May 9-June 13, 2004
Eleemosynary
Written by Lee Blessing, directed by James Reynolds.
Presented by Fremont Centre Theatre in association with Terrance Hines and Fran Bascom.
The three generations of females in the Wesbrook family are gifted with extraordinary intelligence, genius I.Q.s, and exceptional mental abilities. The grandmother explores human-powered flight. The daughter becomes a bio-medical researcher. The granddaughter emerges as the National Spelling Bee Champion. All this brilliance carries a price: The personalities of all three have tinges of cruelty, a family curse.
The youngest of the three is the most self-aware and perhaps the most gifted. She reasons that the power of love can overcome the family curse and defeat the legacy of cruelty.
Lee Blessing, unlike many other American playwrights, writes great roles for women. The popular writer’s earlier works include “Independence”, “A Walk In The Woods”, “Down The Road”, and many more. His most recent play, “Flag Day”, was workshopped at Ojai Playwrights Conference last year. He is a recipient of the American Theater Critics Award and the L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award. He has also written for the TV series “Homicide: Life On The Streets”, “Picket Fences”, and “Nothing Sacred”.
Terrance Hines directs “Eleemosynary”, a teacher and manager of famous Hollywood talent for many years, he is the author of the best-seller “An Actor Succeeds”. A graduate of Kent State, he also trained at Stanford, American Conservatory Theatre, and American Film Institute.
He says of the play’s characters, “I loved the complex nature of the relationships between the women and marveled at their behavior towards one another…I saw the cruelty, fear, anger, tears, love, humor, the wishing and the wanting to belong…I am drawn as a director to explore all the human behavior and to celebrate their journey. I want each audience to take that emotional journey with us and celebrate the humanity in each one of us.”
The cast includes Jennifer Gatti (Keesha Monroe on TV’s “The Young And The Restless” and a regular with Antaeus Company), Veronica Lauren (Cynthia on TV’s “Days Of Our Lives”), and Cheryl Anderson (“The House Of God”, “Turner And Hooch”, “Valentino Returns”). Assistant director: Laura Roth.
