Ontheinside, Inc. and
Sutton Foster are proud to present WALKING IN MEMPHIS: THE LIFE OF A SOUTHERN JEW, a new play written and performed by
Jonathan Ross, performing a strictly limited six-week engagement, Tuesday, November 22, 2005 through Sunday, January 15, 2005, at The Dorothy Strelsin Theatre at The Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex (312 West 36th Street). Directed by Chantal Pavageaux, WALKING IN MEMPHIS officially opens on Sunday, November 27.
WALKING IN MEMPHIS is the story of actor/playwright Jonathan Ross and his unusual childhood as a southern Jew in Memphis, Tennessee. It is a unique journey of family, humor and passage, brought to life by nearly a dozen local characters that Ross inhabits during this 80-minute presentation, including Elizabeth, his family's housekeeper; Clarence, his barber; Jim Grigg, their Southern Baptist next-door neighbor; and many others.
"Every civilization spanning human history has the tradition of the storyteller: the yarn spinner, a merchant of tales, the keeper of unwritten history," said director Chantal Pavageaux. "I love a good story. And Jonathan tells a good story. They make up his life, they course through his veins. Jon conjures up stories from before he was born as if he was just on the other side of the room, laughing at the joke with everyone else."
"As a fellow performer, I have long been a fan of Jonathan and his work," said Sutton Foster. "The excitement with which he tells his stories makes you want to jump right in and swim around in his world. I'm thrilled that New York audiences will have the opportunity to experience it firsthand."
WALKING IN MEMPHIS features lighting design by Croft Vaughn.
All tickets are $25, and are now available through SmartTix.com at (212) 868-4444, or in-person at the Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex Box Office (312 West 36th Street), beginning 30 minutes before showtime.
WALKING IN MEMPHIS will play Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8 p.m., with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 3 p.m.
For more information, visit www.jonathanadamross.com.
BIOGRAPHIES
Jonathan Ross. Holder of a BFA in Acting from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, Jonathan has been performing his one-man show, Walking in Memphis: The Life of a Southern Jew, internationally since its premier in NYC in the fall of 2002. After runs this year in Toronto, Boston, and Leeds, England, Walking in Memphis… will return Off-Off Broadway in the fall of 2005. Other New York and regional acting credits include The Underwater Palace (Kalman) with the Northwoods Jewish Theatre at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, Pyrates! (Thomas Denny) at Theater for the New City, Giovanni in Uncle Jeb's Farm, Spike the Dog in Starshine (both for Starshine Productions), and Atticus Finch in the Experimental Theatre Wing's Looking for Boo Radley: An Adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird. Jonathan, part of the original cast of Jude, a play about the Holocaust which saw its first fully staged reading at the Bronfman Center, assistant directed the show's NYC premiere in the fall of 2003 at the Marilyn Monroe Theatre of the Lee Strasberg Institute. Jonathan is a founding company member of Storahtelling: Jewish Ritual Theatre Revived. Aside from acting, Jonathan is a Faculty Member of the Spielberg Fellowship in Jewish Theater Education, a program of the Foundation for Jewish Camping and the Righteous Persons Foundation. (Jonathan is a two time alumnus of the program.) Jonathan's acting roots stem from his long-term associating with Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, where he has served as the director of the Drama program for the past 6 years. TV credits include a national promo for Fox Sports and an interview on MSNBC discussing his play, Elvis Does Chanukah, which was mounted most recently at Anshe Emet Synagogue in Chicago in December of 2004. Executive Producer credits include Snoopy!!!, a musical theater concert benefit for the Pied Piper Children's Theatre of NYC.
CHANTAL PAVAGEAUX (Director). Chantal graduated from NYU Tisch in 2001. New York directing credits include Act without Words, Bacchae 2.1, Bremen Freedom, Phadre's Love, and the 2003 NYC Fringe Festival participant The Birth Adoption Death of Dorothy Dutchess. Assisting credits include David Herskovits with the Target Margin Theatre and Daniel Safer and the witness relocation co. and People are Wrong! with the Loser's Lounge and Target Margin.
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