Louisa Gillis

DECADES-OLD VENGEFUL ACT FUELS INTENSE FAMILY DRAMA
AT NORTH COAST REPERTORY THEATRE
LOUISA GILLIS
A World Premiere By Joanna McClelland Glass
Performances Beginning Wednesday, January 14, 2026
Running Through Sunday, February 8, 2026
Directed by David Ellenstein

Solana Beach, Calif. - A haunting incident from forty years ago ignites this explosive world premiere about the devasting ripple effects of revenge at North Coast Repertory Theatre. Joanna McClelland Glass’s searing new drama weaves a sophisticated psychological thriller about family bonds, betrayal, and the possibility of healing. In this masterfully crafted battle of wits and words that is laced with humor, secrets unravel and alliances shift as a brilliant but fractured family grapples with the power of forgiveness and the price of letting go. Experience this stunning new drama that proves the strongest family ties can bind us or set us free.

David Ellenstein directs Faline England*, Caroline Renee*, James Sutorius*, and Denise Young in LOUISA GILLIS. Christoher M. Williams* is the Stage Manager. Tyler Dean is the Production Assistant. The Design Team includes Marty Burnett (Set Design), Matthew Novotony (Light Design), Elisa Benzoni, + (Costumes), Audrey Casteris, (Props) Matt Fitzgerald (Sound), and Ian Scott (Music).

*The actor or stage manager appears through the courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association.

LOUISA GILLIS performances begin Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, at 7:30 pm. Final performance is Sunday, Feb.8, 2026, at 2 pm. The show runs Wednesday and Thursdays at 7:00 pm, Friday and Saturday evening at 8pm, Sunday evenings 7 pm, and Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2pm. Added Wednesday matinee Feb. 4, and Friday, Jan 16.  A talkback with the director and cast is scheduled for Friday, Jan 23. North Coast Rep is located at 987 Lomas Santa Fe Drive, Solana Beach, CA 92075. Tickets: Previews - $58.50 (including Friday preview at 2pm), Weeknights - $68.50, Wed. & Sat. Matinees/Sat. Eve. - $80.50; Sun. Night - $66.50 For ticket information and to secure your seats for LOUISA GILLIS, call 858-481-1055, or visit ww.northcoastrep.org. Join us for an evening of unexpected humor, heartache and hope that will give you much to ponder and discuss long after you leave the theatre.

 

BIOS:

JOANNA MCCLELLAND GLASS (Playwright) was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Unexpectedly, she is 89 years old. Canadian Gothic and American Modern were produced at Manhattan Theatre Club in its opening year, 1972. Artichoke, Long Wharf Theatre, New Haven, Ct., 1974. To Grandmother's House We Go, Longacre Theatre, Broadway, 1980, Play Memory, Biltmore Theatre, Broadway. (Play Memory, directed by Hal Prince, won a Tony nomination in 1985.) YESTERYEAR, Toronto, 1989. If We Are Women, Williamstown, MA., 1993, directed by Austin Pendleton. If We are Women, London, starring Joan Plowright, directed by Richard Olivier, 1994. Trying, Victory Gardens, Chicago, 2004, directed by Sandy Shinner.  Best Play award. Trying, Promenade Theatre, NYC, 2005 Palmer Park, Stratford Festival, Ontario 2008. Novel, “Reflections on a Mountain Summer”,  A.A.Knopf, 1976. “Woman Wanted,” St. Martin's Press, 1984 (Movie, 1998, Holly Hunter, Kiefer Sutherland, Michael Moriarity). National Endowment for the Arts, Grant, 1980 Guggenheim Fellowship, 1981. Rockefeller Grant, Playwright in Residence at Yale Repertory Theatre, 1984-85.

DAVID ELLENSTEIN (Director) Born into a theatrical family; David has worked in theatres across the country. He currently serves as Artistic Director of North Coast Rep and the Artistic Director of Laguna Playhouse. A veteran of over 250 theatrical productions, other theatres include: Coconut Grove Playhouse, Papermill Playhouse, Portland Stage. Renaissance Theatre, Actor’s Theatre of Phoenix, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Laguna Playhouse, Southwest Shakespeare Company, AJTC, Meadow Brook Theatre, Portland Rep and Gaslamp Quarter Theatre. Winner of the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Award for “2018 Director of the Year Award.”

 

Cast (alphabetical order)

FALINE ENGLAND* (Celia): Heisenberg, Arcola Theatre, London opposite Olivier Award-winning Jenny Galloway (Offies Assessors’ Choice). The Realistic Joneses, Dublin Theatre Festival with Gare St Lazare Ireland (Irish Times Theatre Award Nomination Best Ensemble). The Realistic Joneses, Rubicon Theatre Company and Laguna Playhouse (Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award Nomination Lead Performance). Heisenberg, opposite Emmy Award winner Joe Spano, Rubicon Theatre Company and Laguna Playhouse. Gulf View Drive, All My Sons, The Turn of the Screw, Crimes of the Heart, Rubicon Theatre Company (multiple Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Nominations). Julius Caesar, Shakespeare Center of LA. All in the Timing, Western Stage. Other credits include: Twelfth Night, Chicago, The Rover, Playboy of the Western World, Heartbreak House, The Tempest, Purge! James Donlon & Co. Faline is also the recipient of five Santa Barbara Independent Theatre Awards. Film/television: “9-1-1,” “Station 19,” “Criminal Minds,” “The Mentalist,” “Nip/Tuck,” “Medium,” “C.S.I.,” “Without a Trace.” She teaches at Diana Castle’s The Imagined Life in Los Angeles.

CAROLINE RENEE* (Lucy) is thrilled to make her North Coast Rep debut. She most recently appeared in Witnesses: A New Musical (Ensemble) at The Rubicon Theatre. Other regional includes: A Million Aisles Away (Hope; Santa Monica Playhouse), In Her Key (Ensemble; Wilshire Ebell), Doll's House, Part Two (Emmy; Elmwood Playhouse), Bridges of Madison County (Carolyn; Elmwood), and Spring Awakening (u/s Wendla; Nimbus Arts Center). Notable TV/Film include: "I Know What You Need" (Julia Marchese, Stephen King), "Head of the Class" (Max). BA: University of Southern California, British American Drama Academy. Thank you to Brad and Cyrena at Red Letter and McKenna at DDO Kids!

JAMES SUTORIUS* (Steven) is a frequent guest artist at North Coast Rep. His productions here include The Father (Best Actor, San Diego Critics Circle), The Sunshine Boys, Trying (also by Joanna McClelland Glass), and The Cherry Orchard. Two years ago, he twice performed My Life with Will: An Evening with Will Shakespeare and James Sutorius on the North Coast stage before transferring the production to Los Angeles. At the Old Globe, James portrayed George in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Best Actor Award, S.D. Critics Circle) and acted in Lincolnesque (Best Featured Actor Award, S.D. Critics Circle), The Price, and Savannah Disposition. At the La Jolla Playhouse, he was in Glengarry Glen Ross (Best Featured Actor nomination, S.D. Critics Circle) and in Aaron Sorkin’s The Farnsworth Invention, which continued to Broadway.  Other Broadway shows include Conversations with My Father, The Changing Room and Hamlet at Lincoln Center. Throughout his 57-year career, James has had the privilege of acting major roles in regional theaters throughout America.

DENISE YOUNG (Helga) Denise is thrilled to be a part of this beautiful production surrounded by so many talented, creative souls. Her credits include Scotland Road, A Christmas Carol at Meadow Brook Theatre, The Cherry Orchard at Sierra Repertory Theatre, Comedy of Errors at Foothill Theatre Company, Messiah at L.A. Rep, MacBeth at Nevada Shakespeare, Same Time, Next Year, Love Letters Royal Caribbean, Prelude to a Kiss at The Hudson Theatre, The Hunchback of Notre Dame at Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, The Streisand Festival, among others. On camera, she has appeared in some film and numerous commercials. Offstage, she is privileged to currently serve as Director of Development at North Coast Repertory Theatre. Love and thanks to David, Jamie, and Will, who are her heart. 

CHRISTOPHER M. WILLIAMS* (Stage Manager) Christopher is a union actor and stage manager, as well as a director, producer, fight choreographer, designer, and instructor. Some of his credits include playing Nathan Rothschild in the original cast of the Off-Broadway production of Rothschild & Sons, opposite Robert Cuccioli; Hamlet On Trial with comedy legend Billy Connolly (Theatre League); The Drawer Boy and A Moon for the Misbegotten (AZ Theatre Company); Noises Off (Idaho Shakespeare Festival); Angels In America: Part I & II, and Lobby Hero (Actors Theatre); Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, Julius Caesar, Oliver!, West Side Story, A Funny Thing…Forum (Southwest Shakespeare Company). Over the past 20 years, he has directed, stage managed or performed in 40 productions at North Coast Rep. Christopher has also worked as a producer, casting director, and on-set acting coach for the WWII feature “Walking with the Enemy,” starring Sir Ben Kingsley and Jonas Armstrong.