NOTHING MATTERS at East Lynne Theater Company

NOTHING MATTERS is a fully staged Actors Equity production that will be available on ELTC's YouTube Channel, https://www.tinyurl.com/ELTCYouTube. It was filmed with three cameras, and edited. It took ELTCs artistic director Gayle Stahlhuth, three months to negotiate a contract with AEA so that NOTHING MATTERS could be produced during a pandemic. Written by Dave Geible, it stars NJ's own Broadway actor, James Rana as Ambrose Bierce, with Gayle Stahlhuth, who also directed. The setting is Ambrose Bierce's room at the Army Navy Club in Washington D.C. in early July, 1898. Seeking Bierces advice on how to be a better writer, Mrs. Charles Wentworth intends to merely drop off samples of her poetry and stories, but ends up having tea and learning a great deal about the fascinating journalist. Bierce's philosophy was "Nothing Matters," but of course, many things mattered to him. He was known as the wickedest man in San Francisco because he pursued the truth no matter who was the target of his journalist wit and humor. Having fought in the Civil War, his stories based on the experience are especially poignant, and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is considered by many scholars to be one of the best short stories ever written. His most famous book, The Devil's Dictionary, was named one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration in 1976, and Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Zweig wrote that it is probably the most brilliant work of satire written in America. And maybe one of the greatest in all of world literature." Taking on the role of Bierce is James Rana. The director is Gayle Stahlhuth, who also portrays the fictitious Mrs. Wentworth. ELTC premiered NOTHING MATTERS in 2000 before playwright/performer Dave Geible took it on the road with The Wyoming Shakespeare Company. Geible has revisited the script for this current production. James Rana, actor/playwright, has performed with theaters throughout the country, including ELTC, and in film and television. In 2017, he performed in Off-Broadway's THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTORstarring Michael Urie. In the fall of 2017, he began rehearsals for Broadways THE BANDS VISIT, and performed several times in the role of the Band's Leader, originally performed by Tony Shalhoub, and other roles. When this Tony Award winning show closed on Broadway in April 2018, he began performing in The National Tour. Gayle Stahlhuth has performed Off-Broadway, in regional theaters, and in film and television. Since 1999 she has been Artistic Director of ELTC, producing over 100 different plays and musicals for this company, and directed most of them. Her work has been praised in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Tickets: $15.00 and may be purchased at tinyurl.com/bierce-tixBefore the filmed play is ready, only the opening date is listed for ticket purchasing, but all other dates will be added after NOTHING MATTERS has been uploaded to YouTube, and we have the specific YouTube url for this play. We hope to have the play uploaded by October 11 at the latest. When purchasing tickets, the specific YouTube url will appear on your ticket for the specific performance. For those 1who purchased tickets on opening night before the play has been uploaded, the YouTube url will be sent to you via e-mail.
Ages: age 16 on up; no inappropriate language