
Yes I did. I met Kathleen Chalfant for coffee in New York on Friday, February 5. She played the role of Vivian Bearing in "Wit" for over three years on Broadway, garnering a host of awards for her brilliant performance. In person, she is delightful, generous, warm, earthy, funny and beautiful. She shared stories of how it felt to walk around town with no hair, to the beauty of this play and the "translucent transcendence" of its message. It was a magical afternoon, leaving me even more inspired to become Vivian for a month in Santa Ana, CA.
Our long-awaited production of "Wit" has found a home! Theatre Out, the company now presenting in the old Rude Guerrilla space (the Empire Theatre) in Santa Ana, has welcomed Panndora Productions into their fold. Our agreement gives us the space for 3 performances each weekend in March 2010. We've confirmed the rights and we are already working on this extraordinary play. Directed by Pete Taylor, "Wit" features Sonja Berggren, Brandon Crisler, Carmen Guo, Pete Taylor and Karen Wray.
"A brutally human and beautifully layered new play. . .You will feel both enlightened and, in a strange way, enormously comforted." THE NEW YORK TIMES
We had a fabulous opening night for Panndora's Box Friday with the reading of "Star Turn" by Linda Whitmore, our own New Voices playwright. The audience loved it, as did we.
Join us for the rest of the Festival!
Saturday at 4pm, "Sunday's Child" by Jennifer S. Jones, directed by Karen Wray, with Pete and Rebecca Taylor, Erin Henriques and Robert Dean Nunez.
Saturday at 7pm, "Denouement" by Jack Raymond, directed by Pete Taylor, with David Gold, Karen Wray, Rebecca Taylor and Pete himself.
Sunday at 1pm, "The Wall" by Jonathan Chapman, directed by Andreas Mitisek, with Kevin Brunner, Sonja Berggren, Leandro Cano, Brandon Crisler and Sky Siegel.
Sunday at 4pm, "The Morning After the Night Before" by William S.E. Coleman, directed by Sonja Berggren, with Karen Wray and John Wray.
Co-founder Sonja Berggren has been selected to perform her one-woman piece, "There is a Place I Go. . ." this summer at "Expressing Motherhood" at the Electric Lodge in Venice, CA. August 1-2 and 8-9, 2009. Check out expressingmotherhood.com