THE REVOLUTIONISTS

By Lauren Gunderson

In Celebration of Women’s History Month!

A beautiful quartet of bad-ass women at the height of the Reign of Terror. Liberté, égalité… sororité.

(Liberty, Equality, Sisterhood)

On Our Stage

MARCH 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 29

Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30 PM | Sundays at 2:00 PM

Read The Full Review

Four Women, One Revolution, A Timeless Story—The Revolutionists at South Camden Theatre Shows Heads Will Roll as Well as Laughs

by Amber Kusching

“Sometimes a revolution needs a woman’s touch.”

Four bold women—playwright Olympe de Gouges, assassin Charlotte Corday, ribbon-loving Marie Antoinette, and the Haitian rebel Marianne Angelle—team up in a wild, feminist comedy set amid the Reign of Terror. As they plot, spar, and even murder Marat, they battle the rising madness of 1793 Paris. Blending history and fantasy, this sharp, irreverent play explores violence, legacy, activism, and sisterhood—part true story, part fiction, part theatrical fever dream—ending in a rousing song and a scaffold.

Centered on the plucky Parisian playwright Olympe de Gouges (played by Neena Boyle), three women seek her assistance. The first, Marianne Angelle (played by Tasha Holmes), a Caribbean freedom fighter, looks to Gouges for help writing a pamphlet that will tell the truth about Haitian slavery and the revolution. The second, assassin Charlotte Corday (played by Emma Friend) wants Gouges to write a story that will show her as a hero after she murders the Jacobin mastermind, Jean-Paul Marat. And finally, the ribbon-obsessed Marie Antoinette (played by Rachel Demasi), a vilified queen, wants Olympe to write a new narrative—a rebrand—to fix her reputation.

Set in a beautifully nuanced and notable Neoclassical-style scenic design, four fearless actresses tackle this fiercely feminist play, using comedy as a coping mechanism during the Parisian Reign of Terror in 1793. The stunning period set was designed by Robert Bingaman and shows an incremental transformation as the play progresses. With help from Props Manager Pam Staley, the set progressively clutters with strewn books, papers, and ribbons, echoing the chaos and fear unfolding in the minds of these four women. By the end of the play, the stage is littered with memories and mementos- traces of what was and could have been. There is beauty in the chaos. The set also features a guillotine sitting high, center stage during the entire production, looming over the women, such as the fear of execution lingers on their minds, and is inevitably used like Chekov’s gun.

Lauren Gunderson’s play is both comedic and tragic. The audience is full of both belly laughs and tears. Gunderson’s 2016 play uses modern language, and this production features modern gestures and acting to tell this historical and hysterical story.

Neena Boyle who plays Olympe de Gouges- French playwright and political activist who wrote “The Declaration of the Right of Woman and of the Female Citizen”—is animated and dramatic. Boyle plays the ups and downs of Gouges with passion and conviction. She is fearless but at the same time fearful as her impending death approaches. Boyle is sassy and sarcastic and brings light air to the dark times.

Tasha Holmes as the fictional Marianne Angelle- who is based on a woman Gouges saw on the streets of Paris—is stern yet sympathetic. She perfectly portrays the character’s resolve and resistance. Holmes brings a unique energy to the table that is steadfast and true.

Emma Friend as the infamous assassin Charlotte Corday (and making her SCTC debut) gives honesty and resolve to Corday. She is angry and authentic. Friend adds sympathy to a killer and shows determination through her character choices. Her portrayal is compelling and nuanced.

Rachel Demasi as Marie Antoinette (also making her SCTC debut), plays Antoinette as delightfully air-headed but transformative. Her performance is magnetic and she gives this infamously heartless figure heart. She is genuine as Antoinette unfurls her façade. Together, these four actresses share great chemistry and sisterhood.

Dialect Coach Meghan Malloy did amazing work with Holmes and Demassi on flawless accents. Director and SCTC Artistic Director Dawn Varava executes the play with bold blocking, meaningful details, and a clear vision. Varava has great attention to detail. Every ribbon, though seemingly sporadically strewn, is perfectly placed where it needs to be. The repetitive ribbon motif is particularly poignant from Marie’s Mary Poppin’s bag of ribbons to the ribbon around Angelle’s body boldly declaring “Revolution for All” to the ribbons around the necks of the beheaded and the ribbons signifying bloodshed. Varava’s blocking and direction are a great utilization of the space and give momentum to the action, moving the play forward.

Louise Gareau’s costume design sets the tone for the play. Her design features classical corsets and period-appropriate garb. It sets a firm tone though the play is written in more modern English. The costumes are visually stunning and detailed from the lace on Antoinette’s shoes to the multi-purpose collar of Gouges garb.

Hunter A. Mountz’s lighting design captures the important moments and aids in the storytelling of the production. From the candlelit sconces to the spotlit sections, every lighting change matters. The sound design by Jairous L. Parker, Sr. is also effective and significant. There was a beautiful blend of more traditional music and contemporary songs which accurately reflected the play’s mix of the old with the new.

With help from Stage Manager August Fen DeLuca and Production Manager Melody G. Moore, South Camden Theatre Company’s The Revolutionists is timely, touching, thoughtful and terrific.

Gunderson’s play, though fictional, is rooted in fact. The real-life Gouges did not know these women but lived in the same era. Gouges did actually write about Marie Antoinette though she never met her. In her final, unfinished play, Gouges wrote Antoinette as a sympathizer to the Revolution and the controversy around it ultimately led to her death. Charlotte Corday was a real woman who died at 24 years old for killing Jean-Paul Marat saying he was responsible for the bloody September Massacres, a wave of mob violence in mainly Paris prisons. These women’s lives and deaths are documented history, and Gunderson artfully weaves their stories together to make a thought-provoking play.

Gunderson’s play is intriguing. It calls itself out and contains many aspects of metatheatre. The play overall is a commentary on theatre, breaking the fourth wall to acknowledge the audience and itself. Gunderson’s play also brings forth the importance of history and legacy and shows us that sometimes an ending is just a beginning. It is a play audiences are sure to reflect upon.

South Camden Theatre Company’s production is perfectly timed amidst current political and social turmoil and conveniently centered at the heart of Women’s History Month. This play is also the first production in SCTC’s 21st season themed “Laughing through the storm”. “Women are again losing hard won rights, including agency over our own bodies, and risk being silenced. Now more than ever, we need our Olympes, Mariannes, Charlottes, and Maries- to remind us how to confront old threats with strength, solidarity, and perhaps even humor.”- Varava writes in her director’s note.

South Camden Theatre Company’s The Revolutionists plays now through March 29th at The Waterfront South Theatre in Camden, NJ. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit https://www.southcamdentheatre.org/

“Sometimes good things make a lot of noise.”

**“It’s a powerful thing to come together and laugh in a scary time.”
— Playwright Lauren Gunderson**

It’s 1793 and four bold women—playwright Olympe de Gouges, assassin Charlotte Corday, ribbon-loving Marie Antoinette, and Haitian rebel Marianne Angelle—team up in a wild, feminist comedy set amid the Reign of Terror. As they plot, spar, and even murder Marat, they battle the rising madness of 1793 Paris. Blending history and fantasy, this sharp, irreverent play explores violence, legacy, activism, and sisterhood—part true story, part fiction, part theatrical fever dream—ending in a rousing song and a scaffold.

“A sassy, hold-on-to-your-seats theatrical adventure… wonderfully wild and raucous… She (the playwright) puts four women on the stage who have a lot to say and turns them loose. It’s a wild ride, filled with verbal gymnastics that come racing at you so quickly it’s occasionally hard to keep up. Listen closely, though, and hang on tight. If you do, you’ll be treated to an invigorating and enlightening journey.”

— Cincinnati Enquirer

“Gunderson’s bold and clever. “The Revolutionists” is an astoundingly accomplished show. Bottom line: Ingeniously conceived and delivered.”

— Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2016

“This play is ambitious, cerebral, hilarious and serious, boisterous, intriguing, entertaining, and, ultimately, extremely satisfying… ‘The Revolutionists’ is a very funny and cleverly written play that deserves to be seen.”

— Daniel Skora, It’s All Theatre

PURCHASE TICKETS

WHO’S WHO IN THE CAST

NEENA BOYLE (she/her) (OLYMPE DE GOUGES) is thrilled to be a part of the revolution! Previously at SCTC: The Toxic Avenger, How The Light Gets In, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, A Good Farmer. Select regional credits: Dachau For Queers (The LAB for Philly Fringe), Fellowship! (SideQuest Theater) Beirut (Casabuena Cultural Productions); Moon Over Buffalo, Hello, Dolly, Into the Woods, The Sound of Music, Escape to Margaritaville (Candlelight Theatre); Billy Elliot (BToP); Rocky (Walnut Street Theatre). BFA from UArts. Huge thanks to Dawn, August, and all of the fierce, fabulous Revolutionists, and love, as always, to Billy and Rita. More at www.neenaboyle.com

TASHA HOLMES (MARIANNE ANGELLE)
(she/her) is a Philly-based actor and writer originally from Virginia. Recent Credits include Dot (Shelly) with South Camden Theatre, Secrets (Lisa) at the Plays and Players Theatre, Monkey Don’t Stop No Show (Beverly) with Theatre in the X, Ghetto Gods in Divineland (Geikyla) with Passage Theatre; & Say it Ain’t So (Voice of Renny) with Revolution Shakespeare. Currently, she is working on a web series called A Song for Nia. Tasha is excited to be returning to South Camden to share space with these talented artists.

EMMA FRIEND (CHARLOTTE CORDAY) This is Emma’s debut show with South Camden Theatre Company! After graduating from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, they worked in Boston and Western Massachusetts with the new, traction-building theater company Plays in Place. Since moving to Philadelphia in August, she has been working on film sets and tackling the acting industry with the coolest people in the world by her side, her four phenomenally driven and wonderful roommates and their collective THREE cats. She is thankful to her family for supporting her on this unexpected and insane journey, her friends for keeping her grounded, and her cat, Milton, for being weirder than she will ever be.

RACHEL DEMASI (MARIE ANTOINETTE)
Rachel is so happy to be making her SCTC debut with such fiercely funny and talented women at her side! A St. Louis native, Rachel is happy to call the Northeast her home. She is a performer based in South Jersey and the proud owner of a small singing business that entertains residents at assisted living, memory care, and retirement communities in the area. She has performed with various local theatres, including The Walnut Street Theatre, 11th Hour Theatre Co., The Ritz Theatre Co., The Broadway Theatre of Pitman, Haddonfield Plays & Players, and as an understudy at The Eagle and The Arden Theatres. Favorite credits: Fiddler on the Roof, Chess, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, A Christmas Carol, Spring Awakening, and Something Rotten! the Musical. Thank you to Dawn and August for having faith in me to take on this role and to tell this funny, poetic, and relevant story. And finally, squeezes and kisses to my twin daughters and so much adoration & gratitude to Jim – I love you so much! www.racheldemasi.com

Meet the Playwright and Director…

Lauren Gunderson — Playwright

Lauren has been one of the most-produced playwrights in America since 2015, topping the list three times, including 2022/23. She is a two-time winner of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for I and You and The Book of Will, the winner of the William Inge Distinguished Achievement in Theatre Award, the Lanford Wilson Award, and a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. She is a playwright, screenwriter, musical book writer, and children’s author who lives in San Francisco. She graduated from NYU Tisch as a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. LaurenGunderson.com

Dawn Varava — Director/Artistic Director

Dawn has produced and directed over 30 plays and musicals. As the Artistic Director for SCTC, she is thrilled to work with this amazing cast and crew of “The Revolutionists”. Dawn has also appeared on our stage in “Hollywood, Nebraska,” “Lettuce and Lovage,” “Terminus,” “Savannah Sipping Society,” and “Gemini.” Regionally, Dawn has worked with the Arden Theatre, Walnut Street Theatre, Eagle Theatre, Allens Lane Theatre, Steel River Playhouse, and the Ritz Theatre, and participated in staged readings for the Playmate Playwrights of Bucks County. TV credits include “Do No Harm,” “Orange is the New Black,” “Philadelphia, the Great Experiment,” and various local commercials and PSAs. As always, she sends her eternal gratitude to Alisa for her support and patience – and, of course, for her laughter and love!

Meet the Creative Team for this production

Melody G. Moore (she/her) (Production Manager)

Melody (she/her) relocated to Philadelphia after spending over 20 years in Key West, Florida. With her husband Bob, she founded TheatreXP, which the two built into one of the Keys’ leading companies, producing, directing, and acting in plays ranging from the comic to the serious, as well as creating several successful theatrical events. Both were directly involved in all aspects of the thriving theater community, including Stage Manager, Box Office Manager, Actor, Set Dresser, Costume Designer, Prop Designer, Writer, Director, and Producer. Locally, she has SM’d for Fever Dream Repertory, TheatreXP, and First World Theatre as well as South Camden Theatre Company’s most recent productions, which include God of Carnage; Hollywood, Nebraska; How The Light Gets In; and A Good Farmer. As the new Production Manager, she is looking forward to helping bring this production together, with all of the amazing talent we have. Break a leg, everyone!

August DeLuca (Stage Manager)

August (they/them) is thrilled to be the stage manager and assistant director for this production! They are so excited to be back at SCTC for another season. Some past stage management credits at SCTC include: Dot (2025), The Toxic Avenger: The Musical (2024), Alabama Story (2023), and The Legend of Georgia McBride (2023). Other recent credits include stage managing Heathers: the Musical and appearing in a non-speaking role in Dracula, both at The Ritz Theatre Company. August would like to thank Dawn and Bob for this opportunity to learn the ropes as an assistant director for the first time, as well as their family, for all their support.

Hunter Mountz (Lighting Designer)

Hunter is a Philadelphia-based theatre and dance lighting designer whose previous design credits include The Lightning Thief (Triple Threat Theatre Company), Who’s Holiday, The Toxic Avenger – The Musical, God of Carnage, Hollywood Nebraska, How The Light Gets In, and A Good Farmer, and DOT (@South Camden Theatre Company) Into the Woods, The Laramie Project, Bedroom Farce (Salem State University) Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Mamma Mia! , The SpongeBob Musical (Panthers-on-Parade) Dare to Dream, and When Worlds Collide (SSU Repertory Dance Theatre). Hunter also received the Excellence in Lightning Design award from the 2021 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.

Jairous L. Parker Sr. (Sound Designer)

Jairous is thrilled to be part of The South Camden Theatre Company’s Creative team for The Revolutionists. He is returning for the second time after his work on DOT for SCTC. Jairous is a Philadelphia-based sound designer and audio engineer. He most recently designed and mixed sound for The Philadelphia Dramatists’ Center’s 2025 Philadelphia Fringe Festival,‘Steering Wild’, ‘Happy Enough’, ‘Kulkalcan’, and Storybook Musical Theatre’s 2024/25 theater season. Mr. Parker has designed and mixed sound for a diverse group of performing arts organizations, Philadelphia’s Arden Theatre, ‘Ladysitting’ Lantern Theater, ‘The Royale’ Quintessence Theatre, ‘Flyin West’, Hedgerow Theatre, ‘Good Grief’, NYC’s Manhattan Theater Club, and Tribeca Performing Arts Center. Highlights of Mr. Parker’s career include serving as Senior Sound Designer and engineer for several seasons at New Freedom Theatre and engineering sound for more than 1100 performances of ‘Menopause The Musical’ at the Society Hill Playhouse. Jairous dedicates his work on ‘DOT’ to the joyous memory of his beloved mother, Gloria Lyon-Parker Harris, uncle Freddie Gary Sr., dear friend and colleague, Actors Equity PSM, and actor, William ‘Chris’ Whalen, who most recently succumbed to Alzheimer’s and Dementia. “Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.” – James M. Barrie

Louise Gareau (Costume Designer)

Louise recently joined SCTC’s creative team after working as a costumer for her daughter’s music teaching productions. She’s delighted to be spreading her wings with our work on stage. Starting out with the recent production of The Toxic Avenger was quite an effort. She’s also costumed How The Light Gets In and DOT for the theatre’s 20th Anniversary Season of Love. We’re excited to have her working with us here at SCTC.

Pam Staley (Props Master)

Pam is delighted to work in the theatre with her friend, Artistic Director Dawn Varava, at SCTC. Her past experiences included managing props and all things backstage for Dawn during many of her school productions. She has been jumping in to help SCTC be the best we can be for all of our shows.

Robert Bingaman (Scenic Designer)

Robert is deeply grateful for the support he receives from the creative staff and the South Camden Theatre Company board of directors. He has been SCTC’s board president and resident scenic designer since 2010. His favorite sets include The Brothers Size, By The Water, The Toxic Avenger, Exorcism (A Play in One Act), The Legend of Georgia McBride, and How the Light Gets In (Thanks to Deb and the crew for all their help), among more than 40 other productions here. He knows that he couldn’t do any of this work without the incredible support of so many volunteers here at the theatre. Thanks to each of them for bringing theatre magic to our stage. Love to my husband, Steve.

Meghan Malloy (she/her) (Dialect Coach)

Meghan recently returned to the industry after a 11-year hiatus raising her children. Before this, Meghan was a full-time actor and teaching artist. Meghan received a Barrymore nomination for her work at the Wilma Theater in Athol Fugard’s My Children! My Africa! It was a joy to share the stage with legendary actor Glynn Turman (HBO’s The Wire, Netflix’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) and Yaegel Welch (Broadway’s To Kill A Mockingbird) in that incredible three-hander play.

Meghan has worked across genres, from children’s musical theatre to Shakespeare and new works. Meghan is a Knight-Thompson Speechwork-trained accent and dialect coach, specializing in accents from Delaware County and Philadelphia. She zooms with actors across the country for auditions and training daily. She recently voiced a PA Lottery Powerball Commercial. Meghan currently teaches acting for the camera at The Actors Lab in Montgomery County, PA, and at Lights, Camera, Acting! in Bucks County, PA—Point Park University and Upper Darby Summer Stage alum. Visit www.MeghanMalloyCreates.com, IG & YouTube: @meghan.malloy.creates to learn more about her work—heartfelt thanks to Dawn and Bob.