[NEohioPAL]Linda Eisenstein's Spring Plugmobile

Fri Apr 1 14:17:25 PST 2005

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Greetings, cyberpals --<br><br>
The weather has finally warmed up here in Cleveland. Spring has also
brought welcome news on several theatrical fronts.<br><br>
- We have lots of exciting news about our George Sand/Sarah Bernhardt
musical, <font color=3D"#0000FF"><b><i>BECOMING GEORGE</i></b></font>,
music by me and lyrics/book by Patti McKenny and Doug Frew. On March 17,
an excerpt sung by Kymberly Mellen (=93A House This Fine=94) was featured at
the National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) Conference in Chicago.
On April 19th, another song from the show (=93Where=92s the Fire?=94) will b=
e
featured in =93My Kind of Tune=94, a presentation by Chicago Musical Theatre
Works. <br><br>
Best of all, BECOMING GEORGE will have its world premiere next season as
the spring '06 production at MetroStage in Alexandria, VA. MetroStage is
the theater that so generously sponsored our Millennium Stage concert
reading at the Kennedy Center=92s From Page to Stage Festival last
September. We=92re thrilled about the opportunity, and I thank Artistic
Director Carolyn Griffin for letting me first =93spring=94 the scoop here in
the Plugmobile. <br><br>
I=92m on my way to France next week, making a pilgrimage to several George
Sand sites =96 including Sand=92s country estate, Nohant, where much of the
play takes place, and the Odeon Theatre in Paris. When I return, I=92ll
post some pics to my web site.<br><br>
- My new 10-minute play <font color=3D"#0000FF"><b><i>JUSTICE OF THE
PEACE</i></b></font> will be performed throughout April and May as part
of "SEVEN AGES", a touring show commissioned by Great Lakes
Theater Festival. The seven shorts are based on the "Seven Ages of
Man" speech in AS YOU LIKE IT -- and the production is the community
"surround" event for GLTF's July production of the play. My
contribution is a comedy about a nervous middle-aged bride awaiting her
second marriage ceremony =96 with a twist. Other playwrights included are
Eric Coble, Daniel Hahn, Margaret Lynch, Sarah Morton, Eric Schmiedl, and
Terrence Spivey.<br><br>
The free show tours 20 area neighborhoods, with its first performance at
the Oberlin Public Library April 24, Playhouse Square's Ohio Theater on
April 25, finishing with an audio-described performance at the Cleveland
Sight Center on May 13. The poster for the show features all seven
contributing playwrights in a take-off on the =93Evolution=94 graphic =96 I=
=92m
the one holding the gavel.  Full schedule and poster at:
<a=
 href=3D"http://www.greatlakestheater.org/education/surround/default.shtm#se=
ven" eudora=3D"autourl"><font=
 color=3D"#0000FF"><u>http://www.greatlakestheater.org/education/surround/de=
fault.shtm#seven</a><br><br>
</u></font>- This winter I=92ve had a slew of Canadian school productions
of my =93touched by an angel=94 play <font color=3D"#0000FF"><b><i>A RUSTLE =
OF
WINGS</i></b></font> since its inclusion in the TAKE TEN II short play
anthology. Bravo, Canadians, for recognizing that the themes of the show
=96 empowerment and self-realization =96 are relevant and appropriate to
teens even when the characters happen to be lesbians. <br><br>
- I=92ve spent the last several months helping launch a new venture here in
Cleveland: The Dark Room, a monthly cabaret featuring <br>
multi-disciplinary new works by area creators, sponsored by the Cleveland
Theater Collective. The shows take place every 2nd Thursday of the month
at the Old Parish Hall near Cleveland Public Theatre. <br><br>
The first Dark Room on March 10th featured two of my short pieces,
<font color=3D"#0000FF"><b><i>HOW TO BE NAKED IN NORTHERN
CALIFORNIA</i></b></font> and <font color=3D"#0000FF"><b><i>TASTE
IT</i></b></font>. We also featured a scene and song from a new musical
project =96 <font color=3D"#0000FF"><b><i>HOLIDAY HOTLINE</i></b></font> =96=
 a
satiric revue with songs by me and comic sketches by Michael D. Sepesy,
about assorted freakouts and meltdowns related to the Christmas holidays.
Mike and I will be trying out other pieces from the show in future Dark
Rooms. We hope to have a full draft of HOLIDAY HOTLINE ready for
Christmas 2005. <br><br>
As always, if you=92re interested in perusing anything I=92ve mentioned here
=96 or any of my other works, featured at
<a href=3D"http://www.lindaeisenstein.com/" eudora=3D"autourl"><font color=
=3D"#0000FF">www.lindaeisenstein.com</a></font>
-- let me know and I=92ll send a copy your way, email or snail. <br><br>
PS =96 Please change my email address in your address book! I=92m now at=
 lindaeisenstein at yahoo.com. <br><br>
Cheers,<br>
Linda Eisenstein<br>
--<br>
Cleveland, OH, USA<br>
lindaeisenstein at yahoo.com <a href=3D"http://www.lindaeisenstein.com/"=
 eudora=3D"autourl"><font=
 color=3D"#0000FF">www.lindaeisenstein.com</a><br><br>
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