Stage Left Studio Presents FRANK WOMEN, 8/17-18

Stage Left Studio will present a two-night celebration of American playwright Frank Blocker’s canon of work this Friday and Saturday, August 17 and 18 at 7:30 pm, entitled "Frank Women." The stellar cast includes Tam Paquette, once the face of Toyoto’s original “Hot, Hot, Hot” campaign and a former Bud Girl, who flies in from Florida to lend her comic chops to the evening’s festivities. Acclaimed acting coach and star of the touring solo show Bald in the Land of Big Hair, Lisa Hamilton of Houston, Texas, will share her skills along with fellow Texan, character actress Chericia Curtis, a national comedy winner and former beauty queen. They will join a dozen actresses and comediennes to channel selections from Blocker’s established plays as well as several new monologues and performance pieces.

Known for “well-written women,” Blocker will premiere several new monologues including “What I Learned from Aunt Mary,” “This is Your Mother,” “My Cantaloupes,” and “The Kroger What’s Near My House.” Inspired by the American experience, the characters presented will include Southerners, Northerners, Midwesterners, sun-drenched Westerners, and even a monologue in broken Spanglish.

The cast is rounded out by company members from Stage Left Studio's Forbidden Kiss LIVE! show: Gaby Gold, Cheryl King (Grapefruit), Jenn Wehrung, Elza Zagreda (Dating, Depression and Dirtbags) and show regular Valerie Hager. Seasoned character actresses Amy Heath Bell, Theresa Gambacorta, Stefani Miller and Nomi Tichman also join the show along with sole male interloper, Jeremy Neal. Ellen Rosenberg is the light and sound designer.

Directors include Karen Baker (University of North Carolina-Greensboro), Kristin Cassidy, Vincent Marano, Regina O’Malley (AMDA), Barry Rowell (Peculiar Works Project) and Abby Williams. Performers Gambacorta, King and Hager will also direct some of the selections.

Blocker is currently starring in self-penned Stabilized Not Controlled, also at Stage Left Studio, Sundays at 5:00 pm. Other plays include Southern Gothic Novel: The Aberdeen, Mississippi Sex-Slave Incident (Drama Desk Award nomination), Good Jew, Patient Number, Air Marshals, The Wisconsinners and Eula Mae’s Beauty, Bait & Tackle.

Tickets are $25 and can be purchased through the theatre’s website, www.stageleftstudio.net. Broadway World readers are welcome to a $5.00 discount by using the code “ladylove” when purchasing tickets online.