'A Brush With Georgia O'Keeffe' to Play at Smithsonian on 11/1

"A Brush With Georgia O'Keeffe," a new play by Natalie Mosco, which recently concluded a successful off-Broadway run in New York, will play a special performance at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC on Saturday, November 1 at 3:00 PM.  Natalie Mosco stars as famed painter Georgia O'Keeffe.  There will be a meet and greet with the performers after the show.

This one-time only event will be presented in conjunction with the exhibition "Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams: Natural Affinities." This exhibition, which runs through January 4, 2009, is the first to pair these artists, celebrating their mutual appreciation of the natural world and revealing the visual connections between O'Keeffe's paintings and Adams' photographs. Forty-two of O'Keeffe's paintings are featured.

Originally directed by Broadway veteran Robert Kalfin with Scenic Design by Kevin Judge, Costume Design by Gail Cooper Hecht, Lighting Design by Paul Hudson, Projections Design by Marilys Ernst and Original Composition and Sound Design by Margaret Pine, the play also features Virginia Roncetti and David Lloyd Walters in multiple roles.

Mosco's play follows the remarkable life of the celebrated American painter Georgia O'Keeffe. O'Keeffe, who was once torn between a career as an artist or musician, seemed to strike a balance between the two by infusing her painting with what she termed "visual music." As Alfred Stieglitz's model, muse and lover, she became the widely known subject for a long series of photographs that were part of his artistic legacy. But it was only after Stieglitz's death that O'Keeffe was finally free to immerse herself in nature once again, the source that had truly defined her paintings and offered her 98 year old life its greatest meaning.

Natalie Mosco has been a performer, writer, choreographer, director and teacher on three continents. She played leading roles on Broadway (The Magic Show), in London (Grand Hotel) and was a member of the original Broadway production of HAIR.  She recently appeared in the Paper Mill Playhouse's acclaimed revival of Follies.  As a performer living in Australia, she became a well-known personality on television as well as on stage and is a founding member of Shakespeare Globe (Sydney) where she played Cleopatra in Antony & Cleopatra. Her own artwork has been exhibited at MOMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and has just completed her Doctorate for the University of Western Sydney.

Tickets for the special performance of "A Brush With Georgia O'Keeffe" are $25 general admission; $20 for members and can be ordered by calling (202) 633-8490.

Photo Credit Peter James Zielinski