Sharon Lawrence Stars in Five Performances of THE SHOT at the Great Barrington Public Theatre

Great Barrington Public Theater Stages Special Event: Sharon Lawrence stars in five performances of The Shot, Robin Gerber's new play exploring the little-known domestic violence suffered by Katharine Graham before she became famed publisher of The Washington Post.

GB Public Theater punctuates the 2022 stage season with four new, solo performances that run for five weeks, themed to stories of humanity and the power of a single voice to tell them.

The third show opening in the series is the world premiere of Robin Gerber's new play, The Shot (June 16-19), directed by Michelle Joyner and starring Emmy Award-winning actress Sharon Lawrence as Katharine Graham, whose journey from an isolated, abused young mother to powerful publisher of The Washington Post, brought down Richard Nixon's White House. Her backstory takes audiences into the shadows of an abusive marriage that led to a stunning, life-altering trauma. Katharine's struggle to discover herself leads her to become the woman who shook up Washington and became a model of determination and power.

Before her celebrity, Graham was consigned and resigned to the shadows of male dominion, expected to follow the patterns of quiet if not servile wifely domestication common to the time. Obedient to rules and standard roles, she married young and began a family, even stepping docilely aside when her father turned the family finances and publishing business over to her husband, although she had long aspired to be a writer and journalist. From there followed child-rearing, domestic abuse, a publicly, demeaning spousal affair, societal humiliation, a broken-down marriage and the eventual violent trauma that changed her forever. On her own, she resurrected herself, marshalling her mettle to return to writing and the iron will to take control of her life and the family company, and to strategize and assemble the publishing empire that made her name and changed the country.

The Shot is a work of fiction based on playwright Robin Gerber's book, Katharine Graham: The Leadership Journey of An American Icon. The backstory exposes the scourge of intimate partner abuse and domestic violence, and deals with issues that still define our times--gender bias; financial power; guns in America; and power structures that subjugate women. Along the way, The Shot explores Katharine Graham's distinct, winning character, inner conflicts, fear, and deep faith in love and duty. Her struggles to persevere and persist exemplifies survival and triumph against overwhelming odds.

In playwright Robin Gerber's words, "The Shot is a story for this moment. The #metoo focus on harassment and abuse outside the home must look inside as well. The first refuge for sexism and misogyny is the treatment of women as objects for abuse in their domestic life. If we can be abused with impunity, we can be paid less, denied opportunity and control over our bodies."

In choosing The Shot to show the power of a single human voice Jim Frangione, GB Public Artistic Director, explains, "The Shot is a personal story of a famed person who faces and conquers harrowing circumstance that too many women are forced and expected to face every day. She took on gender shaming, grappled with self-conflict and mastered self-discovery. It's a story of human character that makes us all exceptional."

How to Get Tickets

The Shot is onstage for five performances only, June 16-June 19, Thurs.-Sun., 7:30pm and 3pm, in the Liebowitz Black Box Theater, Bard College at Simon's Rock, 84 Alford Rd, Great Barrington, MA 01230. Tickets and information are on the Great Barrington Public Theater website.

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