Debra Ehrhardt's COCK TALES Set for Santa Monica Playouse, 7/30-9/11
By: Tyler Peterson Jun. 07, 2016
The 80-minute show is based on true stories of up close and personal encounters with those very complicated members of the opposite sex. Ms Ehrhardt's colorful history of a lifetime of encounters with a world full of testosterone-fueled gentlemen--and not-so-gentle-men-has given her plenty of "source material" from which to create a memorable evening of theater. From her early years as a young girl raised in a religious family, through her sexual awakening as a young adult, she takes us on a bumpy ride over a funny, sexy and emotionally rocky road.
"When I began writing c*ckTales, I thought I was writing about sex, however, I soon came to realize that sex is an entirely different subject. There is nothing new in c*ckTales about sex, but when it comes to guilt-that is an area where I am an expert. Guilt is something that we've all experienced. It's something that most of us have taught our children. To the degree that we can liberate ourselves from the shame that strangles our most joyous impulses, we are able to live our lives as more fully realized human beings.
Debra Ehrhardt (Writer/Performer)
At the tender age of seven, Kingston, Jamaica native, Debra Ehrhardt, knew her dream was to come to America and by 18 her dream was realized. After a brief sojourn in Miami, she headed north to New York where she studied acting with Katherine Kerr from the Playwrights Horizons and Suzanne Esper at the William Esper Studios in New York City. After moving to Los Angeles she began writing her own plays based on her life experiences in Jamaica and has been working ever since. c*ckTALES: Shame on Me! is her fourth one-woman show. Previous productions include Mango, Mango which received two NAACP Awards, Invisible Chairs, which was produced by David Strasberg at the Marilyn Monroe Theatre in West Hollywood and later optioned as a situation comedy by Fox and Jamaica Farewell,
which was optioned and produced by Rita Wilson and Garry Marshall at the Falcon theatre. She received a 2007 Proclamation from the City of New York for Jamaica Farewell for her "Outstanding Contribution to the Jamaican community" and was named one of Jamaica's top ten newsmakers for 2010. Jamaica Farewell was named one of the top shows in the fall of 2016 when it was produced by Hershey Felder at the Royal George theatre in Chicago. She is currently performing c*ckTALES and working on turning Jamaica Farewell into a film. Debra maintains the fundamental belief that content is king, and to that end she imbues her work with tenderness, subtlety, and intensity, striving tirelessly to emphasize what makes art meaningful: honest emotion.
Joel Zwick (Director) directed My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the highest-grossing romantic comedy of all time. Recent films include Fat Albert and Elvis Has Left the Building. Zwick also directed Ehrhardts Jamaica Farewell, the Broadway production of Hershey Felder's George Gershwin Alone at the Helen Hayes Theatre, as well as Felder's Monsieur Chopin, Beethoven as I Knew Him, and Maestro Bernstein. He began his theatrical career at La Mama E.T.C. as director of the La Mama Plexus. He has directed on Broadway, Off-Broadway and for Broadway touring companies. Zwick is recognized as one of Hollywood's most prolific directors of episodic television, having the direction of 550 episodes to his credit. He is currently directing Shake it Up for the Disney Channel. Zwick has taught drama at Yale University, Brooklyn College, Queens College, Wheaton College and USC and has made his home in Hollywood for the past decade.
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