Freedom Riders Search for Refuge in The World Premiere of Christie Perfetti Williams present…
AN APPEAL TO THE WOMAN OF THE HOUSE
May 3rd – 17th @ The WorkShop Theater Main Stage
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New York, NY — Throughout the 2013-2014 season Retro Productions has been workshopping Christie Perfetti Williams full length play, AN APPEAL TO THE WOMAN OF THE HOUSE. Born out of the Retro Productions 20th Century Salon in the fall of 2012, AN APPEAL TO THE WOMAN OF THE HOUSE will have its World Premiere in May 2014 and is being directed by DeLisa White.
AN APPEAL TO THE WOMAN OF THE HOUSE takes place on one fateful night in May, 1961 in the farmhouse of Rose and Gideon Walker on the Alabama-Tennessee border. It is just after midnight when David and his fellow lost Freedom Riders knock on the door seeking assistance in the form of a phone and a place to stay until daylight. But Gideon, who knows this is Klan country, is reluctant to let in this band of mixed race college kids until Rose forces him to open the door with the acknowledgement that “they’re just babies.” What follows is a touching story of race, love, acceptance and learning how to stand up for what you believe.
Retro Productions Artistic Director, Heather Cunningham explains why AN APPEAL TO THE WOMAN OF THE HOUSE is so relevant to today’s culture. “On the one hand the play is about race and economics and on the other hand it’s about activism and how large gestures create ripple effects. But the most relevant bit to me today is the desegregation part – because there is still racism in the world and there are still people in our country who think that segregation should be legal – whether it be against African Americans or Gays or any other minority group. And to anyone who says to me “I don’t want to see a play about the past” I’d say not so fast – it’s still very much a part of our present.” Although AN APPEAL TO THE WOMAN OF THE HOUSE is inspired by historical events it is a work of fiction. Retro Productions is thrilled to be presenting a civil rights story that is rooted in love and respect for those who put themselves in harm’s way for what they believe to be right.
The production stars James M. Armstrong (Member of the Workshop Theater), Heather Cunningham (The Runner Stumbles/Off Broadway), Shaun Bennet Fauntleroy (Advance Man/Gideon Productions), Laura Killeen (Sweeney Todd/London), Daryl Lathon (Volume of Smoke/Playwright Clay Mcleod Chapman), Elise Rovinsky (Women and War/Bleecker Street Theater), Ben Schnickel (Billy Witch/Astoria Performing Arts Center) and Ric Sechrest (The Desk Set/Spoon Theatre).
The creative team includes set design by Ron Naversen, costume design by Jeanette Aultz, properties design by Sara Slagle, dramaturgy by Dillon Slagle, produced by Heather Cunningham, co-producer Ricardo Rust.
All performances take place at the WorkShop Theater Main Stage, 312 West 36th Street, 4th Floor, btw 8th and 9th Avenues, New York, NY 10018. Subways: A/C/E/1/2/3/B/D/F/Q/M/N/R to 34thStreet.
Tickets are available at https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/931598 – $18.00 adults, $15.00 students/seniors and $5.00 for student rush (if available).
Show Dates:
Saturday, May 3rd @ 8 pm
Sunday, May 4th @ 2 pm
Monday, May 5th @ 8 pm
Thursday, May 8th @ 8 pm
Friday, May 9th @ 8 pm
Saturday, May 10th @ 8 pm
Sunday, May 11th 2 pm
Monday, May 12th @ 8 pm
Wednesday, May 14th @ 8 pm
Thursday, May 15th @ 8 pm
Friday, May 16th @ 8 pm
Saturday, May 17th @ 8 pm
BIOGRAPHIES
Christie Perfetti Williams (Playwright) is a playwright, novelist and the producing artistic director of Carnival Girls Productions. Her NYC produced plays include Carnival Girls, Kings Highway, Regular Coffee, Pretty Debris, Blood Turnip, White Paper, Cora: Streetwalker, Our Beds are Crowded: Seven Short Plays about Love, Fear and Sex, No-Fault: A Tale about the Big D in the Big Apple, Look for the Woman, Mary of New York and The Quickening. www.christieperfetti.com
DeLisa M. White (Director) directed Greg Oliver Bodine’s multiple IT award nominee Poe Times Two for Cape May Stage and the Workshop Theatre Company. She directed Mac Rogers in Ed Malin’s Judge, Yuri and Executioner and Nat Cassidy in Malin’s Generic Magic Realism (IT nominee for Best Solo Performance) both for the Frigid Festival. She helmed two pieces (one of which secured an IT nomination for best short play) in the Vincent Marano retrospective, What I Meant Was… as well as his play Lights Narrow for the NY Fringe Festival. DeLisa directed the IT Award-winning Things at the Doorstep – inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s work.
About Retro Productions:
Retro Productions (Heather Cunningham, Artistic Director) was founded in 2005 with the mission to present works of retro theatre. Retro is defined as “involving, relating to, or reminiscent of things past (American Heritage Dictionary).” At Retro Productions we will strive to tell good theatrical stories which have an historical perspective -with an emphasis on the 20th century- in order to broaden our own understanding of the world we live in. We believe through stories of human lives and struggles, both dramatic and comedic, we can understand social history and culture and how it affects us today.
Retro Productions has received 18 New York Innovative Theatre Awards nominations since 2008 – including 1 win for Kristen Vaughan, Outstanding Actress in a Lead, Benefactors by Michael Frayn in 2011. Nominations include Outstanding Production of a Play for Benefactors in 2011 and The Desk Set in 2010, Outstanding Ensemble for Benefactors in 2011, as well as acting and design award nominations. www.retroproductions.org
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