Bridge Street Theatre presents
The U.S. Premiere of
by Hannah Moscovitch
October 2 – 12, 2025
Bridge Street Theatre’s “Priscilla” Mainstage
44 West Bridge Street, Catskill, NY
A “Dark Angel” Comes to Catskill
Playwright Hannah Moscovitch, Bridge Street Theatre, and the U.S. Premiere of “Red Like Fruit”
Catskill, NY — Whenever you step inside the intimate 84-seat Bridge Street Theatre, tucked away on West Bridge Street in the Village of Catskill, you enter a world where theatre takes risks. It’s the kind of place where boundaries blur, stories unfold unflinchingly, and the work of some of the world’s most daring playwrights comes alive on a small but mighty stage.
One of those playwrights is Hannah Moscovitch – a Canadian artist who has been described as “the dark angel of Canadian theatre” for her unrelenting exploration of trauma, identity, and memory. Her newest work, “Red Like Fruit”, makes its U.S. premiere at Bridge Street Theatre this October, marking the third collaboration between Moscovitch and the Catskill-based venue.
A Playwright Who Pushes Limits
Born in Ottawa in 1978, Moscovitch emerged in the mid-2000s as one of Canada’s most distinctive theatrical voices. Her breakout works – “The Russian Play” (2006) and “East of Berlin” (2007) – quickly put her on the map, tackling difficult subjects like historical trauma, generational guilt, and forbidden love.
“I’m drawn to stories people hesitate to tell,” Moscovitch said in a recent interview. “I want audiences to sit inside discomfort, because that’s where real change happens.”
Over the years, she’s built a remarkable body of work, including “This Is War”, “Infinity”, “Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story”, and the Governor General’s Award-winning “Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes”. In 2021, she received the prestigious Windham-Campbell Prize for Drama, cementing her place among the world’s leading contemporary playwrights. She’s also becoming increasingly renowned for her work in television, as a writer on the Canadian dramatic television series “Little Bird” and as both writer and co- executive producer and writer for AMC’s “Interview with a Vampire”.
Bridge Street Theatre: A Creative Home in the Catskills
For a playwright known for pushing audiences out of their comfort zones, Bridge Street Theatre has proven an ideal U.S. partner. Founded by John Sowle and Steven Patterson, the Catskill theatre has built its reputation on daring programming and intimate storytelling – a perfect match for Moscovitch’s work.
The partnership began in 2022 with the critically acclaimed U.S. premiere of “Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes”, an incisive play about power dynamics, gender, consent as played out in the relationship between a college professor (who is also an acclaimed novelist) and one of his young creative writing students. Subsequently, “Sexual Misconduct…” received its NYC premiere Off-Broadway at the Minetta Lane Theatre in a 2025 production which starred actor Hugh Jackman. In 2023, BST staged Moscovitch’s haunting “East of Berlin”, exploring intergenerational trauma and the lingering scars of the Holocaust. BST’s searing production received top honors at the Berkshire Theatre Critics Association “Berkie” Awards for “Outstanding Production of a Play” for the 2023 Season.
These productions – both directed by Margo Whitcomb, who returns to helm “Red Like Fruit” – drew critical praise and solidified the theatre’s reputation as a hub for boundary-pushing drama.
For BST co-founder Steven Patterson, this ongoing partnership is about more than just staging new work: “Hannah writes plays that don’t just entertain – they challenge,” Patterson says. “Her work, as well as Margo’s as a director, demands deep, deep emotional engagement. That’s exactly what we want for our audience here in Catskill.”
Inside “Red Like Fruit” – Shame, Memory, and Reclamation
After making its world premiere in April 2024 at Halifax’s Bus Stop Theatre, produced by 2b theatre company, “Red Like Fruit” has already traveled to Toronto, Edinburgh, and beyond, earning critical acclaim and a “Fringe First” Award at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival. And now, it arrives in Catskill for a limited run October 2-12, 2025.
The plot centers on Lauren (Elizabeth Narciso), a journalist in her early 40s, who has been assigned to report on a high-profile case of domestic violence. As she interviews witnesses and survivors, her own suppressed experiences begin to resurface – moments from her past that she had long buried, rationalized, or dismissed as “just part of growing up”. Spoken for the most part by Luke (Johnny Travers), a male actor Lauren has hired to ‘give voice’ to the narrative she has written about her own experiences, the play becomes an unflinching inquiry into whose voices we trust and the insidious ways in which women need to navigate the violence in their lives. By choosing to cede her own voice, Lauren forces us to confront questions about how women’s stories are told, who gets to control the narrative, and how trauma is remembered – or silenced.
Critics have praised Moscovitch’s innovative approach as both intimate and unsettling. Intermission Magazine called the play “what minimalist theatre should be,” while The Guardian described it as “magnetically intense,” applauding its stripped-down staging and emotional potency.
Moscovitch has said that the play was inspired by her desire to “restore the redacted pieces” of personal and collective histories. “There are parts of our lives, especially as women, that we’ve been taught to keep hidden,” she explained. “This play asks what happens when those silences are finally broken.”
A Perfect Fit for Catskill
Bridge Street Theatre’s cozy black box environment offers a uniquely intimate setting for “Red Like Fruit”. Without ornate distractions, audiences are left alone with Moscovitch’s language, the performers’ raw emotionality, and the play’s central questions.
For director Margo Whitcomb, the space isn’t just a backdrop – it’s an active collaborator: “This play thrives in close quarters,” Whitcomb says. “The audience is practically in the room with these characters. That proximity makes the silences heavier, the words sharper, the emotions more dangerous.”
BST’s ongoing dedication to producing Moscovitch’s work has also deepened its reputation as a regional destination for new, provocative theatre. In recent years, the Catskills have become a haven for artists seeking to experiment outside traditional urban centers – and BST has been leading the charge.
Looking Ahead
For Moscovitch, this U.S. premiere marks another chapter in a growing creative relationship with Bridge Street Theatre but also signals a broader cultural conversation. As her work gains more visibility south of the border, audiences in the Hudson Valley and beyond are getting a chance to encounter one of the most daring voices in contemporary theatre up close.
“I don’t write to shock,” Moscovitch insists. “I write to illuminate the things we can’t quite say out loud.”
With “Red Like Fruit”, she’s done exactly that – crafted a spare, haunting work that invites audiences to lean into silence, confront pain, and reconsider who gets to tell our stories.
Actor Bios:
Elizabeth Narciso* (Lauren) is an award-winning actor living in New York City and a finalist at The Actors’ Studio. She grew up in the ballet, studied classical vocal performance at Belmont University, then transferred to theatre performance at the University of Memphis where she fell in love with the stage and continued that fervor at the University of Leeds, Bretton Hall, and The Atlantic Theater Company. She is currently delving into voice acting with the April Is The Cruelest Month podcast’s Wonder Woman: Spirit of Fire in which she voices Diana, the woman herself. www.elizabethnarciso.com
Johnny Travers* (Luke) is an actor from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Off Broadway credits include: The Moss Maidens (Connelly Theatre), Matata and Jesse James: An American Tragedy (Castillo Theatre), and An Untitled Film Reading, directed by Liesl Tommy (Apollo Theatre). Other credits include Stupid F#cking Bird (Theatre 54), The Tempest (Sainsbury Theatre), and Maybe for You (Reading/Working Titles Theatre). Training: Fordham BA Theatre, LAMDA MA in Classical Acting.
* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the US.
What: “Red Like Fruit” by Hannah Moscovitch
Where: Bridge Street Theatre, 44 West Bridge Street, Catskill, NY
When: October 2–12, 2025, Thurs – Sat @7:30pm, Sun @ 2:00pm
Director: Margo Whitcomb
Actors: Elizabeth Narciso (Lauren) and Johnny Travers (Luke)
Tickets & Info: https://bridgest.org/red-like-fruit/
Events at Bridge Street Theatre are supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor of New York and the New York State Legislature and with public funds from the Greene County Legislature through the Greene County Cultural Fund, administered in Greene County by CREATE Council on the Arts. The 2025 Season is dedicated to the memory of Mary E. Barrett.