A joyful, uplifting way to celebrate the holidays.
— San Mateo Daily Journal
As delightful as peppermint hot cocoa."
— The Mercury News

WORLD PREMIERE

THE EMPLOYEE DHARMA HANDBOOK

SHOW HAS CLOSED

July 8-aug 2, 2026

Lucie Stern Theatre, Palo Alto

By GEETHA REDDY
A KURJAN/BUTLER Commission

As an important rocket launch approaches, Val, an HR Executive at an aerospace company in Silicon Valley, suspects that a young engineer was overlooked for a promotion. Leela, a first generation Indian-American, doesn’t really want to talk about it, but Val suspects sexism is the cause. What they don’t expect to uncover are simmering tensions of ancient origins among the company’s Indian immigrant employees…sorry, Valued Team Members. Soon Val is navigating a funhouse of identity, nepotism, and desire as she tries to understand the culture and biases of Leela’s managers. When push comes to shove, Val will need to decide what her duty is to Leela, to the company, and to herself.

For the best prices and perks, become a subscriber!

LEARN MORE

For the best prices and perks, become a subscriber!
LEARN MORE

On sale now!
GET TIX!

Special Events & Accessible Performances

Join TheatreWorks for a pre-show discussion with an artist from the production. In this free event, peer behind the scenes and learn more about the process of bringing this production to life.
  • Thursday, July 9 @ 6:15 – 6:45 pm (in the lobby)
  • Wednesday, July 15 @ 7:30pm
  • Wednesday, July 22 @ 7:30pm
  • Wednesday, July 29 @ 7:30pm
  • Sunday, July 19 @ 1pm
  • Thursday, July 23 @ 7:30pm
  • Sunday, July 26 @ 1pm

Photos: Kevin Berne, 2025

Cast

EMILY OTA*

EMILY OTA (Georgiana Darcy) has performed with TheatreWorks in Little Women, Sense and Sensibility, and their New Works Festival. Other credits include: Becky in Bachelorette (Off-Broadway); Loren in Cult of Love (Berkeley Rep); One/Naomi Bell in Dogs (Berkeley Rep Ground Floor); Henry V in Henry V, Maria in Love’s Labor’s Lost, Maria/Lisa in Mr. Burns, a post-electric play, Prince Escalus in Romeo and Juliet (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival); Miranda in The Tempest (The Oregon Symphony); Alice in Alice in Wonderland, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Marianne in Sense and Sensibility (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Narration for Sweet and Sour (Scholastic Books). Ota earned her graduate degree from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Instagram: @emilyota.

KUSHI BEAUCHAMP*

KUSHI BEAUCHAMP (Kitty Bennet) has worked with TheatreWorks as the March sisters understudy in Little Women, and as Rachel in Vienna, as part of the 2025 New Works Festival. Favorite recent credits include Tinkerbell in Peter Pan & Wendy, Once and A Christmas Carol (Kansas City Repertory Theatre), Charlie & The Chocolate Factory (The Coterie) and The Dogwood (Kansas City Actors Theatre). Beauchamp received her MFA in Acting & Directing from the University of Missouri, Kansas City. kushibeauchamp.com

AMANDA PULCINI*

AMANDA PULCINI (Elizabeth Darcy) is thrilled to return to TheatreWorks after appearing in Miss Bennet (Jane) and Mrs. Christie (Female Understudy). Regional credits include: Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson Apt. 2B (Holmes), Boeing, Boeing (Gretchen) at Third Avenue Playworks, Titus Andronicus (Tamora/ Ensemble) at The Shakespeare Forum, the U.S. premiere of Robert Icke’s Oresteia (Klytemnestra). Upcoming productions: M. Butterfly (Renee)at San Francisco Playhouse, Out Here (Gina) at Court Theatre. TV credits include Chicago PD and The Big Leap. Film credits include Soul On Fire starring William H. Macy, The Driftless, Hey, I’m Home, and more. She holds an MFA from DePaul University, BFA from Shenandoah Conservatory, as well as being a Certified Intimacy Coordinator and Intimacy Director through Intimacy Directors and Coordinators. AmandaPulcini.com

JENNY NGUYEN NELSON*

JENNY NGUYEN NELSON, she/her (Lydia Wickham) was last seen at TheatreWorks in Tiger Style! Bay Area credits include Poor Yella Rednecks: Vietgone 2 and A Whynot Christmas Carol (A.C.T.); My Home on the Moon (San Francisco Playhouse); A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Everybody (Cal Shakes). New York credits include Clubbed Thumb, and Ars Nova ANT fest. She has been seen in workshops with Marin Theatre, The Magic SF, Ojai Playwrights Conference, A.C.T., Playwrights Center, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, and The Ground Floor at Berkeley Repertory. She earned her MFA in acting from Brown/Trinity and certificate in musical theater from PCPA Pacific Conservatory Theater. Endless love to Ian without whom she could not have done any of this and the gift of baby Ernie. jennynguyennelson.com

MONIQUE HAFEN ADAMS*

MONIQUE HAFEN ADAMS (Jane Bingley) returns to Pemberley after previously playing Caroline Bingley in Pride and Prejudice: The Musical at TheatreWorks. Other appearances at TheatreWorks include the 2017 & 2018 New Works Festivals. Previous Bay Area credits include A.C.T. (Top Girls, A Walk on the Moon), CenterREP (Cabaret, The Liar, and others), San Jose Stage Company (Chicago, Sweeney Todd, The ThreePenny Opera, Avenue Q), San Francisco Playhouse (Harper Regan, She Loves Me, Company, and others), and San Jose Rep (Spring Awakening). She is the voice of Valentina in 2K Games’ Mafia: The Old Country video game and has recorded for Tonies Toys. She is a resident writer with Playground SF and Dorktales Storytime Podcast. She is continually inspired and encouraged by her children and husband.

MARIA MARQUIS

MARIA MARQUIS (Mary Bennet) is a Bay Area based actor and audiobook narrator. You may recognize her from Los Altos Stage’s world premiere adaptation of Cyrano this spring. She’s also appeared numerous times with City Lights Theater Company in Silent Sky, The Merchant of Venice, and Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors among others. Maria is a recipient of Theatre Bay Area’s Best Principal Actress award for her work in the world premiere production of The Awakening with Breadbox Theater. You can learn more about Maria at mariagmarquis.com, and find her audiobooks on Libro.fm and Audible. Maria would like to thank her wonderful husband, Steve, for his unwavering support.

NIMA RAKHSHANIFAR*

NIMA RAKHSHANIFAR (Henry Grey) is happy to make their TheatreWorks debut. In the Bay Area, Rakhshanifar most recently appeared in Noises Off! at SF Playhouse. Credits include the world premieres of Bald Sisters at Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Andy Warhol in Iran at Barrington Stage Company. Other regional credits include Twelfth Night and Sanctuary City (TheatreSquared); Selling Kabul (Northern Stage); Waiting for Godot (Victory Gardens); Short Shakes! Comedy of Errors at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. Rakhshanifar can also be seen as the titular character in the short film Arman, which is currently making its rounds in international film festivals. Graduated from PCPA - Pacific Conservatory Theatre. nimarakhshanifar.com

WILLIAM THOMAS HODGSON*

WILLIAM THOMAS HODGSON, he/ him (Thomas O’Brien) has performed with TheatreWorks in Calligraphy, Mrs. Christie, and Miss Bennet. Acting credits include Every Brilliant Thing (CenterREP), An Octoroon (Mixed Blood Theatre), I Am My Own Wife (Oakland Theater Project),Cyrano (Aurora Theatre Company), Shrek The Musical (Sierra Repertory Theatre), It Can’t Happen Here (Berkeley Repertory Theatre), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (La Jolla Playhouse), and 5 years as a company member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. William earned an MFA from the University of California, San Diego. He is the Co-Artistic Director of the Oakland Theater Project.

JORDAN LANE SHAPPELL*

JORDAN LANE SHAPPELL (Fitzwilliam Darcy) has performed with TheatreWorks in King James, for which he won a San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award. He recently appeared in the films Patient and Monkey Bread. He will be in The Ally at Theatre Wit next spring. Shappell earned his BFA from The Theater School at DePaul University.

CLAIRE FRY

CLAIRE FRY (Georgiana/Jane/ Elizabeth U/S) is excited to be making her TheatreWorks debut! Favorite previous productions include Antigone, Godspell, The Bald Soprano, and Sweeney Todd. Claire has trained at A.C.T., the British American Dramatic Academy, and Columbia University.

MICHELLE SKINNER

MICHELLE SKINNER (Kitty/Mary/ Lydia U/S) is thrilled to be back at TheatreWorks, having understudied last Christmas’ Miss Bennet. She was last seen in Ray of Light’s 9 to 5: The Musical, and next, you can catch her in LASC’s The Cherry Orchard. Skinner is a graduate of the acting program at South Coast Repertory, as well as UC Irvine. Other TheatreWorks credits include: Sense & Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice, and Tuck Everlasting.

NATE G. WRIGHT

NATE G. WRIGHT (Henry/Thomas/ Darcy U/S) has performed previously with Azusa Pacific University in The Music Man, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, and The Phantom of the Opera and earned his BFA from Azusa Pacific University.

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

CREATIVE TEAM

LAUREN GUNDERSON, Playwright

LAUREN GUNDERSON (Playwright). Lauren has been one of the most produced playwrights in America since 2015, topping the list thrice including 2022/23. She is a two-time winner of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for I and You and The Book of Will, the winner of the William Inge Distinguished Achievement in Theatre Award, the Lanford Wilson Award, and a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. She is a playwright, screenwriter, musical book writer and children’s author who lives in London. She graduated from NYU Tisch as a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. LaurenGunderson.co

MARGOT MELCON, Playwright

MARGOT MELCON (Playwright) was the Director of New Play Development for seven years at Marin Theatre Company, dramaturging numerous plays and administering MTC’s two annual play prizes. She currently works for Zellerbach Family Foundation.

GIOVANNA SARDELLI, Director

GIOVANNA SARDELLI (Director) is TheatreWorks’ Artistic Director and former Director of New Works for nine years. TheatreWorks directing credits include Little Women, Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean: A New Musical, King James (which received the SFBATCC Award for Best Production in the Bay and Best Director, among others), Mrs. Christie, A Distinct Society, Nan and the Lower Body, It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, They Promised Her the Moon, Archduke, Crimes of the Heart, The North Pool, and Somewhere. Other directing credits: Describe the Night (Obie Award Best New Play) at Atlantic Theater Co., the World Premiere of Archduke at Mark Taper Forum, and the Marvel podcast Squirrel Girl: The Unbeatable Radio Show! Sardelli holds an MFA in Acting from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and taught in NYU’s Graduate Acting Program and Dance Department for over a decade.

ANDREA BECHERT, Scenic Design

ANDREA BECHERT (Scenic Designer) has designed 41 productions with TheatreWorks, including Miss Bennet last season, Fun Home, Native Gardens, Crimes of the Heart, and Night of the Iguana. Bechert designs for theatres across the country Bechert teaches design at San José State University and is a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829, where she serves as Exam Committee Chair.

CATHLEEN EDWARDS, Costume Design

CATHLEEN EDWARDS (Costume Designer) is now in her 19th season at TheatreWorks, where she again continues her work from the Bennett sisters saga at Christmas time. Her previous TheatreWorks shows include It’s a Wonderful Life, The 39 Steps, Frost/Nixon, Crimes of the Heart, Somewhere, Grey Gardens, Elephant Man, Mrs. Christie, and more. She is well-established in the Bay Area, having designed for many of its regional theatres. Among her awards are two Drama League and two Bay Area Critics Circle Awards. A member of both the United Scenic Artists and Theatrical Wardrobe Unions, she strongly believes in guiding those who are learning their craft, preparing them for careers and enabling them to pass this knowledge on to future generations.

SPENSE MATUBANG, Lighting Design

SPENSE MATUBANG (Lighting Designer) is a lighting and projections designer currently based in Oakland, California. Spense is very happy to return to the TheatreWorks team! Theydesigned lights for last year’s Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley. Recent lighting design credits include: Dragon Lady (CenterREP, Geffen Playhouse, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Marin Theatre) Sally & Tom (Marin Theatre); Indecent, The Roommate, FROGGY, and The Great Leap (CenterREP); Yellowface, Thirty-Six, Best Available, and The Triumph of Love (Shotgun Players); and The Last of the Love Letters and Edit Annie (Crowded Fire Theater). Projections design credits include: Into the Woods, Home?, and Chinglish (San Francisco Playhouse); The Magnolia Ballet (Shotgun Players); The Jungle Book: Rudyard Revised (EnActe Arts); and Evolution (Ferocious Lotus Theatre Company).spensematubang.com

JAMES ARD, Sound Design

JAMES ARD (Sound Designer) is a noisemaker specializing in new works, live experiences, and immersive stage productions. Ard’s recent designs at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley include Little Women, Happy Pleasant Valley, Miss Bennet, Queen, and Mrs. Christie. Recent work outside TWSV includes collaborations with Under the Radar at The Public Theater, American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco Playhouse, Summerhall at the Edinburgh Fringe, Sibiu International Theatre Festival, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Guthrie Theater, American Repertory Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Portland Center Stage, Center Repertory Company, Ensemble Theatre Company, Cutting Ball Theater, Crowded Fire Theater, Joe Goode Performance Group, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and Atlantic Theater Company.

ROXIE JOHNSON, Wig/Hair Design

ROXIE JOHNSON (Wig Designer) is proud to be collaborating on another Christmas at Pemberely with TheaterWorks. She is excited to be a part of Georgiana and Kitty’s story. Her current projects are Wait Until Dark for Ross Valley Players and A Christmas Story for 6th Street Playhouse. She regularly collaborates with Sonoma Arts Live, Westedge’s Opera Festival and Livermore Valley Opera. She most recently designed wigs and makeup for Janis Joplin and La Traviata. Her upcoming projects are Scrooge the Musical for Sonoma Arts Live and Romeo and Juliet for 6th Street Playhouse, as well as teaching the Special Effects Makeup and Wig class this Spring at Santa Rosa Junior College

JUDITH NIHEI, Artist Counselor

JUDITH NIHEI, she/her (Artist Counselor) is a San Francisco- based licensed psychotherapist in private practice, consults for schools, nonprofits and community-based organizations, facilitating the incorporation of stress-reduction and cultural humility as an integral part oftrauma-informed services. Clients have included Edgewood Center for Children and Families, Japanese Community Youth Council, and Theatre Communications Group, Inc. As a director, dramaturg, writer, actor, and administrator, she has worked with Asian American theatre companies in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, as well as The Seattle Rep, Cornish College of the Arts, Hillbarn Theatre and BRAVA. She began her career in improv with The Committee and currently performs as one of The Bad Aunties.

RANDALL K. LUM*, Stage Manager

RANDALL K. LUM (Stage Manager) is a resident stage manager for TheatreWorks, where he worked on productions of Little Women, Happy Pleasant Valley, King James, Being Alive, Queen, How I Learned What I Learned, Steel Magnolias, In Every Generation, Nan and the Lower Body, They Promised Her the Moon, Pride and Prejudice, The 39 Steps, Archduke, Fun Home, Hold These Truths, Finks, Skeleton Crew, Around the World in 80 Days, and The Prince of Egypt, among others. Other credits include the Oregon and San Francisco Shakespeare Festivals, Laguna Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, Denver Center Theatre Co., La Jolla Playhouse, Center Theatre Group, The Old Globe, American Conservatory Theater, California Shakespeare Theater, Berkeley Rep, Center Rep, Seattle Rep, and South Coast Rep.

EMILY ANDERSON WOLF*, Assistant Stage Manager

EMILY ANDERSON WOLF, (Assistant Stage Manager) she/her/any has been the Assistant Stage Manager for TheatreWorks’ Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean: A New Musical, Little Shop of Horrors, Archduke, Frost/Nixon, Fun Home, Crimes of the Heart, Jane Austen’s Emma, Triangle, Fire on the Mountain, Peter and the Starcatcher, Sweeney Todd, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Little Women, and Other Desert Cities. She was also the Assistant Stage Manager for threesixty Entertainment’s First National Tour of Peter Pan; Journey to the West at the New York Musical Theatre Festival, and with American Musical Theatre of San Jose. Ms. Wolf is also a proud member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. She holds a BA in Theatre, Cum Laude from Mount Holyoke College.

Sponsored by

venue

Lucie Stern

SEATING CHART

Location

Contact

Tue–Sun : 12pm–6pm