Kinney wrote “hunger makes me a modern girl” for their song Modern Girl on their 2005 album The Woods, they were well established as first generation riot grrrls. Riot grrrl was/is a genre at the intersection of politics and feminism. It originated in the Pacific Northwest in the 90s and motivated a wave of women to create an entirely unique aesthetic, attitude, and sound that reveled in unfiltered expression. They gave themselves permission to remove the filter of shame that all women are trained to run their emotions through and allowed whatever else remained to make sound.

The women of Vinegar Tom are also hungry. They want relief and freedom from a societal structure that at best disregards their needs – at worst, actively rejects their humanity. They feel the same craving for life that generated the songs of the riot grrrls, and continues to rumble in women right now. Their stories are cautionary tales of where starving women of their innate autonomy, power, and safety leads. Vinegar Tom shows us what every modern grrrl knows: societies fighting for vital resources will use disinformation, violence, and fear against women as a means of control. It also lets us feel the necessity of releasing and processing the subsequent grief through art.

The great irony of this project is that the cast and creative team behind it could not be a more apt counterpoint to the community portrayed in our play. Under the compassionate guide of our intimacy designer, this incredibly talented cast created a foundation of trust that allowed us to stage such challenging moments. Every designer contributed so much respect and imagination to create the look of our pastiche world, and our musicians drew from deep wells of lived punk experience to transform Churchill’s lyrics into the songs I could hear in my head since I picked up this play for the first time. Our jack-of-all-trades stage manager kept us on schedule with grace and charm. Most of all, I am so grateful to my co-Artistic Director Wyatt Kent for producing this show. He led our team with such grace and consideration. I couldn’t have made this show without him, and I wouldn’t have wanted to.

After such a long hiatus from producing theater, it is my absolute pleasure to welcome you into our audience. I hope you are left feeling hungry, and also full.

Love,

Clare

Lyrics by Caryl Churchill // Original Music by Max Cohen & Roy Gonzalez

A note from the playwright - The songs, which are contemporary, should if possible be sung by actors in modern dress. They are not part of the action and not sung by the characters in the scenes before them. It is essential that the actors are not in character when they sing the songs.

Click here for a full song list and lyrics.

Vinegar Tom contains depictions of sexual contact, domestic abuse, humiliation, torture, and execution. This production is not recommended to audiences under 13 without adult supervision.

Starting with Friday, November 11th's 7:30p performance, captioning will be available upon request throughout the remainder of our run of Vinegar Tom. Requests can be sent to access@redtheater.org until two (2) hours before curtain.

Vinegar Tom runs 95 minutes without an intermission. Seating is general admission. If you need seating accommodations, our box office staff will be happy to assist.

All guests are required to wear a mask and provide proof of vaccination. The bar will be open, and we ask that masks are kept on when not actively eating or drinking.

The videotaping or making of electronic or other audio and/or visual recordings of this production and distributing recordings or streams in any medium, including the internet, is strictly prohibited, a violation of The Author’s rights and actionable under Unites States copyright law. For more information, please visit the licensor’s website here.