Threshold New Play Festival​: Mercy Me

Actor’s Express is a theatre that challenges and reflects contemporary human experiences in an inclusive environment. We seek to jumpstart individual transformations through the shared adventure of our live performances, which range from daringly provocative to audaciously hilarious. Actor’s Express constantly develops new talent, pushes boundaries and encourages people to question their place in the world. Our work creates emotional connections between audience and artist, catalyzing discussion on the complex issues of the contemporary human experience. We stay one step ahead of the conversation - our audiences expect to be challenged when they attend our programming. We firmly believe the relevance and vitality of the American theatre depends upon a continual infusion of new work and the nurturing of new playwrights. Playwrights are the chroniclers, critics and prophets of our times. They offer stories about the way we live, love, and sacrifice, and provide new insights into our shared humanity. Actor’s Express is committed to championing the emerging voices of the American stage.Our primary goals are four-fold: to nurture the next generation of playwrights through workshops, readings, and full productions of new plays; to develop and nurture Atlanta’s artistic community through rigorous theatre training; to catalyze the dialogue essential to the vitality of our neighborhood and our city; and to enhance Atlanta’s reputation nationally as a thriving center for live performance.

DARYL IS a playwright, over-educated freelance graphic designer (MFA, University of Memphis) and actor (BS, Northwestern University) based in Atlanta, Georgia. Her plays and musicals (the latter written with composer, Aaron McAllister) have been produced Off-Broadway (American Theatre of Actors, Theatre Row, New York Musical Theatre Festival), in professional regional and international theatres (Actor’s Express, Horizon Theatre, Aurora Theatre, Florida Rep, Actors Rep of Luxembourg, Weird Sisters Theatre Project), and produced and workshopped in academic settings (Emory Univ., Coastal Carolina Univ., Truman State Univ.). Plays have also been developed by the Alliance Theatre, Synchronicity Theatre, and Working Title Playwrights. Her commitment is to writing multi-dimensional roles for women of all ages, races, and classes. Partly, that comes from being an actor herself, and partly it comes from growing up in a richly textured college town in Mississippi. When not writing, Daryl enjoys the occasional acting gig and caters to the graphic design needs of professional theatres in Atlanta and beyond. She is a professional member of the Dramatist Guild