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align=center><FONT face=Georgia><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic'>Porthouse
vitalizes the</SPAN></B><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"'>
weary Americana in ‘Quilters’</SPAN></B></FONT></P>
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style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"
align=center><FONT face=Georgia><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"'></SPAN></B></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; WHITE-SPACE: normal; WORD-SPACING: 0px; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: ; ORPHANS: 2; WIDOWS: 2; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LETTER-SPACING: normal; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial"
align=center></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; WHITE-SPACE: normal; WORD-SPACING: 0px; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: ; ORPHANS: 2; WIDOWS: 2; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LETTER-SPACING: normal; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial"
align=center><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT style="COLOR: #222222"
face=Georgia>Bob Abelman</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; WHITE-SPACE: normal; WORD-SPACING: 0px; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: ; ORPHANS: 2; WIDOWS: 2; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LETTER-SPACING: normal; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial"
align=center><I><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT style="COLOR: #222222"
face=Georgia>Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning
Journal</FONT></SPAN></I></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; WHITE-SPACE: normal; WORD-SPACING: 0px; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: ; ORPHANS: 2; WIDOWS: 2; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LETTER-SPACING: normal; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial"
align=center><I><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT color=#222222
face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN></I> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face=Georgia><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic'>Life,
it’s been said, is but a dream and like a box of chocolates.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But according to lyricist/composer
</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT color=#111111>Barbara
Damashek</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic'>
and playwright </SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT
color=#111111>Molly Newman, life is also comparable to a quilt – a patchwork of
experiences that tells our stories and is stitched together with hard work and
many loving hands.</FONT></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT color=#111111
face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face=Georgia><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT color=#111111>Their
musical “Quilters,” adapted </FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"'>from
a slender book of oral history by Patricia Cooper and Norma Bradley Allen, is
</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT color=#111111>currently on
stage at Porthouse Theatre as the first of three live, full-capacity summer
productions</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"'>.
</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; tab-stops: 191.6pt 307.85pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial"><FONT
face=Georgia><FONT color=#202122><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face=Georgia><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial"><FONT
color=#202122>The script </FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT color=#111111>shares</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"'>
</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT color=#111111>the American
frontier reminiscences of </FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"'>hearty,
resilient pioneer women.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It
is</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial"><FONT
color=#202122> divided into 16 </FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"'>vignettes,
each </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial"><FONT
color=#202122>reflecting some small moment or hard-earned truth experienced by
these women as they attempt to survive on the rustic Plains and
</FONT></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT color=#333333>lone
prairies</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial"><FONT
color=#202122> of the American West in the 1870s.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Each vignette results
</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"'>in
</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial"><FONT
color=#202122>a single pieced together square of material that, at play’s end,
will dramatically take its rightful place in a legacy quilt – a piece of
autobiographical art.</FONT></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial"><FONT
color=#202122 face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face=Georgia><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial"><FONT
color=#202122>The </FONT></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT
color=#111111>score is neither hummable nor particularly memorable.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But it nicely complements the content by
providing the simple sounds and folk rhythms of the period and capturing the
range of emotions of the characters. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The music is beautifully performed by six
off-stage musicians on string instruments, with music director Jennifer Korecki
on keyboard.</FONT></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT color=#111111
face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face=Georgia><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT color=#111111>The show’s
greatest strength is its unassuming and engagingly understated depiction of the
often banal and sometimes tragic aspects of these women’s existence. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“Quilters” itself had humble beginnings,
starting life as an audition piece monologue, evolving into </FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ; LETTER-SPACING: -0.1pt; mso-bidi-font-family: helvetica"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fbfbfb">sewed together stories from quilters and their
descendants, and becoming a patchwork play with music first performed in 1982 at
</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial"><FONT
color=#202122>The Denver Center Theater Company, where<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>now-playwright Newman was an
actor.</FONT></SPAN></FONT><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT color=#111111
face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face=Georgia><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT color=#111111>The risk
of staging this humble material – with its </FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"'>biblical
homilies, arcane folklore and homespun humor – is potentially static or sedate
moments, </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ; LETTER-SPACING: -0.1pt; mso-bidi-font-family: helvetica"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fbfbfb">cheap sentimentality, </FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"'>and
</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ">hokey
stage business</SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"'>.
The 1984 Broadway production of this show, which lasted less than a month and
won none of its six Tony Award nominations, is evidence of this.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face=Georgia>Such is not the case with this Porthouse production. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face=Georgia><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face=Georgia><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">For more of this review, go
to: <A
title=https://www.news-herald.com/things-to-do/porthouse-vitalizes-the-weary-americana-in-quilters-theater-review/article_14448d20-d294-11eb-bcee-6fa2ea19c604.html
href="https://www.news-herald.com/things-to-do/porthouse-vitalizes-the-weary-americana-in-quilters-theater-review/article_14448d20-d294-11eb-bcee-6fa2ea19c604.html">https://www.news-herald.com/things-to-do/porthouse-vitalizes-the-weary-americana-in-quilters-theater-review/article_14448d20-d294-11eb-bcee-6fa2ea19c604.html</A></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>