Chalfant, Elliott, Etc. Set for No Frills Reading Series

The No Frills Company will present a Monday night reading series at the Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce Street), beginning October 30 through December 11. The series will consist of three plays focusing on female characters and actresses over 40. All readings will begin at 8:00PM.

The series' first play to be read will be Caryl Churchill's Top Girls on October 30 and November 6. Top Girls will star Patricia Elliott (Tony-winner for A Little Night Music), Pamela Payton-Wright (Mourning Becomes Electra), Pippa Pearthree, Lola Pashalinski, and Sue Brady.

"It's the middle of the high-flying, go-getting 80's in Maggie Thatcher's England and Marlene finally has something to celebrate – she's just been made managing director of Top Girls Employment Agency. But with no friends to speak of, and a past she'd just as soon forget, the guests at Marlene's party are a collection of famous women from history. Soon, Marlene discovers that life above the glass ceiling is not all it's cracked up to be."

Twigs by George Furth will be read on November 13 and 20, and stars Anne Pitoniak (original productions of 'night, Mother and Steel Magnolias), Cynthia Darlow (Rabbit Hole), Sarah Baker, Sue Brady, John FitzGibbon, Matte Osian, Joel Leffert, and Kenneth Boys.

"It's the day before Thanksgiving back in the time of disco and orange appliances, and three sisters and their mother are making their various preparations. Through their established rituals and chance encounters, the audience gets a peek into how four women hewn from the same wood have been shaped by the forces in their varying surroundings."

Kathleen Chalfant (Tony-nominee for Angels in America, Obie for Wit) and Patricia Elliott will round up the series with Eileen Atkins' Vita and Virginia on November 27 and December 11.

"Adapted from the correspondence between Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West, Eileen Atkins' acclaimed play chronicles the remarkable friendship and intimate love affair between two of the most celebrated members of the famous Bloomsbury Group in 1920s London."

All readings will be directed by Pamela Berlin (Steel Magnolias, To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday).

"We are dedicated to finding plays that offer the talented actresses over forty the opportunity to continue the growth of her craft, while our younger actresses benefit from the invaluable experience gained by working with more seasoned performers", says No Frills Founder Caryl Young. "The plays we've chosen offer excellent roles for women of a certain age, which you don't find on the Broadway stage, or any stage for that matter, very often."

"The No Frills Company is committed to providing a creative and collaborative theatre environment for women of all ages in all areas of theatre, and to producing plays that offer women more substantive roles," state press materials.

Visit www.nofrillsco.org for more information.