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Event
SHARON TATE IN HEAVEN
a love story
Written and Played by Jen Danby
Directed by Austin Pendleton
Video Design by Lisa Raymond
"Breathless 95 minutes...stunning...tour de force..." --LIVE Magazine
SHARON TATE IN HEAVEN is a playful and tender one-woman odyssey set as an imagined TV interview in Heaven. This heralded Indie play returns to Los Angeles April 24-25 for two shows only at the famed Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute's James Dean Soundstage for an intimate, playful film set environment for the show. It includes new stories from the last LA tours and a new playful fight sequence based on Miss Tate's work with legendary Bruce Lee. Written and performed by This American Blonde Actress, Jen Danby (THE BLONDE BOMBSHELL PROJECT: MARILYN MONROE, Nina in SEAGULL69, an adaptation by Mississippi Mud of Chekhov's SEAGULL set in LA in summer 1969), and developed by research into videos, virtual explorations, books, pictures, interviews, films, and trekking through LA, it is a celebration of love and a Valentine.
"Million Dollar Baby" Sharon Tate had a career that rocketed her from television to starring roles in six films within six years, including playing the aspiring actress Jennifer North in VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (1967), which earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Most Promising Female Newcomer. Her last film, the comedy romp 12 +1 CHAIRS, was shot in Italy with Orson Welles. Comparisons between Sharon and Carole Lombard that Sharon herself felt an affinity with were part of the magic of this new hot 20 something sensation. Fast ascending into international stardom as an actress, model, and style icon, she was also a blissfully happy wife and mother-to-be living her American Dream with the love of her life, director Roman Polanski, when she was killed along with four others at her and Roman's home on Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon on August 9, 1969, while he was in London writing a labor of love script for her and Jack Nicholson. Roman and Sharon had been dubbed the "Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford" of the Mod Hip generation, and Polanski described his years with Sharon as "the only time of true happiness in my life." SHARON TATE IN HEAVEN is an imaginary space for Sharon to talk for this TV interview.
Featured in THE NEW YORK TIMES alongside TV's MAD MEN and the heralded book SHARON TATE: RECOLLECTION by Debra Tate, this play is part of the evidence of Sharon's enduring appeal as an actress, model, style icon, and her trending allure with teens who make up a "new generation crushing on Sharon Tate." SHARON TATE IN HEAVEN takes you on a bouyant ride as it celebrates the beauty of this actress and it is a Love Story.
SHOW DATES AND TIMES
Friday April 24, 2015 @8pm
Saturday April 25, 2015 @8pm
Running time approximately 95 minutes
Ticket price $20 general admission and $10 seniors and students.
50% of all ticket sales will benefit Big Cat Rescue, a non-profit sanctuary and a leading advocate in ending the abuse of captive big cats and saving wild cats from extinction. They are home to about 100 lions, tigers, bobcats, cougars, lions and other species most of whom have been abandoned, abused, or orphaned. For more information visit www.bigcatrescue.org
Buy your tickets here on sale now http://sharontateinheavenlaapril.brownpapertickets.com or call 1-800-838-3006. Tickets may also be purchased at the door as available first come first serve.
PERFORMANCE VENUE
The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute - James Dean Soundstage
7936 Santa Monica Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90046
What reviewers and testimonials are saying:
"As writer and star of Sharon Tate in Heaven, Danby executes a breathless 95 minute performance...stunning..it's a tour de force...an engaging, breathless ride through a show business figure's soul." -- John Blenn, LIVE Magazine
"I could see Sharon and hear her in moments watching this play, and it made me want to cry because it was like she was there again sometimes.There were moments that Sharon came through and moments that I could hear her again. Kudos to Jen Danby's ability as an actress to actually capture aspects of Sharon's personality, and for moments when I could feel Sharon was saying something. Jen's representation of Sharon my sister brought her back to life.
Jen Danby captures Sharon's essence, sweetness, and kindness. Beautifully brilliant." -- Debra Tate, Sharon Tate's sister
"A haunting performance...poignant and moving" - KudaGo.com New York
"Cleverly and brilliantly done. SHARON TATE IN HEAVEN. We were in Heaven." -- Sissy Gamache, "The Sissy Gamache Show," MNN Channel 56, Time-Warner
"Jen Danby completely disappeared inside the character. I saw Sharon Tate, not Miss Danby. That's the way. She was living it, being it." -- Jack Hofsiss, Tony Winning Broadway Director, THE ELEPHANT MAN; Film/TV Director: I'M DANCING AS FAST AS I CAN and CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF with Jessica Lange and Tommy Lee Jones
"I love Jen's Sharon. Jen has found a whole new way of acting and working on a role with her work on Sharon. This is an affinity. This is a match made in heaven." -- Austin Pendleton, Obie Willing and Tony Nominated Director and Drama Desk Renaissance Man of the American Theatre award winner, director of SHARON TATE IN HEAVEN
"SHARON TATE IN HEAVEN is a unique and compelling piece of theater by an artist who is both a skillful writer and a talented actress. Jen Danby lets Sharon talk; she simply talks. Her talk, however, is filled with both the experience of a particular woman and the hopes, longings, frustrations and fears of all of us...Stunning." -- Geoffrey Owens, actor, Broadway's ROMEO AND JULIET with Orlando Bloom, THE COSBY SHOW
BIOS
JEN DANBY (Sharon Tate) With Mud: Sharon Tate in SHARON TATE IN HEAVEN in New York, Lido Beach, and Los Angeles, Nina in SEAGULL69, Jane in VIEUX CARRÉ, Maggie in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, Marilyn Monroe in her original solo piece THE BLONDE BOMBSHELL PROJECT: MARILYN MONROE, Catharine in SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER, Vivien in the solo piece VIVIEN LEIGH: THE LAST PRESS CONFERENCE, Helena in LUST, all under Austin Pendleton's direction; Blanche Dubois, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE at Mud Actors Lab (dir. Mr. Pendleton) and The Cherry Pit (co-directors Brian Lady and Mr. Pendleton), Vivien in ORSON'S SHADOW (dir. Lauren Reinhard), and Blanche DuBois for a charity staged reading of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE with Geoffrey Owens as Stanley Kowalski, directed by Peter Zinn, produced by Mississippi Mud as a fundraising event for the Martin Luther King Center in Long Beach NY. Select stage: HEDDA GABLER; VALPARAISO; THE RIMERS OF ELDRITCH (dir. Amy Wright, HB Studio). Film/TV/New Media: The Wooster Group "Dailies" as Paula in PAULA and BAD PICTURES opposite Jim Fletcher (GATZ); TRUE HOLLYWOOD SITTER; RUN #3, ALL MY CHILDREN, LOVE MONKEY. Directing credits: VIEUX CARRÉ (NYC, with Mud, in a new AEA run), WHAT OF THE NIGHT? by Maria Irene Fornes, HB Studio, and MOONY'S KID DON'T CRY (Lido Beach). Founder & Artistic Director of Mississippi Mud and founder of This American Blonde Actress as actress, director, producer, teacher/acting coach. Ken Park Talent 212.566.8672 kenparkmgmt@aol.com. AEA, SAG-AFTRA.
http://www.thisamericanblondeactress.com
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AUSTIN PENDLETON (director) has directed SEAGULL69, CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, VIEUX CARRÉ, SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER, and A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE with Mississippi Mud, as well as THE BLONDE BOMBSHELL PROJECT: MARILYN MONROE a solo show world premiere written by and starring actress Jen Danby. Mr. Pendleton has worked as an actor with Mud in the roles of Dr. Dorn in SEAGULL69 and Dr. Sugar in SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER. He acts and directs with Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago and has been a member of the Ensemble for many years. He has directed three Chekhov productions at Classic Stage Company: UNCLE VANYA, THREE SISTERS (for which he won an Obie), and IVANOV, featuring, between them, such actors as Maggie Gylenhall, Peter Sarsgaard, and Ethan Hawke, and is now directing HAMLET at CSC. He has acted in many movies and in recurring roles on such TV series as HOMOCIDE and Oz, as well as on Broadway in, most recently, THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, with Natalie Portman and Linda Lavin, in a script revised by Wendy Kesselman, in whose musical, THE BLACK MONK, he played the title role. He has written three plays: ORSON'S SHADOW, produced at Mud after its off-Broadway run which lasted the year of 2005, at the Barrow St. Theatre, directed by David Cromer; UNCLE BOB, which has been produced in NY, around the country and internationally; and BOOTH, which starred Frank Langella in its productions in New York, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven; as well as the libretto for A MINISTER'S WIFE, music by Josh Schmidt and lyrics by Jan Tranen, commissioned and produced by Chicago's Writers' Theatre in 2009, and at Lincoln Center in 2011. All these works have been published. He directed Elizabeth Taylor on Broadway in Lillian Hellman's THE LITTLE FOXES. Most recent New York productions include THE LAST WILL (in which he also appeared), by Robert Brustein, at the Abingdon Theatre, BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY by Stephen Adly Guirgis at the Atlantic Theatre Company, and STRAIGHT WHITE MEN (as actor) written and directed by Jean Young Lee, at The Public Theatre. He teaches acting at HB Studio, in New York.
LISA RAYMOND (video design): Managing Director, Marketing/Media Head - Mississippi Mud Productions. As a multi-media artists Lisa can often be found behind a computer or a camera. She works in the visual arts areas of website and graphic design, video, photography, and also consults on social networking, She can also be found as a production manager working with MoMA, Brooklyn Museum, Sotheby's, Christie's, the NFL, Elite, and Ford Models to name a few. lisaraymond.com
ABOUT MISSISSIPPI MUD PRODUCTIONS
Mississippi Mud Productions is a Made in the USA theatre and film company, working with artists from around the world. Mississippi Mud Productions is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit 501(c)(3). http://www.mississippimudproductions.com
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LocationLee Strasberg Institute - James Dean Soundstage (View)
7936 Santa Monica Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90046
United States
Categories
| Minimum Age: 13 |
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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