Friedman and Victor Collaborate on New Play The Good Steno

The mother and son team of Leah Kornfeld Friedman and Paul Ben Victor have collaborated to create and produce a new play, a dark comedy entitled The Good Steno. The play will debut at L.A.'s Hayworth Theatre on Feb. 9, 2007.

A multi-award winning playwright based in New York, Friedman's shows have been staged at regional theaters and at universities across the country. Her son, Paul Ben Victor, who produced and directed The Good Steno, is an acclaimed actor, with such memorable roles as Warner Bros. Studio head Allen Grey on HBO's "Entourage," Spiros Vondopoulos on "The Wire," Al Nicoletto on "Monk," Couch Lou on "My Name is Earl," and even Moe Howard in the telefilm "The Three Stooges." He is also a director and producer.

The Good Steno is the third collaboration of the mother and son team. Paul produced and performed in Club Soda, the first co-authored play with his mother, which received critical acclaim and won a DramaLogue Award. Club Soda successfully ran in L.A, Dallas, Chicago and NYC. Their second script was Hot Scramble.

"The storyline of The Good Steno is as follows: It's 1946 in New York. Seventeen year-old Gloria Finkelstein comes from Brooklyn to Manhattan to work as a stenographer in the 'garment center jungle,' for the manufacturer of fashionable swim suits. Paul Ben Victor portrays the role of 'Morty,' the lewd, racist owner of the bathing suit company. Gloria quickly learns the truth about the world she so desperately wants to be a part of, where models are routinely coerced into 'entertaining' buyers in the back room.  Gloria clings to her 28 dollar a week salary and dreams of a life beyond her reach, but ultimately decides to take on this raunchy, lecherous world of the 1940's garment district," state press materials.

"The Good Steno takes place in the holding cell of a police department where a New York City detective is interrogating Gloria.  Outside, the exhilaration at the end of World War II is the backdrop of Gloria's horrifying world that has been turned upside down. All of this is captured by an ensemble of actors in swift cinematic scenes supported with music and dance."

Choreographer Nate Prevost has danced and acted in over twenty films, including Pirates of the Carribean, Austin Powers and Boogie Nights.  He received the L.A. Theatre Critics Circle Award for Best Choreography in a Musical for Hoola Hoop Shaboop at the Tamarid Theatre.

Photos - Leah Kornfeld Friedman and Paul Ben Victor

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