Cast/Creative Bios

When Penny asked me to play the role of Marie Curie in Laura Gundersen’s beautiful play, The Half Life of Marie Curie, I wondered, “How can I live up to such an inspiring person?” But as I have read, reread, and thought about the script, I realize Marie was human too. She was brilliant, yes, but had her doubts and insecurities. When all was taken from Marie during a scandal, it was her friend, Hertha, who helped her find the will to live again. I find her so inspiring, and I can’t wait to share a bit of the story behind the genius with you, alongside my dear friends Gail and Penny.

My collaboration with Penny and Gail began with another Laura Gundersen play, Silent Sky, which celebrates the lives of brilliant women astronomers often overlooked. Kudos to SavageBee for presenting this show and others that highlight women's achievements. This play is a gift, allowing me to portray a woman who uses her intellect brilliantly and to shine a light on women's contributions that deserve recognition.

I love to play women who are passionate about what they want and pursue it with abandon. These women stand in their own power and live their lives according to their own rules. For Marie, it isn’t about what she should or shouldn’t do as a woman; it’s about the pursuit of knowledge. I love how she describes her work, It’s about, “Knowing what’s true and proving it. Peering for just a moment into the heart of the universe and snatching some truth before the curtain closes.” For her, gender and the stereotypical roles women play have no meaning. She adds, “I don’t really care what they (people) think as long as they let me work.” And then when the Academy won’t accept her because she is a woman, she rages, “It’s a scientific goddamned Academy, and I AM science in the goddamned country, and now they have the perfect excuse to erase me.” As far as she is concerned, she is a scientist first. SHE won the Nobel Prize and should receive the same recognition as a man would. Sound familiar?

But even Marie Curie, one of the most brilliant minds of all time, knew that we all need someone in our corner to bolster us up at times. Women are strong enough to ask for and accept help in achieving their goals. This often plays out with women helping each other - a sisterhood. As we see in Half Life, Hertha Ayrton basically “saves” Marie’s life. In Silent Sky, the female astronomers stand up to the male astronomer and fight for recognition and acknowledgment of their discoveries. For women, it’s not about the individual; it’s about the team achievement.

We hope this play will inspire you to recognize women's power and the sisterhood we cherish. Join us and experience these stories firsthand.

Some of my past favorite roles include Eliza in My Fair Lady, M ’Lynn in Steel Magnolias, Maria in The Sound of Music, Doris in Same Time Next Year, Blanche in Brighton Beach Memoirs, and Sibella in A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder.

Gayle is excited to be part of The Half-Life of Marie Curie playing this amazing and real woman from history. Hertha was a very strong opinionated physicist, mathematician, electrical engineer, and inventor in Edwardian male dominated fields. Her husband, William, supported her to become the first woman member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers. She personified both grace and grit to challenge the patriarchy through suffrage protests along with her daughter, Barbara. Many women of this time, and later, were victims of the Matilda effect - the historic misattribution, underreporting, or neglect of women scientists’ contributions relative to their male colleagues.

Now we’ll tell you a little bit about Gail. Gail is an award-winning stage and film director, actor,

casting director, costumer, and set designer who has been active in Delaware community theaters for almost two decades and involved in local independent films for over a decade. Gail is drawn to stories that take the audience on a journey, an often emotional one.

Gail’s past notable stage roles include Annie Jump Cannon (Silent Sky), Mrs. Clackett/Dottie

(Noises Off), Ouiser (Steel Magnolias), Luella (Why Torture is Wrong), Sister Aloysuis (Doubt),

and Abby (Arsenic and Old Lace). Recent independent film roles include Edith

Rosenbaum/Russell (1912), Mrs. Hudson (Sherlock Holmes and the Angels of Vengeance), and

Francine (Backstage).

Gail’s directorial debut with the 2018 feature length Delaware made film, The Reprogramming

of Jeremy, garnered many awards in the independent film circuit including Best LGBT Film,

Best Woman’s Film, Best Low/No Budget Film, Best Docudrama, Best Actor and Best

Supporting Actor (for various members of the cast).

Gail’s stage accolades are for both directing and acting, often focusing on the lesser-known

stories from emerging authors.  For directing, her staging of the play Find Me won the 2015

Delaware Theatre Association States Outstanding Production, Outstanding Achievement in

Directing, Outstanding Set Design, Supporting Actor, and Ensemble Acting and in 2013 at the

Delaware Theater Association state competition, End of the Movie won Outstanding Ensemble

Performance. Gail has directed plays with as few actors as two and as many as forty.

At present, Gail is working on her first documentary about Delaware transplant Roi Barnard plus

has two short film projects in post production.  Her film company, Mamma’s Boys Film

Productions, Inc., is a dedicated independent film production company focused on fostering

emerging talent and producing high-quality, creatively driven films with unique narratives,

prioritizing artistic vision over mainstream appeal, while actively seeking diverse voices and

stories to bring fresh perspectives to the screen.

Gail was inspired by old movies, the love of theatre, and the way stories are told by both genres.

Her oldest son, Jake, introduced her to 48-hour film challenges and a passion for filmmaking was

born. The filmmaking catalyst came after reading an unpublished play by playwright, Bobbie

Keniston, titled “The Re-Programming of Jeremy.” Thus, Mamma’s Boys Film Productions, Inc.

was born and its first foray into the independent filmmaking was with the feature film The

Reprogramming of Jeremy. Garnering many awards in the film festival circuit, Mamma’s Boys

continues to give voice to new independent stories utilizing talented actors from the tri-state area.

“Errors are notoriously hard to kill, but an error that ascribes to a man what was actually the

work of a woman has more lives than a cat.”― Hertha Ayrton

Penny Beene has been producing theatre for more years than she cares to count but would not give up one moment for all the tea in China. She has worked as a director, actor and in a variety of roles for any number of production crews. There have also been a few movies tucked into the repertoire shooting in Washington DC to Connecticut and New York and with Oliver Stone in Dallas Texas.

The lost years spent out in the great wasteland of Kansas repertory theaters afforded the opportunity to work with undergraduates as they prepared for graduate work in acting. She still loves actors and is proud to see many of her former students and artists grow successfully into the business.

Combined with a little side work either jumping off buildings or participating in controlled riots for the movies (and for less money than the banks pay her,) Penny has remained optimistic about the state of theatre in the US and the terrific actors who almost no one will ever see outside their own hometowns.

For the curious, Penny holds a BFA in Performance and a Masters in Directing with a dash of Opera staging for flavor Past directorial efforts in the Pa. region have included Crimes of the Heart, Denial, Wait Until Dark, Love Letters, and 12th Night. For Fever Dream Repertory of Philadelphia she holds the distinct honor of serving as the artistic director for the past 6 years.

SavageBee is a special, homegrown effort to produce small gems of works by and for women that would not be regularly produced by larger theatres. Combined with associates from other theatre organizations, the group hopes to present the best of these “small gems” for audiences everywhere.