Complete Cast Announced for CANDIDA at Gingold Theatrical Group
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August 30, 2022

by Chloe Rabinowitz Aug. 30, 2022
This fall, Gingold Theatrical Group will present Candida, one of George Bernard Shaw’s most popular plays. Directed by David Staller, Bernard Shaw’s Candida begins previews on October 5, 2022, with opening night set for October 25, and will run through November 19, 2022, at Theatre Two in Theatre Row (410 W 42nd St, New York, NY 10036).

“Stephen Sondheim and I were first introduced when I was 15 through my godmother Hermione Gingold (for whom we named Gingold Theatrical Group),” says David Staller. “Our common link was a fascination with George Bernard Shaw, especially his activism and humanitarianism. Sondheim claimed that there was nothing he wrote that was not inspired by Shaw. We enjoyed lively debates over the many unanswered questions raised by CANDIDA, in particular. It was the only Shaw play that he’d considered setting to music. Though we won’t be turning the play into a musical, we will be resetting the play in a manner that Sondheim had been suggesting for years: in New York City at a time when the church (desperate to get people to come back for Sunday services) began sending their rock-star ministers to underserved communities at the end of the 1920s, which paralleled the time when Shaw wrote the play in London’s 1890s. It’s incredibly exasperating that Sondheim is no longer around to challenge us as we dive into this glorious comedy, but I feel this production will be a tribute to him, his love of GBS, and our long friendship.”

CANDIDA: The Romcom That Started It All! This incredibly taut romantic comedy by Bernard Shaw will be reset from London 1895 to Harlem 1929. The Reverend James Morell and his wife Candida live a comfortable life until the young poet, Marchbanks, is taken into their home and challenges everything they’d built their lives upon. It’s a time of global upheaval as six characters come together on one tumultuous day to redefine not only who they are but also how to launch into their futures in a more fully self-aware way. Written as a lighthearted response to Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, this short but pithy play races along in ever-surprising ways. This is also the play that later inspired the Robert Anderson play, Tea and Sympathy.

Bernard Shaw’s Candida will star R.J. Foster (Fat Ham) as Morell, Peter Romano (First Down) as Lexy, David Ryan Smith (Epiphany) as Burgess, Avanthika Srinivasan (Queen) as Candida, Avery Whitted (Against the Hillside) as Marchbanks and Amber Reauchean Williams (Behind the Sheet) as Prossy. Alton Alburo (to the yellow house), Fernando Lamberty (“Law & Order: Organized Crime”) and Matenin Sangare (School Girls: Or, the African Mean Girls Play) will serve as understudies.

Bernard Shaw’s Candida features scenic design by Lindsay Genevieve Fuori, lighting design by Jamie Roderick, sound design by Michael Costagliola, costume design by Dustin Cross, props by Sean Sanford, and hair design by The Wig Associates. Caroline Ragland is the Production Stage Manager, with Julie Gottfried as Assistant Stage Manager.

The schedule for Bernard Shaw’s Candida is as follows: Tuesday-Thursday at 7pm Friday at 8pm; Saturday at 2pm & 8pm; Sunday at 3pm. Exceptions: there will be an added performance on Wednesday November 16 at 2pm, followed by an evening performance at 8pm.

Tickets begin at $66.50 are on sale now at www.bfany.org/theatre-row/shows/candida/.

For more information about Bernard Shaw’s Candida or any of Gingold Theatrical Group’s projects, visit online at www.gingoldgroup.org.

ABOUT GINGOLD THEATRICAL GROUP
Gingold Theatrical Group creates theater that supports human rights, freedom of speech, and individual liberty using the work of George Bernard Shaw as our guide. All of GTG’s programs are inspired by Shaw’s humanitarian values. Through full productions, staged readings, new play development, and inner-city educational programs, GTG brings Shavian precepts to audiences and artists across New York, encouraging individuals to breathe Shaw’s humanist ideals into their contributions for the future. Shaw created plays to inspire peaceful discussion and activism and that is what GTG aims to accomplish. GTG’s past productions include Man and Superman (2012), You Never Can Tell (2013), Major Barbara (2014), Widowers’ Houses (2016), Heartbreak House (2018), Caesar & Cleopatra (2019) and Mrs. Warren’s Profession (2021).

Founded in 2006 by David Staller, GTG has carved a permanent niche for the work of George Bernard Shaw within the social and cultural life of New York City, and, through the Project Shaw reading series, made history in 2009 as the first company ever to present performances of every one of Shaw’s 65 plays (including full-length works, one-acts and sketches). GTG brings together performers, critics, students, academics and the general public with the opportunity to explore and perform theatrical work inspired by the humanitarian and activist values that Shaw championed. All comedies, these plays boldly exhibit the insight, wit, passion and all-encompassing socio-political focus that distinguished Shaw as one of the most inventive and incisive writers of all time.

Through performances, symposiums, new play development, and outreach, as well as through our discussion groups and partnerships with schools including SUNY Stony Brook, Regis, the De La Salle Academy, and The Broome Street Academy, GTG has helped spark a renewed interest in Shaw across the country, and a bold interest in theater as activism. Young people are particularly inspired by Shaw’s invocation to challenge the strictures society imposes, to embrace the power of the individual, to make bold personal choices and to take responsibility for these choices. GTG’s new play development lab, Speakers’ Corner, created to support playwrights inspired by Shaw’s ideals, is now in its second cycle. Through monthly prompts and feedback, writers develop work inspired by or in response to a specific Shaw text. Plays developed through Speakers’ Corner will be nurtured in workshops and readings with the expectation that GTG will publish or produce them. GTG encourages all people to rejoice in the possibilities of the future. All of GTG’s programming is designed to inspire lively discussion and peaceful activism with issues related to human rights, the freedom of speech, and individual liberty. This was the purpose behind all of Shaw’s work and why GTG chose him as the guide toward helping create a more tolerant and inclusive world through the exploration of the Arts.