Open Stage Hosts FLYING SOLO FESTIVAL

Open Stage of Harrisburg, the capital area's professional regional theatre will present its 12th annual Flying Solo Festival from June 2 to 25. A month-long festival of theatre, Flying Solo features four fantastic solo performers, including playwright and powerhouse performer Jessica Bedford, activist and scholar Peterson Toscano, actor Ethan Sandler of NBC's Crossing Jordan, and Barbara Bates Smith as Lee Smith's heroin Ivy Rowe. This festival is high soaring and not-to-be-missed!

AT-A-GLANCE
2011 FLYING SOLO FESTIVAL features 4 weeks of one-person powerhouse performances:
Week 1 - PRETTY written and performed by Jessica Bedford - June 2-4 at 8pm
Week 2 - TRANSFIGURATIONS: Transgressing Gender in the Bible, written and performed by Peterson Toscano- June 9-11 at 8pm
Week 3 - ARTIFICIAL FELLOW TRAVELER Ethan Sandler- June 16-18 at 8pm
Week 4 - IVY ROWE adapted and performed by Barbara Bates Smith from Lee Smith's novel Fair and Tender Ladies - June 23-25 at 8pm

Week 1 - PRETTY - June 2, 3, 4 at 8pm

Kicking off Open Stage's twelfth annual festival of solo performers is PRETTY, written and performed by Jessica Bedford. Playing June 2-4, PRETTY is a seducing and humorous portrait of the plucky and pushing-30 Journey Lee Emmerit. Journey is a charming, if deluded, devotee of the peculiar subculture of beauty pageants. PRETTY is a peek into the world of the beauty contest circuit, and an unflinching and hilarious look at our national obsession with appearance.

All performances of PRETTY include a post-performance talkback with the playwright.

During the Friday, June 3 performance of PRETTY, there will be a pre-performance Women Who Care Award announcement and post-performance reception honoring Dr. Mary Simmonds, oncologist.

Week 2 - TRANSFIGURATIONS - June 9, 10, 11 at 8pm

Funnyman and Bible scholar Peterson Toscano brings one of his thought-provoking plays to Open Stage for week two of FLYING SOLO. TRANSFIGURATIONS: Transgressing Gender in the Bible, written and performed by Toscano, will run June 9 - 11.

Drawing on inspiration from interviews with transgender and genderqueer individuals, Peterson Toscano weaves their experiences into the stories of transgender and gender-variant people from the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. Hilarious, groundbreaking, and moving, Toscano's one-person play deepens well-known (and lesser-known) Bible stories as he presents an array of characters with an array of genders.
All performances of TRANSFIGURATIONS include a post-performance talkback with the playwright.

The Thursday, June 9 performance of TRANSFIGURATIONS includes a post-show mixer and reception for OUT@OPEN STAGE. The place to see and be seen, OUT@OPEN STAGE is sure to be a great night out on the town for the LGBT community. FREE with a ticket to the Thursday, June 9th performance! To buy a ticket use the promo code OUT11.

During the Friday, June 10 performance of TRANSFIGURATIONS, there will be a pre-performance Women Who Care Award announcement and post-performance reception honoring banker Jewel Cooper.

Week 3 - ARTIFICIAL FELLOW TRAVELER - June 16, 17, 18 at 8pm

Ethan Sandler, best known as ADA Jeffrey Brandau in NBC's Crossing Jordan, brings his new one-person powerhouse to Open Stage June 16-18. The quickest way to become a terrified, paranoid, survival-kit-building, conspiracy-theory-concocting freak-job is, alas, to have a child. The sleepless nights began in earnest when Ethan held his tiny baby son, Leonard. And now, nearly five years (and another tiny person) later, writer/performer Ethan Sandler weaves a tale that starts with the Cold War, swerves around Nixon and Krushchev's 'Kitchen Debate', and serpentines its way toward the basic nagging question: in this particularly troubling era, what is WORTH being afraid of?Using found text (CIA documents, newspaper articles, corporate gibberish), interviews, and two turntables, Ethan weaves a brain-spinning tale that is as funny as it is horribly terrifying. The production is directed by Daniel Goldstein.

In addition to Crossing Jordan, Sandler has appeared in the films The Chocolate War, The Princess Diaries, The Bourne Supremacy, and Meet the Robinsons. His TV credits include Sex and the City and Will & Grace.

During the Friday, June 17 performance of ARTIFICIAL FELLOW TRAVELER, there will be a pre-performance Women Who Care Award announcement and post-performance reception honoring artist Beverlee Lehr.

Week 4 - IVY ROWE - June 23, 24, 25 at 8pm

Barbara Bates Smith is Ivy Rowe, the feisty born-with-the century mountain woman of Lee Smith's novel Fair and Tender Ladies.

This stage adaptation by Smith and with music by Jeff Sebens is in its 20th year of touring! In it, Ivy takes us into a flashback through a lifetime of letters depicting her passionate life of "livin' on love." With a penchant for storytelling, she paints a vivid picture of twentieth-century Appalachian revivals, mine disasters, rural electrification, the Depression, two world wars and Vietnam. We relish her stand against the coal company's bulldozer, defending her home place.

The Village Voice calls IVY ROWE "theatrical Excitement! A lifetime's worth of sass, whoop, hurt, and reflection" and The New York Times calls Smith's performance "rare and heartfelt" The author himself, Lee Smith, said, "Barbara is Ivy Rowe! I am her most avid fan."

During the Friday, June 24 performance of IVY ROWE, there will be a pre-performance Women Who Care Award announcement and post-performance reception honoring community volunteer Anne Yellot.

About the Festival

The 2011 FLYING SOLO FESTIVAL rund June 2 - 25 in the intimate Angino Family Theatre at Open Stage of Harrisburg, 223 Walnut Street, located on the street level of the Walnut Street Parking Garage in downtown Harrisburg. Join Open Stage for 3rd in the Burg on June 17!

Admission to all FLYING SOLO performances is $27 Regular and $21 for Students with ID. Purchase Advance Tickets ONLINE 24/7 at www.openstagehbg.com, by CALLING 717-232-1505 or WALK-UP Monday-Friday 12:30 to 3:00 pm to our box office, located in the Open Stage lobby.

The theatre lobby opens one hour prior to performance. This season is funded, in part, by the Cultural Enrichment Fund, the capital region's united arts fund and the Shubert Foundation. Open Stage of Harrisburg is a Constituent of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for American theatre.

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