I’ve been a storyteller all my life, filling my stories with characters who’ll pull you into worlds full of joys and sorrows, humor and intrigue. And if you walk in these characters’ shoes and come away glad you did, I know I’ve told their story well.
- Meredith Bean McMath
Meredith has a multi-faceted career as a playwright, author, historian, and speaker and also manages the website of the non-profit organization Arts for All - Loudoun.
- Meredith Bean McMath
Meredith has a multi-faceted career as a playwright, author, historian, and speaker and also manages the website of the non-profit organization Arts for All - Loudoun.
PLAYWRIGHT
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 MUSICAL BOOK WRITER / OPERA LIBRETTEST
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McMATH REVIEWS / AWARDS
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THEATRE PRODUCER / DIRECTOR
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DOCUMENTARY & HISTORY PROGRAM WRITER / PRODUCER
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FICTION / NON-FICTION AUTHOR
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"Conversing with Meredith Bean McMath is like flying on a magic carpet over the performance stages of beautiful theaters throughout the world… Creativity abounds."
- Nancy Wyatt of My Persuasive Presentations
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PLAYWRIGHT AND LIBRETTIST
Winning acclaim for original works such as Norton: A Civil War Opera (Concept and libretto by McMath, music composed by David E. Chavez), Case 22 (which premiered at the 2010 Capital Fringe Festival) and All for the Union (2019 Capital Fringe Festival). Of her 10-minute plays, Sticks and Stones took First Prize at the former Source Theatre Competition, and Blind Date was a finalist in The Oxford 10-Minute Play Competition.  ARMS AND THE HIGHLANDER, McMath's adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's ARMS AND THE MAN
McMath continues to write plays and work with creative partners in the arts to find new ways to bring story to life.
Her stage adaptations include Mark Twain's Diaries of Adam and Eve (based on Twains 2 books on the topic), and Arms and the Highlander (a Colonial American adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man). She wrote book adaptations for the musicals A Musical Little Women and Once Upon A Christmas Carol, featuring original music by composer Diane El-Shafey and Accompanist Carma Jones Denney. McMath's musical Romance from Broadway to Lincoln Center - a romantic comedy about two music experts whose marriage is out of tune - features royalty-free Broadway and opera music. Her musical living history production, Meet the Caldwells, was commissioned by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and performed at the Hall of Musical of Instruments using 19th century music and dance. |
"Meredith Bean McMath flourishes at a time when only one in five U.S. plays have a female playwright." - Diane Helentjaris, Survival Secrets of a Southern Woman Playwright AUTHOR McMath's historic fiction novels are known for strong female characters, creative plots, humor, and fascinating historic detail. 
Her non-fiction works include the true story of Lida and Lizzie Dutton and Sarah Steer: Three Women Journalists of the Civil War (The Waterford Foundation), the co-written book Legacy of Lincoln (part of The Complete Idiot's Guide series), and her piece on freed slave Zilpha Davis, for which she was given the Loudoun County Black History Award (Essence of a People II).
McMath’s freelance articles have appeared in The Washington Post Loudoun Extra, Loudoun Magazine, The Piedmont Virginian, Loudoun Times-Mirror, Middleburg Life, Loudoun Art Magazine and Leesburg Lifestyle Magazine. |
Images from McMath's original works and adaptations
SPEAKER
McMath gives talks and teaches on the subject of writing, acting and theatre production, and Civil War and women's history.
SEE LIST OF McMATH TALKS
McMath’s most recent program, August 7, 2021, was an overview of General George C. Marshall’s wife, Katherine, during her days as a professional Shakespearean actor. McMath gave the talk at the Marshall’s former home in Leesburg, Virginia (at left) with actor Victoria Sova, who gave Shakespearean monologues Katherine once performed on the English stage (Photo courtesy of the George C. Marshall International Center).
THEATRE DIRECTOR AND PRODUCER
Since the founding of her former company, Run Rabbit Run Productions, Inc. in 1998, McMath has focused on producing professional level entertainment. As a result, "McMath, an award-winning historian and prize-winning playwright… garnered a reputation for producing high-quality theater in the area." - Ann Keisman, Loudoun Times-Mirror. Run Rabbit Run Productions closed its doors in 2019, and McMath is currently focused on small productions, writing, giving talks and arranging Royalty Rights for her stage works.
Since the founding of her former company, Run Rabbit Run Productions, Inc. in 1998, McMath has focused on producing professional level entertainment. As a result, "McMath, an award-winning historian and prize-winning playwright… garnered a reputation for producing high-quality theater in the area." - Ann Keisman, Loudoun Times-Mirror. Run Rabbit Run Productions closed its doors in 2019, and McMath is currently focused on small productions, writing, giving talks and arranging Royalty Rights for her stage works.
Didn't get much better than THE 39 STEPS in 2013, with 4 actors - Tom Johnson, Kevin Kaly, Penny Hauffe and Phil Erickson - playing over 100 roles, and the crew kicking in now and then, as well (That's Kaitlyn DeLitta as a flock of sheep)
DOCUMENTARY & HISTORY PROGRAM PRODUCER
As an historian, writer, director and co-producer of history documentaries and public programs, McMath's programs have been commissioned by museums and preservation organizations which include The National Museum of American History, the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, The Waterford Foundation, the Lincoln Preservation Foundation and the George C. Marshall International Center of Leesburg, Virginia.
The images below are from the documentary SOUTHERN COURAGE, CIVIL WAR WOMEN OF LOUDOUN COUNTY, VIRGINIA. Written and directed by McMath and filmed by Joni Lynn Crane, SOUTHERN COURAGE is a collection of first-person narratives from all sides of the conflict taken directly from or based closely on diaries, letters and other documents.
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HISTORY & COMMUNITY HONORS
McMath’s focus has been on women’s history, and for that she’s received honors which include a Loudoun County League of Women Voters Award for Advancing the Knowledge of Women's History, inclusion in a “Women with Vision” Exhibit at Franklin Park Arts Center, Purcellville, VA, a listing in the Marquis "2006-2007 Who's Who of American Women", and a League of Women Voters of Loudoun Award for “Advancing the awareness of women’s history”. Community service has led to other recognition, and while attending The College of William and Member she was a Member Phi Alpha Theta, History Honor Society. Complete list can be found in her resume.
NON-PROFIT SERVICE
McMath has previously served as a Board Member and Marketing Director for The Loudoun Lyric Opera Company, Arts for All - Loudoun, The Round Hill Arts Center, The Hillsboro Community Association, The Loudoun Museum and several other nonprofit arts organizations and theatre companies. She currently manages the Arts for All - Loudoun website.
MEREDITH McMATH'S STORYROOT BLOG
On Theatre...
- Run Rabbit Run: 10 Years of Successful Pretending
- Starting a Directing Career at Age 5
- From Documentaries to Theatre Companies
- Art vs Control
- How to Catch a Christmas Spirit
- If "All the World's a Stage", Theatre is the Best of All Worlds
- Theatre Asks Important Questions... and Tries to Answer Them
- Bringing Out an Actor's Best
- Making Romance from Broadway to Lincoln Center
- Casting About: How to Enjoy an Audition
- Professional Audition Technique
- Holly-what?
- What Would Mark Twain Do? Advice to Actors from Mark Twain
- Ten Things to Know Before Taking A Shakespeare Acting Class Taught by a Very Important Instructor Who Has Worked with the Globe Theatre ForLordsSake
EDUCATION
MS Arts Management, Shenandoah University, 2011
Concentration: Arts Marketing, Recipient 2011 Arts Administration Graduate Student Award
Thesis: “Relationship between Successes and Failures of the Federal Theatre Project and its Management by Director Hallie Flanagan”
BA History, The College of William and Mary, 1979
Member Phi Alpha Theta, History Honor Society, Secondary Teaching Certificate (High School) in Social Studies
Complete Resume
MS Arts Management, Shenandoah University, 2011
Concentration: Arts Marketing, Recipient 2011 Arts Administration Graduate Student Award
Thesis: “Relationship between Successes and Failures of the Federal Theatre Project and its Management by Director Hallie Flanagan”
BA History, The College of William and Mary, 1979
Member Phi Alpha Theta, History Honor Society, Secondary Teaching Certificate (High School) in Social Studies
Complete Resume