PYGmalion Theatre Company Continues 2025/26 Season With BECKY NURSE OF SALEM

PYGmalion Theatre Company will continue its 2025/2026 season with "Becky Nurse of Salem" by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Morag Shepherd, from Feb. 6 to Feb. 21 at the Rose Wagner Center for Performing Arts located at 138 West Broadway in downtown Salt Lake City.

The play, subtitled "After the Witches, a Comedy about a Tragedy," follows Becky, a modern-day descendant of accused witch Rebecca Nurse in Salem. Becky, who works at the local witch museum, seems to be dogged by bad luck. Is it a curse from her past? Or her inability to navigate her present? Looking for love and redemption through spells, pills, and a bartender named Bob, Becky is a contemporary pilgrim for the Lock Her Up era. A play about the legacy of misogyny, witchcraft, and even Arthur Miller, Becky Nurse is a truth-teller for our times. 

"Becky Nurse of Salem" premiered in 2019 at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Berkeley, CA, then had its off-Broadway premiere in 2022 at Lincoln Center Theater.

The show features Teresa Sanderson as Becky, as well as Dave Hanson, Lily Hilden, Reb Fleming, McKell Petersen, Whitney Black and Bryce Fueston. 

Shepherd, who is originally from Scotland and is also a playwright, recently directed "Last Lists of My Mad Mother" by Julie Jensen at PYGmalion Theatre and "The Last Five Years" by Jason Robert Brown at Hart Theater Company. The company she co-founded, Immigrant's Daughter Theatre, took her play "My Brother Was a Vampire" to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in summer 2025. 

She described the show as follows: 'I think that 'Becky Nurse of Salem' is such a fun, fast-paced, but also clever and smart look at the way that we are affected by historical atrocities. Events like the Salem witch trials are such a salient fact, but it's hard to really outline and articulate how it has affected following generations, and how it continues to dominate the cultural imagination today. Sarah Ruhl asserts in this piece that there are some tenuous and significant links between the trials and women's healthcare, women's autonomy, women's ownership over information, and history itself."

She also talked about her vision for the show: "Because the piece is so episodic in structure (in other words, broken up into multiple sections), my vision is to keep the play moving as fast as it can; and because the play is so concerned with exposing how the past influences the present, I want to also expose all of the elements, and the hand that hides the magical effects of the theatre. So, we will see if we pull it off or not. Mainly I hope that the audience has a good time with the material because Ruhl obviously had a blast with these characters."

She also spoke about why she thinks this is an important story to tell now. 

"I think it's important to tell this story at this time because of all the rhetoric that is being thrown around about 'witch hunts,'" she said. "It's so poignant that Ruhl takes the actual events and then puts all of the rhetoric back in the mouths of the women, where it belongs! Who should see this play? Well, it's certainly female-centric in topic, but anyone who cares about women, history, and politics I think will appreciate this fabulously delicious piece." 

Sanderson, who plays Becky, has been part of PYGmalion since it began as Theatre Works West more than 30 years ago.  

She said of the show: "I loved this show the moment I read it. I have had my nose in the script since the day I got cast. People always ask how you learn all those lines. This time it is a legit question. I have SO many lines." 

She added: "It is such a timely play. You will recognize several similarities between the Salem witch trials and what is going on in our country now. Honestly it is some of the best writing I have had the honor to learn."

Reb Fleming, who plays a Witch, is also one of the co-founding members of PYGmalion. She also spoke about why this show tells a vital strory now, in 2026. 

"Say the world 'Salem' and most Americans past the fifth grade will answer: witch burning," she said. "The greater reality is, they were not burning witches, they were burning women. Women are still being 'burned' in this country each time their individual rights are commandeered by others, each time their individual choices are dictated or limited by any individual or group other than themselves. Health care, career opportunity, economic independence, political aspiration; women deserve total and absolute equality with the male gender. Anything less and the fires still smolder. This show uses story to remind us that the threat still lingers: watch what you say, modulate your voice, know your place. Our place, women's place, is any where and every where we choose to be." 

McKell Petersen, who plays Stan, is appearing in their first show with PYGmalion. 

They talked about why the show appeals to them as an actor. 

"The tone and style of this show are unique and our director's ideas to bring it to life are exciting," they said. "As an actor, it's enticing to make sense of a story that isn't linear, with symbolism and layered meaning. I'm a nerd and make playlists for characters I play. For Stan I've got music from Djo, Paramore, Half Moon Run, and Radiohead's 'Burn the Witch' on repeat." 

Whitney Black, who plays Shelby, is also appearing in her first show with PYGmalion. 

She spoke about why she thinks the show is vital to be seen now, in 2026, and who should come and see it.