Dear Elizabeth

Sarah Ruhl is an award-winning American playwright, author,  and professor. Her plays include Eurydice, In the Next Room, or the vibrator play (Pulitzer Prize finalist, 2010); The Clean House (Pulitzer Prize finalist, 2005; Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, 2004); Passion Play (Pen American Award), Orlando; and Letters from Max (based on her book with poet Max Ritvo). Her plays have been produced on Broadway and across the country as well as internationally, and translated into fourteen languages. Her books include Smile, a memoir, and 100 essays I don’t have time to write. She is the recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award, a PEN Center Award for mid-career playwrights, a Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, and a MacArthur “genius award” Fellowship. She teaches at the Yale School of Drama and lives in Brooklyn with her family.  

Actor/director Holly Twyford has performed in over eighty productions in many of the acclaimed theaters in and around Washington Area, including Arena Stage, Signature Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre, Studio Theatre and Woolly Mammoth Theatre to name a few. She recently appeared in the Woolly Mammoth/Wilma Theatre co-production of My Mama and the Full -Scale Invasion by Sasha Denisova. Ms. Twyford has been nominated for multiple Helen Hayes awards and is a four-time recipient for Outstanding Actress. She was honored with Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Emery Battis Award for Acting Excellence for her portrayal of Anna in Harold Pinter’s Old Times. Ms. Twyford is proud to be a Lunt-Fontanne Fellow, a member of the Studio Theatre’s Cabinet, and a Ford’s Theatre Associate Artist. Her credits include commercials, voiceovers, educational and training films, TV and several independent films. Ms. Twyford is proud to be a resident of Washington, D.C. 

Nancy Robinette is an Alumni Company Member of Woolly Mammoth, having performed in some of its earliest shows, including Christmas on Mars, Fat Men In Skirts, New York Mets, Billy Nobody, Life During Wartime, Luna Vista, Aunt Dan & Lemon, Half Off, Raised in Captivity, Harvey, The Second Man, Brimstone & Treacle, Freedomland, and Lenny & Lou. She recently appeared on Broadway in Prayer for the French Republic, and most recently in Washington in Jennifer Who Is Leaving at Round House, The Chameleon at Theatre J, The Trip to Bountiful at Ford’s, Everybody at Shakespeare Theatre, and the upcoming Problems Between Sisters at Studio. For her many years in DC theatre she received the Helen Hayes Tribute.  

Rick Foucheux first appeared with Woolly in R.U.R. (1983). He joined the company in 2000 and remains as an alumnus. Rick played many roles in Washington’s great regional theatres, received five Helen Hayes Awards and the lifetime achievement award of the Washington Area Performing Arts Video Archives. His retirement activities include occasional appearances such as this reading with his longtime friend and colleague Nancy Robinette, and many personal creative endeavors, including a much loved role as grandfather.