Voting Open for the BWW LA Awards
News on your favorite shows, specials & more!

Photo Flash: First Look at Annette Bening in RUTH DRAPER'S MONOLOGUES at Geffen Playhouse

By: May. 19, 2014
Enter Your Email to Unlock This Article

Plus, get the best of BroadwayWorld delivered to your inbox, and unlimited access to our editorial content across the globe.




Existing user? Just click login.

Four-time Academy Award nominee Annette Bening returns to the Geffen Playhouse for the world premiere of Ruth Draper's Monologues. A pioneer in 20th century drama, Ruth Draper was described as, "the greatest individual performer that America has ever given us." BroadwayWorld has a first look below!

LATEST NEWS

Open-Door Playhouse Presents 4 Plays At 30 MINUTES OR LESS Festival In January
Dave Koz And Starlight Bring Holiday Cheer And Healing Music To Children's Hospital Los Angeles
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale Ranked #12 In Top 20 Most Arts-Vibrant Large Communities In The U.S.
BINGE FREE FESTIVAL Returns To Santa Monica Playhouse This February
Draper's uncanny ability, while alone on stage, to shift between many characters brought awe to actors, royalty and throngs of crowds for decades. Now, Annette Bening makes these timeless monologues her own - highlighting their continued influence on audiences and artists alike. Meet the harried society woman, the hostess, the debutante and the instructress of poise. Like Draper before her, Bening embraces and embodies these monologues in a tour-de-force premiere.

Born into a wealthy New York family in 1884, Ruth Draper displayed a gift for creating one-person sketches of persons that she had known or observed. According to Manhattan society at the time, drawing room entertainment was acceptable but performing on the stage was not. Despite the social barriers, she made her professional debut and became the toast of New York. She went on to sell out performances throughout the United States and Europe. Today her work continues to inspire artists such as Lily Tomlin, John Lithgow, Tom Waits, Charles Busch, Julia Sweeney, Simon Callow and Charles Nelson Reilly.

Ruth Draper's Monologues will include some of her most beloved pieces including The Italian Lesson, Doctors and Diets, A Debutante at a Dance and A Class in Greek Poise.

This production will be Bening's third show at the Geffen Playhouse. She previously appeared in Female of the Species and Hedda Gabler.

Tickets are $37-$77 and are available in-person at the Geffen Playhouse box office, via phone at 310.208.5454 or online at www.geffenplayhouse.com.



Comments

To post a comment, you must register and login.






Videos