Main Street Theater Presents DRIFTWOOD, Previews Begins 3/27
By: Gabrielle Sierra Mar. 26, 2010
Main Street Theater presents the world premiere of Driftwood by Lans Traverse. With previews March 27, 28 and 30, Driftwood opens April 1 and runs through April 25 at Main Street Theater - Rice Village, 2540 Times Blvd. (There are no performances on April 2 or 4.) Performances are on Thursdays at 7:30pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 3pm. Tickets range from $20 - $36, depending on date and section, and are on sale in person at the Main Street Theater Box Office, 2540 Times Blvd., via phone at 713.524.6706, or online at www.mainstreettheater.com.
About Driftwood
A wheat farm in Alfalfa County, OK is the setting for Lans Traverse's raw and gripping play Driftwood. Moving between 1933 and 1954, the play exposes the gritty underbelly of a family torn apart by greed. Crowther, the son who was given a medical education while his sisters went to work, moves like a snake amongst his family members, tricking his sisters out of their inheritance and ultimately turning his own parents out of their house. Yet in the end, it is Crowther who must face what he's done and stand alone, while the strength of family brings the others together and gives hope for the future.
Says playwright Lans Traverse, "First and last though, this is a story about the family, about the foolishness of some, and the heartache caused by others, about acts of betrayal that are sometimes committed by our nearest and dearest, and about strength and loyalty and steadfastness."
A finalist at New York's Summer Play Festival, Driftwood will have its world premiere at Main Street Theater.
About Playwright Lans Traverse
Lans Traverse was born in New Jersey, and her school years were divided between Pennsylvania and Oklahoma. She studied acting at Northwestern University, followed by the American Academy in New York City. From there, Ms. Traverse won a scholarship to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. London remains her primary residence.
Her early career spent as an actress, where she appeared in British television and on the West End Stage. Later in life she came to playwriting. Coleslaw and Coconut Cream Pie, the first of four plays, was a Finalist at the Eugene O'Neill Playwrights' Conference and is a runner up this year in the Eileen Heckart Playwriting Competition; it will receive a staged reading in Ohio this May. Last November it was given a staged reading in the UK at York's Theatre Royal and will return for a four-week run in the Autumn 2010. It has been translated into Italian and will also be produced in Rome in early 2011.
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Main Street Theater -Driftwood Page 2
The second play, The Kiss of the Sun for Pardon, was a Finalist for the Verity Bargate Award at London's Soho Theatre and was workshopped there last October. It will be included in Theatre 503's 2011 Spring Season.
Driftwood, a Finalist at New York's Summer Play Festival, is having its world premiere in April 2010 here in Houston at Main Street Theater. Her screenplay adaptation of Driftwood has just received the John Muir Gold Award at the Yosemite International Film Festival.
Ms. Traverse is currently working on the fourth play, O Come, All Ye Faithful.
She is married to actor, Ronald Pickup. She has two children also in the theatre: her son Simon is a film production designer and aspiring director, and her daughter Rachel is an actress.
About the Production
Cheryl L. Kaplan, director of last season's nationally acclaimed production of Awake and Sing!, returns to direct Driftwood. The cast includes Jim Salners (The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Caroline, or Change) as patriarch Orville with Karen Ross (Morning Star, Sunday in the Park with George) as his wife Alice; their children Crowther, Evelyn, and Bernice are portrayed by Justin Doran (The Busy World Is Hushed, The Best Man), Carolyn Johnson (Mr. Pim Passes By, Translations), and Jennifer Dean. Bethany McCade (The Last Night of Ballyhoo) plays Crowther's wife Ramona; Josh Taylor (Third) is the Young Man.
The design team includes Jeffrey S. Lane (set design), Deborah Anderson (costume design), Eric Marsh (lighting design), Janel Badrina (sound design), and Trey Otis (properties design). Rob Babbitt is the production stage manager.
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