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FROM THE FOOTLIGHTS - December 1998What's All the "Ballyhoo"?Find out on Monday, December 21, as Footlights continues our "Outsiders & Outlaws" series with Alfred Uhry's "The Last Night of Ballyhoo" (1997). A bittersweet romance, "luminous and powerful" (Los Angeles Times), "Ballyhoo" takes place in December 1939, at the start of the Holocaust & on the opening night of "Gone With the Wind," in the Atlanta home of German-American Jews whose chief worry is finding dates for their daughters. "Ballyhoo" combines "gently barbed, idiosyncratic Southern humor" with "a fascinating and incendiary subject" (New York Times). It won both the Tony Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award. Our meeting will feature director Serge Seiden, whose production of "Ballyhoo" opens January 6 at the Studio Theatre, where he serves as literary manager and director of production. Last season Seiden received a Helen Hayes Award nomination for his direction of "Old Wicked Songs." We will meet at Luna Books, 1633 P St., NW (3d floor), just E of Dupont Circle. Dinner begins at 6:30 & our discussion at 7:30. Make reservations by e-mailing [email protected]. Look for "Ballyhoo" at Barnes & Noble Rockville, 12089 Rockville Pike, & in NW DC at Backstage Books, 2101 P St., at Super Crown Dupont Circle, & for a special Footlights discount at Olsson's, 1307 19th St. & at Politics & Prose, 5015 CT Ave. A Date for "Ballyhoo"You've got a date for "Ballyhoo": 2 p.m. Saturday, January 23, at the Studio Theatre, 1333 P St., NW. Tickets are $14, which includes a group discount, a cast discussion, & a $1 service charge. Mail your check, payable to Footlights, to Robin Larkin, 5403 Nibud Ct., Rockville, MD 20852 ([email protected]). Indicate if you need a ride or want to join us for dinner. Robin will distribute tickets at the theater just before curtain. To the Stars with "Galileo"On Tuesday, January 19, we will discuss a scientific outsider & one of history's greatest physicists, & celebrate the centennial of one of history's most influential dramatists. Our play: "Galileo" (1947), by Bertolt Brecht. "Thoughtful and profoundly sensitive" (Newsweek), "Galileo" examines the intellectual outsider's relationship to religious & secular authority. Our meeting will feature University of Maryland professor John Fuegi & co-directors Chris Henley & Jim Stone, whose production of "Life of Galileo" we will attend at the Washington Shakespeare Co. 2 p.m. Sunday, February 21. Tickets are $11. Mail your check, payable to Footlights, to Robin Larkin, 5403 Nibud Ct., Rockville, MD 20852. More Outsiders for InsidersFootlights has announced plans to extend its "Outsiders and Outlaws" series through the entire 1998-99 season. Plays to come include "Andorra" (1961), "Accidental Death of an Anarchist" (1970), "How I Learned to Drive" (1998), "Angels in America (Part One): Millennium Approaches" (1992), & "The Road to Mecca" (1984). Upcoming theater trips include our first to SCENA & Signature Theatres, plus return trips to Arena Stage & the Olney. Special guests will include the usual noted scholars & award-winning directors, plus our very first playwright: Pulitzer Prize-winner Paula Vogel ("How I Learned to Drive"). Watch this e-letter for further details! Keeping Footlights OnFootlights can only stay on through generous contributions from members like you. At this holiday season, please consider including Footlights among your favorite charities. Any amount will help. Make your check out to "Footlights" and mail it to our treasurer, John Glynn, at 3741 Yorktown Village Pass, Annandale, VA 22003. Thanks, and have a great holiday season! Calendar--Outsiders & OutlawsMonday, December 21: "The Last Night of Ballyhoo," Luna Books Post your message by sending it to: |