BETTE DAVIS ON THE EDGE Begins Tonight at Mainstreet Theatre

By: Sep. 12, 2014
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Bette Davis On the Edge, a new one-woman show about the screen legend, written and performed by Christine St. John, an American actress, who has spent the last two decades working in London, and directed by renowned Chicago director, teacher and casting agent, Jane Drake Brody, will receive its world premiere at the Mainstreet Theatre in Michigan City, Indiana, beginning on September 12th, and running for four performances through September 20th.

After the show bows in Michigan City, it will travel on to other engagements in the Midwest, New York City, London, Singapore and South Africa.

The play is set in the early morning hours of Oct. 31, 1962 with motion picture legend Bette Davis waiting anxiously for the reviews of "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" If the picture is a success, it will hail the desperately needed comeback for the star's fading career. If not, it will provide a sad and embarrassing epitaph. As she waits, she reflects on her career, from the "talkies" to the present day. Her story is the entire history of the American Motion Picture industry.

St. John was intrigued by a "situation wanted" advertisement that Davis placed in The Hollywood Reporter in August 1962 and she subsequently embarked on research at the Motion Picture Academy Library in Los Angeles and the Bette Davis Archival Collection in Boston. She intended to create a play that was more than a catalogue of showbiz reminiscences. The result was Bette Davis on the Edge. The play is packed with drama, intrigue and comedy, providing a unique and touching insight into both Hollywood in its heyday and arguably, the finest actress of her generation.

St. John is a graduate of The Goodman School of Drama of the Art Institute of Chicago, she furthered her studies at the Sorbonne and The American Center, Paris with Blanche Salant. She has appeared in numerous productions in the U.S. and United Kingdom. Favorite roles include, in the U.S.: Amanda in The Glass Menagerie and Dottie in Noises Off. In London: Alexandra Romanov in Anastasia at the New Voices Series Old Vic Theatre, Mrs. Robinson (understudied and played over a dozen times) in The Graduate -­Gielgud Theatre (West End), and Lady Capulet in David Beatons' UK tour of Romeo and Juliet.

She has lived in London, England for the past 24 years and was a founding member of the touring group, Act 3 Theatre Company performing in the works of Noel Coward, Anton Chekhov and adaptations of Edith Wharton. Last year she played Swift in Mad Dogs for SKY TV. St. John has been involved in theatre in development projects in Ethiopia and India and has been a Fellow at The Royal Geographical Society in London since 1993.

Bette Davis On The Edge director Jane Drake Brody, AEA, SAG, CSA, is a stage director, master teacher, former actress, and casting director. Her passion for the past thirty years has been helping and developing actors. She founded the still vibrant Chicago Acting Studio in 1980, and has been a casting director since 1986. Her casting company, Jane Brody Casting, now known as Paskal-?Rudnicke Casting, was instrumental in casting movies and TV shows ranging from "Groundhog Day" to "The Women of Brewster Place" to "A League of Their Own" to "Public Enemies" and many more.

As a stage director Brody has worked nationally and internationally on both scripted and devised projects, and has won awards for casting, directing, and acting. Brody formerly served as Head of Acting at Louisiana State University, and is currently an Associate Professor of performance at The Theatre School Conservatory at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, where she teaches all levels of performance and directs. Currently, Jane's book "The Actor's Business Plan: Acting While Having A Life" is scheduled to be released in 2016, and another book, "Heroic Journeys: Myth, Neuroscience and Stanislavski and Superscenes for Actors, Directors, and Teachers" will be published by Routledge in 2017.

Her students include Michael Shannon ("Man of Steel," "Boardwalk Empire"), TR Knight, Alex Koch, Christine St John, Peggy Roeder, Adam Brown, Melissa Peterman, Eric Stonestreet, and many other working actors.

Bette Davis On The Edge will be presented at the Mainstreet Theatre, 807 Franklin Street, in downtown Michigan City, on Friday and Saturday Sept. 12 and 13, and Friday and Saturday Sept. 19, and 20. All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20. For reservations, call (219) 874-4269 or email info@festivalplayersguild.org



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