Wednesday, June 17, 2009

For Your Entertainment

Franklin Stage Company is thrilled to present on
Saturday June 20 at 8pm and Sunday June 21 at 5pm
straight from its dazzling premiere at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA
The Actors Rehearse the Story of Charlotte Salomon

The Franklin Stage Company hosts a unique theatrical event, a stunning one-woman play featuring award-winning actress Penny Kreitzer in a tour-de-force performance. The play is written by Kreitzer, FSC co-Artistic Director David Bridel, and Jonathan Rest, and directed by Jonathan Rest.

Charlotte Salomon was a German Jewish artist who initially escaped the Nazis by fleeing to France. When she was deported to Auschwitz , Charlotte left with a friend in France a suitcase containing her masterwork Leben? Oder Theater? - Life? Or Theater? - a collection of 784 autobiographical watercolors. She died in the concentration camp, age 26. “Keep this safe,” she had told her trusted friend Dr. Moridis when she left the suitcase. “It is my whole life.”

Inspired by Salomon's paintings, and based on a compelling convergence of actual events, The Actors Rehearse... is a tale that stretches from the trenches of the First World War to a bomb shelter in Jerusalem where, in 1984, actress Kreitzer and her troupe were preparing a new play based on the all too brief life of Salomon. The troupe invited Holocaust survivor Paula Salomon-Lindberg, Charlotte's stepmother, to visit their rehearsals, and the subsequent confrontation with Salomon-Lindberg provides the departure point for this riveting tale in which Kreitzer, playing multiple and extraordinarily diverse roles, "is her own best stage partner, shifting seamlessly between and among characters" (Berkshire Eagle, June 8, 2009, review of performance at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA). As Kreitzer transforms, and the many strands of the story come together, vital questions, not only about the nature and purpose of theatre but the relationship between real life and art, are exposed and explored.

The Actors Rehearse... is presented by Special Arrangement with the Charlotte Salomon Foundation and the Jewish Historical Museum of Amsterdam. FSC was founded on the principle that great theatre should be available to all, and remains Admission Free, with donations gratefully accepted at the door.

Admission to The Actors Rehearse the Story of Charlotte Salomon is free, but reservations are recommended. Call 607 829 3700 or email reserve@franklinstagecompany.org

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