Shows Announced for August at East Lynne Theater Company

In keeping with East Lynne Theater Company's 2017 theme of "The American Dream," the company is proud to present special events in August focusing on the Suffrage Movement in 1912, a film classic from 1914, a tempestuous relationship during the Jazz Age, and literature from the Roaring Twenties.

First up is "Tillie's Punctured Romance," on Sunday, August 6 at 8:00 p.m., co-sponsored with the Cape May Film Society. "Tillie's Nightmare," starring Marie Dressler, was such a Broadway hit, that it was adapted by the Keystone Film Company. Dressler, who plays a country girl, meets Charlie Chaplin, a city-slicker. When Chaplin and his girlfriend, played by Mabel Normand, discover she's an heiress, they plot to separate Tillie from her money. The famous Keystone Cops are also on hand to add to the merriment. Directed by Mack Sennett, this was the first feature-length movie ever made, and the last one Chaplin was in that he neither wrote nor directed.

As usual, ELTC shows silent films the way in which they were meant to be seen - with live music. Accompanying the film is organist Wayne Zimmerman, making this his 7th year with ELTC. Wayne has played in various venues from coast-to-coast and in Hawaii, regaling audiences with his silent-film accompaniment and concerts. Tickets are $15 and ages 12 and under are free.

On the following night, Monday, August 7 at 8:00 p.m., is "Zelda and Scott: Love Letters (and others)" created and performed by Alison J. Murphy and Mark Edward Lang as a staged-reading theater piece, with many projected photos of Zelda, Scott, and friends. The relationship and marriage between famous writers F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is one of the greatest, most tormented love stories of the 20th Century. Their poignant, playful, thoughtful and varied correspondence comes to life in this new play. Alison and Mark recently performed "Lunt & Fontanne: The Celestials of Broadway" at the NYC International Fringe Festival, and both are currently part of the cast-of-fourteen in "Ah, Wilderness!" Tickets are $27; $17 for students and military (active, retired, veteran), and ages 12 and under free.

"Ladies, get what you want. Make home a hell on earth--but do it in a womanly way! This is so much more dignified than dropping a piece of paper into a ballot box," declares Marie Jenney Howe's unlikely, but likeable, heroine. ?Howe, a pro-suffragist, wrote her "Anti-Suffrage Monologue" in 1912-eight years before women won the vote. Her fictional speaker sincerely believes that her efforts as a "womanly woman" will save the Nation from anarchy. "Someone Must Wash the Dishes: An Anti-Suffrage Satire," is on Sunday, August 13 at 8:00 p.m. Performed by Michele LaRue, she will give a lecture, followed by a Q&A directly after the performance. Tickets are $27; $17 for students and military (active, retired, veteran), and ages 12 and under free. This is a co-sponsored production with Cape May Forum, who is offering a dinner/show package with the Merion Inn for $60. For these tickets, contact the Forum at CapeMayForum.org or call 609-770-2626.

Michele's husband, Warren Kliewer, founded ELTC, and she's been in a variety of shows with this and other companies, including New Jersey Rep. For over 25 years, she's been performing her one-person shows throughout the country, and recently read selections from "Gettysburg" for one of ELTC's "Tales of the Victorians."

Final summer "Tale" are Thursdays at 4:00 p.m. on August 3 at The Hereford Inlet Lighthouse, 111 N. Central Ave., North Wildwood, in which part of the proceeds will support the Lighthouse, and on August 10 at The Blue Rose Inn & Restaurant, 653 Washington Street, Cape May. Performers are Stephanie Garrett and Lee O'Connor. Admission is $12, which includes tasty treats served by the venues. Once again, ages 12 and under are free.

Meanwhile, "Ah, Wilderness!" continues on ELTC's mainstage Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. through September 2. The location for all of the above events, except for "Tales of the Victorians," is The First Presbyterian Church of Cape May, 500 Hughes Street, where the company is in residence. For information and reservations, visit eastlynnetheater.org or call 609-884-5898.