Meredith Bean McMath is an author, prize-winning playwright and award-winning historian. She is the Founding Artistic Director of the non-profit Aurora Studio Theatre, Inc., and co-founder of Run, Rabbit, Run Productions, Inc., a company dedicated to bringing history to life through a variety of media.  Her works include contemporary and historical plays, video documentaries, historic fiction novels and articles.  McMath's living history productions have been commissioned by a number or organizations including the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, The Newseum, and the National Trust's Oatlands Plantation. Run, Rabbit, Run history videos have appeared on The History Channel and in Virginia classrooms.

Peyton Tucker (L) as Will Monroe and Sean Kinslow (R) as Faxie in rehearsal for the reading of the new Civil War play "The Several Secrets of Will Monroe" in Manassas, Virginia.
For more information, click HERE.

PLAYS

McMath's most recent work, a stage adaptation of Libbie Harrovers's book, The Several Secrets of Will Monroe, commissioned by Gray Ghost Theatre Company, received a dramatic reading in August of 2007 directed by Rick Davis, Artistic Director of Theatre of the First Amendment, GMU (see above photo).  A production of McMath's Civil War play ALL FOR THE UNION in Confederate Virginia!, raised $10,000 toward the restoration of historic Grace Church in Lincoln, Virgina, and in 2003, Loudoun County Public Schools commissioned McMath to write a play celebrating Black History Month. Since then The Drinking Gourd: Songs and Stories of the Underground Railroad has been produced as far west as Texas and as far east as The Philippines.  Her modern plays have been produced in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C. and North Carolina, and her ten-minute play, Sticks & Stones,  took first prize in Washington D.C.'s Source Theatre 2003 Ten-Minute Play Competition.

RUN, RABBIT, RUN PRODUCTIONS

In 1998, McMath and award-winning historian Joni Lynn Crane founded Run, Rabbit, Run Productions to bring story and history to life through a variety of media. McMath's living history productions and plays, which range in scope from a 1943 live radio show to an 1855 abolitionist fundraiser, have led to commissions from institutions such as The Newseum and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.  Her Civil War Music program has has been produced for over twenty years in a variety of settings, including a Lincoln's Birthday Celebration at Ford's Theatre.  She wrote and directed the independent film "Waterford's War" (based on her play All For the Union), a draft of which was shown at Franklin Park Performing and Visual Arts Center in Purcellville June 7, 2008 as a survey opportunity.  Produced by Run, Rabbit, Run and Peter Buck of Waterford Productions, LLC, "Waterford's War" will eventually be sold and the proceeds given to the Lincoln Preservation Foundation for the restoration of historic Grace Church.

THEATRE

As Founding Artistic Director of Aurora Studio Theatre, Inc., McMath has directed several Aurora productions and taught classes with subjects ranging from playwriting to Shakespeare.   She wrote and directed Aurora's 2004 premiere: Alcott's LITTLE WOMEN, and the November 2006 production of Arms and the Highlander - a Colonial American adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man. Her last directing opportunity was for Loudoun County's Very Special Arts spring 2008 production of The Old Homeplace, by Alice Power, the play that officially opened Loudoun's new Franklin Park Performing and Visual Arts Center.   She created and co-taught Aurora Studio Theatre's "Royals & Rustics: A High School Student's Guide in Shakespeare" through Loudoun County Public Libaries, with the assistance of a grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts.

WRITER
Writer of "The Good Neighbor" column for the former Loudoun Art Magazine, McMath has freelanced for a variety of publications including The Piedmont Virginian, Elan Magazine and The Washington Post Loudoun Extra. In 1995, she became a published author of historic fiction with her "Celebrating the American Woman" series through Servant Publications. In 2001, her Civil War novel Pella's Angel, was published by Goose Creek Productions of Leesburg, Virginia.  She acted as historical consultant and editor to Pamela Oldham's work, The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Legacy of Lincoln, pubished in the fall of 2005.

HONORS & EDUCATION

In addition to The Loudoun History Award, she's received a number of honors including a League of Women Voters of Loudoun County award for "Significant Contribution to Advancing the Awareness of Women's History" and is listed in the 2006-2007 Marquis Who's Who of American Women. She's a member of the Washington, D.C. chapter of Women in Film and Video, an Associate Member of The Dramatists Guild of America and serves on the Board of Directors of The Hillsboro Community Association.

A graduate of The College of William and Mary (B.A. History), she is currently pursuing a Masters in Arts Management at Shenandoah University.

COMPLETE RESUME
McMath's 31 Independent and Little Known Films You Just Might Love List
CONTACT McMATH

Waterford's War Film    Aurora Studio Theatre    Swingin' by a Star

books, articles and other writings    plays    living history    videos 

history articles and resources     resume   contact