Pride and Prejudice: A Virtual Play

November 12 – 29, 2020

Viewing available on weekends, Thursday-Sunday.

Open Captioning is available for the entire run.
A Verbal Description Video is available for those who are blind or have low vision.

You asked, we listened! Now you can enjoy our revered virtual production of Jane’s Austen’s Pride & Prejudice with your loved ones this Thanksgiving holiday!

In the town of Meryton, reputation and marriage can secure — or destroy — a young woman’s happiness. Faced with the loss of their land and income, Elizabeth Bennet’s mother is desperate to secure husbands for her daughters at any cost. When Lizzy is introduced to Mr. Darcy at a local dance, tempers flare as her independent spirit clashes with his ingrained arrogance. Can the headstrong rivals overcome their pride and prejudice to repair the romantic entanglements which surround them and find lasting love?  Join this cast of memorable characters as they explore Jane Austen’s beloved comedy of manners in our modern, virtual world!

Based on the novel by Jane Austen
Adapted by Christina Calvit
Directed by Dorothy Milne


Ticket holders will receive a password to view the production for the whole weekend of purchase (Thur-Sun).

To purchase tickets, please click on the weekend you would like to view:
November 12-15
November 19-22
November 26-29


Check out the teaser trailer!

  • Bilal Dardai (Mr. Bingley, Townsperson)

    Bilal is a writer and performer who has worked for nearly two decades in Chicago’s vibrant live theatre scene. He spent 12 years as an ensemble member with the acclaimed artistic collective The Neo-Futurists, three of those years as the company’s Artistic Director. Bilal is a regular at Chicago’s many live-literature events, providing essays and social commentary for Write Club and The Paper Machete. He is also member of the writing staff for award-winning audio drama Pleasure Town and has recently embarked on a new audio project with HartLife, creators of Our Fair City. His plays include: ContraptionVox PandoraRedeemersThe Sovereign Statement(Non-Equity Jeff nomination: New Work), and The Man Who Was Thursday(Non-Equity Jeff nomination: New Adaptation). In addition to Chicago, Bilal’s work has appeared on stages in New York, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Washington DC, Nottingham (UK), and Helsinki (Finland). Bilal has also appeared in the independent films Unexpected (dir. Kris Swanberg) and Operator (dir. Logan Kibens).

  • Andrés Enriquez (Mr. Darcy)

    Andrés is proud to have been on both the MainStage and the KidSeries stage for Lifeline, having understudied The Velveteen Rabbit and Soon I Will Be Invincible, then appearing in Sparky!Northanger Abbey, and most recently, Sylvester. Other notable productions in the Chicagoland area include Forever Plaid (Fox Valley Repertory), The Life and Death Of Madame Barker (Red Tape Theatre), Love and Information (Remy Bumppo), The Adding Machine (The Hypocrites), and In The Heights (Porchlight Music Theater). He has also worked with such great Chicago companies as Underscore Theater Company, Strawdog Theatre, 16th Street Theater, and Theater at the Center in Munster, IN. Andrés received his B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his M.F.A. in Acting from the University of Iowa in 2012. Andrés is also the Music Director of No Big Deal, a Chicago a cappella quartet, and a proud company member of Barrel of Monkeys.

  • Peter Greenberg (Sir William, Colonel Forster, Mr. Gardiner, Townsperson)

    Peter has appeared on the Lifeline stage in Jane Eyre (2001), Around the World in 80 DaysThe Talisman Ring (1996 and 2005), The MoonstoneMrs. CalibanBusman’s HoneymoonGaudy NightStrong PoisonHungerTrust Me On ThisFar From the Madding CrowdWhose Body?Pistols for TwoCotillionMiss Buncle’s Book, and Northanger Abbey. Also at Lifeline he adapted the play Talking It Overfrom the novel and directed the 2004 production of Bunnicula. Other Chicago acting credits include The Beaux’ Stratagem with Powertap; The Heidi Chronicles at New American Theater in Rockford; Thank You, Jeeves with City Lit; and The Sweat Offensive with the Sweat Girls. Regionally, Peter has performed the works of Shakespeare, Moliere, Middleton, Chekhov, Dickens, Sam Shepard and Neil Simon in Boise, St Petersberg, Sacramento, Boston, Atlanta, and New York City. In 1988 Peter helped to found the Actors Shakespeare Company in Albany, New York. For seven years he acted in or directed every one of its 23 productions and served as Co-Artistic Director.

  • Chris Hainsworth (Mr. Bennet)

    A Lifeline ensemble member since 2010, Chris first appeared on the Lifeline stage as Oliver in Talking It Over in 2008. Other Lifeline roles: MacBride in the extension of Busman’s Honeymoon, Israel Hands/Captain Flint in Treasure Island, the Marquis de Carabas in Neverwhere, the titular role in The Count of Monte Cristo, Dhatt in The City & The City, Athos in The Three Musketeers, General Buford/Major Taylor in The Killer Angels(2013), and The Marquis/John Barsad in A Tale of Two Cities. His first adaptation, Hunger, from the novel by Elise Blackwell, was staged in the 2011-12 season and he most recently adapted Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett for the 2013-14 season. He is an Artistic Associate with WildClaw theatre and has been a four-time finalist in their DeathScribe Festival, winning the coveted Bloody Axe in 2009 for his audio script Remembrance. An Emeritus Member of Strawdog Theatre, notable roles include Brutus in Julius Caesar and its remount at Theatre on the Lake, Det. Dakis in the Non-Equity Jeff Award-winning Detective Story, Mike in the Non-Equity Jeff Award-Winning A Lie of the Mind, Ruddy in the Non-Equity Jeff Award-winning Marathon ’33, and Scotty in the After Dark Award-winning Old Town. Other roles include Frank in Faith Healer with Uma Productions, Mott in The Artist Needs a Wife with the side project, Robby in Scenes from the Big Picture with Seanachaí Theatre Co., Sheriff Raven in The Dreams in the Witch House with WildClaw, and Col. Blood in The Pyrates with Defiant. When not performing with Lifeline, Chris can also be seen at area high schools performing Shakespeare with A Crew of Patches. Chris was also the recipient of the Steppenwolf/Illinois State University Acting Fellowship in ’94/’95 and proudly stands by his state school education.

  • Katie McLean Hainsworth (Mrs. Bennet)

    Katie has been a member of Lifeline’s artistic ensemble since 2006. Her adaptation of The Mark of Zorro won the 2009 Non-Equity Jeff Award for New Adaptation, and she directed Watership Down and Johnny Tremain for the Mainstage and The Cricket in Times Square for Lifeline’s KidSeries. As an actor, she has appeared in Miss HolmesMiss Buncle’s BookMonstrous RegimentA Tale of Two CitiesThe Three Musketeers, HungerNeverwhere, Mariette in EcstasyTalking it OverCrossing CaliforniaThe True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!Gaudy NightTrust Me On ThisFar From the Madding CrowdWhose Body?Cooking With Lard, and Bongo Larry and Two Bad Bears. She also assistant directed Lifeline’s multiple-award-winning Around the World in 80 Days. A native of upstate New York, Katie has made Chicago her home for over twenty years and has worked on productions with Black Sheep, BlindFaith, the Hypocrites, Bailiwick Repertory, Greasy Joan & Co., Shakespeare’s Motley Crew, Who Threw That Ham?, and Zebra Crossing.

  • Lydia Hiller (Kitty Bennet, Caroline Bingley, Townsperson)

    Lydia is thrilled to be back at Lifeline, where she was in Northanger Abbey. Chicago credits include: Sherlock’s Last Case (First Folio Theatre), A Kind of Love Story (Oil Lamp Theatre), and The Scullery Maid (Idle Muse Theatre). Regional credits include: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Rivals, Hamlet, The Importance of Being Earnest, Love’s Labour’s Lost (Michigan Shakespeare Festival); A Lovely Sunday for Creve Couer (Tipping Point Theatre); 4000 Miles (The Jewish Ensemble Theatre); and End Days (Williamston Theatre). Internationally, she performed at Universal Studios Japan. Lydia is represented by Big Mouth Talent. lydiahiller.com.

  • Anthony Kayer (Mr. Collins, Townsperson)

    Anthony first worked with Lifeline while he was pursuing his B.F.A. in Acting from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, starring as Mr. Bing in Arnie the Doughnut as part of Lifeline’s KidSeries. Before graduating, he was also fortunate to work with the Illinois Shakespeare Festival (The Three MusketeersMerry Wives of WindsorAs You Like It), Chicago Shakespeare Theatre (Elizabeth Rex), and Steppenwolf Theatre (The March). Since graduating in 2012, he has acted in the Lifeline productions of The Emperor’s New ThreadsLyle Finds His Mother, and Jane Eyre (2014); he also joined Lifeline for Monstrous Regiment(u/s) and Soon I Will Be Invincible (u/s), assistant directed Northanger Abbey (Non-Equity Jeff Award: New Work-Musical), and directed Bunnicula (2018) and Bunny’s Books Club. Other Chicago credits include work with Next Theatre (Iphigenia 2.0), Lookingglass/Chicago Children’s Choir (Sita Ram) – where he utilized his circus training as Circus Captain, Inappropriate Theatre Company (R&J: a techno ballet(the)Forget_Me\Knot), and The House Theatre of Chicago (The Great and Terrible Wizard of Oz, understudy). He also had the pleasure of Assistant Directing with Lookingglass/Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Adventures with Aladdin).

  • Kristina Loy (Jane Bennet)

    Kristina is grateful to be back at Lifeline Theatre, where she has been seen in Sylvester and Miss Buncle’s Book. Chicago credits include: The Hard Problem (Court Theatre); Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley (Northlight Theatre); The Van Gogh CaféSherlock Holmes and the Mystery of Portage Park (Filament Theatre). She was an Emerging Professional Resident at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater. Her credits there include: after all the terrible things I doHarvey, and Peter and the Starcatcher. Kristina holds her BFA in Acting from the University of Illinois.

  • Martel Manning (Colonel Fitzwilliam, Townsperson)

    Martel is an actor, teacher, and acting/vocal coach. His previous Lifeline Theatre credits include Miss Buncle’s Book and Her Majesty’s Will. Other Chicago credits include The Gift Theatre’s Grapes of Wrath and Richard IIIin the Steppenwolf Garage, Fallen Angels and Pirandello’s Henry V with Remy Bumppo, Cymbeline with Strawdog Theatre Company, and projects with Oracle Theatre, Two Pence Theatre Company, and others. Regionally, Martel has worked with Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, New Light Theatre Project in New York (Off-Broadway), and Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He is a member of The Gift Theatre’s ensemble as well and holds an M.F.A. from the University of Houston.

  • Mike McKeogh (Mr. Wickham, Townsperson)

    Michael began working at Lifeline in 2012, playing Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain in The Killer Angels, and most recently appeared as Dr. Jack Murry in A Wrinkle in Time. Other Chicago credits include Judge Moses in Skin of Our Teeth (Remy Bumppo); Eddie in Pocatello (Griffin Theatre, Non-Equity Jeff Nomination: Best Actor); Frankie Wild in The White Road(Irish Theatre of Chicago); Hamlet in Hamlet (Oak Park Festival Theatre); Dmitri in Concerning Strange Devices From the Distant West (TimeLine Theatre); and Dr. Greenberg in Freshly Fallen Snow (Chicago Dramatists). In 2014, he co-hosted The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s holiday show Welcome Yule! Other regional credits include: Mr. Brown in The 20th Century Way at The Know Theatre in Cincinnati, OH and Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest at Play Phare Theatre, NYC. In 2012, Michael received an M.F.A. in Acting from The Theatre School at DePaul University. In addition to performing, Michael teaches acting at Green Shirt Studio and The Actor’s Training Center in Wilmette.

  • Phoebe Moore (Lydia Bennet, Miss de Bourgh, Townsperson)

    Phoebe is thrilled to be making her Lifeline debut! Other Chicago credits include Pomona and Linda (Steep Theatre Company), A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (u/s, Porchlight Music Theatre), Thin Mints (Greenhouse Theatre Center), The Lonesome West (AstonRep Theatre Company), and Frost/Nixon (Redtwist). TV Credits: Chicago Fire (NBC/Universal). Phoebe holds a B.A. in Theatre with a Certificate in Musical Theatre from Northwestern University. When she is not acting, she writes and cooks for the Chicago-based recipe blog Love and Lemonswww.phoebeemoore.com

  • Samantha Newcomb (Elizabeth Bennet)

    Samantha makes a joyous return to Lifeline where she has been seen in Sylvester and Neverwhere. Other Chicago credits include The Darkness After Dawn (The Factory Theater), Traitor (A Red Orchid Theatre), and In The Wake (The Comrades). Regional credits include: Macbeth, Twelfth Night (American Players Theatre); A Christmas Carol, Mockingbird (Children’s Theater of Madison). Samantha holds a BFA in Acting from The Theatre School at DePaul University.

  • Jenifer Tyler (Mrs. Gardiner, Lady Catherine, Townsperson)

    Jenifer has been a Lifeline ensemble member since 2001. She has been delighted to appear as Harriet Vane in the Dorothy Sayers’ mysteries Strong Poison (2004), Gaudy Night (2006), and Busman’s Honeymoon (2009). Other Lifeline credits include: Mina in Dracula; Lydia in Pride and Prejudice; Kitty in Cotillion; Jane in Jane Eyre (Non-Equity Joseph Jefferson Award: Outstanding Actress in a Principal Role); Ida/Phyllis in Trust me on This; Bathsheba in Far From the Madding Crowd, and Estelle in Mrs. Caliban. For Lifeline, she also directed the KidSeries production of The Velveteen Rabbit. Jenifer has been seen around Chicago with greasy joan & co., and in many Touchstone/Organic productions including Into the WoodsThe Seagull, and Hedda Gabler. Jenifer is also a “Sweat Girl;” her credits as writer and performer include I’m Sweating Under My BreastsSweat DreamsI Just Oops Until I Wow(The Sweat Girls are) Pigs at the Trough of Attention, and The Motherlode.

  • Vahishta Vafadari (Charlotte Lucas, Mary Bennet, Townsperson)

    Vahishta is so happy to be back with the wonderful people at Lifeline. She previously played multiple roles, including Dr. Kate Murray, in Lifeline’s A Wrinkle in Time. Other Chicago credits include her Jeff Nominated performance as Anne Lister in I Know My Own Heart (Pride Films and Plays), Top Girls (Remy Bumppo), Cyrano (BoHo Theatre), and As You Like It (First Folio). Vahishta is also a teaching artist and dialect coach in both Chicago and Seattle. Vahishta received her M.F.A. in Acting from The Theatre School at DePaul University and is represented by Gray Talent Group. vahishtavafadari.com

  • Caroline Andres (Violinist)

  • Christina Calvit (Adaptor)

    Christina has written over a dozen theatrical adaptations which have been performed nationally and internationally, including: Miss Buncle’s Book (Non-Equity Jeff Award, 2016); Wuthering HeightsMariette in EcstasyA Room with a ViewQueen Lucia: A Musical Romp, with Composer/Lyricist George Howe (2005 After Dark Award; 2006 Non-Equity Jeff Award for New Work); Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging(Non-Equity Jeff Award, 2004); Jane EyrePistols for Two (Non-Equity Jeff Award, 2001); The Talisman Ring (Equity Jeff Award, 1996); and Pride and Prejudice (Non-Equity Jeff Award, 1986). Original plays include Snowflake Tim’s Big Holiday AdventurePurloined PoeChaos (co-writer), and Several Voices from the Cloud (Agnes Nixon Award, 1981).

  • Dorothy Milne (Director)

    Dorothy has directed over twenty productions at Lifeline, where she is an ensemble member (since 1992) and served as Artistic Director, 1999-2019. Most recently she directed Lifeline’s national tour of The One and Only Ivan.  She received a Non-Equity Jeff Award (Direction) for Around the World in 80 Days; and Non-Equity Jeff Nominations (Direction) for Pistols for TwoJane Eyre (for which she also received an After Dark Award), Strong Poison, and Gaudy Night. Outside of Lifeline, she most recently directed In To America for Griffin Theatre. Dorothy has also been writing and performing with the storytelling collective Sweat Girls for over 20 years, directs occasionally for 2nd Story and at Lifeline leads The Lifeline Storytelling Project and co-curates The Fillet of Solo Festival.

  • Harrison Ornelas (Editor)

  • Eric Backus (Composer/Sound Designer/Sound Engineer)

    Eric is excited to work with Lifeline again after working on many MainStage and KidSeries productions including Anna Karenina and A Wrinkle in Time (Jeff Nomination – Best Sound Design). Recent Chicago credits include Plano (First Floor Theater, Steppenwolf LookOut Series), Short Shakes! Comedy of Errors (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), Every Brilliant Thing (Windy City Playhouse). Off-Broadway: Hollow/Wave (United Solo Festival), Churchill (SoloChicago Theatre); Regional: Mark Twain’s River of Song, The All Night Strut (Milwaukee Rep.), Shakespeare in Love, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley (TheatreSquared). To hear more of his music, please visit ericbackus.com.

  • Jennifer McClendon (Production Manager)

  • Sam Moryoussef (Assistant Production Manager)

  • Erica Foster (Captioning)

  • Anthony Kayer (Graphic Design)

, http://lifelinetheatre.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/PP-Virtual-Play-FAQ-Updated.pdf, _blank

From Windy City Times
September 16, 2020
By Mary Shen Barnidge
For starters, what we’ve got are two wealthy young bachelors, two broke young bachelors, five genteel-poor young misses and one rich old battle-axe—but this is 1813 England, when only male heirs could legally inherit property, making the sole means of acquiring wherewithal ( or “digging for gold” as we call it nowadays ) sufficient to secure a comfortable future was to marry it.

Further complicating the negotiations necessary to remove the obstacles to true love bringing about a satisfactory match ( a “happy ending” in modern parlance ) was the snobbery discouraging fraternization between those boasting long and/or exalted lineage and those claiming pedigrees of more recent vintage.

Jane Austen’s groundbreaking novel originated the literary genre today known as the Regency Romance—a label often dismissed by our democratic age as frivolous costume-comedy. Austen’s firsthand familiarity with the grim sacrifices engendered by a social and economic system punishing the privileged and underprivileged alike reveals a universe encompassing a multitude of choices faced by individuals of all classes in search of values, identity and lives of, if not precisely joy, then contentment at the very least.

These goals require numerous auxiliary agents—parents, of course, and meddling kin, nosy neighbors and a bevy of servants—all mandating a crowded dramatic landscape. Fortunately, Lifeline Theatre has forged its reputation on big-stories-in-small-spaces arrangements and not even the cinematic live-stream format dictated by current social distancing restrictions can impede the narrative flow of Christina Calvit’s compact, but still comprehensive, adaptation.

Director Dorothy Milne and film editor Harrison Ornelas have likewise learned from early-spring experiments in video-staged performance: to prevent confusion arising from double-cast characters viewed in headshot range, each window opens on identification of the person it depicts at that specific time—a narrative device allowing us to witness reactions to the news taking focus, as well as enabling a vox-pop chorus of busybodies to keep us up to date on the expository gossip. Duet scenes employ Lifeline ensemble’s several real-life cohabiting couples to permit us a view of ballroom dancers waltzing with their faces outside of the frame, or a husband waving casually at smartphone correspondents over his wife’s shoulder. ( Did I mention that the production decor is modern dress-casual? )

It’s not all techwizardry, however. The synchronicity achieved by actors after decades of experience swapping dialogue with one another, in a Rogers Park auditorium barely bigger than the “personal closets” ( “bedrooms” to us ) they now occupy, ensures a brisk pace and an intimacy enhanced by the close-up eye contact facilitated by the “asides” incorporated into Calvit’s text. When Samantha Newcomb’s irrepressible Lizzy asks us what we think of the latest contretemps, it’s all we can do not to reply—though if you’re watching from your sofa, feel free to roast the aloof Mister Darcy’s well-begun but ill-concluded marriage proposal, delivered by Andres Enriquez with affecting aplomb.

 

 

From The Reader
BoHo and Lifeline examine the public and private split
September 16, 2020
By Kerry Reid
The age of Zoom has created a split-screen metaphor for the changes in our private and public lives. We’re separated physically, but the world is invited into our personal spaces in a way that never happened in Cube Farmlandia. For theater pieces created at a distance and for online consumption, the dichotomy feels even more keen.

Increasingly, companies producing new work online are leaning into that dichotomy. That’s clear in two streaming shows that have premiered in recent weeks: BoHo Theatre’s The Pursuit of Happiness and Lifeline Theatre’s Pride and Prejudice.

In content and style, the pieces are completely different. BoHo’s show, subtitled A BoHo Exploration of Freedom, brings together 17 BIPOC artists under the direction of the company’s new executive director, Sana Selemon, in a virtual cabaret of song, spoken word, personal storytelling, and combinations thereof.

The show kicks off with Donterrio Johnson, the artistic director of PrideArts, singing and dancing in an empty theater to “I’ve Gotta Be Me,” a song from the 1968 musical Golden Rainbow, composed by Walter Marks and made famous by Sammy Davis Jr. At the end, we see a photo of vaudeville star Bert Williams, who was the first Black artist to have a leading role in a Broadway show. It’s an effective way to encapsulate the ways that Black artists have struggled to achieve success in a white-dominated cultural landscape without losing their own identity.

It concludes with Marguerite Mariama, a longtime artist and activist who notes that her political organizing began as a student protesting the “Willis Wagons”—portable classrooms that maintained de facto segregation in Chicago schools. Mariama’s recounting of her personal involvement in politics is set against a backdrop of imagery from the civil rights movement and graphic photos of lynchings. (BoHo has a content warning on the site for a reason.) Her rendition of “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child” reminds us that the notion of “home” as a sanctuary has never been respected for Black people in this nation (the police killings of Breonna Taylor and Botham Jean made that all too clear), while her exhortation to “Stand Up” suggests that getting out of our homes and into the streets is a moral imperative.

Mariama chooses to perform against a solid black drop cloth, with her voice and the archival photos creating the emotional environment. But other performers allow us glimpses into the interior of their homes as well as their histories. (Tony Churchill deserves credit for his excellent editing work at blending all these segments.) Natara Easter performs a spoken-word piece that begins with “Well, I feel free,” and then takes us through all the ways she’s been made to feel ashamed about her appearance and expression—“the blackest sound in my laugh,” her smile, her way of speaking, her hair. (Easter notes that Black boys in her school were as likely to tease her about the latter as her white peers.) Throughout, we see Easter in her home; looking out a window to her backyard, writing in her journal, washing her face in her bathroom, and otherwise claiming herself in her space.

The theme of self-acceptance also comes through in Dillon Chitto’s piece about growing up gay and Native American in Santa Fe (“the gayest city in the southwest”) and the culture shock of attending a Jesuit seminary in Ohio. (The piece begins with a quick history lesson in how queer or “two-spirit” people, who were accepted in Native culture, were labeled as sinful when the colonizing Catholic missionaries arrived.) Chitto tells us that he has “a rosary in one hand, and a bagful of cornmeal in the other,” and creates his own personal trinity from “culture, religion, identity.”

Whether showing us the interiors of their homes or the inner workings of learning to blossom as a BIPOC artist, The Pursuit of Happiness is an exhilarating, intimate, and thoughtful 75-minute journey well worth taking. And I can’t wait to see all these performers again, live and in public.

Since 1986, Lifeline Theatre has thrice presented Christina Calvit’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s most beloved novel onstage. But the version available online now works beautifully at suggesting the tensions between private feelings and public behavior that undergird Austen’s world. Directed by Lifeline’s former artistic director Dorothy Milne, edited by Harrison Ornelas, and featuring a lineup of longtime ensemble members (including delightful real-life couple Katie McLean Hainsworth and Christopher Hainsworth as Mrs. and Mr. Bennet), the piece should resonate equally well with Austen purists (the dialogue remains faithful to the original) and those who are trying to figure out the rules of dating in a socially distanced time and place.

There are few attempts at costuming (save some plastic tiaras donned during various balls), and no attempts at creating a simulacrum of Austen’s world in the homes of the performers (though Caroline Andres’s period violin music adds resonant aural texture). But the story of Elizabeth Bennet (Samantha Newcomb) and Mr. Darcy (Andrés Enriquez) unfurls with all the wit and fire you could ask for. A moment when Newcomb’s Lizzy breaks away from the on-camera world to stride down the sidewalk (the only exterior shot in the piece), intent on visiting her sick sister Jane (Kristina Loy) not only shows us the forthright bull-by-the-horns candor underneath Lizzy’s careful exterior, but adds an extra layer of meaning in a time of pandemic and panic.

Taken together, BoHo and Lifeline’s productions reveal sophistication in style and material, and an admirable ability to take the limitations of our Zoom-saturated current reality and transform them into something fresh, personal, and wholly entertaining on their own terms. 

 

 

From The Dueling Critics
September 16, 2020
Featuring Kerry Reid & Jonathan Abarbanel
LISTEN HERE