A NOTE FROM THE SCHOOL OF THEATRE DIRECTOR
The School of Theatre is overjoyed to welcome you to our 2025-2026 season. This year all of our work explores the themes of Renew and Reuse, an invitation for all of our resident theatre practitioners here at SOT to present work that takes a story or theme that may seem somewhat familiar, use the storytelling power of theatre to examine those themes anew. For some of our projects such as Dream this entails adapting a play that has been mounted perpetually since its first incarnations and re-shaping it to push the boundaries of live performance through its exploration of technology on stage, or, not so perpetual, such as Islander and its exploration of sound. For our many instances of new work–The Eleanors, Thumbprint, Calf Scramble, Flowers for Mrs. Harris, Flight, and our Next Stage Workshops and Springboards– this re-envisioning takes the form of new and emerging artists re-considering essential queries of what it means to be human during our brief period of time on this earth together. For pieces such as Top Girls, Fefu and Her Friends, 12 Angry Jurors, and contemporary adaptations of Roméo and Juliette, Medea and The Oresteia, this can mean rediscovering work by playwrights who have demanded audiences contemplate the forces that bind, or otherwise threaten to tear us apart. We are also delighted to revisit offerings that appear each year in our season–namely our collaboration with Boston University's Dance Theatre Group Aurora Borealis and Director’s Project. We hope, however, that you will experience all of our pieces as a celebration of community and collaboration, forces that have proven time again, to instill meaning not only in our work, but the processes that we share to bring that work to life.
Kirsten Greenidge Director of the School of Theatre, Boston University
JAKE SUNG-GUK SULLIVAN YOU STUPID DARKNESS!
FEBRUARY 28-MARCH 4, 2026
Boston University College of Fine Arts 855 Commonwealth Ave. Boston, MA
Runtime
The show runs 1 hour and 45 minutes without intermission.
Caution
CAST
FRANCES
JON ANGIE JOEY
Keira Bertram
Josh Pearlstein
Sakura Rosenthal Ben Mills
DESIGN & PRODUCTION TEAM
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR / STAGE MANAGER
PRODUCTION MANAGER
DIALECT / VOCAL COACH
LIGHTING DESIGNER
SOUND DESIGNER
SCENIC DESIGNER
COSTUME DESIGNER
TROMBONE CONSULTANT
FACULTY PROJECT ADVISOR
Avery Fallon
Crystal Smith
Mairéad O’Neill
Alyssa Gonzalez
Dane Krusick
Dabin Nam
Erinn Grendahl
Gillian Kearney
Tasia Jones
PLAYWRIGHT & DIRECTOR
Sam Steiner (PLAYWRIGHT)
Sam is a playwright and screenwriter hailing from Manchester. His acclaimed plays include Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons (Walrus Theatre, 2015, Edinburgh Fringe, West End 2023), A Table Tennis Play (Walrus Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe, 2019), You Stupid Darkness! (Paines Plough & Theatre Royal Plymouth, 2019 and Southwark Theatre, 2020), and Kanye the First (HighTide, 2017). He also has new commissions with the Almeida Theatre and Francesca Moody. Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons has been performed all over the world in over a dozen languages and will make its West End debut in January 2023.
Jake Sung-Guk Sullivan (DIRECTOR)
Jake Sung-Guk Sullivan is a MFA Directing candidate originally from Minneapolis, MN. He has worked as a director with Theater Mu, Boston's Asian American Playwright Collective, Lyric Arts Main Street Stage, Stages Theatre Company, [un]qualified theatre, and as an assistant / associate director with The Guthrie Theater, Theatre Mu, and The Jungle Theatre. BFA Musical Theatre, MSU Mankato '16. Much love and thanks to this team, his family, and especially to his wife, Kiko.
MEET THE CAST
KEIRA BERTRAM (FRANCES) (she/her) is a sophomore acting major from Bainbridge Island, WA, and could not be more excited about making her Boston University School of Theatre debut. After working backstage for other productions at BU as a stage manager (DREAM) and production assistant (Richard III, The Skriker), she is ready to bring her talents to the stage. She would like to thank her mom for letting her borrow her cardigan for this costume and for also being her strongest pillar of support.
JOSH PERLSTEIN (JON) (he/him) is a sophomore acting student from Berkeley Heights, NJ.
SAKURA ROSENTHAL (ANGIE) (she/her) is a Theatre ArtsPerformance major in the Boston University School of Theatre Class of 2028 with a minor in Japanese. She is a Boston native and has enjoyed working on You Stupid Darkness! as her first Boston University production. She would like to thank her family and her friends for supporting her and being her driving force.
BEN MILLS (JOEY) (he/him) is a sophomore acting major from Burke, Virginia. He is very excited to be in his first BU production and hopes you enjoy the show! He would like to thank his Mom, Dad, and friends for always supporting him.
MEET THE PRODUCTION TEAM
Mairéad O’Neill (DIALECT COACH)
Senior Acting Major, NYC native. Past BU productions include ENTRY, where she wore a black morph suit covered in oil, SUNDAY IN THE PARK…, where she played a prostitute fisherwoman, & ONE PENNY DOWN, where she played a chicken. Professional: THE MUSEUM OF BROKEN RELATIONSHIPS (SpeakEasy Stage), SOFT STAR (Boston Playwrights’), I AND YOU (Penguin Rep). Her voice is on the award winning MARS PATEL podcast. Proud SAG-AFTRA member (Go Birds!), love to this team & parents. maireadoneill net
Crystal Smith (PRODUCTION MANAGER) Crystal Smith is a first year MFA Production Management student here at Boston University. She is from Houston, TX where she worked as a SM at the Alley Theatre, Houston Grand Opera and taught high school theatre. She would like to thank her family for their constant support and looking forward to the memories Boston will bring to her!!
Avery Fallon (STAGE MANAGER) (she/her) is a sophomore Theatre Arts: Performance Major from Atlanta, GA. She is excited to be working on the other side of the table for the first time!
Alyssa Gonzalez (LIGHTING DESIGNER) (she/her), originally from Houston TX, is an MFA Lighting Design student She earned a BFA in Theatre, with a concentration in Technical Production, from Texas State University. Outside of school, Alyssa has worked for companies such as Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, ZACH Theatre, and PCPA: Pacific Conservatory Theatre. She is so glad to have been granted this opportunity and wants to thank her sisters, parents, and friends or their never-ending support!
Zola Gutierrez (ASSISTANT LIGHTING DESIGNER) (they/she) is originally from Taos, NM but now lives in Florida. They are a Lighting Design major in the DP&M class of 2028. Some of her favorite shows she has worked on includes Apple Trees and Adams Eve and American Buffalo She would like to thank her dad and the Squad for their support.
Dane Krusick (SOUND DESIGNER) is a MFA Sound Design student originally from Minocqua, Wisconsin He has earned his BFA in Theatre Technology and Design from Northern Michigan University. Most recent credits include, Jesus Christ Superstar (A1), Wizard of Oz (Sound Designer), Rocky Horror Show (Co-Sound Designer), and Cabaret (Sound Designer) .
MEET THE PRODUCTION TEAM
Dabin Nam (SCENIC DESIGNER) is an MFA Scene Design student at Boston University, originally from Seoul, South Korea. She is deeply grateful for this opportunity and wishes to thank her parents, brother and friends for their endless love and support.
Erinn Grendahl (COSTUME DESIGNER) is a first year costume designer originally from Minneapolis, MN She is excited to present her first BU show as a lead designer in collaboration with the rest of the artistic team of You Stupid Darkness. Pervious BU credits include Fefu and Her Friends.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
Whenever I describe to someone that You Stupid Darkness! is set during a devastatingly slow ecological apocalypse, the half-hearted joke I wearily get in return is: “Oh, so, like right now?” - and honestly, who can blame someone for feeling that way? Day-to-day life in our current times is surreal and anxiety inducing. We spend each moment awaiting the next horrific deadline, the next unprecedented tragedy, lawsuits, wars, storms and scandals, always wondering how things could possibly be worse - and, of course, they inevitably are. How much more can we take? What can we lean on for support in a world that is in constant upheaval?
Well, there’s you, for starters. And me. And the people sitting next to you. At the end of the day, when the rug is pulled out from under us and we start to fall, the only thing left to cling to is each other. We are each other’s best best when the world comes crashing down and life as we know it splits at the seams. We may still have our kettles and fir trees, but just like the four volunteers manning the Brightline phones, we need each other more than we know. It is the need of humanity, when stumbling through the darkness, to feel heard and seen - and I believe it is just as important to make sure those around us feel the same way.
And so, we hope you can go out tonight and light the candle for someone else. If we all carry our lights proudly, things maybe won’t seem quite so dark. And remember - you’re through to someone you can talk to.
Thank you and enjoy the show!
-Jake Sung-Guk Sullivan, Director
In a cramped, crumbling office, four volunteers spend a few hours every Tuesday night on the phone telling strangers that everything is going to be okay.
As the outside world disintegrates, they teeter on the edge of their own personal catastrophes. Their hopes and fears become entangled as they try, desperately, to connect with the callers and with each other.
Sam Steiner's You Stupid Darkness! is an urgent play about the struggle for optimism and community amid the chaos of a world falling apart. It was first seen at Theatre Royal Plymouth in February 2019, in a co-production between Paines Plough and Theatre Royal Plymouth.
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