THE TYPIST

[NoHo Arts District, CA] –  Plays With People and Danna Hyams Productions present The world premiere of THE TYPIST by multiple award-winning playwright Shem Bitterman (The Civil Twilight), directed by Jeremy Wechsler, running January 27-March 9. 

About THE TYPIST

A jazz-infused love story, THE TYPIST transports us to the summer of ’61 in a Greenwich Village basement apartment where a bourbon-soaked novelist racing to complete his manuscript for publishing hires a typist to commit his words to the page. What begins as a professional arrangement – dictation, typing, coffee, repeat – becomes something more combustible.

Comments from Playwright Shem Bitterman, “I got this idea when I learned that the sister of a friend of my mother’s typed Richard Yates’ seminal 60s masterpiece, Revolutionary Road. Apparently, for the duration of the job, he and she were lovers, then, once it was over, never saw each other again. Both died alone. Yates, nearly forgotten, yet still working. Mom’s sister’s friend in a bungalow in Florida, leaving all her money to her cats. I wondered what it would be like if these two lonely souls somehow found their way to love.”

Director Jeremy Wechsler adds, ”What draws me to Bitterman’s script is how humanely it lets two people fumble toward each other across all the obstacles – gender, class, and the gulf between ambition and talent. The Typist asks what we owe each other as humans in terms of honesty, exposure and support.”

“The relationship between the two characters is a beautiful look at two souls in trouble, in desperate need of someone who can truly see them for what they are, says Noah James, one of the main characters.

The Cast

NOAH JAMES – The Writer

Noah James is a Los Angeles-based actor originally from Tempe, Arizona. For the last six years he has starred in the Amazon Prime series, The Chosen, continuing  into its next season in 2026. His other film and TV credits include: S.W.A.T., Shameless, iCarly, California Christmas: City Lights, Danger Force, Party With Me, and Game Shakers. His theater credits include Bad Jews (Stage Raw nomination for best ensemble), Broadway Bound (Stage Raw nomination for best supporting actor), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 63 Trillion, and 50 Shades of Shakespeare. Noah earned his BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2011.

EVANGELINE EDWARDS – The Typist

Evangeline Edwards grew up in the foothills of Denver with a voracious appetite for performing. After years of participating in choir, dance competitions, and local musicals, Evangeline attended Interlochen Arts Academy to study opera. She then majored in Narrative Studies at USC to pursue her craft as a writer, but through the encouragement of her professors at USC, discovered that performing and creating are a mutually beneficial relationship. She got her MFA at A.C.T. in San Francisco, a program that nurtured her both as an interpreter and a generator of art. This aspect of Evangeline’s artistry is part of what drew her to The Typist – a play that explores authorship, narrative voice, the relationship of artist to muse, and the ever-present problem of “resistance” as Steven Pressfield calls it in The War of Art. Edwards is most inspired by characters who blur the line between good and evil, strength and vulnerability, beauty and mania. Her recent theatre credits include Teresa in Will Arbery’s Heroes of the Fourth Turning (Rogue Machine), John Ross Bowie’s Brushstroke (The Odyssey), David Rambo’s A Good Guy (Rogue Machine), and Chaya Doswell’s Fostered (PRT).

The Team

SHEM BITTERMAN – Playwright

Shem Bitterman’s plays include last year’s The Civil Twilight, The Stone Witch, Open House, A Death In Colombia, his widely celebrated Iraq Trilogy, Influence, Harm’s Way and man.gov, Also, The Job, The Circle, Sensitive Skin, Ten Below, The Ramp and Iowa Boys. His plays have been produced Off Broadway at The Westside Arts and the WPA in NYC and regionally at CTG, South Coast Rep, Geva, The Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Berkshire Theatre Company, Cornerstone, The Unicorn Theatre, The Pacific Jewish Theatre, The Skylight Theatre, The Elephant, The New American Theatre and The Odyssey and won numerous awards, including the CBS/FDG Award, The Pen Award, The National Play Award, The Davie Award, The Stanley Award, The LA Critics Circle Award.  Many plays have been adapted into movies, including: The Job, Open House, Peephole. Self Storage (as Tinseltown), Out of the Rain (from 1+1=3). Shem is also a screenwriter for Betty & Coretta and Whitney as well as Time For Me To Come Home on Hallmark. His most recent film is Distant Tales, which he also directed. In 2012, he formed Play LA, dedicated to nurturing new playwrights and connecting them with local theatres. He was named 2024 Filmmaker in Residence by The Independent Film Critics of America.

JEREMY WECHSLER – Director

Jeremy Wechsler is the Artistic Director of Theater Wit where he has directed the Chicago premieres of Prayer For The French Republic, Inanimate, The Whistleblower, Hurricane Diane, The Realistic Joneses, Admissions, 10 Out Of 12, Naperville, The Antelope Party, The New Sincerity, The (Curious Case Of The) Watson Intelligence (Best of 2015 – Sun Times), Bad Jews (Best of 2015 – New City), Mr Burns: A Post-Electric Play(Time Out Peoples’ Choice Award for Direction, Best of 2015), Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England (Sun Times Best of Year 2014), Completeness, Tigers Be Still, This, The Four Of Us, Feydeau-Si-Deau, Men Of Steel, Thom Pain (Based On Nothing) (Jeff Award – Best Solo Performance), Two For The Road, and annual favorite The Santaland Diaries. Under Jeremy’s leadership, Theater Wit has emerged as the go to destination for cutting edge contemporary work, gaining national recognition for excellence. He has directed over fifty shows at various Chicago theaters and his productions have been nominated for and won multiple awards for design, performance, adaptation and best new work. He has been featured multiple times in the New York Times and American Theatre Magazine.

ROGER BELLON – Composer / Musical Director

Roger Bellon is an Emmy-nominated Composer who was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. He began his musical journey at age five with piano and later earned his Bachelor Of Music Composition degree from the Berklee College of Music, and completed postgraduate studies in Composition and Conducting at the École Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot. He began his film-scoring career in Paris, composing music for television, documentaries and theatre. He has worked with writers and directors such as Joël Santoni and Jean Curtelin and actors Michel Galabru, Guy Marchand, Stéphane Audran, Mort Schuman and Caroline Cellier. Moving to Los Angeles, Roger continued his film and television career, scoring over three hundred episodes of television, including award-winning cult series, “Highlander-The Series,” as well as many TV movies and mini-series. His recent movie was the Netflix hit “A Knight Before Christmas.” Theatre being Roger’s passion he has created scores to many plays including Grace & Milt (Aperture Gallery, New York), The Stone Witch (Westside Theatre, New York) for director Steve Zuckerman and playwright Shem Bitterman and The Auschwitz Volunteer: Captain Witold Pilecki for Polish actor-director Marek Probosz, which premiered at the United Solo Festival at Theatre Row, New York. His opera Highlander: A Celtic Opera received its radio premiere on Radio Aktywne in Poland.

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