White Heron Theatre Company to Present THE 39 STEPS in Nantucket

White Heron Theatre Company of Nantucket will round out the season with the fast-paced comedy mystery thriller The 39 Steps by Patrick Barlow. Based on the novel by John Buchan and the masterpiece film by Alfred Hitchcock, The 39 Steps was a runaway hit on Broadway and in London, where it received the 2007 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. A man with a boring life meets a woman with a thick accent who says she's a spy. When he takes her home, she is murdered. Soon, a mysterious organization called "The 39 Steps" is hot on the man's trail in a nationwide manhunt that climaxes in a death-defying finale! Featuring over 150 zany characters (played by a ridiculously talented cast of four), The 39 Steps is directed by White Heron Resident Director Mark Shanahan White Heron's Dial M for Murder, See Monsters of the Deep). Shananhan brings his critically-acclaimed production to the island after having directed it at theaters nationwide from New Jersey to Texas, where Houston Magazine called it "Some of the most entertaining choreography and stagecraft I've seen... wind sequences, bicycle rides, running across terrain-and the priceless scenes in which the actors must mimic being on a bouncing train!... this is a fast-paced, standing-ovation-deserving summer fare." The 39 Steps runs from August 10 to August 24, performances at 7:30pm.

White Heron membership ticket holders and Heron Society Members will have the opportunity to select 39 Steps as part of their 2023 season ticket packages for all performances.

Tickets for the White Heron's season are now available. For additional information, please visit our website at www.whiteherontheatre.org or call (508) 228-2156. For press tickets, please contact Caroline Curnow at caroline@whiteherontheatre.org

About the Artists:

Mark Shanahan^ (Director) At White Heron, Mark directed Private Lives (featuring Jermey Shamos, Nina Hellman, Celia Keenan-Bolger, John Conlee and Jan Neuberger) and The Hound Of The Baskervilles. Additionally, he performed in The Weir and is the author of White Heron's annual production of A Nantucket Christmas Carol. Mark is the creator/writer of White Heron's Ghost Light Radio Series, featuring original Nantucket ghost stories, starring notables such as Christopher Plummer, Judy Ivey, Rhonda Ross and many more. Mark is the author of the Off-Broadway hit A Sherlock Carol,(nominated by the Off Broadway Alliance as Best New Play 2022) playing annually in New York and London, The Dingdong, A Merry Little Christmas Carol, The Chronology Protection Case (adaptation, Edgar Award nominee), and co-writer of the short screenplay Kill Me (Adirondack FilmFest). His directing work has been seen extensively at The Alley Theatre, Westport Country Playhouse, Irish Rep, White Heron, Florida Rep, George Street, Virginia Stage, Penguin Rep, The Fulton, and many more. As an actor, Mark appeared on Broadway in The 39 Steps and Philadelphia, Here I Come!, Off-Broadway in Tryst, The Shaughraun, Small World, Checkers, As Bees In Honey Drown and others, and has performed on numerous regional stages. Mark was recently appointed the incoming Artistic Director of the Westport Country Playhouse. He is a graduate of Brown University (BA) and Fordham (MA). www.mark-shanahan.net.

Seth Andrew Bridges (Clown 2) is a NYC based actor and stuntman, and is happy to return to White Heron, where he last appeared in Peter and The Starcatcher. Off-Broadway: Mint Theatre Company. Regional: Alley Theatre, Pioneer Theatre Company, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Riverside Theatre, Gulfshore Playhouse, Syracuse Stage, Florida Repertory Theatre, TheatreSquared. Film and TV: Over 90 titles, including " The Walking Dead: Dead City," "FBI: Most Wanted," "Severance," "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," "American Horror Story," "FBI," Modern Love," "Succession," "Only Murders in the Building." Interactive: Red Dead Redemption 2. BFA from NYU. Thanks to Mark, and love to #tinybae. www.sethandrewbridges.com

Kristen Hahn (Annabella/Pamela/Margaret)- Broadway: A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder; Our Town (starring Paul Newman). 1st National Tour: Hello, Dolly!; A Gentleman's Guide... . Regional: Guys and Dolls (Maine State Music Theatre); The 39 Steps (Virginia Stage); Death Takes a Holiday (Arvada Center); Our Town (Westport Country Playhouse). Film: 5 Flights Up (starring Diane Keaton and Morgan Freeman); Our Town (PBS Masterpiece Theatre). BFA Carnegie Mellon University.

James Taylor odom (Richard Hannay). National Tours: The D'Ysquith Family in A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder and Von Trapp U/S in The Sound of Music. Regional: Wadsworth in Clue with Sally Struthers (Gateway Playhouse); The 39 Steps (Virginia Stage Company); Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (TheatreSquared); It Came From Outer Space-the musical (World Premiere, TheatreSquared/Chicago Shakespeare); Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock Holmes The Final Adventure (West Virginia Public Theatre); D'Ysquith Family in GGLAM (Gateway Playhouse & Tuacahn); Grumpy Old Men: the musical (Ogunquit Playhouse); The Suspects in Murder For Two (TheatreSquared); Alan in God of Carnage (Shadowland Stages); George Banks in Mary Poppins (Tuacahn). MFA: University of Arkansas; BA: Brenau University. Avalon Artists Group.

Patrick Halley (Clown 1) Happily returns to White Heron, after Fireflies, A Nantucket Christmas Carol (2018, 2021), and See Monsters of the Deep. He is a New York-based actor whose work has been seen Off-Broadway and at many of the country's major resident theaters, including The Pearl Theatre Company, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Denver Center Theatre Company, Westport Country Playhouse, Baltimore Center Stage, Pioneer Theatre Company, Maltz Jupiter Theatre, People's Light, Syracuse Stage, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Flat Rock Playhouse, TheatreSquared, Virginia Stage Company, Mill Mountain Theatre, and four seasons with the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. He has appeared on television in "Law & Order: SVU", "Difficult People", and multiple national commercials. Patrick is a Bucknell graduate and native of Poughkeepsie, NY. Thanks to Mark for his friendship and collaboration, and to Lynne and Michel for an artistic home on this magical island. www.patrickhalley.com

T. Rick Jones (Production Stage Manager)-T. Rick has worked at White Heron for almost a decade and his career spans 30 years, with other credits including Regional: Legacy Theatre Company in Stony Creek, CT (PSM); Lyric Stage Company of Boston (PSM); White Plains Performing Arts Center (PSM); Colonial Theatre - Shakespeare in the Park (PSM, Production Manager, Assistant Producer, Production Photographer); The Ivoryton Playhouse (Resident SM); Seven Angels Theatre; (Resident SM). Off-Broadway: Sessions: The Musical (PSM); A Night at the Carlyle (PSM); Yohen (PSM). T. Rick is also the Managing Editor of the online outlet Daily Star Trek News and a Contributing Writer for Sherlock Holmes Magazine. His Sherlockian story "The Adventure of the Scorched Sailor," published in 2022 by Belanger Books, takes place on Nantucket during the Great Fire of 1846.