Andrew Edline Brings CHURCHILL to CCPA This Weekend

Fairfield, Iowa based writer and performer Andrew Edlin will perform his play Churchill at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts tonight, February 1 at 7:30pm and Sunday, February 2 at 2pm.

Edlin stars as the charismatic statesman, orator, and wit Sir Winston Churchill in a powerful performance seguing from iconic speeches to private revelations, from witty stories to brilliant commentary.

It is April 1955. Churchill, aged 80, agonizes in his wartime bunker below London whether to finally resign as Prime Minister as the Cold War gathers pace. He is old and tired, but it becomes clear that personal issues will affect his ability to let go. As he tries to decide, he rolls back the years and reviews his uniquely eventful career, filled with history-changing events and people, glorious speeches, pity comments, funny stories, his checkered relationship with his family, and all the wit and wisdom that has made Churchill an imperishable legend.

"I have performed my play for audiences who are experts in Churchill, far more than I am, some of whom knew him personally, and for school students who had never heard of him! They all enjoy the show. This is not a history lesson. It is an entertainment - a celebration of the wonderful, full life of a great man. Churchill loved to have friends round a dinner table and tell stories and entertain. This play continues that tradition," says Edlin.

Tickets are $20, $15 for youth under 18 and are available online at CoralvilleArts.org, by phone at 319.248.9370, and in person at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts box office at 1301 5th Street and the Coralville Recreation Center at 1506 8th Street.

A native of Brighton, Sussex in the U.K., Edlin won a scholarship in History to Oxford University, graduating in Psychology and Philosophy. He's been acting for 50 years, including producing, directing, and playing the title role in King Lear, appearing as Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, and performing Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest. Following four years of research, writing, and workshopping, he first performed Churchill in 1997. He has continued to revise the script and production ever since, working with directors John Rainey and Al Constantineau. He has even performed Churchill at Westminster College, site of the famous "Iron Curtain" speech. His "day job" is at CENTURY 21 Hayes-Heartland Real Estate.

Owned and operated by the City of Coralville, the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts is dedicated to enriching the community and contributing to the vitality of Coralville by offering an accessible, affordable venue for a variety of performances, presentations, and public and private events. The 472 seat theater opened August 26, 2011 and has hosted performances from City Circle Acting Company, Orchestra Iowa, Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, Dan Knight, Lola Astanova, Lorie Line, Judy Carmichael, Jim McDonough, Nolte Academy of Dance, and many others. Coralville schools are also able to use the Center free of charge up to three times per year; 16 school events took place at the Center in the 2012-2013 school year. The Center was named 2012 Member of the Year by the Iowa City/Coralville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

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