Sonoma Report
A five-member cast will bring the competitive world of college theater to Healdsburg’s Raven Performing Arts Center with “macbitches,” a one-act play by playwright Sophie McIntosh.
The play centers on drama students reacting after a freshman is cast as Lady Macbeth. While the premise evokes the social rivalry of “Mean Girls,” McIntosh told the Healdsburg Tribune that the story also examines how women are encouraged to compete with and undermine one another within a male-dominated theater hierarchy. Men do not appear onstage, but their influence is heard through the young women’s interactions.
McIntosh wrote the play while pursuing an MFA in playwriting at Columbia University. Now 28 and living in Brooklyn, she has had at least nine plays produced, including “Benevolent,” “Cityscrape,” “Road Kills” and “The Six-Fingered Woman.” She said “macbitches” has been her most successful work.
The Raven production is directed by Jeanette Seisdedos, a longtime Raven Player who appeared as one of the witches in the company’s previous production of “Macbeth.” Seisdedos described the new show as “Mean Girls” meeting “Macbeth” and said the small cast was a welcome change after recent Raven productions with larger ensembles.
Raven Players executive director Steven David Martin said the theater selected the play partly because of its connection to last year’s “Macbeth,” but also because the script was written by a young woman familiar with the way college students speak. He said the dialogue felt authentic and that Seisdedos brought strong questions, staging instincts and a broader view of the production to her first directing assignment.
The production is listed as running on weekends from Sept. 4 through Sept. 20. The Tribune’s report also refers to a Sept. 11 opening, creating a discrepancy in the published schedule. The Raven’s season is planned as a six-play series, with “macbitches” opening the season and “Mean Girls” scheduled to close it in June 2027.
