Joanna Rush Performs from 'Asking For It' at Women's Day

Actor/writer Joanna Rush has been invited to do a scene from her one-woman play, Asking For It, as part of the International Women's Day Event, titled: On the Money: Women Investing in Women.  As a special surprise, Rush will be joined by 35 former Rockettes from all over the country to unite in a giant kickline….once a Rockette, always a Rockette.  The event takes place at St. Bartholomew's Church on Thursday, March 6 from 7-8:30PM, with a reception to follow.

"Asking For It follows the evolution of Bernadette O'Connell as she puddle-jumps through the primordial slime of American culture to person hood. An 'Outstanding Catholic Youth of the Year,' piety draws her to a life in the convent, but passion takes her to the chorus line. At seventeen she takes up residence at New York's Port of Authority, and her innocence is soon brutally interrupted by the nefarious 'Brooklyn Bobby.'  The cops tell her she was just 'asking for it.'  Riddled with shame, but full of determination, she picks herself up and goes to an audition at Radio City Music Hall and launches her theatrical career as a Rockette. Suddenly this confused and vulnerable girl has 35 'sisters' to help shield her from the dangerous tension of sexuality being maligned from the pulpit and glorified on the covers of porn magazines," describe press notes, "Bernadette marries, bears a son, divorces and lands on Broadway. But alas, as time passes, bum knees and a kid to support, force her to settle for a slew of raunchy roles from pregnant burlesque queen to star of the filthiest show Off-Broadway. She fears her sexuality and she flaunts it but it takes a long journey of courage, and some hilarious new age workshops, before she can own it. No one would have expected what she finally asks for.  And gets."

As directed by Tony nominee Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Asking For It is a zestful kaleidoscope of faith and femininity, repression and redemption, humor and humility, joy and terror, spiced with song and dance. Rush takes us along for a darkly humorous tour of her larger-than-life experience. She peoples the stage with an eccentric cast of characters that range from uptight clerics to sexy chorines, to growing boys of all ages. Hilarious, irreverent and moving, Joanna Rush's Asking For It leaves audiences, male and female and of all ages, invigorated, inspired, and, strangely, healed.

Asking For It debuted to a highly successful, albeit brief, run at the New York International Fringe Festival and is prepping for a NY run.

For more information visit www.askingforitonline.com or visit www.womensdaynyc.org

Joanna Rush