Tony Award Winning playwright Rupert Holmes captures the remarkable life of one of America’s most important public figures.
All Things Equal – The Life and Trials of Ruth Bader Ginsburg will embark on another national tour for the 2023-24 season as it eyes a New York City theater. The lauded play, which had a highly successful world premiere tour last season, is written by multiple Tony Award-winning playwright Rupert Holmes and stars acclaimed actress Michelle Azar. Over the course of ninety fascinating and often funny minutes, the play presents an intimate portrayal of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a true American original.
“In creating this play about her richly-lived life and hard-fought struggles, I came to ever more deeply marvel at her strength, tenacity, sly wit, and compassion,” commented Rupert Holmes. “Our play also reveals the love song that ran through her remarkable life and shares the music that was her giddy delight. All Things Equal offers each theatregoer the chance to better know this woman, her yearning for equality, and her love for this nation’s precious institutions: Ruth … Justice … and the American way,” continued Holmes.
Holmes invites the audience into the intimacy of RGB’s life and her many trials: losing her mother the day before she graduated as valedictorian of her Brooklyn high school … being one of only nine young women studying law at Harvard while also raising a daughter and helping her husband battle cancer … fighting for women’s rights in the 1970’s before condescending all-male courts … and taking courageous stands for human rights as a voice of reason amid a splintering and increasingly politicized Supreme Court.
An evening with a great and compassionate icon of straight-thinking American justice emerges … an RBG who is not only “notorious” but victorious as she takes a stand for ordinary people facing the many challenges of a changing world. Holmes brilliantly captures RBG’s compelling life, leaving no question why she became a cross-generational role model that inspired tens of millions of Americans and a worldwide following.
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All Things Equal – The Life and Trials of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
2023-2024 National Tour Schedule
DATE VENUE CITY 2023 November 1-2, 2023 Mainstage Theatre Harrisonburg, VA Novemebr 4, 2023 EKU Center for the Arts Richmond, KY November 10, 2023 American Theatre Hampton, VA November 17, 2023 Academy of Music Theatre Northampton, MA November 29, 2023 University of Pittsburgh at Bradford Pittsburg, PA 2024 March 3, 2024 Mcaninch Arts Center at College of Dupage Glen Ellyn, IL March 8, 2024 Flynn Mainstage Burlington, VA March 9, 2024 The Center at Eagle Hall Hardwick, MA March 22, 2024 Monfort Concert Hall Greeley, CO March 23-23, 2024 Balboa Theatre San Diego, CA April 17, 2024 Edmonds Center for the Arts Edmonds, WA April 20, 2024 Mount Baker Theatre Bellingham, WA April 21, 2024 Admiral Theatre Bremerton, WA May 3-5, 2024 Westport Country Playhouse Westport, CT With more dates to be announced! (Subject to change)
About the Team
Rupert Holmes, Playwright
Stander has produced concerts and theatre attractions for the last over 20 years, including the Rocky Horror Picture Show Spectacular Tour with original stars Barry Bostwick and Patricia Quinn and Judy Garland’s We Need A Little Christmas at Carnegie Hall starring internet sensation Debbie Wileman. He has also produced Debbie Wileman’s Happy 100th Birthday, Judy! concert and her debut CD album: I’m Still Here – The Songs Judy Would Sing: Judy Garland’s 100th Birthday. Past hits include: An Evening With Sophia Loren (10 city National Tour – Spring 2016); Dance To The Movies starring Shirley Jones and Lesley Ann Warren (Spring 2016); Dancing With A Twist-mas to the Holidays (Christmas 2015); Ballroom With Twist starring TV’s Derek Hough, Cheryl Burke, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Karina Smirnoff, Tony Dovolani and Peta Murgatroyd (National Tour – 5 seasons); Broadway: If You Ever Leave Me… I’m Going With You! starring Renee Taylor and Joe Bologna (Broadway, and Chicago Company and National Tour); Steve Allen and Phyllis Diller – Together Again For The First Time (12 city Concert Tour); An Evening With Shirley Bassey (10 city Concert Tour); Milton Berle’s 90th Birthday Celebration (13 city tour); Breaking Legs starring Frank Gorshin (Off Broadway and National Tour); Say Goodnight Gracie (2nd National Broadway Tour starring Don McArt – 3 year tour); Odd Couple – Female Version starring Barbara Eden, Rita McKenzie, and Georgia Engel (National Tour – 3 seasons); Love Letters starring Barbara Eden, and Larry Hagman, and Hal Linden (National tour); Bermuda Avenue Triangle starring Renee Taylor, Joe Bologna, and Lainie Kazan (National Tour); Ethel Merman’s Broadway starring Rita McKenzie (Off Broadway – John Houseman Theatre and National Tour).
Michelle Azar, Lead Actress
Her performance background began in Chicago where she sang with the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s children’s choir. She received an MA and BFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and started working immediately as Janis Joplin in Beehive. Once moving to Los Angeles, she received Ovation awards for her roles in both dramatic and comedic roles with her theatre company, Neurotic Young Urbanites, and was the 2016 Stage Raw award winner for Best Actress in Eric Coble’s My Barking Dog directed by Michael Michetti at the Boston Court Theatre. Other favorite stage credits: Bella in Lost in Yonkers, Berte in Boeing, Boeing ( La Mirada Theatre) Masha in Mayakovsky and Stalin (Cherry Lane Theatre) The Awakening of Spring (Circle Rep) and the creation of Constance Lily in the recent hit musical, Bronco Billy (Skylight Theatre). Select television and film credits include: NCIS LA, HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER, CRIMINAL MINDS, THE MAGICIANS, AQUARIUS, COMMUNITY, and the recently released film, SENIOR MOMENT with Gene Smart and William Shatner.
Laley Lippard (she/her), Director
Lippard is a director, creative producer, and educator. Lippard has directed and collaborated with Steppenwolf Theatre Company, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Guthrie Theater, Round House Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Cleveland Play House, American Theater Company, Magic Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, Court Theatre, Virginia Stage Company, among others. World Premiere directing projects include Matt Pelfry’s Pure Shock Value, Eric Coble’s These Mortal Hosts, and the National New Play Network’s Rolling World Premiere of David Valdes’ The Mermaid Hour. Her site specific work has been noted in The New York Times (The Smuggler with Solas Nua) and her devised work was recently adapted to her first film which premiered in NY (In the Middle of the Fields). Lippard was the co-founder and co-executive producer of The Chicago Home Theater Festival, a five-year city-wide artistic network and annual event that organized artists across form, local community leaders, youth, and other invested neighbors to celebrate neighborhood culture, share a communal meal, experience transformative art, build intentional community across lines of difference, and inspire direct action. Other producing work includes Z/Magic Mondays at Magic Theatre as Artistic Associate, with The Welders as Interim Creative Producer, and as Cleveland Play House’s inaugural Artistic Directing Fellow. During the quarantine, Lippard developed, curated and produced over 30 events with a DC theater company including Creative Conversations, Peace Cafes, and more with local and international scholars, artists, community leaders, and change-makers. For this original series developed by Lippard, she curated an hour long memorial of Ruth Bader Ginsburg hosted by Edward Gero featuring Molly Smith, E. Faye Butler, Craig Wallace, and Ginsburg’s nephew actor Rory Boyd. Lippard has taught, workshopped, and directed at Universities including Stanford University, Northwestern University, Hampshire College, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Maryland, and Case Western Reserve MFA Acting program. Lippard is a member of the National Directors Fellowship, a partnership between the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, National New Plays Network, Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), and The Kennedy Center; a member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab; an Associate Member of the SDC, and holds an MFA in Directing from Northwestern University.
Scott Stander, Producer
Stander has produced concerts and theatre attractions for the last 20 years including the Rocky Horror Picture Show Spectacular Tour and “Judy Garland We Need A Little Christmas”, starring internet sensation Debbie Wileman. He has also produced Debbie Wileman’s Happy 100th Birthday, Judy! concert and her debut CD: “I’m Still Here – The Songs Judy Would Sing”. Past hits: An Evening With Sophia Loren (10 city US tour – Spring 2016); Dance To The Movies starring Shirley Jones and Lesley Ann Warren (Spring 2016); Dancing With A Twist-mas (Christmas 2015); Ballroom With Twist – starring TVs Derek Hough, Cheryl Burke, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Karina Smirnoff, Tony Dovolani and Peta Murgatroyd (National Tour – 5 seasons) Broadway: If You Ever Leave Me I’m Going With You starring Renee Taylor and Joe Bologna (Broadway and Chicago Company and National Tour); Steve Allen and Phyllis Diller – Together Again For The First Time (12 city Concert Tour); An Evening With Shirley Bassey (10 city Concert Tour); Milton Berle’s 90th Birthday Celebration (13 city tour); Breaking Legs starring Frank Gorshin (Off Broadway and tour); Say Goodnight Gracie (2nd National Broadway Tour starring Don McArt – 3 year tour); Odd Couple – Female Version starring Barbara Eden and Rita McKenzie (National Tour – 3 seasons); Love Letters starring Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman and Hal Linden (National tour); Bermuda Avenue Triangle starring Renee Taylor, Joe Bologna and Lainie Kazan (National Tour); Ethel Merman’s Broadway starring Rita McKenzie (Off Broadway-John Houseman Theatre and National Tour).
Cast and Crew
Lead Actress: Michelle Azar
Associate Producer: Rita McKenzie
Set Designer: Tom Hansen
Lighting Designer: Mike Billings
Director: Laley Lippard
Video Projections Designer: Mike Billings
Costumer: Devon Spencer
Sound Designer: Shaughn Bryant; Claudia Martinez
Prop Master: Brenda Scott
Casting Director: Mark Paladini
Music Supervisor: Teressa Jennings
Stage Manager: Chris Powich
Technical Director: Rocky Noel
Producer: Scott Stander
