PREVIEW: Great Barrington Public Theatre, The Shot

Bard College, Simon's Rock, Great Barrington, MA

www.greatbarringtonpublictheater.org

June 16 - 19, 2022

GB Public Theater punctuates the 2022 stage season with four new, solo performances that run for five weeks, themed to stories of humanity and the power of a single voice to tell them.

 

One show in the series is the world premiere of Robin Gerber’s new play, "The Shot," directed by Michelle Joyner and starring Emmy Award-winning actress Sharon Lawrence as Katharine Graham, whose journey from an isolated, abused young mother to powerful publisher of The Washington Post, brought down Richard Nixon’s White House. Her backstory takes audiences into the shadows of an abusive marriage that led to a stunning, life-altering trauma. Katharine's struggle to discover herself leads her to become the woman who shook up Washington and became a model of determination and power.

 

The play is a work of fiction based on the playwright's book about Graham. Robin Gerber’s book, Katharine Graham: The Leadership Journey of An American Icon. The plot exposes the scourge of intimate partner abuse and domestic violence, and deals with issues that still define our times--gender bias; financial power; guns in America; and power structures that subjugate women. Along the way, "The Shot" explores Katharine Graham’s distinct, winning character, inner conflicts, fear, and deep faith in love and duty. Her struggles to persevere and persist exemplifies survival and triumph against overwhelming odds.

In choosing The Shot to show the power of a single human voice Jim Frangione, GB Public Artistic Director, explains, “The Shot is a personal story of a famed person who faces and conquers harrowing circumstance that too many women are forced and expected to face every day. She took on gender shaming, grappled with self-conflict and mastered self-discovery. It’s a story of human character that makes us all exceptional.