Illusion, by Mercedes de Acosta at Airmid Theatre - The Setauket Neighborhood House
Dates: (10/13/2014 )
Airmid Theatre - The Setauket Neighborhood House |
95 Main Street
East Setauket,NY 11733
Phone: 631-704-2888
Tickets: Free/Donation
SUBMIT UPDATES
Airmid Theatre Company presents the last in its annual 2014 ALL SHE WROTE concert-style performance series with a staged reading of controversial playwright Mercedes de Acosta’s epic Illusion on October 13 at 7 PM.
The play, like its creator, begs the question what in life is real and what happens when we chase what we want rather than stick with what we know.
The grass is always greener, as the saying goes. Maggie lives at the edges of society in Vancouver hoping to find a better life. When a well-heeled man from Long Island marries her and takes her East to a Gatsby-esque life on the north shore the trappings are different, very different. Or so it seems. Where does the dream end and reality begin? Or is it all just one big Illusion?
The evening will be directed by Jean Randich, with dramaturgy by Lorien Reese, and is produced by Airmid founder and artistic director Tricia McDermott, with Airmid literary manager, Elizabeth Bojsza. The cast will feature Amelia Workman*, Peter O’Connor*, Roya Shanks* as well as members of Airmid Theatre Artists’ Circle, classically trained professional actors from across Long Island and Manhattan. The performance will take place The Setauket Neighborhood House, 95 Main Street, East Setauket, NY 11733.
The evening will begin with a short contextual presentation to be followed by a concert-style performance of her the play. The evening will conclude with an informal discussion among the audience and artists’ company.
ABOUT THE PLAYS AND PLAYWRIGHT
Mercedes de Acosta (1893 – 1968) was a poet, novelist, and playwright. Four of de Acosta's plays were produced-two successfully on Broadway. She published a novel and three volumes of poetry. She was struggled professionally, some say due to her personality and open sexuality. She is known for her many affairs with famous Broadway and Hollywood personalities and numerous friendships with prominent artists of the period which she chronicles in her numerous memoires.
Born in New York City to Ricardo de Acosta, a Cuban dissonant, and Micaela Hernández de Alba y de Alba, who was a descendant of the Spanish Dukes of Alba, she grew up among the social elites of the day, hobnobbing with the likes of the Astors. De Acosta attended elementary school in Manhattan where Dorothy Parker was a classmate. She was committed to many causes including the Spanish Civil War, Eastern mysticism and yoga, and was a tireless advocate for women's rights. She wrote in her memoir, "I believed...in every form of independence for women and I was...an enrolled worker for women's suffrage.
She was also vegetarian refusing to wear fur. She has a number of scandalous and highly visible affairs with the likes of Eva LeGalliene, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Ona Munson, and Russian ballerina Tamara Platonovna Karsavina, and may also have had affairs with Pola Negri, Eleonora Duse and Alice B. Toklas. De Acosta died at age 75 in poverty. She is buried at Trinity Cemetery in Washington Heights, New York City.
ABOUT AIRMID THEATRE COMPANY
Long Island’s only National Endowment for the Arts awardee, the Airmid Theatre Company, was founded in 2000 to produce classic works by women. With these plays at the heart of its mission, the company creates a safe home for women theatre artists, and ignites broad public recognition of the essential contribution women have made to the worlds of theatre, dramatic literature, and society. By establishing the history of playwriting by women and professionally producing their work, we open the door to broader discussion on women’s roles today, and in the future. For more information about Airmid Theatre Company, please visit www.airmidtheatre.org.
Illusion by Mercedes de Acosta
Directed by Jean Randich
Produced by Airmid Theatre Company
October 13, 2014, 7 pm; Free Admission
The Setauket Neighborhood House, 95 Main Street, East Setauket, NY 11733
Reservations required. 631-704-2888 or email: info@airmidtheatre.org
The ALL SHE WROTE Reading and Discussion series is presented with the support of the National Endowment for the Arts and Bethpage Federal Credit Union, Suffolk County Arts and Film Department, and the Zonta Club of Suffolk County.
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