Geva Theater Presents WAKING MATILDA by Mimi Kennedy, 3/26

In its 17th year, Plays in Progress is part of Geva Theatre Center's ongoing commitment to developing and producing new work for the American theatre. Geva Theatre Center is proud to present the spring program of its Plays in Progress series of new play readings.

Friday, March 26 @ 7pm in the Nextstage: Waking Matilda by Mimi Kennedy

Matilda Joslyn Gage, along with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, was a founding member of the National Women Suffrage Association. This one-woman show reveals her lively wit and boundless energy as one of the torchbearers for women's rights. Written by Rochester native and film/TV star Mimi Kennedy.

Sunday, March 28 @ 3pm in the Nextstage: The Morini Strad by Willy Holtzman

Erica Morini was a world-renowned violinist before she even turned 14. Now as her death is drawing near, she must decide what to do with her priceless Stradivarius. She hires a gifted violin maker to repair and sell the instrument for her...but as the two develop a friendship, events take a dark and sinister turn. Based on a true story.

The autumn program of "WHAT'S NEXT: Plays in Progress" featurEd Strong, male, central characters. Now it is the ladies' turn. 2010 marks the 30th anniversary of March being designated as National Women's History Month and this year's theme is "Writing Women Back into History." What better way to celebrate this landmark than with three new plays each featuring a strong woman as the central character: an aspiring "high flyer," a founding suffragette, a talented musician. The plays will be presented in an informal reading format and is followed by a discussion with the playwright.

Admission to Plays in Progress readings is free, but reservations are required. Call the Geva Theatre Center Box Office at 585-232-Geva (4382) or reserve online at www.gevatheatre.org for tickets. Play readings sell out quickly, but tickets often become available the night of the performance. All script in hand performances are recommended for adult audiences.

The 2009-2010 Nextstage Season is presented by Nazareth College.

Lila Rose Kaplan
The short novella How are a Bear and a Bird Alike? was Ms. Kaplan's writing debut. A compelling piece complete with illustrations, it showed great promise. However, it was deeply misunderstood by her first grade class. So, she moved onto new modes of storytelling. Nothing quite fit. Poetry was lonely. Acting was fun, but she missed writing. Finally, she discovered playwriting. Her first play, Busy Signal, was produced at her high school in Mamaroneck, NY. Soon after, Lila Rose left her hometown to attend Brown University. At Brown she was fortunate to work with mentor playwrights Paula Vogel and Sarah Ruhl. Her thesis play, Writing Fellows, debuted at the McCormack Theatre in 2002. Upon graduation, she received the I.J. Kapstein Award for Excellence in Playwriting and was a finalist for the Princess Grace Award. She moved to NYC where she helped found the Temporary Theatre Company and interned at New Dramatists. After three years in NYC, she moved to San Diego to pursue an M.F.A. in playwriting at USCD. She currently resides in Santa Barbara and commutes to LA. Her plays have been developed and produced at Arena Stage, the Kennedy Center, EST, PlayPenn, the Culture Project, Mixed Blood, and Victory Gardens among others. She received the inaugural Adele and Theatre Shank Playwriting Fellowship and was in residence at Cornerstone Theatre Company for the 2008/09 season.

Mimi Kennedy
Actress, Author, Activist (and Rochester native) Mimi Kennedy is best known to TV audiences as Dharma's hippie mother on Dharma and Greg. Kennedy's career has included Broadway stage, musical and drama; primetime television drama, variety shows and comedy series; Oscar-winning feature film, and behind-the-scenes work as a story-editor and voice-over artist as well as publication as a respected author. Her 1996 autobiography, Taken To The Stage: The Education of an Actress was lauded by critics. Waking Matilda is her first full-length play.

Willy Holtzman
Willy Holtzman's plays include Something You Did (Primary Stages, People's Light and Theatre), Sabina (Primary Stages, New Jewish Theatre, Portland Stage Little Festival), Hearts (People's Light and Theatre, Asolo Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, Northlight Theatre, ALLIANCE THEATRE, New Jewish Theatre, Barrymore Award, Arthur Miller Award, Smith and Kraus Best New Plays), Bovver Boys (Primary Stages, Cleveland Play House, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Curtain Theatre), The Closer (Geva Theatre - Davie Award, Working Theatre), Inside Out (Theatre for a New Audience, Portland Stage, Nebraska Rep) San Antonio Sunset (New York, Los Angeles, London, Dublin, Bombay; Best Short Plays) White Trash (West Bank Downstairs Cabaret).
For film and television Mr. Holtzman has created Edge of America (Peabody Award, Humanitas Prize, Writers Guild Award, Sundance Film Festival Opening Night 2004), Voices in Conflict (Emmy Nomination), Blood Brothers (HBO, Cine Golden Eagle Award).
He serves on the board of New Dramatists and of Harlem Stage Company.

Geva Theatre CENTER
Geva Theatre Center is Rochester's leading professional theatre and the most attended regional theatre in New York State. Founded in 1972, Geva attracts over 160,000 patrons annually, including more than 16,000 students. The 552-seat Elaine P. Wilson Mainstage offers a wide variety of shows, from musicals to American and world classics.

The 180-seat Ron & Donna Fielding Nextstage is home to Geva's own series of cutting-edge drama, comedy and musical theatre; Geva Comedy Improv; WHAT'S NEXT: Geva's New Play Reading Series and the Hornets' Nest - an innovative play-reading series facilitating community-wide discussion on controversial topics. The Nextstage also hosts visiting companies of both local and international renown.

Geva Theatre Center offers a wide variety of educational, outreach and literary programs, nurturing audiences and artists alike. For the past fourteen years the organization has been led by Artistic Director Mark Cuddy.