Details:
Performance Dates: July 18 - August 2
Best for Baby and its devilishly funny emcee takes audiences inside Johnson & Johnson’s decades-long and still evolving baby powder scandal. A Big American Play ripped straight from the headlines, this world premiere is equal parts showbiz spectacle and intimate human storytelling, brought to you by a sensational comedic ensemble of professional guest artists — featuring Broadway actor Crystal Dickinson — alongside members of CTC’s beloved conservatory.
This production is two hours and thirty minutes in length, with a fifteen minute intermission.
Content Advisory: This production contains strong language, depictions of violence, and mild sexual content. Recommended for audiences ages 13 and older.
*The noted Actors & Stage Manager are members of the Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.
Actors’ Equity Association, founded in 1913, represents more than 49,000 actors and stage managers in the United States. Equity seeks to advance, promote, and foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions, providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. AEA is a member of the AFL-CIO, and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions. The Equity emblem is our mark of excellence. www.actorsequity.org.
The Director is a Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union.
THE FOLLOWING IS TRUE:
1. Johnson & Johnson was incorporated in 1886. The company began selling baby powder in 1894.
2. Between 1930-1990, Johnson & Johnson's baby powder was used on roughly half of all children born in the US.
3. Beginning in 1967, Johnson & Johnson conducted research on mostly Black prisoners in Philadelphia's Holmesburg Prison to evaluate talc safety.
4. In 1971, researchers in Wales found talc in cervical and ovarian tumors; their study was the first to link talc and ovarian cancer.
5. In 1976, Johnson & Johnson and the Cosmetics Trade Association (led by Ed Kavanaugh, who would retire in 2005 making $5 million a year) suggested a "theoretical safe level of asbestos fiber in baby powder" at 1%, suggesting "methods capable of determining less than 1% asbestos in talc are not necessary to assure the safety of cosmetic talc."
6. The World Health Organization classified talc as "possibly carcinogenic" in 2006.
7. Deane Berg filed a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson in 2009. She won in court but was awarded no money.
8. Jacqueline Fox filed a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson in 2013. She died of ovarian cancer in October 2015, four months before a St. Louis jury awarded her estate $72 million dollars (the first major compensatory award against Johnson & Johnson). The verdict was overturned in 2017.
9. Johnson & Johnson announced discontinuation of talc-based powder in the US and Canada in May, 2020.
10. Johnson & Johnson appealed the $2.11billion Missouri talc verdict to the Supreme Court in June 2021. Justices Kavanaugh and Alito recused themselves. The Supreme Court rejected the appeal.
11. On October 12, 2021 Johnson & Johnson broke itself into two companies and the baby powder holding corporation declared bankruptcy.
12. In March 2022, Johnson & Johnson issued a statement that they "deeply regret" injecting Holmesburg prisoners with asbestos in 1971. Evidence of the research trials were revealed in the talc lawsuits.
13. Johnson & Johnson announced discontinuation of talc-based powder worldwide in August, 2022.
14. Johnson & Johnson's baby powder is classified as a cosmetic by the F.D.A. In 2022, the cosmetics division employed just 30 people and had an annual budget of only $10 million.
15. On May 15, 2024, the Journal of Clinical Oncology published a report by the National Institutes of Health finding: "a positive association between use of intimate care products, including genital talc, and ovarian cancer." https://ascopubs.org/doi/10.1200/JCO.23.02037
FURTHER READING
The article that inspired Sharyn to write this play:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/09/19/johnson-johnson-and-a-new-war-on-consumer-protection
If you’d like to learn more, we recommend:
Watching:
The Weekly: Johnson & Johnson Lawsuits Raise Fears Over Baby Powder
This half-hour documentary from The New York Times offers an in-depth look at the subject matter of the play.
Reading:
No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson by Gardiner Harris
Published last year, this book by health reporter Gardiner Harris was not part of Sharyn’s initial research, but it is well worth reading. It explores Johnson & Johnson’s history, the baby powder story, and similar narratives of deceit, lack of regulation, and litigation involving other products.
And Visiting these websites, where you can compare the opposing narratives:
Truth About Talc Website
A website and timeline created by plaintiffs’ law firm Beasley Allen
Facts About Talc Website
A website created by Johnson & Johnson
IN THE NEWS:
Talc Testing
In November, the FDA took a step backwards and withdrew a proposed rule that would have required make-up companies to test talc and products made with talc for asbestos. Read more here.
Texas Two-Step
On July 23, 2024, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced the Ending Corporate Bankruptcy Abuse Act (S4746). The Act would instruct courts to presume bad faith if a bankruptcy filing clearly involves a Texas Two-Step. This means that a company like Johnson & Johnson would no longer be shielded from litigation simply by placing an affiliate into bankruptcy. The Act was reintroduced on December 18, 2024, but has seen no progress. Read more here.
NEWS FROM THIS SUMMER:
Judge casts doubt on cases alleging J&J talc caused cancer
Johnson & Johnson wins June 2026 case
Supreme Court Declines Texas Two Step Case
This play is a dramatization inspired by real events concerning Johnson & Johnson's talc products, drawing on court records, corporate documents, testimony, and other materials in the public record. It is a work of dramatic satire and commentary, not a documentary or news account. In creating this work, the playwright has invented, compressed, and imagined certain scenes, characters, and dialogue; created composite characters; altered chronology; and attributed thoughts, motives, and conversations that are the product of artistic interpretation. Except where the play quotes or depicts documents and statements in the public record, the dialogue and events portrayed should be understood as the playwright's interpretation and dramatic expression of the underlying events, and as commentary and satire, rather than as assertions of literal fact about any individual.
2026 Company
CTC LEADERSHIP
Producing Artistic Director: Jade King Carroll
Managing Director: Emily Glinick
CTC ARTISTIC COMPANY
Conservatory Actors: Gabriel Cali, Roggi Chuquimarca, Thaddeus Fitzpatrick, Ashley A. Laroche, Brendan Kyle Lowry, Chris Martin, Lydia Mushkatina, Hillel Rosenshine, Mengwe Wapimewah
Drama League FutureNow Playwrighting Fellows: Jenny Connell Davis, Sarah Saltwick
Drama League FutureNow Directing Fellows: Bronwen Carson, Liz Fisher
Design Fellows: Abi Farnsworth, Taylor Helms, Gabriela Hartel, Robert Salerno, Yuxun (Sherry) Wu
Equity Guest Actors: Molly Brennan, Geneva Carr, Darlesia Cearcey, Crystal Dickinson, John El-Jor, Adrian Blake Enscoe, Jo Lampert, Lance E. Nichols, Olivia Oguma, Brian Owen, Madeline Seidman, Sydney Sheperd, Nandita Shenoy, Regina Strayhorn
Dramaturg: Liz Frankel
Playwrights: Zora Howard, Sharyn Rothstein, Jenny Stafford
Directors: Peter Andersen, Oliver Butler, Jade King Carroll, Keenan Tyler Oliphant
Designers: Loyce Arther, Amith Chandrashaker, Betsy Chester, Christopher Darbassie, Germán Martínez, Rodrigo Muñoz, John Narun, Anita Stewart, Brittany Vasta
Choreographer: Lee Heinz
Fight & Intimacy Director: Rick Sordelet
Season Casting by The Telsey Office
Faculty: Mei Ann Teo, Maxine Davis, Crystal Dickinson, Deb Hecht
CTC ARTS ADMINISTRATION
Company Manager: Sarah Vardigans
Assistant Company Manager: Kimberly Pienkowski
Company Management Fellow: Rebecca Shivers
New Works Associate: Lily Wolff
Artistic Assistant: Jennifer Davis
Business Management Fellow: Sarah Vig
Bratton House Manager: Ashley Austin
Assistant House Manager & Sales Assistant: Isabelle Seiler
Roe Green Theater Center Head Usher: Sandra Cline
Marketing & Sales Assistant: Brianna Anzures
Graphic Designer: Chance Brinkman-Sull
STAGE MANAGEMENT
Preseason Production Stage Manager: Jenn Rae Moore
Equity Stage Managers: Denise Cardarelli, Jenn Rae Moore, Savanha Moore, Bea Perez-Arche
Assistant Stage Managers: Emma Battle, Kathleen Stanton-Sharpless
Stage Management PAs: Angela Park, Greta Steever
PRODUCTION
Production Manager: Bryant Heatherly
Assistant Production Manager: Julia He
Stage Operations Coordinator: Maggie McClellan
Stage Operations Assistant: Emily Lawson
Production Management PA: Savannah Venegas
Prop Supervisor: Hyla Sue Stellhorn
Assistant Prop Supervisor: Donnie Woodard
Prop Artisans: Catherine Rouselle, Sebastian Tingle
Costume Supervisor: Corrine Bottelsen
Assistant Costume Supervisor & Draper: Helen Ryser
First Hand: Larissa McConnell
Costume Assistant: Olga Shevelkina
Wardrobe Supervisor: Sophie Millar
Lighting Supervisor: Jonah Bobilin
Assistant Lighting Supervisor: Serafina Ramirez
Lighting Technician & Board Operators : Dianette Moore, Ayibainatimi Miracle Ebieri
Sound Supervisor: John Kolbinski
Assistant Sound Supervisor: Larkin Ethridge
Audio Engineers: Carson Phillips, Hal Sufrin
CLEVELAND PLAYHOUSE BUILD TEAM
Technical Director: Josh Padgett
Associate Technical Director: Emma Sherban
Carpenter Lead: Logan Snodell
Stage Carpenter: Brandon Rice
Carpenters: Marcus Class, Ellie Goll, Clark Van Beek, Jenna Conley
The Arnold and Jill Bellowe Fund for Theater
Penny Bank
The Nancy E. Brewer Fund for Theater
Chautauqua Theater Fund
Bill and Chloe Cornell Theater Scholarship
The Crockett Family Fund for Theater
Erroll and Elaine Davis
The Edith B. and Arthur E. Earley Fund for the Performing Arts
The Agnes H. and Hal A. Fausnaugh Fund for Theater Programming
Roe Green
Terrie Vaile Hauck Theater Endowment
The Joel and Barbara Jacob and M. Jacob and Sons Fund for Theater
Bruce W. and Sarah Hagen McWilliams
Helen Moe Fund for Theater
The S. Joseph Nassif Family
New York State Council on the Arts
The Florence and Cynthia Norton Fund for Theater
The Phoebe Wagner Ott Theater Fund
The Rittman Family Fund for Performing Arts
Irene and David Tabish Endowment for Theater
Caroline Van Kirk Bissell
