POSTPONED – Tree Confessions by Jenny Lyn Bader starring Kathleen Chalfant

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***PLEASE NOTE THIS PROGRAM WILL BE POSTPONED DUE TO THE INCLEMENT WEATHER PREDICTED FOR 8/22/21***

 

THIS PROGRAM WILL NOW TAKE PLACE INDOORS IN THE JOHN DREW THEATER. Guests attending any INDOOR John Drew Theater programs must show proof of FULL vaccination. At this time, only fully vaccinated guests are permitted to attend programs in the indoor theater.  Face coverings are required indoors for all guests, regardless of vaccinated status.

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Directed by Jenny Lyn Bader
Starring Kathleen Chalfant
Featuring Live Violin by Evgenia Zilberberg

In a landmark study, a scientist learned everything about how trees communicate. — Or did she? One tree tells the story of what really happened. Its words remind us that human beings and plants live in one interconnected ecosystem: We are not alone on this earth. Kathleen Chalfant stars in a reading of Tree Confessions, the world’s first solo play from the point of view of a tree. The reading will be followed by Q&A with actress and playwright.

Tree Confessions was originally commissioned by This Is Not a Theatre Co. as a site-specific recorded audio play conceived & directed by E.B. Mee. It premiered in 2021 at the Beuys for Future International Exhibit at the Gallery for Sustainable Art in Berlin. 

The playwright has created a new version for live reading expressly for this Guild Hall event. 

Produced by Patricia Watt

Concessions are available at our new eAT Coffee Bar.

  • Kathleen Chalfant

    BROADWAY: Angels in America (Tony and Drama Desk nom.), Racing Demon, Dance With Me. OFF-BROADWAY: A Woman of the World, Wit (Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, Connecticut Critics Circle, Obie Awards), For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday, A Walk in the Woods (Drama Desk nom.), Tales from Red Vienna, Miss Ovington &  Dr. Dubois, Talking Heads (Obie Award), Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Nine Armenians (Drama Desk nomination), Henry V (Callaway Award). OTHER NY CREDITS: The Vagina Monologues, Iphigenia and Other Daughters, Endgame, Sister Mary Ignatius..., The Investigation of the Murder in El Salvador. FILM: Isn’t it Delicious?, R.I.P.D., The Bath, In Bed With Ulysses, Lillian, Duplicity, The People Speak, Lackawanna Blues, Perfect Stranger, Dark Water, Kinsey, Laramie Project, Random Hearts, A Price Below Rubies, Murder and Murder. SELECT TELEVISION Recurring on “The Affair,” “The Strain,” “The Americans,” “House of Cards,” “Rescue Me,” “The Book of Daniel,” “The Guardian,” “Law and Order” “One Life to Live”; “Madam Secretary,” “High Maintenance,” “Elementary,” “Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight” (HBO), “Georgia O’Keeffe” (Lifetime), “Voices from the White House” (PBS). AWARDS: 1996 OBIE Award for Sustained Excellence, 2004 Lortel Award for Sustained Excellence of Performance, 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award from the League of Professional Women. 2018 OBIE Award for Lifetime Achievement. She has received the Drama League and Sidney Kingsley Awards for her body of work and hold an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters from Cooper Union.

  • Jenny Lyn Bader

    (Playwright) is a playwright and author. Her plays include Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library (Luna Stage),  Equally Divine(Theatre at the 14th St. Y), In Flight (Turn to Flesh Productions), and None of the Above (New Georges). One-acts include Beta Testing(Symphony Space), Worldness(Humana Festival of New American Plays), and Miss America (NY International Fringe Festival, “Best of Fringe” selection). She has received the “Best Documentary One-Woman Show” Award (United Solo); Athena Playwriting Fellowship; Randall Wreghitt Award, and the O’Neill Center’s Edith Oliver Award for a playwright who has, in the spirit of the late New Yorkercritic, “a caustic wit that deflates the ego but does not unduly damage the human spirit." Jenny Lyn co-founded Theatre 167 —recipient of the Caffè Cino Award (NY Innovative Theatre Foundation) — where she co-authored The Jackson Heights Trilogy, featuring 37 actors playing 93 multicultural roles. Her audio play The International Local is featured on the "Subway Plays" app. Recent work includes Guru of Touch (Edinburgh Festival Fringe), A Wonderful Stroke of Luck(Heroes & Villains monologues, Urban Stages), My First Time(Voting Writes Project), and Strange Happenings at the School Library (co-author, with Martine Sainvil) (Luna Stage). AHarvard graduate, she has been a Lark Playwriting Fellow (nominated by Wendy Wasserstein) and a frequent contributor to the New York Times "Week in Review." Her plays have been published by Dramatists Play Service, Vintage, Smith & Kraus, Applause, and Plays International + Europe magazine. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild, Authors Guild, League of Professional Theatre Women, Playwrights Gallery, and Honor Roll. For more, visit www.jennylynbader.com.

  • Evgenia Zilberberg

    Evgenia started her music journey as a violin student in Yekaterinburg, Russia at the age of 5 years old. When she was 14, her family decided to permanently move to USA where she auditioned for Manhattan School of music and was accepted with a full scholarship. Evgenia also became a member of ISO orchestra directed by Johnathan Strasser. She holds many achievements, awards and scholarships including Elaine Bart award, Best chamber music performance, Meadowmount best solo performance and other. Evgenia was a student of world known violinists such as Issac Malkin and Erick Friedman. 

    When Evgenia became a student at Yale school of music where she was accepted with a full scholarship, she decided to take voice lessons to broaden her musical experience. Her teachers included Leah Mogilevskaya of Bolshoi Theater, Shirley Love and Virginia Grasso. That lead her to become a professional classical singer as well. 

    Evgenia performed in many venues as a violinist and a singer such as Carnegie hall, Lincoln center, Meadowmount Summer festival and many more. For many years Evgenia held permanent jobs as a vocalist at Park Ave Synagogue and Brick Presbyterian church on upper East side in NYC directed by Neil Robinson and Keith Toth. Currently, Evgenia holds a position at Ross school teaching violin and plays around Hampton area for weddings, churches and other events with a number of professional musicians. 

     

Sponsors

Theater Programming supported in part by the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Barbara Slifka, The Schaffner Family Foundation, Straus Family Foundation, Brown Harris Stevens, Michael Balmuth, Blythe Danner, Lang Insurance, and funding from The Ellen and James S. Marcus Endowment for Musical Programming and The Melville Straus Family Endowment 
John Drew Backyard Theater
Special thanks to Marty and Michele Cohen, Ben Krupinski Builder, Hollander Design, and Groundworks Landscaping 
Play in the Garden Print Media Partner: James Lane Post

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