Full Cast Announced for World Premiere of “SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA” at Geffen Playhouse

FULL CAST ANNOUNCED FOR WORLD PREMIERE OF “SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA” AT GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE

FEATURING MIDORI FRANCIS, MARIANNA GAILUS, NOAH KEYISHIAN AND CILLIAN O’SULLIVAN

WRITTEN BY BETH HYLAND AND DIRECTED BY JO BONNEY

PREVIEWS BEGIN FEBRUARY 4 - OPENING NIGHT IS FEBRUARY 12

LOS ANGELES (December 9, 2025) – Geffen Playhouse today announced the full cast for its world premiere production of SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA, written by Beth Hyland (Fires, Ohio; Seagulls) and directed by Tony Award-nominee Jo Bonney (Cost of Living; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark). SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA is one of three world premiere productions featured in the Geffen Playhouse 2025/2026 season lineup.

The cast includes Midori Francis (The Sex Lives of College Girls, Dash & Lily) as Sally; Marianna Gailus (Vanya, Patriots) as Sylvia; Noah Keyishian (Franklinland, Here There Are Blueberries) as Theo; and Cillian O’Sullivan (In From the Cold, Daredevil: Born Again) as Ted.

Previews for SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA begin Wednesday, February 4, 2025, in the Gil Cates Theater at Geffen Playhouse. Opening night is Thursday, February 12, 2025.

Sally, a once-celebrated novelist grappling with writer's block and overshadowed by her husband Theo’s rising literary fame, seeks solace and inspiration in the iconic Boston apartment once inhabited by Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. But when eerie encounters begin to blur the line between inspiration and madness, Sally is forced to question what’s real, what’s imagined, and what her art may truly cost her. A darkly funny, gripping world premiere from rising playwright Beth Hyland, this tragicomic thriller explores creativity, obsession, and our ghosts that refuse to be ignored.

Recipient of the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award. Major support for this world premiere production provided by the Edgerton Foundation New Play Production Fund.

Geffen Playhouse is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Department of Arts and Culture.

Geffen Playhouse is proud to welcome members of local arts, non‑profit, and service organizations during our Community Meetup Nights. These special evenings offer patrons the chance to connect with community partners and discover more about their missions and values. A full list of participating organizations can be found here.

SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA
Written by Beth Hyland
Directed by Jo Bonney

Previews: February 4, 2026 – February 11, 2026
Opening Night: February 12, 2026
Closing Night: March 8, 2026

CAST
Midori Francis as Sally
Marianna Gailus as Sylvia
Noah Keyishian as Theo
Cillian O’Sullivan as Ted

PRODUCTION TEAM
Scenic Designer Studio Bent
Costume Designer Samantha C. Jones
Lighting Designer Lap Chi Chu
Original Music & Sound Design by Lindsay Jones
Associate Director Sarah Showich
Dialect Coach Paul Wagar
Dramaturg Olivia O'Connor
Production Stage Manager Liz Brohm Hanrahan
Assistant Stage Manager Juliet Park
Casting Director Phyllis Schuringa, CSA

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Monday, Tuesday No performance
Wednesday, Thursday 7:30 p.m.
Friday 8:00 p.m.
Saturday 3:00 and 8:00 p.m.
Sunday 2:00 and 7:00 p.m.

LOCATION
Gil Cates Theater at Geffen Playhouse
10886 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets currently priced at $36.00 - $139.00. Available by phone at 310.208.2028 or online at www.geffenplayhouse.org. Fees may apply.

All Geffen Playhouse productions are intended for an adult audience; children under 10 years of age will not be admitted.

Rush tickets for each day’s performance are made available to the general public one hour before showtime at the box office. $40.00 General/$20.00 Student.

COLLEGE AUDIENCES
Through a variety of events and other opportunities, Geffen Playhouse welcomes college students to experience the live storytelling presented on our stages. We are proud of our association with UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television, and open our doors to all college students throughout Los Angeles. More information is available at www.geffenplayhouse.org/college.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Beth Hyland (Playwright)
Beth Hyland is a playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. Her play SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA won the 2024 Weissberger Prize and will receive its world premiere at the Geffen Playhouse, directed by Jo Bonney; her play Fires, Ohio won the 2025 Alliance/Kendeda Award and will receive its world premiere at the Alliance Theatre, directed by Marissa Wolf. Her plays and musicals, which include Baby Shower Katie, Anna K., Cancelina, Fat Forever, Killed a Man (Joking), Seagulls, and Clearing, have been produced and developed at Manhattan Theatre Club, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Goodman Theatre, Round House Theatre, The Hearth, Know Theatre of Cincinnati, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, Cygnet Theatre, Provincetown Theater, First Floor Theater, The Sound, and others. She currently holds commissions with Manhattan Theatre Club/Sloan, Geffen Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and has projects in development with No Pool Productions and Scenario Two. She is a two-time winner of The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival’s Mark Twain Prize for Comic Playwriting and has been nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the Barrie and Bernice Stavis Playwright Award, the Venturous Playwright Fellowship, and the Laurents / Hatcher Foundation Award. B.A. Kenyon College, M.F.A. UCSD. Representation: Jamie Kaye-Phillips, Paradigm Talent Agency; Benjamin Blake and Anthony Ippolito, Heroes and Villains Entertainment. www.bethhyland.com

Jo Bonney (Director)
Jo Bonney has directed the premieres of plays by Alan Ball, Hilary Bettis, Eric Bogosian, Eleanor Burgess, Hammaad Chaudry, Culture Clash, Eve Ensler, Jessica Goldberg, Isaac Gomez, Danny Hoch, Patricia Ione Lloyd, Neil LaBute, Warren Leight, Martyna Majok, Lynn Nottage, Dan O’Brien, Dael Orlandersmith, Suzan-Lori Parks, Darci Picoult, John Pollono, Will Power, David Rabe, José Rivera, Abby Rosebrock, Seth Zvi Rosenfeld, Alexis Scheer, Christopher Shinn, Diana Son, John Turturro & Ariel Levy, Universes, Naomi Wallace, and Michael Weller. Plus plays by Caryl Churchill, Nilo Cruz, Anna Deavere Smith, Charles Fuller, Lisa Loomer, Paul Lucas, Carey Perloff, and Lanford Wilson. Tony Award nomination for Cost of Living, two Obie Awards for Sustained Excellence of Direction, Lucille Lortel Awards for Best Musical and Best Revival, Drama Desk nomination for Direction of By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, AUDELCO Award for Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3), Drama League and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations, Off-Broadway Alliance and Lilly Awards. Editor of Extreme Exposure: An Anthology of Solo Performance Texts from the Twentieth Century (TCG).

Midori Francis (Sally)
Midori Francis recently wrapped a three-season run as “Alicia” in Mindy Kaling’s HBO Max series The Sex Lives of College Girls, as well as fan-favorite “Dr. Mika Yasuda” on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy. Prior to that, she earned a Daytime Emmy nomination for her lead performance as “Lily” in the Netflix series Dash & Lily. On the feature side, Midori will next be seen as the lead in Natalie Erika James’ upcoming film Saccharine. She also stars in the Blumhouse/MGM+ thriller Unseen and is recognized for her breakout role in Universal’s Good Boys from producer Seth Rogen. She received a Drama Desk nomination for her performance in the New York Times Critic’s Pick Usual Girls at Roundabout Theatre Company. Additional theater credits include her critically acclaimed 2025 return to the stage as “Cherie,” the iconic Marilyn Monroe role, in Bus Stop at Classic Stage Company. She has also appeared in The Wolves at Lincoln Center Theater, which was a New York Times Critic’s Pick and an Obie Award and Drama Desk Award winner, as well as Connected at 59E59 Theaters, which earned her an New York Independent Theater Award.

Marianna Gailus (Sylvia)
Recently performed the one-person play Vanya (adapted from Chekhov by Simon Stephens) off-Broadway as Andrew Scott’s understudy. Broadway: “Katya/Compromised Journalist” in Patriots. Regional: “Mrs. Hedda Tesman” in Hedda Gabler (Yale Repertory Theatre); “Lizzy Bennet” in Pride and Prejudice (Cleveland Play House). Other New York: cityscrape (Good Apples Collective, world premiere). Television: Law & Order. M.F.A., Juilliard Group 51 and recipient of the Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Prize in Acting for outstanding achievement and exceptional professional promise. Juilliard credits include “Halina, The Middle” in Indecent, “Masha” in Three Sisters, “Parolles” in All’s Well That Ends Well, and “Ren” in The Extenders (film). B.A., History, Yale University. She also studied maritime and global history at Pembroke College, Cambridge where, exactly fifty-nine years and eleven months earlier, Sylvia met “that big, dark, hunky boy” at the launch party for St. Botolph’s Review.

Noah Keyishian (Theo)
Off-Broadway: Franklinland (Ensemble Studio Theatre); Here There Are Blueberries (New York Theatre Workshop). Regional: Here There Are Blueberries (Berkeley Repertory Theatre); The Lehman Trilogy (Maltz Jupiter Theatre); Fiddler on the Roof (Olney Theatre Center); Love All (La Jolla Playhouse); Are You There? (44th Humana Festival); A Christmas Carol, Dracula (Actors Theatre of Louisville). Education: M.F.A. UC San Diego.

Cillian O’Sullivan (Ted)
Cillian O’Sullivan has worked as an actor from a young age—originally on stage in New York as a child, then across theaters in Ireland where he was raised. With a long list of TV and film credits to his name since then, including as one of the leads of Netflix’s In From the Cold as “Chauncey Lew,” and most recently with a string of critically acclaimed roles in shows like Daredevil: Born Again as “Devlin” (Disney+), and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds as “Dr. Roger Korby” (Paramount+).

2025/2026 SEASON SPONSOR
S. Mark Taper Foundation

ABOUT GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE
Geffen Playhouse has been a hub of the Los Angeles theater scene since opening its doors in 1995. Noted for its intimacy and celebrated for its world-renowned mix of classic and contemporary plays, provocative new works and second productions, the not-for-profit organization continues to present a body of work that has garnered national recognition. Named in honor of entertainment mogul and philanthropist David Geffen, who made the initial donation to the theater, the company was founded by Gilbert Cates and is currently helmed by Executive Director/CEO Gil Cates, Jr., Artistic Director Tarell Alvin McCraney and Board Chair Mary Ann Cloyd. Proudly associated with UCLA, the Geffen welcomes an audience of more than 130,000 each year, and maintains extensive education and community engagement programs, designed to involve underserved young people and the community at large in the arts. www.geffenplayhouse.org