Teatro Paraguas to Present Reading of GERTRUDE STEIN AND A COMPANION, 6/1

A dramatized reading of "Gertrude Stein and a Companion", a play by Win Wells, will be performed by Judith Rane and Judith Kendall and directed by Lynn Hamrick on Sunday, June 1 at 2:00 pm at Teatro Paraguas.

This drama tells an often-moving portrait of the remarkable relationship between the influential writer Gertrude Stein and her companion of 40 years, Alice B Toklas. The play presents snapshots of their relationship across time, spanning the early 1900's through the 1960's. It presents excerpts from Gertrude Stein's own writings and reveals the influence she had on well-known literary and artistic figures, such as Ernest Hemingway and Pablo Picasso. It reveals the true nature of the role of Toklas as the engine that directed Stein's career as opposed to the often-characterized Alice as a mousy woman taking second place to the vibrant Gertrude.

The play begins soon after the death of Gertrude, in the form of her ghost, where the genesis and development of their relationship is richly revealed. Wells play, a personal, humorous revelation about deeply caring women whose personal drama changed history in both the literature and art of the time, captures the contagious creative energy of their years in Paris, when many painters and literati migrated to the great writer's salon. Win Well's extraordinary play won first prize at both the Edinburgh Festival and the Theatre Festival in Sydney, Australia, in 1981. Wells died of cancer in 1983, age 48.

Teatro Paraguas Studio is located at 3205 Calle Marie. Admission is free; donations gratefully accepted. For reservations, call 424-1601, email teatroparaguas@gmail.com or visit www.teatroparaguas.org.