ANN – Nov. 25-26, 2022
Starring Beth Goldman
Directed by Dori-Bryan-Ployer
Get Tickets Now!ANN is a no-holds-barred portrait of Ann Richards, the legendary governor of Texas. This inspiring and hilarious play brings us face to face with a complex, colorful and captivating character bigger than the state from which she hailed. This one-woman show features Mass Arts Center alum Beth Goldman in a performance you’ll always remember. Written by Emmy® Award winner Holland Taylor, ANN takes a revealing look at the impassioned woman who enriched the lives of her followers, friends and family.
‟I may have only been a child, but I think I saw plain; there was a way people could live that you would all call fair play.”
Ann Richards had an insatiable appetite. Glossy magazines. Dirty jokes. Martinis. It is true. Ann Richards could make an angry tiger blush. Alongside her penchant for Thursday night parties, Ann had an equally ferocious appetite for politics. Front and center on Ann’s agenda was the ideology of fair play.
Alongside a delightful and at times shocking sense of humor, Ann tells the story of her childhood, her marriage to David Richards, her alcoholism and recovery, and her rise to political office. Her story is at times hilarious, at times devastating, which is to say, it is human.
When Ann Richards came to recognize her true value, she left an undeniable mark in American politics. An unapologetic mark. Arguably Richards’ candor is even more refreshing now, in this era of 24-hour partisan news that insist on casting all of our leaders as either righteous heroes or sinister villains. I wonder if the extreme polarization in the country today might be mitigated if we remembered the simple truth that our elected leaders, and we ourselves, are generally more like Ann than the over-simplified caricatures we are often presented.
“But listen, y’all, on paper…a woman…a divorced woman, a 10-year-sober-alcoholic woman – and a Democrat no less – running for Governor of macho-conservative Texas? Did we dare…Yeah we did!”
— Ann
Beth Goldman is delighted to once again be working with Dori Bryan-Ployer after her direction in Driving Miss Daisy. Past performances with the Mass Arts Center (then MMAS) and New England Repertory Company include: All My Sons (Kate); The Glass Menagerie (Amanda), for which she received a Best Actress nomination by Motif Magazine; Harold and Maude (Maude); Hollywood Arms (Nanny); Moon Over Buffalo (Charlotte); On Golden Pond (Ethel); Vanya, Sonia, Masha and Spike (Cassandra); 1940’s Radio Hour (Lou); and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Mother Teresa).
With Lyric Stage: The Diary of Anne Frank (Mrs. Van Dann), Butley (Edna).
With New England Repertory: Crossing Delancey (Bubbie), Doubt (Sister Aloysius), Over the River and Through the Woods (Aida).
With New England Repertory and 4th Wall Theater Co.: My Name Is Asher Lev (Mother), Golda’s Balcony (Golda), If I Forget (Ellen).
Goldman has directed numerous shows, including Forty-Five Seconds from Broadway, Rumors, and Sorry, Wrong Number. Her one-woman shows include Golda’s Balcony, Henrietta Cooks, Tea with Emily Dickinson, Enterprising Women, Dollies and Doughnuts, and Grace Fairbanks of Dedham. Her latest independent film work is Penpals, writer/director A. Peri, and in the 150th Town of Norwood production of Our Town (Mrs. Gibbs), director Tom Frye.
Goldman has a bachelor of science in Theater from Northwestern University and an MFA in acting from Brandeis University. She is an acting teacher at MassArt, the acting coach at Norwood High School and does individual coaching.
Dori Bryan-Ployer
Dori is The Artistic Director of The Mass Arts Center and Founder and Director of Education for The Mass Arts Academy. She has directed and choreographed throughout Southeastern Massachusetts including the MMAS Blackbox Theater, Bay Colony Productions, The Buckley Performing Arts Center, the Family Performing Arts Center at Bridgewater State University, and Dean College.
Dori has directed and choreographed over 80 productions. Recent credits include: The Great American Trailer Park Musical, Spring Awakening, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Producers and Rent.
Throughout her career, Dori has been awarded and recognized for her work as a theatre educator, director, and choreographer. She serves as an adjudicator/respondent/workshop presenter for the Massachusetts Educational Theatre Guild, The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, and the New England Theatre Conference.
In 2021, Dori completed her PhD in Education through Lesley University. Dori is thrilled to be working alongside the incomparable Beth Goldman on Holland Taylor’s one woman play Anne, work that recounts the life of Texas Governor, Ann Richards. Dori and Beth previously worked together on Driving Miss Daisy. Dori lives in Holbrook with her husband, Scott, and their lovingly spoiled rescue, Caity. Dori thanks the team.
