Performer Interviews, Q & A, and performance excerpts
with Marsh and MarshStream founder Stephanie Weisman

Thursday July 8, 2021 at 7:30pm PT

In Conversation with

Lynne Kaufman & Julia Brothers

Susan Sontag, the fiercest American intellectual of the 20th century, champions the life of the mind.  Whether exploring the origins of ‘camp’ or ‘illness as a metaphor’ she has devoted her life to art, ideas and an unstinting critique of our times.  Now, however, when her own time is running out, she wonders if she has made the right choice.

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About the Guests

Lynne Kaufman is the author of  twenty full length  plays, three novels and a dozen short stories. Within the last four years, she had had three plays produced at The Marsh SF: “Acid Test”, “Two Minds” and “Who Killed Sylvia Plath”. Unscripted  Theatre in S.F. produced her play ”Sex Scandal”.  “William Blake in Hollywood,” was produced by the Neil Simon Festival Theatre as the winner of its Best New Comedy Competition. Her play “Daisy in the Dreamtime” was premiered by The Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles , won The Rella Lossy Playwright’s Award, and was published in Women Playwrights: Best New Plays and by Dramatic Publishing.  She was  the recipient of The Otis Guernsey Outstanding New Voice in American Theatre Award from The William Inge Theatre Festival.  “Shooting Simone” premiered at Actors Theatre of Louisville  Humana Festival and received six subsequent regional productions. It was published by Dramatic Publishing. Four of her plays premiered at The Magic Theatre including “The Couch”, which won  The Glickman Award for Best New Play in San Francisco and   “Speaking in Tongues”, which  won a  Kennedy Center/NEA/  Fund for New  American Plays Award.  Her play “Our Lady of the Desert” won Theatreworks ‘Best New Play in California Award”

Julia Brothers is so happy to be joining Lynne Kaufman in bringing to life this one character play that allows us to live, for a brief span of time, in the fascinating mind and heart of Susan Sontag. Recently, Julia was commissioned by SF Playhouse to write and perform her first solo piece, I Was Right Here, directed by Padraic Lillis, which was filmed and ran for five weeks in March and April on the Playhouse’s website. Julia has a passion for developing new work and has originated many roles over the last three decades. Some recent projects include A Peregrine Falls by Leegrid Stevens (dir Padraic Lillis) at The Wild Project, NYC; playing God in the world premiere of the Kilbanes’ rock opera Weightless (dir Becca Wolff) at Z Space and ACT in San Francisco and at The Public Theater’s Under The Radar Festival in NYC; Salesman (Workshop, Rough Draft Festival, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, NYC) by Jeremy Tiang (dir Michael Leibenluft) in which she played Arthur Miller; and Col Sandra Eden in The Trial of Donna Caine by Walter Anderson (dir David Saint) at George Street Playhouse, NJ. Other world premieres include Broadway: Relatively Speaking – George Is Dead by Elaine May (dir John Turturro) Off-Broadway: Clever Little Lies by Joe DiPietro at Westside Arts. Regional: Women In Jeopardy at GEVA, Cape May Playhouse and Merrimack Repertory Theatre; Be Aggressive and Ambition Facing West at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley; Seagull (as adapted by Libby Appel), Magic Forest Farm, The Subject Tonight Is Love and Fortune at Marin Theatre Company, and The First Grade  and Our Practical Heaven  at Aurora, among others. Some of her favorite Bay Area roles are Robyn in The Roommate  (dir Becca Wolff) at SF Playhouse, Dr. Vivian Bearing in Wit (dir Ken Kelleher) at San Jose Stage and Medea (title role) directed Joseph Chaikin at Pacific Repertory Theatre. Julia is an Artistic Associate at Merrimack Repertory Theatre and a company member of The B Street Theatre and SF Playground.  She was named MVP for Bay Area Theatre by the San Francisco Chronicle and has received numerous awards for performances there.  Along with her acting, Julia has performed at many NYC comedy clubs doing her stand up material and making people laugh. Since her playwriting debut with her solo show, she is busy writing a full length play and is thrilled with the process. 

About the Host

Photo by: Craig Lee

Stephanie Weisman founded and has been the Artistic/Executive Director of The Marsh since its inception in 1989. Under her leadership, The Marsh has grown from a one-night-a-week performance series to producing 600-700 shows annually on its four stages. In addition to its developing work performance series, The Marsh’s programs include: artist-in-residencies, after-school and summer workshops for youth both onsite and in 5 SFUSD, and performance development classes, workshops and Performance Initiatives. In 1996 Stephanie spearheaded the drive to successfully buy their 12,000 sq ft facility on Valencia Street in San Francisco. This increased The Marsh’s programs four-fold as well as provided for a stable Bay Area arts organization. In 2010, The Marsh added a second venue in Berkeley. In 2020, Stephanie initiated MarshStream. She is currently at work developing her opera, Aphrodisia, with dancer, Wei Wang.


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