The Guys

Thursday November 19th at 7:30pm

Directed by Hannah Ryan

Starring

William Mulligan

and

Renee Claire Bergeron

Less than two weeks after the September 11th attacks, New Yorkers are still in shock. One of them, an editor named Joan, receives an unexpected phone call on behalf of Nick, a fire captain who has lost most of his men in the attack. He’s looking for a writer to help him with the eulogies he must present at their memorial services. Nick and Joan spend a long afternoon together, recalling the fallen men through recounting their virtues and their foibles, and fashioning the stories into memorials of words. In the process, Nick and Joan discover the possibilities of friendship in each other and their shared love for the unconquerable spirit of the city. As they make their way through the emotional landscape of grief, they draw on humor, tango, the appreciation of craft in all its forms—and the enduring bonds of common humanity. THE GUYS is based on a true story.
William Mulligan — Captain Nick Flanagan

Bio:
From boy soprano in his church’s choir to professional actor, his aim is to animate the connections we each share as human beings through many different artistic genres: music, opera, theatre, television, and film. He is to be featured in the upcoming campaign for marriage equality being produced by Nonfiction Unlimited for Mass Mutual. Previous roles include Zoltan Karpathy in My Fair Lady (Cape Playhouse), Carney in A Man of No Importance (B-Side), Nicely-Nicely in Guys & Dolls (Little Theater), Quartet in The Music Man (Carousel, Helen Hayes), Mr. Bumble in Oliver (Show Palace), Sir Sagramore in Camelot (Geva). He is a graduate of the William Esper Studio and the Florida State University and currently serves on the faculty of Manhattan College. He is a proud member of Actors Equity and a native Floridian. www.liammulligan.com

Renee Claire Bergeron — Joan

Bio:
Winner of the 2012 New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role for her performance as Lily in A Man of No Importance with The Gallery Players.  Other credits include: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Whistle Down the Wind(National Tour), Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance (BohemeOpera NJ), Mother Superior in Nunsense (Arizona Broadway Theatre), Mother’s Day (2014 NY International Fringe Festival),A Homecoming (2013 NY International Fringe Festival), Once We Lived Here (Urban Stages).  TV/Film credits include: Onion News Network, As The World Turns, Silver Tongues, Celebrity Nightmares Decoded and Archaeology of a Woman.  An accomplished singer of opera, cabaret and musical theatre, Renee has performed with numerous other companies including L’Opera de Montreal, Bronx Opera, Ohio Light Opera, Nebraska Theatre Caravan and Media Theatre for the Performing Arts.  Renee performed her one woman show All Grown Up Now at the legendary NYC cabaret venue Don’t Tell Mama.  She has also been seen in numerous readings of new musicals in New York City in performances at the Metropolitan Room, The York Theatre, NYU Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program and The BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop.  Some of her favorite NYC performances include The Public Sings!,Nothin’ Like A Dame and Gypsy of the Year for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
Renee is a native of New Orleans. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Florida State University and a Master of Music degree in Voice from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM).  Renee is also a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.  She thanks her amazing parents and family, teachers and friends for all their love and support in pursuit of this incredible dream!  Special thanks to William Mulligan for sharing his vision with me and to Hannah Ryan for her guidance.  www.reneebergeron.com

Hannah Ryan — director

Bio:
Every Path (La Jolla Playhouse WoW Festival) NYTW Gala honoring Des McAnuff and Michael David (Plaza Hotel), The Big Announcement (Drama League) Let’s Misbehave: A Tribute to Cole Porter (Mr. Finn’s Cabaret) Cendrillon and Gianni Schicchi (Point Loma Opera) Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Forced Marriage, Only in New York, et al (Point Loma Playhouse). Associate Director: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time on Broadway, Assistant director: Broadway’s Doctor Zhivago and Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays (HBO), Christopher Plummer’s A Word or Two (Center Theatre Group), Fetch Clay, Make Man (New York Theatre Workshop), Sideways and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (La Jolla Playhouse) Drama League Director’s Project Fellow. SDC Foundation Denham Fellow. hannahmryan.com

Anne Nelson — author

Bio:
Anne Nelson is an award-winning author and playwright. Her 2001 play THE GUYS has been produced in all 50 states and at least 15 countries, often as a benefit for local fire companies and burn centers. It was published by Random House and Dramatists Play Service. The audible.com version, starring Swoosie Kurtz and Bill Irwin, won the 2003 Audie Award for best recorded play. SAVAGES, Nelson’s anti-war play, opened Off-Broadway in 2006 and was a finalist in the Humana Festival. The New Yorker called it “a work of lacerating beauty.” Nelson won a Guggenheim Fellowship towards her research for RED ORCHESTRA, the story of an anti-Nazi resistance circle in Berlin. It was published by Random House in 2009 and named an Editors Choice by the New York Times. Nelson recently completed a screenplay version and is currently at work on a sequel set in wartime Poland. Nelson is a graduate of Yale University and a member of the Council of Foreign Relations. She teaches at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.