Voices Festival Productions (VFP) announces a powerhouse cast for its upcoming world-premiere production about the embattled heart of caregiving, Who Cares: The Caregiver Interview Project, co-written by Ari Roth, A. Lorraine Robinson, and Vanessa Gilbert, and directed by Kathryn Chase Bryer. The production will run January 9 – February 2, 2025, preceded by free workshop readings November 17-18 as part of Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, alongside a Community Care Roundtable, Tuesday, November 19 involving DC theater and cultural institutions working on projects related to care partnering. All VFP events will take place at Universalist National Memorial Church (1810 16th Street NW, Washington, DC). For more information and tickets, visit voicesfestivalproductions.com. The Who Cares ensemble cast features Kelly Renee Armstrong (Tempestuous Elements, Arena Stage), Lise Bruneau (Macbeth, Taffety Punk), Todd Scofield (Romeo and Juliet, Folger Theatre), Joelle Denise (Our Lady of Queens, 2024 Chelsea Film Festival), Kendall Arin Claxton (Letters To Kamala/Dandelion Peace, VFP), and British-American Laura Shipler Chico (Museum Pieces, Tristan Bates Theatre) making her American stage debut, along with understudies Rachel Manteuffel, Llogan Paige, and Robert Bowen Smith. Who Cares: The Caregiver Interview Project is based on interviews with local colleagues, elder justice advocates, and close friends whose lives have been disrupted – but also transformed – by unexpected caretaking for loved ones contending with memory loss. Often funny, always intimate, and powerfully informed, Who Cares moves from church basement support group, to comedy club, to rockstar book event, revealing fault-lines in families, with bonds challenged and strengthened, forming newly generative communities of care. The play consists of verbatim testimony adapted from interviews, alongside original stand-up material from Jim Meyer and excerpts from the work of MacArthur Genius Award recipient Marie Therese Connolly and her book “The Measure of Our Age: Navigating Care, Safety, Money, and Meaning Later in Life.” Artistic Producing Partner at VFP, A. Lorraine Robinson, whose story of caregiving for her sister helps to anchor the theatricalized support group at the center of Who Cares, shares her unique insight: “Facing an unexpected catastrophic illness of a loved one is the most overwhelming experience, which can thrust you into situations that you never imagined, have no idea how to comprehend, and no tools to face. You realize that people all around are experiencing these struggles of caregiving everyday, invisibly, because  our society doesn’t discuss it, and no  one really understands, until they are thrust into it.” VFP Founding Artistic Producing Partner, Ari Roth notes, “Who Cares has benefited from an extensive workshop process (and will continue to this fall) and has been enriched by the participation of wonderful actors at each workshop stage. We’re thrilled with this committed cohort that will be doing the production this winter and are struck by the intergenerational range of backgrounds and ages that will bring such a disparate group of individuals into a moving support circle. It’s a truly diverse ensemble united in pain and difficulty in caring for loved ones, each with a complicated condition.” CAST Kelly Renee Armstrong*: Rachel, Rev, Leslie, Tyra, Bee, Tanty Lise Bruneau*: Theresa, June, Nurse, Hospice Laura Shipler Chico: Sarah, IONA Program Director, Jim’s mom Kendall Arin Claxton*: Kris, Kathleen, Cecilia, Selam Todd Scofield*: Jim, P&P Owner Joelle Denise: Lorri Understudies: Rachel Manteuffel, Llogan Paige, Robert Bowen Smith CREATIVE TEAM David Elias*: Stage Manager Nora Butler: Assistant Stage Manager David Smith: Lighting Designer David Lamont Wilson: Sound Designer Tyra Bell: Props Designer Robert Bowen Smith: Movement Consultant *Member, Actors Equity Association Who Cares: The Caregiver Interview Project, presented by Voices Festival Productions, runs January 9 – February 2, 2025. It will be preceded by free workshop readings November 17-18, and a community care roundtable on November 19. All events will be held at Universalist National Memorial Church, 1810 16th St NW, Washington, DC 20009. For more information and tickets, go online. BIOS A. Lorraine Robinson is an award-winning theater director, dramaturg, and community arts educator. She was Artistic Producing Director of MuseFire Productions, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit theater and film company dedicated to multimedia and stylistically challenging work (especially voices of women and individuals of color). Recent Projects include: Director – Letters to Kamala/Dandelion Peace, #Charlottesville, and Apologies to Lorraine Hansberry (You Too, August Wilson) [Voices Festival Productions]; The Piano Lesson and Raisin in the Sun [Sitar Arts Center]; Let Me Down Easy and Baltimore [St. Mary’s College of MD]; Citizen Patrol and Bulrusher [MuseFire Productions]; Pot Odds and You Were Mine (Transformation Theatre], Three Strangers Sitting Around a Backyard Firepit at Two in the Morning Listening to Bruce Springsteen’s NEBRASKA [Bob Bartlett Productions]. Regional: Having Our Say (Contemporary American Theatre Company). Dramaturg – Topdog/Underdog [Avant Bard]. Lorraine was honored with the Dr. Arnitra Butler Award for artistic work and community service by the DC Chapter of the Black Women’s Hook-Up. She received TONY AWARDS: Excellence in Theatre Education Honorable Mention Awards in 2017, 2018, and 2019. She received the Central Ohio Theatre Critics Circle Award: Best Director and Best Production for The Laramie Project (Contemporary American Theatre Company in Columbus, Ohio). She is also a Board Member and Associated Artist with Transformation Theatre Company. Ari Roth is a playwright, producer, dramaturg, educator, and child of Holocaust refugees. He served as Artistic Director of Theater J from 1997 to 2014 and established Mosaic Theater Company of DC in late 2014 as its Founding Artistic Director. He founded Voices Festival Productions LLC in partnership with A. Lorraine Robinson in June of 2021. Over 18 seasons at Theater J, he produced 129 productions, including 44 world premieres, and created the annual festivals, “Voices From a Changing Middle East” and “Locally Grown: Community Supported Art.” In a 2005 feature, The New York Times called Theater J “The premiere theatre for premieres.” During his founding tenure at Mosaic, he produced 36 full productions, including 9 world premieres, fifty staged readings, and “Mosaic on the Move” presentations, with over 600 post-show discussions. In 2017, Roth was given the DC Mayor’s Arts Award for Visionary Leadership. As a playwright, his work includes Born Guilty, based on the book of interviews with children of Nazis by Peter Sichrovsky, commissioned and produced by Arena Stage and directed by Zelda Fichandler; Peter and The Wolf, a sequel to Born Guilty, (Theater J, Epic Theater, Jewish Theatre of the South); a family prequel, Andy and The Shadows (Theater J), and is currently writing Born Guilty Unbound. Roth’s play Oh, The Innocents was directed by Joe Mantello for GeVa Theatre where it won the Clifford Davy Award. Other plays include Goodnight Irene, Life In Refusal, Love and Yearning in the Not for Profits, and Still Waiting (companion to Waiting For Lefty; all produced at Theater J and elsewhere), along with a dozen one-acts. His most recent play, A Calamitous Affair, was produced at VFP in 2022 (with a longer title) and presented in workshop at the Steppenwolf Theatre Garage last year. Vanessa Gilbert is a creative  producer, interdisciplinary artist, and educator from Providence, RI who works with humans, objects, and digital media. She makes, produces, and directs performance works of varying scales, from miniature puppet theater to multi-day performance festivals and opera. In 17 years with Perishable Theatre, Vanessa directed and produced scores of plays and events and founded both Blood from a Turnip – RI’s only late night puppet salon – and the Resident Artist program at Perishable Theatre. She has developed and taught classes in theater history, theater for social change, directing and producing for learners of all ages. Vanessa is a proud member of the Magdalena Project, an international network for women in contemporary theater for which she instigated Magdalena USA, the first of only two Magdalena Project festivals in North America.  Vanessa is also an associate artist with Sleeping Weazel, an expansive theater company based between Boston, MA and the internet. Her work has been featured at Perishable Theatre, the HERE Arts Center, The Castle of Imagination Festival (Ustka and Gdansk, Poland), and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, among others. She received her MFA in Performance and Interactive Media Arts from Brooklyn College in May 2015. Since moving to DC in 2018, Vanessa has worked with Rorschach Theatre, Voices Festival Productions, and ExPats Theatre. Kathryn Chase Bryer is the Associate Artistic Director of Imagination Stage. She is a theater artist with a background in directing, acting, dramaturgy, teaching, and administration and holds a B.S. from Northwestern University. For Imagination Stage, Kathryn has directed over 50 productions in the last 25 years and has helped to develop and commission over a dozen scripts. In addition, she has worked at many theaters in the DMV to develop and direct new scripts, including Breast in Show by Joan Cushing and Shoah Business by Jennie Eng. In 2014, she directed The BFG (Theatre for Young Audiences) which won the 2014 Helen Hayes for Best Scenic Design and Best Production. In 2015, her production of Wiley and the Hairy Man (Theatre for Young Audiences) won the 2015 Best Production. In 2018, Kate won the Helen Hayes for Best Director of a Musical for her production of Wonderland, Alice’s Rock and Roll Adventures (Theatre for Young Audiences), which also won Best Production. At Imagination Stage she recently directed Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed: The Rock Experience (winner 2021 Helen Hayes Best Production for Theatre for Young Audiences), and The New Kid. In addition to her work at Imagination Stage, she has directed Scapin (2014), Peter and the Starcatcher (winner of Helen Hayes 2018 Best Ensemble, Musical) and The Last Five Years (Constellation Theatre Company); The Late Wedding in 2017 (Hub Theatre), and Fly By Night in 2018 (1st Stage), which was nominated for 11 Helen Hayes Awards and won 5, including “Best Director of a Musical.” Other directing credits include The Wolves (NextStop Theatre), The Oldest Boy (Spooky Action Theater), American Spies and Other Homegrown Fables (Hub Theatre), A Doll House and The Late Wedding (University of Maryland), Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy (UMBC), and Urinetown (American University). For Voices Festival Productions’ recent “Middle East Festival” workshop series, she directed readings of Stay Safe, How to Remain a Humanist After a Massacre in 17 Steps, and co-directed Live from Jenin: Lessons From the War.