Born and raised in the DC-area, Ellen spent countless hours as a child and adult nurturing her love of theater in the classic DC venues, like Ford’s Theatre, Arena Stage, The National Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Signature, area universities and more; and enthusiastically performing in many school productions herself. After a long career with The Walt Disney Company in California, she returned to her alma mater, the University of Virginia, for a law degree, and is now a trademark attorney for the federal government. She will travel far and wide to experience theater, but has a special love and pride for the DC theater community, and its commitment to bringing great theater in myriad forms to this arts-loving town! Along with writing about, Tweeting about, talking about and attending as much theater as possible, she has a soft spot for those new and emerging artists, whose career journeys are a joy to behold.
BWW Interviews: Composer Sarah Taylor Ellis, THE YELLOW WALLPAPER
July 6, 2014
July 6, 2014
THE YELLOW WALLPAPER: The Writing, and Composing, on the Wall "This needs to be a musical." With those words to composer Sarah Taylor Ellis, writer/actor/director Lane Williamson handed over a copy of Charlotte Perkins Gilmore's 6,000 word seminal 1892 short story, The Yellow Wallpaper, often considered to be one of the very first feminist works. As she began to read, Sarah knew exactly what Lane meant. Collaborators since meeting during graduate school at UCLA, Sarah and Lane have found that they share a deep connection and creative sensibility, so Sarah knew immediately that Lane was talking about how the "character" of the wallpaper itself, as it reflected the main character's desperate search for self, could be expressed in shifting musical patterns, textures and styles, mirroring the psychological experience of the room's inhabitant.
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