Edmund Gaynes and West End Artists Company present the off-Broadway premiere of Annulla by Emily Mann. Performances begin May 4 and continue through June 11 at the The Theatre at St. Luke's (308 West 46th Street), with opening night set for May 14 at 7pm. Pamela Hall directs Eileen De Felitta as Anulla and Neva Small as The Voice of Emily, the Interviewer.
"Award-winning playwright and director Mann wanted to record a relative's personal remembrance of the Holocaust, which proved too difficult due to a language barrier. She found, however, Annulla Allen, a vibrant woman who had a rich and fascinating history of living as a Jew under the Nazi regime, yet 'passing' as an Aryan. In
Anulla, Mann had a learned, eloquent spokesperson with a treasure trove of stories to tell and a hunger for truth. Always doing something, scattered in many directions, her past as a Survivor informs everything she is and does," state press notes.
"In the course of the 'interview,' we discover all that this passionate woman has seen and experienced. A Polish Jew married to an Austrian Jew, she managed to elude the authorities, and even get her husband released from Dauchau. Decades ahead of her time, she dreamt of starting the first political Women's Party as early as 1939, and actually wrote her own six-hour play on the subject of her life. Constantly moving as a child she learned seven languages, finally settling in London as a grown woman, which she adored. The entire interview takes place in her history-packed London kitchen, as she prepares dinner for her bed-ridden sister."
Mann is celebrating her 15th season as Artistic Director of the McCarter Theatre. She directed
Nilo Cruz's Pulitzer Prize-winning play
Anna in the Tropics, which later transferred to Broadway (two Tony nominations). Her McCarter directing credits include
Getting Home, Uncle Vanya (also adapted),
The Tempest, All Over (2003 Obie Award for her direction),
Romeo and Juliet, Because He Can, The Cherry Orchard (also adapted),
Fool for Love, Meshugah (author), S
afe as Houses, The House of Bernarda Alba (also adapted),
Betrayal, The Mai, A Doll's House, The Perfectionist, Miss Julie (also adapted),
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Three Sisters, Betsey Brown (co-author),
The Glass Menagerie, The Matchmaker and
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992. She is also the author of
Greensboro (A Requiem), the multi-award winning
Execution of Justice, and
Still Life (winner of six Obie Awards). . Mann wrote and directed
Having Our Say, for which she received Peabody and Christopher Awards.
De Felitta has appeared in dozens of guest starring and recurring roles on TV and in films, including "The West Wing" and
Two Family House, the Sundance Audience Award-winning film made by her brother Raymond De Felitta, and
Audrey Rose, starring
Anthony Hopkins and written by her father Frank De Felitta from his best-selling novel. Her commercials are numerous, as are her LA theatrical credits, including
Piaf at the American Renegade Theatre, Mother in
The Fiery Furnace at ECT, and Jane in
The Shortchanged Review at The Company of Angels, for which she won a DramaLogue Award
Visit
www.telecharge.com for tickets.
