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| Brian Yarger, left, and John J. Cronin in a production of A Christmas Carol by Lauren Yarger and Dan Jessie. |
Friday, Dec. 6
noon-2 pm
Westbrook Inn
The CT Chapter of the League of Professional Theatre Women will present three excerpts from plays with holiday themes by Connecticut authors at a networking lunch noon Friday at the charming Westbrook Inn.
Chapter Steering Committee member Susan Cinoman will curate the event and introduce her new play reading initiative at the Inn, Sips and Scripts. Reservations are required.
- The Little Match Girl
On the streets of London during the Industrial Revolution, a hungry yet loving street waif has a strange moment with a kind pub owner. By Susan Cinoman.
- Joy Meets Girl
Addie, a journalist finds love despite her new found cynicism. By Kimberly Hill
- Scrooge Monologue
A new take on the classic character, it wouldn't be the holidays without a few words from our favorite misanthrope. By Chapter Co-Founder Lauren Yarger
Make a reservation at this link by Wednesday, Dec. 4:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/
Make a reservation at this link by Wednesday, Dec. 4:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/
Registrants will be sent instructions about payment to confirm your seat. The lunch/play presentation event will be $25 for chapter members and $30 for non members. Lunch with a vegetarian option will be provided.
THE ACTORS JOINING US FOR THIS EVENT:
Bill Arnold of Windsor, CT is a 45-year veteran of the stage as well as a playwright and set designer/builder for the Hole in the Wall Theater in New Britain. Bill always enjoys letting the voices in his head come out to play.
Barbara Hentschel played Mrs. Eynsford Hill in Legacy Theatre’s production of Pygmalion. Favorite roles: Queen Gertrude in Hamlet (Legacy Theatre), Lady Montague in Romeo & Juliet, directed by Mark Lamos (Westport Country Playhouse), Katharine in Love’s Labour’s Lost (Woodstock Shakespeare Festival, NY), Ride the Tiger (Long Wharf Theatre), Apple Season (Ivoryton Playhouse, WPI), Laura in The Glass Menagerie (MLS, CT) and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (MLS, CT). Barbara earned her BA in Theatre from Fordham University at Lincoln Center and has an MFA in acting from The Actors Studio Drama School, NYC. Barbara coaches privately and has worked on staff as a Resident Teaching Artist for Long Wharf Theatre. www.bhentschel.com
Emilie Roberts in NYC Emilie created leading roles in five original musicals and appeared in As You Like It, Scapin and others. Regionally, she starred in Deathtrap, The Respectful Prostitute, She Loves Me, Oklahoma, The Robber Bridegroom, A Threepenny Opera, and played supporting roles in 8 shows at Summer Theatre of New Canaan. A graduate of Juilliard, Emilie performed in operas and musical revues across the country, & is currently professor of voice & acting at the University of Bridgeport.
Kimberly Squires Off-Off Broadway – The Players Theatre: The Difference by Jack Rushton. Regional -- Greenwich Theatre Co: Bee Keeper/Seven Easy Pieces by Jack Rushton; The National Arts Club; Danse Macabre by Steven Otfinoski and The Girl in the Red Dress by Frederick Stoppel, music by Art Garfunkle; The Players Club The Lives of Shakespeare Trilogy by MJ Schaefe. Kim and her husband, Allan Zeller, produced/starred in their two-person show: Zeller and Squires – Delightful Differences in New Haven. Founding member, former Amarante’s Dinner Theatre. Member: AEA, SAG-AFTRA.
Allan Zeller has worked in theater, film, television and radio for more than 35 years. Theaters include the Sacramento Theatre Co, CitiArts Theatre, Theatre Artists of Marin, Roger Rocha’s Penguin Rep. Stray Kats Theatre and the Players Theatre in New York. Recently Allan appeared at the new Greenwich Theatre Company in Greenwich, CT playing multiple roles in Seven Easy Pieces by Jack Rushton. In October, Allan was seen at the Actors’ Temple Theatre in New York as Dr. Benjamin Simon in the new play The Interrupted Journey by Elizabeth Fuller and Joe Vig and at the National Arts Club as Joseph Stalin in the new play Danse Macabre by Stephen Otfinoski. Allan has an MFA in acting from UC Davis.
THE PLAYWRIGHTS:
Susan Cinoman is a playwright and screenwriter whose work is published and produced internationally. She began as a comedy writer and performer in the all-woman comedy group, “The Soubrettes,” in Philadelphia which resulted in one of its hit songs playing on the local radio, “Bimbo Rap.” Her story “Mama Drama” was featured on the hit ABC comedy “The Goldbergs” in the 2014- 15 season. Her one act play Fitting Rooms has been called “a great American one act” and is featured in Applause Books' “Best Short Plays of 1996”. Her Off-Broadway plays include Gin and Bitters and Cinoman and Rebeck, which was hailed as “an evening of talent and promise” by The New York Times. Her plays have received numerous workshop productions at The Ensemble Studio Theatre and Naked Angels. The plays Beds and Truth and Sex were recently made into short films by Akvarious Productions in Mumbai, India. Work in development includes the screenplay My Girlfriend at the Time (directed by Susan Seidelman); the pilot, "Blackmail U." (co-written with ABC Family writer Andrea Abbate); the new play Love and Class in Connecticut (directed by Karen Carpenter of Love, Loss and What I Wore). Cinoman’s new play Guenevere is being developed as part of the Women’s Playwright Initiative at the Ivortyon Playhouse. She is the recipient of The Best Connecticut Filmmaker Award in 2009; The Best Narrative Film at New England Film and Video Festival; an Official Selection by The International Berkshire Film Festival; The Maxwell Anderson Playwrights Prize, and The Aristos Award with Theresa Rebeck. Susan lives with her husband in Connecticut. They have two daughters, a cat, a dog and a horse.
Kimberly Hill wrote for a number of TV series including “Cheers,” “Family Ties,” “One Day at a Time,” “Empty Nest,” “All is Forgiven,” “Facts of Life,” “EZ Streets,” “The Tortelli’s,” “Lateline” and “E.R.” – the comedy. She created and wrote pilots under contract to Paramount and for NBC. Kim also produced or served as a consultant on some of these series and more, including “Due South,” before she went into rehab at Yale Divinity School – where she got a masters degree. She is currently writing plays.
Lauren Yarger As a theater critic, Lauren Yarger is a member of the Outer Critics Circle, the American Theatre Critics Association and previously served as Vice President and voting member of the Drama Desk. She is Co-Founder of the League of Professional Theater Women's Connecticut Chapter. As a producer/writer (member of the Dramatists Guild of America), Lauren has written, directed and produced numerous shows and special events. She co-wrote a Christian musical version of “A Christmas Carol” which played to sold-out audiences of over 3,000 in Vermont and was awarded the Vermont Bessie (theater and film awards) for “People’s Choice for Theatre.” She also has written two other dinner theaters and produced a one-woman musical about Mary Magdalene that toured nationally and closed with an off-Broadway run. Her play concept, "From Reel to Real: The Jennifer O'Neill Story," was presented as part of the League of professional Theatre Women's Julia's Reading Room Series in New York in 2018. She is Owner/Producer at Gracewell Productions LLC and is a partner in Major Chord Productions, which is developing two musicals for touring. Yarger trained for three years in the Broadway League’s Producer Development Program, completed the Commercial Theater Institute's Producing Three-Day Intensive and other training and was a Fellow at the O'Neill Theater Center's National Critics Institute. She also reviews books for Publishers Weekly and is a member of the National Book Critics Circle.
and is a member of the National Book Critics Circle.
