Rachel Christopher to Step in for Extended INTIMATE APPAREL at Shakespeare & Company

Shakespeare & Company adds two more performances to its Intimate Apparel run. Written by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage and directed by long-time Company member Daniela Varon, the performances have been selling out, similarly to their production of 4000 Miles last month.

With two additional matinee performances on Tuesday, August 8 and Wednesday, August 9, the critically acclaimed and award-winning show runs in the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre through August 13, 2017.

Artistic Director Allyn Burrows said, "we're thrilled and honored to present such a powerful voice as Lynn Nottage's in our 40th Anniversary Season and especially with such a sublime group of collaborators."

In addition to the added performances, the Company announced that actress, Rachel Christopher, will be replacing Medina Senghore as Mayme beginning with the August 1 performance. The Company congratulates Senghore who joins the Syfy series Happy!, based on the Grant Morrison and DaRick Robertson graphic novel, premiering this fall. Senghore will be a series regular alongside Chris Meloni and Patton Oswalt.

Intimate Apparel features veteran Shakespeare & Company members Nehassaiu deGannes and ChristiAnna Nelson. Playwright Lynn Nottage explores the strength of the human spirit through the story of Esther, an African-American seamstress in Manhattan in 1905, when social and class lines were distinctly drawn. A letter arrives, romance and betrayal follow, and six lives are forever changed.

Tickets for Intimate Apparel are available online at shakespeare.org, or by calling Shakespeare & Company's box office at (413) 637-3353. The Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre is air-conditioned and wheelchair accessible. Shakespeare & Company is located at 70 Kemble Street in Lenox, Massachusetts. This production is generously sponsored by The Claudia and Steven Perles Family Foundation.

IF YOU GO:

Intimate Apparel
by Lynn Nottage
Directed by Daniela Varon

Production Team:
Set Designer: Sandra Goldmark
Lighting Designer: James W. Bilnoski
Costume Designer: Molly Trainer
Sound Designer: Christopher Peifer
Projection Designer: Natalie Johnsonius Neubert
Stage Manager: Tori Sheehan
Composer/Music Director: Scott Killian

CAST:
MRS. DICKSON: MaConnia Chesser
MAYME: Rachel Christopher
GEORGE: Lee Edward Colston II
ESTHER: Nehassaiu deGannes
MRS. VAN BUREN: ChristiAnna Nelson
Mr. Marks: Tommy Schrider

More About Rachel Christopher: (Mayme, Intimate Apparel). New York: Yelena, Minor Character, Under the Radar Festival (Public Theater); Sonic Life of a Giant Tortoise, (The Play Company); Lauren, At the Table, (Fault Line Theatre); Regional: Paulina, The Winter's Tale (Shakespeare Festival St. Louis); Chelle, Detroit '67 (PlayMakers Repertory Company); Helena, A Midsummer NIght's Dream (Shakespeare Festival St. Louis); Jory, Disgraced (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis); Susan Johnston, The Heidi Chronicles (Trinity Repertory Company); Sonia, Crime and Punishment (Trinity Rep); Alma, Yellowman (Trinity Rep); Zero Cost House, (Pig Iron); House of Home (Williamstown Theatre Festival); Western Country (Williamstown Theatre Festival); TV/Film: Girl on the Train, Untouchable, Billions, Elementary. MFA from Brown/Trinity Rep.

Located in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts, Shakespeare & Company is one of the largest Shakespeare Festivals in the country. Founded in 1978, the organization attracts over 30,000 patrons annually. The Company is also home to Shakespeare & Company's internationally renowned Center for Actor Training and nationally renowned and award-winning Education Program. More information is available at www.shakespeare.org.