FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Berkie Award Winner Roxanne Fay Takes On Beckett’s Unforgettable Winnie in “Happy Days” at Bridge Street Theatre

Matthew Earnest directs Samuel Beckett’s hauntingly comic masterpiece, September 3–13

CATSKILL, NY — Bridge Street Theatre continues its 2026 Mainstage Season with Samuel Beckett’s “Happy Days,” starring Berkie Award winner Roxanne Fay as Winnie and Steven Patterson as Willie. Directed by Matthew Earnest, performances run September 3–13 at Bridge Street Theatre in Catskill.

Winnie begins her day buried to her waist in a mound of earth. Nearby is her husband, Willie, mostly out of sight. A bell wakes her. Another tells her when it is time to sleep. In between, Winnie talks, remembers, tends to her possessions, calls out to Willie, and remains determined to greet each new day as a happy one.

Funny, strange, haunting, and unexpectedly moving, Beckett’s “Happy Days” turns an impossible situation into an extraordinary exploration of persistence, companionship, memory, and the seemingly inexhaustible human impulse to carry on.

Roxanne Fay (Winnie) was honored with a Berkie Award by the Berkshire Theatre Critics Association for her portrayal of Mary Tyrone in Bridge Street Theatre’s 2022 production of “Long Day’s Journey Into Night.” Her previous Bridge Street appearances include “Mary Jane,” “Leni,” “The Effect of Gamma Rays…,” and her original works “Thrice To Mine,” “Upon This Rock: The Magdalene Speaks,” “Home Fires Burning,” and “Dream Child: The Trial of Alice in Wonderland.” Most recently, Fay appeared as Brutus in “Julius Caesar,” which she also adapted for an all-woman cast of eight, at The Studio 620 in Florida. A 2016 Hawthornden Fellow, she has also created work for The Dalí Museum. Fay is grateful and HAPPY to return to Bridge Street Theatre.

Steven Patterson (Willie) has appeared both Off- and off-off-Broadway, as well as with South Coast Repertory, Capital Repertory Theatre, TheatreWorks/Silicon Valley, freeFall Theatre, Kaliyuga Arts, Lexington Conservatory Theatre, Chenango River Theatre, Centenary Stage Company, and numerous Shakespeare festivals across the country. Favorite roles have included Vanya in “Uncle Vanya,” James Tyrone in “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” Lear in “King Lear,” David in “Poor Super Man,” and Giovanni in “‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore.” He also created and toured internationally for four years with his one-man play “Beauty,” inspired by the life and works of Jean Genet. Patterson is co-founder, with his husband John Sowle, of Bridge Street Theatre.

Matthew Earnest (Director) directs new plays, reimagined classics, musicals, opera, and his own original works and literary adaptations across the U.S., in New York City, on tour, and at international festivals. His credits include “Wanderlust: A History of Walking,” created with a commission from the NEA; “Himmelweg,” an Off-Broadway New York Times Critics Pick; “On the Verge…” (Dallas Theater Critics Forum Award); “blood pudding” (Audience Favourite Award, Dublin Festival Fringe); “…don Quixote” (Local Production of the Year, Fort Worth Weekly); and “Peter Pan” (Innovator of the Year, Cleveland Scene; Director of the Year, Cleveland Plain Dealer). His work has been featured in American Theatre and The New Yorker. A member of SDC since 2007 and a published playwright, Earnest holds an MFA in Directing from York University in Toronto and recently completed his tenure as Head of the MFA Directing Program at The University of Southern Mississippi.

The production features scenic and costume design by Will Bezek, lighting design by John Sowle, and stage management by Timothy Dunn.

First performed in 1961, “Happy Days” is one of Nobel Prize-winning playwright Samuel Beckett’s defining works. In Winnie — cheerful, resourceful, frightened, funny, and determined to keep going — Beckett created one of the modern theatre’s most extraordinary roles.

“HAPPY DAYS”
By Samuel Beckett
Directed by Matthew Earnest

September 3–13, 2026
Thursday–Saturday at 7pm
Sunday at 2pm

Tickets:
Adults $30
Students $25
$10 student rush tickets at the door, subject to availability

Bridge Street Theatre
44 W. Bridge Street
Catskill, NY 12414

Tickets and information: BridgeStreetTheatre.org

ABOUT BRIDGE STREET THEATRE

Bridge Street Theatre is a professional theatre in Catskill, NY, dedicated to presenting distinctive new, neglected, and off-beat work while keeping adventurous live performance affordable and accessible to the widest possible audience.