Virologist Nathan Wolfe, named one of TIME's 100 Most Influential People in the World for his work tracking viral pandemics, has hunted viruses from the jungles of Cameroon to the basement of the CDC. Hear his story--presented as cinematic digital theatre--as he tracks the threats that come from without and within. A blazingly intelligent, wryly witty and warm look at the thrill of discovery, whether it's a new virus or the treasures of your own family.

MTC Playwright in Residence Lauren Gunderson returns with a time-jumping tale based on the life and work of Nathan Wolfe (who also happens to be her husband). An interactive deep dive into the profundities of scientific exploration and the harrowing realities of facing your own mortality, The Catastrophist is a world premiere theatrical experience built of and for this moment in time. 

World Premiere Digital Co-Production with Round House Theatre.

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Performance Schedule

STREAMING NOW

  • When purchasing your Virtual Ticket(s), you will see the date July 24. Please note, this is not the only day you will be able to stream the performance! 
  • You will receive an email within 24 hours of your purchase, giving you a link and password to access The Catastrophist video. You will then have 14 days to watch the show at any time of your choosing before your link and password expire.
  • After purchasing your Virtual Ticket(s), please do not be confused by the "will call" or "print at home" ticket delivery options. All ticket holders will be contacted by our Box Office team with instructions on how to stream the video.
  • If you purchased a Virtual Ticket(s) for someone who will be streaming from another location, please reach out to our Box Office team directly (contact info below) to provide us with their contact name and email, so we can send your guest(s) instructions on how to access the video directly. 

Thanks to all for purchasing a Virtual Ticket! We sincerely appreciate your support and we are looking forward to welcoming you back to live theatre at MTC soon!


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Ticket Prices

Performance Center
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Side
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STREAMING $30.00 $30.00

Discounts

Save $5 on each streaming ticket by purchasing a Flexible Membership today!


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Select a Performance

To begin your ticket purchase, select a performance from the calendar below:

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Cast

  • William DeMeritt

    William DeMeritt

    Nathan

    Regional: Will in Shakespeare In Love (U.S. premiere), Fenton in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Sholem Asch in Indecent at Oregon Shakespeare Festival.  Orsino in Twelfth Night at Yale Rep. We, The Invisibles at the Humana Festival of New American Plays, Actors Theatre of Louisville. Writer & Co-creator of the one-man show, Origin Story (winner New York Innovative Theatre Award, Best Solo Performance). Sense & Sensibility at Dallas Theatre Center. The Slam Jam at the Upright Citizens’ Brigade Theatre.

    Off-Broadway: The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World AKA: the Negro Book of the Dead at Signature Theatre Company.  Liz Swados' Violence Project at LaMaMa ETC. Mom, How Did You Meet the Beatles? at The Public Theatre. 

    International: Hamlet at the Bridge Lane Theater, London.  October in the Chair & Other Fragile Things at the Amsterdam International Fringe Festival.

    Film:The Normal Heart, The Lennon Report, The Surrogate, What’s Up, Lovely?, Bad Luck Dandelion. 

    TelevisionThe Flight Attendant (HBOMax), NCIS: New Orleans, Person of Interest, Law&Order:SVU, One Life to Live, The Outs (Vimeo), Guiding Light.

    Additional Credits:

    Audiobooks: Underground Airlines (AUDIE nomination, Earphones award winner), the Mortifications, Snapshot, The Wild Ones trilogy, The Resisters, the Isaiah Coleridge series. 

    Featured Narrator for The New Yorker The New York Times on the AUDM app (streaming service for narrated long-form journalism)

    BFA Marymount Manhattan, MFA Yale School of Drama.

    www.williamdemeritt.com 

    @demeritt

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Creative Team

  • Lauren M. Gunderson

    Lauren M. Gunderson

    Playwright

    Lauren M. Gunderson has been one of the most produced playwrights in America since 2015 topping the list twice including 2019/20. She is a two-time winner of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for I and You and The Book of Will, the winner of the Lanford Wilson Award and the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and John Gassner Award for Playwriting, and a recipient of the Mellon Foundation’s Playwright Residency with Marin Theatre Company. She studied Southern Literature and Drama at Emory University, and Dramatic Writing at NYU’s Tisch School where she was a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. She co-authored the Miss Bennet plays with Margot Melcon, and her play The Half-Life of Marie Curie is available on Audible.com. Her work is published at Playscripts (I and You; Exit Pursued By A Bear; The Taming and Toil And Trouble), Dramatists Play Service (The Revolutionists; The Book of Will; Silent Sky; Bauer; Natural Shocks; The Wickhams and Miss Bennet) and Samuel French (Emilie). Her picture book Dr Wonderful: Blast Off to the Moon is available from Two Lions/Amazon. LaurenGunderson.com

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  • ​Dr. Nathan Wolfe

    ​Dr. Nathan Wolfe

    Subject and Scientific Consultant

    Dr. Nathan Wolfe is the Founder & Chair of Metabiota, which provides a unique data analytics platform for epidemic risk. Wolfe received his doctorate in Immunology & Infectious Diseases from Harvard in 1998. He has been honored with a Fulbright fellowship and the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award. He is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and a National Geographic Emerging Explorer. Wolfe has published over 100 scientific publications and his work has been published in or covered by Nature, Science, The New York Times, The Economist, NPR, The New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal and Forbes among others. His critically acclaimed book, The Viral Storm, has been published in six languages and was shortlisted in 2012 for the Royal Society’s Winton Prize. In 2011 he was named as one of the hundred most influential people in the world by Time magazine; Rolling Stone named him one of the “100 Agents of Change” in 2009; and Popular Science recognized him as one of their “Brilliant 10” in 2006.

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  • Jasson Minadakis

    Jasson Minadakis

    Director

    Jasson (he/him/his) is in his 15th season as artistic director of Marin Theatre Company, where he has directed Mother of the MaidSovereigntyOsloShakespeare in LoveThomas and SallyGuards at the TajAugust: Osage CountyThe Invisible Hand, Anne BoleynThe ConvertThe WhaleFailure: A Love Story, the world premiere of Lasso of TruthThe Whipping Man (San Francisco Bay Area Critics Circle Awards for Best Production and Best Acting Ensemble), Waiting for GodotOthello: the Moor of VeniceThe Glass Menagerie, Edward Albee’s Tiny Alice, the world premiere of Libby Appel’s adaptation of Chekhov’s SeagullHappy Now?Equivocation (SFBATCC Award, Best Director), the world premiere of SunlightLydiaThe SeafarerFrankie and Johnny in the Clair de LuneA Streetcar Named Desiresaid SaïdLove Song, and The Subject Tonight is Love. As artistic director of Actor’s Express Theatre Company, he directed The PillowmanBug; The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer; Echoes of Another Man; Killer Joe; Burn This; The Goat or, Who is Sylvia?Blue/Orange; and Bel Canto. As producing artistic director of Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival, he directed Jesus Hopped the ’A’ TrainChagrin Falls (2002 Cincinnati Entertainment Award for Best Production), and numerous others, including 19 productions of Shakespeare. Regional credits include The Whipping Man at Virginia Stage Company, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Hamlet at Georgia Shakespeare, Copenhagen at Playhouse on the Square (2003 Ostrander Theatre Award for Best Dramatic Production), and Bedroom Farce at Wayside Theatre.

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  • Peter Ruocco

    Peter Ruocco

    Director of Photography/Editor

    Peter is an Emmy award winning filmmaker based in the SF Bay Area.  His work has been distributed nationally on KQED, NPR, Upworthy, PBS and at film festivals across the country. He is thrilled to be part of helping the MTC team get this important new work out into the world. 

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  • Martine Kei Green-Rogers

    Martine Kei Green-Rogers

    Dramaturg

    Martine is an Associate Professor at SUNY New Paltz, the Fellowship Associate at The Playwrights’ Center, Past President of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas, and a freelance dramaturg. 

    Her dramaturgical credits include: The Greatest with the Louisville Orchestra; He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box and Ohio State Murders at Round House Theatre; Four Women Talking About The Man Under The Sheet, and Silent Dancer at Salt Lake Acting Company; Fences and One Man, Two Guvnors at Pioneer Theatre Company; Clearing Bombs and Nothing Personal at Plan-B Theatre; the Classical Theatre Company’s productions of Uncle Vanya, Antigone, Candida, Ghosts, Tartuffe, and Shylock, The Jew of Venice; Sweat at the Goodman; productions of King Hedley II, Radio Golf, Five Guys Named Moe, Blues for An Alabama Sky, Gem of the Ocean, Waiting for Godot, Iphigenia at Aulis, Seven Guitars, The Mountaintop, Home, and Porgy and Bess at the Court Theatre; The Clean House at CATCO; Hairspray, The Book of Will, Shakespeare in Love, UniSon, Hannah and the Dread Gazebo, Comedy of Errors, To Kill A Mockingbird, The African Company Presents Richard III, A Midsummer Night’s Dream; and Fences at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival; 10 Perfect and The Curious Walk of the Salamander as part of the 2006 and 2007 Madison Repertory Theatre’s New Play Festival; and A Thousand Words as part of the 2008 WI Wrights New Play Festival.

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  • Nakissa Etemad

    Nakissa Etemad

    Producer

    Nakissa, MTC’s new Associate Artistic Director, is an Iranian American dramaturg, producer, and French translator specializing in new plays and musicals for over 25 years. She is Regional VP Metro Bay Area for Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA), a Resident Artist of Golden Thread Productions, and a member of the Anti-Racism Task Force of LMDA. Recent credits include Yussef El Guindi’s Hotter Than Egypt (2020 Colorado New Play Summit), Heather Raffo’s Noura (Marin Theatre Company/Golden Thread), Marcus Gardley’s Play on! commission of King Lear (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), and world premiere productions with Gardley, Lauren Yee, Marisela Treviño Orta, Margo Hall, and Torange Yeghiazarian. She is a frequent collaborator on Golden Thread’s ReOrient Festivals of Short Plays and Bay Area Playwrights Festivals, including plays by Betty Shamieh, Naomi Wallace, Niku Sharei, Katori Hall, Garret Groenveld, Dustin Chinn, and Terence Anthony. Early highlights include the East Coast Premiere of Resurrection Blues by Arthur Miller (The Wilma), Every Good Boy Deserves Favor by Tom Stoppard & André Previn (The Wilma/The Philadelphia Orchestra), Culture Clash in Bordertown (San Diego Rep), and Festival Director for the 5th Annual New America Playwrights Fest – featuring new plays by Lynn Nottage, Naomi Iizuka and Polly Pen (San Jose Rep). Former dramaturg and literary manager of The Wilma Theater, San Jose Rep, and San Diego Repertory Theatre, and recipient of the 2015 Elliott Hayes Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dramaturgy for The Lark's four-city premieres of Marcus Gardley’s the road weeps, the well runs dry. M.F.A. in Dramaturgy, UC San Diego.

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  • Sarah Smith

    Sarah Smith

    Costume Designer

    Sarah (she/her/hers) is a Costume Designer and Technician local to the Bay Area. Sarah was born and raised in Boulder, Colorado, and made her way to San Francisco after graduating from the University of Puget Sounds with a BA in Theatrical Arts and Classical Studies. She has worked as a costume designer and builder in the area for the last five years. Sarah has designed throughout the Bay Area including: Mother of the Maid (Marin Theatre Company), Pool of Unknown Wonders: Undertow of the Soul (Ubuntu Theatre), Black Eagles (African American Shakespeare Company); Big LoveThe Inspector General (The Nueva School). She has also worked on costumes for A.C.T, Berkeley Rep, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Menlowe Ballet, Dawson Dance, Lines Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and Colorado Shakespeare Festival. She is currently pursuing an Associates Degree in Fashion Construction and Design from Apparel Arts in Oakland.

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  • Wen-Ling Liao

    Wen-Ling Liao

    Lighting Designer

    Wen-Ling is happy to be back. Her previous credit with MTC: I and YouThe Who and The What, The Wickhams christmas at Pemberley. Her selected credits: Humana Festival with Actors Theater of Louisville, Gloria  and Vietgone at A.C.T, White Pearl with Studio Theater, House of Joy and Quixote Nuevo with Calshakes, The Chinese Lady, Oedipus El Rey, The Resting place and Reel to Reel with Magic Theater, , Dance Nation, Significant Other, King of the Yees and Barbecue with San Francisco Playhouse, , Native Garden with Center Repertory Theater, The Importance of Being Earnest with Aurora Theater Company, The Boy Who Danced on Air with Abingdon Theater Company, Chill with Merrimack Repertory Theater, Milk Like Sugar with Huntington Theatre Company, Sense and Sensibility with Dallas Theater Center, Precious LittleMarjorie Prime and Grounded with Nora Theater Company, Appropriate with SpeakEasy Stage Company,  Luna Gale  with Stoneham Theater, A Nice Indian Boy with East West Players. Her selected international credits include Scarlet Stone at Tirgan Festival  in Toronto, BodyParts/In Spite of It at TANZINOLTENF Festival in Switzerland and Riz Flambe and Riz Souffle at Avignon Off-Festival in France and Toi  at Taipei Fringe Festival in Taiwan. She earned her MFA from University of California, San Diego and BA from National Taiwan University. Website: wenlingliao.com

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  • Chris Houston/Implied Music

    Chris Houston/Implied Music

    Composer/Sound Designer

    Chris is a pianist and composer. He records and produces as Implied Music. (impliedmusic.com). He has composed music and/or designed sound for over 30 productions at Marin Theatre Company, including OsloThe Legend of Georgia McBrideGuards at the TajThe Invisible HandThe Oldest Boy; The Convert; The Whale;Failure: A Love Story; August Wilson’s Fences; Jacob Marley’s A Christmas Carol; The Whipping Man; Waiting for Godot; It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play; Topdog/Underdog; Othello, the Moor of Venice; The Glass Menagerie; the world premiere of Bellwether; Seven Guitars; and In the Red and Brown Water. Locally, his designs and compositions have been featured at American Conservatory Theater, Aurora Theatre Company, SF Playhouse, Center REP, Magic Theatre, and the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival.

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  • Christina Hogan

    Christina Hogan

    Assistant Director

    Christina is excited to return to Marin Theatre Company as Assistant Director.  Previously she has worked as a Stage Manager on Mother of the Maid, Skeleton Crew and The Wolves.  Other Stage Management credits include Gloria, Top Girls, Edward Albee’s Seascape, Men on Boats (American Conservatory Theatre); In Old Age, The Baltimore Waltz, runboyrun, And I and Silence, and Any Given Day (Magic Theatre); Ripped and Selkie (Z Space); It Can’t Happen Here (Berkeley Repertory Theatre); and A Raisin in the Sun (California Shakespeare Theater). Hogan has a BA in theater arts from Saint Mary’s College of California. (she/her)

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  • Dr. Steven Fugaro

    COVID Medical Consultant

    Dr. Steven Fugaro (COVID Medical Consultant) is an internist in San Francisco, where he has practiced for 35 years. He resides in Mill Valley with his wife Jill. He has been a member of the Sausalito Presbyterian Church for 25 years and is the Congregation President. Dr. Fugaro graduated from Stanford in 1977 and received his MD from Yale in 1981. He has held various faculty positions at UCSF. Dr. Fugaro is the former President of the San Francisco Medical Society. He is also the Chairman of the Board of the SF Health Plan, which oversees the MediCal program in SF.

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  • Liz Matos

    Liz Matos

    COVID Compliance Officer

    Liz is delighted to return to Marin Theatre Company, where she has previously worked as a Stage Manager (LOVE, Noura, August Wilson’s How I Learned What I Learned, and The Who and The What). Locally, Liz has also worked with Magic Theatre, The Cutting Ball Theater, A.C.T. Conservatory, and PlayGround. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College and is a proud member of Actors' Equity Association.

    + Show more


* Denotes member of Actors Equity Association
+ Member, United Scenic Artists
^ Member, Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers

Reviews

  • "A marriage of art and life. Fascinating."

    — PBS News Hour Read full review
  • "Speaking of plays, you should totally check out feminist Lauren Gunderson’s newest one, The Catastrophist. The nuance of the structure and the captivating acting of William DeMeritt beautifully layer themes of faith, health, family and performance."

    — Ms. Magazine Read full review
  • "A subtle blend of film and live theatre...interesting and exotic yet entirely normal, filled, like all lives, with discovery and disappointment, joy and loss. In Ms Gunderson’s hands, The Catastrophist sheds compassionate light on the all-too-human tendency to ignore catastrophe until it is too late. There’s no risk, and plenty of reward, in watching this essential lesson." 

    — The Economist Read full review
  • "ABSOLUTELY RIVETING.

    In this age of pandemic, it's a play for our times.
    It makes filming a play into a virtue, because it doesn't look like a low-budget film or a second-hand recording of a performance we wish we'd seen live. It adds vigor and muscle. The scale of the video manipulation matches the scale of the theater in which the actor is performing. Being taught...in such an engaging and powerful and compelling way--so you feel as though it matters--is exhilarating."

    — "The Stage Show," ABC Radio, Australia Read full review
  • "Deeply affecting...sensorial...warmly comical. Readymade for this historical moment.

    — San Francisco Examiner Read full review
  • "A deep, loving, touching portrait...that viewers can’t help but get swept up in, feeling its ache almost as if it were their own."

    — Marin Independent Journal
  • "FIVE STARS!

    A play for now, a play for yesterday, a play for tomorrow."

    — WestEndBestFriend Read full review
  • "Catastrophist unleashes contagious drama. Catch it! 

    This is a play about a complex, likable human with a wealth of knowledge and a job that sets him apart but who is also a son, a dad and a husband. We experience all of that here.

    — TheaterDogs Read full review
  • "A must-see...entertaining and compelling. Gunderson has created a masterpiece of storytelling that takes the restrictions of COVID-19 and turns them into a unique viewing experience."

    — The Daily Cal Read full review

Learn More

Select a Performance

To begin your ticket purchase, select a performance from the calendar below:

February 2021
Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat
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