Making the Scene, Again!

THEATRE ARTISTS WORKSHOP

Presents the 2014 Autumn Benefit

MAKING THE SCENE, AGAIN!

A squabbling couple. A frazzled socialite. A bitter mother. Two lifelong rivals. A literary icon. A confessing husband. These are just a few of the characters in the Theatre Artists Workshop’s exciting and dynamic 2014 Autumn Benefit, Making the Scene, Again!, located at 5 Gregory Blvd., East Norwalk, with performances on Friday and Saturday, October 17th and 18th at 8 PM, and Sunday, October 19th at 3 PM. Tickets are $20. Reservations are strongly recommended and can be made by calling the box office at 203-854-6830 or on the website: www.taworkshop.org

Produced by of Barbara Rhoades of Weston, the show features the Workshop’s gifted ensemble of professional actors performing comedic and dramatic scenes, plus monologues and songs, by such diverse theatre luminaries as Stephen Sondheim and Henrik Ibsen, a few lesser known but no less stellar lights, and two haunting original pieces by our brilliant TAW writers.

Allan Zeller and Kim Squires of Milford play a bickering Bible Belt couple trying to plan their kin’s funeral in a hilarious scene from Bottrell and Jones’ campy yet touching comedy, Dearly Departed, a play the NY Daily News called “drop dead funny.” Directed by Mr. Zeller.

In Ruth Draper’s poignant and funny monologue, The Italian Lesson, Florence Phillips of Cos Cob portrays a frazzled society matron trying to study Dante while juggling her husband’s golf clubs, her dinner menu, her gossiping friends, her unruly children, and much more—all in one very busy morning. Surprisingly modern, the l925 piece is directed by Mark Basile of Weston.

Mr. Basile also directs Ms. Phillips as Helen Alving, the bitter wife of a philandering husband, joined by Miles Everett of Thomaston as her syphilitic son, Oswald, in the final scene from Henrik Ibsen’s classic tragedy, Ghosts, set in a provincial country house in Norway in the late 1880’s.

Sparks fly, secrets are revealed, and lies are told in a charming scene from James Prideaux’s play, Mixed Couples, when Melody James of Westport and Wendy Lesniak of Fairfield portray two longtime rivals who haven’t seen each other in years, each now married to the other’s ex-husband, who meet unexpectedly in an airplane hangar. Directed by Mark Graham of Stratford.

Kimberly Wilson of Westport embodies the late literary icon, Maya Angelou, in an inspirational scene from her original play, A JOURNEY, which she’s been performing and touring for years in venues near and far as part of women’s programs and Black History Month. Directed by Stamford’s Fran Dorf.

Emilie Roberts of Weston and Molly Garbe of Norwalk portray two women lamenting their marriages in a lovely scene and song, Every Day a Little Death, from Stephen Sondheim’s Tony-award winning musical, A Little Night Music. Directed by Jo Anne Parady of Southport.

Ms. Roberts also portrays Abigail Adams in two poignant scenes from Edwards and Stone’s Tony-winning musical, 1776, joined by Richard Leonard of Greenwich as John Adams. Directed by Carole Schweid of Westport, with accompaniment by Duncan Christy of Norwalk, the scene features the numbers Piddle, Twiddle & Resolve and Yours, Yours, Yours.

And lastly, in his riveting original monologue, Confession, Drew Denbaum of Stratford plays a man carrying a devastating psychological burden from a long ago chance meeting with a now infamous “singer.”

The Theatre Artist’s Workshop, founded over 30 years ago by Keir Dullea, has over one hundred members and is the only professional theatre organization of its kind in Connecticut. Each Monday night, Workshop actors, writers, and directors meet to put up scenes, audition pieces, and new written scripts in order to receive the support and critique of fellow members, develop new work, and hone the craft, and then several times a year share their talents with audiences through various public performances, including the Playwrights Festival, Holiday Show, Classic Night Reading series, and events like Making the Scene, Again! which represents the “best of the best” of the year’s work.

Don’t miss this compelling theatre event! Come. Make the Scene! For more information or to reserve your seat, call the box office at 203-854-6830, or go to www.taworkshop.org

And keep in mind our next show, a Halloween special. The original Dracula! $10 donation at the door for a concert reading on Friday, October 31, Saturday, November 1 at 8 PM and Sunday November 2 at 3 PM. Guaranteed to thrill and chill!