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email Do Gooder Productions

by:
ROBIN ROTHSTEIN
Winner 1996 Do Gooder Productions New Playwright Award
 
Directed by:
JOHN RUOCCO
 
featuring:
CHEVI COLTON, SUSAN FINCH,
ROSEMARY PRINZ, GIL ROGERS,
RICHARD SHEINMEL, DANA SMITH
 
Stage Manager
TERRY MAC
Sets By
BILL WOOD
Lights By
CHRIS DALLOS
Sound By
VINCENT APOLLO
Costumes By
JEFFREY WALLACH
 
Benefiting
A LIVING MEMORIAL TO THE HOLOCAUST-
MUSEUM OF JEWISH HERITAGE
 
MARTIN R. KAUFMAN THEATER
534 West 42nd Street
 
In this comedy, Sadie and Evelyn are two Jewish senior citizens who reside in a condominium complex in Florida. Their daily poolside pow-wows are interrupted when Sadie is suddenly visited by Lila, her estranged daughter. Lila eventually confesses to her mother that she is ill, which prompts her to reveal a secret she has been keeping for the past couple of years about her "perfect" brother Daniel. Sadie's world, however, is based in fantasy and denial. She refuses to process the truth about her family, making up ideal scenarios about them instead. Meanwhile, Evelyn finds herself all alone and fending off the congenial Jimmy O'Gara, a fellow resident and ardent suitor, whom she obstinately rejects on religious principles. Although Evelyn is repeatedly cold towards him, Jimmy is not deterred and he desperately tries to find a connection with her. Ultimately, the characters must open their hearts, and come to terms with the truth, or else they risk living the remainder of their lives in loneliness and despair.
4 females, 2 males (age range: 20's-70's); 2 acts; 1hr 30 mins.
 
Previews began - December 20, 1996
Opened December 22, 1996
Closed January 12, 1997

 
 
 
"Rothstein's comedy looks lonliness and despair in the face, stares it down unblinkingly and gives us several laughs along the way... priceless."
-Resident Publications
 
"Expert performances...the work of a promising playwright."
-NY Times

NOTE:
Biographies below are as they appeared in the showbill
at the time of production.
 
[Rosemary Prinz] ROSEMARY PRINZ (Evelyn) has starred on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and across the country in national tours, regional theatres, and summer theatres in more than 200 productions in her long stage career, which began at the age of 16 at the Cragsmoor Summer Theatre. It was as Penny on television's "As The World Turns", which she played for 12 years, that she first gained national prominence, and during this time she starred all over the country in such plays as Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Twigs, Same Time Next Year, Two For The Seesaw, Absurd Person Singular, and Another Part Of The Forest. She is most proud of her work at major regional theaters, including the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, the American Shaw Festival, Milwaukee Rep Co., the Philadelphia Drama Guild, Circle Repertory, Buffalo Studio Arena, St. Louis Rep and the Alley Theatre. Known for her versatility, she has played rles as diverse as Mary Tyrone in Long Day's Journey Into Night, Desiree in A Little Night Music, Lady Bracknell in The Importance Of Being Ernest, Linda in Death Of A Salesman, and Amanda in six different productions of The Glass Menagerie, including a cultural exchange where she played it in Japan. Other regional credits include A Delicate Balance, Painting Churches, Buried Child, Gin Game, Cocktail Hour, Road To Mecca, A Perfect Ganesh, Love Letters, Grown Ups, and as Mama Rose in Gypsy. Her other musical credits include Applause, Annie Get Your Gun, and I Do! I Do! She starred in the national companies of California Suite, Last Of The Red Hot Lovers, The Apple Tree, and co-starred with Art Carney in Chicago in Prisoner Of Second Avenue, which she later played on Broadway with Gabriel Dell. Also on Broadway, she has appeared in Tonight In Samarkand, George Abbott's revival of Three Men On A Horse, Grey-Eyed People, Late Love, and most recently opposite Jack Lemmon in Tribute. She completed two years in the Off-Broadway hit Steel Magnolias where she created the role of M'Lynn and also appeared in a one-woman show based on the poems and letters of Edna St. Vincent Millay. Ms. Prinz starred in the national tour of Driving Ms. Daisy and then recreated the role for the Westport East Coast Summer Circuit. She joins the cast of On Deaf Ears after having appeared in Bill C. Davis' world premiere Avon at The George Street Playhouse.

[Gil Rogers] GIL ROGERS (Jimmy O'Gara) seen on Broadway in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, The Great White Hope, and The Corn is Green and Off-Broadway in Frankie (written and directed by George Abbott), Gil's career has spanned the countries' regional and touring theaters from Florida to Seattle, from New York to California and most points in between. He's completing his 12th year as Hawk Shayne on CBS' "The Guiding Light", which celebrates its 60th year on the air in January. Before that he was Ray Gardner for 5 years on "All My Children." His 19 films include The Children, The Panic In Needle Park, and WW and the Dixie Dance Kings. He is married to actress Margaret Hall. They have produced the beautiful young actress Amanda Rogers.

[Chevi Colton] CHEVI COLTON (Sadie) is a native New Yorker who was last seen on Broadway as Harvey Fierstein's hilarious mother in Torch Song Trilogy. Her other Broadway credits include Roza, The Grand Tour, The Supporting Cast, Over Here, and the original Broadway production of Cabaret. Chevi was chosen by Jerome Robbins for the role of Golde in the original National Company of Fiddler on the Roof and then, just last year, she joined Theodore Bikel as Yenta in the 25th Anniversay Tour of this perennial musical. Starting with the zany revue The Mad Show, she has appeared in a long roster of Off-Broadway shows. Last season she starred in the revival of Milk and Honey and has played leading roles at the Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, The Public Theatre, Hudson Guild, Jewish Rep, and the Gate Theatre where she starred in the long-running Jacques Brel is Alive and Well... which she also performed in Paris. A familiar face to t.v. audiences, Chevi was Sophie on the NBC series "Working It Out" with Jane Curtin. She also appeared in running roles on "Kate and Allie", "As The World Turns", and "Guiding Light." Her film credits include Boardwalk with Ruth Gordon, Falling in Love with Robert DeNiro, Bed and Breakfast with Roger Moore, June Roses (which was chosen for the International Film Festival at the Museum of Modern Art), and the soon-to-be-released Code of Ethics.

[Susan Finch] SUSAN FINCH (Lila) appeared in each incarnation of Fair Fight directed by John Ruocco (Naked Angels, New York Stage and Film, HBO Comedy Arts Festival) and is thrilled to be working with him again. She recently returned to her alma mater The Juilliard School to perform in Tennesse Williams' I Can't Imagine Tomorrow. Other credits include: Sisters' Dance, Geneva Cotrelle, Perilous Appetite, and numerous radio plays. She is an alumnus of The Acting Company and is the recipient of the Drama League Award and the Edith Skinner Prize.

[Richard Sheinmel] RICHARD SHEINMEL (Daniel) is a long-time performer in the Obie Award-winning live late-night musical soap opera Hot Keys. Other appearances include: Freiheit Makes A Stand (The Vineyard); Call Me Sara Bernhardt (WPA Theater/The Ridiculous Theatrical Company); Matthew In The School Of Life; Every Day Newt Berman, and Jungle Movie (Ridge Theatre); The Larynx Chalet (La Mama); Skin (SoHo Rep); The Body Sketch (New York Theatre Workshop); The Faust-Fest at Nada; Another Person Is A Foreign County and Reza Abdoh's Father Was A Peculiar Man (both with En Garde Arts). He will be in Scott Saunders' soon-to-be-released film The Headhunter's Sister; and as a playwright, his play Madness In Odd and Ordinary Places was workshopped last season by MCC Theater. Love to C.F..

[Dana Smith] DANA SMITH (Barry) has appeared in New York at the Ensemble Studio Theatre, American Jewish Theatre, New York Shakespeare Festival, and the New Theatre of Brooklyn. She has appeared regionally at Yale Rep, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Long Wharf Theatre, Portland Stage Co., and most of the nation's Shakespeare companies including the Utah, Colorado, Rutgers, and New York Shakespeare Festivals where she has performed roles including Cleopatra, Kate, Regan, and Mistress Quickly. Ms. Smith appears in the film Rain Without Thunder with Betty Buckley and Jeff Daniels. She is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and is married to Jamie Croll and they have two beautiful daughters Leah and Ariana.

[Robin Rothstein] ROBIN ROTHSTEIN (Playwright) is a New York-based playwright and actress. In addition to winning DGP's New Playwright Award, On Deaf Ears was also selected as a finalist for the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award. Ms. Rothstein's plays have had readings and/or productions in New York at New Georges, The Riant Theatre, Abingdon Theatre Company, aTheatreCo, Particle Wave Theatre, and Love Creek's Short Play Festival, where her play Coat Chair Duet was one of the finalists. Her short play Cat-Dependency was a finalist for Perishable Theatre's Annual Women's Playwriting Festival. She currently writes and performs throughout the city with the sketch comedy group Kinda Personal, where her work was most recently seen at Gotham Comedy Club and Caroline's. Ms. Rothstein was a 1996 member of Circle Repertory Theater's Playwrights Project, led by Austin Pendleton and is a member of The Dramatists Guild.

[JOHN RUOCCO] JOHN RUOCCO (Director) recent directing credits include Fair Fight (Naked Angels, New York Stage and Film, HBO Comedy Arts Festival) and a national tour of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella (The Booking Office). Choreography credits include Hundreds of Hats (WPA Theatre) and the highly acclaimed Viva Las Vegas-The Musical. He is on the directing faculty of Playwrights Horizons Theater School and has directed several productions at the Juilliard School. John's assistant directing credits in New York include Love! Valour! Compassion! and The Santaland Diaries (Joe Mantello, director), Luck, Pluck, and Virtue (James Lapine, director), and Later Life (Don Scardino, director). He is a Drama League Fellow and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.