Producer Notes

Diana Brown and Susan Jackson met back in the mid-eighties at City College of SF, where Susan directed Diana in GRACELAND, a play about the opening of Elvis Presley's home to the public. That must have been when the seed was planted to produce plays with Southern themes and characters! Since then, we have gone on (our separate ways), to produce, act, direct, write, teach, work on the wine train and do professional improv. Two years ago, we created an award winning piece, BLESSING HER HEART, which began at the Marin Fringe, went on to the SF FRINGE, and won Bay Area Theatre Critic Circle awards and nominations for best play and best actress. As a result of this successful collaboration, and with a personal appreciation of all things Southern (our roots), we decided to form a company, SOUTHERN RAILROAD--(soon to be SOUTHERN RAILROAD THEATRE COMPANY) and further our desire to fulfill the mission statement: bring to the Bay Area (and beyond!) the Southern experience, in all its pain, humor, and glory.
For us, "coming out Southern" was inevitable! Admitting to previous addictions to cigarettes, fried chicken, and being polite, even in the face of adversity!
Stacy Marshall, Adrienne Krug, and Margo Sims are also the original members of the company.
As things progressed, it was discovered that the works written by Susan were connected (check out the family tree) and the idea of a soap opera was born; eventually, we hope to have a marathon of the history of this group of people. In the meantime, check us out for further unveilings of the individuals whose heritage and legacy began during the Civil War: HEATHEN. And have some hush puppies and grits along the way....


---Susan Jackson and Diana Brown

Diana Brown

Diana played Henri in the 2009 premiere of Susan Jackson's IN SITU. In 2008, Diana originated the role of Red in the world premiere of Susan Jackson's solo work, BLESSING HER HEART at the Marin Fringe, winning a special Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Jury award of Best Actress in the festival and a nomination for the 2008 Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Award. Diana reprised her performance of Red in Jackson's solo BLESSING HER HEART at the 2009 SF Fringe Festival.

In 2007 Diana made her New York stage debut in Expression Productions’ NYC premiere of Marcus Lloyd’s two-handed thriller DEAD CERTAIN. Diana originally appeared as Elizabeth in the San Francisco premiere of DEAD CERTAIN in 2005. Other favorite stage credits include Annie Wilkes in the SF stage premiere of MISERY with Expression Productions, Inez in NO EXIT with Expression Productions. Dr. Livingston in AGNES OF GOD, Beth in BOX CONSPIRACY with George Coates Performance works, The Fairy Godmother Magee in CINDERELLA WALTZ, Lucifer in Barry J. Weir's THE DEMON POPE, Berdine in PSYCHO BEACH PARTY and Bev in GRACELAND.

Diana is a founding member of the Improv ensembles Justice for None, The Legal Briefs and Tilted Frame SF/LA , also performing with Submergency and the improvised theater company Radiostar. You can listen to Radiostar on www.radiostarnetwork.com . See Diana in the new live improvised series FUTURE STYLE 79. She also co-hosted the popular podcast program The RU Sirius Show. This July Diana will reprise the role of Elizabeth in DEAD CERTAIN with Expression Productions at the Royce Gallery.

Adrienne Krug

Adrienne Krug (Ruby) recently played Fatima in Terroristka at the Berkeley City Club and Mona in I Used to Write on Walls with the Women on the Way Festival. Favorite roles include Grandma in The American Dream with Boxcar Theatre, and Linda Loman in Death of a Salesman at the Hapgood Theatre. Other Bay Area credits include Dina in the world premiere of Nicky Silver’s Past Perfect at Theatre Rhinoceros, and work with the Magic Theatre, New Conservatory Theatre Center, Willows Theatre Company, Bus Barn Stage Company, Virago Theatre, Pacific Alliance Stage Company, and the San Francisco Fringe Festival, among others. Adrienne has also performed at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and in a showcase production of Custer at the Manhattan Theatre Club. She studied acting at Vassar College and the National Theatre Institute

Susan Jackson

Susan Jackson has played leading roles in WIT, WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?, as well as portraying real people: Sarah Bernhardt, Dorothy Parker and Jackie Kennedy. . In, 2008, she directed Lee Meriwether in Eugene O’Neill’s LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT. She is a member of PlayGround, the Dramatists Guild of America and a Board member of the Eugene O’Neill Foundation. She won a Bay Area Critic’s Circle Award for best original play for BLESSING HER HEART in 2009 which was performed in the SF FRINGE festival. Other plays have been produced at the Marin Fringe, the Eugene O’Neill Foundation, and other theatre companies. She teaches acting, directing, and playwrighting at City College of San Francisco.

Acknowledgements: Ian Birchall, Dorothy Jackson

Director’s/Playwright’s Notes:

Southern Railroad Company is a company committed to producing work with Southern themes and characters, particularly women. Having lived in North Carolina most of my young adult life, I grew up in an environment that both embraced the culture and defied it. My father was a Civil Rights leader and my mother was for ERA and a re-cyclist before the word was invented. My friends and I smoked cigarettes, ate fried chicken, cole slaw and drank sweet tea. (sun tea, of course). Some of them were /are conservative in their political and social views. But what I take away from the experience is the incredible strength of the Southern women. Their charm combined with their ability to handle any situation was awe-inspiring. One of my friends, who went through moving to another home, the death of her mother, her brother, her young nephew’s suicide, and the end of her marriage (her husband was gay), in a time frame of two years, gave me her advice on how she managed, “one thing at a time.”
One thing at a time. No whining. Bring food. Get a dog.

Margo Sims

Margo Sims is pleased to be a member of the Southern Railroad Company as she performs in this premier presentation of

Blessed Be The Tie That Binds, by Susan Jackson.

Ms. Sims, is a former professional classical modern dancer and trained Method actor born and raised in New York City. Margo was graduated from the NYC School of Performing Arts and studied acting with professionals such as Carroll O’Connor, Peter Ustinov, Michael Howard, and Vinnette Carroll. In addition to her training in Italian and Russian Ballet, she received an Eartha Kitt dance scholarship, performed at the United Nations, and took master classes with the legendary Martha Graham. In television, Margo worked with Burgess Meredith.

Margo performed with the Geoffrey Holder Dance Company at Jacobs Pillow. While in the Eleo Pomare Company, she partnered with Dudley Williams, former lead dancer in the Alvin Ailey Company. Margo joined the Lee Sherman Dancers while living in Europe. She also performed with the Boscoe Holder Company, who choreographed the dance scenes for the film “She”. In that production, Margo performed with Ursula Andress, Christopher Plummer and Christopher Lee. The last dance company in which Margo worked was world renown, Maurice Bejart in Brussels. She has also performed with Cicely Tyson, Roscoe Lee Brown, and Clarence Williams III in “Dark of the Moon”, a play directed by Vinnette Carroll.

Of late, Margo has worked at her alma mater, with the University of San Francisco’s Dance Generators – a multigenerational Dance Company. She has also worked with the SF State Jazz Vocal Ensemble.

Photo by Stacy Marshall

Susan Jackson (left photo), Margo Sims (center photo), Adrienne Krug and Diana Brown (right photo)

4 Shows Only this June

BLESSINGS by Susan Jackson
Three solos: Blessing Her Heart, Blessed Ruby and Biss Ya
And
One duet: Blest Be The Tie That Binds
Presented by the Southern Railroad Company

“The South Will Rise Again!”

"Excels with poignant writing, performances.."
-Tom W. Kelly, San Francisco Bay Times

Winner of the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for best original play, BLESSSING HER HEART finds Red (Diana Brown, nominated for best actress-BATCC), visiting her mother’s gravesite to speak the inevitable truth that a daughter, whose time has come, must reveal to a parent.

BLESSED RUBY
Ruby (Adrienne Krug) is an ancient survivor from a more civilized time. A bit of a rebel, her Southern gentility does not camouflage her progressive opinions about Marion Anderson, or her slightly risqué memories of a life-long love affair with her concert pianist.

Deemed politically incorrect at the 2009 San Francisco Fringe Festival,
BISS YA! exposes Mrs. Peallin’s (Susan Jackson) take on Asian recyclers as just the beginning of her comprehension of how the world around her has changed.

Finally, BLEST BE THE TIE THAT BINDS, (Margo Sims as Basil, Diana Brown as Sarah) finds an African American caregiver (Basil) with conflicting religious and political views going to battle with a Bay Area professional (Sarah) facing sexual and racial identity issues—debating over the best care for Sarah’s aging mother. (Adrienne Krug)

Jackson’s plays are racially-charged character studies that challenge perceptions, and yet present stories that evoke sympathy for even the Southern-most renegade; these plays find the heart of the character as they face cataclysmic moments with humor, compassion, and inevitably, honor.

Critical Praise for BLESSING:

“Jackson's triptych of tenderly-written character studies offers audiences a rare kind of simply staged intimacy that is refreshingly honest and genuinely touching, deriving its dramatic power from its quietest moments of soul searching as well as the strength of her script.”

-George Haymont, My Cultural Landscape

"Excels with poignant writing, performances.."

"Playwright Jackson zooms in on the perfect moment in a life to pinpoint and flesh out. The playlets speak of lifetimes with simple honesty."

"Subtle and poignant"

-Tom W. Kelly, San Francisco Bay Times

“Diana Brown, as Red, provides what is arguably the best performance at the FRINGE OF MARIN.”

-Jeffery R. Smith, For All Events

BLESSING HER HEART won the 2008 Bay Area Critics Circle Award for Best Original Play and was voted among the Top Ten Shows at the 2009 San Francisco Fringe Festival.

WHAT, WHO, WHERE, WHEN AND HOW TO GET TICKETS:
What: (Theatre)
BLESSINGS by Susan Jackson
Three Solos: Blessing Her Heart w/ Diana Brown, Blessed Ruby w/ Adrienne Krug, Biss Ya w/ Susan Jackson.
And a Duet: Blest Be The Tie That Binds w/ Margo Sims and Diana Brown. (World premiere)
Directed by Susan Jackson, the voice of the South is loud and clear-- based on real women/real incidents, these unrepentant southern women face momentous events that change their lives and those around them.

Who:
Presented by the Southern Railroad Company

Where:
ROYCE GALLERY
2901 Mariposa Street @ Harrison

When: (4 Performances Only)
Preview: Thursday, June 24 @ 8 PM (doors open at 7:30 PM)
Opening: Friday, June 25 @ 8 PM (doors open @ 7:30 PM)
Saturday June 26 @ 2 PM (doors open @ 1:30 PM)
Saturday June 26 @ 8 PM (doors open @ 7:30 PM)