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On Tuesday, July 15, we conclude our friendship series with BECKET (1960), the Tony Award-winning play by Jean Anouilh. BECKET tells the story of a friendship between two men, one a king, the other his companion in pleasure & in work--a friend King Henry II could not stop loving even when he became the king's worst enemy. Walter Kerr called BECKET a "fascinating play--hopeful, stimulating, imaginatively gratifying." A 1964 film adaptation received several Oscar nominations, including Best Actor for co-stars Richard Burton & Peter O'Toole.
We will meet in July at a NEW LOCATION: the NORTH CHINA RESTAURANT, 7814 Old Georgetown Rd. (MD-187) at Cordell Ave. in Bethesda (301-656-7922). North China is 4 blocks N of the Bethesda Metro (red line) (take both up escalators & turn left). On-street parking is available & there's a county parking lot across the street. JOIN US FOR DINNER at 6:30 so they'll invite us back. Our discussion starts 7:45 & ends by 9:45. MAKE RESERVATIONS NOW by e-mail to [email protected] or by calling Mark Gruenberg at 202-338-7013 (h) or 638-0444 (w).
You can find BECKET at discount bookstore Super Crown, 11 Dupont Circle (319-1374) & 5110 Nicholson Lane (White Flint Shopping Center) (301-770-6729) & for a SPECIAL FOOTLIGHTS DISCOUNT in NW DC at Politics & Prose, 5015 CT Ave. (364-1919) & Olsson's, 1307 19th St. (785-1133). Backstage Books, 2101 P St., NW (202-775-1488), has the acting edition for around $6.
Our discussion of BECKET features DIRECTOR JIM PETOSA, whose production of the play opens at the Olney Theatre on July 22. Petosa has been artistic director of the Olney Theatre since 1993. Last year he won the Helen Hayes award for his direction of JACQUES BREL; most recently he directed ROMEO & JULIET at the Olney.
On Saturday, August 9, at 2 p.m., Footlights will attend BECKET at the Olney Theatre, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Rd. (MD-108), midway between GA & NH Aves. in Olney, MD (301-924-3400). We'll have maps at our July meeting. Tickets are $16 & include a lead actors. Make checks out to the Olney Theatre & mail by July 15 to Robin Larkin, 5403 Nibud Ct., Rockville, MD 20852 (240-669-6300; [email protected]).
Our June play 5TH OF JULY, by Lanford Wilson, portrays the Talley family 33 years after the events of two other Wilson plays, TALLEY'S FOLLY and TALLEY & SON. On Sunday June 29, after our discussion of 5TH OF JULY with the cast, the Washington Shakespeare Co., 601 S. Clark St., Arlington, will present a free staged reading of TALLEY'S FOLLY, ending around 7 p.m. Join other Footlights members for dinner at a nearby restaurant after the reading. After the matinee Sunday July 6, the WSC will present a free staged reading of TALLEY & SON. That reading will start around 5 p.m. & end around 7. For further information, call the WSC at 703-418-4808.
Our friendship series hits the BIG TIME with 2 plays by Footlights members! Each receives its world premiere in this summer's Washington Theatre Festival. On July 31-August 3, Debbie Jackson's JOSIE AND MARILYN will premiere at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1250 NY Ave., NW (202-783-7370). On August 6-9 Jean Sinclair Symmes's BONDING AT THE BREAD, BREW AND SOUL will premiere at the Source Theatre, 1835 14th St., NW (202-462-1073). Tickets are $12, each play shares the bill with two others, & performances start at 8 p.m. except Sunday August 3 (2 p.m.). For tickets or further information call the Women's Art Museum, the Source Theatre, or ProTIX (703-218-6500).
After July 15 Footlights next meets on Wednesday, September 17, at Luna Books, when we begin our series on children with Lillian Hellman's 1934 play THE CHILDREN'S HOUR (on sale now at Backstage Books). THE CHILDREN'S HOUR relates the devastating effects of a child's malicious charge of lesbianism against two of her teachers. Through September 27, see THE CHILDREN'S HOUR at the Shaw Festival, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. Call 800-511-SHAW for tickets & further information.
To help support Footlights financially make your check out to treasurer John Glynn & mail to John at 3741 Yorktown Village Pass, Annandale, VA 22003. To join the Footlights list, send the message "join theatre" (without quote marks) to [email protected]. Our website's at http://www.jskay-consulting.com/footlights/. For recorded updates, call the University of Chicago Club Hotline at 202-452-5590. Address general inquiries to David Sobelsohn, [email protected].