1939 Hollywood is abuzz. Legendary producer David O. Selznick has shut down production of his new epic, Gone with the Wind, a film adaptation of Margaret Mitchell’s best-selling novel. The screenplay, you see, just doesn’t work. So what’s an all-powerful movie mogul to do? Selzneck sends for famed screenwriter, Ben Hecht and pulls formidable director Victor Felming off the set of the Wizard of Oz to rework Gone with the Wind. Once both are in his office, the doors are locked, shades are closed and with a diet of bananas and peanuts the three men labor and fight over the next five days to fashion a new screenplay that will be the blueprint for one of the most successful and beloved films of all time.

 

“Frankly my dear, this is one funny play…” — New York Daily News

 

Fiction   by Steven Dietz

 

Steven Dietz’s Fiction is a stunning play that examines the twenty-year marriage of two writers, two diaries, and the secrets the couple harbors and ultimately shares. It’s a play that probes and pokes at how each of us can so easily subvert the truth and begin to believe our own manufactured deceits.

 

Linda is the author of one and only one novel, critically acclaimed and commercially unviable.

With death from cancer looming just ahead, she asks her husband, Michael, to read her personal journals after she’s gone. The catch? Michael must allow her the opportunity to read his before she departs.

 

Unlike Linda, Michael is a prolific writer of commercially successful pulp fiction. Michael’s private writings, stored in a Pandora’s box of sorts, tell of a decade-long affair with Abby, a young woman who, as it turns out, has played an important role in both writers’ lives. But don’t believe everything you read: nothing in life is an open book. And as Linda points out, “A secret, like a disease, is a very human thing. It hides inside you. Discovers where you are most vulnerable. And then it hurts you.”

 

Witty, sharply-honed, and rapid-fire dialogue combine with cleverly conceived twists, turns, and secrets to produce a fascinating play that explores the blurred lines that separate fact from fiction and back again.

 

“Everything about the play has an elegance and richness our theater sees too seldom.” —New

York Daily News

 

“A provocative spin on the eternal love triangle.” —Variety

 

 

Having grown up in a wacky Italian-America, Catholic family and after losing all in a flood, a man takes a comic journey to find the answers to why his life has become a biblical mini-series. He goes to visit his best friend - a statue of the Blessed Mother. There he sees his life unfold through several of his relatives - to hilarious results. All the characters of Anthony's life teach him to look - and really see. A funny, one-man show, Our Lady of Famiglia is written and performed by veteran actor, Anthony Valbiro who has been working as an actor, singer and dancer for forty years. He attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and has studied with such renowned teachers as Max Fisher and Hugh Whitfield. He has appeared in over fifty productions in the tri-state area playing roles varying from Tommy Albright in Brigadoon to Jerry in The Zoo Story. He has appeared in film, notable in the cult classic "Spookies." His one man show Anthony Nobody ..There's a World Outside played an extended run at The Duplex in N.Y.C. as well as other N.Y. venues. He is currently involved with several projects including a recurring role in the sit-com "Winners" and preparing Our Lady of Famiglia for a Manhattan presentation.

 

            APPROPRIATE FOR FAMILY AUDIENCES – AGE 8-9 IS THE TARGET AGE GROUP

 

A bustling Rosie, eight months pregnant and wearing a 1950's apron, bids her two-year-old sweet dreams, then greets her audience and quickly sets them straight about not being limited to “women’s work.”   After shedding her pregnancy, Rosie enters into a flashback, where she is 18 again, growing up on a farm with her dad in rural Kansas and doing all the chores a man would do. When the Great Depression hits and her father loses the farm, Rosie then tearfully kisses her father goodbye and boards a train headed to the city of Billings, Montana, where she lives with some relatives during such a hard period. In Billings, Rosie is turned down for factory work because she is a woman and eventually takes a job as a waitress where she meets her future husband, Sam. When the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, Sam enlists and Rosie is suddenly in demand for factory work. She slips into her jumpsuit, dons her signature kerchief and reveals the iconic image of Rosie, The Riveter. Some audience members help Rosie along her journey, and they learn how it feels when men and women receive different pay for the same work. She demonstrates the dangers of wartime factory work, particularly for women of color. When the war is finally won, Rosie finds she is no longer needed at the factory. She is told by her demeaning boss to "hit the bricks, sister. The men are coming home and they want their jobs back!"   As dejected as she feels in that moment, we later see just how empowered she has become by her work experience. Rosie embraces domestic life while celebrating her own accomplishments and the accomplishments of all women in the workplace.

            APPROPRIATE FOR FAMILY AUDIENCES – AGE 6+ IS THE TARGET AGE GROUP

 

Subtly introducing the concepts of live theatre, the play is prepared by a fictional traveling theatre troupe in front of the audience. The cast practices sword fights, sets the stage, chooses costumes, sorts out props, acts silly, develops their characters, and acts even sillier to get ready for the Hansel and Gretel story. The much-loved Grimm Brothers classic story is performed with the audience in the round so all have an intimate connection to the actors. Simple set pieces, audience participation, an “invisible” propman and other twists make for a fun-filled, creative experience for audiences of all ages.

 

The play is written and directed by Marilyn Heberling, who offered Alice in Wonderland and Appalachian Fiddle Faddles for M&M Productions the past 2 seasons. The Hansel and Gretel cast includes Danielle Bassignani, Marilyn Heberling, Nick Marino and Bill Morton.