A Brush With Georgia O'Keeffe Begins June 7 in NYC
By Kenneth Jones
26 May 2008
Actress-playwright Natalie Mosco's A Brush with Georgia O'Keeffe, a new three-person play about the famous American painter, will begin an open-ended Off-Broadway run June 7 at St. Luke's Theatre. Opening is June 14.
Directed by Broadway veteran Robert Kalfin, the play is presented by Earl Productions and Briana Seferian in association with Edmund Gaynes and Julia Beardsley.
The play — to be seen in three performances a week — will feature Natalie Mosco as Georgia O'Keeffe with Virginia Roncetti and David Lloyd Walters.
According to production notes, "Mosco's play follows the remarkable life of the celebrated American painter Georgia O'Keeffe. One of the most important artists of the 20th century, O'Keeffe was once torn between a career as an artist or musician and seemed to strike a balance between the two by infusing her painting by what she termed 'visual music.' The pivotal turn in her life came when she took a teaching job in Amarillo, TX, where the arrestingly stark landscape inspired an extraordinary series of drawings that were brought to the attention of innovative New York photographer and art impresario, Alfred Steiglitz who enthusiastically gave her drawings a show at his prestigious gallery. Steiglitz left his wife and child for her. O'Keeffe's initial happiness with the only man who ever dared to love her came to an abrupt halt when later in their relationship, he became infatuated with a 21-year-old socialite. …It was only after Steiglitz's death that O'Keeffe was finally free immerse herself in nature once again, the source that had truly defined her paintings and offered her 96-year-old life its greatest meaning."
Mosco's approach to the storytelling "captures O'Keeffe's abstract vision," according to production notes. "By engaging the use of several different rhythmic styles the playwright intends to bring the same aesthetic inherent in O'Keefe's painting into the drama of her life. Her method includes naturalistic exchanges between O'Keeffe and a myriad of other characters that ground the play in reality, the use of time frames suggesting cinematic jump cuts that move the action forward and pauses for the descriptions of landscapes that constitute O'Keefe's paintings in words."
Mosco has played leading roles on Broadway (The Magic Show), in London (Grand Hotel) and was a member of the original Broadway production of Hair. She recently appeared in the Paper Mill Playhouse's acclaimed revival of Follies.
Robert Kalfin founded the multiple Tony and Obie-award winning Chelsea Theatre Center, which produced the Harold Prince revision of Candide in 1974 (CTC won a Special Tony for it). On Broadway he directed Truly Blessed, Yentl, Strider and Happy End.
St. Luke's Theatre is located at 308 W. 46th Street. There are three performances a week: Saturdays and Mondays at 8 PM and Sundays at 2 PM. Tickets are $56.50 and $31.50. Student tickets are $26.50. For tickets and information visit Telecharge.com or call (212) 239-6200.
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