THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THOMAS JEFFERSON, CHARLES DICKENS AND COUNT LEO TOLSTOY: DISCORD
by Scott Carter.
November 14 – November 24, 2024
Directed and Designed by Carmen Borgia
with
Zach Curtis as Count Leo Tolstoy
Jason Guy as Charles Dickens
Brian Linden as Thomas Jefferson
A Founding Father, a Victorian novelist, and a Russian revolutionary walk into a…stop me if you’ve heard this one. Thomas Jefferson (yeah, that one), Charles Dickens (the very same) and Count Leo Tolstoy (who else?) come together in a blistering battle of wits. From Scott Carter (executive producer of “Real Time with Bill Maher”), this whip-smart comedy examines what happens when three famous thinkers are locked together in Hell. Yearning for a little food for thought with your fun? This one’s for you!
Bios
Zach Curtis (Count Leo Tolstoy) recently completed his third and final season as Producing Artistic Director of the Chenango River Theatre in Greene, NY. He has also served as the Artistic Director for the Paul Bunyan Playhouse (Bemidji, MN – 9 seasons), Fifty Foot Penguin Theater (Mpls, MN – 10 seasons) and the Black Hills Community Theater (Rapid City, SD – 4 seasons). Born and raised in Minneapolis, he has appeared on dozens of stages in Minnesota, New York and across the U.S. including The Guthrie Theatre (Born Yesterday, His Girl Friday, Night of the Iguana), two seasons in the Acting Company at the Great River Shakespeare Festival (Shakespeare in Love, As You Like It, All’s Well, Midsummer), Homestake Opera House in Lead, SD (Guys and Dolls), Springer Opera House in Columbus GA (Of Mice and Men), Virginia Stage Company in Norfolk VA (Christmas Carol) and the Chenango River Theatre (Macbeth, Art, Wait Until Dark). He is thrilled to add Leo Tolstoy to his list of real-life people he’s played, which includes Julius Caesar, gangster Alvin Karpis, and both Babe Ruth and Lou Gerhig. He lives in Binghamton NY, with his sublime partner Andréa Gregori.
Jason Guy (Charles Dickens) has suffered terribly in over 80 professional productions ranging from Shakespeare to tap dancing (sometimes both at once), and everything in between. He was poisoned (as Hamlet) and beaten (Malvolio) with the National Shakespeare Co.; betrayed (Brutus) and beheaded (Buckingham) at the American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriars Playhouse; and flogged, twice (both Dromios) by the Hamptons Shakespeare Festival. Seeking solace in living Playwrights, Mr Guy lost his faith (“Doubt”), his friends (“Art”), and finally a finger (Arkansas Rep’s “The 39 Steps”). He was then vomited on in “God of Carnage” (Cape May Stage). Blaming scene partners, Jason performed every role in Cortland Rep’s “I Am My Own Wife”; it was the loneliest thing he’s ever done. But it was as Lloyd the Director (“Noises Off”) that he weathered the worst abuse known to man: Actors. Ironically, Jason just bowed Off-Broadway in “The Actors”, in which he learned that Actors playing Actors are kinder than the real thing. In a blissfully welcome turn of events he beat and pummeled others in the Flea Theater’s long-running “Back of the Throat”, Directed by Jim Simpson. In total, this litany of maltreatment has crossed four continents, fifteen countries, and all 50 of the United States.
Brian Linden (Thomas Jefferson) is happy to return to Bridge Street Theatre where he appeared in Michelle Carter’s Better. His other regional work includes Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Lend Me a Tenor, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at Chenango River Theatre, Waiting for Godot at the Colonial Theatre, A Bold Stroke for a Wife in the Expand the Canon Staged Reading Series at the Pittsburgh International Classic Theatre, and Copenhagen, The Road to Mecca, Drkside, Hysteria, and The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer at Burning Coal Theatre Company, and David Edgar’s Iron Curtain Trilogy with them at the Cockpit in London. He has performed at Shakespeare festivals on Shelter Island and in Nebraska, Pennsylvania, San Francisco, Carmel, Idaho, and Marin. He lives in New York City where he has recently been part of a developmental workshop for McCourt, an adaptation by Ilya Khodosh of the novels ’Tis and Teacher Man with Tenney Diamond Productions. He sends his love to his companion VRS and in memory of CBX.
Scott Carter (Playwright) is a television writer and producer, best known for HBO’s Real
Time with Bill Maher, Comedy Central’s Root of All Evil, and Comedy Central’s/ABC’s
Politically Incorrect, also with Bill Maher. While writing and producing for Politically
Incorrect, Scott garnered eight Emmy nominations and won three consecutive
CableAce Awards for Best Talk Series. Other television credits include Oxygen’s
Conversations From The Edge with Carrie Fisher, Efficiency Studios’ Curb The
Discussion, and Efficiency Studios’ The Conspiracy Zone. Film credits include TBS’
Earth to America and Comedy Central’s Ain’t It Cool News.
Carmen Borgia (Director/Designer) is a musician and sound designer with early roots in theatre. He did the sound mix for 2024’s Sundance non-fiction film and Emmy winner, Going To Mars as well as 2012 Emmy Documentary winner An Original Duckumentary – this is not a typo, it’s a doc about ducks narrated by Paul Giamatti. He also supervised the American voice dubbing for Pokemon on seasons 11-14. He and his wife, Alison Davy, moved from NYC to Catskill, NY in 2012. There, he founded Ukulele Catskill, a weekly ukulele jam for all skill levels that provides a fun public space for people to develop their musical skills. He hosts Ukulele’s Unleashed, a monthly radio show on the 3rd Tuesday of each month on WGXC, 90.7FM, and co-hosts another show with Nancy Giles called The Mosquito on 3rd Mondays. In 2023, he produced and directed an audio only version of his original musical, South, which won a Platinum Award in the National Audio Theatre’s AudioPalooza Festival. He has released two other albums of original music, 2004’s North and 2009’s Red Circle Line. You can find Carmen’s music on all the regular music streaming services. As far as theatre production goes, he is picking up at BST where he left off some years ago designing and tech-ing set, lights and sound for off-off Broadway productions in NYC, The Western Stage in Salinas, CA and the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company in San Francisco. He designed the set and sound for BST’s 2024 Uncle Vanya, and for BST’s Little Shop Of Horrors he designed the set and built the carnivorous plant puppets from scratch.