Productions
* World Premiere

Agnes Smedley: Our American Friend (1993)
War-torn China: from the front lines to the inner sanctums, she was there. The year is 1937. Reporting from guerrilla headquarters, journalist Agnes Smedley is granted an interview with the Red Army’s charismatic leader in exchange for teaching folkclances to the troops. As General Chu Teh recalls the hardships of his peasant past, Agnes is flooded with memories of her own - and finds with Chu a kinship of the heart and mind she’d traveled the globe to discover. Drawing on Eastern and Western traditions in music and theatre, the stories of Agnes and Chu unfold in intertwining vignettes that weave in and out of time.
About the Play
Written By: Doris Baizley
About the Production
World Premiere
Run Dates: 9/1/1993 - 10/10/1993
Program: Program (.pdf)
Venue: Queen Anne
Directed By: Steven E. Alter
Cast: Ernest Abuba - Chu Teh (Zhu De)
Susan Barnes - Agnes Smedley
David Mong - Guard
Jeanne Sakata - Lily Wu (Wu Guangwei)
Behind the Scenes: Ernest Abuba - Chinese Movement
Jeanne Arnold - Costume Designer
Mary H. Corrales-Diaz - Stage Manager
Deborah Frockt - Dramaturg
Steven M. Klein - Sound Designer
Mayme Paul-Thompson - Choreographer
Phil Schermer - Producing Director
Shelley Henze Schermer - Set Designer
Jeff Steitzer - Artistic Director
Susan Trapnell Moritz - Managing Director
Michael Wellborn - Lighting Designer