ALL MALE CAST To Stream Online for One Night Only

Wanzie Presents & Rich Charron are set to present a Pay-To-View presentation of playwright Michael Wanzie's original (Episode 1) production of LADIES OF EOLA HEIGHTS for Nne Nite Only: Saturday, August 29, 2020 at 9 pm via YouTube. This streaming presentation will be immediately preceded by a 7:30 pm Zoom Cast & Crew Cocktail Party. The play will only be available for on-demand online viewing on August 29th, which the ticket purchaser may initiate viewing between the hours of 9 pm and 11 pm ET.

Starring:

DOUG BA'ASER
As the born-again, tight-assed, Opal Locksdale

TOMMY WOOTEN
As the fiery-tongued, party girl, Ruby Locksdale

WANZIE
As the HoverRound-driving, oxygen-huffing, Pearl Locksdale

MISS SAMMY
As Jackson Lockdale turned June Cleaver in the midsts of an identity crisis

This YouTube presentation was taped in front of a live audience in the Footlight Theater at The Parliament House in spring of 2006 - when the cast came back together quite some time after the conclusion of the show's record-breaking 9-month run at the theater - specifically for the purpose of capturing the production on tape. This streaming presentation was professionally taped by Lantern Light Studios in front a live by-invitation-only audience, utilizing a 3-camera shoot with direct-from-stage-to-sound-board recording and post production editing, resulting in a finished product that plays like a well-planned studio taping of a television sitcom.

The original LADIES OF EOLA HEIGHTS premiered at The Footlight Theatre in January 2005 - with men in drag playing all the female roles - under the direction of Kenny Howard. The show ran every Saturday evening for nine months, playing to sold-out houses and breaking all previous attendance records, making it the longest-running show ever to be presented at The Parliament House Resort; a record that still stands to date.

Three subsequent episodic productions followed; AFTER THE PROM, COURT ORDERED THERAPY, and 55 WEST were each presented at the PH's Footlight Theatre with the all-male cast. In the summer of 2014, in honor of the approaching ten-year anniversary of the original production, Florida Theatrical Association acquired the rights to present the original LADIES OF EOLA HEIGHTS with actual women playing the female characters, again under the direction of Kenny Howard. The show was presented at The Abbey with actress Blue Star playing Ruby Locksdale - Actress Peg O'Keef played Opal Locksdale - Actress, Beth Marshall played Pearl Locksdale - and popular Orlando drag persona Miss Sammy reprised his/her role as Jackson/June in all incarnations of the show.

"LADIES was written with all the original male actors in mind, purely as a marketing ploy; to sell tickets at the Parliament House", explains Wanzie, "But it was always my intent that LADIES would eventually be performed at other venues, with real women in the female roles." Wanzie goes on to explain, "I intentionally set out to write a piece that could have a life beyond the Parliament House. I very specifically wrote the play with licensing to other theaters being a goal."

"As full time Artistic Director of The Abbey", explained Kenny Howard, "I was looking for a site-specific piece to present in the unique configuration of our venue when I recalled LADIES OF EOLA HEIGHTS and I thought, 'why not start with a location-specific piece?'". Howard elaborated, "LADIES takes place in the neighborhood immediately adjacent to that of The Abbey and the play is punctuated with fond references to surrounding locales that are all within walking distance of our theater marquee. Those considerations, along with the fact that I always knew I wanted to direct this show at least once more, with female actors playing the female roles, made choosing LADIES OF EOLA HIGHTS a no brainer as the first theatrical production I would undertake from start to finish in my new position at The Abbey."

The show with real women in the female roles was so successful at the Abbey that Florida Theatrical went on to produce a revival production of COURT ORDERED THERAPY in the summer of 2015, with all the real women reprising their roles, along with Miss Sammy, and the addition of actor Kevin Kelly playing the psychiatrist - a role originated by Frank McClain seven years earlier at the Parliament House.

For the summer of 2016, Wanzie wrote an all-new episode 5 entitled LADIES OF EOLA HIGH SEAS; an installment in which the action took place almost entirely aboard the Disney Magic cruise ship.

After a three year hiatus, all the real women and Miss Sammy, along with a new surprise character, came together recently to appear in Wanzie's newest installment in the LADIES series, which was rehearsed and taped entirely through Zoom meetings with Beth Marshall, Blue Star, and Miss Sammy each logging on from their respective homes in Orlando, Peg O'Keef joining in from her home in Georgia, Rich Charron providing technical direction from his home in Indialantic (on Florida's Space Coast), and Kenny Howard theatrical directing from the home of his parents in rural Kentucky. This version, which debuted on Saturday, August 15, 2020, is currently available for on-demand viewing through the early evening of Saturday, August 29, 2020, with tickets available through wanzie.eventbrite.com.

Both ZOOM REUNION and the taped presentation of the ALL-MALE-CAST version of the original LADIES production are preceded by the all new LADIES OF EOLA HEIGHTS 60's-style TV sitcom theme song, with music by Rich Charron and lyrics by Wanzie - partially recorded and produced by Sam Singhaus & Randi Solomon of We Do Records, with vocal harmonies devised by Solomon/additional back-up voice talent by David Dorman, and orchestrations created and performed by Charron.

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