RACHEL CALOF to Play United Solo Festival

RACHEL CALOF, a play with music, based on the life of Rachel Calof, a Jewish picture bride who was a homesteader on the Great Plains from 1894-1904, was chosen to be highlighted in the United Solo Theatre Festival. RACHEL CALOF will play four performances only: Sunday, November 15th at 7:30 pm, Monday, November 16th, Wednesday, November 18 at 9pm and Saturday, November 21 at 2pm. Based on the memoir, Rachel Calof's Story: Jewish Homesteader on the Northern Plains, the show features critically acclaimed television and stage actress Kate Fuglei in the title role. The play is directed by Ellen S. Pressman and features original music and lyrics by Leslie Steinweiss. The book was adapted for the stage by Ken LaZebnik. Tickets are $19.25 and can be purchased by visiting www.telecharge.com or by calling (212-239-6200).

RACHEL CALOF is based on a pragmatic memoir, written completely in Yiddish by Rachel Calof. It tells the story of her brave adventure across the ocean as a Jewish picture bride from Russia to North Dakota in 1894 to marry a man she had never met before. Kate Fuglei powerfully enacts Calof's courage to come to a new land, her sense of humor, her capacity to endure brutal hardships and her quest for a home of her own. RACHEL CALOF takes the audience on a journey filled with challenges and pleasant surprises with Calof's transformative spirit and a genuine love for life.

Born in 1876, Rachel Bella Kahn travelled from Russia to the U.S. at the age of 18 for an arranged marriage to Abraham Calof. She and her husband created a life in Devil's Lake, North Dakota as homesteaders, enduring the hardships of pioneer life. Rachel and her husband lived in a 12'x14' dirt floored shack at the edge of the prairie with her in-laws, her husband's brother, wife and children and two dozen chickens and a cow. The family endured many dangers, including droughts, hailstorms, and blinding snowstorms. Under harsh and primitive conditions, she bore and raised nine children. Drawing on strength, humor and resolve Calof persevered. Written when she was 55 living in St. Paul, Rachel Calof's memoir is a vital record of Jewish struggle and triumph on the frontier. Her children discovered the manuscript after her death and it was published by Indiana University Press in 1995.

Rachel Calof has nine surviving grandchildren, 24 great grandchildren, and 30 great great grandchildren. Rachel Bella's grandson Stan Calof had this to say: "As a Calof I often wondered where our family came from and what were they like... The play has allowed us to achieve greater knowledge of the Calof family and the difficulties of how they lived their lives. Kate Fuglei's performance as Rachel Calof brings my grandmother to life with humor and passion and gives all of us today inspiration to live as resiliently as Rachel."

Kate Fuglei (Rachel Calof) was a company member of the first National Broadway Tour of Spring Awakening, directed by Michael Mayer. She was Mrs. Webb in Michael Greif's production of Our Town at the La Jolla Playhouse and in Scott Schwartz' adaptation of My Antonia at the Rubicon Theater, with music by Stephen Schwartz. She has played leading roles at theaters across the country-including the Guthrie Theater, Arena Stage, NY Shakespeare Festival, LA Shakespeare Festival, Utah Shakespeare Festival, and many more. She has acted in eight feature films, four films for television, and has over thirty television credits-ranging from NCIS to Masters of Sex.

Ellen S. Pressman's (Director) credits include episodes of Felicity (J.J. Abrams), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Joss Whedon), My So Called Life (Winnie Holzman), as well as Party of Five, and thirtysomething. As a producer, Pressman has received Emmy awards and Golden Globe awards for Best Dramatic series, as well as Humanitas Prize awards, for Hill St. Blues, L.A. Law and thirtysomething. She has directed Rachel Calof throughout its development.

Ken LaZebnik (Playwright) co-wrote A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. Of his ten produced plays, two have won citations from The American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA). Ken's most recent play, On the Spectrum, was voted by the ATCA as one of the three best new plays premiered outside of New York City. LaZebnik wrote the film Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage, which featured Peter O'Toole. For television, he was a writer/producer for seven years on Touched By An Angel, and has written for Army Wives, When Calls The Heart, and Providence.

Leslie Steinweiss (Composer/lyricist) most recently created music for Museum Scandals, a short film directed by Sande Shurin. As composer-in-residence for the theater company Dear Knows in New York City, his scores have been performed at Lincoln Center, Home for Contemporary Theater and Art, and Olympia Dukakis's Whole Theater. He composed music for The School of Jolly Dogs, which was workshopped and performed at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. On Broadway, he provided incidental music for The Price of Genius. Other film credits include PBS documentaries, independent films, as well as collaborative work with his wife Marjory Steinweiss, a filmmaker.

United Solo, now in its sixth year, is the world's largest solo theatre festival. It opens on September 17 for a ten-week run, featuring 150 solo productions from six continents. Until its closing night on November 22, the festival will present between two and five shows each day, all at Theatre Row, where United Solo is a resident company, on 42nd Street in NYC. From openly solicited submissions, the festival committee chose the most promising pieces, new as well as previously produced. This year's selection represents a variety of subjects and forms: drama, comedy, dance, movement, musical, storytelling, stand up, and mime, among other categories. Participating productions will feature renowned actors as well as newcomers making their debuts; adaptations of well-known plays, as well as original works.