Theatre news...and a resolution
OK, I've not blogged in many months, unless I count the micro-blogging that is Facebook or Twitter. Really wanted to share this bit of info that brings together an old and dear friend and the theater I work so hard to support. Hoping you'll all join us for this show, and here's a note about it by co-author Peggy Engel.
Dear Friends of Free Speech and Fun -- It's official. The Philadelphia Theatre Co. will open the play my twin sister, Allison, and I wrote on March 19-April 19. We hope you can come and tell friends in the Philly/NJ area about it. David Esbjornson is directing. Here's the info:
FILM AND STAGE STAR KATHLEEN TURNER TO APPEAR IN
PHILADELPHIA THEATRE COMPANY’S WORLD PREMIERE OF
RED HOT PATRIOT: THE KICK-ASS WIT OF MOLLY IVINS
Running March 19-April 18, 2010
Philadelphia Theatre Company announces that two-time Tony Award-nominee and film actress Kathleen Turner will star in the world premiere of Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins by Margaret Engel and Allison Engel. Directed by award-winning director David Esbjornson, this one-woman play based on the writings of the late political journalist Molly Ivins runs March 19 – April 18, 2010.
In Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins, Kathleen Turner portrays the unsinkable Molly Ivins, the famously brassy newspaper columnist and best-selling author. A true Texas original, Ivins was a sharp-tongued wit who skewered the political establishment and the “good ole boys” with her unforgettable humor and wisdom. Written by twin sisters, themselves longtime journalists, the play celebrates Ivins’ courage and tenacity – even when it seemed like a complacent America wasn’t listening.
“We are thrilled at the happy and unexpected opportunity to produce this new play that celebrates the life of one of journalism’s most colorful and iconic figures,” said Sara Garonzik, PTC’s Producing Artistic Director. “We are especially delighted to be working with the brilliant Kathleen Turner. With her high-profile stage, film and television career, it is rather miraculous that this window of opportunity has opened in her schedule, permitting her to devote time to developing a new play."
Molly Ivins’ column was syndicated in nearly 400 newspapers nationwide. Her feisty voice was developed in the early 1970s as the co-editor of the rowdy and biting biweekly political magazine The Texas Observer, which remained her spiritual home. She coined the nickname “Shrub” for George W. Bush, the subject of her two of her five best-selling books - Shrub: The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush and Bushwhacked. A graduate of Smith College, she began her newspaper career at the Houston Chronicle and Minneapolis Tribune (now the Star Tribune). She worked at The New York Times for five years before moving back to Texas to work at the Dallas Times Herald and then The Fort Worth-Star Telegram. She also wrote for Esquire, Atlantic Monthly and The Nation and appeared on 60 Minutes.
Arena Stage had an early hand in the development process of Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins, hosting a workshop and producing an invited reading in August 2009 with Kathleen Turner.
Kathleen Turner last appeared on Broadway as Martha opposite Bill Irwin in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, earning her second Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Play and an Olivier nomination during its London run. She also received a Tony nomination for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Other Broadway successes include Indiscretions and The Graduate. Turner first came to national prominence following her role in the movie Body Heat with William Hurt. She subsequently won two Golden Globe Awards for Romancing the Stone and Prizzi’s Honor, and an Academy Award nomination for Peggy Sue Got Married. Her two other partnerships with Michael Douglas and Danny DeVito (The Jewel of the Nile and War of the Roses) were also box office successes. She was also the speaking voice of cartoon femme fatale Jessica Rabbit in the toon-noir Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Turner is chairperson for Planned Parenthood of America and on the board of People for the American Way.
David Esbjornson directed the Broadway production of The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? by Edward Albee and The Ride Down Mt. Morgan by Arthur Miller at The Public Theater. Most recently the Artistic Director of Seattle Repertory Theatre, he has headed New York’s Classic Stage Company, directing many of its productions and winning an OBIE for Therese Raquin. Nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Iphigenia and Other Daughters, his other New York credits include The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer, The Play About the Baby by Edward Albee, and Tuesdays with Morrie by Jeffrey Hatcher, adapted from Mitch Albom’s best selling memoir.
Playwright Margaret Engel directs the Alicia Patterson Foundation, the oldest journalism writing fellowship program, and helped create the Newseum in Washington, DC. A former Washington Post reporter, she is the co-author with her husband, Bruce Adams, of three guidebooks about baseball in America. Co-playwright and twin sister Allison Engel is the Director of Communications at the University of Southern California. Allison, a former reporter at the San Jose Mercury and Des Moines Register & Tribune, has co-authored, with Margaret, three editions of Food Finds: America’s Best Local Foods and the People Who Produce Them, a book that spawned a television show on the Food Network.
Single tickets for Red Hot Patriot will go on sale after February 1, 2010.
Philadelphia Theatre Company is Philadelphia’s only not-for-profit professional theater dedicated exclusively to producing world and regional premieres of works by contemporary American playwrights.
PTC is in its third season in its new home, the Suzanne Roberts Theatre, designed by the award-winning firm of KieranTimberlake Associates LLP. This new state-of-the-art venue is located on Philadelphia’s Avenue of the Arts (Broad Street). For further information on Philadelphia Theatre Company, call 215-985-0420 or visit PhiladelphiaTheatreCompany.org.
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Dear Friends of Free Speech and Fun -- It's official. The Philadelphia Theatre Co. will open the play my twin sister, Allison, and I wrote on March 19-April 19. We hope you can come and tell friends in the Philly/NJ area about it. David Esbjornson is directing. Here's the info:
FILM AND STAGE STAR KATHLEEN TURNER TO APPEAR IN
PHILADELPHIA THEATRE COMPANY’S WORLD PREMIERE OF
RED HOT PATRIOT: THE KICK-ASS WIT OF MOLLY IVINS
Running March 19-April 18, 2010
Philadelphia Theatre Company announces that two-time Tony Award-nominee and film actress Kathleen Turner will star in the world premiere of Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins by Margaret Engel and Allison Engel. Directed by award-winning director David Esbjornson, this one-woman play based on the writings of the late political journalist Molly Ivins runs March 19 – April 18, 2010.
In Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins, Kathleen Turner portrays the unsinkable Molly Ivins, the famously brassy newspaper columnist and best-selling author. A true Texas original, Ivins was a sharp-tongued wit who skewered the political establishment and the “good ole boys” with her unforgettable humor and wisdom. Written by twin sisters, themselves longtime journalists, the play celebrates Ivins’ courage and tenacity – even when it seemed like a complacent America wasn’t listening.
“We are thrilled at the happy and unexpected opportunity to produce this new play that celebrates the life of one of journalism’s most colorful and iconic figures,” said Sara Garonzik, PTC’s Producing Artistic Director. “We are especially delighted to be working with the brilliant Kathleen Turner. With her high-profile stage, film and television career, it is rather miraculous that this window of opportunity has opened in her schedule, permitting her to devote time to developing a new play."
Molly Ivins’ column was syndicated in nearly 400 newspapers nationwide. Her feisty voice was developed in the early 1970s as the co-editor of the rowdy and biting biweekly political magazine The Texas Observer, which remained her spiritual home. She coined the nickname “Shrub” for George W. Bush, the subject of her two of her five best-selling books - Shrub: The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush and Bushwhacked. A graduate of Smith College, she began her newspaper career at the Houston Chronicle and Minneapolis Tribune (now the Star Tribune). She worked at The New York Times for five years before moving back to Texas to work at the Dallas Times Herald and then The Fort Worth-Star Telegram. She also wrote for Esquire, Atlantic Monthly and The Nation and appeared on 60 Minutes.
Arena Stage had an early hand in the development process of Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins, hosting a workshop and producing an invited reading in August 2009 with Kathleen Turner.
Kathleen Turner last appeared on Broadway as Martha opposite Bill Irwin in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, earning her second Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Play and an Olivier nomination during its London run. She also received a Tony nomination for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Other Broadway successes include Indiscretions and The Graduate. Turner first came to national prominence following her role in the movie Body Heat with William Hurt. She subsequently won two Golden Globe Awards for Romancing the Stone and Prizzi’s Honor, and an Academy Award nomination for Peggy Sue Got Married. Her two other partnerships with Michael Douglas and Danny DeVito (The Jewel of the Nile and War of the Roses) were also box office successes. She was also the speaking voice of cartoon femme fatale Jessica Rabbit in the toon-noir Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Turner is chairperson for Planned Parenthood of America and on the board of People for the American Way.
David Esbjornson directed the Broadway production of The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? by Edward Albee and The Ride Down Mt. Morgan by Arthur Miller at The Public Theater. Most recently the Artistic Director of Seattle Repertory Theatre, he has headed New York’s Classic Stage Company, directing many of its productions and winning an OBIE for Therese Raquin. Nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Iphigenia and Other Daughters, his other New York credits include The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer, The Play About the Baby by Edward Albee, and Tuesdays with Morrie by Jeffrey Hatcher, adapted from Mitch Albom’s best selling memoir.
Playwright Margaret Engel directs the Alicia Patterson Foundation, the oldest journalism writing fellowship program, and helped create the Newseum in Washington, DC. A former Washington Post reporter, she is the co-author with her husband, Bruce Adams, of three guidebooks about baseball in America. Co-playwright and twin sister Allison Engel is the Director of Communications at the University of Southern California. Allison, a former reporter at the San Jose Mercury and Des Moines Register & Tribune, has co-authored, with Margaret, three editions of Food Finds: America’s Best Local Foods and the People Who Produce Them, a book that spawned a television show on the Food Network.
Single tickets for Red Hot Patriot will go on sale after February 1, 2010.
Philadelphia Theatre Company is Philadelphia’s only not-for-profit professional theater dedicated exclusively to producing world and regional premieres of works by contemporary American playwrights.
PTC is in its third season in its new home, the Suzanne Roberts Theatre, designed by the award-winning firm of KieranTimberlake Associates LLP. This new state-of-the-art venue is located on Philadelphia’s Avenue of the Arts (Broad Street). For further information on Philadelphia Theatre Company, call 215-985-0420 or visit PhiladelphiaTheatreCompany.org.
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Labels: Kathleen Turner, Mollly Ivens, Philadelphia Theatre Company, PTC, Suzanne Roberts Theatre, Theater
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