The Ford/Hill Project – January 7-11

ABOUT

30 years apart, Anita Hill and Christine Blasey Ford provoked a reckoning about who is given the power to shape the future of our country by telling the story of one of the most private moments of their lives in one of the most public settings imaginable. With an ensemble of four actors speaking from the verbatim transcripts of these pivotal hearings, these two women’s stories can be seen side by side in a new light in Waterwell’s illuminating production.

“The replication of verbatim quotes allows the audience to attend these seismic political events themselves, draws attention to the very public nature of these proceedings and the theatricality of politics, and highlights the connection between our past and present.” – The New York Times

Note: This performance includes infrequent strong language and themes/discussions of racial and gender-based violence.

Run time: 65 minutes, no intermission

Recommended for audiences 16+. For further information about the content of the performance, please email info@waterwell.org.

CREDITS

Co-Creators: Elizabeth Marvel & Lee Sunday Evans
Director: Lee Sunday Evans
Co-Sound Designer & Audio Editor: Jeffrey Salerno
Co-Sound Designer: Mikhail Fiksel
Costume Coordinator: Amanda Roberge
Production Stage Manager: Katie Young

Co-Creators: Elizabeth Marvel & Lee Sunday Evans
Director: Lee Sunday Evans
Co-Sound Designer & Audio Editor: Jeffrey Salerno
Co-Sound Designer: Mikhail Fiksel
Sound Associate: Marion Ayers
Lighting Designer: Oona Curley
Props Designer: Faye Armon-Troncoso
Costume Coordinator: Amanda Roberge
Production Stage Manager: Katie Young

 

FUNDING + SUPPORT

The Ford/Hill Project was developed with support from The Axe-Houghton Foundation, The NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music, and Theater by the City of New York Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment in association with The New York Foundation for the Arts. The project is made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

The first iteration of the project was presented by Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and The Public Theater in October 2024.

 

COMPANY

Elizabeth Marvel (Co-Creator & Actor) has won four Obie Awards for her Off-Broadway work, most notably for the title role in Ivo Van Hove’s 2004 production of Hedda Gabler. Most recently, she starred in the Off-Broadway productions of Five Models in Ruins, 1981 at LCT3; Tim Blake Nelson’s And Then There Were No More and Phillip Roth’s Sabbath’s Theater. Of her numerous Broadway roles, she is best known for her portrayal of Brooke Wyeth in Other Desert Cities, a role which she originated off-Broadway. Marvel recently starred in the Apple TV+ limited series HBO Max limited series Presumed Innocent, Love and Death at HBO Max and the Hulu limited series, The Dropout. Her numerous television credits include Peacock’s Mrs. Davis, Hulu’s Helstrom, Showtime’s Homeland, Netflix’s House of Cards. Recent film credits include G20, The Color Purple, and News of the World. Next year she will be seen in the new untitled Steven Spielberg film. Marvel is a graduate of the Juilliard School.

Lee Sunday Evans (Co-Creator & Director) is a two-time Obie Award-winning Director and the Artistic Director of Waterwell. She recently directed the world premiere of A Wrinkle in Time by Lauren Yee, music and lyrics by Heather Christian at Arena Stage. Notable credits include: Waterwell’s The Ford/Hill Project, which she co-created with Elizabeth Marvel (Woolly Mammoth, The Public Theater); Dance Nation by Clare Barron (Playwrights Horizons, Steppenwolf); Safety Not Guaranteed by Nick Blaemire with music and lyrics by Ryan Miller (BAM); Waterwell’s The Courtroom, created with Arian Moayed which premiered in a courtroom in the 2nd Circuit Thurgood Marshall Courthouse; Caught by Christopher Chen (PlayCo); Detroit Red by Will Power (ArtsEmerson); Sunday by Jack Thorne (Atlantic); In the Green by Grace McLean (LCT3); Miller, Mississippi by Boo Killebrew (Long Wharf, Dallas Theater Center); and Home by Geoff Sobelle (BAM Next Wave). She directed the film adaptation of The Courtroom which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2022 and has had grassroots screenings around the country (www.thecourtroomfilm.com). As part of her work at Waterwell, she has partnered with the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Center for Youth Law, Labor Notes, the Dignity Not Detention Coalition and others to create original projects that make robust contributions to their work on public policy, communications, and organizing.

 

 

Lee Sunday Evans (Co-Creator & Director) is a two-time Obie Award-winning Director and the Artistic Director of Waterwell. She recently directed the world premiere of A Wrinkle in Time by Lauren Yee, music and lyrics by Heather Christian at Arena Stage. Notable credits include: Waterwell’s The Ford/Hill Project, which she co-created with Elizabeth Marvel (Woolly Mammoth, The Public Theater); Dance Nation by Clare Barron (Playwrights Horizons, Steppenwolf); Safety Not Guaranteed by Nick Blaemire with music and lyrics by Ryan Miller (BAM); Waterwell’s The Courtroom, created with Arian Moayed which premiered in a courtroom in the 2nd Circuit Thurgood Marshall Courthouse; Caught by Christopher Chen (PlayCo); Detroit Red by Will Power (ArtsEmerson); Sunday by Jack Thorne (Atlantic); In the Green by Grace McLean (LCT3); Miller, Mississippi by Boo Killebrew (Long Wharf, Dallas Theater Center); and Home by Geoff Sobelle (BAM Next Wave). She directed the film adaptation of The Courtroom which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2022 and has had grassroots screenings around the country (www.thecourtroomfilm.com). As part of her work at Waterwell, she has partnered with the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Center for Youth Law, Labor Notes, the Dignity Not Detention Coalition and others to create original projects that make robust contributions to their work on public policy, communications, and organizing.

 

 

Josh Hamilton (Actor) Josh’s theater credits include the original productions of Kenneth Lonergan’s This is Our Youth, The Waverly Gallery, and Medieval Play. The Coast of Utopia (LTC), The Bridge Project (Bam/Old Vic), The Antipodes (Signature) HurlyBurly, Things We Want, and Lie of the Mind (New Group), Three Sisters and Cherry Orchard (CSC) The Real Thing (Roundabout), Proof (Broadway), Scene Partners (Vineyard), Wallace Shawn’s Evening at the Talkhouse (National UK), and starting in Feb- Shawn’s new play What We Did Before Our Moth Days (Greenwich House) directed by Andre Gregory. Film/TV includes Jay Kelly, The Long Walk, Reality, Maestro, The Walking Dead, Eighth Grade, Blaze, 13 Reasons Why, Ray Donovan, The Last Thing He Told Me, Manchester by the Sea, Louie, The House of Yes, Kicking and Screaming, and Alive. Upcoming: Something Very Bad is Going to Happen (Netflix), Mayday (Apple), and The Five Star Weekend (Peacock).

 

 

Jon Michael Hill (Actor) is a series regular in the upcoming Apple TV comedy thriller series MAXIMUM PLEASURE GUARANTEED along with Tatiana Maslany, Jake Johnson, and Jessy Hodges. Before that, Jon was one of the leads in the David E. Kelley limited series A MAN IN FULL starring Jeff Daniels and Diane Lane. In theater, last season Jon was nominated for a Tony Award for his leading performance in critical hit play PURPOSE. The play was written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and directed by Phylicia Rashad and won the Tony Award for “Best Play,” along with the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Jon was also nominated for a Tony Award for his Broadway debut in SUPERIOR DONUTS. Jon is on the Board of Trustees of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago and has been an ensemble member since 2007.

 

 

Amber Iman (Actor) (she/her) Broadway: Lempicka (Tony and Drama League nominations), Soul Doctor, Shuffle Along. Off-Broadway: Tartuffe, Goddess (AUDELCO award winner for Lead Actress In a Musical), The Ford/Hill Project, Rent. National tours: Hamilton. Regional: Goddess (Berkeley Rep), Hippest Trip (A.C.T.). Film: Steve, Blackberry Winter. TV: “High Maintenance” (HBO). Co-founder of Broadway Advocacy Coalition (Tony Award) and Black Women on Broadway. Howard University. @amberiman_

 

 

 

 

 

Waterwell creates theater, film, and digital media that wrestles with complex civic questions, gathering people for cultural events that provoke, inspire, and build community. We create productions that are artistically daring and emotionally potent to cultivate connections across real and perceived divides. We produce our projects using an evolving set of best practices that are influenced by the principles of community organizing and movement building. This is part of an investigation into how storytelling can have the most relevance and impact in efforts to create a more just and humane society. Our projects manifest in more than one medium but everything we do is infused with our love of the immediacy of live performance.