Rapture, Blister, Burn
by Gina Gionfriddo

June 21 & 22, 2024 at 7:30pm

The Boal Barn Playhouse, Boalsburg, PA

After grad school, Catherine and Gwen chose polar opposite paths. Catherine built a career as a rockstar academic, while Gwen built a home with her husband and children. Decades later, unfulfilled in polar opposite ways, each woman covets the other’s life, commencing a dangerous game of musical chairs—the prize being Gwen’s husband. With searing insight and trademark wit, this comedy is an unflinching look at gender politics in the wake of 20th-century feminist ideals.

Playwrights Horizons, Inc., New York City, commissioned and produced the world premiere of RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN Off-Broadway in 2012.

RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN was commissioned by Playwrights Horizons with funds provided by The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Commissioning Program.

Poster design credit:
Caitlin Meleski of Caitlin Meleski Artwork

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Cast

Catherine Croll..............BETHANIE LOUISE
Gwen Harper.................STEFANIE AUSTIN
Don Harper....................MICHAEL WALDHIER
Avery Willard.................MARY ROSE VALENTINE*
Alice Croll......................KRISTINE ALLEN

*Sock & Buskin debut

Crew

Director………………............................................KRISTI BRANSTETTER
Producer………………….......................................STEFANIE AUSTIN
Stage Manager……….......................................KARI WILLIAMSON
Asst. Stage Manager………..............................ALI GALLO*
Lighting/Sound Designer...............................KAITLYN HUFF*
Technical Director; Costume & Props…........JACE BEAUTON
Intimacy Coordinator…………..…………………………MAL MACKENZIE*
House Manager..............................................AMY SHRECKENGAST
Graphic Designer.............................................CAITLIN MELESKI

*First production role with Sock & Buskin

Meet The Cast

Bethanie Louise

Catherine Croll

Bethanie is so happy to be back performing with S&B and has been enjoying working alongside this wonderful cast and crew! Since moving to Pennsylvania in 2018, she has been involved in many shows with FUSE Productions, The Next Stage, and more recently S&B’s The Final Rose, where she played the scandalous Miranda. Bethanie has worked professionally in Chicago where she has worked in sketch comedy, burlesque, and musical theater. She would like to think friends and family for their love and support.

Stefanie Austin

Gwen Harper | Producer

Stefanie is the current President and a Founding Director of Sock & Buskin Theatre Company. From actor to producer to stage crew and everything in between, Stefanie has credits both on and off stage in productions by SCCT, Nittany Theatre, and S&B. Most recently, you may have seen her as Rebecca in S&B’s The Final Rose (Feb.), of which she was also the playwright. Later this year, she will be the production manager for S&B’s short play showcase (Jul.) and directing Rehearsal for Murder (Sep.). She also in the midst of writing 3 plays! She thanks Kristi for her trust and guidance in this role, her husband, Peter, and their two kids for their unwavering love and support.

Michael Waldhier

Don Harper

Mike is very happy to join an outstanding cast and crew in this, his third Sock & Buskin show. Recent past appearances include A Will to Kill and Moon Over Buffalo with Sock & Buskin; Outside Mullingar, Saint Joan, Celadine, and Uncle Vanya with the Next Stage; Bat Boy, Fun Home, Cabaret, and Les Misérables with FUSE; and Hamlet and Much Ado... with Tempest. Outside of State College, Mike has done improvisational theater and performed in numerous plays and musicals in Chicago, and acted with Central Illinois Shakespeare at the ISF. Both on and off stage he loves his wife, Laura.

Mary Rose Valentine

Avery Willard

Mary Rose Valentine is thrilled to be a part of her first Sock & Buskin show! A State College local, she graduated from Penn State in 2023 with BAs in Theatre Studies and Comparative Literature. She studied theatre under Cynthia Mazzant, Chris Hults, the American Shakespeare Center, and Jeanmarie Higgins at the Penn State School of Theatre. Locally, she has worked with Tempest Productions, The Next Stage, FUSE Productions, and SCCT. She was most recently seen as Laertes in Hamlet (Tempest Productions). She is the director of theatre at the Colerain Center for Education, Preservation, and the Arts, and directed Coriolanus there last week as part of the annual summer Shakespeare residency. She reminds her fellow women to ask not what you can do for misogyny, but what misogyny can do for you.

Kristine Allen

Alice Croll

Kris loves working with this incredibly talented cast! She has recently been seen with S&B as Mrs. Boyle in The Mousetrap and Margaret in Cutthroat Christmas; and at the Barn as John Dickinson in 1776 and Juror #8 in 12 Angry Men. Favorite past roles include Constanze in Amadeus, Doris in Same Time Next Year, Nan/Lina in Three Days of Rain, Amanda in The Glass Menagerie and Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She has been doing theatre since age 5, when her mother (a former professional actor) cast her in a high school play. Kris also performed for many years as a fiddler, singer and actor at The Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. She thanks everyone at S&B for creating a wonderful, welcoming theatre group!

Meet The Production Team

Kristi Branstetter

Director

Kristi has experienced pure joy working with this cast and crew. Last seen directing Sock and Buskin’s The Witching Hour, this time around has challenged her as a director in all the best ways. She is not sure which hat she loves more, the acting or directing, but she is so grateful to have an organization like Sock and Buskin that explores all of the creative gifts a person can bring! Kristi would like to thank her family and friends for their unconditional love and support. She hopes you enjoy this wonderful and thought provoking piece of theatre and thanks you all for your supporting the local arts!

Kaitlyn Huff

Lighting & Sound Designer

This is Kaitlyn’s first show with Sock & Buskin. She is very excited to be back behind the light board and assisting with Rapture, Blister, Burn. Kaitlyn was born and raised in NC, and became a proper techie and theatre nerd after joining local Wilmington, NC comedy troupe Pineapple-Shaped Lamps in 2009. She has been a lover of the dramatic arts ever since and her most recent credit was running the lights for Altoona Community Theatre’s (ACT) Oliver! in May 2023.

Kari Williamson

Stage Manager

Kari is excited to participate in another Sock & Buskin theatre production, this time as a stage manager. Kari was recently seen in S&B’s It’s a Wonderful Life, The Witching Hour, Murder In The HOA, and Cutthroat Christmas. Kari has also served as director and stage manager in several shows, as well as co-writer of three of S&B’s murder mysteries. Next, you will find her performing in S&B’s fall shows. She thanks her husband, Steve, and their two kids.

Jace Beauton

Technical Director | Costume & Props

This is Jace’s second show with Sock & Buskin. Previously they were in The Final Rose as Carrie. Before, they did theatre through high school working mainly on crew as student director, assistant costume chair, and stage crew. Their favorite shows they’ve done are Bye Bye Birdie, A Murder Is Announced, and School of Rock. In their free time, they like to crochet, play video games, and hang out with friends.

Ali Gallo

Assistant Stage Manager

This is Ali’s first show with Sock & Buskin. After many years away from the stage she is thrilled to help this extraordinary cast.

Mal MacKenzie

Intimacy Coordinator

Mal is new to working with S&B after recently graduating from the Penn State BFA Acting program where they trained extensively in consent based fight and intimacy practices. Mal served as Choreographer or Fight Captain on several Center Stage Productions (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Metamorphoses, Bonnets…, Falsettos) as well as other projects in the School of Theater (Bone Play, Damned Without Vision). They have worked extensively with local filmmakers as a fight and intimacy choreographer (‘The Door,’ Dark Mind Productions; ‘Playing God’, Abby Tarpey; ‘The Test’, Dark Mind Productions) and have trained with Theatrical Intimacy Education and the Society of American Fight Directors.

Caitlin Meleski

Graphic Designer

Caitlin considers herself to be “a small-town-famous graphic designer with a passion for digital artistry.” She is a 2015 Advertising Art & Design graduate of SUN Area Technical Institute and a 2019 Bachelors of Arts graduate of Susquehanna University. Before designing promo artwork for Sock & Buskin, Caitlin designed posters for productions presented by Selinsgrove Area High School Theatre, Riverstage Community Theatre, and many other small theater companies across the United States. Caitlin hopes to continue to combine her skills in design and her love for theater and hopefully get to work for productions on Broadway. You can follow her work on Instagram and Facebook @caitlinmeleskiartwork.