Photo Flash: First Look at June Ballinger in REMEMBRANCE DAY at 13th Street Rep
13th Street has - once again - become synonymous with cutting-edge powerful pieces focusing on the human experience. The latest is a great work of drama about one of the unsung heroes of history. Remembrance Day, written and performed by June Ballinger, premiering at 13th Street, opens on another remembrance day, September 11. BroadwayWorld has a first look at Ballinger onstage below!
An 80-year-old former Bletchley Park code breaker, holding her oath of silence for over 50 years, attends a Remembrance Day ceremony in England. Now, today, what will happen if she voices her secrets to her daughter?
Inspired by the letters and personal diary of Nancy Annan Ballinger and discovered by her daughter, June (the writer and lone figure on this stage) after her death, Remembrance Day is a story about the cost of secrecy and how much one woman is willing to pay.
Bletchley Park was the central site for Britain's code-breakers during World War II. The most famous of the cipher systems to be broken at Bletchley Park was the Enigma. And then there was Colossus, the world's first electronic computer that could decode personal messages sent by Hitler to his top battlefield commanders. Many believe today that the success of Colossus shortened the war by at least 2 years. Nancy Annan (Ballinger) worked with the team that created Colossus. She and all engaged in code-breaking had to sign the Official Secrets Act. While most of that information was declassified in the late 1970s, many men and women were never comfortable with "telling all" and were proud to be remembered as "Churchill's geese that never cackled."
Remembrance Day, written and performed by June Ballinger, will have a special series of six performances at 13th Street Repertory (50 West 13th Street): Sunday, September 11 @ 3pm; Monday, September 12@7pm; Thursday, September 15@ 7pm; Sunday, September 18 @ 3pm; Monday, September 19 @ 7pm; and Thursday, September 22 @ 7pm.
Talks of a national tour are in progress at press time.
Photos courtesy of The Passage Theatre Company
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