Portland Stage Presents two works by Monica Wood

Portland Stage announces two works by Monica Wood.

BIG LIFE/small city by Monica Wood

Monday Oct 1, 2018 (ONE PERFORMANCE ONLY)

Directed by Eileen Phelan

With Tom Bloom, Maureen Butler, Moira Driscoll, Rene Johnson, Jason LeSaldo, Daniel Noel, Dustin Tucker, and Monica Wood.

Monday Oct 1, 2018 | 6:30 Reception | 7pm Reading

Suggested Donation $10 in advance, $15 at door

Reservations recommended

PLUS post-show Meet & Greet with Monica Wood
featuring seasonal cocktails and dessert
$50 Includes reading and Meet & Greet | Advance online reservations required

Portland Stage will present a staged reading of BIG LIFE/small city by Monica Wood on the Mainstage for one performance only, Monday October 1st. BIG LIFE/small city is a written tapestry of theatrical Portland past and present culled from novels, letters, newspapers and diaries performed by Tom Bloom, Maureen Butler, Moira Driscoll, Rene Johnson, Jason LeSaldo, Daniel Noel, Dustin Tucker, and Monica Wood.

The Half-Light by Monica Wood

February 26 - March 24, 2019

Portland Stage will present The Half-Light by Monica Wood as part of its 2018/19 Season February 26 - March 24, 2019. A chance encounter presents a tantalizing question for a college secretary: Can anyone be trained to see the dead? Her dogged pursuit of an answer leads to a far more earthbound challenge when a colleague is felled by grief. A heartwarming drama about love and purpose that examines the ghosts that live within us all. Affiliate Artist Monica Wood is the author of Papermaker, The One-in-a-Million Boy, and When We Were the Kennedys.

"The Half-Light is about life after death in two senses. In one way it asks what happens after one dies, but in another way it asks how do the living go on? Ultimately I wanted to write a story about loss and redemption." - Monica Wood

Monica Wood is a novelist, memoirist, and playwright. Her most recent novel, The One-in-a-Million Boy, has been published in 22 languages in 30 countries and won a 2017 Nautilus Award (Gold) and the New England Society Book Award. She is also the author of When We Were the Kennedys, a New England bestseller, Oprah magazine summer-reading pick, and winner of the May Sarton Memoir Award and the 2016 Maine Literary Award. Her novel Any Bitter Thing was an ABA bestseller and Book Sense Top Ten pick. Her other fiction includes Ernie's Ark, which has been excerpted on NPR's "Selected Shorts" and selected by several towns and cities as their "One Book, One Community" read; My Only Story, a finalist for the Kate Chopin Award; and Secret Language, her first novel. Her widely anthologized short stories have won a Pushcart Prize and been featured on public radio. She also writes books for writers and teachers. Her nonfiction has appeared in Oprah, New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, Parade, and many other publications. Her first play, Papermaker, debuted at Portland Stage in an extended run, its bestselling play ever. Her second play, The Half-Light, will debut at Portland Stage in 2019.

Portland Stage is a hub of creative activity and energy known for its professional Mainstage Theater Productions, its creation of vital Education Programs, both in-schools and in-house, and for cultivating new voices in theater through New Work Programs that foster experimentation and artistic risk. Engage with all we do portlandstage.org.

Portland Stage's Affiliate Artists are an artistic collective of local theater professionals who choose to devote themselves to this community. During each season, these actors, directors, and educators present and participate in a range of programs dedicated to exploring new theatrical works, bringing the written word to the stage, and welcoming the community into the theater.