Tag Archives: Barbara Sloan

LoveJewish.Org presents GATE B23: CARRY-ON BAGGAGE January 15th at 1 pm

06 Monday Jan 2025

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LoveJewish.Org presents
a FREE READING of
Gate B23: Carry-On Baggage
at the Sherman Library, Nova Southeastern University
January 15th at 1:00pm

A poignant and hilarious journey of stranded travelers comes to
Nova Southeastern University

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

January 6, 2025

DAVIE, FL: LoveJewish.org in association with NSU Florida’s Alvin Sherman Library and the University of Miami Sue and Leonard Miller Center will present a FREE reading of award-winning playwright Debbie Slevin’s critically acclaimed play Gate B23: Carry-On Baggage. The reading will take place at 1:00 pm on January 15thin the Sherman Library.

This ‘dramedy’, directed by Avi Hoffman, is a witty and compelling exploration of human connection amid uproarious chaos. It follows a diverse cast of travelers, each wrestling with personal challenges, as they are stranded at Gate B23 at Palm Beach International Airport whilst enduring an increasingly prolonged flight delay.  The play promises to deliver a unique theatrical experience that blends humor, tension, and profound human insights.

The reading of Gate B23: Carry-On Baggage will feature some of South Florida’s most prominent actors, including Brandon Campbell, Rayner Gabriel, Harriet Oser, Emma Garcia Seeger, Devra Seidel, Barbara Sloan, and Troy Stanley. Dave Corey will take on the role of the progressively disturbed Gate Attendant.

Debbie Slevin, an award-winning essayist and author is a writer, producer/director, and teacher. She conceived and co-produced The Apron Strings Project in Riverhead, NY, produced and directed The Last Five Years at Guild Hall in East Hampton, and the first NYC revival of Songs for a New World. Her play Gate B23: Carry-On Baggage was a best-selling selection of NYC International Fringe Festival and Manhattan Repertory Theater’s Winterfest. Now a well-read blogger for Huffpo50, Debbie’s writing has also appeared in Essence Magazine, Woman’s World, and Reform Judaism. She was also a staff writer for the Jewish Standard.

Tickets for Gate B23: Carry-On Baggage are FREE. Reservations can be made online at www.YILoveJewish.org/Events or at The Alvin Sherman Library at Nova Southeastern University, located at 3100 Ray Ferrero Jr. Blvd, Davie, FL 33314.

For more information about Gate B23: Carry-On Baggage, to speak with anyone involved in the reading, or to arrange to see the performance, please contact Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244.

~

Gate B23: Carry-On Baggage
By Debbie Slevin
January 15, 2025 at 1:00 pm
Tickets: FREE
For tickets: www.YILoveJewish.org/Events
The reading will take place in
The Alvin Sherman Library at
Nova Southeastern University
3100 Ray Ferrero Jr. Blvd. Davie, FL 33314

Debbie Slevin

Pigs Do Fly Productions Presents THE LOST VIRGINITY TOUR – October 31 – November 24

07 Monday Oct 2019

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Pigs Do Fly Productions
presents

The Lost Virginity Tour
October 31 – November 24

“When liquor laced cookies are the highlight of our week, then it’s time for us to shake things up.”– The Lost Virginity Tour

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

October 8, 2019
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL:   Four women ‘of a certain age’ will take to the road and revisit the locales where each lost her virginity in Pigs Do Fly Productions’ The Lost Virginity Tour by Cricket Daniel.  There will be a preview performance on October 31st and the production will run from November 1st through November 24th at Empire Stage in Fort Lauderdale.  

The Lost Virginity Tour is a funny, profound, and provocative play about four women in their golden years – not talking about their grandkids or their knitting circles, but talking about sex and love, and recalling their ‘first time’ with often hilarious but sometimes harrowing detail.   This humorous and adventurous road trip through memories conjures up the choices we make that shape our lives forever, and the friendships that hold us up when we can’t walk on our own.

Deborah Kondelik

Deborah Kondelik, who directed Pigs Do Fly’s recent sold out production of 2 Across, will helm The Lost Virginity Tour: “Old folks ain’t what they used to be! And Pigs Do Fly Productions has a noteworthy mission – to do productions that feature characters over 50 years of age, and oftentimes much older,” she says.  “The plays we present are populated with vibrant, intriguing characters who make “getting older” much more fun than the typical older characters we saw in plays of bygone eras.  This play by Cricket Daniel is a perfect fit for Pigs Do Fly because it features four unique women taking an inimitable, one-of-a-kind road trip. Everyone should come along for the ride because it promises to be filled with tons of raucous laughter and also a few poignant tears.”

Ellen Wacher

Pigs Do Fly founder and Executive Producer Ellen Wacher agrees: “Pigs Do Fly stands for people over 50 living interesting, active lives,” she says.  “And…WOW!  The Lost Virginity Tour fits our mission to a “T”. It has humor, some serious moments, and always strong characters who reflect our lives and who we are today.  We have assembled an amazing cast and I totally believe that those who come will be affected by this play – I know it will inspire laughter, introspection, reflection, and even a few tears.”

Kondelik and Wacher have assembled an impressive cast to travel together on The Lost Virginity Tour: Leigh Bennett, Barbara Bradshaw, Diana D’Ambrosio, and Barbara Sloan will, as Sloan’s character Rita says “…Make like dough and roll”!

“As a playwright, it is very gratifying to give female actresses of a certain age a great vehicle to shine on stage,” playwright Cricket Daniel said recently. “Having a play with one leading role for the older actress is rare, let alone four.  It was fun to create these characters who get to laugh, cry, and play together on stage.  As a former actress, I would have killed to play one of these roles!”

Cricket Daniel

Cricket Daniel holds a theater degree from UC Santa Barbara and studied Shakespeare in Cambridge, England. She has an extensive background in improv, stand-up and theater. Cricket was a member of the national improv troupe Comedy Sportz and has performed stand-up at The Ice House and The Improv and has performed regularly in local community theatre productions. Her short play Break Dreams has been staged in New York City, Miami, Colorado Springs, Eugene, Oregon, and in Austin, TX. Her full-length play Love, Laughter & Lucci took home Best Production, Best Actress and Best Actor awards at the 2012 Golden Gravel Awards. Her full-length play Helen On Wheels was a finalist in the 2015 New Play Development Workshop through Route 66 Theatre in Chicago. Cricket is a 2012 recipient of an Arts, Beautification, and Culture Award for her contribution to local theater and is a member of The Dramatist Guild of America. She lives in Bend, Oregon with her husband and daughter.

The Lost Virginity Tour will run from October 31st (preview performance) through November 24th.  Tickets for The Lost Virginity Tour are $39 and are available online at www.pigsdoflyproductions.com  or by calling 866-811-4111.  Performances are on Friday, and Saturday at 8 pm, and on Sunday at 5 pm. All performances will take place Empire Stage, 1140 N. Flagler Drive, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304.

For more information about Pigs Do Fly Productions, please visit www.pigsdoflyproductions.com.   For more information about Ellen Wacher, please visit www.ellenwacher.com.  To arrange for interviews, or for photos, please contact Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244.

Funding for this project is provided in part by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners as recommended by the Broward Cultural Council.

~*~

The Lost Virginity Tour
Preview Performance: Thursday, October 31
Runs from November 1 – November 24, 2019
By Cricket Daniel
Tickets: $39
Tickets:  866-811-4111 / www.pigsdoflyproductions.com
Performances:
Friday, & Saturday: 8 pm
Sunday: 5 pm
All performances will take place at
Empire Stage
1140 N Flagler Drive,
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304
www.pigsdoflyproductions.com
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Romance, Comedy & Crosswords! Pigs Do Fly Productions Presents 2 ACROSS – March 7 – 24

12 Tuesday Feb 2019

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Pigs Do Fly Productions
presents
2 Across

March 7 – 24

“A charming, character driven comedy” ~ Los Angeles Times”

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

February 12, 2019

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL:   Rehearsals have begun for 2 Across, Pigs Do Fly Productions’ upcoming production of Jerry Mayer’s ‘comedy of crosswords and romance’. The show will run from March 7th through March 24th at Empire Stage in Fort Lauderdale.

2 Across finds two strangers, a man and a woman, on board a San Francisco BART train at 4:30 a.m. Alone in the car, the only thing they have in common is that they are both doing the New York Times crossword puzzle.  Soon the puzzles they unravel are more intriguing than any crossword puzzle could ever be.

Ellen Wacher

“This is our first play that focuses on a relationship between two people,” says Pigs Do Fly Productions’ founder and Executive Producer Ellen Wacher. “It also totally meets with our company’s mission – to show people over the age of 50 living interesting and active and real lives. I was captivated by these characters’ development, and I believe our audience will be too.”

Deborah Kondelik

Deborah Kondelik, who starred in both of Pigs Do Fly’s recent successful productions of The Ladies Foursome, will direct 2 Across: “It has been said that opposites attract,” Kondelik said recently.  “Whether or not that rings true remains to be seen in Jerry Mayer’s hilarious yet poignant, romantic comedy.  One thing that is guaranteed though, is a delightful very early morning romp by two strangers on San Francisco’s BART train.  The tie that binds is that both of them are hard at work on the Saturday New York Times crossword puzzle.  Although they tackle the puzzle with very different approaches, they soon discover commonalities that cannot be ignored. The stumbling block is that both are married . . . to someone else.”

Barbara Sloan and David R. Gordon will star in 2 Across, and both are excited at the prospect of exploring their diametrically opposite characters: Sloan’s Janet is a responsible, honest, rule-abiding psychologist, and Gordon’s Josh is part-free spirit, part executive, part dreamer, and part Peter Pan.

Playwright Jerry Mayer has written scripts for All in the Family, M*A*S*H*, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and the Bob Newhart Show (where he served as story editor).  His first play, Almost Perfect ran for a year and a half at the Santa Monica Playhouse.  Other plays include the musical You Haven’t Changed a Bit, and Other Lies and Dietrich and Chevalier, The Musical.

Tickets for 2 Across are $39 and are available on line at www.pigsdoflyproductions.com  or by calling 866-811-4111.  Performances are on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8 pm, and on Sunday at 5 pm. All performances will take place at Empire Stage, 1140 N. Flagler Drive, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304.

For more information about Pigs Do Fly Productions, please visit www.pigsdoflyproductions.com.   For more information about Ellen Wacher, please visit www.ellenwacher.com.  To arrange for interviews, or for photos, please contact Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244.

~*~

2 Across
By Jerry Mayer
Directed by Deborah Kondelik
March 7 – 24
Performances:
Thursday, Friday, & Saturday at 8 pm
Sunday at 5 pm
Tickets:  $39
For tickets:  www.pigsdoflyproductions.com / 866-811-4111
All performances will take place at
Empire Stage
1140 N. Flagler Drive
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304
www.pigsdoflyproductions.com
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Pigs Do Fly Productions Presents The World Premiere of Michael Leeds’ IMPRESSIONS – July 21 – August 6

20 Tuesday Jun 2017

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Pigs Do Fly Productions
Presents
The World Premiere of
Impressions
by Michael Leeds
July 21 – August 6
(Preview performance July 20)

Art… literally brought to life…

June 20, 2017

WILTON MANORS, FL: “I’ve always been drawn to the paintings of the great Impressionists,” award-winning playwright and director Michael Leeds mused recently.  “As opposed to the idealized forms and perfect symmetry that was the norm, the Impressionists chose subjects from all walks of life, capturing who they were and what they were doing in that fleeting moment in time.  I was especially intrigued by the women in their paintings.  What were they thinking? What were they feeling?  What was their world like?”

Leeds explores this theme when Pigs Do Fly Productions presents the World Premiere of his new play, Impressions, at the Abyss Stage in Wilton Manors.  The production will run from July 21 – August 6. (There will be a preview performance on July 20th at 8 pm.)

From a Monet matron to a Degas dancer, Impressions brings these women to life to reveal their joys, their fears and their passions.

“When Michael approached me with his ideas during our last production, Invasion of Privacy, I became excited immediately,” Pigs Do Fly Productions founder and Executive Producer Ellen Wacher says.  “By wonderful coincidence that period of art is my favorite. I’ve worked with Michael – I am, and always have been – a great admirer of his work, and now, after reading the play I can hardly wait to see it myself!”

“Writing Impressions gave me the opportunity to enter the world of each painting and imagine the events surrounding the moments captured by these incredible artists,” Leeds explains.   “And, although it wasn’t intentional, when I was done, I found these women were all linked in some way by the limitations society imposed on them due to their gender, their class, or their age.

“Of course, none of this would be possible without the enthusiastic support of Ellen Wacher and Pigs Do Fly Productions,” Leeds continues.  “When I first brought the project to Ellen, I had no idea she was a passionate devotee of the Impressionists.   We’re both incredibly excited to see how it all comes together. The production elements of the play present many challenges in how to best bring these paintings to life.  Luckily, I’ve got three extremely versatile actresses, and a great design team.  To quote a Sondheim lyric, “Putting it together bit by bit… Art isn’t easy!”

Wacher and Leeds have cast three award-winning actresses – Patti Gardner, Barbara Sloan, and Karen Stephens – to bring the iconic paintings Leeds has chosen to life.  Along with Edgar Degas and Claude Monet, Leeds has chosen works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Édouard Manet, Mary Cassatt, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Gustave Caillebotte, Frédéric Bazille, Isaac Israëls, and Marie Bracquemond to ‘illustrate’.

Leeds and Wacher have enlisted recent Carbonell Award-winner Jodi Dellaventura to design the Impressions set.  Others on the show’s design team are Kevin Black (Projections), Ardean Landhuis (Lighting Design), Jerry Sturdefant (Costume Design), David Hart (Sound). Kevin Raymond Hammond (Wigs). Jeff Ostrow will serve as Impressions’ Production Stage Manager.

Tickets for Impressions are $35 and are available on line at www.pigsdoflyproductions.com, or by calling 866-811-4111.  Performances are on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8 pm, and on Sunday at 5 pm. All performances will take place at The Abyss Stage, 2304 N. Dixie Highway, Wilton Manors, FL 33305

For more information about Pigs Do Fly Productions, please visit www.pigsdoflyproductions.com.   For more information about Ellen Wacher, please visit www.ellenwacher.com.  To set up interviews, or for photos, please contact Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244.

~*~

Impressions
By Michael Leeds
July 21 – August 6
(Preview performance July 20 at 8 pm)
Performance times:
Thursday – Saturday at 8 pm
Sunday at 5 pm
Tickets:  $35
For tickets:  www.pigsdoflyproductions.com / 866-811-4111
All performances will take place at
The Abyss Stage
2304 N. Dixie Highway, Wilton Manors, FL 33305
www.infinite-abyss.org
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Michael Leeds: (Writer/Director) B’way: Swinging On A Star (Writer/Director Tony Award nom. Best Musical).  Off-B’way: Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah – The Songs of Allan Sherman (Drama Desk Award nom. Best Director/Best Choreographer), the European Premiere of Arthur Miller’s Playing For Time (Edinburgh Fringe Festival First Award), A Little Night Music at Houston Grand Opera starring Frederica Von Stade and Regina for Florida Grand Opera starring Lauren Flanigan. Film:  choreographed End of Summer starring Jacqueline Bisset, co-wrote The Simian Line starring William Hurt and Lynn Redgrave, and The Last Film Festival starring Dennis Hopper. His many SF directing credits include Mack And Mabel (Carbonell Best Musical) and The Light In The Piazza (Carbonell nom Best Musical, Silver Palm Award for Direction).  Michael is Assoc. Artistic Director of Island City Stage where his directing credits include The Twentieth Century Way (Carbonell nom. Best Ensemble), The Timekeepers (6 Carbonell Awards including Best Director and Best Production of a Play), the World Premieres of Have I Got A Girl For You, POZ, Feeding The Bear and his own play Who Killed Joan Crawford? which received the 2016 Award for Best New Work of 2016 by the Broward/Miami New Times.  His other plays include The First Step – Diary of a Sex Addict, The Gift, Starmaker and Impressions.   Michael teaches an ongoing weekly acting class. (www.LeedsWorkshop.net)

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Thinking Cap theatre at The Vanguard Presents VITA & VIRGINIA by Eileen Atkins April 17th – May 3rd

01 Wednesday Apr 2015

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Thinking Cap theatre at The Vanguard Presents
vita & virginia 4x6 shemagby Eileen Atkins
April 17th – May 3rd
“A masterful dance of two women” ~ Laurie Winer, Los Angeles Times

April 1, 2015
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL: Patsy Cline and Louise Seger might be thought by some to be a hard act to follow. But Nicole Stodard, Thinking Cap Theatre’s producing artistic director has found two women whom she knows can more than fill the bill. The fascinating relationship between Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West will be examined in Eileen Atkins’ Vita & Virginia which will run at The Vanguard, Broward County’s newest performing arts space, from April 17th through May 3rd.

Atkins’s epistolary play deftly weaves the letters and diaries of essayist and novelist Virginia Woolf and poet and novelist Vita Sackville-West into a conversation between two passionate, intelligent, and intensely literate women. Woof was 40, and Sackville-West was 30 when they met in 1922, and their correspondence began shortly thereafter, ending only with Woolf’s suicide in 1941. Their affair was as much literary as physical; although each had husbands, and in Sackville-West’s case, numerous lovers of both genders. Woolf’s son Nigel once referred to her 1927 novel Orlando, which was inspired by her relationship with Sackville-West, as “the longest and most charming love letter in literature.”

Barbara Sloan will play Virginia Woolf in the production, and Niki Fridh will take on the role of Vita Sackville-West.

Barbara HS

Barbara Sloan

“I’m excited to be playing Virginia Woolf,” says Sloan. “It’s always a challenge to take on historical figures because people often have preconceived ideas about who they were. This play is based on letters between these two women over a 20 year period, so you are hearing their own voices rather than the playwright’s, allowing us to get a rare and intimate glimpse into their world. And I’ve always wanted to work with Niki Fridh. She’s an interesting actress with great instincts!

“It’s also an honor to work with the courageous visionary Nicole Stodard,” she continues. “She not only produces challenging and thought provoking work, but also took a risk and opened a theatre!”

Niki HS

Niki Fridh

“I’ve known Barbara Sloan for a number of years and have wanted to work with her on a project for a long time,” says Fridh. “This piece will be quite the challenge for both of us….challenging I think, because  there is no dialogue between Vita and Virginia – the entire play is only letter correspondence between the two women. However, I know that Nicole wants the piece to be magical, erotic, and whimsical. Vita Sackville-West was very intelligent, eccentric, adventurous woman who lived life to its fullest. I can only hope that I do justice to her free spirit and open heart.”

Nicole Stodard

Nicole Stodard

“Thinking Cap Theatre is known for staging more experimental plays, so I was very excited to discover Atkins’ play about Virginia Woolf, one of my favorite experimental fiction writers,” says Stodard. “The play is witty and sensual and poignant in its depiction of same-sex desire in an age that still lacked the language to name it and the legal freedoms to allow it. I’m thrilled to be working with two of South Florida’s finest actresses to bring these iconic women of the modern era to life on stage.”

eileena

Eileen Atkins

Eileen Atkins has worked in the theatre, film, and television consistently since 1953. She has won several major acting awards, including a BAFTA, an Emmy and three Olivier’s. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1990 and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2001. Although she is best known as one of the co-creators (along with Jean Marsh) of the British series Upstairs,Downstairs, she has played numerous roles in film, on stage, and television.

A post-show talkback with gender & literary experts will follow the Sunday April 19th, 5 pm performance. Tea, scones, and other treats will be provided by various sponsors including Eat the Tea, Starbucks, and Croissan’ Time.

The Vanguard, which officially opened its doors on March 13th, has been enthusiastically received by local artists, theatergoers, and nearby businesses. The new venue is located at 1501 S. Andrews Avenue in what was formerly a church when the building was first erected in 1939.

Vita & Virginia will run from April 17th through May 3rd at The Vanguard.
Tickets are $35, and are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased online at www.vanguardarts.org , http://thinkingcaptheatre.com or by phone at 813-220-1546. Performances are on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8 pm, and on Sundays at 5 pm. The venue is located at 1501 S. Andrews Avenue, Ft. Lauderdale, 33316.

For more information, production shots, head shots, or to set up interviews, please contact Nicole Stodard at 813-220-1546 / nicole@thinkingcaptheatre.com or Carol Kassie at 561-445-9244 / ckassie@gmail.com or visit www.vanguardarts.org or http://thinkingcaptheatre.com

Vita & Virginia
By Eileen Atkins
April 17 – May 3
Tickets: $35 ($37.22 with s/c)
For Tickets:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1339884
www.vanguardarts.org
http://thinkingcaptheatre.com
813-220-1546
Performances:
Friday, April 17th is Opening Night
Double Feature, Saturday, April 18th, matinee at 3pm; evening performance, 8pm
Thursday – Saturday at 8 pm
Sunday at 5 pm
The Vanguard
1501 S. Andrews Avenue
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33316
www.vanguardarts.org
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