Commemorating the 50th anniversary of an icon entering heaven…
Please join us for a special reception and presentation of
the celebrated play by Joanne de Simone
Norma Jeane, Enlightened
Thursday, August 2, 2012 • 5:00 – 9:00 p.m.
The Arthur Seelen Theatre at The DRAMA BOOK SHOP
250 West 40th Street • New York, NY 10018
Refreshments will be Served • A Q & A Follows the Performance.
Celebrated actor and playwright, Andrew Rothkin, joins the cast as John F. Kennedy and independent film actor, Joseph Conway, will appear as Tyrone Power. Returning from the original cast are Gloria Jung, Eric Kuzmuth, Martha Ghio, Michael Curcio, Bob Cencioni, Danny McDermott and Holly Elizabeth O’Brien as Norma Jeane.
On August 5, 1962, Marilyn Monroe, screen goddess, was found dead under uncertain circumstances. Deemed a suicide, many – to this day – believe she was murdered. Celebrated author Joanne de Simone’s riveting play shows that she was indeed murdered … and Hollywood is the culprit. The play finds Marilyn, seconds after her demise on a beach with a lone figure, who takes her on the kind of journey one takes only after the final curtain comes down.
Meet the cast:
Holly Elizabeth O’Brien (Norma Jeane) just got back from Vienna, Austria, where she sang in the Wiener Musikseminar! A musical comedy performer, Holly was previously seen in the revivals of Two by Two; as Belle in Beauty and the Beast; and as Luisa in The Fantasticks.
Gloria Jung (Eleonora Duce) is a familiar face in live theater and independent film. She currently studies with Austin Pendleton.
Eric Kuzmuk (Arthur Miller) appeared in the new musical, Holiday In Heaven and the Sniffen Court production of Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians.
Martha Ghio (Paula Strasberg) is a favorite in regional theater and making her New York debut in Norma Jeane, Enlightened.
Danny McDermott (Joe DiMaggio) is co-founder of The Comedy Club at the Underground Lounge. TV credits include: The Queen Latifah Show, a guest host of ABC-TV’s The View, and several shows on Comedy Central.
Michael Curcio (Robert Kennedy) is a regional performer with Norma Jeane being his New York debut. Michael is also a singer/composer, playing sax, guitar, and piano.
New to the Cast:
Joseph Conway (Tyrone Power) is familiar to off-Broadway audiences thanks to several years in PsychoClan’s Nightmare Haunted House. He also played vampyr in Genesis Pictures’ dark drama, Slings & Arrows. Now playing the spectral image of Tyrone Power makes him feel there’s a pattern forming here. Joseph studies voice with Broadway veteran, Mary Elizabeth MiCari.
Andrew Rothkin (John F. Kennedy) is an acclaimed playwright and actor with successful runs (and revivals) of his work at Roy Arias Theaters, Midtown International Theater Festival, and Planet Connections Theatre Festivity. Andrew recently was Chip Chippendale in the hilarious short film Channel 99 and Albert Groder in Jonathan Wallace’s play, Hummingbirds.
Joanne de Simone
A prolific writer, Ms. de Simon’s latest play, Judy’s Dead, took first prize in last year’s Writer’s Digest Stage Play competition; her one-act, The Suicide Angel, has been optioned as a feature film; and her novel about life in the big city as seen through feline eyes, The Metro Cats: Life in the Core of The Big Apple, is being developed for an animated feature. When not churning out great works of fiction, Ms. de Simone works as a columnist, film historian, and editor. Ms. de Simone is a member of The Dramatist Guild of America, The Shakespeare Guild, and The International Women’s Writers Guild.
For further information or to make a reservation, please contact Jay Michaels at WrightGroupNY Communications, (646) 338-5472 or [email protected]
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