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By the Way, Meet Vera Stark

April 16, 2014 - May 11, 2014

By Lynn Nottage

Directed by Walter Dallas

IN ITS BALTIMORE/WASHINGTON PREMIERE, THE PLAY COULD NOT HAVE ASKED FOR A MUCH MORE VIBRANT OR REWARDING PRODUCTION THAN THE ONE OFFERED AT EVERYMAN...'VERA STARK' IS WELL WORTH MEETING. DAWN URSULA IS BRILLIANT...THE ACTRESS, ONE OF EVERYMAN'S RESIDENT ARTISTS, HAS THE BEAUTY AND NUANCE TO MAKE A RIVETING VERA.

- Baltimore Sun

DAWN URSULA JUST KILLS IT IN THE TITLE ROLE. A FEARLESSLY INTELLIGENT AND DELICIOUSLY VICIOUS ANNIHILATION OF HOLLYWOOD.

- City Paper

ONCE YOU MEET VERA STARK, YOU CAN'T FORGET HER...AN INCANDESCENT CAREER HIGH FOR DAWN URSULA...NOT ENOUGH CAN BE SAID ABOUT HER PERFORMANCE. IT IS A TRUE STAR TURN, SHOWING BREATHTAKING VERSATILITY (SHE SINGS, SHE DANCES, SHE ACTS!) AND GENEROSITY OF SPIRIT, BOTH PLAYFUL AND POIGNANT.

- DC Theatre Scene

A BRILLIANT COMBINATION OF HUMOR AND DRAMA...WALTER DALLAS' CAST IS THE PERFECT FIT FOR THE PLAY. BETH HYLTON IS THE EPITOME OF STARLET TURNED DIVA AS GLORIA MITCHELL...DAWN URSULA EMBODIES VERA STARK IN A SAUCY VEIN. HER COMIC DELIVERY IS A SCREAM. A PRODUCTION WELL WORTH ENJOYING!

- DC Metro Theatre Arts

Overview

It’s the height of 1930s Hollywood. Film studios are filled with glitz, glamor, and eager starlets just waiting to be discovered. Enter Vera Stark, a determined and headstrong African-American maid to a white movie star. But it turns out that Vera is an actress, too! When the stars align and both actresses are cast in the same Southern epic, the story behind the cameras leaves Vera with an unexpected and controversial legacy scholars will question for decades to come. Deliciously funny and wildly entertaining, Vera Stark uses today’s obsession and fascination with tabloids and celebrity gossip to get to the truth behind this mysterious legend of Hollywood.

Cast

Resident Company Actor

Kelli Blackwell

as Lottie McBride/Carmen Levy-Green

Beth Hylton

as Gloria Mitchell

Wil Love

as Frederick Slasvick/Brad Donovan

Robert Lyons

as Maximillian von Oster/Peter Rhys-Davies

Kathryn Tkel

as Anna Mae Simpkins/Afua Assata Ejobo

Dawn Ursula

as Vera Stark

Yaegel T. Welch

as Leroy Barksdale/Herb Forrester

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Everyman Theatre was turned into a 1930s Hollywood soundstage in order to create and film 'The Belle of New Orleans,' the film seen within the play 'By the Way, Meet Vera Stark.' Take a look into the making of the movie!

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A SPECIAL LOOK INSIDE "BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK"

Get an inside look at the filming of The Belle of New Orleans, the fictious film seen within Everyman's production of By the Way, Meet Vera Stark.

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